Why in news?

• The 9th edition of the Joint Military Exercise ‘LAMITIYE-2022’ between the Indian Army and Seychelles Defence Forces (SDF) will be held from March 22 to 31, 2022 at Seychelles Defence Academy (SDA), Seychelles.
• The Indian Army contingent will be represented by the 2/3 GORKHA RIFLES group (PIRKANTHI Battalion).
• Exercise LAMITIYE is a biennial training event, been conducted in Seychelles since 2001.
• The objective of this joint training exercise is to build and promote bilateral military relations, sharing experiences gained during various operations; exchanging skills and good practices between both armies.

Why in news?

• Bihar government is in the process to translate and publish hundreds of original Buddhist manuscripts from Nalanda and Vikramshila, saved during the burning of the ancient universities in the 12th and 13th centuries by Bakhtiyar Khilji’s army and later brought back to India from Tibet by Rahul Sankrityayan.

About Rahul Sankrityayan

• A traveller and literary polymath, he was universally called Mahapandit (great scholar) as he knew nearly 30 languages, but he almost wrote in Hindi.
• Wrote “Madhya Asia Ka Itihas” (History of Central Asia); “Volga Se Ganga” (From Volga to Ganga); a grammar and primer of Tibetan in Sanskrit.
• Made a pioneering contribution in preserving and reconstructing the philosophical works of Buddhist logicians like Dharmakirti, Asang and Subandhu.
• His travels prompted him to write travelogues and he is considered ‘father of Hindi travel literature’.
• Awarded by Sahitya Akademi (1958) & Padma Bhushan.

Why in news?

• World Puppetry Day was observed on 21^st March 2022. It aims to recognize puppetry as a global art form and to pay tribute to and honor puppeteers from around the world.
• The World Puppetry Day was established in 2003 by the Union Internationale de la Marionnette (UNIMA) also known as the International Puppetry Association.
• On this day, Sangeet Natak Akademi under the Ministry of Culture is organizing a puppet festival ‘Putul Utsav’ in five cities in India, which include Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh), Hyderabad (Telangana), Angul (Odisha), New Delhi and Agartala (Tripura).
• Theme– ‘Azadi ke Rang, Putul Ke Sang’.
• The festival will retell the stories of freedom struggles of India through the medium of puppets.
• Various forms of puppetry art such as String, Shadow, Rod and Hand puppets will be showcased.
• Puppetry in India was traditionally a temple-based art, whose themes were borrowed from puranic literature, mythology, epics and local legends.

About Union Internationale de la marionnette (UNIMA):

• UNIMA is a non-governmental organization affiliated with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
• Founded- 1929
• Headquarters- Charleville-Mézières , France

Why in news?

• World Oral Health Day(WOHD) is annually observed across the world on 20th March to create awareness about the importance of oral health. The day also aims to reduce the burden of oral diseases, which affect individuals, health systems and economies everywhere.
• Purpose: To empower people with the knowledge, tools and confidence to secure good oral health.
• The three-year campaign theme 2021-2023 of World Oral Health Day is “Be Proud of Your Mouth”.
• The campaign provides an opportunity to explore the links between oral health, general health and quality of life.
• World Oral Health Day(WOHD) is an initiative of the FDI World Dental Federation (FDI), an organization that unites the world of dentistry with the aim of achieving optimal oral health for everyone.
• The WOHD was first declared in 2007 and was originally celebrated on 12 September, which marks the birth anniversary of Dr Charles Godon, Founder of FDI.
• The campaign was fully activated in 2013 and the date was changed to 20th March to avoid conflict with the FDI World Dental Congress which takes place in September.
• The date 20^th March was chosen to reflect that, Seniors must have a total of 20 natural teeth at the end of their life to be considered healthy and Children should possess 20 baby teeth. Healthy adults must have a total of 32 teeth and 0 dental cavities, this expressed on a numerical basis can be translated as 3/20 hence March 20.

India’s National Oral Health Programme (NOHP)

• The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare(MoHFW), Government of India has initiated a National Oral Health Programme to provide integrated, comprehensive oral health care in the existing health care facilities.
• Objective:
• To improve the determinants of oral health,
• To reduce morbidity from oral diseases,
• To integrate oral health promotion and preventive services with the general health care system, and
• To encourage the Promotion of Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) model for achieving better oral health.

Why in news?

• Venezuelan athlete, Yulimar Rojas nicknamed “la reina del triple salto – queen of the triple jump” created a World Record (WR) by clearing 15.74 metres (m) to win gold at the World Indoor Championships 2022 in Belgrade, Serbia.
• Rojas who is 6’4 jumped 15.67m (WR) in Tokyo Olympics 2020 to claim Gold Medal, smashing the previous best of 15.50m set by Ukraine’s Inessa Kravets in 1995.
• Rojas won third straight world indoor triple jump gold, adding to successes in Portland, United States of America in 2016 and Birmingham, United Kingdom in 2018.
• Yulimar Rojas is the first female Olympic gold medalist from Venezuela.

Why in news?

• The researchers from China have developed a microwave machine ‘Relativistic Klystron Amplifier (RKA)’ to jam/destroy satellites or sensitive electronics in satellites in space. It will function as a high-powered laser weapon.
• The device can generate a wave burst of 5 Megawatts (MW) in the Ka-band. This band is a portion of the electromagnetic spectrum used for civil and military purposes.
• RKA can be mounted onto satellites for attacking enemy assets in space.
• Notably, China is currently denying that their RKA is a Directed Energy Weapon (DEW), which is a system that uses concentrated electromagnetic energy to destroy enemy equipment in a physical conflict.
• However, if RKA were built at scale, it could generate beams strong enough to go through metallic objects moving at high speeds.

Why in news?

• An independent impact assessment of Ujjwala programme has found that:
• PMUY helped in avoiding at least 1.8 million tonnes of PM2.5 emissions in 2019.
• Biomass burning in household cooking could be contributing 30-40% of outdoor air pollution.

About Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY)

• It was launched in 2016 by Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas to provide LPG connection to the rural and deprived households that were using traditional fuels like wood, cow-dung cakes, or coal for cooking purposes.
• It aims to reduce premature deaths due to Indoor air pollution.
• Ujjwala 2.0 was launched in 2021, with an aim to provide deposit-free LPG connections to those low-income families who could not be covered under the earlier phase of PMUY.
• Eligibility Criteria for PMUY
• An adult woman belonging to a poor household and not having LPG connection in her household, will be eligible under UJJWALA 2.0.
• The beneficiaries should belong to any of the following categories:
• Eligible as per SECC 2011 list
• Belongs to SC/ST households, be a beneficiary of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY), Forest dwellers, Most Backward Classes (MBC), Tea and Ex-Tea Garden Tribes, People residing in riverislands. ‘1- If she is not falling in the above 2 categories, then she can stake her claim to be a beneficiary under Poor household by submitting 14-point declaration.

About Indoor air pollution:

• It refers to chemical, biological and physical contamination of indoor air.
• WHO fact sheet on household air pollution due to indoor pollutants states that 3.8 million premature deaths occur annually.
• Indoor pollutants recognised: NOx, S02, ozone (03), CO, volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds (VOCs), PM, radon and microorganisms
• Impacts: Risks of stroke, ischaemic heart diseases, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, lung cancer.

Other steps taken for Indoor air pollution:

• Unnat Chulha Abhiyan, National Biomass Cook stoves Initiative, Promoting solar cookers, Neerdhur etc.

Why in news?

• An ancient musical Instrument from Narasinghapettai, a village in Thanjavur, has been granted Geographical indication (GI) tag.
• It is highly complex musical instrument, dating back to the 13th century.
• Nagaswaram is made of ‘aacha maram; a tree known for its sturdy features.
• ‘Aacha’ wood, which is naturally water-resistant, is procured specifically from the Cauvery River basin for making the instrument.
• Artisans use drilling machines to make the nagaswarams that are played widely in functions like weddings and temple festivals.

Why in news?

• Technique involves luring of animals into an enclosure by chasing them through a funnel like fencing.
• Earlier, it was utilised to capture wild elephants for training and service.

Keoladeo National Park

• KNP, popularly known as Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary, is located in Bharatpur, Rajasthan.
• It was recognised as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO In 1985.
• It is designated as a Wetland of International Importance under the Ramsar Convention in 1981.
• It is known as the breeding ground for the rare and elusive Siberian crane.

Why in news?

• This year marks the 10th anniversary of the report which evaluates levels of happiness by taking into account factors such as GDP, social support, personal freedom, and levels of corruption in each nation.
• The goal behind the report is to identify key determinants of well-being.
• The report 2022 ranked India 136th while Finland topped the charts for the fifth year in a row.
• The rankings of WHR 2022 use data from the Gallup World Poll surveys from 2019 to 2021.
• Among the bottom-five countries on the index are conflict-torn Afghanistan, Lebanon, Zimbabwe, Rwanda and Botswana.
• Bhutan not listed in the 2022 WHR.
• Also, India was one among the countries that witnessed, over the past 10 years, a fall in life evaluations by more than a full point on the 0 to 10 scale.
• Criticism of the report: Happiness cannot be quantified based on a set of indices on a small area of the population and generalized.

United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network

• SDSN, set up in 2012, mobilizes global scientific and technological expertise to promote practical solutions for sustainable development, including implementation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Paris Climate Agreement.