Prelim Bits 02-11-2019

International Solar Alliance Assembly

Ministry of New and Renewable Energy hosted 2^nd assembly of International Solar Alliance at New Delhi.
The assembly had the participation from member countries, ISA Partners, and other invitees.
As of now, there are 83 member countries with Eritrea and St. Kittis and Nevis latest countries to join ISA.
The Assembly is the supreme decision-making body of the ISA.
It gives directions on various administrative, financial and programme related issues.
India’s Minister for New and Renewable Energy and Power is President of the ISA Assembly and France’s Minister of State for the Ecological and Inclusive Transition is the Co-President of the Assembly.

Click here to know more about ISA.

UNFCCC COP

The 25^th Conference of Parties (COP 25) of The United Nations Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was planned to be hosted by Chile.
But due to domestic social unrest faced by the Chile government, it announced its withdrawal from hosting the event.
The Spain government has offered to host the event, but Chile’s environment minister will remain the President of COP 25.
The decision to change venues ultimately lay with the UN COP bureau, a 12-member panel of climate diplomats drawn from across the world and chaired by Head of the government of previously hosted nation.
Currently the bureau is headed by Polish President as COP 24 was held in Katowice, Poland.
The UN Climate Headquarters is in Bonn, Germany.

Gottiprolu

It is a new site excavated by Archaeological Survey of India in the State of Andhra Pradesh.
The remains of a huge settlement surrounded by a massive brick enclosure has been discovered.
One life size Vishnu sculpture and a wide variety of pottery of the early centuries of current era have been excavated.
The site of Gottiprolu lies on the right bank of a distributary of river Swarnamukhi in South Andhra Pradesh. It lies close to Tirupati and Nellore.
Further explorations revealed various forms of antiquarian remains extending from Tamil Nadu and culturally linked with each other.

Bamboo Technology Park

Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region and the North Eastern Council (NEC) have announced setting up of Bamboo Technology Park in Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh.
The parks will be in Jammu, Srinagar and Leh and it is consonance with the National Bamboo Mission (NBM).
The Cane and Bamboo Technology Centre (CBTC) under NEC will implement the project.
The model for bamboo cultivation, harvesting and utilisation currently existing in the North Eastern Region shall be replicated in the 2 UTs.
A Bamboo Industrial Park has already been approved to be set up in the Dima Hasao district of Assam.

Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA)

Union HRD Minister has recently reviewed the preparations of Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan and Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti in New Delhi for its participation in PISA, 2021.
The PISA is a competency-based test to assess the quality of education systems across the world.
It assesses the learning levels of 15-year-old students in reading, mathematics, science, collaborative problem solving and money literacy.
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) conducts PISA every three years.
It does not test a student’s memory and curriculum-based knowledge.
PISA’s science test, , measures three competencies —

Similarly, PISA defines reading as an individual’s capacity to understand, use and reflect on written information in a range of situations.
India’s Participation - The country participated in 2009 test with 16,000 students from 400 schools in Himachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
India was placed 72nd among the 74 participating countries.
Indian government decided not to participate in 2012 and 2015 cycles.
The decision was revisited in 2016 and HRD ministry approved the decision to participate in 2021 cycle.
The students of Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti and Union Territory of Chandigarh will represent India in this examination.

Source: PIB, The Hindu