About:

• Hypersonic missiles are listed among the “top priority” tasks for strategic weapons development in North Korea’s five-year plan.
• It was the third reported North Korean test of a hypersonic gliding missile. The missile flew 700 kilometres (435 miles) at an altitude of about 60 kilometres (37 miles) at Mach 10 speed.
• The most recent test demonstrated “the superior manoeuverability of the hypersonic glide vehicle”. It also claimed it accurately hit a target some 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) away.
• South Korea’s military, which had cast doubt on Pyongyang’s initial claims, said the missile launched recently had reached hypersonic speeds and showed clear signs of “progress” from last week’s test.
• Hypersonic missiles travel at speeds of at least Mach 5 — five times the speed of sound — and can manoeuvre mid-flight, making them harder to track and intercept.

About:

• The Swachh Vidyalaya Puraskar recognise, inspire and award the schools who have undertaken exemplary work in the field of water, sanitation and hygiene and also provides a benchmark and roadmap for schools to make further improvements in future.
• In order to create self-motivation and awareness about sanitation the Swachh Vidyalaya Puraskar (SVP) was first instituted by the Department of School Education and Literacy, in 2016-17.
• The SVP 2021-22 is open to all categories of schools. i.e. Government, Government aided and Private schools in both rural and urban areas.

Criteria

• The schools will be assessed through an online portal & mobile app in 6 sub-categories.
• These are: Water, Sanitation, Hand Washing with soap, Operation and Maintenance, Behaviour Change and Capacity Building and the newly added category on COVID-19 Preparedness and Response and the system will generate the overall score and rating automatically.

Awards

• Schools shall be awarded at the District, State and National level based on an internationally recognized five star rating system.
• Also, every school will get a certificate of participation showing the category-wise scores and overall rating of the school.
• At the National level, 40 schools will be selected for awards this year under the overall category.
• The award money for the schools has been enhanced this year from Rs. 50,000/- to Rs. 60,000/- per school, under Samagra Shiksha scheme. Also, 6 sub-category wise awards have been introduced for the first time, with award money of Rs. 20,000/- per school.