• Muskaan Sharma (16) has been selected for the Under-18 National Volleyball camp ahead of the under-18 Asian Championship.
• She is the only player from the state who has been selected for the camp in the trials held in Bengaluru.
• Muskaan, a student of Class XII, belongs to a small village in Barog panchayat in Theog tehsil of Shimla.

Uttarakhand CM Dhami launches ‘Pirul Lao-Paise Pao’ campaign to prevent forest fires in state.

• Under this campaign, to prevent forest fires the Pirul (leaves of the Pine Tree) lying in the forest will be collected by the local villagers and youth, weighed and then stored at the designated Pirul Collection Centre.
• According to the weight, at the rate of Rs 50 per kg the amount will be immediately sent online to the bank account of that person.
• This mission will be operated by the Pollution Control Board for which a corpus fund of Rs 50 crores.
• It will also help in controlling pollution.
• Pirul collection centres will be opened by the Tehsildar in their respective areas under the supervision of the Sub-Divisional Magistrate.

IN ADDITION

• Indian Air Force Deploying its Mi17 V5 helicopters to undertake Bambi Bucket operations to provide relief.
• These helicopters efficiently transported and released over 4,500 liters of water over the affected areas.
• This crucial effort made in close coordination with the Uttarakhand government to control fire.

ABOUT PIRUL

• “Pirul” is a local term in Uttarakhand for products made from pine needles of Pine Trees, also locally called Chid Trees.
• Pine needles are acidic, have little use, and fall in large quantities that take a long time to decompose.

• The 108th Pulitzer Prize ceremony held at Columbia University honoured excellence in journalism, literature, drama, and music, against extraordinary circumstances.
• The New York Times won for reporting on the Gaza conflict.

List Of Winners

Journalism Category

• Public Service: Pro Publica (Joshua Kaplan, Justin Elliott, Brett Murphy, Alex Mierjeski, and Kirsten Berg)
• Investigative Reporting: Hannah Dreier (The New York Times)
• International Reporting: Staff of The New York Times
• Editorial Writing: David E. Hoffman (The Washington Post)
• Breaking News: Photography Staff of Reuters
• Feature Photography: Photography Staff of Associated Press
• Audio Reporting: Staff of the Invisible Institute and USG Audio

BOOK, DRAMA, AND MUSIC CATEGORY

• Fiction: Night Watch by Jayne Anne Phillips
• Drama: Primary Trust by Eboni Booth
• History: No Right to an Honest Living: The Struggles of Boston’s Black Workers in the Civil War Era by Jacqueline Jones
• Biography King: A Life by Jonathan Eig Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom by Ilyon Woo
• Memoir and Autobiography: Liliana’s Invincible Summer: A Sister’s Search for Justice by Cristina Rivera Garza
• Poetry Tripas: Poems by Brandon Som
• Music: Adagio (For Wadada Leo Smith) by Tyshawn Sorey
• General Nonfiction: A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: Anatomy of a Jerusalem Tragedy by Nathan Thrall

ABOUT AWARD:

• The Pulitzer Prize was established by Joseph Pulitzer, a newspaper owner in
• First Pulitzer Prizes were awarded in
• These awards are referred as the highest honour in their fields.

• The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has successfully completed the first ignition test on the Semi Cryogenic Pre-Burner Ignition Test.
• The first ignition trial was conducted successfully on May 2, 2024, at semi cryo integrated engine test facility (SIET) at IPRC, Mahendragiri.
• The semi-cryogenic engine is being developed by ISRO’s Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre.
• It uses a propellant combination of liquid oxygen (LOX) and refined kerosene (ISROSENE).
• The development of a 2,000 kN thrust semi-cryogenic engine will help to enhance the payload capability of ISRO Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mk III (LVM3) and power future launch vehicles.

• India has contributed $500,000 to the N. Counter-Terrorism Trust Fund, underscoring its unwavering commitment to support multilateral efforts in the global fight against the scourge of terrorism.
• India’s contribution would support UNOCT’s global Programmes mainly Countering Financing of Terrorism (CFT) and Countering Terrorist Travel Programme (CTTP).

ABOUT

• UNCCT promotes international cooperation in the fight against terrorism and supports Member States in implementing the Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy.

World Migration Report 2024 released by International Organisation for Migration (IOM)

• India received over $111 billion in remittances in 2022 became first country to reach and surpass the $100 billion mark.
• India, Mexico, China, the Philippines and France were the top five remittance recipient countries in 2022.
• Mexico is the second-largest remittance recipient in 2022, a position it also held in 2021 after overtaking China.
• According to the report’s data, India was the top country receiving remittances in 2010 ($53.48 billion), 2015 ($68.91 billion), and 2020 ($83.15 billion), with the remittances crossing the $100 billion mark to reach $111.22 billion in 2022.
• India came in 13th as the destination country for immigrants, with 48 million.
• Pakistan and Bangladesh were the sixth and eighth largest international remittance recipients in 2022, receiving nearly $30 billion and $21.5 billion

INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATION FOR MIGRATION (IOM)

• It was founded in 1951 as the Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration (ICEM).
• It became a United Nations agency in
• Currently it has 172 member states and 8 observer states.
• It is responsible for labour migration and mobility.

• The MTBVAC is the first vaccine against Tuberculosis derived from a human source to begin clinical trials.
• The Central Drug Standard Control Organization’s (CDSCO) Subject Expert Committee (SEC) has approved Bharat Biotech International’s proposal to conduct the phase II clinical trial of the Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Vaccine to assess the safety and immunogenicity in healthy adolescent and adult populations.
• The trials are carried out by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech in close collaboration with Spanish biotechnology company Biofabri.
• MTBVAC is the only vaccine against tuberculosis in clinical trials based on a genetically modified form of the pathogen isolated from humans Mycobacterium tuberculosis
• This was developed in the laboratory of the University of Zaragoza

TUBERCULOSIS

• Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease that most often affects the lungs and is caused by a type of bacteria.
• It spreads through the air when infected people cough, sneeze or spit.
• Its causative agent is Mycobacterium tuberculosis, also known as the Koch bacillus, discovered by Robert Koch in 1882.

A new variant of Covid-19 detected in the US.

• FLiRT, a term coined for a cluster of new Covid-19 variants within the Omicron JN.1 lineage, includes variants such as 2 and KP 1.1.
• This is a new group of Covid-19 variant within the Omicron JN.1 lineage “which have demonstrated increased transmissibility and immune resistance”.
• The symptoms are similar to Omicron and is highly transmissible and can impact immunity and overall health.
• This variant spreads via respiratory droplets of the person to others, or touching infected surfaces such as faucets, furniture, elevator buttons, kitchen countertops, or coming in close contact with the person who is ill.

• The Kerala government issued an alert in the State against West Nile fever.
• The infection was confirmed after samples of blood and cerebrospinal fluid of suspected patients.
• The West Nile Virus(WNV) is a single-strained RNA virus that originates in birds and is propagated via the bite of infected Culex mosquitoes among humans and animals.
• Those infected often experience dengue-like symptoms such as fever, headache, tiredness, body aches etc.
• The disease is spread by the Culex species of mosquitoes.
• There has been low human-to-human transmission.

WHAT IS WEST NILE FEVER?

• It is a mosquito-borne viral infection.
• The West Nile Virus (WNV) was detected for the first time in a woman in the West Nile district of Uganda in 1937.
• The fever is spread by the Culex species of mosquitoes.
• In India, the fever was first detected in 2011.

• Ministry of Science & Technology, Government of India, the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) commemorates Swacchta Pakhwada from May 1 to May 15, 2024.
• The first Swachhata drive was organized on 8 May at PM SHRI Kendriya Vidyalaya, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), NCERT Campus, New Delhi.
• The Swacchta Pakhwada initiative aims to instill a sense of responsibility towards cleanliness and hygiene among individuals, particularly the younger generation.