20 July 2018: UPSC Exam PIB Summary & Analysis

Read the daily PIB update and stay up-to-date on current affairs for the UPSC exam

Security measures for women in Railways

• On trial basis, Emergency Talk Back System has been provided in 06 ladies coaches of two Electrical Multiple Unit (EMU) rakes (03 coaches each) in Mumbai Suburban.
• One air conditioned EMU rake running in Mumbai Suburban has also been fitted with this system.
• Provision of Emergency Talk Back System is also being envisaged in all newly manufactured EMU rakes under Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation (MRVC) Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP)-III project.

Tool for prediction of confirmation probability of waitlisted tickets in Railways

• A tool has been developed to predict the probability of waitlisted ticket getting confirmed at the time of booking as well as during Passenger Name Record (PNR) enquiry of waitlisted ticket.
• The tool has been developed using the algorithm of Machine learning. The machine learning model has been developed using the waitlisted PNR data of past 2 years. 
• This model creates the pattern for the various waitlist scenarios and predicts the probability for the future date journey.
• The salient features of the scheme are as under:-

1. It predicts the probability of waitlist status for General Quota.
2. The tool considers the high waitlist scenario of Holiday rush.
3. It displays the trend of last waitlist ticket got confirmed for the same journey during previous year.
4. Prediction of dynamic probability is based on current status.

• Currently this feature is integrated with Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) website only.

1. When the user is doing the booking transaction, and if the status of accommodation availability of the inputted journey is waitlisted, then the user can check the probability of confirmation.
2. At the time of PNR enquiry of waitlisted ticket, the user can check the probability of confirmation.

Samagra Shiksha Scheme

Aim: To ensure inclusive and equitable quality education at all levels of school education

• The Department of School Education and Literacy has formulated the Samagra Shiksha – an Integrated Scheme for School Education as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme.
• This programme subsumes the three erstwhile Centrally Sponsored Schemes of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) and Teacher Education (TE). It is an overarching programme for the school education sector extending from pre-school to class XII.
• The major interventions, across all levels of school education, under the scheme are:
• Universal Access including Infrastructure Development and Retention;
• Gender and Equity;
• Inclusive Education;
• Quality;
• Financial support for Teacher Salary;
• Digital initiatives;
• Entitlements under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009 including uniforms, textbooks etc.;
• Pre-school Education;
• Vocational Education;
• Sports and Physical Education;
• Strengthening of Teacher Education and Training;
• Monitoring and
• Programme Management.

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