From the Newsroom: Govt revamps education structure

In today’s episode, The first five of the 36 Rafale fighter jets India procured from the Dassault Aviation company of France arrived in Haryana's Ambala Indian Air Force (IAF) station on Wednesday, the government has approved a new education policy that seeks to revamp all aspects of education structure and aims to achieve universal access to education to all between age groups of 3-18 years by 2030 and Laxman S Savadi has clarified that Chief Minister Yediyurappa will continue as CM for next 3-years.

Here is the top news of today, Wednesday: July 29, 2020:

The first five of the 36 Rafale fighter jets that India procured from the Dassault Aviation company of France arrived in Haryana's Ambala Indian Air Force (IAF) station on Wednesday.

The aircraft landed nearly three-and-a-half hours after they took off from Al Dhafra airbase of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The fighter jets had taken off from Bordeaux-Merignac airbase in France on Monday and had a stopover at the airbase in Abu Dhabi before taking off for Ambala on Wednesday.

The new fighter aircraft are inducted to the recently resurrected 17 Golden Arrows squadron of the IAF – at a time when India is engaged in a military stand-off with China. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government highlighted it as a significant step in “strengthening air power” and “defence preparedness” of the nation.

“The Birds have landed safely in Ambala. The touch down of Rafale combat aircraft in India marks the beginning of a new era in our Military History. These multirole aircrafts will revolutionise the capabilities of the @IAF_MCC,” tweeted Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.

The country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India on Wednesday reported its first-ever quarterly loss since becoming public 17 years back with a consolidated net loss of Rs 268.3 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, hit hard by coronavirus pandemic.

The auto major, which got listed way back in July 2003, had posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 1,376.8 crore in the April-June quarter of 2019-20.

Net sales declined to Rs 3,679 crore in the first quarter as against Rs 18,738.8 crore in the year-ago period, MSI said in a statement.

On a standalone basis, the company reported a net loss of Rs 249.4 crore for the first quarter ended June 30.

It had posted a net profit of Rs 1,435.5 crore on a standalone basis in April-June of 2019-20.

The auto major's net sales during the period under review declined to Rs 3,677.5 crore, as compared to Rs 18,735.2 crore in the year-ago period.

After over three decades, the government on Wednesday approved a new education policy that seeks to revamp all aspects of education structure and aims to achieve universal access to education to all between age groups of 3-18 years by 2030.

The Union Cabinet, at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the New Education Policy that also proposed to change the name of the Ministry of Human Resource Development to the Ministry of Education.

According to the draft policy, there will be no hard separation of learning areas in terms of curricular, co-curricular or extracurricular areas and all subjects, including arts, music, crafts, sports, yoga, community service, etc. will be curricular.

It also promotes active pedagogy that will focus on the development of core capacities and life skills, including 21st-century skills.

The policy also aims at increasing the exposure of students to classical languages of India in a bid to preserve these languages and their artistic treasures.

"Every student in the country will take a fun course on “The Languages of India" sometime in Grades 6-8 ... with the option to continue through secondary education and university," the draft policy had said.

Amidst buzz that BJP top brass may effect a change of leadership in Karnataka, Deputy Chief Minister Laxman S Savadi has clarified that Chief Minister Yediyurappa will continue as CM for next 3-years.

Savadi, who is camping in Delhi for the past three days, told reporters that "there is no truth in media reports that I am trying to become the CM."

He said: "This news initially spread in social media after I met the Karnataka Governor. There is no truth in it. I came to the national capital to meet union ministers about my department works. Yediyurappa is my leader. He will continue as CM for the remaining three years."

Savadi, who also holds the Transport Department portfolio, said that he met BJP National President J P Nadda on Tuesday.

Terming the visit was a courtesy call he said, " I have explained achievements of the state government headed by Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa which completed one year. Nadda also told me to convey his greetings to Chief Minister Yediyurappa."

He also said he tried to meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah yesterday but it did not happen as Shah was busy.

Savadi’s arrival in the national capital on Monday, the day Yediyurappa is organising a function to mark his one-year completion of the government, triggered speculation that the BJP top brass may appoint him as CM by replacing Yediyurappa.

Savadi, who has a strong backing of BJP National General Secretary B L Santosh, has been meeting the party leaders in Delhi for the past three days.

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