National Current Affairs
Approval for Setting-up of ‘Kalpana Chawla Chair’ on Geo-spatial Technology
- A Memorandum of Understandings (MoU) was signed on May 30, 2016 between Ministry of Railways and PEC University of Technology for setting-up of ‘Kalpana Chawla Chair’ on Geo-spatial Technology for Indian Railways at PEC University of Technology, Chandigarh.
- This MoU is a unique collaboration between the two organisations which will help in developing applications to remove day to day engineering and technological problems and geospatial solutions to Indian Railways.
- In order to promote research in geo-spatial technology, the Chair was announced in Budget speech of Hon’ble MR for the current financial year. This academic chair is being instituted in fond memory of Late Kalpana Chawla, an Indo-American Astronaut and Alumnus of PEC during the year 1978-82.
Indian Railways Conducted Trial for High-speed Talgo Trains
- Indian Railways conducted the first ever trial run for high-speed Talgo trains of Spain on the Bareilly-to-Moradabad stretch in Uttar Pradesh on May 29, 2016. The test train consisted of 1 locomotive fit for 180 km/h along with 1 VIP coach, 1 first class coach, 1 cafeteria coach and 4 second class coaches.
- The trials will be conducted with empty coaches and later with sand bags filling the passenger sitting spaces. The speed of the train during the trial run will vary from 130 km/h to 180 km/h. The 2nd trial run will be conducted on the Palwal-to-Mathura section of the North-central Railway.
- Talgo is a Madrid-based Spanish leading manufacturer of semi-high speed (160-250 km/h) and high-speed (350 km/h) passenger trains, which are energy-efficient.
New Education Policy Committee Submitted its Report
- The Committee for the Evolution of a National Education Policy submitted its report to the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) on May 27, 2016. The committee was constituted by the government of India under the chairmanship of TSR Subramanian.
- The government of India had undertaken a consultation process for framing a New Education Policy (NEP). The process included online, grassroots and national level thematic deliberations on 33 themes.
- The government of India’had constituted a Committee for Evolution of the New Education Policy, which comprised TSR Subramanian, former Cabinet Secretary as the Chairman and Shailaja Chandra, former Chief Secretary, NCT of Delhi, Sevaram Sharma, former Home Secretary, NCT of Delhi, Sudhir Mankad, former Chief Secretary, Gujarat & Prof. JS Rajput, former Director, NCERT as members of the Committee.
Ministry of Railways Launched ‘Rail Hamsafar Saptaah’
- The Ministry of Railways decided to undertake a week long ‘Rail Hamsafar Saptaah’ from May 26 to June 1, 2016. j » Each day of the week will focus on a particular theme and hence the days have been named as May 26-Swachchta Diwas,
- May 27-Satkar Diwas, May 28-Sewa Diwas, May 29-Satarkata Diwas, May 50-Saamanjasya Diwas, May 31 -Sanyojan Diwas and June 1 Sanchaar Diwas.
- Minister of Railways Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu directed that all the General Managers should personally supervise various activities to be undertaken during the week.
Union Government Launched Bharatavani Portal
- The Union HRD Minister, Smriti Zubin Irani launched the multilingual knowledge portal www.bharatvani.in at Lucknow on May 25, 2016.
- The Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL), Mysuru is implementing this ambitious project of MHRD. Bharatavani is the first knowledge portal of its kind in India which focuses on becoming a single point source for multiple language learning, content and technology.
- The government of India with the launch of this multilingual portal reiterates its commitment to the protection, preservation and inclusion of all Indian languages through technological development without discrimination.
- It aims to foster national integration by emphasising on multilingual and t cross-lingual learning tools and technologies.
Government Renamed Disability Department; ‘Divyang’ Replaces ‘Viklang’
- The Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, which works urflder Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment will now be known as Divyangjan Sashaktikaran Vibhag in Hindi, dropping the word ‘Viklangjan’ from its previous nomenclature on May 25, 2016.
- The government changed the name of the department by amending the government of India (Allocation of Business) Rules, 1961. As per the 2011 census, the differently abled constitute 2.21% of the total population of the country.
