• The Central Advisory Board on Archaeology (CABA), which was formed seven years ago to promote ties between the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI)and people working in the field of archaeological research, was re-established.

KEY POINTS:

• It was reconstituted for a three-year term to promote closer contacts between the Archaeological Survey of India and Indian universities conducting archaeological research and other institutions conducting studies related to the application of archaeological principles, as well as to provide for a closer association of learned societies in India with the ASI’s activities.
• Former ASI Director-Generals will also be on the board, as well as five persons chosen in their personal capacity by the Government of India.”

• Indian writer Geetanjali Shree and American translator Daisy Rockwell won the International Booker Prize for “Tomb of Sand,”.
• Originally written in Hindi, it’s the first book in any Indian language to win the high-profile award, which recognizes fiction from around the world that has been translated into English.
• The book tells the story of an octogenarian widow who dares to cast off convention and confront the ghosts of her experiences during the subcontinent’s tumultuous 1947 partition into India and Pakistan.

• Nirdeshak, the second of the four Survey Vessels (Large) (SVL) projects being built by Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) in collaboration with L&T shipbuilding for the Indian Navy was launched, at Kattupalli, Chennai.
• The ship has taken its name from erstwhile Nirdeshak which was also an Indian Naval Survey ship and was decommissioned after 32 years of glorious service in December 2014.

• Russia has installed a new administration and started to introduce the Rouble as a currency in Kherson Region of Ukraine.
• Adjacent to Crimea (annexed by Russia in 2014), Kherson region lies in Southern Ukraine on west bank of River Dnieper.
• In 1778, it became the first naval base and shipyard of Russian Navy on the Black sea coast.

• Government has announced financial support for development and commercialisation of Indigenous S Band Tunable Magnetron for Particle Accelerators with capability to treat even a 2 mm brain tumor.
• Magnetron is a high-powered vacuum tube that works as a self-excited microwave oscillator.
• It is developed by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-Central Electronics Engineering Research Institute (CSIR-CEERI).
• Uses: It can be used for Non-Destructive Testing of materials, in Radiation Therapy Machines for Cancer Treatment, Radars etc.

• It is a state-of the art Supercomputer at NIT Tiruchirappalli under Phase 2 of National Supercomputing Mission (NSM). Majority of the components used to build PARAM PORUL have been manufactured and assembled within the country.
• It is based on Direct Contact Liquid Cooling technology to obtain a high power usage effectiveness and thereby reducing the operational cost.
• Under NSM, till date 15 supercomputers have been installed across the nation with a computing capacity of 24 petaflops.
• PARAM Shivay was the first Supercomputer assembled indigenously.

• During the UN International Biodiversity Day (22 May), Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) released the
• People’s Biodiversity Register (PBR) for the city, the first-of-its-kind report of any Indian metro.
• The Biodiversity Register is prepared by the Biodiversity Management Committee (BMC) of the civic body under the supervision of the state biodiversity board and with help from NGOs.
• Kolkata is the first major metro to prepare the PBR.
• Chandigarh and Indore are other important cities which have prepared the document.

• Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik launched India’s first Olympic Values Education Programme (OVEP) in the state of Odisha. It will be implemented in 90 schools across two smart cities Bhubaneswar and Rourkela in the first phase.
• OVEP launched in 27 schools in Rourkela and 63 schools in Bhubaneswar.
• Objective – This values-based curriculum was initiated to help children become active, healthy and responsible citizens.

• A new book titled “Listen to Your Heart: The London Adventure” authored by Ruskin Bond, was published by Penguin Random House India (PRHI) on Ruskin Bond’s 88th birthday (19th May 2022).

About Ruskin Bond:

• Ruskin Bond, India’s famous Children’s book author, was born in Kasauli (Himachal Pradesh) and grew up in
• Jamnagar (Gujarat), Dehradun (Uttarakhand), New Delhi and Shimla (Himachal Pradesh).

• The World Health Organisation (WHO) member states has re-elected Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus for a second 5 year term as the Director-General (DG) of WHO. His new mandate as DG will officially commence on
• August 16 2022. His re-election was confirmed during the 75th World Health Assembly (WHA) in Geneva,
• Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was first elected as DG of WHO in 2017.