IORA member states establish 'Be the Legacy' internship programme to honour ___________.

Ghatam maestro Vikku Vinayakram has recently won the special lifetime achievement award from the Music Academy in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Vinayakram is one of the best-known faces of percussion from South India. He plays Carnatic music with the ghatam (an earthen pot), and is credited with popularising the ghatam. This award does not fall under the institution's annual recognitions and honours. It is conferred once in a while to artistes of outstanding calibre who the Music Academy feels deserve an independent recognition.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to Award the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics to Arthur Ashkin, Gerard Mourou and Donna Strickland "for groundbreaking inventions in the field of laser physics".

Richie Benaud will be posthumously honoured as 'Legend' by Sport Australia Hall of Fame. Benaud, a former Australia captain who became one of the most loved voices of cricket after his playing days. He will be the 40th Legend of Australian Sport and the third cricketer to be bestowed the prestigious annual honour. It will be made official at the 34th Sport Australia Hall of Fame induction and awards gala dinner in Melbourne on 11 October.

Three Indian-origin women scientists Onisha Patel, Devika Kamath and Asha Rao are among the 60 Superstars of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics) list awarded by Australian government. Under the initiative, due to gender gap in STEM courses, the government there is planning to train these scientists for one year to become influencers for female students.

Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), the New Delhi (India)-based independent research and advocacy think tank, has been named the recipient of the prestigious Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development for the year 2018. CSE has been awarded for "its pioneering work over almost four decades in environmental education and protection, for its steadfast advocacy of measures to combat environmental deterioration, for its success in influencing public policies and programmes that have benefitted social and economic development in India, and for keeping the issue of environmental sustainability at the forefront of national attention and public policy.

National Film Development Corporation of India (NFDC) was announced as the winner under the Miniratna Category by Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) in its campaign to felicitate CPSEs in recognition for their work in promoting SC/ST entrepreneurs. NFDC has funded over 300 films in various Indian languages which have been widely acclaimed and have won many national and international awards.

Union Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar announced the "Swachh Campus rankings" under various categories. The rankings were decided on the basis of a survey under the 'Swachhta Hi Sewa' campaign. The Cleanest 'Government Universities' are; 1. Maharashi Dayanand University, Haryana. 2. Guru Nanak Dev University in Amritsar, Punjab. 3. Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS), New Delhi.

The 'Invest India' initiative of the Union Government won the top United Nations Investment Promotion Award in recognition of its efforts to boost investments in the renewable energy sector in India. The award was presented by Armenian President Armen Sarkissian to Deepak Bagla, the CEO of Invest India, in Geneva, Switzerland at the inauguration of the World Investment Forum organised by the UN Convention on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

Telangana's MNJ Institute of Oncology and Regional Cancer Centre entered Guinness Book of World Records 'for organising the largest men's Health Awareness programme on prostate cancer on a single day.' The programme was organised on October 26, 2018 and 487 participants took part in it. This is the first Guinness World Records achievement for the state government in the field of medicine. The hospital also received recognition from 'High Range Book of World Records'. Thus these made MNJ Institute the first and only government hospital in the state of Telangana to get 2 world records.

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) pavilion received 'Exhibitor of the Year Award' at 106th Indian Science Congress (ISC) held at Lovely Professional University (LPU) in Punjab. The DRDO Pavillion at ISC was inaugurated on 3 January 2019. The pavilion exhibited surface-to-air missile system - Akash, a model of BrahMos missile, remotely operated vehicle etc.