KERALA
- New light: Scribe system for blind students to go
- As the Union ministry of human resources development is scheduled to replace the present system of scribes for the visually- impaired candidates for public examinations, the state will have to make structural adjustments for the new system. The scribe system will be replaced with a system in which students can either use Braille or computer for writing the examinations in a phased manner from the next academic year.
- Visually impaired students needed to be taught in English medium as it is more friendly to the visually impaired. The issue with Malayalam is that there is no uniformity in the fonts. Unicode fonts were friendly to visually impaired. However, most of the new fonts in Malayalam are not in Unicode and hence it is difficult for the visually impaired students to learn in Malayalam.
- The technology helps children with visual impairment and print disability to overcome their disadvantages and scale great heights to achieve their dreams. Vismaya, granddaughter of a roadside tea shop man across Infosys campus at Kulathoor, dreams to get a job as a computer programmer in Infosys.INTERNATIONAL
- Japan names new imperial era, set to begin on May 1, as ‘Reiwa’
- Reiwa’ will be the name for the new era when Prince Naruhito succeeds his father Emperor Akihito, whose abdication on April 30 will end the 31-year ‘Heisei’ era (Since 1989).
- While ‘Rei’ means “good” and “beautiful” as well as “order” or “command”, ‘Wa’ means “peace” or “harmony”.
- Japan imported the imperial calendar system from China about 1,300 years ago.
- Starting with the Meiji era (1868-1912), it adopted the practice of “one emperor, one era name.”
- US approves sale of 24 MH 60 Romeo Seahawk helicopters to India
- The US has approved the sale of 24 multi-role MH-60 Romeo Seahawk helicopters to India at an estimated cost of 2.4 billion US dollars.
- It is considered the world’s most advanced maritime helicopter.
- The choppers will provide the Indian defence forces with the capability to perform anti-surface and anti-submarine warfare missions.
- Bolivia joins International Solar Alliance
- Bolivia has signed the framework agreement to join the International Solar Alliance.
- So far, 73 countries have signed the ISA Framework Agreement
- The International Solar Alliance (ISA) was unveiled by Prime Minister of India and French President at the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Paris on November 30, 2015.
- The idea was to form a coalition of solar resource-rich countriesto collaborate on addressing the identified gaps in their energy requirements through a common approach.
- India, with a target to produce 100 GWof solar energy by 2022, would account for a tenth of ISA’s goal.
- ISA is the first international body that will have a secretariat in India.
NATIONAL
- West Bengal, Maharashtra lead in small savings
- West Bengal, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu are among the top contributors to the national small savings, as per the latest finance ministry data on small savings up to December. Further, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh account for about 30% of the country’s total small savings kitty.
- The central government-run savings schemes, such as Public Provident Fund (PPF), Sukanya Samriddhi, Kisan Vikas Patra (KVP), National Savings Certificate (NSC) and time deposits, are offered by post offices and public sector banks.
- Interestingly, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh fared quite well with their citizens saving an impressive over Rs 24,300 crore, out of the country’s total net small savings of Rs 1.14 lakh crore. Bihar’s share in the overall savings kitty was a little over Rs 3,235 crore, Madhya Pradesh at Rs 3,670 crore, Rajasthan at Rs 5,000 crore, Uttar Pradesh at around Rs 10,980 crore and Chhattisgarh at Rs 1,646 crore. Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh account for more than half (52%) of the total 27 crore poor in the country.
- Odisha contributed a good Rs 3,932 crore to the national small savings kitty.
- As compared to the poor states, ‘better-off’ states like Punjab and Haryana accounted for Rs 3,815 crore and Rs 4,264 crore in the overall net savings collections.
- Among southern states, Tamil Nadu is the topmost state with over Rs 8,931 crore net savings, followed by Karnataka at Rs 6,562 crore, Kerala at Rs 3,115 crore, Andhra Pradesh at Rs 3,057 crore and Telangana at Rs 1,423 crore.
- Hilly states like Himachal contributed Rs 2,629 crore and Jammu and Kashmir Rs 952 crore.
- Of the north eastern states, Assam had the highest net savings collections at Rs 1,742 crore. Tripura and Meghalaya were a distant second and third with savings of Rs 441 crore and Rs 151 crore, respectively.
- The interest rate on small savings ranged between 7.7% and 8.7%. While the interest rate on PPF and NSC is at 8%, Kisan Vikas Patra, Sukanya Samriddhi, Senior Citizens Savings scheme fetched 7.7%, 8.5% and 8.7%, respectively. For savings and time deposits, the rate of interest stands at 4% and 7%.