1. DHYAN CHAND KHEL RATNA AWARD

News: The Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna stands renamed as the “Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna”.
About Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award:

The Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award in Sports and Games (formerly known as Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna) is the highest sporting honour of the Republic of India.
The award is named after Dhyan Chand (1905–79), an Indian field hockey player, widely regarded as the greatest field hockey player of all time, who scored more than 1000 goals over a career that spanned over 20 years from 1926 to 1948.
It is awarded annually by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.
The recipient(s) is/are selected by a committee constituted by the Ministry and is honoured for their “spectacular and most outstanding performance in the field of sports over a period of four years” at international level.
As of 2020, the award comprises a medallion, a certificate, and a cash prize of ₹25 lakh (US$35,000).
Instituted in 1991–1992, the award was given for the performance by a sportsperson in a year.
The nominations for a given year are accepted till 30 April or last working day of April with not more than two sportspersons nominated for each sports discipline.
A twelve-member committee evaluates the performances of a sportsperson at various International events like Olympic Games, Paralympic Games, Asian Games, and Commonwealth Games.
All the received nominations are sent to SAI and National Anti-Doping Agency for the verification against the claimed achievements and doping clearance respectively. Any sportsperson who is either penalised or being enquired for usage of drugs or substances banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency is not eligible for the award.

2. MANGROVE FOREST

News: The City and Industrial Development Corporation has handed over 281.77 hectares of mangrove land in Panvel to the mangrove cell of the State Forest Department for conservation.

About Mangrove:

A mangrove is a shrub or small tree that grows in coastal saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species.
Mangroves occur worldwide in the tropics and subtropics, mainly between latitudes 30° N and 30° S, with the greatest mangrove area within 5° of the equator The total mangrove forest area of the world in 2000 was 137,800 km2 (53,200 sq mi), spanning 118 countries and territories.
Mangroves are salt-tolerant trees, also called halophytes, and are adapted to live in harsh coastal conditions.
They contain a complex salt filtration system and complex root system to cope with saltwater immersion and wave action. They are adapted to the low-oxygen conditions of waterlogged mud.
The word “mangrove” is used in at least three senses:
Most broadly to refer to the habitat and entire plant assemblage or mangal, for which the terms mangrove forest biome, and mangrove swamp are also used,
To refer to all trees and large shrubs in a mangrove swamp, and
Narrowly to refer just to “true” mangrove trees of the genus Rhizophora of the family Rhizophoraceae.
The mangrove biome, or mangal, is a distinct saline woodland or shrubland habitat characterized by depositional coastal environments, where fine sediments (often with high organic content) collect in areas protected from high-energy wave action.
The saline conditions tolerated by various mangrove species range from brackish water, through pure seawater (3 to 4% salinity), to water concentrated by evaporation to over twice the salinity of ocean seawater (up to 9% salinity).

3. TRIBUNALS

News: The Supreme Court on Friday asked the Central government point-blank to come clean on whether it intends to “close” tribunals across the country by not filling up vacancies that have been pending for years.

About Tribunals:

Tribunal is a quasi-judicial institution that is set up to deal with problems such as resolving administrative or tax-related disputes.
It performs a number of functions like adjudicating disputes, determining rights between contesting parties, making an administrative decision, reviewing an existing administrative decision and so forth.
The term ‘Tribunal’ is derived from the word ‘Tribunes’, which means ‘Magistrates of the Classical Roman Republic’.
Tribunal is referred to as the office of the ‘Tribunes’ i.e., a Roman official under the monarchy and the republic with the function of protecting the citizen from arbitrary action by the aristocrat magistrates.
A Tribunal, generally, is any person or institution having an authority to judge, adjudicate on, or to determine claims or disputes – whether or not it is called a tribunal in its title.
Tribunals were not part of the original constitution, it was incorporated in the Indian Constitution by 42nd Amendment Act, 1976.
Article 323-Adeals with Administrative Tribunals.
Article 323-Bdeals with tribunals for other matters.
Under Article 323 B, the Parliament and the state legislatures are authorised to provide for the establishment of tribunals for the adjudication of disputes relating to the following matters:
Taxation
Foreign exchange, import and export
Industrial and labour
Land reforms
Ceiling on urban property
Elections to Parliament and state legislatures
Food stuff
Rent and tenancy rights
Articles 323 A and 323 B differ in the following three aspects:
While Article 323 Acontemplates the establishment of tribunals for public service matters only, Article 323 B contemplates the establishment of tribunals for certain other matters (mentioned above).
While tribunals under Article 323 Acan be established only by Parliament, tribunals under Article 323 B can be established both by Parliament and state legislatures with respect to matters falling within their legislative competence.
Under Article 323 A, only one tribunal for the Centre and one for each state or two or more states may be established. There is no question of the hierarchy of tribunals, whereas under Article 323 B a hierarchy of tribunals may be created.
Article 262:The Indian Constitution provides a role for the Central government in adjudicating conflicts surrounding inter-state rivers that arise among the state/regional governments.

4. ABANINDRANATH TAGORE

News: Year-long celebrations marking 150 years of Abanindranath Tagore will kick off on Saturday, with a host of online workshops and talks paying tributes to the leading light of the Bengal School of Art.

About Abanindranath Tagore:

Abanindranath Tagore was the principal artist and creator of the “Indian Society of Oriental Art”.
He was also the first major exponent of Swadeshi values in Indian art, thereby finding the influential Bengal school of art, which led to the development of modern Indian painting.
He was also a noted writer, particularly for children.
Popularly known as ‘Aban Thakur’, his books Rajkahini, Buro Angla, Nalak, and Khirer Putul were landmarks in Bengali language children’s literature and art.
Tagore sought to modernise Mughal and Rajput styles to counter the influence of Western models of art, as taught in art schools under the British Raj.
Along with other artists from the Bengal school of art, Tagore advocated in favour of a nationalistic Indian art derived from Indian art history, drawing inspiration from the Ajanta Caves.
Tagore’s work was so successful that it was eventually accepted and promoted as a national Indian style within British art institutions.

About Bengal School of Art:

The Bengal School of Art commonly referred as Bengal School, was an art movement and a style of Indian painting that originated in Bengal, primarily Kolkata and Shantiniketan, and flourished throughout the Indian subcontinent, during the British Raj in the early 20th century.
Also known as ‘Indian style of painting’ in its early days, it was associated with Indian nationalism (swadeshi) and led by Abanindranath Tagore (1871-1951), but was also promoted and supported by British arts administrators like E. B. Havell, the principal of the Government College of Art and Craft, Kolkata from 1896; eventually it led to the development of the modern Indian painting.
The Bengal school arose as an avant garde and nationalist movement reacting against the academic art styles previously promoted in India, both by Indian artists such as Raja Ravi Varma and in British art schools.
Following the influence of Indian spiritual ideas in the West, the British art teacher Ernest Binfield Havell attempted to reform the teaching methods at the Calcutta School of Art by encouraging students to imitate Mughal miniatures.

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