GOA

• Goa: Mandatory ID cards for all school teachers soon

 

• Soon, teachers in schools across Goa, including contract teachers, will have to compulsorily wear identity cards during their school duty hours. The directives have come from the central government and the state has already been sanctioned a grant to prepare the cards for 2,216 primary school teachers and 572 secondary school teachers.

 

• The cards are meant to ensure the presence of actual teachers deployed in a school and in identifying proxy teachers. The Union human resource development ministry has started assessing schools using a 70-point Performance Grading Index. The index assesses areas of deficiency in each state’s school education system so that targeted interventions can be made at every level from pedagogy to teacher training.

 

• The move has been initiated under the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan and an initial amount of Rs two lakh has been approved for Goa, where the card will be made at Rs 50 each.

 

• The card will include the name of the school with the HRD-provided code for the school, full address of the school with block, village, district, and designation of the teacher.

INTERNATIONAL

·       World food day is observed on 16 October

• World Food Dayis observed on 16 October every year. The day is observed every year by people from around the world. The day aims totackle global hunger. On this day, people reaffirm their commitment to eradicate worldwide hunger for a lifetime.

 

• The theme for 2019 is Our Actions Are Our Future. Healthy Diets for A #ZeroHunger World. The diet and eating habits of the people have changed because of urbanization and income growth. It causes obesity and other related diseases among the people. The theme focuses on creating awareness about a healthy and nutritional diet.

 

·       Eliud Kipchoge First in World To Run A Marathon In Under 2 Hours

• Kenya’s Eliud Kipchogemade history busting the mythical two-hour barrier marathon on a specially prepared course in a huge Vienna park. The unofficial time completed by him was 1hr 59min 40.2sec.

 

• The world marathon record has, for the past 16 years, been contested uniquely between athletes from Kenya and Ethiopia. The two nations are also fierce rivals for distance medals on the track.

 

 

NATIONAL

·       CBIC to launch new scheme to attract investment

ð The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) launched a new scheme to promote investments in India. The scheme also aims to enhance the ease of doing business.

ð The scheme will enable the Make in India programme. The investment will encourage exports, repair & refurbishment operations, create hubs for electronics assembly, inward and outward processing, facilitate global e-commerce hubs etc.

 

• CBIC partnered with Invest Indiato launch a dedicated microsite to providing information. Also, the partnership will promote the scheme and facilitate the investors.

 

·       Tenth edition of Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav is celebrated in Maharashtra

• The10th edition of Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsavwas inaugurated by Governor of Madhya Pradesh, Shri Lalji Tandon. The festival aims to celebrate India’s plural traditions and culture under Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat Matrix.

 

• The aim is to celebrate World culture history and praise India, which has retained its culture even after several invasions and attempts at colonization.

 

• Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav is hosted in Madhya Pradesh, as it is the cultural capital of India.

 

• A week-long diversified cultural carnival is celebrated in the cities of Jabalpur, Sagar, and Rewaof Madhya Pradesh from 14th October to 21st October 2019.

 

• Craftsmen-artists-culture practitioners from different states of India will be participating in the festival.

 

 

 

• Scientists to conduct the largest DNA barcoding of spiders in India

 

• Scientists from the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) undertook a barcode of at least 100 species of spiders based on their DNA. It is the largest exercise on DNA barcoding of spiders from India.

 

• DNA barcoding is a method used to quickly identify any species based on extracting a DNA sequence from a tiny tissue sample of any organism. In other words, it is the molecular signature of a species based on its genes.

 

 

 

• Centre to amend the Indian Arms Act

 

• Union Home Ministry proposed amendments to the Indian Arms Act, 1959. The Ministry also submitted the draft for the act. The draft Arms (Amendment) Act 2019 was aimed at curtailing the proliferation of arms and ammunition.

 

• The ministry proposed a new section, 25 (6) for the prohibition of firearms or ammunition by members of an organised crime syndicate.

 

• The penalty includes a minimum punishment of 10 years in prison and maximum punishment of life imprisonment till death.

 

• The draft of the proposed law covers five new areas namely illegal trafficking of arms, tracking arms and their components from manufacturers to end-users, organized crime, organized crime syndicates, and celebratory firing. The punishment for these offences differs accordingly.