Why in news?

• Bhim Bahadur Gurung (B.B. Gurung), Former and 3rd Chief Minister(CM) of Sikkim has passed away at his residence in Lumsui in Gangtok, Sikkim. He was born on 11th October 1929 at Chakung (present-day West Sikkim), Sikkim.

About B.B. Gurung

• B. Gurung served as a teacher and a staff reporter in a Calcutta(Kolkata)-based newspaper the Amrita Bazar Patrika and he also edited the first news-based Nepali Journal of Sikkim, called Kanchenjunga.
• He started his political career with Sikkim Rajya Congress Party in 1947 and was later appointed as the General Secretary in 1958.
• In 1967, he was elected as Executive Councillor of the Sikkim Rashtriya Congress Party and remained in the party until 1971.
• He was elected to the Vidhan Sabha and served as the speaker of the First Sikkim Legislative Assembly from 1977 to 1979.
• He served as the 3rd CM of Sikkim from 11 May to 24 May 1984, the shortest term in the history of Sikkim.
• Between 2014 and 2015 he served as the political advisor to the CM of Sikkim.

Why in news?

• India is set to put in motion construction of 10 ‘fleet mode’ nuclear reactors over the next three years. The First Pour of Concrete (FPC) for a 700 MegaWatts (MW) Kaiga Atomic Power Plant, Karnataka units 5 & 6 are scheduled by 2023.
• The centre had approved the construction of 10 indigenously developed Pressurised Heavy-Water Reactors (PHWRs) of 700 MegaWatts (MW) each in June 2017 with a total cost of Rs 1.05 Lakh crore.
• Also by 2024, The FPC for Gorakhpur Haryana Anu Vidyut Praiyonjan units 3 & 4 and the Mahi Banswara Rajasthan Atomic Power Projects units 1 to 4 were planned to begin construction.
• And the FPC for the Chutka Madhya Pradesh Atomic Power Project units 1 & 2 are expected by 2025.
• The FPC signals the beginning of construction of nuclear power reactors from the pre-project stage which includes excavation activities at the project site.
• The Kamataka’s Kaiga Atomic Power Plant units 5 & 6 and Gorakhpur Haryana Anu Vidyut Praiyonjan units 3 & 4 were agreed to be built under Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) Model.
• Currently, India operates 22 reactors with a total capacity of 6780 MegaWatt (MW), among which one 700 MW reactor at Kakrapar Atomic Power Station in Gujarat was connected to the grid in January 2021.

About Indian Pressurised Heavy-Water Reactor – 700:

• Indian Pressurised Heavy-Water Reactor is designed by the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC).
• lt is a Generation III reactor developed from the earlier CANDU (Canada Deuterium Uranium-Pressurised Heavy-Water Reactor) based 220 MW and 540 MW designs.
• The Indian Pressurised Heavy-Water Reactor has been upgraded to generate electricity capacity of 700 MW.
• India’s first pair of PHWRs of 220 MW each were set up at Rawatbhata in Rajasthan in the 1960s with Canadian support (Canada Deuterium Uranium-Pressurised Heavy-Water Reactor).
• Fuel – Natural Uranium
• Moderator – Heavy Water

Why in news?

• It has recently been awarded to INS Valsura.
• It is bestowed upon a military unit in recognition of exceptional service rendered to the Nation, both in peace and in war.
• The Indian Navy was the first Indian Armed Force, to be awarded the President Colour by Dr Rajendra Prasad on 27 May 1951.

Why in news?

• Recently, Kozhikode was proposed by the Kerala Institute of Local Administration (KILA) to be branded as a UNESCO’s City of Literature, which is part of a wider UNESCO’s Creative Cities Network (UCCN).
• UCCN was created in 2004 to promote cooperation with and among cities that have identified creativity as a strategic factor for sustainable urban development.
• It covers seven creative fields: Crafts & Folk Art, Design, Film, Gastronomy, Literature, Music, and Media Arts.
• 6 Indian cities are included on the list- Hyderabad (gastronomy), Mumbai (film), Varanasi (music), Chennai (music), Jaipur (crafts and folk art) and the latest addition, Srinagar (crafts and folk art).

Why in news?

• 2022 arribada (mass-nesting phenomenon) is the most delayed mass nesting recorded in Gahirmatha.
• Gahirmatha (Odisha) is the world’s largest rookery of olive ridley’s followed by Rushikulya.
• Olive Ridley turtles di g holes on the beach at night time creating a cavity. They lay 40-50 eggs in each hole and cover it again with sand. Before sunrise, the turtles return to the sea, leaving behind the eggs, which hatch after 40-60 days.

About Olive Ridley

• It gets its name from the olive green color of its heart-shaped shell.
• Found primarily in the warm tropical regions of the Pacific, Indian, and Atlantic oceans.
• Threats: Accidental killing through entanglement in trawl nets; extensively poached for their meat, shell and leather; warmer sea surface temperatures etc.
• IUCN Status: Vulnerable.
• Protection: Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, CITES Appendix I.
• Government Initiatives
• Operation Save Kurma by Wildlife Crime Control Bureau.
• Odisha government has made it mandatory for trawls to use Turtle Excluder Devices (TEDs).
• Operation Oliva exercise to ensure the safe mid-sea sojourn of breeding Olive Ridley sea.

Why in news?

• ‘Promotion of rural and indigenous/tribal games’ component of KIS is specifically dedicated to the development and promotion of rural and indigenous/tribal games in the country.
• KIS aims at infusing sports culture and achieving sporting excellence in the country thus allowing the populace to harness the power of sports through its cross-cutting influence.
• It is the flagship Central Sector Scheme of Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports.
• Following major Indigenous/traditional games have been identified:
• Mallakhamb, MP -It is a combination of Yoga, Gymnastics, and Martial Arts. Many types of Mallakhamb as Pole, Rope, Hanging, Niradhar (without support), on cane, on floating platform, Mallakhamb with weapons etc.
• Kalari payattu, Kerala -It is a form of Marital Art. It has different techniques like meipayattu (physical body exercise), vadipayattu (fight using sticks), valpayattu (fight using swords) etc.
• Gatka, Punjab -Traditional martial art form, that is historically associated with the Sikh gurus. Stick fighting between two or more practitioners, with wooden sticks (called Soti) intended to simulate swords.
• Thang ta, Manipur-Traditional martial art also called HUYEN LALLONG (“method of safe-guarding”).
• Yogasana -Describes a seated posture in yoga typically used for meditation, such as a basic cross-legged position. Examples: Padmasana (lotus pose), Siddhasana (perfect or accomplished pose), Vajrasana (thunderbolt pose) etc.
• Silambam, TN -Weapon-based Indian martial art, but also traditionally practised by the Tamil community of Sri Lanka and Malaysia.

Why in news?

• Bharatiya Reserve Bank Note Mudran Private Limited (BRBNMPL)has set up an Ink Manufacturing Unit named “Varnika” at Mysuru, Karnataka, with an annual ink manufacturing capacity of 1,500 MT to enhance the security of banknotes.
• Bharatiya Reserve Bank Note Mudran Private Limited (BRBNMPL) a wholly-owned subsidiary of RBI. Shaktikanta Das (Governor of RBI) has dedicated “Varnika”, the Ink Manufacturing Unit of Bharatiya Reserve Bank Note Mudran Private Limited (BRBNMPL) to the nation.
• It is a boost to the ‘Make in India’ initiative. It ensures that the entire requirement of banknote printing inks is produced in-house.
• This unit also manufactures Colour Shift Intaglio Ink (CSII)and meets the entire requirements of banknote printing presses in India, which has resulted in cost efficiency and self-sufficiency in banknote ink production.

Why in news?

• Max Verstappen(Red Bull – Netherlands) has won the Formula One 2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix at Jeddah Corniche Circuit, Saudi Arabia.
• Charles Leclerc(Ferrari- Monaco) came second and Carlos Sainz Jr. (Ferrari – Spain) came third.
• It was the second edition of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix and the second round of the 2022 Formula One World Championship.
• Lewis Hamilton managed to get a point on the board after coming 10th.

Why in news?

• The Stockholm Water Prize 2022 has been awarded by The Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) to Professor Wilfried Brutsaert for his innovative work in evaluating environmental evaporation.
• This prize is widely considered to be the Nobel Prize for Water.
• Professor Brutsaert was awarded this prize as he has developed methods for quantifying evaporation and the role it plays in the Earth’s energy balance that allows for accurate estimations of how precipitation can evolve.
• This method is of utmost importance to the exposed local communities across the world as they will need to predict daily water levels as well as water levels available in the future.
• Even though the award was announced on 22^ndMarch, this prize will be presented to Professor Brutsaert by Sweden’s King on 31^st August in Stockholm during the World Water Week (23^rd August to 1^st September). He will be receiving a glass statue along with 1 million Swedish krona which is equivalent to around USD 104,000.

About Stockholm International Water Institute

• SIWI is a not-for-profit, independent organization that aims to strengthen freshwater governance regionally, globally, locally, and nationally.
• This organization was founded in 1991 and is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden.
• This organization performs research, provides advisory services, and builds institutional capacity in five areas of trans-boundary water management, water governance, the water-energy-food nexus, water and climate change, and water economics.

Why in news?

• IIT Kharagpur has launched PARAM Shakti, a Petascale Supercomputer.
• A supercomputer is a very fast computer used in advanced scientific applications.
• PARAM Shakti was developed under the National Supercomputing Mission (NSM).
• NSM is a joint initiative of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and the Department of Science and Technology and implemented by Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) and Indian Institute of Science (BSc), Bangalore.
• NSM envisages empowering our national academic and R&D institutions by installing a vast supercomputing grid comprising of more than 70 high- performance computing (HPC) facilities.