- Lilavati Award 2020
The issue in news
Union Minister of Education launches Lilavati Award-2020.
About the Lilavati Award 2020:
- The Lilavati Award is an initiative of the technical education regulator, All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), and it aims to recognise efforts by AICTE-approved institutions to treat women with ‘equality and fairness’.
- The theme of the Lilavati Award is women’s empowerment. It aims to create awareness about issues like sanitation, hygiene, health and nutrition using ‘traditional Indian values’.
- It also aims to create awareness about issues like literacy, employment, technology, credit, marketing, innovation, skill development, natural resources, and rights among women.
- Entries for the Award can be submitted at the institution or team level, comprising students or faculty or both from AICTE approved institutions.
- INDIA’S FIRST GREEN ENERGY CONVERGENCE PROJECT
The issue in news
Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), a joint venture of PSUs under the Ministry of Power and Department of New & Renewable Energy (DNRE), Goa, have signed a MOU to implement India’s first Convergence Project in the State.
Main points
- Under the MoU, EESL and DNRE will carry-out the feasibility studies and subsequent implementation of decentralized solar energy projects.
- EESL shall implement the solar energy projects including
- establishment of 100 MW of decentralized ground mounted Solar Power projects on government lands to be used for agricultural pumping,
- replacing approximately 6,300 agricultural pumps with BEE star rated energy efficient pumps and
- distribute approximately 16 Lakh LED bulbs for rural domestic households.
- The projects will accelerate the usage of renewable energy sources, especially for agricultural and rural power consumption in the State.
- Step Up for TB 2020 Report
Why in News
The “Step Up for TB 2020” report by the Stop TB Partnership and Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has highlighted India’s conservative approach regarding the new medicines for Drug Resistant TB, putting lives of patients including children in danger.
Key Highlights of Step Up for TB 2020
- It surveys 37 high TB-burden countriesand shows that critical medical innovations are reaching far fewer people who urgently need them.
- TB remains the world’s top infectious disease killer, with more than 10 million people falling ill and 4 million people dyingdue to this disease in 2019.
- The report finds that only 22% of countries surveyed allow TB treatmentto be started and followed up at a primary healthcare facility, instead of travelling to a hospital.
- It found out that 39% of countries do not use a modified all-oral shorter treatment regimenand 28% of countries surveyed still are using injectable medicines when treating children with DR-TB.
- The report highlighted that 85% of countries surveyed do not use the lifesaving point-of-care urinary TB LAM testfor routine diagnosis of TB in people living with HIV, as recommended by WHO.
Recommendations of Step Up for TB 2020
- The report recommended that the national treatment programmes must prioritise use of all-oral treatment regimensfor people with drug-resistant TB (DR-TB) that no longer include older, toxic drugs that have to be injected and cause serious side effects.
- The findings of this report can be used to evaluate national policy alignment, including by civil society and communities affected by TB, to determine national, regional and global priorities.
Step Up for TB 2020 and India’s Performance
- The report provided thatIndia is still following a very conservative approach regarding the new medicines for drug resistant TB.
- Until March 2020, India had nearly 2 lakh MDR-TB patients who were eligible for Bedaquiline but only 10,845 had received it.
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