TNPSC Current Affairs January 20, 2020

www.tnpsc.academy – TNPSC Current Affairs January 20, 2020 (20/01/2020)

 

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Topic: Latest Reports and Events, Profile of States

ASER 2019

The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2019 has been published by education non-profit Pratham.

What is ASER and why it matters?

This is an annual survey that aims to provide reliable estimates of children’s enrolment and basic learning levels for each district and state in India.

ASER has been conducted every year since 2005 in all rural districts of India.

It is the largest citizen-led survey in India. It is also the only annual source of information on children’s learning outcomes available in India today.

Unlike most other large-scale learning assessments, ASER is a household-based rather than school-based survey. This design enables all children to be included – those who have never been to school or have dropped out, as well as those who are in government schools, private schools, religious schools or anywhere else.

How the survey was conducted?

The survey was conducted in 26 districts across 24 states in India, covering a total of 1,514 villages, 30,425 households, and 36,930 children in the age group of 4-8 years.

The sampled children’s enrolment status in pre-school or school was collected. Children did a variety of cognitive, early language, and early numeracy tasks; and activities to assess the children’s social and emotional development were also undertaken.

All tasks were done one-on-one with children in their homes.

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Topic: Environment and Ecology, Discovery of New Speicies

Steppe eagle (Aquila nipalensis)

Steppe eagle sighted recently near Vijayawada.

Key facts:

Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae.

Habitat: It breeds from Romania east through the south Russian and Central Asian steppes to Mongolia. The European and Central Asian birds winter in Africa, and the eastern birds in India.

Throughout its range it favours open dry habitats, such as desert, semi-desert, steppes, or savannah.

The Steppe Eagle appears on the flag of Kazakhstan. It is also the National bird (animal) of Egypt and appears on its flag.

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Topic: Indian Army and Defense Activities

K-4 Nuclear capable Underwater missile test fired by India

India test fired K4, a 3,500 km range nuclear capable missile successfully. The missile is meant for Arihant-class submarines. Arihant is the first indigenously manufactured nuclear submarine.

Key facts:

The K4 missile was test fired from the East Coast of Andhra Pradesh from an underwater pontoon. India already operates Submarine Launched Ballistic Missile, K-15.

However, the range of K-15 is limited to 750 km. The other under water missile being developed by India is BO-5, whose range is 700-km. India has also begun its research on K-5 whose target is 5,000 km.

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Topic: Latest Diary of Events

National Immunization Day

National Immunization Day observed in India

On January 19, 2020, the National Immunization Day (NID) was observed all over India as a part of Pulse Polio Programme, 2020. Around 17.4 crore children of age less than 5 hears were administered polio drops to sustain polio eradication in India.

Key facts:

India has eradicated polio completely in 2012.  In order to sustain the eradication, GoI organizes Pulse Polio immunization campaigns on the standards set by World Health Organization (WHO). The next round of National Immunization Day is to be held in March 10.

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Topic: Awards and Honours, Persons in News

Tamil Development Awards

The Development Awards of Tamil Nadu Government 2019 have been announced.

The Tamil Thai award 2019 has been announced for the Chicago Tamil Sangam.

Other awards were:

Kapilar Award – Vettri alagar,

U.Ve.Sa Award – V Mahadevan,

Kambhar Award – Saraswathi Ramanathan,

Sollin Selvar Award – Kavidasan,

G.U. Pope Award – Maria Joseph Xavier,

Ilangovadigal Award – Kaviko Gnanaselvan (A) Thirunana sambantham,

Umaruppular Award – Liaquat Ali khan,

Amma Literary Award – Umayaal muthu,

Singaravelar Award – Ashoka Subramanian,

Maraimalai adigal Award – Scholar Muthukumaraswamy,

Iyothee Thass Pandithar Award – Scholar Prabhakaran,

Best language Translator Awards – Mohammed Yusuf, Mastan Ali, Prof. Siva. Murugesan,

Chief Minister’s Computer Tamil Award for 2018 – Nagarasan.