• The 159^th birth anniversary of Lala Lajpat Rai was observed recently on January 28^th.

ABOUT LALA LAJPAT RAI

• Born on January 28, 1865, in Dhudike, Punjab, Lala Lajpat Rai created a legacy of nationalism, unity and strength as he was a freedom fighter who was a firm believer in India’s independence.
• In 1880, Rai joined the Government College at Lahore to major in law, where he was influenced by the Hindu reformist movement of Swami Dayanand Saraswati and became a member of existing Arya Samaj Lahore (founded 1877) and Founder-Editor of Lahore-based Arya Gazette.
• Popularly known as Punjab Kesari, Lala Lajpat Rai was one-third of the triumvirate ‘Lal Bal Pal’, which included Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Bipin Chandra Pal.
• As part of Indian National Congress, he took part in political agitations in Punjab and was subsequently deported to Mandalay without trial in May 1907.
• Lala Lajpat Rai was elected President of the Indian National Congress in the Calcutta Special Session of 1920.
• In 1921, he founded Servants of the People Society, a non-profit welfare organization.
• He is best known for leading the non-violent march in protest of the Simon Commission.
  • He was assaulted and was extremely injured during the protest.
  • He subsequently addressed the crowd with his now famous words and said, “I declare that the blows struck at me today will be the last nails in the coffin of British rule in India”.
• He did not fully recover from his injuries and died on November 17, 1928 of a heart attack.

• The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) will no longer accept Aadhaar card as a valid proof for date of birth.
• EPFO has followed a directive from the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).
• As per a recent UIDAI’s directive, Aadhaar was being considered as proof for date of birth by several beneficiaries.
• Aadhaar, while a unique identifier, was not recognized as proof of date of birth according to the Aadhaar Act, 2016.
• In its directive, UIDAI emphasized that Aadhaar was a proof of identity, not proof of birth.

ABOUT AADHAAR

• Aadhaar is a 12-digit individual identification number issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India.
• The Aadhaar programme was launched in 2009 by the UIDAI.
• UIDAI is a statutory authority established under the Aadhaar Act, 2016.
• It serves as proof of identity and address, anywhere in India.
• The Aadhaar number is unique for each individual and will remain valid for life time and is linked to the individual’s biometric and demographic information.
• Aadhaar number helps the residents to avail various services provided by banking, mobile phone connections and other govt and Non-govt services.

ABOUT EPFO

• It is a statutory body that came into existence under the Employees’ Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, of 1952.
• The EPFO administers the mandatory provident fund, a basic pension scheme, and a disability/death insurance scheme.
• The Act and Schemes framed there under are administered by a tri-partite Board known as the Central Board of Trustees, Employees’ Provident Fund, consisting of representatives of Government (Both Central and State), Employers, and Employees.
• It is one of the world’s largest organizations in terms of clientele and the volume of financial transactions undertaken by it.
• The EPFO is under the purview of the Ministry of Labour and Employment.

• The All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) 2021-22 was released recently.
• AISHE 2021-22 has been conducted by the Union Education Ministry and is the 12^th edition of the survey.
• The Ministry has been conducting AISHE since 2011, covering all Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) in the country registered with AISHE collecting detailed information on different parameters such as student enrollment, teachers, infrastructural information, etc.

MAJOR FINDINGS

• The total enrolment in higher education has increased to nearly 4.33 crore in 2021-22 from 4.14 crore in 2020-21.
  • UP, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, MP, West Bengal and Rajasthan are top 6 states.
• The Female enrolment has increased to 07 crore in 2021-22 from 2.01 crore in 2020-21.
• Gross Enrollment Ratio has increased to 28.4 in 2021-22 from 23.7 in 2014-15 [as per 2011 population projections for 18-23 years age group].
• Female GER has increased to 28.5 in 2021-22 from 22.9 in 2014-15.
• Gender Parity Index (GPI), the ratio of female GER to male GER is 1.01 in 2021-22. GPI has continued to be above 1 since 2017-18 i.e., female GER continues to be more than male GER for fifth consecutive year.
• The highest number of graduates in 2021-22 as per the AISHE report is from the Arts Discipline.
• The total number of pass-outs increased to 1.07 crore in 2021-22 as against 95.4 lakh in 2020-21
• Availability of different infrastructural facilities in university in 2021-22:
  • Libraries (99%)
  • Laboratories (88%)
  • Computer centers (93%)
  • Skill Development Centre (71%)
  • Play Ground (91%)
• Number of Institutions
  • The total number of Universities / University level institutions registered is 1,168, Colleges 45,473 and Standalone Institutions 12,002.
• Faculty
  • The total number of faculty/teachers in 2021-22 are 15.98 lakh, of which about 6% are male and 43.4% are female.

• In a groundbreaking move, Saudi Arabia is preparing to open its first alcohol store in the capital Riyadh which will serve exclusively non-Muslim diplomats.
• This represents a notable shift in the Kingdom’s approach to alcohol, which has traditionally been banned under its strict interpretation of Islamic law.
• The move is part of wider plans known as Vision 2030 to build a post-oil economy.

• Indian tennis star Rohan Bopanna has made history by becoming the oldest player to claim the No. 1 spot in the men’s doubles rankings at the age of 43.
• He achieved this remarkable feat following his quarter-final victory at the 2024 Australian Open, alongside Australia’s Matthew Ebden.
• He surpasses the previous record held by American tennis player Mike Bryan, who was 41 years and 76 days old when he was ranked World No. 1 in men’s doubles in 2019.

• Indian Air Force recently conducted Exercise Desert Knight along with French Air and Space Force and United Arab Emirates Air Force over the Arabian Sea against the backdrop of the rising global concerns over Houthi militants targeting several commercial vessels in the strategic waterways in the region.
• The main focus of Exercise Desert Knight was on enhancing synergy and interoperability between the three Air Forces.

• National Girl Child Day is observed annually on January 24^th to promote awareness about their rights and the importance of female education and health.
• On January 24 1966, Indira Gandhi took her oath as the first woman Prime Minister of India.
• The Ministry of Women and Child Development launched this day in 2008.
• The government had also commemorates launching of its flagship scheme, ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ (Save daughters, educate daughters), on January 22^nd 2015 to boost the child sex ratio and empower girls through different measures.

• National Tourism Day in India is marked on 25^th January every year.
• The day is celebrated to build awareness of the country’s economic benefits from tourism.
• National Tourism Day is said to have been first observed by the Indian government in 1948.
• In 2024, the decided theme is ‘Sustainable Journeys, Timeless Memories,’ promoting responsible and mindful travel.

• Professor Vijay Raghavan committee, a high-level committee set up to revamp the Defence Research and Development Organisation has submitted its reports and recommendations.
• The committee, which had three senior military officials in it, has recommended that
  • the DRDO have two secretaries, one to look after defence research and development and the other to look into defence technology and innovations.
  • Merger of existing over 50 laboratories into around 10 larger ones,
  • Reducing the number of directors and removing the role of the cluster Director generals.
  • Setting up a Defence Technology Commission, headed by PM.
  • Increase in the role of academia and private sector in defence research and development.

• Ola founder Bhavish Aggarwal has revealed that his artificial intelligence startup Krutrim has raised $50 million in funding at a $1 billion valuation.
• Krutrim has now become India’s first AI stratup to reach the unicorn status.
  • A ‘unicorn,’ is a privately-owned startup valued at $1 billion or more.
• Krutrim, which means “artificial” in Sanskrit, is also in the process of developing data centres across the country, aiming to create supercomputer ecosystem for AI development in India.
• Krutrim is a large language model (LLM) which has been trained on more than 2 trillion ‘tokens’; these tokens are sub-words used in conversations.
• The AI platform is also set to have two classifications-
  • Krutrim introduced in December 2023 while
  • Krutrim Pro is set for release this year, with advanced capabilities for problem-solving and task execution.
• This LLM uses a custom tokenizer to interpret the languages and scripts.