India’s External Affairs minister and Heads of missions of 61 countries visited the Kaziranga National Park.

About Kaziranga National Park (KNP)

• KNP is located between the Brahmaputra River and the Karbi (Mikir) Hills in Assam, India.
• Status: National Park, Tiger Reserve, Important Bird Area (IBA), and UNESCO World Heritage Site (1985).
• Famous For: Largest population of Indian one-horned rhinoceros (2,613 as per 2022 census).
• Biodiversity: Home to tigers, elephants, swamp deer, wild buffalo (Big Four).
• Important area for migratory birds as it is located at the junction of the Australasia and Indo-Asian flyway.

First ‘Adolescent Girls Club’ under Mission Shakti was launched in Nagaland.

• Such adolescents' girls' clubs are formed at both government and private schools for the girls in the age group of 10-19 years.

 About Mission Shakti

• Ministry: Ministry of Women and Child Development.
• Two sub-schemes: Sambal (for safety and security of women) and Samarthya (for empowerment of women).
  • Sambal includes One Stop Centre (OSC), Women Helpline (WHL), Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) and Nari Adalat.
  • Samarthya includes Ujjwala, Swadhar Greh, Working Women Hostel, National Creche Scheme for children of working mothers and Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY). 

Prime Minister praised the efforts of soliga tribe in increasing the tiger population in Biligiri Ranganatha Swamy Temple (BRT) Tiger Reserve.

About Soliga Tribe

• Soligas are nomadic people who live in the Biligiriranga Hills region of Southern Karnataka and some parts of Tamil Nadu. 
• In 2011, they became first tribal community living inside a tiger reserve to get legal rights to the forest. 
  • They live off forest produce like honey, berries and timber and practice subsistence agriculture.
• They speak Soliga, a Dravidian language closely related to Kannada.
• They worship tigers as sacred beings and refer to the tiger as Dodda Nayi.

A study highlighted that black plastic products contain a flame-retardant chemical called decabromodiphenyl ether (BDE-209) that had been linked to potential human health risks. 

About Black Plastic

• Black plastic is often made from recycled electronic waste such as computers, TVs, and appliances. 
  • The electronics typically contain substances such as the flame retardants bromine; antimony; and heavy metals such as lead, cadmium, and mercury.
  • These substances and heavy metals are known to be toxic to humans at high levels of exposure and are now banned in many countries. 

Prime Minister congratulated farmers on completion of six years of Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme. 

About PM-KISAN Scheme

• Ministry: Launched in 2019 by Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare.
• Objective: To supplement financial needs of all eligible landholding farmers' families in procuring various inputs.
• Benefits: Provides Rs.6,000 annually to small and marginal farmers in three Rs.2,000 installments via DBT.
• Beneficiaries: All landholding farmer families, excluding institutional landholders, higher-income taxpayers etc.
• Funding: A Central Sector scheme with 100% funding from Government of India.

A new study by the University of Bristol challenges the assumption that Palaeognathae groups birds  are ‘dumb’.

About Palaeognathae Group of Birds 

• Palaeognathae is a group of flightless birds that evolved early from dinosaurs. 
• It includes birds such as ostriches, emus, rheas, cassowaries, and kiwis.
• Classification:
  • Tinamiformes: e.g. tinamous of South and Central America;
    • Tinamous have a keeled sternum and can fly (weakly), 
  • Ratitae, or ratite birds: With flat sterna and reduced wings, and cannot fly at all.
    • It includes African ostrich, rhea of South America; Australian emu and New Guinea cassowary; and the kiwi of New Zealand.

China’s Ambassador to India recently posted on X about historic Tea Horse Road.

About THR

• It connected India to China, through Tibet( Although not as well-known as Silk Road, which linked China and Europe).
• It does not refer to a single road but a network of branching paths that began in southwest China and ended in the Indian subcontinent.
• Two main pathways passed through cities like Dali and Lijiang in Yunnan province, and reached Lhasa in Tibet, before entering the Indian subcontinent where they branched into present-day India, Nepal, and Bangladesh.
• Origin: Tang dynasty in China (618-907 CE). 
• It was a crucial commercial pathway for centuries.

According to a recent study, a hilly area surrounding Zagros Mountains in Iraq is being pulled into Earth.

• Ancient Neotethys oceanic slab is developing a significant tear from southeast Turkey to northwest Iran, causing it to split and sink into Earth's mantle.

About Zagros Mountain

• Location: Major mountain range in Central Asia.
• Geographical Extent: Covers around 1,500 kilometers in a northwest to southeast direction from  border areas between eastern Turkey and northern Iraq to Strait of Hormuz (Iran).
• Highest Peak: Mount Dena
• Climate: Semi-arid temperate climate
• Vegetation: Temperate broad-leaved forests and steppe vegetation.