MLC Daily Current Affairs – 29 Jan 2024

Today in History (January 29^th, 1780)

In 1780, the first newspaper in India, “Hickey’s Bengal Gazette” was published.

Summary of Today’s News

Houthis

Context: Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis have stepped up their attacks on commercial vessels transiting the Red Sea.

Key Points about Houthis

• The Houthis, officially known as Ansar Allah (Partisans of God)

• They are an armed religious and political movement in Yemen.
• Houthis are Zaydi Shiites, or Zaydiyyah.
• Shiite Muslims are the minority community in the Islamic world, and Zaydis are a minority of Shiites,
• Zaydis are significantly different in doctrine and beliefs from the Shiites who dominate in Iran, Iraq, and elsewhere.
• They are a minority in Yemen(Sunni Majority country)
• Its members advocate regional autonomy for Zaidis in northern Yemen.
• They have been fighting Yemen’s Sunni-majority government since 2004.
• The Houthis took over the Yemeni capital Sanaa in September 2014 and seized control over much of north Yemen by 2016.

BrahMos

Context:

India is all set to begin the export of ground systems for the BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles to the Philippines.

• It is a supersonic cruise missile that can be launched from
  • Land,
  • Sea
  • Air.
• It has been developed by Brahmos Aerospace, a joint venture of India and Russia.
• It is named after the rivers Brahmaputra (India) and Moskva (Russia).
• Features:
  • It has a launch weight of 2,200-3,000 kg.
  • The extended-range 400 to 500 kilometers.
  • It operates on the “Fire and Forgets” principle, adopting varieties of flights on its way to the target.
  • It carries a conventional warhead weighing 200 to 300 kg.
  • It is equipped with stealth technology designed to make it less visible to radar and other detection methods.

PM YASASVI Scheme

PM Young Achievers Scholarship Award Scheme

Context:

A total of ₹32.44 Crore has been released for Pre-matric Scholarships and ₹387.27 Crore for Post-Matric Scholarships to States/Union Territories (UTs) under the PM YASASVI scheme in 2023.

• It is a scholarship scheme for Other Backward Class (OBCs), Economically Backward Class (EBC), and Denotified Nomadic Tribes (DNT) students.
• Eligibility:
  • Other Backward Class (OBC), Economically Backward Classes (EBC), and Denotified, Nomadic, and Semi-Nomadic Tribes (DNT)
  • Parents or guardians annual income is not more than Rs. 2.50 Lakhs.
  • Studying in a Top Class School in Class 9 or 11.
• Entitlement: Upto Rs. 75,000 p.a. for Class 9/10, Rs. 1,25,000 p.a. for Class 11/12, covering the school tuition fee/hostel fee.
• Implementing Agency: Department of Social Justice and Empowerment, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.

All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE)

• The AISHE report has been published by the Ministry of Education since 2011.
• Aim is to portray the status of higher education in India.
• The survey covers all the institutions engaged in imparting higher education.
• Data is being collected on several parameters, such as teachers, student enrollment, programmes, examination results, education finance, and infrastructure.
• Indicators of educational development such as Institution Density, Gross Enrolment Ratio, Pupil-teacher ratio, Gender Parity Index, Per Student Expenditure will also be calculated from the data collected through AISHE.
• For this survey, Higher Education is
  • obtained after completing 12 years of schooling or equivalent.

Key Points about AISHE 2021-22:

• In 2021-22, the overall gross enrolment ratio (GER)in higher education for the age group 18-23 years increased to 28.4%, from 27.3%in 2020- 21 and 23.7% in 2014- 15, the base year.
• Female GER increasedto 28.5% (2.07 crore) in 2021-22 from 27.9 (2.01 crore) in 2020-21 and 22.9 percent in 2014-15.
• The GER of Schedule Caste (SC) and Schedule Tribe (ST)students has also increased by around 2%.
  • In 2020-21, the GER of SC students was 25.6% and ST was 23.4%, while in 2021-22 it increased to 27.2% and 25.8% respectively.
• The enrolment of OBC students has also increased to 1.63 crore in 2021-22 from 1.13 crore in 2014-15.
• About 9 per centof the total students are enrolled in undergraduate level courses and 12.1 per cent are enrolled in postgraduate level courses.
• Among disciplines at the undergraduate-level in AISHE 2021-22, enrolment is highest in Arts (34.2%), followed by science (14.8%), Commerce (13.3%), and Engineering and Technology (11.8%).
• Among streams at postgraduate-levelin AISHE 2021-22, maximum students are enrolled in Social Science (21.1%), followed by science (14.7).
• As per the survey, the total number of faculty/teachersin 2021-22 is 15.98 lakh, of which about 6% are male and 43.4% are female.