• PM inaugurated Sabroom Landport in Tripura located along India-Bangladesh international border.
   
• About SLP
  • It is connected to Chittagong port of Bangladesh through Maitree Bridge on River Feni.
  • It will facilitate movement of passengers and cargo between India and Bangladesh. 
     
• Land Ports
  • These are areas on international border including portions of national highways, State highways, etc., notified as land customs station or immigration check post, with facilities for clearance and transport of passengers and goods across the borders.
  • Currently, there are 11 Land Ports operational in India (excluding SLP).

• Prime Minister inaugurated strategically important Sela tunnel in Arunachal Pradesh.
   
• About Sela tunnel
  • Constructed on road connecting Tezpur (Assam) to Tawang in West Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh by Border Road Organization.
  • Constructed using New Austrian Tunnelling Method (NATM).
    • NATM is a support method to stabilize tunnel perimeter with the help of sprayed concrete and other support and uses regular monitoring to control stability of tunnel.
  • World’s longest bi-lane tunnel (~1.5 kms) to provide all-weather connectivity at an altitude above 13,000 ft.

• ‘Sea Defenders-2024’ is a maritime security exercise between the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) & United States Coast Guard (USCG), which recently culminated at Port Blair (Andaman and Nicobar Islands).

• Blue Leaders High-Level Event on BBNJ urged nations to ratify BBNJ Treaty.
  • Treaty will come into force after ratification by at least 60 countries but out of 88 signatories, only two have ratified it so far.
  • India is yet to sign the treaty. 
• BBNJ or High Seas Treaty was adopted in 2023. 
  • It is international legally binding instrument under UNCLOS on conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction (High Seas).
  • It sets up a procedure to establish large-scale marine protected areas in high seas, sharing benefits from marine genetic resources, and transfer of marine technology.

• According to latest survey, there are around 7,396 Golden langurs in India.
   
• About Golden langur
  • Protection Status: 
    • IUCN: Endangered
    • CITES: Appendix I
    • Wildlife Protection Act: Schedule-I
  • Characteristics:
    • Belong to a large group of Old World monkeys called the colobines (leaf-eating primates having a ruminant-like multi-chambered stomach).
    • Coat colour varies seasonally becoming cream colored in summer and dark golden in winter.
    • They are diurnal and arboreal in nature and live in troops (3-15).
  • Habitat: Endemic to subtropical and temperate broadleaf forests in Assam (Brahmaputra River Valley) and Bhutan.

• Scientists have genetically modified a fruit fly to reproduce asexually through Parthenogenesis.
   
• Parthenogenesis (PG)
  • It is an asexual reproduction in which a female can produce an embryo without fertilizing an egg with sperm.
  • Two forms of Natural PG
    • Automixis: It, observed mostly in sharks, slightly shuffles mother’s DNA to produce children who are close to but not identical clones of mother.
    • Apomixis: A type of genetic copy-and-paste where offspring generated are genetically identical clones of their parents. Plants are more prone to this type of parthenogenesis.

• India’s fastest and indigenously developed Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) router launched in Bengaluru.
  • It has been developed by Nivetti Systems of Bengaluru in collaboration with the Department of Telecom and CDOT.
  • Router has a capacity of 2.4 terabits per second (tbps), and runs on India’s first indigenous network operating system, Nivetti NiOS.
• MPLS is a telecommunications routing technique that guides data between nodes using labels instead of network addresses.
• Its main function is to speed up network connections by sending packets along predetermined network paths.

• Recently, Gorsam Kora festival was concluded in the Tawang district of Arunachal Pradesh.
   

• About Gorsam Kora festival
  • An annual festival held at Gorsam Chorten, a 93 feet tall Stupa, built during 13th Century CE by a local monk- Lama Pradhar.
  • Theme(2024): ‘Zero Waste Festival’
  • Organized by local community of Zemithang in collaboration with civil authorities.
    • Zemithang Valley holds historical significance as 14th Dalai Lama found refuge upon his escape from Tibet in 1959.
  • Devotees including Bhutanese nationals visit during the festival to observe virtuous occasion during last day of first month of Lunar calendar.

Lachit Borphukan (1622 - 1672)

• Prime Minister unveiled 125-foot-high statue of famous General of Royal Army of Ahom Kingdom of Assam Lachit Borphukan.
   
• About Lachit Borphukan
  • Born in Charaideo district of Assam. 
  • United and brought together the tribal forces of Assam.
  • Defeated Mughal Army Battle of Saraighat (1671).
     
• Recognition
  • National Defence Academy (NDA) gives Lachit Barphukan Gold Medal to best cadet since 1999.
  • Lachit Divas (Lachit Day) celebrated in Assam every year on November 24.
  • Prime Minister released the book - 'Lachit Borphukan - Assam's Hero who Halted the Mughals' in 2022.
     
• Values: Patriotism, Inspirational Leadership, Courage and fearlessness, etc.