• The National Achievement Survey (NAS) conducted by the Ministry of Education has found there is a widening difference in mathematics learning outcomes among girls and boys as they reach higher classes.
• The survey found that girls and boys begin at an almost level playing field in mathematics but by the time they reach high school, there is already a gap in learning outcomes which becomes even wider by class 12 when boys significantly outperform girls in the subject.
• In class 10, this gap is most stark and the national scores reflect that girls are at 216 and boys at 219.
• The NAS covered government, government-aided and private schools. The achievement tests along with the questionnaires — pupil questionnaire, teacher questionnaire and school questionnaire — were developed and translated in 22 different languages by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT).

• After readying Hotan airbase for operating H-20 stealth bombers, China is now setting up an emergency airbase in Tashkurgan district of Xinxiang opposite eastern Ladakh which is likely to be operationalised by September.
• This will be the first Chinese-built high-speed airbase located in the Tajik Autonomous Region of Tashkurgan, Kashgar Province.
• The Chinese intention of making these strategic bombers an area specific asset is clear from Beijing’s decision to designate the Hotan base as a testing base for these stealth machines before being deployed in the area to take on targets in Afghanistan, Balochistan or Ladakh.
• Earlier, the H-20 bombers were slated to be inducted in 2025. However, the timeline has been compressed which signals a shift in China’s approach in the region and the larger geopolitical space.
• According to a 2020 Pentagon report on Chinese military power, the H-20s are estimated to have a range of 5,281 miles and lift capacity of 10 tons of munitions.

• According to the State Bank of India‘s research paper Ecowrap, India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP)growth in FY22 is predicted to be in the range of 8.2 to 8.5 percent.

KEY POINTS:

• On May 31, the government will disclose GDP figures for the fourth quarter of FY22.
• According to SBI’s Group Chief Economic Adviser Soumya Kanti Ghosh  that FY22 GDP estimates will be closer to 8.5 percent than Q4 GDP numbers.
• The Central Statistics Office forecast Q4 GDP at Rs 41.04 lakh crore and FY22 real GDP growth at Rs 147.7 lakh crore, an increase of 1.7% over pre-pandemic levels.
• The growth rate of Q4 GDP is pegged at Rs 40 lakh crore by the SBI Nowcasting model, which is lower by Rs 1 lakh crore than the CSO early predictions.

• The Railways is aiming to introduce the country’s First semi-high speed freight train by December 2022.
• Based on the Vande Bharat platform, the 16 coach ‘Gati Shakti’ train will be able to run at 160 km/hour, and will be manufactured at the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) in Chennai.
• With these trains, the Railways plans to target the e-commerce and courier parcel segment.
• According to Indian coach factory (ICF) official, India had become the 8th largest market for e-­commerce.
• India’s e­commerce market is expected to reach $111 billion by 2024, $200 billion by 2026 and expected to reach $350 billion by 2030,”
• The Railways is aiming to increase its share in freight transportation from the present 27% to 45% by 2030 through better infrastructure and business development plans, according to the National Rail Plan.

• A team at the Department of Electrical Communication Engineering (ECE), Indian Institute of Science (IISc) has developed a true random number generator (TRNG), which can improve data encryption for sensitive digital data such as credit card details, passwords and other personal information. “Min¬-entropy” is a parameter used to measure the performance of TRNGs.
• Its value ranges from 0 (completely predictable) to 1 (completely random).
• The device from Majumdar’s lab showed a record ¬high min-¬entropy of 0.98.
• The performance of the device on the standard tests for cryptographic applications designed by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has exceeded their expectations.

• A new species of old-world monkey, “The Sela Macaque” was geographically separated from the Arunachal Macaque by the Sela, an eastern Himalayan pass located at an altitude of 13,700 feet.
• Sela macaque (Macaca selai),the new-to-science primate was identified and analysed by a team of experts from the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) and the University of Calcutta.
• Phylogenetics relates to the evolutionary development and diversification of a species or group of organisms.
• The phylog enetic analysis revealed that the Sela macaque was geographically separated from the Arunachal macaque ( Macaca munzala) of the Tawang district by Sela.

• Third Global Organic Expo 2022is poised to be a major platform for Organic Producers, Aggregators, Processors, Value Chain Integrators, and the Industry Partners by offering Global level conference, with theme “Profitability for Humanity”.

Objectives of Global Organic Expo:

• Reducing cost and achieving sustainable productivity through certified organic products and capacity development of organic production systems.
• Organic products will focus on creating market linkages between producers and marketers with the ultimate objective of increasing income without any chemical inputs.
• Sector and People: Organic Expo allows all organic customers, suppliers, partners, and potential new customers to meet in a very comfortable way in person.
• Global Organic Expo is a platform to explore new clients and an opportunity to have face-to-face interaction with existing clients, suppliers, and partners.
• This event will be a 360-degree approach to understand competition and analyze market.

• It is a week-long disaster management programme “JUARE” (Joint United Action for Resilience in Emergencies) organised by Kullu district administration at Atal Sadan Kullu.
• The programme was based on community participation and was an ambitious program which would ensure the participation of village panchayats, urban local bodies, school students for community risk, preparation of resource maps and identification of volunteers for civil protection at the time of disaster.

• The agenda of the meeting is to discuss and deliberate ways to further deepen the Financial Inclusion drive in the country and to provide banking solutions to every citizen of India.
• Postal Department along with IPPB is working on the vision of the Prime Minister’s Digital India initiativeto promote digital payments and bring digital banking services to every nook and corner of the country in a customer-friendly manner.

 Key points

• The council’s mandate is to provide a solid institutional structure to promote and maintain cooperative federalism throughout the country, as well as to activate the council and zonal councils by holding regular meetings.
• It also enables the zonal councils and inter-State councils to address all current and emergent issues of Centre-State and inter-State relations, as well as build a strong mechanism for monitoring the execution of the inter-State council and zonal council’s recommendations.
• The Inter-State Council’s standing committee will be chaired by Amit Shah, and members will include Union ministers Nirmala Sitharaman, Narendra Singh Tomar, Virendra Kumar, and Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.
• Members of the Inter-State Council’s standing committee include the Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, and Uttar Pradesh.
• The standing committee will consult continuously and process items for discussion by the council, as well as any matters relevant to center-state relations before they are brought before the inter-state council for deliberation.
• The standing committee also oversees the implementation of decisions made in response to the council’s recommendations and considers any additional matters presented to it by the chairman or the council.