Why in News ?

• Indian Institute of Technology Madras’ Centre for Memory Studies recently hosted virtually Asia’s first International Memory Studies Workshop.
• Indian Network for Memory Studies (INMS), the first national network in the field in Asia under the aegis of the International Memory Studies Association, Amsterdam.
• This international workshop on Memory Studies, the first of its kind in Asia, precedes the official launch of the Indian Network for Memory Studies (INMS).
• The launch of the INMS will take place in mid-June 2021 through a virtual event at IIT Madras.
• The international Memory Studies Workshop also proved to be a promising platform that brought together academics from Kashmir, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Kerala, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Delhi, Rajasthan, and Jharkhand among others as well as from the University of Warwick and Leeds Beckett University, UK.

Why in News ?

• David Diop has become the first French novelist to win the International Booker prize for translated fiction with At Night All Blood Is Black, his first novel translated into English.
• Diop, the author of two novels, and his translator Anna Moschovakis split the £50,000 annual prize, which goes to the best author and translator of a work translated into English.
• The International Booker Prize, formerly known as the Man Booker International Prize, has been awarded since 2005 when it was won by Albanian writer Ismail Kadare. It is a sister prize to the Booker Prize, awarded to a novel written in English.

Why in News ?

• The Indian Air Force will see a number of changes at the top as Air Marshal Vivek Ram Chaudhari has been appointed as the next Vice Chief of Air Staff in the Air headquarters.
• Air Marshal Ballabha Radha Krishna would be succeeding Chaudhari at the Western Command in Delhi while Air Marshal RJ Duckworth would be taking charge of the Central Air Command in Prayagraj.

Why in News ?

• Extending greetings on 24^thBIMSTEC Day on June 6, PM Narendra Modi said, BIMSTEC has emerged as a promising regional grouping and made progress on several factors including finalisation of master plan for connectivity.

What is BIMSTEC?

• BIMSTEC is acronym for “Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation”. It is a regional multilateral organisation established on June 6, 1997 in Bangkok under the name BIST-EC (Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, and Thailand Economic Cooperation).  Myanmar was included to it in 1997 following which group was renamed as ‘BIMST-EC’ (Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand Economic Cooperation). After Nepal & Bhutan become full members in 2004, BIMSTEC was renamed to its current form.

Members of BIMSTEC

• Seven members of BIMSTEC are littoral and adjacent areas of Bay of Bengal constituting a regional unity. 5 are South Asian countries namely Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal & Sri Lanka while 2 countries- Myanmar & Thailand- are from Southeast Asia.

Aim of BIMSTEC

BIMSTEC connects South and Southeast Asia besides ecologies of Great Himalayas and Bay of Bengal. It was established with the aims of creating an enabling environment for rapid economic development and accelerating social progress.

Why in News ?

Recently, Group of seven (G7) advanced economies signed a landmark deal on taxing multinational companies. As per the deal, minimum global tax rate would be at least 15 percent.

About:

Agreement was signed by finance ministers of United Kingdom, United States, Germany, Canada, France, Italy and Japan. It opens way for levies on multinational companies in countries where they operate rather than just where they are headquartered.

Why new system was proposed?

Old system of global taxation was being criticized over the years as it allowed big companies to save billions of dollars in tax bills by shifting their jurisdictions. Major digital companies were making money in multiple countries and paying taxes only in home country. Thus, this proposal was made which would impose an additional tax on several multinational companies and technology giants like Facebook, Amazon and Google to pay taxes to countries based on where their goods or services are sold irrespective of their physical presence there. The deal seeks to modernize century-old international tax code.

Why in News ?

• Film Division is organising an online festival on environment called “Oasis of hope” on the occasion of World Environment Day 2021.

About Oasis of Hope Festival

• Oasis of hope festival will be organised on 5^thand 6^th June 2021 to mark the importance of world environment day (WED). It will celebrate the spirit of key words of WED namely, “REIMAGINE, RECREATE, RESTORE”. This 2-day festival will showcase films giving strong message on reviving environment and reimagining nature’s co-existence. It will also suggest several ways to restore inseparable relationship of human being and nature. Streaming will be done on Films Division website and Youtube channel.

Green Package

Films under ‘green package’ include:

1. Jungle Man Loiyaa– It highlights story of Loiya Ngamba who is a nature lover from Manipur. Movie is a story of reorienting man’s relationship with nature.
2. Living the Natural Way– This movie is about Mishing tribes from small Brahmaputra Island and highlights how changing climate & environment has shattered their traditional way of living.
3. My Son Neo– This movie is about, how a five-year-old boy grows up amidst natural environment.
4. Plastic World– this animated movie portrays vast and arid dystopian landscape of future, covered in plastic waste and alerts over hazardous effects of plastic.

Why in News ?

Recently, the International Energy Agency (IEA) published the World Energy Investment Report, 2021.

About IEA:

• It is an autonomous Intergovernmental Organisation established in 1974 in Paris, France.
• IEA mainly focuses on its energy policies which include economic development, energy security and environmental protection. These policies are also known as the 3 E’s of IEA.

Why in News ?

• As per Geological Disaster Technology Research and Development Centre, Indonesia’s Merapi volcano erupted four times with lava spreading to 1,500 metres from crater.
• Most Active Volcano
• Merapi is considered as Indonesia’s most active volcano. It erupted four times and experienced 43 avalanche earthquakes. Mountain was belching thick white smokes as high as 50 meters above the mountain’s peak.

Mount Merapi

• In Indonesian and Javanese language, Merapi means Fire Mountain. It is an active stratovolcano located on border of Central Java and Yogyakarta in Indonesia. The most active volcano, has erupted regularly since 1548. It is located near Yogyakarta city with population of 2.4 million. Several people live in villages on flanks of volcano as high as 1,700 metres which result into fatalities. It has been designated as one of Decade Volcanoes.

Why in News ?

• Parliament of Denmark has approved plans for an artificial island which will house 35,000 people and help in protecting port of Copenhagen from rising sea levels.
  • Lynette Holm Island
• This giant island would have an area of 1 sq mile and would be connected to mainland through ring road, tunnels and metro line. Plans include construction of a dam system across its perimeter. This dam will help in protecting the harbour from rising sea levels and storms.

Why in News ?

• Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh, RK Mathur, launched the YounTab scheme for students. Under the scheme, about 12,300 tablets were distributed among them in Leh.

About:

• It is an initiative of Department of School Education. It was launched with the technical support of Information Technology Department. Under the scheme, 12,300 tablets with preloaded online and offline content like textbooks, video lectures and online class applications would be distributed among students from Class 6th to 12^thin government schools. Scheme was launched as an attempt for long term technology infusion in education system.