1) Indian-American Rishi Nair wins 28th annual National Geographic Bee Competition.

• Indian American student Rishi Nair won the prestigious National Geographic Bee competition 2016.
• He also won a trip to Alaska and Glacier Bay National Park.
• This is the fifth consecutive year of National Geographic Bee championship in which an Indian-American has won the prestigious national tournament.

First Place:

Rishi Nair. He received a 50000 US dollars college scholarship and a lifetime membership in the National Geographic Society. He is a sixth grader from Florida.

Second Place:

Saketh Jonnalagadda. He received a 25000 US dollars college scholarship. He is Eighth-grader from Massachusetts.

Third place:

Kapil Nathan. He received a 10000 US dollars college scholarship. He is a sixth-grader from Alabama.

2) Telangana govt enters Limca Book of Records.

• The Telangana government has entered the Limca Book of Records for conducting the most intensive household survey by a state.
• In August 2014, four lakh government employees covered over 1.09 crore households between 7 am and 8 pm in one day.
• The survey was ordered after Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao assumed office.

3) Arunachal tiger reserve bags biodiversity award.

• Arunachal Pradesh`s Pakke Tiger Reserve of East Kameng district has received the `India Biodiversity Award 2016` in one of its four categories.
• The Hornbill Nest Adoption Programme of the Pakke Tiger Reserve was awarded with the prize under the category, "conservation of threatened species". This is a joint initiative of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, National Biodiversity Authority and United Nations Development programme.
• The Hornbill Nest Adoption Programme has been a major step towards conservation of four hornbill species that are found in the adjoining areas of Pakke Tiger Reserve.
• Under this programme, urban citizens contribute money to protect hornbill nests around Pakke Tiger Reserve. This programme is the collaboration of Ghora-Aabhe Society, Nature Conservation Foundation and the Forest Department.

4) Indian author Aditi Krishnakumar wins Asian Book Award.

• A 31 year old Indian woman author, Aditi Krishnakumar has won the `Scholastic Asian Book Award` for her 32,000-word manuscript rooted in "love of Indian history".
• It was second time lucky for Indian author Aditi Krishnakumar. She has won the Singapore dollar 10,000 award for her manuscript "Codex: The Lost Treasure of the Indus" after being narrowly beaten to the biennial prize in 2014.
• The Scholastic Asian Book Award (SABA) is the joint initiative of the National Book Development Council of Singapore (NBDCS) and Scholastic Asia.
• Aditi beat four other writers, including home-grown writer and historical researcher Stephanie Ho, who came in second runner-up, for the prize.

5) Indian-American scientist Arnab De wins Springer Theses Award.

• Indian-American scientist Arnab De has received the prestigious Springer Theses Award. He was nominated by New York’s Columbia University for his PhD thesis.
• He was selected for the award for his outstanding research on developing transgenic mice to study a critical tumor-suppressor A20.
• Arnab De also has developed peptide-based prodrugs as therapeutics for diabetes. For this he was awarded `Young Investigator Award` at the American Peptide Symposium.

About Springer Theses Award:
The Springer Theses Award is awarded in recognition of outstanding PhD research at international level.
Internationally top-ranked research institutes select their best thesis annually for publication in the book series Springer Theses: Recognising Outstanding PhD research.
The winners get a cash prize of 500 euros and their research work is highlighted by the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO).

6) President Pranab Mukherjee presents Malti Gyan Peeth Puraskar 2016.

• The President of India Pranab Mukherjee presented the Malti Gyan Peeth Puraskar for the year 2016 at a function held at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
• The award was conferred upon 15 teachers from Punjab for their rare contribution in the field of education.
• The awardees were facilitated with 1 lakh rupees cash, certificate of excellence, a Robe of Honour and a medal.
• The initiative was mainly taken to promote the quality teaching in the schools besides encouraging the hundred percent attendances of girl students in the government schools.
• The Malti Gyan Peeth Puraskar was instituted by Mohinder Singh Syngle Education & Research Society. It was instituted in honour of its founder Malti Mohinder Singh Syngle, eminent educationist and social worker.

7) CEAT Cricket Awards 2016 conferred.

• CEAT Cricket Awards 2016 were conferred on the players in a function of 20th edition of CEAT awards at Mumbai.
• The CEAT awards honors the best of the cricketers based on their performances in international cricketing in all formats - Test, ODI and T20 - as rated by the CEAT Cricket ratings (CCR) over a period of 12 months from 1st May to 30th April.

List of the award winners:

Lifetime Achievement Award: Dilip Vengsarkar
International Cricketer of the Year: Joe Root
International Batsman of the Year: Joe Root
International Bowler of the Year: Ravichandran Ashwin
Test Cricketer of the Year: Kane Williamson
ODI Cricketer of the Year: Martin Guptill
T20 Player of the Year: Virat Kohli
Indian Cricketer of the Year: Rohit Sharma
Domestic Cricketer of the Year: Shreyas Iyer
Young Player of the Year: Rishabh Pant
Special Award: Ajinkya Rahane

8) A.R. Rahman conferred with Japan`s Fukuoka prize 2016.

• Renowned Indian music composer A.R. Rahman was awarded with the Japan`s Fukuoka prize 2016 for his outstanding contribution towards creating, preserving and showcasing South Asian traditional fusion music.
• He will receive the award alongside Philippines’ historian Ameth R Ocampo and Pakistan`s Yasmeen Lari.
• For the year 2015, noted Indian Historian Ramchandra Guha was conferred with Fukuoka Prize in academic category.

About Fukuoka prize:

1. The Fukuoka Prize is an award established by the city of Fukuoka and the Yokatopia Foundation to honour the outstanding work of individuals or organizations in preserving or creating Asian culture.

There are three prize categories:

1. Grand Prize, Academic Prize, and Arts & Culture Prize.
2. Previous winners of Fukuoka Prize from India include sitar player Ravi Shankar, dancer Padma Subrahmanyam, historian Romila Thapar, sarod maestro Amjad Ali Khan and historian Ramachandra Guha.

1) 5 Indians posthumously awarded with Dag Hammarskjold Medal of UN.

• Four Indian peacekeepers and a civilian have been chosen posthumously for United Nation’s Dag Hammarskjold Medal for their courage and sacrifice.
• Head Constable Shubhkaran Yadav, Rifleman Manish Malik, Havildar Amal Deka, Naik Rakesh Kumar and Gagan Punjabi will be honoured with the Dag Hammarskjold Medal awarded posthumously.
• They are among the 124 police, military and civilian personnel who have been posthumously awarded a prestigious UN medal. They will be honoured on the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers (observed annually on 29 May).

Five Indians are:

About Head Constable Shubhkaran Yadav: Head Constable Shubhkaran Yadav served in the U.N. Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO). He made the supreme sacrifice in April 2015.

About Rifleman Manish Malik: Rifleman Manish Malik also served in the U.N. Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He died in August 2015 during the mission.

About Havildar Amal Deka: Havildar Amal Deka served in the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF).He died in June 2015.

About Naik Rakesh Kumar: Naik Rakesh Kumar served in the U.N. Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS). He died in January 2015.

About Gagan Punjabi: Gagan Punjabi was serving in MONUSCO in a civilian capacity under the U.N. Volunteers programme and died in an incident in January 2015.

2) Indian-American Teen Syamantak Payra Wins Intel Young Scientist Award.

• Syamantak Payra, a 15-year old Indian-American student has won the prestigious Intel Foundation Young Scientist Award for developing a low cost electronic device for people who cannot walk well through disease or injury.
  
• He tested his prototype on two people partially disabled by polio. His device is both inexpensive and easy to use.
  
• Syamantak Payra, a Texas resident, won the USD 50,000 award along with 17-year-old Kathy Liu.
  
• The award was given by Intel Corporation and the Society for Science and the Public (SSP) at the 2016 `Intel International Science and Engineering Fair` in Arizona last week.
  

3) J.K. Rowling receives highest French civilian honour.

• Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling has been made an honorary Knight in the French Legion of Honour, France`s highest civilian award.
• J.K. Rowling, who is also known as Robert Galbraith, is a British novelist, screenwriter and film producer.
  
• Rowling, has also written many award winning novel like - The Causal Vacancy, The Cuckoo`s Calling, The Silk Worm and Career of Evil etc but mainly very famous for her Harry Potter series.
  
• The title was created by Napoleon Bonaparte in the early 19th century and constitutes the country`s elite national merit society.
  

4) Joe Root bags hat-trick of England cricket awards.

• Joe Root, an England cricketer has bagged a hat-trick of awards, as he was named Test Player of the Year, Limited Overs Player of the Year and Fans` Player of the Year at the England`s annual awards ceremony.
• The 25 year old Root, who has been in an outstanding form in the last 12 months, has posted 2,228 in 2015, which is the most by an English batsman in a calendar year.
  
• He has been in contention with Australia`s Steven Smith and New Zealand`s Kane Williamson for the top spot in the ICC Test rankings. Smith currently leads the table and Root stands second, trailing by 36 points.
  
• Medium pacer Anya Shrubsole bagged the England women`s cricketer of the year and Callum Flynn was named the best cricketer with a disability.
  
• David Lloyd was given the ECB`s special achievement award, for his 50-year stint as a player, umpire, commentator and coach.
  

5) Indian-American Rupa Iyer awarded highest teaching award in US.

• An Indian-American biotechnologist Rupa Iyer has been awarded Distinguished Leadership in Teaching Excellence Award, University of Houston’s highest teaching award.
• She was bestowed with this award for her sustained and significant contributions in the field of education. Presently, she is Associate Dean, Research and Graduate Studies at the University of Houston’s College of Technology.
  

About Rupa Iyer:

• She is founding director of the biotechnology programme in the College of Technology since its inception.
• Her lectures are based on format training on diverse biotechnology systems and develop presentation skills, enabling them to thrive in the workplace.
  
• Iyer has been part of the College of Technology since 2005 as a credentialed associate professor. Later in 2014 she was named Associate Dean of Research and Graduate Studies.
  
• Indian-American Rakesh K. Jain received US National Medal of Science 2015 from Barack Obama.
  

6) Indian American professor Rakesh K. Jain received the US National Medal of Science from the US President Barack Obama.

• He received the honour along with 16 other winners of the National Medal of Science and National Medal of Technology and Innovation at a White House ceremony.
• Jain is a professor at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Tumour Biology Laboratory at Massachusetts General Hospital.
  

About Professor Rakesh K. Jain:

1. He holds a B.Tech degree in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology- Kanpur.
2. He is regarded as a pioneer in the area of tumour micro-environment and widely recognized for his seminal discoveries in tumour biology, drug delivery, in vivo imaging and bioengineering.
   

7) Mumbai based Mukesh Ambani honored with Othmer Gold Medal for Entrepreneurial Leadership.

• United Based Chemical Heritage Foundation honored the Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani with prestigious Othmer Gold Medal for his entrepreneurial leadership.
• He was awarded for Expansion of India’s petroleum refining industry and Generation of the Jamnagar Refinery in Gujarat – the largest grassroots petroleum refinery in the world. Major initiatives in oil and gas exploration.
  
• He was awarded during the occasion of the Heritage Day of the Chemical Heritage Foundation (CHF).
  
• Award was presented by Carsten Reinhardt, President & CEO of CHF and Raj Gupta, Chairman of Delphi Automotive (formerly Chairman, President & CEO of Rohm and Hass).

8) Ken Loach wins second Cannes Palme d’Or with `I, Daniel Blake` award.

• Veteran British director Ken Loach film I, Daniel Blake has won the his second Palme d’Or at the 69th Cannes Film Festival, France.
• Ken Loach, is one of only nine directors to have won the top prize at Cannes twice. Loach had won in 2006 with The Wind That Shakes the Barley.
  
• The other includes, Kent-born director Andrea Arnold won the competition`s Jury Prize for her road movie American Honey.
  
• The Iranian film Forushande (The Salesman) by Asghar Farhadi received two awards, for Best Screenplay and for Best Actor, won by Shahab Hosseini.
  
• Jaclyn Jose won Best Actress for her role in Ma’ Rosa, a brutal dive into the Manila underworld directed by Brillante Mendoza.
  
• Jean-Pierre Leaud, one of the most famous faces of the French New Wave, received the Palme d’Or d’Honneur, a lifetime achievement award.
  

9) India-Pak student exchange program gets innovation award.

• India-Pakistan school Students Exchange Program has won innovation award. The students have been interacting with each other through handwritten letters, Audios and Visual recording that are reflective of a shared history of the two neighbors before Partition.
• This has been done under the `Student Exchange Program` which is a year-long dialogue comprising a sustained exchange of written, visual and oral histories connecting school children aged between 10-14 years across the cities of India and Pakistan was initiated by NGO `Routes 2 Roots`.
  
• The NGO has recently been awarded the "The Inter-cultural Innovation Award 2016` from United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) in Baku, Azerbaijan for this programme. Earlier in its first year in 2010, the program attracted between 2400 children from 10 schools across four cities of India and Pakistan.
  
• Students who hails from diverse socio-economic backgrounds from selected schools participate in the five-phased program which aimed to improving ties between the two countries and the exchange of letters, postcards, pictures, artwork and videos encourage children to form their own opinions and have a clearer understanding of history, culture and lifestyle through cross cultural communications.
  

10) Evolutionary engineer Frances Arnold wins €1m tech prize.

• US biochemical engineer, Frances Arnold has won the Millennium Technology Prize for her work `directed evolution` in Finland. Directed evolution is a method of rewriting DNA to improve medicines and develop green fuels.
• With this Arnold has become the first female winner in its 12 year of history and awarded with the 1 million euro prize. The award was presented by the Technology Academy Finland.
  
• The 59 year old, Arnold is a professor of chemical engineering at California Institute of Technology and her method of creating new proteins with desired properties is being used to convert renewable resources like sugar cane into bio fuels and to improve everyday products such as laundry and dish washing detergents to enhance their performance in cold temperatures. She recognizes developments that change people`s lives for the better.
  

11) Getting in rhythm: Over 31,000 in China set dance record.

• 31,697 people set a Guinness World Records for mass plaza dancing in multiple locations.
• Over 31,000 people in Beijing, Shanghai and four other cities in china have created a new feet by performing choreographed dance moves together for more than five minutes.
  
• The participants include generally middle-aged and elderly women, such dancers are a common site in parks, plazas and other public areas.

1) BAFTA TV Awards announced for the year 2016.
The British Academy Television Awards have been announced for the year 2016 by British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA).

Leading Actress: Suranne Jones.
Leading Actor: Mark Rylance.
Supporting actor: Tom Courtenay.
Supporting actress: Chanel Cresswell.
Entertainment performance: Leigh Francis.
Male performance in a comedy programme: Peter Kay.
Female performance in a comedy programme: Michaela Coel.
BAFTA TV Fellowship Recipients: Ray Galton & Alan Simpson.

2) MP Tourism wins Best Indian Destination for Wildlife Award.

• Madhya Pradesh Tourism (MPT) received the Best Indian Destination for Wildlife Award. The award was presented by the Lonely Planet Group.
• Actress Amy Jackson presented the award to MPT at a function held in Mumbai.
  
• On behalf of MPT Chairman, his Officer on Special Duty (OSD), Vinod Kumar Amar received the award.
  
• The state government launched number of programmes for the conservation of flora and fauna because of which Kanha and Pench were regarded as the most beautiful national parks in Asia.
  
• Madhya Pradesh has 25 wild life sanctuaries including nine National Parks. Kanha, Bandhavgarh, Pench, Panna, and Satpura National Park are managed as project tiger areas.
  

About Lonely Planet:

1. Lonely Planet is the largest travel guide book publisher in the world.
2. The company is owned by American billionaire Brad Kelley`s NC2 Media, which bought it in 2013 from BBC Worldwide for 77 million US dollar.
   
3. As of 2014, Lonely Planet`s largest office is located in Footscray, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia.

3) US President honours Indian-American elementary teacher Revathi Balakrishnan.

• US President Barack Obama has honoured an Indian-American elementary teacher Revathi Balakrishnan from Texas at the White House.
• She was honoured for her excellent work in the field of education as part of the ‘National Teacher of the Year Programme’.
  

About Revathi Balakrishnan:

1. Ms. Balakrishnan teaches math classes in third through fifth grade at Patsy Sommer Elementary School, Texas. Prior to becoming teacher she was a systems analyst with Liberty Mutual for about 12 years.
2. Balakrishnan has taught at ‘Sommer Elementary’ for six years before teaching at Forest North Elementary for three years. Earlier, she was also named as 2016 ‘Texas Elementary Teacher of the Year’.
   
   

4) Hockey India recommended Ritu Rani and V.R. Raghunath for Arjuna Award.

• Hockey India recommended Indian women’s team captain Ritu Rani and senior men’s team drag-flicker V.R. Raghunath along with Dharamvir Singh for Arjuna Award.
• It also recommended Sylvanus Dung Dung for Major Dhyan Chand Lifetime Achievement Award and veteran coach C.R. Kumar for Dronacharya Award.
  

C.R. Kumar:
He is best known for guiding the Indian junior men’s hockey team to glory in the 2011 Junior World Cup in Hobart when he had served as the team’s Head Coach.
He has also served as Assistant Coach of the Indian senior men’s team at the 1998 Utrecht World Cup and 2002 Kuala Lumpur World Cup.

Sylvanus Dung Dung:

1. He was part of the Indian team that won the gold at the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games wherein he had scored the golden goal against Spain.

5) President Pranab Mukherjee confers Florence Nightingale Awards to 35 Nurses.

• President Pranab Mukherjee has presented the National Florence Nightingale Awards to thirty-five nursing personnel from across the country.
• They were presented with the award at a function held in Rashtrapati Bhavan on the occasion of International Nurses Day (12 May).
  

About National Florence Nightingale Award:

1. The Florence Nightingale Award was established by the Union Health Ministry to honour the selfless services rendered by Nurses with devotion, sincerity, dedication and compassion.
2. These awards are given to the outstanding nursing personnel employed in Union, State/ Union Territories.
   
3. Nurses working in government, voluntary organizations, mission institutions and the private institutions can apply with the due recommendation of concerned State Government.
   
4. The awards carry 50000 rupees cash prize, a certificate, a citation certificate and a Medal.
   
5. The award is named after Florence Nightingale, founder of modern nursing. She was born on May 12, 1820 and the day is celebrated as International Nurses Day all over the world.
   

6) Indian artist wins award at UN poster contest on N-disarmament.

• Anjali Chandrashekar, a New York-based designer and "artivist", won the third prize in UN Poster for Peace contest presented by the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs (ODA) to raise awareness of the need for nuclear disarmament.
• Titled `Cutting Barriers through Peace`, the poster features a peace dove slicing through a nuclear weapon. Another poster `Break Free` by the Chennai girl, that shows doves flying out of a bird cage at the top of a nuclear weapon, received an honorable mention.
  
• She was appreciated by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for the poster depicts a peace dove slicing through a nuclear weapon.
  
• The 1st prize went to Ivan Ciro Palomino Huamani from Peru for his `Spinning Peace`, which features a nuclear weapon being unraveled into string which is then used to fly kites and balloons, and to jump rope.
  

7) Celina Jaitly has been honoured with the Harvey Milk Award.

• Bollywood actress Celina Jaitly has been honoured with the Harvey Milk Award.
• She has dedicated it to two Bangladeshi activists who were murdered and wants to share it with Indian LGBT activists Ashok Row Kavi, Laxmi Narayan Tripathi, Prince Manvendra Singh Gohail, Sridhar Rangayan, Harish Iyer, The Naz Foundation, Humsafar Trust and Geeta Kumana.
  
• The award is in the name of Harvey Bernard Milk, an American politician who became the first openly gay person to be elected to public office in California. He won a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.
  
• She was flanked by Charles Radcliffe of the UN Human Rights Commission and Milk’s inspiring nephew, Stuart Milk.
  

8) U.R. Rao becomes first Indian to be given IAF Hall of Fame Award.

• Former ISRO Chairman and space scientist Prof Udupi Ramachandra Rao became the first Indian to be given ‘Hall of Fame’ Award by the International Astronautical Federation (IAF)
• Mr. Rao has been selected for the prestigious award for his outstanding contribution to the progress of astronautics within the framework of the IAF activities.
  
• The scientist will be presented with the certificate at the 67th International Astronautical Congress, which will be held in Guadalajara in Mexico on 30 September 2016.
  

Udupi Ramachandra Rao:

1. U.R. Rao is the former chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation. He had served as Chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) from 1984 to 1994.
2. Under his leadership, India had initiated the development of the geostationary launch vehicle GSLV and the development of cryogenic technology in 1991.
   
3. He was also responsible for successful launch of INSAT satellites during his stint at ISRO.
   
4. He also had served as the first Chairman of Antrix Corporation, the commercial arm of the ISRO.
   
5. Presently, he is the Chairman of Governing Council of the Physical Research Laboratory at Ahmadabad and he is also Chancellor of Indian Institute for Space Science and Technology (IIST) at Thiruvananthapuram.
   
   

9) IIT student Nandini Bhandaru wins Young Scientist Award of European Material Science Research Society.

• Nandini Bhandaru, a PhD student at IIT-Kharagpur has won the Young Scientist Award of the European Materials Research Society’s (E-MRS) for contribution to materials science.
• She had won the award for her outstanding contribution to materials science and nanotechnology, particularly nano-patterning of soft films and surfaces.
  
• Presently, Ms. Bhandaru is working at the Instability and Soft Patterning Laboratory of the institute IIT-Kharagpur. Her area of doctoral research is on nano-fabrication, including soft-lithography, polymer blend films, thin film dewetting and self-assembly.
  

Innovation proposed by Nandini on nanofabrication:

1. She proposed an innovation through which possibility of fabricating nano scale patterned surfaces can be done at an extremely low cost and using an inherently simple methodology.
2. With this technique, the fabrication costs of these surfaces can be reduced to one tenth of the current Photolithography or Electron Beam Lithography based methods which require high end expensive instrumentation.
   

10) South Korean author Han Kang wins 2016 Man Booker International Prize for `The Vegetarian`.

• South Korean author, Han Kang, has won the 2016 Man Booker International Prize for her novel ‘The Vegetarian’.
• With this Han becomes the first South Korean to win this prestigious literary prize. The writer and her British translator Deborah Smith will share the 72,000 dollars prize money.
  
• Han’s novel ‘The Vegetarian’ tells a story of a wife (Yeong-hye lead character) who decides to become a vegetarian. The decision provokes cruelty from her husband, and from her father, and obsession from her sister’s husband, as the woman, she dreams obsessively about becoming a tree.
  
• The novel was picked unanimously by the panel of five judges chaired by Boyd Tonkin. It was chosen amongst six other novels.

1) Indian-American journalist receives Edgar A Poe award.

• An Indian-American journalist Neela Banerjee was felicitated with a prestigious Edgar A Poe award along with of her colleagues from Inside Climate News.
• She was felicitated by US President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle during the annual White House Correspondents Dinner in Washington.
  
• The award was shared by Terrence McCoy of the Washington Post, who explored the issue of lead poisoning among poor black children in Baltimore after Freddie Gray died in custody in a high-profile case of alleged police abuse.
  

About Neela Banerjee:

1. Neela Banerjee is Washington based journalist from Inside Climate News.
2. She is a graduate of Yale University and had served as a Moscow correspondent with The Wall Street Journal.
   
3. Before joining Inside Climate News, she was energy and environmental reporter for the Los Angeles Times’ Washington bureau. In her journalistic career, she had covered global energy, Iraq War and other issues with The New York Times.
   

2) Three Indian Scientists elected as Fellows of The Royal Society.

• Three eminent Indian Born scientists listed in the fifty scientists elected as Fellows of the Royal Society, a premier scientific academy of the U.K and the Commonwealth.
• Their names are Physicist Sriram Ramaswamy, Biochemist Ramanujan Hegde, Applied mathematician Lakshminarayanan Mahadevan.
  

About three Scientists:

1. Physicist Sriram Ramaswamy, Director of TIFR Centre for Interdisciplinary Sciences, Hyderabad and and is on leave from the Indian Institute of Science(IISC), Bangalore.
2. His research helped found the field of Active Matter, which studies the collective behaviour of objects, such as motile organisms.
   
3. Biochemist Ramanujan Hegde, MRC Laboratory of Microbiology, U.K.
   
4. Ramanujan Hegde is a whose research has deepened humans’ understanding of how newly made proteins are localised correctly inside cells.
   
5. Applied mathematician Lakshminarayanan Mahadevan, Harvard University.
   
6. Lakshminarayanan Mahadevan’s work attempts to understand the geometrical and dynamical patterns of shape and flow in physical and biological matter.
   
7. His work has been recognized by awards that include the Edgerton Prize at MIT and the Ledlie Prize at Harvard.
   

3) BCCI recommends Virat Kohli for Khel Ratna, Ajinkya Rahane for Arjuna Award.

• BCCI has nominated Indian Test captain Virat Kohli for the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award and his teammate Ajinkya Rahane for Arjuna Award.
• Virat kohli is also at the top of his game in the preceding ICC World T20, singlehandedly guiding India to wins over Australia, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
  
• Rahane equalled the record of holding the highest number of catches in a Test innings during India’s series win against Sri Lanka under Kohli’s leadership.
  
• Other sports bodies and associations are also in the process of sending their nominations.
  
• Sports persons nominated for the Khel Ratna Award so far are Incheon Asian Games gold medallist shooter Jitu Rai, squash star Dipika Pallikal, athlete Tintu Luka and ace golfer Anirban Lahiri.
  
• For Arjuna Awards, Athletes Lalita Babar and O.P. Jaisha, shooters P.N. Prakash and Apurvi Chandela, and archer Laxmirani Majhi have been nominated.
  
• The Khel Ratna award carries a cash prize of Rs. 7.5 lakh along with a citation while the Arjuna Award will carries a cash prize of Rs. 5 lakh and a citation.
  

4) Space boffins win $3m prize for discovering gravitational waves.

• Scientists and engineers of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration, who detected gravitational waves and reported their discovery, have been awarded a $3 million Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics.
• The three founders of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observaton (LIGO) are Rainer Weiss, emeritus professor of physics at MIT; Kip Thorne, Caltech’s Richard P. Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics, emeritus; and Ronald Drever, emeritus professor of physics at Caltech.
  
• Founded by a group of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, the Breakthrough Prizes recognize the world’s top scientists in life sciences, fundamental physics, and mathematics.
  
• The LIGO team’s observation of gravitational waves brought a 50-year search to a spectacular conclusion.
  
• Using twin instruments sensitive enough to detect distortions in spacetime as small as one thousandth the diameter of an atomic nucleus.
  
• And also they recorded the gravitational shudders released when two black holes spiralled ever closer together and ultimately collided in a violent merger.
  

5) President Pranab Mukherjee confers Niryat Shree and Niryat Bandhu Awards.

• President Pranab Mukherjee has conferred the 15th set of Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) Niryat Shree and Niryat Bandhu Awards in New Delhi.
• The awards were presented at the Golden Jubilee celebrations of Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO).
  
• The awards were conferred to the companies from various sectors of exports besides service providers, banks, and various facilitating agencies which are promoting exports during the year 2015-16.
  

List of award recipients:

Reliance Industry: It was awarded as the top foreign exchange earner and leading exporter of last 50 years.

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS): It won the Gold Award in IT services.

State Bank of India (SBI): It won the Gold award among the supporting institutions.

6) Angelique Kidjo honoured with Amnesty International top human rights award.

• Amnesty International has given its top 2016 human rights award to Grammy award-winning musician Angélique Kidjo and to three African youth activist movements for their work standing up to injustice.
• The award will be shared between the singer and the activist groups Y’en a marre from Senegal, le Balai Citoyen from Burkina Faso and Lutte pour le Changement (LUCHA) from DRC. All will be honoured at the awards ceremony in Dakar, Senegal.
  
• Last year it was awarded to Chinese artist Ai Weiwei and American singer-songwriter Joan Baez.
  

7) Corporation Bank gets ``Excellence Award on Empowering MSMEs 2016``.
Corporation Bank has been awarded the ``Excellence Award on Empowering MSMEs 2016`` instituted by the Federation of Industry, Trade and Services [FITS].
Bank Managing Director and CEO Jai Kumar Garg received the award from Kalraj Mishra, Union Minister for MSMEs, at New Delhi.
Steps taken by the Corporation Bank:
The bank ensures collateral-free loans up to Rs. 1 crore under Credit Guarantee Scheme of CGTMSE and bears the cost of guarantee cover for loans up to Rs. 10 lakh.
Corporation Bank is offering 25 bps concessions in interest rate to women beneficiaries in addition to 50 bps concessions available to guarantee covered accounts.
Corporation Bank has also adopted Environment and Social Risk Framework guidelines of World Bank/SIDBI for SME borrowers to make MSMEs lending environmentally sustainable.

8) Switzerland Government honours Yash Chopra with special statue.

• Switzerland Government has honoured late veteran filmmaker Yash Chopra by unveiling bronze statue at Interlaken.
• The bronze statue weighing about 250 kilos was inaugurated by his wife Pamela Chopra and daughter-in-law Rani Mukerjee.
  
• Chopra was known for opening a legacy of South Asian tourists flocking to Switzerland and spend much time in the country besides shooting his movies.
  
• This statue has been installed at the heart of Interlaken, inside the Kursaal area near the Congress Centre which is a prime, popular spot with tourists.
  
• Earlier in 2011, government of Interlaken awarded him the honorary title of Ambassador of Interlaken and Jungfrau Railways had named a train after him – an honour shared only with the railway’s founder, Adolf Guyer.
  

9) Indian Parashar Kulkarni wins 2016 Commonwealth Short Story Prize for Asia Region.

• Indian Parashar Kulkarni won the Commonwealth Short Story Prize for 2016, for the Asia region. He was awarded for his politically grounded unpublished short fiction `Cow and Company`.
• He would receive a cash prize of 2500 pounds (3835 US dollars).
  
• The story `Cow and Company` narrates the story of four men in search of a cow. The story manages to keep the reader engaged through twists and turns show the connections between culture and commercial interests.
  
• Parashar Kulkarni is an assistant professor in Social Sciences at Yale NUS College Singapore.
  

 
10) President presents Gallantry Awards and Distinguished Service Decorations to Defense personnel.

• President Pranab Mukherjee has presented Gallantry Awards and Distinguished Service Decorations to Defence personnel at a ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi.
• Constable Gautam Koch of Assam Armed Branch who made supreme sacrifice fighting UPLA insurgents in Assam`s Difu was awarded Kirti Chakra posthumously.
  
• Naib Subedar Rajesh Kumar Singh who made supreme sacrifice while fighting terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir was awarded Kirti Chakra posthumously.
  
• Civilian Bikaramjeet and Rakesh Sharma who displayed bravery and apprehended a dreaded militant in Jammu and Kashmir was also awarded Shaurya Chakra.
  
• President also conferred the Param Vishisht Seva Medal,Kirti Chakra, Uttam Yudh Sewa Medal, Atti vishisht Sewa Medal and Shaurya Chakra.
  
• Thirteen personnel were awarded Param Vishisht Seva Medal and Twenty Five Personnel were awarded Ati Vishisht Seva Medal which included Director General of NCC Lieutenant General Aniruddha Chakravarty. Two personnel were given Uttam Yudh Seva Medal and Ati Vishist Seva Medal Bar.
  
• Vice-President Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Three services Chiefs were present in the ceremony.