Ministry of Education’s report on Performance Grading Index of States/UTs

Paper 2 – Education

Why You Should Know?

The Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Education today released the Performance Grading Index (PGI) for States/UTs for 2020-21, a unique index for evidence based comprehensive analysis of school education system across State/UTs.

In detail –

• So far, the Department of School Education and Literacy has released PGI reports for the years 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20. The current report is for the year 2020-21.
• The Indian education system is one of the largest education systems in the world with around 14.9 lakh schools, 95 lakh teachers and around 26.5 crore students from different socio-economic backgrounds.
• The Department of School Education and Literacy has prepared PGI for all States/UTs to provide insights and data driven arrangements on performance and achievements regarding success of school education in all States/UTs.

Objective

• PGI’s main objective is to promote evidence-based policy making and outline curriculum reform to ensure quality education for all.
• The ultimate objective of PGI is to encourage states and UTs to undertake multi-pronged interventions, which will assist in achieving the desired optimal education outcome covering all dimensions.
• It is expected that PGI will help states and UTs identify deficiencies, thereby prioritising areas for intervention, to ensure that the school education system is robust at every level.

Indicators

• 1000 marks have been included in 70 indicators for PGI structure, which are divided into 2 categories, Outcome and Governance Management (GM).
• These categories are further divided into 5 sub-categories;  Learning outcomes (LO), accessibility (A), infrastructure and facilities (IF), similarity (E) and governance process (GP).
• As was done in previous years, PGI 2020-21 has decided to provide states/UTs. The states/UTs have been classified into ten categories, the highest Grading being Level 1, for a state/UT scoring more than 950 marks out of a total of 1000 marks.
• The lowest Grading level is 10, for marks less than 551.

Performance of states

• A total of 7 States and UTs – Kerala, Punjab, Chandigarh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh – have achieved Level II (score 901-950) in 2020-21, while no State/UT was included in this level in 2017-18.
• There were 4 states/UTs in this level in 2019-20.
• Gujarat, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh are the new states to achieve the highest level achieved by any state so far.
• The newly created Union Territory, Ladakh has made significant improvements in terms of PGI in 2020-21 by securing level 4 from level 8, i.e. improved its marks by 299 points in 2020-21 over 2019-20, the highest ever improvement in a year.

Significance

• The PGI marks and categories obtained by the States/UTs in 2020-21 present evidence of the PGI system being effective.
• Indicator-wise PGI points reflect areas in which a state needs to improve.
• PGI will show the performance on a uniform scale with respect to all states/UTs, encouraging them to adopt the best practices adopted by the better performers.

Source – PIB

 

 

4^th stage of GRAP implemented in Delhi-NCR

Paper 3 –Pollution

Why You Should Know?

Due to air pollution in Delhi-NCR, the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) has implemented Stage 4 of graded Response Action Plan (GRAP)  in Delhi-NCR on November 3, 2022

In detail –

• The air quality in the National Capital Region is expected to deteriorate further in the coming days.
• In view of the meteorological adverse conditions, the sub-committee of the Commission for Air Quality (CAQM) for NCR and adjoining areas today held an emergency meeting to take action under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP).
• During this time, fast and much needed steps were discussed in view of pollution in Delhi-NCR. As per the dynamic model and meteorological forecast,  the overall air quality in Delhi is likely to remain in the ‘severe/severe+’ category from November 3, 2022 to November 5, 2022.
• During the meeting, the Commission, while comprehensively reviewing the overall air quality standards, found that due to slow wind speed and increasing cases of crop burning in the fields, it has become necessary to implement the fourth phase of GRAP – ‘Severe + Air Quality (Delhi AQI>450)’ with immediate effect.
• This is an anti-pollution precautionary measure to prevent the NCR air from getting worse.
• The next comprehensive review will take place on November 6, 2022 and the GRAP measures will be further decided based on air quality forecast and other meteorological parameters.

Impact of GRAP 4 in Delhi-NCR?

• Entry of all trucks with essential goods/essential services and all CNG/electric trucks prohibited
• Ban on diesel-run medium (MGV) and large vehicles (HGVs) registered in Delhi except vehicles dealing with supply of essential goods/essential services
• Diesel-run four-wheelers, except BS-VI vehicles and those connected with essential/emergency services, banned in Delhi and adjoining NCR districts
• Shut down all industries using fuel other than PNG in NCR, even in areas where there is no PNG infrastructure and supply but are still running on fuel other than the approved list for NCR
• However, industries like milk and dairy units and those involved in production/ manufacture of life saving medical devices, medicines will be exempted from the above restrictions.
• highway, road, Flyover, overbridge, Restrictions on C&D activities in public projects like power transmission etc.
• State governments in Delhi-NCR may decide to give work from home to 50 per cent of employees in their offices and private offices
• The central government can also decide that it should implement work from home in its office
• State Governments may take additional emergency decisions related to closure of schools/colleges/educational institutions, closure of non-emergency business activities and odd-even on trains etc.

 About  Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP)

• As per the Supreme Court order regarding air quality in the National Capital Territory of Delhi,  a Graded Response Action Plan has been prepared for implementation under various Air Quality Indices (AQIs).
• This action plan was described  in  four categories –
• Moderate to Poor
• Very Poor
• Severe category
• Severe + or emergency
• The scheme was notified by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change  in the year 2017.

When is it implemented?

• Stage-1  of the GRAP is implemented as soon as the  Air Quality Index (AQI)  falls into ‘poor’ (201  to 300).
• Stage-2 AQI in ‘very poor’ category (301 to 400)
• Stage-3 ‘severe’ category (401 to 450) and
• Stage-4 is applied when it falls in the  ‘very severe’ category (above 450).
• Significantly, the AQI in Delhi-NCR crossed 400  in the severe category on Thursday.

Sources – BS

Monaloa volcano

Paper 1 – Geography

Why You Should Know?

Recently, scientists said that The Maunaloa volcano is very turbulent and looking at the recent movements, it seems that it can erupt anytime.

In detail –

• People living on the Big Island in the US state of Hawaii are constantly at risk of the eruption of The Maunaloa volcano.
• Mauna Loa, the world’s largest active volcano, is bustling and looks like it could erupt anytime.
• Monaloa is an active volcano. It is one of the 5 volcanoes in Hawaii, USA.
• An active volcano often erupts and erupts. Its mouth is always open and from time to time lava, smoke and other substances keep coming out and cones are formed, while the dormant volcano has not erupted for a long time but its possibilities remain.
• Scientists say that the volcano did not necessarily erupt, but in the last few days, the sooner the earthquakes have occurred on the top of the volcano, the risk has definitely increased.
• An earthquake measuring 5.0 on the Richter scale hit Mauna Loa on October 14. According to the US Geological Survey, the volcano experienced several back-to-back earthquakes and mild tremors later.

Danger signal

• If the volcano, which last erupted in 1984, erupts again, its lava will take only a few hours for people to reach their homes.
• About 2 00,000 people live on the Big Island.
• The vastness of Mauna Loa volcano can be gauged from the fact that it surrounds more than half of the entire Hawaii  .

Increasing population

• Hawaii’s Big Island used to have 92,000 people in 1980, and now the population here has increased to more than 2 00,000.
• Many of these people are those who were not even born 38 years ago when this volcano last erupted.
• Mauna Loa is much larger than its neighbour Kilayua volcano that devastated 700 homes in 2018.
• Even in 1950, when this volcano erupted, its lava in the sea took only 3 hours to cover a distance of 24 kilometers.

Source –IE

Smuggling of Tiger Organs

Paper 3 – Biodiversity

Why You Should Know?

According to a recent new report “Skin and Bones”, India is the first in smuggling tiger organs, it has also overtaken China.

In detail –

• On the one hand, where continuous efforts are being made to save tigers in the country, at the same time, their illegal trade is also flourishing in India.
• In the last 23 years, a total of 2,205 incidents of illegal trafficking have been reported worldwide, of which 34 per cent or 759 incidents have been reported in India alone.
• Which is equivalent to 893 i.e. 26 percent of the tigers seized. This is followed by 212 incidents in China and 207 i.e. 9 per cent in Indonesia.
• According to a new report “Skin and Bones” released by the international organization Traffic,  while weakening conservation efforts, hunters are targeting tigers for their skin, bones and other body parts.
• According to the report, on an average, about 150 tigers and their organs have been seized during illegal smuggling every year in the last 23 years.
• According to the report, in the last 23 years, between January 2000 and June 2022, these incidents of smuggling of tigers and their organs have been reported in 50 countries and territories, in which organs equivalent to a total of 3,377 tigers have been smuggled.
• There are now only 4,500 tigers left in the world, of which 2,967 are in India. It is estimated that at the beginning of the 20th century, their number was more than one lakh.
• In such a situation, if they continue to be hunted and smuggled in this way, then this day is not far when this huge cat species will soon become extinct in the world.
• Significantly, their seizures have been made from 50 countries and territories, but a large part of it was from 13 countries where tigers can still be seen in forests.
• The report revealed that of the number of smuggling incidents reported in the last 23 years, tiger skins were recovered in 902 incidents. Subsequently, the entire tiger was recovered in 608 incidents and their bones in 411 incidents.
• Traffic has warned that these incidents of recovery reflect their large-scale illegal trade, but they are not a complete picture of their illegal trade as in many cases these incidents are not reported.

Condition in India and Vietnam

• Although the report is to be believed, the incidence of recovery of tigers and their organs has decreased since 2018, but despite this, india and Vietnam have recorded an increase in such incidents.
• It is learnt that these incidents of seizures in Vietnam have registered an increase of 185 per cent in the last four years.
• Traffic has informed that most of the tigers seized in Thailand and Vietnam are suspected to be derived from facilities kept for conservation, indicating that the role of these captive facilities in promoting illegal trade of tigers and their organs cannot be ruled out.
• It is learnt that 81 per cent of the recoveries in Thailand were linked to tiger captive facilities such as zoos, breeding farms, etc. as against 67 per cent in Vietnam.
• According to the figures revealed in the report, the situation remains critical even in the first half of 2022.
• During this period, Indonesia, Thailand and Russia have recorded a significant increase in seizure incidents compared to January to June in the last two decades.
• Indonesia alone has reported about 18 tiger-equivalent illegal trafficking incidents in the first six months of 2022, more than the total number of trafficked tigers reported in 2021.
• Traffic has also identified 675 social media accounts involved in smuggling tigers and their organs into Southeast Asia indicating that the illicit trade of the threatened species is now spreading rapidly online as well.
• About 75 per cent of these accounts were based in Vietnam, the data showed.

Tiger Conservation in India

• Tiger is one of the major species among wildlife. In 1973, officials found that the tiger population had dropped from an estimated 5,000 to 1,827 at the beginning of the century.
• There are many major crises for the tiger population such as poaching for trade, compressed habitat, lack of prey base species, increasing human population, etc.
• The trade of tiger skins and the use of their bones in Chinese traditional medicine, especially in Asian countries, have been left on the verge of extinction of tiger populations.
• Since India and Nepal provide habitat to about two-thirds of the tiger population in the world, these two nations became major targets of poaching and illegal trade.

Project Tiger

• Project Tiger is a tiger conservation programme that was launched by the Government of India in April 1973.
• The project aims to ensure a viable population of Bengal tigers in their natural habitats, protect it from extinction and preserve areas of biological importance as natural heritage that represent the diversity of ecosystems in the tiger range in the country.
• The project’s task force saw these tiger reserves as breeding centres, allowing surplus animals to move to adjacent forests.
• Funds and commitment were raised to support an intensive programme of housing conservation and rehabilitation under the project.
• Tiger conservation has been viewed with equal importance not just as an effort to save an endangered species, but as a means of preserving biospecies of large magnitude.
• Jim Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand, Sundarbans National Park in West Bengal, Bandhavgarh National Park in Madhya Pradesh, Sariska National Park in Rajasthan, Manas National Park in Assam and Periyar National Park in Kerala are some of the tiger reserves in India.

Sources – DE

 

Child Welfare Police Officer (CWPO)

Paper 2 –  Social Justice

Why You Should Know?

Recently, the Home Ministry asked states to appoint child welfare police officers

In detail –

• Acting on an advisory issued by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights,  the Home Ministry referred to the provisions of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, which seeks to nominate at least one officer,
• In every police station, this officer  who will not be below the rank of an Assistant Sub-Inspector, CWPO.
• In a note to all DGPs,  the Home Ministry said the commission has further requested that a special juvenile police unit be set up in each district and city headed by an officer not below the rank of deputy superintendent of police.

Structure

• The unit will consist of a CWPO having experience of working in the field of child welfare and two social workers, one of whom will be a woman, who will coordinate all the work of the police with regard to children.
• The contact details of CWPO should be displayed in all police stations so that the public can get in touch.

Crimes against children

• The advisory comes in the backdrop of an increasing number of crimes against children,  including murders and offences under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
• According to data published by the National Crime Records Bureau, the total number of crimes against children increased from 1,28,531 in 2020 to 1,49,404 in 2021.
• Madhya Pradesh tops the country with 19,173 cases, followed by Uttar Pradesh with 16,838 cases.
• A total of 1,402 children were murdered in 1,279 cases registered across the country.
• NCRB data shows that 1,15,414 cases of kidnapping and abduction of 1,18,549 children were reported in 2021. Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh top these cases.

Sources – TH

Urban Mobility India (UMI) Conference

Paper 3 – Infrastructure

Why You Should Know?

The Union Ministry  of Housing and Urban Affairs is organizing the 15th Urban Mobility India (UMI) Conference and Exhibition 2022  in Kochi on November 4,  2022.

In detail –

• The event is being organised in collaboration with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs,  Government of Kerala  from  November 4 to 6, 2022 at Hotel Grand Hyatt Kochi. 
• The event will be attended by senior officials of central and state government policy makers, managing directors of metro rail companies, chief executive officers of transport undertakings, international experts, professionals, academicians and students.

What is Urban Mobility India Conference?

• The National Urban Transport Policy (NUTP) of the Government of India, 2006 inter-alia lays emphasis on building capacities at the State and city level to address the problems associated with urban transport and lays down guidelines for equitable and sustainable development of the urban transport system for all sections of the society.
• As a part of the National Urban Transport Policy (NUTP) announcements, the ministry has taken the initiative to hold an annual international conference–exhibition on Urban Mobility India,  popularly known as Urban Mobility India – UMI.

Objective

• The primary objective of this conference is to  disseminate information to cities whose officials participate in the conference to help them stay updated with the latest and best urban transport practices globally.
• The conference provides an opportunity to interact with other professionals, technology and service providers,  both domestic and international, so that delegates can take with them new ideas to develop urban transport along a sustainable path.
• The event provides an opportunity for national and international experts, technology and service providers, policy makers, businessmen and urban transport sector officials to sit together.

UMI-2022

• This year, the Urban Mobility India (UMI) conference and expo will focus on the theme of “Azadi@75 – Sustainable Self-Sustainable Urban Mobility”.
• It will focus on designing and implementing efficient, high quality and sustainable transportation systems in cities.
• The rapid development of information technology and innovations in this field are enabling maximum use of transportation systems to meet the mobility needs of all.
• Innovations have led to a wide range of transportation options, making the options available to passengers wider.
• Metro Neo and Metro Lite,  for example, have emerged as low-cost alternatives to metro rail and can serve as good alternatives for medium-sized cities.
• Cities are planning innovative communication services to serve local areas, reducing the need for private motor vehicles.

Source – PIB

 

 

Ganga Utsav-2022

Paper 3 – Environment

Why You Should Know?

 The National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) of the Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation under the Ministry of Jal Shakti  is organizing Ganga Utsav – Nadi Mahotsav 2022 in New Delhi on November 4, 2022.

In detail –

The festival is being held in two sessions. Union Minister for Culture, Tourism and North Eastern Region Shri G. Kishan Reddy will be the Chief Guest at the morning session.

Objective

• One of the main objectives of Ganga Utsav 2022 is to celebrate the festival of our rivers and spread awareness on the importance of river rejuvenation in river valleys in India.
• Dedicating 75 years of Indian independence (Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav) to the grand event, it aims to organise similar events at more than 75 places in different states to celebrate the festival of India’s rivers.

Various Activities

• Various activities of Ganga Utsav will take place realistically and virtually at the central, state and district levels.
• Various activities of Ganga Utsav will be held at central, state and district levels.
• Those who have made major contributions to the Clean Ganga Fund will be felicitated by the Union Jal Shakti Minister.
• Earth Ganga will be the major focus area as it aims to establish people’s links with rivers.
• District Ganga Committees will be formed to ensure increased participation in Ganga Utsav.
• The small food festival will be part of Ganga Utsav 2022.
• A film screening and storytelling session will also be held.
• Ganga Utsav 2022 is being developed as a model for river festivals.

Ganga Utsav 2022

• Ganga Utsav 2022 will be an exciting blend of art, culture, music, knowledge, poetry, dialogues and stories.
• Ganga Utsav 2022 will have a number of activities like puppet shows, film screenings, paintings, pottery and nest making workshops, book stalls to engage the youth.
• There will also be a small food festival as part of Ganga Mahotsav 2022. On this occasion,  food stalls from Uttarakhand, Uttar  Pradesh, Bihar,  Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and West Bengal will be set up for the feast of the people.
• A dedicated children’s activity area will be organised by GIZ and Tree Craze Foundation, which will enthrall the youth with fun activities for rejuvenation of rivers.
• Ganga Utsav 2022- Nadi Mahotsav is being developed as a model for river festivals that aims to connect people with rivers and propagate its importance.
• This is being done by bringing celebrities, dignitaries and affected people from different walks of life on one platform and celebrating the festival by bringing awareness to keep the rivers clean and healthy.
• All mediums including print and digital are being used to reach out to as many people as possible.
• Apart from this,  efforts have been made to organize Ganga Utsav 2022 in such a way that it ensures huge participation of grassroots organizations, grassroots workers of volunteers and district administrators and makes it a truly public participation program.
• The festival will continue at various levels and will have activities through a huge population of partners, stakeholders and volunteers through various central and district level  forums, who are joining the campaign to clean rivers, ecosystems and environment.

Earth Ganga Initiative  –

• Ganga Utsav 2022 will also have Artha Ganga as its focus area as it aims to connect people with rivers through the “bridge of economics” and will be an excellent platform to publicise the importance of rivers along with employment generation initiatives.
• Under the Earth Ganga model, natural farming, ghat pe haat, jalaj, training of Ganga sevaks, Ganga artisans etc. are included.
• The six important verticals of Artha Ganga include zero-budget natural farming, monetisation and reuse of sludge and wastewater, livelihood generation, public participation, cultural heritage and tourism and institutional buildings.
• The NMCG has already organised several workshops to motivate farmers to shift to natural farming along the Ganga basin.   Hundreds of farmers had participated in the workshops/trainings held in Shirdi, Bulandshahr, Sonipat and Haridwar.

National River –

• The National Mission for Clean Ganga has been celebrating Ganga Utsav on November 4 every year since 2017. On this day in 2008, river Ganga was declared the national river of India.
• National Mission for Clean Ganga, Wildlife Institute of India (WII), INTACH, GIZ, National Book Trust, Ganga Task Force,  Ganga Vichar Manch, NGOs, Schools,  Colleges, Resident Commissioners, State Tourism Department, State Cultural Units , Tree Craze Foundation, APAC, in collaboration with Water Digest and other stakeholders is organising Ganga Utsav 2022.

Background of Ganga Utsav

• Initially, the festival began in the year, 2017  with a small event involving limited stakeholders in the form of ‘  Ek Sham Ganga Ke Naam’.
• With the help of international consortium like Indo-German cooperation,  the programme later evolved into ‘Bal Ganga Mela’ in the year 2018. Bal Ganga Mela 2018 was organised in association with HCL Foundation.
• In the year 2019, the event progressed as a carnival, which saw enthusiastic participation of thousands of people with a focused approach towards involving school students and youth.
• The third edition of Ganga Utsav 2020 was a three-day virtual event and is steadily increasing in size as a river festival.
• The event is an interesting amalgamation of technology and cultural programmes. Despite Covid restrictions, the festival was a huge success with over 3 lakh registrations and participants from across the country participated through video conference and other social media platforms.
• The three-day Ganga Utsav had witnessed a national presence by lakhs of people and the global audience watched the live telecast of various activities.
• It also brought together several partners  , stakeholders, communities and volunteers who helped conduct activities at the grassroots level and connected people to the Ganga and its ecosystem.
• Ganga Utsav 2021- Nadi  Mahotsav was celebrated as part of the celebration of ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’. While the main event was held for three days in New Delhi.
• Even after November 3, 2021, many programs and activities were organized at the district and village level. The celebration of rivers was held on a continuous basis and large-scale public interaction activities were conducted.
• Another unique feature of Ganga Utsav 2021 was the collaborative partnership between various government and non-governmental entities. It included community support as well as volunteers who connected people to the Ganga and pledged to keep the rivers clean and healthy.

Sources –PIB

Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDICE+) Report

Paper 2 – Education

Why You Should Know?

Recently, the Ministry of Education has released the detailed report of The Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDICE+) 2021-22 on School Education of India.

In detail –

• The online data collection system called Udice+ from schools was developed  by the Department of School Education and Literacy in the year 2018-19 to get rid of the hassles arising out of the old pattern of paperwork based manual compilation of data.
• The Udice+ system has improved data collection, data estimation and data authentication in particular.
• In UDICE+ 2021-22, data is collected in addition to important indicators such as digital library,  learning from classmates, identification of difficult things, number of books in the school library,  etc., so that they can be reconciled with the initiatives of the New Education Policy.

Highlights of the report

Students and Teachers in School

• A total of 25.57 crore students were enrolled in schools from primary to higher secondary in 2021-22 as against 25.38 crore in 2020-21.
• Thus, the number of students enrolled registered an increase of 19.36 lakh.
• In the year 2021-22, the enrollment of scheduled caste students increased by 4.82 crore, while in the year 2020-21, there was only 4.78 crore enrollment.
• Similarly, the enrolment of ST students was 2.51 crore in 2021-22 as against 2.49 crore in 2020-21.
• The enrolment of additional backward class students stood at 11.48 crore in 2021-22 as against 11.35 crore in 2020-21.
• Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) indicates the normal level of entry into education. The year 2021-22 saw an improvement in the gross enrolment ratio in primary, upper primary and higher secondary level school education as compared to 2020-21.
• It is noteworthy that higher secondary schools registered an improvement in GER of 53.8 per cent in 2020-21 and 57.6 per cent in 2021-22.
• The enrolment of children with special needs (CWSNs) was recorded at 22.67 lakh in 2021-22 as against 21.91 lakh in 2020-21. Thus, it saw an improvement of 3.45 per cent over 2020-21.
• During 2021-22, 95.07 lakh teachers were engaged in school education, of which more than 51 per cent were teachers.
• Also, in 2021-22, the pupil-teacher ratio (PTR) was 26 in primary, 19 in upper primary, 18 in secondary and 27 in higher secondary.
• In this way, it has been continuously improving since the year 2018-19. The PTR during the year 2018-19 in primary, upper primary,  secondary and higher secondary was 28, 19, 21 and 30 respectively.
• In 2021-22, over 12.29 crore girl students had enrolled from primary to higher secondary. In this way, 2020-21 saw an increase of 8.19 lakh compared to the enrollment of girls.
• Ger’s Gender Equality Index (GPI) shows that given the population of girls in the same age group, the representation of girls in school education is at an appropriate level. The GPI value at all school education levels gives information on girls’ participation in school education.
• In 2021-22, the enrolment of SC students from primary to higher secondary increased to 4.83 crore from 4.78 crore enrolments in 2020-21.
• Similarly, the enrolment of ST students increased from 2.49 crore in 2020-21 to 2.51 crore in 2021-22 and obc students increased from 11.35 crore in 2020-21 to 11.49 crore in 2021-22.
• There were 14.89 lakh schools in 2021-22 as against 15.09 lakh in 2020-21. This reduction in the number of schools was mainly because private schools and other management schools were closed and clusters of schools were formed by different States.

School Infrastructure: Impact of Samagra Shiksha Yojana

The availability of infrastructure facilities in schools on the basis of 2021-22 is as follows:

• Electricity connection: 89.3%
• Drinking water: 98.2%
• Toilets for girls: 97.5%
• CWSN toilets: 27%
• Hand washing facility: 93.6%
• Playground: 77%
• Railing ramp for CWSN: 49.7%
• Library/Reading Room/Reading Space: 87.3%

Sustainable environmental initiatives for schools

• Kitchen Garden: 27.7%
• Rain water harvesting: 21%

Sources – PIB

New Uniform of Indian Army

Paper 3– Security

Why You Should Know?

Recently, the new design and camouflage pattern uniform of the Indian Army was registered in  the ‘Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)’

In detail –

• The registration has been published in the Official Journal of the Patent Office through issue no. 42/2022 dated 21 October 2022.
• The new digital pattern combat uniform for soldiers of the Indian Army was unveiled on January 15, 2022 (Army Day).
• The new uniform is better than before and it is contemporary and functionally well designed. The fabric of the uniform is lightweight,  strong, breathable, quick drying and easy to maintain.
• Special care has been taken while preparing women’s combat uniforms. Making gender specific adjustments makes the uniqueness of the new uniform clear.

Legal action

• The special ‘Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) of  design and camouflage patterns are now fully with the Indian Army.
• Therefore,  the manufacture of uniform by any vendor who is not authorised to do so shall be deemed to be involved in illegal activity and shall himself be liable to face legal action.
• The Indian Army can enforce specific rights of design under the arrangement and file lawsuits through civil action before a competent court against those who violate the rule.
• The action to be taken against violations includes interim and permanent prohibitory orders as well as fines.

 What is intellectual property rights?

• Intellectual property is  a music, literary work,   art, discovery, symbol, name, picture, design,  copyright, trademark,  patent, etc. created by a person or institution.
• Just as one is the owner of some physical property, one can also own intellectual property. Intellectual property rights are granted for this.
• You can control the use of your intellectual property and use it to create material wealth.
• In this way, intellectual property is protected due to its right and people are excited and eager for discovery and innovation.
• Under intellectual property law, the owner of intellectual property in this way gives certain rights to intangible property, such as music, instrumental literature, artistic work, discovery and invention, words, phrases,  symbols and any design.

Types of Intellectual Property

copyright

• grants creators authority  over their literary and artistic works.
• From books, music, painting, sculpture, and films to computer programs, databases, advertisements, maps, and technical drawings are works included in the copyright category.

patent

• A patent grants the patent owner the right to decide how – or whether – the invention can be used by others.
• In exchange for this right, the patent owner makes technical information about the invention publicly available in the published patent document.

trademark

• A trademark is a sign that is able to distinguish the goods or services of an enterprise from other enterprises.
• Trademarks date from ancient times when artisans used to put their signatures or “markings” on their products.

Industrial Design

• An industrial design constitutes the decorative or aesthetic aspect of an article.
• A design may include three-dimensional features, such as the shape or surface of an article, or two-dimensional features, such as patterns, lines, or colors.

geographical indication

• Geographical signs and names of origin are signs that are used on goods that have a specific geographical origin and that have qualities, reputations, or characteristics that are originally responsible for that place.
• Usually a geographical indication includes the name of the place of origin of the goods.

legal provision

Patents Act 1970 and Patents (Amendment) Act, 2005

• After independent India  , the Patent Act was enacted in the year 1970 and it was implemented from the year 1972.
• The Act was amended by the Patents (Amendment) Act, 2002 and the Patents (Amendment) Act, 2005.
• According to this amendment, ‘Product Patents’ were extended to all areas of technology. For example, it was expanded in the field of food items, pharmaceutical materials, etc.

Copyright Act, 1957

• This law was implemented across the country to protect intellectual property rights.

Trademark Act, 1999

• The Trademark Act includes words, symbols, sounds, colors, size of objects, etc.

The Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999

• This law ensures that no one other than the registered user can use the name of that prevalent product.

Design Act, 2000

• It provides protection to all kinds of industrial design.

National Intellectual Property Rights Policy, 2016

• Through this rights policy, intellectual property is protected and promoted in India.
• On May 12, 2016, the Government of India approved the National Intellectual Property Rights Policy.

Sources – PIB