Arundhati Roy Wins PEN Pinter Prize 2024

• Arundhati Roy is an eminent Indian author who is best known for the Booker Prize winning novel The God of Small Things (1997).
• She is also a political activist who is involved in environmental and human rights causes.

About PEN Pinter Prize

• Established in 2009 by the charity English PEN, the Pen Pinter Prize serves as a beacon for:
  • Defending freedom of expression
  • Celebrating impactful literature
  • Honouring the legacy of Nobel Laureate playwright Harold Pinter
• Set up in memory of playwright Harold Pinter, the award is for writers of "outstanding literary merit" who take an "unflinching" look at the world.

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Launch of Satellite Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES)-U

Why in News?

• National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and SpaceX launches weather satellite GOES-U.
• SpaceX achieved a successful launch of the fourth and final satellite for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) program.

About NASA

• Establishment: October 1, 1958, as a part of the United States (US) government.
• Purpose: Explores the unknown in air and space, innovates for the benefit of humanity, and inspires the world through discovery.
• Headquarter: Washington, D.C. 

About GOES-U

• The launch took place at NASA's Kennedy Space Centre in Florida on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket.
• It had deployed its solar arrays upon reaching a geostationary orbit about 22,200 miles above Earth.

Purpose

• GOES-U will provide continuous monitoring of weather conditions over extensive regions including North America, Central and South America, the Caribbean, the Atlantic Ocean, and the west coast of Africa. 

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Mainland Serow Spotted in Assam

Why in News?

• A team of scientists have recorded a lone mainland serow in western Assam’s Raimona National Park.

About Searow

• It is a mammal that appears somewhere between a goat and an antelope.
• Distribution: Across the India-Bhutan border in Phibsoo Wildlife Sanctuary and the Royal Manas National Park of Bhutan.
• Scientific Name: Capricornis suma-traensis thar
• Conservation Status
  • IUCN: Vulnerable
  • CITES : Appendix I

About Raimona National Park

• Location: Situated in Assam along the Indo-Bhutan border.
• Boundaries
  • North: Shares the Indo-Bhutan international border with Phibsoo Wildlife Sanctuary in Bhutan.
  • West: It is marked by the Sankosh River along with the inter-state boundary of West Bengal and Assam from the Indo-Bhutan border.
  • East: The Saralbhanga River (also called Swrmanga) flows southward from Sarphang district of Bhutan.
• Vegetation: Different types and sub-types of forests ranging from very moist sal forests, sub-Himalayan high alluvial semi-evergreen forests, savannah forests, moist-mixed deciduous forests, riparian fringing forests to khoir-sissoo forests.
• Flora:  Myriads of orchid species, other tropical rainforest species, and riverine grasslands.
• Fauna: Golden Langur, Asian Elephants, Royal Bengal Tiger, Clouded Leopard, Indian Gaur etc.

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Plastic Waste Road

• Jaipur Military Station has become the second military station in India to have a road made from plastic waste.
• The station became the second military station to construct the plastic waste road and first to make it part of its maintenance programme.
• The first military station to have a plastic waste road was Narangi Military Station in Guwahati, Assam, built in 2019.