Every year, World Bicycle Day is celebrated worldwide on 3 June. Bicycles are one of the oldest means of transport and used for the conservation of our environment. It also offers fun, as well as, many health benefits to its riders, regardless of their age. The day is observed to promote the use of bicycles and encourage people to engage in simple physical activities.
94-year-old Palekanda P. Bopaiah and 85-year-old Palekanda Beliappa, residents of Kuttandi village in Kodagu district, Karnataka, recently won three gold and two silver medals in the Pan India Master Games held in Bengaluru. The Palekanda brothers, who identify themselves as all-rounders, participated in javelin throw, relay race, 1,500 metre running race, walkathon and 100 metre run held for senior citizens across the nation.
World Environment Day is observed every year globally on 5 June. The day is celebrated to raise awareness about the importance of mother nature and its conservation and to encourage people to participate in developing environmental safety measures. In 1972, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on the first day of the Stockholm Conference, designating 5 June as World Environment Day.
Every year, World Milk Day is celebrated globally on June 1. The day is marked to acknowledge the significance of milk as global food and to honour the dairy industry. The day was adopted by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations in 2001. Currently, India is the world’s largest producer of milk, followed by the United States, Pakistan, and China.
Indian tennis player Rohan Bopanna and his Dutch partner Matwe Middelkoop entered the Grand Slam semifinal at the French Open on May 31, 2022. The duo defeated Britain’s Lloyd Glasspool and Finland’s Henri Heliovaara in the men’s doubles quarterfinal. The Indo-Dutch duo will face 12th seeds, Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Roger in the last four, on 2 June 2022.
45-year-old Khulana Barik, currently working as a staff nurse in Jagatsinghpur District Headquarters Hospital, Odisha, has been selected for the Florence Nightingale Award 2021. She was awarded for going above and beyond her nursing duties, especially by handling the delivery of COVID-positive pregnant women and taking care of newborns during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Florence Nightingale Award is given by the Indian Nursing Council, a statutory body under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, to recognize the contribution of healthcare workers.
On May 29, 2022, Gujarat Titans lifted the Indian Premier League (IPL) trophy 2022 in the final, after defeating Rajasthan Royals by seven wickets at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. With this win, Gujarat Titans, led by Captain Hardik Pandya, became the second team to lift the IPL title in their debut season after Rajasthan Royals in 2008.
43-year-old M. Babu, a bus conductor from Chennai, Tamil Nadu, dedicates almost 20 percent of his salary to feed about 30 people, and buy clothes and food for children who cannot find a home. He also helps people get admitted to care homes if they express their wish to shift there. Babu hopes that more people would engage in random acts of kindness and contribute their time and help to those in need.
49-year-old Timmapuram Suresh Reddy, a police constable and numismatist from Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, has collected currencies of 167 countries. Suresh has been collecting coins since childhood and collected coins that belong to the ancient empires, including Pallava, Chola and Mughal. The numismatist has earned his spot in the Indian Book of Records this year for collecting the highest number of 25 paise coins and aims to enter it into the Guinness Book of World Records.
Delhi-based author Geetanjali Shree became the first Hindi language writer to win the International Booker Prize for her novel, ‘Tomb of Sand’, on May 26, 2022. She shared the award with the American translator of her book, Daisy Rockwell. Originally published in Hindi as ‘Ret Samadhi’, the novel narrates the journey of an 80-year-old woman after her husband’s death and was set during the partition of India.
