1. Education ministry launches 100-day reading campaign ‘Padhe Bharat’
The 100 days campaign will be continued for 14 weeks and one activity per week per group has been designed with the focus on making reading enjoyable and build lifelong association with the joy of reading .
The campaign marks an important step to improve the learning levels of students as it develops creativity, critical thinking, vocabulary and the ability to express both verbally and in writing. It helps children to relate to their surroundings and real-life situation .
“Children studying in Balvatika to class 8 will be part of this campaign. The reading campaign will be organised for 100 days (14 weeks) starting from January 1 to April 10, 2022.
2.Swiggy, Zomato to pay 5% GST :
With the new rules, food delivery platforms are expected to pay 5% GST on restaurant services that they provide
Online food delivery platforms such as Swiggy and Zomato will have to pay five per cent goods and services tax starting Saturday (January 1) as the changes to GST rules will come into effect. These changes are based on the decision taken at the 45th GST council meeting on September 17, 2021, to crack down on restaurants that don’t pay taxes.
3. Paxlovid
Pfizer’s Covid-19 antiviral drug Paxlovid has received emergency use authorisation in the United States. It becomes first US-authorized home COVID treatment.
It will be used for adults and children aged 12 and more. The United Kingdom’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) also approved this drug.
4.Asian Powerlifting Championship
Gaurav Sahu of Udaipur in Rajashtna won the first Gold Medal for India in the Asian Powerlifting Championship.It is underway at Istanbul in Turkey.
5.DRDO celebrates its 64th foundation day
Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is celebrating its 64th foundation day today. It was on this day in 1958 when DRDO was formed to make India strong and self-reliant in terms of science and technology and especially in military technologies.
In the span of 63 years the organization has transformed the landscape of defence research and development in the country.
6. Drone maker Garuda Aerospace maps 1,000 villages in Uttar Pradesh under Centre’s Svamitva scheme .
Garuda Aerospace, which offers a variety of drone-related services, has recently completed mapping of over 1000 villages in Uttar Pradesh as part of government’s ambitious Svamitva Scheme aimed at establishing clear ownership of property in rural inhabited areas.
Svamita is a Central Sector Scheme of Ministry of Panchayati Raj which was launched by the Prime Minister in April last year.
It is a a reformative step towards establishment of clear ownership of property in rural inhabited (abadi) areas, by mapping of land parcels using drone technology and providing ‘record of rights’ to village household owners through legal ownership cards (property cards/title deeds).
7. Union home secy releases manuals for campaign against cyber crimes
The manuals and the newsletter prepared by the Cyber and Information Security Division (CIS) of the Union home ministry are ‘Cyber Hygiene for Cyber Space – Dos and Don’ts – Basic Manual’, ‘Cyber Hygiene for Cyber Space – Dos and Don’ts – Advanced Manual’ and the quarterly newsletter ‘Cyber Pravah’ .
CyberPravah’ covers introduction to I4C, various activities of I4C in two quarters (from April-June,2021 and July-September, 2021), cybercrime trends and patterns, statistics, facilities created by I4C, platforms for reporting and addressing cyber crimes to make all stakeholders aware, and to provide assistance in the area of cyber crime prevention, detection and investigation.
The I4C was set up under the CIS division in 2018 as an agency for coordinating at the central level and to support states and union territories by providing a common framework in their fight against cyber crimes.
8. Pradhan launches NEAT 3.0 to provide best-developed ed-tech solutions
National Educational Alliance for Technology (NEAT) is an initiative to provide the use of best-developed technological solutions in the education sector to enhance the employability of the youth on a single platform for learners’ convenience.
NEAT 3.0, a single platform to provide the best-developed ed-tech solutions and courses to students of the country.
NEAT will be a game-changer in bridging the digital divide, especially among the economically disadvantaged students and also in fulfilling the knowledge-based requirement of India and the world.
9.Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurates Kalpana Chawla Centre for Research in Space Science & Technology at Chandigarh University
10. PM pays tributes to Rani Velu Nachiyar, the Sivaganga queen in Tamil Nadu who waged war against the British, on her birth anniversary