27th, June, 2022

 

 

Topic: National Park in Himachal

 

Importance: Himachal HPAS Prelims and Mains

 

What is the news?

• The Great Himalayan National Park (GHNP) commemorates its 9th anniversary of world heritage tag.
• A two-day event ‘Vishwa Dharohar Utsav’, which was organized to celebrate the ninth anniversary of the day, when Great Himalayan National Park (GHNP) got the status of world heritage site (WHS) from the UNESCO.

With respect to the Great Himalayan National Park (GHNP):

• Great Himalayan National Park was constituted in 1984 and was formally notified as a national park in 1999. It is located in the Banjaar Sub – Division of Kullu District of Himachal Pradesh, India, in the far Western Himalayas. GHNP is one of the most recent additions to a huge network of wildlife reserves found in the Himalayan region in India and adjoining countries.

2014: GHNP is awarded World Heritage Natural Site status in the proceedings of the 38th World Heritage Committee meeting in Doha, Qatar; Two Wildlife Sanctuaries – Sainj and Tirthan, of the property be retained as wildlife sanctuaries and not to be merged with the national park.

2015: GHNP logo registered with Government of Himachal Pradesh. Also Confirmed sighting of rare and elusive “serow” made in GHNP; The official website of the park launched.

• GHNP provides sanctuary for four globally threatened mammals (Snow leopard, serow, Himalayan Tahr, musk deer), three globally threatened birds (Western tragopan, koklas, cheer pheasants) and a large number of medicinal plants.

(News Source: The Tribune)

 

 

Topic: Education Sector

 

Importance: Himacghal HPAS Prelims and Mains

What is the news?

• Now the chairman of the state education board will also assess the cluster schools.

 

What is the Change?

• The Chairman will now look after the assessment of academic, sports and other activities in schools by the Himachal Pradesh School Education Board.
• So far, this work is being done by the secretary of the board, but now the chairman will also look after the assessment of the activities taking place in the schools.

 

How will the assessment be carried out?

• Assessment of schools will be done and assessment work will be done by dividing three to four schools into clusters.
• In schools, every effort is being made to ensure that academic, infrastructure, sports, culture, annual examination results, ground activities modules are implemented well.
• According to the Chairman, the students will be made proficient in Hindi, English and Sanskrit.
• It will work in a planned manner.
• A music book has been prepared for the children, in which the biographies of great artists will be read along with classical music. For the new year, this system will be made effective for the children of classes IX, X and XII.

 

Award:

• The schools found to be better in the assessment will be notified and grades will be awarded on the basis of performance.

 

Plan for vocational training from 6th Class:

• The chairman of the board said that there is a plan to start vocational training from the sixth standard.
• So far, this system has been in operation since class IX. In vocational education, children will be trended so that they can earn their livelihood by joining some self-employment after completing their studies.

(Source: Divya Himachal)

 

 

Topic: Environment

 

Importance: Himachal HPAS Prelims and Mains

 

What is the news?

• Himachal’s sky lightning cases rise, registering a 105 % increase in 2020-21, third position across the country.

 

Revealed by which report?

• This has been revealed in the recent Annual Lightning Report 2020-21 released by the CROPC i.e. Climate Resilient Observing System Promotion Counseling.

 

What does the report say?

• According to the report, Himachal state is in the third position in 2020-21 with a 105 per cent increase in the incidence of lightning.
• According to the report, the states where the incidents of lightning are increasing rapidly. Goa is at the first place. Goa has registered a growth of 33.8 per cent during the year 2020-21. In second place is Puducherry. Puducherry has registered a growth of 117 per cent.
• At the same time, Himachal Pradesh is at the third place and at the fourth place is Karnataka.

 

Why does sky lightning fall?

• Due to the combination of excess heat and moisture, special types of clouds with lightning become thunder clouds and take the form of a storm. This process is called thunder storm.
• Such clouds eight to ten kilometers high have more negative charge in the lower and positive charge in the upper. When the difference between the two is small, the rapid discharge comes out in the form of electricity.

How to be get protected?

Plant Neem, Peepal, Banyan trees
– Lightning drivers on tall buildings
– Do not stand in open ground or under a tree when lightning strikes
– Do not use electronic devices
– Do not use mobile when the electricity is flashing

(Source: Divya Himachal)

 

 

 

Topic: Mid Day Meal Scheme

 

Importance: Himachal HPAS Prelims and Mains

 

What is the news?

• Registration under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 is also mandatory for mid-day meals served to children in schools under the Pradhan Mantri Poshan Abhiyan.

 

Process:

• Schools will have to register this at their own level.
• There will be an online process for this.
• The education department will pay the cost of registration.

 

How it will benefit?

• Although some schools are already registered in it, most of the schools have not registered in it. Whether children are getting nutritious food under the scheme will also be checked.
• A record of what items are being served to children, especially in the mid-day meal, will also have to be sent to the directorate on the online portal.
• The mid-day meal scheme is running in 15,466 schools of the state.
• Under the scheme, students of classes I to V get 100 grams of rice and students of classes VI to VIII get 150 grams of rice per day.

 

What is the Mid Day Meal scheme?

• This is the largest school feeding program of its kind in the world for students enrolled in government schools from Class 1 to Class 8.

The basic objective of the program is to increase enrollment in schools.

Nodal Ministry: Ministry of Education.

Background: The program was first introduced in 1925 disadvantaged children in the Madras Municipal Corporation.

• The union government launched a central sponsorship pilot program in 1995 for children in classes 1 to 5.
• By October 2007, MDMS had been scaled up to Class 8.

 

Present Status: The current program is renamed PM Poshan Shakti Nirman or PM Poshan in 2021.

• The Government has approved the Centrally Sponsored Scheme ‘Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman (PM POSHAN)’ for providing one hot cooked meal in Government and Government – aided Schools from 2021-22 to 2025-26. The Scheme is being implemented by the Ministry of Education.

(Source: Divya Himachal)