News in Shorts

Posted 15 Apr 2024

11 min read

UN SYSTEM-WIDE GENDER EQUALITY ACCELERATION PLAN

On International Women’s Day (IWD), the UN Secretary-General launched the new UN System-Wide Gender Equality Acceleration Plan to boost the empowerment of women and girls.
- In 2012, the United Nations Chief Executives Board approved a landmark System-wide Action Plan for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-SWAP) to be applied throughout the UN system.
- UN-SWAP 2.0 (released in 2018) raised the bar for accountability by strengthening existing indicators and anchoring the framework within the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

UN chief also highlighted that targeted programmes and quotas are required to tackle “baked-in bias”, and dismantle obstacles to equality.
- Baked-in Bias implies that bias against a particular gender, caste, or community is continuing and is deep-rooted, and embedded in society.
Three priority action areas suggested by the UN- Secretary-General
- Increasing affordable, long-term finance for sustainable development.
- Governments to prioritise equality for women and girls.
- Increase the number of women in leadership positions, which can help to drive investment in policies and programmes that meet the needs of women and girls.

PARAKH (Performance Assessment, Review and Analysis of Knowledge for Holistic Development) a standard-setting body under the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), has devised the HPC for the foundational stage (Classes 1 and 2), preparatory stage (Classes 3 to 5) and middle stage (Classes 6 to 8).
HPC is a 360-degree, multidimensional report of progress, detailing the uniqueness of each learner in the cognitive, affective, socio-emotional, and psychomotor domains.
- It is in line with the recommendations of the National Education Policy, 2020.
Objective of HPC
- It helps to map the status of each child's learning for foundation literacy and numeracy skills.
- It focuses on the uniqueness of each learner.
- To document a child's own expression of self as well as the teacher’s assessment of the child based on the competencies.
- It will form an important link between home and school and make parents an integral part of a child’s learning process.
Features of HPC
- Asses through project-based and inquiry-based learning, quizzes, role plays, group work, portfolios, etc
- It includes self-assessment, peer assessment and parent’s feedback.
- Builds on self-awareness and self-esteem by communicating the strengths and areas of improvement.
- Based on three Developmental Goals
  - Health and Wellbeing
  - Effective Communicators
  - Involved Learners

Ministry of Education (MoE) launched the SWAYAM Plus Platform.
SWAYAM is a Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) platform providing educational opportunities for learners.
About the SWAYAM Plus platform
- In alignment with National Education Policy 2020, it will now include courses supporting industry needs that enhance learners’ employability in collaboration with industry leaders.
- It features innovative elements like multilingual content, AI-enabled guidance, credit recognition, and pathways to employment
- IIT Madras has been appointed as nodal agency for implementing it.
- Funded by MoE, Department of Higher Education.

United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) released a report titled “Role of Social Media in facilitating Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse”.
Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (OCSEA) involve the use of information and communication technology as a means to sexually abuse and/or sexually exploit children.
- As per National Human Rights Commission, Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) has increased by 250 to 300 percent on social media in India.

How social media facilitates OCSEA?
- Online predators: Social media platform could be used by predators to entice and coerce children into posting graphic content.
- Access to Inappropriate Content: Children may purposefully or unintentionally gain access to sexually explicit material, easily accessible on social networking sites.
Impact of Child Sexual Abuse Material on Child
- Impair brain development, and cause psychological stress like Anxiety, Post-traumatic stress disorder, etc.
- Potential to normalize or desensitize children to inappropriate behavior.
- Leads to communicable and non-communicable diseases like sexually transmitted infections including HIV, cardiovascular disease, and unintended pregnancies etc.
Recommendations from report
- Make it mandatory for online platforms to have clear, accessible, child-friendly mechanisms for children to report concerns.
- Social media platforms and service providers should publish periodic transparency reports.

Latest data on World Poverty Clock showed that India has managed to bring down ‘extreme poverty’ below 3% of its population.
About WPC
- Developed by World Data Lab, a global data enterprise.
- Monitors global progress against Ending Extreme Poverty.
- Funded by International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany.

The Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation (Jal Shakti Ministry), in collaboration with the Ministry of Tourism, launched SGLR for the tourism industry.
Bison Resorts, Madhya Pradesh obtained the first Five Swachhata Green Leaf Rating Certificate of Recognition.
About SGLR
- It is a type of rating system, which evaluates various tourist facilities based on their adherence to specific hygiene and sanitation standards.
- Aim: Revolutionize sanitation practices within the country's flourishing tourism industry.
- It aligns with the Travel for LiFE (TFL) program under Mission LiFE.

India's ﬁrst septic tank/manhole cleaning robot known as Homosep atom developed by the startup Solinas reached 16 cities.
- Solinas was incubated in the Department of Science and Technology (DST)-Technology Business Incubator (TBI)of IIT Madras.
About Homosep Atom
- Robotic solution integrated with Artificial Intelligence (AI) to inspect, clean, and manage conﬁned space for sanitation purposes.
- Features: Extensive blade cleanings, solid waste desilting, suction, and storage at one device.
- Offers end-to-end solutions to eliminate manual scavenging.