KERALA

Kerala tops, Bihar fares worst in child index

Kerala emerged on top while Bihar fared the worst in outcomes linked to health, nutrition and cognitive growth of children in the 0-6 years age group, based on a comparative analysis of public data for 2005-06 and 2015-16. Based on the outcome indicators, the overall India score on a scale of 0-1 adds up to 0.585, far from impressive, though it reflects an improvement of 0.142 over the score of 0.443 in 2005-06.

The findings —Young Child Outcomes Index (YCOI)— are part of the “State of the Young Child in India” report, brought out by civil society organisation Mobile Creches and supported by Bernard Van Leer Foundation.

The report, released by Vice President Venkaiah Naidu on Friday, also presents a Young Child Environment Index (YCEI) for 2015-16, concluding that the indices make one thing clear that states with better circumstances tend to have better young child outcomes.

YCOI takes into account three major components—health, nutrition and cognitive growth— and the respective indicators selected include infant mortality rate, stunting and net attendance at the primary school level. The YCEI is based on indices using data related to various indicators on gender, poverty, health, safe water supply and education.

The India score for 2015-16 for the child environment Index is 0.672 . Kerala and Goa are the top two states in both indices while Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh are among the bottom five. YCOI, Kerala leads with an impressive score of 0.858 in 2015-16. Goa comes second with a score of 0.817 in 2015-16.

On the YCEI, Kerala yet again tops the child environment index (0.855), followed by Goa (0.846) and Sikkim (0.819). Arunachal Pradesh has the lowest score with 0.533 followed by Manipur at (0.537) and Jharkhand (0.578).

INTERNATIONAL

India launches first ever cargo ferry with Maldives

The first ever Cargo Ferry Service between India and the Maldives was jointly launched, opening a new chapter in connectivity initiatives in the Indian Ocean Region.

The Cargo Ferry Vessel MCP Linz operated by the Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) will connect Tuticorin and Cochin ports in India with Kulhudhuhfushi and Male ports in the Maldives.

The MCP Linz is a combination vessel which can carry 380 TEUs and 3000 MT on bulk cargo, and will have a turnaround time of 10-12 days for its voyages, officials said.

This vessel provides direct cargo connectivity between India and the Maldives on a predictable and affordable basis for the first time, and will lower costs and times for traders in both countries.

PM Narendra Modi awarded Ig Nobel Prize 2020 for medical education

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been awarded the Ig Nobel Prize 2020 for Medical Education.

Modi was awarded the prize for “using the COVID-19 pandemic to teach the world that politicians can have a more immediate effect on life and death than scientists and doctors can”.

Besides Modi, the medical education prize was jointly awarded to Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil, Boris Johnson of the United Kingdom, Andrés Manuel López Obrador of Mexico, Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus, Donald Trump of the USA, Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, Vladimir Putin of Russia, and Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow of Turkmenistan.

Not to be confused with the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize, the Ig Nobel Prize is a satirical and parody award given out by a magazine Improbable Research every year since 1991.

Modi became the second Indian Prime Minister to be awarded the Ig Nobel Prize. In 1998, then-PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan were awarded the Ig Nobel Peace Prize for “aggressively peaceful explosions of atomic bombs.”

World Rhino Day is observed on 22 September

World Rhino Day is observed on 22 September. The day is observed to celebrate the world’s five rhinoceros species and to reflect on the challenges facing them. The day encourages people to take steps for the conservation of Rhinos.

There are 5 rhino species living in Africa and Asia. Three of the species namely Javan Rhinos, Sumatran rhinos and black rhinos are listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as Critically Endangered. One of the 5 species White rhinos are considered near threatened, and greater one-horned rhinos (Rhinoceros unicornis) vulnerable to extinction.

NATIONAL

Center Approved Rs.600 Crore Outlay for Street Vendors under PM Svanidhi Scheme

Amid the Corona crisis, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs had launched Prime Minister Street Vendor’s Amta Nirbhar Nidhi Scheme (PM SVANidhi) on June 01, 2020 which aims to facilitate collateral free working capital loans upto Rs 10,000 of 1 year tenure, to about 50 lakh street vendors across the country.

According to recent reports, the approved outlay for PM SVANidhi scheme is Rs.600.00 crores.

It also provides for incentives in the form of interest subsidy @ 7% per annum on regular repayment of loan and cash-back upto Rs. 100 per month on undertaking prescribed digital transactions.

Further, on timely or early repayment, the vendors will be eligible for the next cycle of working capital loan with an enhanced limit.

For the purpose of scheme administration, an end-to-end solution through an IT platform has been developed in collaboration with Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI).

Centre launched National Conservation Strategy for Indian One-Horned Rhino

Environment Ministry launched a National Conservation Strategy for Indian One-Horned Rhino. It was launched by the Union Minister Prakash Javadekar. The conservation initiatives for rhino has also enriched the grassland management as it helps in reducing the negative impacts of climate change.

The Strategy was launched to conserve the greater one-horned rhinoceros.

It aims to work for the conservation of the rhino species under five objectives namely strengthening protection, expanding the distribution range, research, monitoring, and adequate and sustained funding.

India is home to a huge number of Greater One-Horned Rhinoceros in the world. The population of the Rhinos are high in number in Assam, West Bengal and UP. In the beginning of the 20th Century, One-horned rhino was close to extinction with a population of less than 200. Rhino is the only large mammal species in Asia to be down-listed from endangered to vulnerable in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List in 2008.

Government launched YuWaah, a multi-stakeholder platform to make young people career ready

Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports and United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) have signed a Statement of Intent (SoI) with Generation Unlimited (GenU), a global multi-stakeholder platform in India, to establish YuWaah, to make young people career ready. This information was passed by the Union Minister of State (IC) for Youth Affairs and Sports Kiren Rijiju.

The project aims to:

Support young people by providing entrepreneurship classes, both online and offline, with successful entrepreneurs and experts. The aim is to establish an entrepreneurial mindset among young people.

Boost the skills of the 21st-century young people, digital skills, life skills, through online and offline channels and support them through self-learning, for their productive lives and the future of work.

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