LEAP Initiative
- Leadership for Academicians Programme (LEAP) was recently launched by Ministry of Human Resource and Development.
- It is a three weeks flagship leadership development training programme.
- The objective is mainly to train academic heads who are potentially likely to assume leadership roles in the future.
- Its focus group is second level academic functionaries in public funded higher education institutions.
- It would include both domestic and foreign training in managerial skills such as problem-solving, handling stress, team building work, conflict management, developing communication skills etc.
- The implementation will be through top ranked universities and top 100 global ranked foreign universities.
ARPIT initiative
- Annual Refresher Programme in Teaching (ARPIT) was recently launched by Ministry of Human Resource and Development.
- It is a unique initiative of online professional development of 15 lakh higher education faculty using the MOOCs platform SWAYAM.
- National Resource Centres (NRC) will be identified to prepare online training material.
- NRC will be in a mixed range of institutions such as, Central Universities, IISc, IUCAA, IITs, IISERs, NITs, IGNOU, State Universities, UGC’s Human Resource Development Centres (HRDCs) and National Institutes for Technical Teachers Training.
- It will focus on latest developments in the discipline, new & emerging trends, pedagogical improvements and methodologies for transacting revised curriculum.
- SWAYAM - Study Webs of Active learning for Young Aspiring Minds is a Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) platform launched to offer various online courses for school education and higher education.
INDRA
- It is a bilateral joint military exercise between India and Russia.
- It is joint tactical level operations in the peace keeping / enforcement environment under the aegis of UN.
- It is being organised in Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh.
- This year edition is the 10th exercise in the series of Exercise INDRA.
- INDRA - 2018 focuses on combating insurgency under the aegis of United Nations (UN).
Global Digital Content Market
- World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) organises Global Digital Content Market (GDCM).
- It is a conference to showcase the latest opportunities and challenges in the creative industries and, changes brought about by digital technologies.
- This year, the special focus of the conference is Asia-Pacific region.
- India has been chosen as a host nation for the conference by WIPO.
- Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) hosts this conference in New Delhi.
- This is the 2nd edition of the conference. The first one was hosted in Geneva, 2016.
- It will feature panel sessions on music, education publishing, broadcasting and digital inclusion.
- It will see participation of professionals from various creative fields, the digital industry around the world and delegates of the diplomatic community from Missions to the United Nations.
ExoMars
- ExoMars is a joint space venture between European Space Agency and Russian space agency Roscosmos to Mars.
- The ExoMars programme comprises 2 missions.
- The first mission was launched in 2016 and consists of the Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) and Schiaparelli, an entry, descent and landing demonstrator module.
- The second mission is planned to be launched in 2020 and comprises a rover and surface science platform.
- The rover that will carry a drill and a suite of instruments dedicated to search for possible existence of life beyond earth and geochemistry research.
- It is likely to land on Mars’ equator called Oxia Planum, which had housed a massive pool of water in the prehistoric era.
PM-STIAC
- Prime Minister has recently interacted with the members of Science, Technology and Innovation Advisory Council (PM-STIAC).
- It is a 21-member panel, advise the Prime Minister on all matters related to S&T, innovation and monitor the implementation of PM’s vision on the same.
- It is chaired by government’s Principal Scientific Advisor.
- It is expected to act as a high-level advisory body to several ministries and execute mission-oriented programmes.
- Secretaries of various scientific ministries such as education, environment and health would be ‘special invitees’ to the council meetings.
- Scientific Advisory Committees (SAC) - Cabinet and SAC-PM was dissolved and replaced by PM-STIAC.
Source: PIB, The Indian Express
