India Needs a World Class Higher Education System: Vice President
- The Vice President of India, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu inaugurated the State-of-the-art Architecture Block of REVA University at Bengaluru today 22 April, 2019.
- India has one of the youngest populations in the world and having demographic dividend opportunity available for five decades from 2005-06 to 2055-56, longer than any other country in the world.
- Demographic dividend, as defined by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) means, “the economic growth potential that can result from shifts in a population’s age structure, mainly when the share of the working-age population (15 to 64) is larger than the non-working-age share of the population (14 and younger, and 65 and older)”.
- India will have the second largest graduate talent globally by the end of the year 2020.
- Rapid industrialization would require a workforce of around 250 million by 2030.
- According to World Bank estimates, India’s higher education system is the world’s third largest in terms of students, next to China and the United States.
- Statistics reveal that there were only 216 researchers per million in 2015.
- India’s investment in research is 0.62 per cent of its GDP. These numbers are well below global standards.
- The new Annual Employability Survey 2019 reveals that 80% of Indian engineers are unsuited for any job in the knowledge economy and only 2.5% of them possess tech skills in Artificial Intelligence (AI) that industry requires.
- Annual Employability Survey report is released by Aspiring Minds.
- Aspiring Minds is private organization which operates as an assessment company that helps organizations, governments, and institutions to measure and identify talent.
- There is a need to actively promote linkages between academic institutions, the industry and the government.
PM’s Message on Earth Day
Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s delivered a message on Earth Day.
He reiterates the commitment to work towards the well-being of our planet, focus on sustainable development and mitigating climate change.
Earth Day
- Earth day is observed on April 22 every year. This year it marks the 49th annual Earth Day.
- It is a global event to celebrate Mother Nature and put environmental issues in the spotlight.
- Earth Day is an initiative of the Earth Day Network.
- The first Earth Day on April 22, 1970.
- It the largest civic observance in the world.
- The theme for 2018 Earth Day was to ‘End Plastic’.
- The theme for Earth Day 2019 is ‘Protect Our Species’.
MOU signed between Ministry of AYUSH and Council of Scientific and Industrial Research
- A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed between the Ministry of AYUSH and Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), New Delhi on 22 April, 2019 for cooperation in research and education in areas of traditional systems of medicine and its integration with modern science.
- The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research CSIR was established by the Government of India in September of 1942 as an autonomous body.
- it runs 38 laboratories/institutes, 39 outreach centers, 3 Innovation Centers and 5 units throughout the nation.
- It is mainly funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology.
- This is the endeavor of Ministry of AYUSH and CSIR is to bring the organizations under an umbrella understanding for pursuing focused R&D efforts in the domain of the usage of herbal medicines and supplements globally.
Third Phase of General Elections-2019 on 23 April
- 117 Lok Sabha Constituencies across 13 States and 2 UTs headed to Polls today.
- Third Phase is biggest as it covers 117 Parliamentary Constituencies in single phase.
- Over 2 lakh 10 thousand polling booths in place for smooth conduct of polls.
- To constitute the 17th Lok Sabha Indian general election is currently being held in seven phases from 11 April to 19 May 2019.
- General election is being held for 543 (of the 545) seats in the Lok Sabha.
- The President of India nominates an additional two members from the Anglo-Indian community if he believes the community is under-represented.
- 272 seats needed for a majority to make the Government.
- Legislative Assembly elections in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha and Sikkim will be held simultaneously with the general election.
Auction for Sale (Re-Issue) of Government Stocks
The Government of India has announced the Sale (Issue/Re-issue) of
- ‘7.32 per cent Government Stock, 2024’ for a notified amount of Rs. 5,000 crore (nominal) through price based auction,
- (ii) ‘7.26 per cent Government Stock, 2029’ for a notified amount of 6,000 crore (nominal) through price based auction,
- ‘New Government Stock, 2039’ for a notified amount of Rs. 2,000 crore (nominal) through yield based auction, and
- ‘7.72 per cent Government Stock, 2049’ for a notified amount of Rs. 4,000 crore(nominal) through price based auction.
- Subject to the limit of Rs. 17,000 crore, being total notified amount, Government of India will have the option to retain additional subscription up to Rs. 1,000 crore each against any one or more of the above securities.
- The auctions will be conducted using multiple price method.
- The auctions will be conducted by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Mumbai Office, Fort, Mumbai on April 26, 2019 (Friday).
- Definition of government stock: One of the bonds sold by a government to finance its budget deficit (the difference between what it gets in taxes and what it spends).
- Up to 5% of the notified amount of the sale of the stocks will be allotted to eligible individuals and Institutions as per the Scheme for Non-Competitive Bidding Facility in the Auction of Government Securities.
- Both competitive and non-competitive bids for the auction should be submitted in electronic format on the Reserve Bank of India Core Banking Solution (E-Kuber) system on April 26, 2019.
- E-Kuber is the Core Banking Solution of Reserve Bank of India.
- E-Kuber provides the provision of a single current account for each bank across the country, with decentralised access to this account from anywhere-anytime using portal based services in a safe manner.
- The Stocks will be eligible for “When Issued” trading in accordance with the guidelines on ‘When Issued transactions in Central Government Securities’ issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) vide Circular No. RBI/2018-19/25 dated July 24, 2018 as amended from time to time.
