KEY POINTS:

• Through a network of academic institutions, researchers, policymakers, donors, and practitioners, UNICEF Office of Research – Innocenti is at the forefront of the establishment of a Global Research Agenda and Platform for Children to amplify the voice of children and youth with disabilities.
• With the help of UNICEF‘s Office of Research – Innocenti, UNICEF and WHO created a series of 11 free-access background papers to accompany the Report.
• Around the world, 2.5 billion people require assistive technology. According to the estimate, by 2050, the population will have grown to 3.5 billion people.
• The gaps between low- and middle-income countries and high-income countries in terms of access to assistive technology are disturbing.
• Access to assistive technology for individuals who need it is as low as 3% in some low- and middle-income nations, whereas it is significantly higher in high-income countries, with up to 90% of people receiving the assistive devices and services they require.
• The worldwide impact of the WHO-UNICEF Global Report on Assistive Technology in this scenario will be unprecedented. Enabling settings and Assistive Technology are recognised in the Global Report as prerequisites for people in need to realise their human rights.

• India will introduce a newly approved “made in India” TB infection skin test called ‘c-TB.
• A new initiative, “Adopt people with TB” will be launched this year, based on Indian values of collectivism, which will call upon corporates, industries, organisations, political parties and individuals to come forward and adopt TB-infected people and families and provide them with nutritional and social support.

• 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.