5 important things that happened in India’s social sector this week
Last week witnessed trains derailing from rattling tracks and floods sweeping major parts of the country. Amidst the many bad that filled the newspapers, there were small and big events of success and hard-fought joy which have the potential for shaping India of the future. Like every week, SocialStory brings you the news roundup for the socially aware and concerned citizen in you.
1. Plan for conversion of anganwadis into pre-school education centres
In order to widen the role of Anganwadis in India, the government is launching an exercise to help transform the rural mother and child care centres into pre-schools. There are currently about 27 lakh anganwadi workers and helpers at 14 lakh anganwadi centres across the country.
Speaking at a public event, Maneka Gandhi, union minister for Women and Child Development announced, "The role of anganwadi workers revolved around mainly distribution and provision of food to children and lactating mothers. However, the government is now shifting the emphasis to covert anganwadis into centres of pre-school education. As a result, a massive exercise is being launched to train the anganwadi workers to become pre-school teachers."
2. India strengthens partnerships with Israel, Germany
The Union Cabinet approved a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and Israel on an R&D and technological innovation fund which will see both countries contribute $40,00,000 each annually for five years. In a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the cabinet approved India and Israel’s collaboration in the fields of science and technology. "Such projects will lead to affordable technological innovations in focus areas of mutual interest such as water, agriculture, energy and digital technologies," the government said.
India is also working with Germany for greater cooperation in development of renewable energy. The efforts took another step forward with the signing of an implementation agreement worth Rs 52.5 crore under the Indo-German Energy Programme for the green energy corridors project in India. For the funding of green energy corridors in both intra- and inter-state transmission projects, KfW Germany is providing a soft loan of Euro 1 billion to India.
3. Amazon to help implement Karnataka milk scheme
E-commerce giant Amazon has announced a partnership with the Akshaya Patra Foundation to implement the Karnataka government's 'Ksheera Bhagya' Scheme in Bengaluru. Under the scheme, school-children across the state will be provided with milk five days a week.
The partnership aims to reach out to 170,000 children across 1,300 government schools in the state. Gopal Pillai, Director and General Manager (Seller Services), Amazon said, "In line with Amazon Care's vision of transforming lives, we have partnered with the civil society at large to bring about transformation and betterment of the community."
4. CSIR ranked 9th public research institution of the world
According to the Scimago Institutions ranking World Report 2017, Delhi’s premiere public research and development organisation has been ranked ninth in the world. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) was picked as a top institution amongst 1,207 other government institutions from across the world.
"In overall global ranking, CSIR stands at 75th position amongst 5250 institutions world-wide. It is the only Indian organisation which has found place amongst the Top 100 Global Institutions," CSIR said in a statement release. The CSIR has a dynamic network of 38 national laboratories and 38 outreach centres, and lays special emphasis on scientific research and development in the social sector.
5. 30 percent agriculture budget to be spent on women farmers
30 per cent of the ministry's budget would be invested on the country's women farmers, Radha Mohan Singh, Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister said at an event. "There will be at least 30 per cent of the budget allocation for women beneficiaries in all ongoing schemes, programmes and development activities," he said.
The minister announced this at the National Consultation of Women Farmers, organised by the National Commission for Women, UN Women and Mahila Kisan Adhikaar Manch, a forum for women farmers' rights. In the consultation, women farmers and their collectives from 24 states across India shared a comprehensive framework for establishing gender responsive laws, institutions, policies and programmes in the agriculture sector with the ministry.
(With inputs from IANS.)
Enter the SocialStory Photography contest and show us how people are changing the world! Win prize money worth Rs 1 lakh and more. Click here for details!
