Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan(ANBA)
7-Jul-2023: Aatmanirbhar Bharat: MoD & HAL sign Rs 458 crore contract for two upgraded Dornier Aircraft for Indian Coast Guard
Ministry of Defence signed, in New Delhi on July 07, 2023, a contract with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for procurement of two Dornier Aircraft for Indian Coast Guard (ICG) along with associated Engineering Support package at an overall cost of Rs 458.87 crore. The aircraft will be procured under the Buy (Indian) Category.
The aircraft will be fitted with a number of advanced equipment viz., Glass Cockpit, Maritime Patrol Radar, Electro Optic Infra-Red device, Mission Management System etc. The addition will further bolster the aerial surveillance capability of maritime areas of responsibilities of the ICG.
Performance Grading Index (PGI)
7-Jul-2023: Ministry of Education releases report on Performance Grading Index 2.0 for States/UTs for the year 2021-22.
The Indian Education System is one of the largest in the world with about 14.9 lakh schools, 95 lakh teachers, and nearly 26.5 crore students from varied socio-economic backgrounds. Department of School Education & Literacy, Ministry of Education, devised Performance Grading Index (PGI) for States and UTs which assesses the performance of school education system at the State/UT level by creating an index for comprehensive analysis. The PGI - States/UTs was first released for the year 2017-18 and so far, has been released up to the year 2020-21.
Over the period, many of the indicators in PGI – States/UTs have been outlived and become redundant. Also, the structure of PGI – States/UTs has been heavily tilted towards the indicators related to Governance Processes rather than the quality indicators. Therefore, to have more updated base with quality indicators, to align with new initiatives of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, to monitor indicators relating to Goal 4 of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and to replace existing indicators which have achieved optimal target, the PGI – State structure for 2021-22 has been revised and renamed as PGI 2.0. In PGI 2.0 , the data source for many of the indicators has been the data from UDISE+ and the grades have been aligned with the PGI - District to have uniformity and better comparability.
United Nation’s Economic and Social Commission for Asia Pacific's (UNESCAP)
7-Jul-2023: Outstanding performance by India in United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia Pacific's (UNESCAP) Global Survey on Digital and Sustainable Trade Facilitation
India continues to demonstrate its commitment to digital and sustainable trade facilitation, as evidenced by its outstanding performance in the recently released United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia Pacific's (UNESCAP) Global Survey on Digital and Sustainable Trade Facilitation. The 2023 survey, covering more than 140 economies and evaluating 60 trade facilitation measures, has positioned India at the forefront of global trade facilitation efforts, with an impressive score of 93.55% in 2023 vis a vis 90.32% in 2021.