International Energy Forum

• The International Energy Forum (IEF) is an inter-governmental, non-profit international organisation which aims to foster greater mutual understanding and awareness of common energy interests among its members.
• The 72 Member Countries of the Forum are signatories to the IEF Charter, which outlines the framework of the global energy dialogue through this inter-governmental arrangement.
• The IEF is promoted by a permanent Secretariat based in the Diplomatic Quarter of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty

• The treaty was signed in the year 1987 between United States and Soviet Union.
• It required both countries to eliminate and permanently disown all of their nuclear and conventional ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges of 500 to 5,500 kilometers.
• It did not cover sea-launched missiles.
• The treaty marked the first time the superpowers had agreed to reduce their nuclear arsenals, eliminate entire category of nuclear weapons.
• As a result of this treaty, superpowers destroyed a total of 2,692 short, medium and intermediate-range missiles by the treaty’s implementation deadline of June 1, 1991.
• In 2014, United States has alleged that Russia violated the treaty and it has deployed the non-compliant missile.
• Recently, US announced that it is withdrawing from the treaty.

Tagore Award

• The annual award was instituted by the Government of India during the commemoration of 150th Birth Anniversary of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore.
• The first Tagore Award was conferred on Pt. Ravi Shankar; the Indian Sitar Maestro in 2012 and second was conferred on Shri Zubin Mehta in 2013.

Commonwealth Association for Public Administration and Management (CAPAM)

• It is a non-profit association representing an international network of over 1100 senior public servants, Heads of Government, leading academics and researchers located in over 50 different countries across the Commonwealth.
• CAPAM has been announcing its International Innovations Awards (IIA) Programme bi-annually since 1998.
• The CAPAM Awards celebrate the spirit of innovation in the public service by recognizing organizations that have made significant contributions to improve governance and services in the public sector.

Mammals of India (MaOI)

• Scientists and researchers from the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) in Bangalore have come up with a new citizen-science repository on Indian mammals, called Mammals of India (MaOI).
• The website, www.mammalsofindia.org, aims to develop individual species pages for all Indian mammals with information on identification, variation, distribution, breeding and non-breeding ecology and species conservation.
• It is an online, peer- reviewed, freely-accessible portal that was launched late September 2018.
• By October 25, as many as 768 images, of 161 species of mammals, were uploaded.
• It is a first such repository of Mammals in India.
• MaOI is a part of the Biodiversity Atlas (India project), which is an initiative of Krushnamegh Kunte, associate professor at NCBS.
• Under the project, a popular citizen-science website on butterflies of India www.ifoundbutterflies.org had got to 55,000 reference images in eight years.
• Under the same project websites dedicated Moths of India, Cicacds of India, Odonatas of India (dragonflies and damselflies) , Reptiles of India, Amphibians of India and Birds of India are operational.

Main Nahin Hum

• ‘Main Nahin Hum’ portal and mobile application launched by PM which will enable IT professionals and organizations to bring together their efforts towards social causes on one platform.
• The portal, which works on the theme ‘Self4Society’.
• The portal is expected to help catalyze greater collaboration towards the service of the weaker sections of society, especially by leveraging the benefits of technology.
• It is also expected to generate wider participation of interested people who are motivated to work for the benefit of society.

Kittur Utsav

• Kittur Utsav is an annual celebration is organized by the Department of Kannada and Culture in Karnataka.
• It is celebrated in the historic city of Kittur to commemorate the heroic battle of Queen Chennamma against the British in 1824.
• Kitturis a taluka in the Belgaum district of the South Indian state of Karnataka.
• It is a place of historical importance because of the armed rebellion of Kittur Chennamma (1778–1829).
• In this battle Raja of the State of Kittur fight against the British East India Company, during which a British Commissioner St John Thackeray was killed.

Global Agriculture Leadership Summit 2018

• The Global Agriculture Leadership Summit 2018 opened in New Delhi
• The theme of the summit is Connecting Farmers to Market.
• Global Agriculture Leadership Summit is an annual event organized by the Indian Council of Food and Agriculture.
• It will provide a platform to discuss the broad scenario and trends in the agriculture sector, trade, technology, investments.
• The summit aims to discuss the broad issues in agriculture and agribusiness, and measures to empower farmers and unleash the potential of India’s agriculture.

Seoul Peace Prize

• The Seoul Peace Prize was established in 1990 to commemorate the success of the 24th Olympic Games held in Seoul, Republic of Korea.
• The Seoul Peace Prize was established to crystallize the Korean people’s yearning for peace on the Korean Peninsula and in the rest of the world.
• The prize has been awarded to those who have made their mark through contributions to the harmony of mankind, reconciliation between nations and to world peace.
• PM Modi had also received the United Nation’s highest environmental honor, the ‘Champions of the Earth Award’ from United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
• He got this awards for his “unprecedented pledge to eliminate all single-use plastic in India by 2022.
• Recently Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been awarded the Seoul Peace Prize 2018.
• According to The Seoul Peace Prize Committee, Prime Minister got this award for following contribution which will help to further democracy in India.