• Recently, Acclaimed Hindi writer Vinod Kumar Shukla won the 2023 PEN/Nabokov Award for achievement in international literature.
• He won the PEN America award for lifetime achievement in literature, after decades of composing acclaimed novels like Naukar Ki Kameez (1979) and poetry collections like Sab Kuch Hona Bacha Rahega (1992).
• His first published work was a poetry collection Lagbhag Jai Hind (1971), followed by Vah Aadmi Chala Gaya Naya Garam Coat Pehankar Vichar Ki Tarah (1981).
  • Naukar Ki Kameez was his first novel.
• He has also won the Sahitya Akademi award and the Atta Galatta–Bangalore Literature Festival Book Prize.

About PEN/Nabokov Award

• The PEN/Nabokov Award for Achievement in International Literature is awarded biennially by PEN America (formerly PEN American Center) to writers, principally novelists, “whose works evoke to some measure Nabokov’s brilliant versatility and commitment to literature as a search for the deepest truth and the highest pleasure— what Nabokov called the ‘indescribable tingle of the spine’.”
• It is one of the most coveted literary prizes worldwide. The winner is awarded $50,000.
• The award is financed by the Vladimir Nabokov Foundation, founded by Dmitri Nabokov. It has been called one of the most prestigious PEN prizes.

• The News Broadcasting and Digital Standards Authority (NBDSA) has instructed some news channels to remove from their online platforms videos of certain programmes aired by them after it found them to be in violation of the Code of Ethics and Broadcasting Standards and Specific Guidelines.

About NBDSA

• The NBDSA is an independent body set up by the News Broadcasters & Digital Association (NBDA), which serves as a representative of private television news, current affairs and digital broadcasters.
• It describes itself as the collective voice of the news, current affairs and digital broadcasters in India.
• It is funded entirely by its members.
• It aims to protect all its members from carrying out unfair and/or unethical practices or discredit television news broadcasters, digital news media and other related entities.
• NBDSA includes a chairperson who is to be an eminent jurist, and other members such as news editors, and those experienced in field of law, education, literature, public administration etc. nominated by a majority of Board.

• Indian Army is going to conduct PALM 400 drone tests in Pokhran.
• PALM 400 is an armed remotely piloted vehicle (RPV) built by AVision Systems.
• It is a joint venture between Israeli firm UVision Air Ltd and Hyderabad-based Aditya Precitech Private Ltd.
• It is a high precision loitering system launched from a canister which can loiter for up to 120 minutes.
• Speed: 50-140 knots (90-260 km per hour), Height: 3,000-4,000 feet above ground.
• It picks out its target and fires an armor-penetrating projectile from top – where its armor protection is the least.

• Standing committee of National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) has cleared the setting up of a new Indian Air Force mountain radar in Changthang Wildlife Sanctuary (CWS) in Eastern Ladakh.
• The NBWL, chaired by Union Environment minister, cleared the way for the transfer of 31.6 hectares of land from the Changthang wildlife sanctuary in Ladakh.
• Changthang Wildlife Sanctuary (CWS) is located in Ladakhi Changthang plateau in Leh district of Ladakh UT.
• It covers lakes like Pangong Tso, Tso Moriri and Tso Kar.
• Fauna: Snow Leopard, Tibetan Antelope, Tibetan wolf, wild yak, bharal etc.
• Flora: although devoid of trees, rare and endangered plants can be found throughout the region.

• In recently concluded fifth International Marine Protected Areas Congress, the need to focus more on OECM was discussed.
• OECMs refers to a geographic site, which is not within any protected area, that delivers long-term biodiversity conservation under equitable governance and management.
• OECMs may occur in public, individual private lands, community lands, and Indigenous territories.
• It recognizes that conservation outcomes are possible outside protected areas, and people involved in governance of those natural resources should be valued, respected, and supported.
• Aravalli Biodiversity Park was the first Other Effective Area – based Conservation Measures site, OECM site in India.
• The OECM tag is provided by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, IUCN.

• Ministry of Science and technology launches ‘VAIBHAV Fellowship’ for NRI researchers.
• Vaibhav Fellowship aims at improving the research ecosystem of India’s Higher Educational Institutions.
• It facilitates academic and research collaborations between Indian institutions and best institutions in world through mobility of faculty/researcher from overseas institutions to India.

Criteria

• Applicant should be Non-Resident Indian (NRI), Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) or Overseas Citizen of India (OCI).
• Must have obtained a Ph.D/M.D/M.S degree from a recognized University.
• Plan to work for a minimum of 1 month to maximum of 2 months a year in a research institution / academic institution in India.
• The duration of the fellowship is three years with the government offering the researchers an amount of up to Rs 37 lakh for the entire period.

• The first ever World Seagrass Day was celebrated on March 1 to raise awareness about seagrass and its important functions in the marine ecosystem.
• It was declared by the United Nations General Assembly on May 22, 2022, following a resolution passed by Sri Lanka to emphasize the conservation of seagrass in marine environments.

About Seagrass

• Seagrass is a flowering marine plant present along coastlines worldwide, acting as a crucial source of food for marine life and helping stabilize water quality.
  • Except for Antarctica, various types of seagrass are found on coastlines around the world.
• There are currently 72 recorded types of seagrass in the world, covering an area of around 300,000 square kilometers in 159 countries.
• Seagrass evolved around 100 million years ago when most plant life was still found underwater. Over the course of its evolution, it has adapted to living and reproducing in various marine environments, bending and swaying with currents and dispersing its pollen through the water.
• Seagrass provides an important source of food for marine life.
• Seagrass acts as nursery habitats for commercially harvested fish and helps improve the water quality of the environment it inhabits.
• Seagrass sediments contain nearly twice the amount of carbon per area compared with land soil.
• It stores up to 18% of the world’s oceanic carbon, which is greater than the percentage stored by rainforests. This function makes it a key influence in battling the effects of climate change.

• The three-day state-level Tshechu fair began at Rewalsar in Mandi district today with traditional fervour.
  • Sports competitions and cultural evening programs will be organised during the fair.
• Rewalsar town, known as Triveni worldwide, was an important religious spot for the Buddhists, the Sikhs and the Hindus. The place has a temple, a gurdwara and a monastery.
• Devotees come and perform puja as per their religious customs.
• Tshechu fair is organised every year in the memory of Guru Padmasambhava on his birthday in Rewalsar. Thousands of followers from all over the country and abroad participate in the festival.

• The flag raising ceremony for the Sujanpur Holi Utsav was organised today in Hamirpur.
• The ceremony is performed by the “Purohits” of the Katoch dynasty that started this festival around 300 years ago.
• The event was initially organised as a religious festival, but later it turned into a major trade fair.
• The state government has declared it an international festival.
• This festival also offers a number of recreational activities to the people.

• The foundation stone laying ceremony of northeast India’s first-ever compressed biogas plant project at Domora Pathar in Sonapur under Kamrup (Metropolitan) district was held recently.
• Being set up by Redlemon Technologies, it is expected to functional by November 2023.
• It will have a 5 tonne-per-day production capacity for compressed biogas from raw materials like municipal solid wastes and cattle manure.