ANDHRA PRADESH
Less than 1% of pupils taking NEET in Telugu
About 1.44 lakh candidates from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana registered their names to appear for the national eligibility-cum-entrance test undergraduate (NEET-UG) 2023. But only some 1,300 candidates opted to write the exam in Telugu. While the number of students attempting 
NEET in Telugu has remained more or less the same in the last five years, registrations from the two Telugu states are going northwards with each passing year.
Conducting the exam in regional languages is supposed to create a level playing field for students who did their intermediate (10+2) and/or schooling in Telugu medium. It is also opined that Telugu question paper may help them understand the questions thoroughly and encourage them to attempt the exam with full confidence. However, the fewer registrations in Telugu speak an altogether different story.
As per National Testing Agency (NTA) data for the last five years, the number of students who choose Telugu faded compared to those who opted for other regional languages in NEET. While English was the favourite, Hindi continued its supremacy as the second most registered language. For example, 16.7 lakh students registered for the exam in English in 2023, followed by Hindi (2.76 lakh), Gujarati (53,027), Bengali (43,890), Tamil (30,536), Assamese (3324), Urdu (1695), etc. All the 11 regional languages accounted for only 1.38 lakh combined registrations.
INTERNATIONAL
India, Egypt upgrade ties to ‘strategic partnership’
PM Narendra Modi and President of Egypt Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi signed a pact to elevate the bilateral relationship between the two countries to a “strategic partnership”.
In a special ceremony, Sisi conferred PM Modi with the Order of the Nile, the highest civilian award of Egypt. This was the 13th state honour to have been conferred on PM Modi.
The two sides also signed three MoUs in the fields of agriculture, archaeology and antiquities and competition law.
NATIONAL
8th edition of World’s Largest Urban Cleanliness Survey Begins
The stage is all set for the 8th edition of world’s largest urban swachhata survey, Swachh Survekshan 2023 – Mera Shehar, Meri Pehchan. Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) launched the Field Assessment for Swachh Survekshan (SS) 2023. Under SS 2023, around 3,000 assessors will take the field for assessment from 1 July, 2023. The assessors will study performances of 4500+ cities across 46 indicators and it is expected to be completed within a month. Rolled out on 24 May, 2022, Swachh Survekshan 2023 champions Waste to Wealth and is curated towards processing and scientific management of waste.
Originally designed as a competitive monitoring tool, Swachh Survekshan was introduced under the aegis of MoHUA in 2016, with an objective to sanitation, helping cities to achieve the goal of sustainable sanitation and waste management in a fast-track competitive manner. Swachh Survekshan has enthused cities with a healthy spirit of competitiveness to improve urban sanitation and ensure best service delivery to their citizens. It is expected to engage with a whopping 10 Cr citizens during this year’s assessment making it indisputably the world’s largest annual urban cleanliness survey. Conducted over four quarters, the first three quarters of assessment have already been completed successfully.
A new third quarter for Swachh Survekshan 2023 was introduced this year and the States/ cities geared up for the survey enhancing their activities and level of preparedness. Avoiding the acute heat wave conditions across the nation in the last two months, the fourth quarter is now being launched from 1 July, 2023.
E Sewa Kendras – Bridging the digital divide & ensuring justice for All
815 eSewa Kendras have been made under 25 High Courts, benefiting all the stakeholders to avail citizen-centric services of courts and case-related information conveniently.
About eSewa Kendras: eSewa Kendras have been rolled out to bridge the digital divide by providing e filing services to lawyers and litigants. Covering all High Courts and one District Court as pilot project, it is being expanded to cover all court complexes. The eSewa Kendras are being set up at the entry point of the court complexes with the intention of facilitating the lawyer or litigant who needs any kind of assistance ranging from information to facilitation and e filing.
On 30 October 2020, India’s first e-Resource Center was inaugurated at Nagpur in Maharashtra. The e-Resource Centre “Nyay Kaushal” will facilitate e-filing of cases in Supreme Court India, High Courts and District Courts across the country. It will also assist the lawyers and litigants in access online e-Courts services and shall be the saviour for those who cannot afford the technology. It will provide benefits in saving time, avoidance of exertion, travelling long distances, and saving cost by offering facilities of e-filing of cases across the country, to conduct the hearing virtually, Scanning, Accessing e-Courts services etc.
Power ministry establishes UTPRERAK
Centre of Excellence to Accelerate Adoption of Energy Efficient Technologies in Indian Industry
The Ministry of Power, Government of India has set up a dedicated Centre of Excellence to accelerate industry adoption of clean technologies and thus scale up India’s contribution to the global energy transition. Named UTPRERAK, short for Unnat Takniki Pradarshan Kendra, the Centre of Excellence to Accelerate Adoption of Energy Efficient Technologies seeks to play a catalytic role in improving energy efficiency of Indian industry. The Centre, named otherwise as Advanced Industrial Technology Demonstration Centre (AITDC), has been set up by the Bureau of Energy efficiency (BEE), Ministry of Power, at the Badarpur, New Delhi campus of the National Power Training Institute (NPTI), Ministry of Power.
UTPRERAK will also serve as a strategic capacity-building institution and seeks to be a one-stop solution provider for energy professionals from across India for trainings and education in energy efficiency. It is expected to provide intensive training to more than 10,000 energy professionals from the industry and other potential sectors over the next five years.
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