• The International Day of Living Together in Peace is celebrated annually on May 16 to encourage peace, tolerance, inclusivity, understanding, and solidarity among individuals and communities globally.
• In 2017, the UN General Assembly designated May 16 as the International Day of Living Together in Peace.

• Prraneeth, a 15-year-old chess player from Telangana, achieved the title of Grandmaster, becoming the sixth from the state and the 82nd in India.
• He secured this milestone by defeating GM Hans Niemann from the US during the penultimate round of the Baku Open 2023.
• The first Indian grandmaster was Viswanathan Anand, who won the title in 1988.

• Prof Jayant V. Narlikar, a renowned astronomer and founder director of IUCAA , received the inaugural Govind Swarup Lifetime Achievement Award from the Astronomical Society of India (ASI).
• Narlikar is a past president of ASI and was the founding director of the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA).
• Prof Narlikar’s notable achievements include his research on the Universe, his contributions to Astrophysics, particularly the Narlikar-Hoyle theory, and his pioneering work in cosmology research in India.

About the award

• The Govind Swarup Lifetime Achievement Award is an award given by the Astronomical Society of India (ASI) to recognize individuals who have made exceptional contributions to the field of astronomy throughout their careers.
• The award was instituted in 2022 and is named after Govind Swarup, a pioneer in the field of radio astronomy in India.
• It carries a cash prize of Rs. 1,50,000/-, funded by the family of Govind Swarup, as well as a plaque, and a citation.

• It is an India-Indonesia Bilateral exercise.
• The indigenously built anti-submarine warfare corvette INS Kavaratti arrived at Batam, Indonesia to take part in this exercise.
• The primary purpose of the Samudra Shakti exercise is to enhance interoperability and mutual cooperation between the naval forces of India and Indonesia.

• Burachapori Wildlife Sanctuary was in news after Assam CM shared photographs of a successful eviction drive there.
  • This lead to expansion of the sanctuary by 16000 bughas.

About Burachapori Wildlife Sanctuary

• It is located on the southern bank of the river Brahmaputra in the Sonitpur district, Assam.
• Though two wildlife sanctuaries i.e Laokhowa WS and Burachapori WS in Assam have two different names, they are ecologically and geographically a singular entity.
• The area was declared a Reserved forest in 1974; it became a sanctuary in 1995.
• The Bura Chapori Wildlife Sanctuary serves as a notified buffer zone of the renowned Kaziranga Tiger Reserve.
• It comprises of a mosaic of wet alluvial grassland, riparian and semi-evergreen forests dotted by wetland and river systems.
• Flora comprises of abundance of freshwater mangrove trees and many species of trees and medicinal plants in the sanctuary. E.g. simul, korai, ajar and hijal
• Fauna-Bengal Florican, One-horned Rhinoceros, Tiger, otter, civet cat, leopard cat, Asiatic buffalo, wild boar and barking deer.

• T P Rajendran committee has said that of the 1,135 responses it received from various stakeholders, around 55 per cent were from the farming community and they expressed concern over the possible loss to their crops if the pesticides are withdrawn from the market.
  • The farmer groups with which the panel and its members interacted emphasised the cost-effective protection these 27 pesticide-based formulations gave over several decades.
• The P. Rajendran Committee, was constituted by the Centre to study all aspects related to safety, toxicity, efficacy etc. of the 27 pesticides which include insecticides, fungicides and herbicides.
  • List of these 27 pesticides was carved out of a more extensive list of 66 pesticides reviewed by Anupam Varma committee.
• However, government has recently proposed to ban only 3 of the earlier listed 27 pesticides.

• The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has established the Centre for Processing Accelerated Corporate Exit (C-PACE) to streamline the process of removing companies from the MCA Register.
• The purpose of C-PACE is to reduce the burden on the registry and provide a convenient process for stakeholders to remove their company’s name from the register.
  • This initiative is part of MCA’s effort to make doing business and exiting easier for companies.
• C-PACE will operate under the Registrar of Companies (RoC) and will handle applications for processing and disposal.
• Harihara Sahoo, ICLS, has been appointed as the first registrar of C-PACE, which will be supervised by the Director General of Corporate Affairs (DGCoA), New Delhi.
• Centre is situated at the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA) in Manesar, Haryana.

• About 2,500 kg drugs worth Rs.12,000 cr were seized by Narcotic Control Bureau (NCB) and Indian navy as a part of Operation Samudragupt, which targets maritime trafficking of drugs originating from Afghanistan.
• It is one of the biggest drug seizures of drug methamphetamine
  • It is a potent central nervous system stimulant drug.
• Methamphetamine was sourced from Golden crescent, comprising Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan.
  • Golden Triangle includes Myanmar, Laos and

• India Pavilion at Cannes film festival is inspired by Saraswati Yantra, abstract representation of goddess Saraswati, drawn from the ancient text of Maha Upanishad.
• The pavilion has been designed by the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, with the theme “Showcasing India’s Creative Economy” to the global community.
  • Goddess Saraswati is believed to be the keeper of knowledge, music, art, speech, wisdom and learning.
• Maha Upanishad is a Sanskrit text and is one of the minor Upanishads.
• Text exists in two versions, one attached to the Atharvaveda in some anthologies, and another attached to the Samveda.
  • The Atharvaveda version is shorter, and in prose. The Samaveda version is partly in poetic
• Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam finds its origin in the Maha Upanishad, essentially meaning “the world is family”.

• Often called as a significant discontinuity in the Western Ghats, the Palghat Gap is about 40 km wide, with the steep Nilgiris and Anamalai hills, both rising above 2,000 msl, on either side.
• The Gap is a geological shear zone that runs from east to west.
  • Shear zones are weak regions in the earth’s crust.
  • The origin of the Palghat Gap also stems from the drift of continental shelves after Australia and Africa broke off from the Gondwana landmass.
• It is a corridor for both roads and railways that connects Coimbatore with Palakkad.
• The Bharathappuzha river flows through it.
• The Western Ghats in north of the Palghat Gap receive more rain annually, but the south gets rain more evenly throughout the year.
• In contrast to the tropical rainforests of the Western Ghats, the vegetation in the Palghat Gap is classified as dry evergreen forest.
• It also marks a divide in the flora and fauna of the region.
• Species richness and phylogenetic diversity are abundant in Western Ghats south of Palghat Gap.