World Cancer Day

Every year World Cancer Day (WCD) is being observed on 4 February across the world to raise awareness of cancer and to encourage its prevention, detection, and treatment. The theme (tagline) for year 2016 WCD is “We can. I can”. It reflects on what everyone can do to raise awareness of cancer and asks to take pledge and action in fight against cancer. The World Cancer Day 2016-2018 will seeks to explore how everyone- as individuals or as a collective – can do their part to reduce the burden of cancer globally. About World Cancer Day The Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) had founded the WCD in 2008 by formally writing the goals of the World Cancer Declaration. The primary goal of observing the day is to reduce illness and death caused by it by 2020. UICC:  It is Geneva based leading international non-governmental organisation (NGO) founded in 1933. Its purpose is to help the global health community to accelerate the fight against cancer. It has a membership of over 800 organisations spread across 155 countries.

Bihar Kosi Basin Development Project

Union Government has signed 250 million dollars Financing Agreement with World Bank for Bihar Kosi Basin Development Project. The loan has been sanctioned by the World Bank’s concessionary lending arm International Development Association (IDA). The loan has implementation period of 5 years and Bihar Government is the implementing agency. About Bihar Kosi Basin Development Project Project objective is to enhance: (i) Resilience to floods from Kosi River which is infamously dubbed as sorrow of Bihar and increase agricultural production and productivity of targeted districts along the river basin. (ii) States capacity to respond promptly and effectively to an eligible crisis or emergency. Five components of Project are: (i) Improving Flood Risk Management. (ii) Augmenting Connectivity. (iii) Enhancing Agricultural Productivity and Competitiveness. (iv) Implementation Support (v) Contingent Emergency Response. Primary beneficiaries of this Project: Rural households and producers in the Kosi River Basin who are regularly exposed to floods. It will mainly include farmers who have lost their agricultural lands by the devastating 2008 Kosi River Flood due to the silt deposition. It will also include farmers from the project area currently not having access to irrigation and other technologies, adequate transport network and improved agricultural practices.

ISRO successfully launched India’s fifth navigation IRNSS 1E satellite

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has successfully launched India’s fifth navigation Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System (IRNSS) 1E satellite. It was launched on board of PSLV-C31 rocket from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SHAR), Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. Key facts The IRNSS-1E weighs 1425 kilogram and has the mission life of 12 years. It equipped with two types of payloads viz. navigation payload and ranging devices. The navigation payload will be operating in L5-band and S-band along with and highly accurate Rubidium atomic clock. It will be mainly used to transmit navigation service signals to the users. The ranging payload consists of a C-band transponder. It will facilitate accurate determination of the range of the satellite. About Indian Regional Navigation Satellite system (IRNSS) IRNSS consists of constellation of seven satellites of which three are geostationary and four are non-geostationary. This satellite system aims to provide real-time data on the position of objects to aid road, air and maritime traffic. It will also provide mapping and tracking services. It would provide two types of services viz. Restricted Service (RS) which is an encrypted service provided to authorised users and Standard Positioning Service (SPS) to all users. IRNSS is similar to other satellite navigation service providers like US GPS (Global Positioning System), Russia’s Glonass, Europe’s Galileo, Japan’s Quasi Zenith and China’s Beidou.

NASA launched the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has successfully launched the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying Jason-3 Ocean-monitoring satellite. It was launched from California’s Vandenberg Air Force Base and the satellite has been successfully inserted it in the desired orbit. Jason-3 is the 4th mission in the joint US-European series of satellite missions that measure the height of the ocean surface. Key facts Jason-3 has been incorporated with radar altimeter that will measure sea-level variations of oceans across the world with very high accuracy. It will examine the topography of the ocean floor to help study effects of climate change or human-induced changes on the ocean. It will also seek to boost hurricane forecasting and marine navigation. It will provide scientists with critical information about ocean circulation patterns. It will also provide information about both global and regional changes in sea level and the climate implications of a warming world. Earlier launched two satellites of Jason mission are Jason-1 and Jason-2 OSTM which were launched in 2001 and 2008 respectively. About SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket Falcon 9 rocket is a two-stage rocket designed and manufactured by Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX). It is a private space transport services company. It is basically used for the reliable and safe transport of satellites and is powered by liquid oxygen (LOX) and rocket-grade kerosene (RP-1) propellants.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj may be visit Israel and Palestine

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will visit Israel and Palestine on January 17-18 to further build on the goodwill generated by the trip of President Pranab Mukherjee to the two West Asian nations three months back. Palestine will be Ms. Swaraj’s first destination where she will hold talks with leadership of the country with an aim to boost bilateral engagement and deepen mutual understanding at the political level. “The visit will also reaffirm India’s continued political, diplomatic and developmental support to Palestine. After completing her engagements in Palestine on January 17, Ms. Swaraj will go to Israel the same day for a two-day visit during which she will hold discussions with the Israeli leadership and review the entire gamut of India-Israel relations. Ms. Swaraj’s visit to Israel also assumes significance in view of a possible visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to India later this year. Prime Minister Narendra Modi may also pay a return visit to Tel Aviv.

Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail Corridor committee

Union Government has constituted a committee to fast track the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail Corridor, meant for connecting two cities with bullet trains. The committee is tasked to interact with the Japanese counterpart for taking further steps in implementation of Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail Corridor. Members: The committee will be headed by Arvind Panagariya, vice-chairman of the NITI Aayog. It will also include Railway Board chairman, foreign secretary and secretary (industrial policy) and secretary in the department of expenditure as its members. Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail Corridor: It will be 500km long and will be connecting both trains at the cost of the project will be 98,000 crore rupees.  Japan will invest 78, 000 crore rupees making it largest foreign investment in railway sector of India. Background Recently, Union Cabinet had had given its nod to bullet train project making it first of its king bullet train project with the help of Japan for funds and technology. Cabinet approval was based on the recommendations of a committee headed by Panagariya which had favoured Japan over China due to the low-cost funding also commitment for technology transfer and local manufacturing for a specified period.

New Education Policy

Some of India’s key academics in the field of education have expressed concern over experts being left out of consultations for the proposed National Education Policy, which will guide education in India for the next few decades. Weeks ago, a body of India’s elite educationists wrote to T.S.R. Subramanian, the head of a committee set up by the Human Resource Development Ministry to frame the proposed policy, about the absence of academics in the consultations. The signatories include Delhi University professor Poonam Batra, JNU professor Saumen Chattopadhyay, and Professors Nandini Manjrekar and Disha Nawani of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, among others. The absence of serious academic scholars in the current consultations has been glaring. Scholarship on education and the extensive knowledge base of teaching, learning and the socio-economic dimensions of education should necessarily be a part of this process,” the Comparative Education Society of India (CESI) wrote to Mr. Subramanian, who heads the MHRD’s Committee for the Evolution of the New Education Policy. The letter also points out issues that should be deliberated by the panel, like what it sees as a negative trend towards commercialisation of education and control over and contractualisation of teachers. It lays stress on autonomy of academic institutes, particularly in framing their curriculum. The letter also advises the panel to foreground its policy in the legal provisions provided by the Right to Education Act and demands a greater role of the state in strengthening the public education system. Mr. Subramanian said the concerns of the academics were misplaced. For, the panel had met a cross-section of teachers to understand from them what ailed education in the country.