Uttar Pradesh State PCS

• 01 Jun 2024

Improved Groundwater Level in districts of Uttar Pradesh

Why in News?

According to the notification issued by the Namami Gange and water supply section-3 of the state, the groundwater level in 32 districts of the state, including Prayagraj, has experienced an enhancement, leading to a decrease in critical zones.

Key Points

• The groundwater department in Prayagraj explained that they analyze various parameters to determine whether a district falls under the safe, critical, semi-critical, or over-extracted zone.
• The primary consideration is the balance between water extraction and recharge. Following an in-depth annual assessment, they classify each district accordingly.
  • The districts across the state which are in safe zones include Prayagraj, Pratapgarh, Kaushambi, Fatehpur, Varanasi, Jaunpur, Agra, Firozabad, Mainpuri, Mathura, Aligarh, Etah, Hathras, Badaun, Chitrakoot, Mahoba, Kanpur Nagar, Kannauj, Meerut, Baghpat, Bulandshahar, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Ghaziabad, Hapur, Mirzapur, Moradabad, Amroha, Bijnor, Sambhal, Saharanpur, Muzaffarnagar and Shamli.

Namami Gange Programme

• It is an Integrated Conservation Mission, approved as a ‘Flagship Programme’ by the Union Government in June 2014 to accomplish the twin objectives of effective abatement of pollution and conservation and rejuvenation of National River Ganga.
• It is being operated under the Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Ministry of Jal Shakti.
• The program is being implemented by the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), and its state counterpart organizations i.e State Program Management Groups (SPMGs).
• NMCG is the implementation wing of National Ganga Council (set in 2016; which replaced the National Ganga River Basin Authority - NGRBA).
• It has a Rs. 20,000-crore, centrally-funded, non-lapsable corpus and consists of nearly 288 projects.
• The main pillars of the programme are:
  • Sewage Treatment Infrastructure
  • River-Front Development
  • River-Surface Cleaning
  • Biodiversity
  • Afforestation
  • Public Awareness
  • Industrial Effluent Monitoring
  • Ganga Gram

New Courses Added to BHU’s Swayam Programme

Why in News?

The faculty members of the Banaras Hindu University have developed 15 courses for the SWAYAM programme for the 2024 session. The courses have been developed in line with requirements and expectations of the learners.

Key Points

• These courses cover various subjects like management, commerce, science, medicine, social sciences, humanities, and philosophy.
• BHU has entered the realm of online education for the first time with the introduction of these courses.
  • The initiative not only enriches BHU's educational offerings but also supports the broader goals of providing accessible and quality education for everyone.
• The technical support for the courses is provided by IIT Madras and IIT Kanpur, with funding from the Ministry of Education, Government of India.
• SWAYAM, launched by the Government of India, aims to make the best teaching and learning resources available to all individuals, regardless of their geographical location or institutional affiliations.

SWAYAM programme

• Study Webs of Active Learning for Young Aspiring Minds (SWAYAM), was launched on July 9, 2017 by the Ministry of Human Resource Development to provide one integrated platform and portal for online courses.
• This covers all higher education subjects and skill sector courses.
• The objective is to ensure that every student in the country has access to the best quality higher education at the affordable cost.
• Academicians from hundreds of institutions throughout the country are involved in developing & delivering Massive open online courses (MOOCs) through SWAYAM in almost all disciplines from senior schooling to Post Graduation.