1. Union HRD Ministry launched the 6th All India Survey on Higher Education
i. The Union Minister of Human Resource Development Zubin Irani on 21 December 2015 launched the 6th All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) in New Delhi.
ii. The survey covers all the Higher Education (HE) institutions of the country including Universities, Colleges and Stand-Alone institutions from 2010-11 to 2014-15.
iii. It brings out the correct and complete picture of the higher education system so that relevant statistics are available to the Central Government as well as State Governments in order to devise future educational policies.
iv. The major findings of the AISHE 2014-15 included increase in overall enrolment from 27.5 million in 2010-11 to 33.3 million in 2014-15 and improvement in Gross Enrolment Ratio which is a ratio of enrolment in higher education to population in the eligible age group (18-23) years from 19.4 percent on 2010-11 to 23.6 percent in 2014-15.
2. Odisha Government launched Anwesha scheme to provide free education to SC/ST students
i. The Odisha Government on 21 December 2015 launched Anwesha scheme to provide free education to scheduled caste and scheduled tribe students. Under the scheme, 5000 SC and ST children will annually be enrolled into Standard I in leading private schools in urban areas of the state.
ii. State Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik announced the scheme at Saragi Phul- a three day children's festival for ST, SC children held at Adivasi Ground, Bhubaneswar.
iii. The government will bear all expenses for education of the students under the scheme which will be implemented in 17 districts. The expenses for fees, uniform, books, hostel accommodation as well transportation will be sponsored by the government.
iv. The government aims to enrol a total of 50000 SC and ST students in phases. Over 3.5 lakh ST and SC students staying in hostels are to continue their education while 2 lakh more will avail the facility soon. For each student, government will give 25000 rupees for school fees per annum excluding hostel cost and scholarship.
v. Separate hostel will be constructed for these children and counsellor will be appointed to help students in self-studies in hostels.
3. Nepal Cabinet decided to amend Constitution to address Madhesis' demands
i. Government of Nepal on 20 December 2015 decided to amend the Constitution to address two key demands of agitating Madhesis regarding proportional representation and constituency delimitation.
ii. A decision in this regard was approved at an emergency cabinet meeting held at Singha Durbar in Kathmandu. The decision to amend the constitution assumes significance against the backdrop of continuing agitation by Madhesis’, since the adoption of the Constitution on 20 September 2015, which led to death of around 50 civilians.
iii. The Madhesi people inhabit the flat southern region of Nepal known as the Madhesh. Their dissatisfaction with the new Constitution was with the fact that the Pahadi or hill communities, who constitute 50 percent of the population, got 100 seats in the parliament, while Madhesis’ got only 65 seats.
iv. Madhesis’ were also fighting against the Constitutional scheme related to proposed boundaries of the new provinces. Unlike the earlier structure in which majority Madhesis’ were within a single administrative region, the new schemes proposes its split in two and force them to share their provinces with hill districts.
4. SpaceX successfully launched and landed Falcon 9 rocket
i. American aerospace company SpaceX on 21 December 2015 achieved the historic feat of successfully launching and landing Falcon 9 rocket.
ii. The Falcon 9 rocket was successfully launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida carrying 11 satellites to low-Earth orbit and was also successfully landed after 10 minutes to the Earth.
iii. It is the first time in the history of rocketry that a rocket has returned back after delivering a spacecraft to its orbit, so that it could potentially fly again. This exercise of using reusable rockets will help in reducing the cost of access to space making explorations a more realistic goal.
iv. The 230-foot Falcon 9 blasted off from Launch Complex with 1.5 million pounds of thrust and carrying 11 commercial satellites. It marks the company's first flight since an accident in June 2015 that destroyed a cargo ship bound for the International Space Station.
v. Success of SpaceX's mission is significant as the NASA is heavily relying on this private company for transport to the International Space Station after the US Space Shuttle program ended in 2011.
5. Delhi Government appointed Gopal Subramanium Commission on DDCA scam
i. Delhi Government on 21 December 2015 appointed a one-member commission of inquiry on Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) scam. A decision in this regard was taken in a cabinet committee meeting headed by the Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
ii. The commission will be headed by former Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium. It will probe the alleged financial irregularities by the administrators of the DDCA.
iii. The commission was appointed on the basis of recommendation of the three-member committee headed by Chetan Sanghi. The committee was constituted to probe alleged financial irregularities in DDCA after the Chief Minister’s office received serious complaints about its functioning.
iv. The committee, which submitted its report on 17 November 2015, suggested the Delhi Government to set up a commission under the Commission of Enquiries Act 1952 to probe affairs of the cricket administrators.
6. 10th WTO Ministerial Conference adopted Nairobi Package
i. The five-day long 10th World Trade Organisation (WTO) Ministerial Conference concluded on 19 December 2015 in Nairobi, Kenya. The conference concluded with the adoption of the Nairobi Package that is aimed at benefitting organization’s poorest members.
ii. The conference was attended by trade ministers of 162 member countries of the WTO. India was represented by Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Commerce & Industry Nirmala Sitharaman. It is for the first such meeting hosted by an African nation.
iii. The Nairobi Package contains a series of six Ministerial Decisions on agriculture, cotton and issues related to least-developed countries.
iv. The conference agreed on the timetable for implementing a landmark deal to eliminate tariffs on 201 information technology products valued at over 1.3 trillion US dollars per year.
v. Negotiations on the expanded ITA were conducted by 53 WTO members, including both developed and developing countries, which account for approximately 90 per cent of world trade in these products.
7. China launched DAMPE satellite to shed light on mysterious dark matter
i. China on 17 December 2015 launched the Dark Matter Particle Explorer (DAMPE) Satellite to shed light on mysterious dark matter.
ii. It was the country's first space telescope and launched on a Long March 2-D rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.
iii. The purpose of the satellite is to search for smoking-gun signals of dark matter, invisible material that scientists say makes up most of the universe's mass.
iv. The satellite will be place in a sun-synchronous orbit at a height of 500 kilometers to observe the direction, energy and electric charge of high-energy particles in space.
v. The satellite was nicknamed "Wukong" after the Monkey King with penetrating eyes in the Chinese classical fiction Journey to the West.
8. National Mathematics Day observed to commemorate birth anniversary of Srinivasa Ramanujan
i. India on 22 December 2015 celebrated National Mathematics Day. The day was observed to commemorate the birth anniversary of great Indian Mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan.
ii. On this occasion, India and UNESCO agreed to work jointly in spreading the joy of mathematics and knowledge to students and learners across the world.
iii. To this end, Conferences on the “Zero” at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, as well as at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore were held in recognition of Aryabhata’s role in the invention of zero. The conferences brought together academics, mathematicians and teachers to explore and discuss key associated concepts.
iv. The declaration to observe 22 December as National Mathematics Day was made by former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on 26 February 2012 at Madras University on the occasion of 125th birth anniversary of Ramanujan.
v. Srinivasa Ramanujan was born on 22 December 1887 in Erode district of Tamil Nadu. He died at a young age of 32 years on 26 April 1920. Ramanujan made important contributions in number theory, infinite series, mathematical analysis, and making formulas and equations.
9. New Zealand cricket captain Brendon McCullum announced retirement
i. New Zealand cricket captain Brendon McCullum on 22 December 2015 announced retirement from all forms of international cricket. He will retire after the two home test series against Australia, which will begin in February 2016.
ii. At present, the batsman and wicket-keeper, is New Zealand’s captain in all three forms of the international game viz., tests, ODIs and twenty20.
iii. In ODIs, he made his debut as a 20-year-old batsman in 2001 against Australia at Sydney. He made his test debut against South Africa in 2003 and has played 99 tests so far. He scored 6273 test runs with 11 hundreds, including the only triple century by a New Zealand batsman, and 31 half-centuries at an average of 38.48. He scored double Test Century against Pakistan in Sharjah in November 2014 and in the process scored the fastest test century by a New Zealander.
iv. In ODIs, he scored 5909 runs from 254 matches. They include 5 centauries and 31 half-centauries. He is the first and so far only player to have scored two Twenty20 International centuries and 2000 runs in T20 Internationals. In Indian Premier League, he played for Chennai Super Kings in 2014 and 2015 and picked up by Rajkot for 2016 and 2017 editions. He successfully lead the team to their first ever ICC Cricket World cup final in March 2015 in which Australia won by 7 wickets.
10. Andy Murray won 2015 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award
i. Andy Murray of the UK on 20 December 2015 received the 2015 BBC Sports Personality of the Year award in London. The Scottish tennis-player was presented the award by Irish boxing legend Barry McGuigan.
ii. Murray was chosen for the award after a public vote in which he received 361446 of the 1,009,498 votes cast. The voting was based on performance of sports personalities in 2015.
iii. For Murray, it was the second award in three years. He received the previous award in 2013. In November, he led Great Britain's tennis team to a first Davis Cup victory after a gap of 79 years. He reached the final of the Australian Open and the semi-finals of both Wimbledon and the French Open. He finished the year second in the world rankings and won all 11 of his Davis Cup rubbers, including three in the final against Belgium.
iv. BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award is the annual sports award presented by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). The winner is the sportsperson, judged by a public vote, to have achieved the most that year.
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