Pib

Pib

1. Parliament should not become a platform for scoring political brownie points: Vice President

The Vice President expressed concern over the functioning of Parliament in the backdrop of the severe criticism from various quarters, including the parliamentary fraternity itself. This criticism may be due to a decline, in recent years, in both the quantity and quality of parliamentary work, he added.

The Vice President said that over the years, Parliament’s legislative business and the number of hours it devotes to debate crucial issues of national importance have come down. Even, the relatively fewer days when the Parliament meets are often marked by pandemonium, resulting in frequent adjournments on trivial topics, he added.

The Vice President said that disruptions during parliament session are a matter of great concern as they have become the order of the day with the political parties failing to rein in their members. He further said that at present ‘healthy debate and discussions, the hallmark of Parliamentary democracy’ are overshadowed by disruption, confrontation, and forced adjournments of the house. There is a need for political parties to arrive at a consensus on this important issue so that the precious time of the Parliament and legislatures is not wasted on issues which can be best resolved through debates and dialogues, he added.

2. Vice President Addresses 11th Global Healthcare Summit-2017 in Kolkata

The Vice president said that while India is progressing economically and incomes of people are improving, the common man is unable to meet the medical bill whenever there is a medical emergency in the family. With penetration of health insurance remaining quite low and majority of the Indian population preferring to seek medical treatment from private sector in health emergencies by spending from their own pockets, this problem gets compounded, he added.

The Vice President called on the medical fraternity to put in efforts to bring down the costs of medical devices to make healthcare affordable. He further said that youngsters are increasingly falling prey to ailments due to a variety of factors, including sedentary lifestyle, improper dietary habits and job-related stresses.

The Vice President said that one of the major challenges facing India is the growing incidence of diabetes in the general population and this trend needs to be arrested. He quoted a study saying diabetes was becoming common among lower socio-economic groups living in urban regions of more developed States and this is a matter of concern.

3. Quality and Autonomy has been the key focus of HRD ministry in 2017: Prakash Javadekar

Interacting with media the minister mentioned that IIM Bill was the greatest reform in the sector of Education towards Autonomy. He also added that next year 20 institutions of eminence will be selected for the Institutions of Eminence scheme and UGC has invited application for it.

The minister mentioned that National Academic Depository (NAD) has been a key reform to digitise the field of education. The NAD was launched by Hon’ble President of India on 9th July, 2017. NAD is an online store house of academic awards (degrees, diplomas, certificates, mark-sheets etc) lodged by the academic institutions / school boards / eligibility assessment bodies in a digital format. Around 75 lakh records have been uploaded on the NAD Portal.

To give an impetus to Swachh Bharat Mission the ministry organized Swachh Vidyalaya Puraskar to recognize, inspire and celebrate excellence in sanitation & hygiene practice in Government Schools in the areas of water, sanitation, hand washing with soap, operations and maintenance, behavior change and capacity building. Around 2.5 lakh schools applied online through web portal/Mobile App for the Puraskar.