Five youths from India have been named among 17 teen environmental activists from across the globe to receive the 2023 International Young Eco-Hero Award who have taken initiatives to tackle the world's most pressing environmental challenges.

The young eco-warriors who were recognised for their efforts by the US-based non-profit organisation, "Action For Nature", are Eiha Dixit from Meerut, Manya Harsha from Bengaluru, Nirvaan Somany and Mannat Kaur from New Delhi and Karnav Rastogi from Mumbai.

The Indian squad warmed up with the men’s air pistol team bronze medal in the World Championship shooting in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Thursday.

Shiva Narwal, Sarabjot Singh and Arjun Singh Cheema were far from making the individual final of top-8 but together got the medal behind China and Germany.

In women’s air pistol also, it was hard for the Indian shooters Esha Singh, Palak Gulia and Divya TS as they placed 32nd, 40th and 66th in a strong field of 118 shooters. As a team, they placed 11th.

In skeet, Anant Jeet Singh Naruka shot 48 in two rounds, and found himself in the 45th spot, as there were 10 with perfect 50 and 29 more with 49.

Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), under the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), has come out with a new mobile application ‘SAMUDRA’ - Smart Access to Marine Users for Ocean Data Resources and Advisories, offering comprehensive information on all ocean related services, useful for both seafarers and the fishing community.

Scientists at the institute informed that the mobile app empowers users with real-time updates and critical alerts on oceanic disasters such as tsunamis, storm surges, high waves, and swell surge alerts, for the individuals and communities to stay informed and take necessary precautions towards the protection of lives and property.

President Droupadi Murmu launched ‘My Bengal, Addiction Free Bengal’ Campaign under the ‘Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyan’, organized by Brahma Kumaris at Raj Bhavan, Kolkata today, August 17. Speaking on the occasion, the President said that drug abuse is a matter of concern for society and the country.

Due to these addictions, youth are not able to choose the right direction in their lives. This is very worrying and there is a need to work on all fronts in this matter. She stated that this situation can be improved through spiritual awakening, medication, social solidarity and political will. She appreciated organizations like Brahma Kumaris for discussing such issues and working to solve them.

On the occasion of 77th Independence Day on Tuesday, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren announced ‘Abua Awas Yojna’ at a cost of Rs 15,000 crore under which, three-room houses will be made available to the needy in the next two years.

Hoisting the tricolour at Morabadi Ground in Ranchi, Soren said his government was constantly striving to build a strong state and making honest attempts to fulfil the promises made to the people of this state.

“As I promised to the people of this state, today I announce a new scheme, ‘Abua Awas Yojana’ from this stage. Under this scheme, the state government will spend around 15,000 crores from its fund and provide houses to the needy in the next two years,” said Soren.

CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute launched an improved variety of the national flower Lotus with 108 petals called 'Namoh 108'. The flower was dedicated to the nation a day before Independence Day. The Lotus variety is more weather resilient and can flower from March to December. CSIR-NBRI also released apparels made from lotus fibre and a perfume developed from Lotus plants. A new variety of Aloe Vera called 'NBRI-Nihar' was also launched, which has 2.5 times more gel yield and is least affected by bacterial and fungal diseases. Research on cotton will be made easier with the use of a chip to make all information about cotton available.

The Tokyo Olympian and 2021 Asian Championship bronze medallist wrestler Seema Bisla has been handed a one-year suspension for 'whereabouts failure'. Seema, who participates in the 50kg weight category in women's freestyle, has been handed a one-year suspension by the Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel (ADDP). The ADDP passed the order to ban the 30-year-old Seema Bisla on July 21 and her name was included in the list put up by the National Anti-Doping Agency.

This is the third violation of anti-doping rules reported by NADA recently with a 14-year-old Asain Games-bound swimmer and a wushu player who had tested positive for banned substances. Though Seema Bisla has been banned because of a whereabouts violation, NADA has not made it clear whether it was a filing failure or missed test. The period of ineligibility started in May 2023.

Prominent Indian-American economist Raj Chetty has been awarded the coveted George Ledlie Prize for wielding big data to break myths about who achieves the American Dream and the obstacles faced by others.

Along with Mr Chetty, Biologist Michael Springer, professor of systems biology at Harvard Medical School, who created a better, faster COVID test system to help deal with the spread of COVID, was also honoured with the coveted Harvard University's George Ledlie Prize.

Indian Space Research Organisation is planning its next launch of the Aditya L1 satellite this month.  It will be the first space-based Indian mission to study the Sun. The satellite will carry seven instruments to study the solar atmosphere, solar magnetic storms and its impact on the environment around Earth. It will be ed in a halo orbit around L1 point between the Earth and the Sun. The satellite will take around 109 Earth days after launch to reach the halo orbit called L1, covering a distance of over 1.5 million kilometres. The Aditya L1 spacecraft, which was assembled and integrated at the U.R. Rao Satellite Centre (URSC), Bengaluru, has arrived at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. The Director of U R Rao Satellite Centre in Bengaluru Dr. M Shankaran has spoken exclusively to Akashvani on the Aditya L1 mission.

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved an extension of the government’s flagship Digital India scheme with an outlay of Rs 14,903 crore for five years, starting FY2021-22 to FY2025-26. Cybersecurity has been kept as a big focus of the expansion, which includes enhancing the capabilities of the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In).

Under the expansion, 5.25 lakh IT professionals will undergo upskilling while 2.65 lakh people will be trained in cybersecurity. The mobile-based Umang application will get 540 more services, up from the current 1,700, IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said.