04 January 2020: PIB Summary & Analysis

1. World Braille Day
2. Children’s Science Congress

Context:

All India Radio News and its regional units in Pune and Nagpur have observed World Braille Day in an innovative way by broadcasting news read by visually impaired students and officers. The news was scripted in Braille and read live.

World Braille Day: 

• January 4th is celebrated as World Braille Day in order to mark the birth anniversary of Louis Braille. The declaration to celebrate the day was given by the UN in 2018.
• Louis Braille is credited with inventing the Braille language. Braille is a tactile writing system used by people who are visually impaired.
• The World Braille Day spreads awareness about Braille script and other accessible forms of communication, as most of the public places such as hospitals fail to provide their material in Braille.
• Despite 2.2 billion people with visual impairment in the world, most of the schools do not offer classes in Braille and a lot of countries do not even recognize this as a part of their educational curriculum. 
• The 2006 Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities considers Braille essential for education.
• Hence, the celebration of the World Braille Day is intended to spread awareness amongst people regarding the necessity and importance of including the language at a more global level.

Context: 

• Bharat Ratna, Professor C.N.R. Rao urged students attending the inaugural session of the Rashtriya Kishore Vaigyanik Sammelan (Children’s Science Congress), to be determined, believe in themselves and be prepared for unexpected results in their pursuit of science.
• During the event, Infosys ISCA Travel Award 2020 was also given to top 10 students for their best write ups for innovations in the field of Science & Technology.

Children’s Science Congress:

• The National Children’s Science Congress (NCSC) is a nationwide science communication programme, started in the year 1993.
• It is a programme of the National Council for Science and Technology Communication (NCSTC), Department of Science and Technology, New Delhi.
• The NCSC provides a platform for the students both from formal school systems and from out of the school of the age-group of 10-17 years, to exhibit their creativity and scientific temper in solving the societal problems. 
• For more on the Children’s Science Congress, check PIB dated 30 Dec 2019.

National Council for Science and Technology Communication:

• The National Council for Science and Technology Communication (NCSTC) is mandated to communicate science & technology to masses.
• The council aims to build capacity for informed decision making in the community.
• It is under the Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology.

January 4th, 2020 PIB:- Download PDF Here

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