Scheme for Residential Education for Students in High Schools in Targeted Areas (SHRESHTA)

• The objective of SHRESHTA is to enhance the reach of development intervention of the Government and to fill the gap in service deficient SCs dominant areas, in the sector of education.
• The scheme provides grant-in-aid to institutions (run by NGOs) and residential high schools and to provide environment for socio economic upliftment and overall development of the Scheduled Castes (SCs).
• The scheme is implemented by the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment.
• It provides easy access to the meritorious SC students in the best schools in the Country for their Educational and Holistic Development, thereby securing their future opportunities.
• The scheme is being implemented in 2 Modes:
  1. SHRESHTA schools, (Best CBSE/State Board affiliated Private Residential Schools).
  2. NGO operated Schools/Hostels, Schools/Hostels run by NGOs and other organizations having higher classes (up to class 12).
• For SHRESHTA schools, meritorious SC students will be selected through the National Entrance Test for SHRESHTA (NETS) to be conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA).
• The passed candidates are admitted in the best private residential schools affiliated by CBSE/State Board in classes 9th and 11th for completion of education till 12th standard.
• Best performing CBSE based private residential schools, having more than 75% pass percentage for class 10 and 12 for last 3 years are selected by a Committee for admission of selected students.
• The scheme is applicable only for the admission in Class 9 and Class 11.

‘SIMBEX’, ‘SAMPRITI’, and ‘CHAKRAVAT’

SIMBEX

• It is a bilateral naval exercise between India and Singapore.
• The 30th Edition of the Singapore India Maritime Bilateral Exercise (SIMBEX), 2023 was held in the southern parts of the South China Sea.

SAMPRITI

• It is a joint army exercise between India and Bangladesh.
• 11th edition (SAMPRITI-XI) of annual joint military exercise was held at Meghalaya, India.

CHAKRAVAT

• CHAKRAVAT is Annual Joint HADR (Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief) Exercise.
• The exercise involves multi agency participation.
• The 2023 edition would further synergise efforts at the national level among all stakeholders, as well as witness participation from 8 countries of the Indian Ocean Region.
• The exercise has been conducted by Indian Army, Indian Navy (IN) and Indian Air Force (IAF) in rotation since 2016.
• The 2022 edition of the exercise was conducted at Agra by IAF.
• The 2023 edition of the exercise is being hosted by the Indian Navy at Goa in the month of October.

Christened Red-rumped Hawklet

It is a new dragonfly species that was recently discovered in Wayanad plateau of the Western Ghats.

• Christened Red-rumped Hawklet is a dragon fly species found on the Wayanad plateau nestled in the Western Ghats.
• It is distinguished by its darker pigmentation, a restricted red coloration on the abdomen and the absence of the yellow antehumeral stripe.
• This dragonfly species is profoundly seasonal, taking to the skies exclusively during the month of October.
• By early November, it vanishes from sight, spending the remainder of the year in the aquatic larval stage.
• It has resemblance to Epithemis mariae, commonly known as the Ruby-tailed Hawklet, a dragonfly species that is native and exclusive to the Western Ghats.

Phonotaxis

• Phonotaxis is the movement by an animal in response to a sound.
• It has mostly been observed among crickets, moths, frogs, and toads, among a few other creatures.
• The click of crickets in the evening or frogs croaking during the monsoons are due to Phonotaxis.
• There are 2 types of Phonotaxis:
  1. Positive
  2. Negative
• The purpose of positive phonotaxis is attraction.
• It usually happens when the females of a particular species are attracted to the sounds made by the males.
• Negative Phonotaxis indicate to repel or warn or move away.
• Crickets in particular have been found to steer themselves away from low-intensity ultrasound typically associated with bats (which use it for echolocation).

Nobel Prize for Economics 2023

Claudia Goldin, a professor at Harvard recently received Nobel Prize for Economics 2023 for her work on gender gap in the labour market.

• Claudia Goldin is the 3rd women to receive Nobel Prize in the field of economics after Elinor Ostrom in 2009 and Esther Duflo in 2019.
• The economics award was created in 1968 by Sweden’s central bank and is formally known as the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel.
• Claudia Goldin receive the award for research that has advanced the understanding of the gender gap in the labour market.
• Goldin’s research does not offer solutions, but it allows policymakers to tackle the entrenched problem.
• Her research reveals the causes of change, as well as the main sources of the remaining gender gap.

Significant findings of Claudia Goldin’s research

• Across the world women are vastly underrepresented in the labour market.
• Compared with men, a lower percentage of women come out of home demanding work and a lower percentage hold jobs.
• A woman’s role in the job market and the pay she receives aren’t influenced just by broad social and economic changes but also determined partly by her individual decisions.
• Female participation in the labour market did not have an upward trend over this entire period of the 2oth century.
• The participation of married women decreased with the transition from an agrarian to industrial society in the early 19th century, but then started to increase with the growth of the service sector in the early 20th century.
• Access to the contraceptive pill played an important role by offering new opportunities for career planning.
• Despite modernisation, economic growth and rising proportions of employed women in the 20th century, for a long period of time the earnings gap hardly closed.
• Historically, much of the gender gap in earnings could be explained by differences in education and occupational choices.