About Mount Ararat:

• It is a volcanic massif located in extreme eastern Turkey.
• It overlooks the point at which the frontiers of Turkey, Iran, and Armenia converge.
• It is the highest mountain in the Armenian Highlands.
• It is the highest mountain in Turkey.
• The dormant volcano is also known as Mount Agri and Mount Masis.
• It is actually part of two snow-capped peaks, named Greater Ararat and Lesser Ararat.
  • Both Great and Little Ararat are the product of eruptive volcanic activity.
  • Neither retains any evidence of a crater, but well-formed cones and fissures exist on their flanks.
  • The only true glacier is found on the northern side of the Great Ararat, near its summit.

About Subansiri River:

• It is a right-bank tributary of the Brahmaputra River, originating in Tibet and flowing through Arunachal Pradesh and Assam.
• It is a trans-Himalayan and an antecedent river, meaning it existed before the Himalayas rose and continued its course through the mountains.
• It is also called the “Gold River” because of the gold dust found in its waters.
• Course:
  • It originates in the Tibetan Plateau, where it is formed by the confluence of three small streams: Lokong Chu, Chayal Chu, and Tsari Chu.
  • It flows eastward in Tibet before turning south and entering India near Taksing in Arunachal Pradesh.
  • In Arunachal Pradesh, the Subansiri River flows east and southeast through the Miri Hills, carving deep gorges and creating a rugged landscape.
  • In the Eastern Himalayas, it descends into the Assam Valley at Dulangmukh in Dhemaji district.
  • Here, it slows down and meanders through the plains for about 86 km, passing near Majuli—the world’s largest river island—before merging with the Brahmaputra River at Jamurighat in Lakhimpur district, Assam.
  • It is the largest tributary of the Brahmaputra
• The river is fed by a combination of snowmelt from its Tibetan headwaters and the intense southwest monsoon precipitation that falls over the Himalayan foothills between June and September.
• Tributaries: Major tributaries of the river are Laro, Nye, Yume, Tsari, Kamla, Jiyadhol, Ranganadi and Dikrong.
• Lower Subansiri Hydroelectric Project:
  • It is a 2000 MW run-of-the-river hydro project being constructed on the Subansiri River.
  • It is located at Gerukamukh on the Arunachal Pradesh–Assam border.
  • It will be the single largest hydroelectric plant in India when completed.

About Vishnugad Pipalkoti Hydro Electric Project (VPHEP):

• It is a run-of-river hydropower scheme being developed on the Alaknanda River (a major tributary of the Ganga River) in the Chamoli district of Uttarakhand.
• With an installed capacity of 444 MW (4 × 111 MW), VPHEP is designed to provide peaking power to India’s Northern Grid.
• The project, when completed, will generate an estimated 1,665 gigawatt-hours (or million kilowatt-hours) of electricity in a typical year.
• It is being developed by THDC India Ltd, (formerly Tehri Hydro Development Corporation Limited) and financed by the World Bank.
  • THDC is a joint venture between the government of India and the government of Uttar Pradesh.

About Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary:

• It is located in Karnataka.
• It is situated on the banks of the River Cauvery, which flows through the major part of this protected area.
• It is bordered by Tamil Nadu.
• Vegetation: It has riverine and dry deciduous forests and some patches of scrub forest.
• Flora: Among the unique tree species, teak (Tectona grandis), Sandalwood (Santalum album), Bamboo (Dendrocalamus strictus), Indian gooseberry (Phyllanthus Emblica), and Terminalia (Terminalia arjuna) are found.
• Fauna:
  • Notable mammals include the Bengal tiger, Indian leopard, elephants, gaur (Indian bison), sloth bear, wild boar, and the Sambar deer.
  • There are many bird species, including the Crested Hawk Eagle, Indian Roller, White-bellied Drongo, Malabar Pied Hornbill, and the endangered Great Hornbill.

About Leucas droupadiae:

• It is a new species of plant belonging to the mint family (Lamiaceae).
• It was discovered along the sandy shores of the Coromandel Coast during a survey of the coastal dunes in the Cuddalore district of Tamil Nadu.
• It thrives in nutrient-poor, sandy habitats.
• What sets Leucas droupadiae apart from its closest relatives is its unique loner growth habit and its striking seeds.
• While most similar plants in this family grow as creeping vines or branched bushes with deep taproots, this new species stands upright as a single, unbranched stem, reaching only about 15 centimeters in height.
• It anchors itself into the sands using a shallow web of fibrous roots rather than a single thick root.
• Most distinctively, the plant produces oblong fruit, known as nutlets that are a golden yellow and covered in irregular dark brown spots.
• The scientists have named the plant in honour of Smt. Droupadi Murmu, the 15th President of India.
• Because of its limited range, the species has been provisionally labelled as “Data Deficient”.

About Green India Mission:

• It was launched in the year 2014 as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme.
• It is one of the eight Missions under the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC).
• It aims at protecting, restoring and enhancing India’s forest cover and responding to climate change through adaptation and mitigation measures.
• Objectives: Its objectives include improving ecosystem services such as biodiversity, water and carbon sequestration, as well as increasing means of forest-based livelihood.
• Targets:
  • The mission envisages increasing forest and tree cover over 5 million hectares and improving the quality of forest/tree cover over another 5 million hectares.
  • Enhanced annual CO2 sequestration by 50 to 60 million tonnes.
  • Revised Targets: India has committed to creating an additional carbon sink of 2.5-3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent by 2030 through additional forest and tree cover. 
• Nodal Ministry: Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change

About Foreign Assets of Small Taxpayers – Disclosure Scheme:

• It is a one-time voluntary disclosure scheme contained in Chapter IV of the Finance Act, 2026.
• It enables eligible taxpayers to declare certain undisclosed foreign assets, undisclosed foreign income, or undeclared foreign assets on payment of a specified tax or fee.
  • Asset includes immovable property, jewellery, artistic work, shares, securities or any other asset or income,
• The scheme applies to two broad categories of asset or income
  • Category 1: An undisclosed foreign asset or foreign income that was not previously offered to tax, the aggregate value must not exceed ₹1 crore.
    • Under this, taxpayers need to pay 30% of fair market value of assets or 30% of undisclosed income as tax and 30% as additional income tax in lieu of penalty in order to get immunity from prosecution.
  • Category 2: It covers foreign assets that were already offered to tax or acquired when the taxpayer was a non-resident but were not reported in the relevant tax-return schedule. The threshold for such declarations is ₹5 crore.
  • For this category, immunity from both penalty and prosecution is available with the fee payment of Rs 1 lakh.
• Immunity: Taxpayers making valid declarations will receive immunity from any further tax or penalty and from prosecution under the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015.

About Chips to Start-ups (C2S) Programme:

• It is an umbrella capacity-building initiative launched by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) in 2022.
• Target: It targets the development of industry-ready professionals across undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctoral levels.
• It aims to catalyse the incubation of start-ups and enable technology transfers.
• Features of Chips to Start-Up Programme:
  • It seeks to provide access to SMART lab facilities, train students, generate patents, and support focused research publications. 
  • It supports innovation, enhances employability, and enables academic institutions to play a more active role in India’s semiconductor value chain.
  • Programme Approach and Implementation:
    • The C2S Programme adopts a comprehensive approach, providing students with hands-on experience in chip design, fabrication, and testing.
    • Training: It is achieved through regular training sessions in collaboration with industry partners, combined with mentorship and practical support.
    • Access: Students gain access to advanced chip design tools, fabrication facilities, and testing resources, including state-of-the-art EDA software and semiconductor foundries.
    • Prototype: These opportunities also include implementing R&D projects under the C2S Programme to develop working prototypes of Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASICs), Systems-on-Chip (SoCs), and Intellectual Property (IP) Core designs.

About SraVaani:

• It is the first multilingual Indian speech recognition model.
• It extends automatic speech recognition to several regional and non-scheduled Indian languages that remain underserved by existing speech technology.
• It covers 20 scheduled languages and 45 regional languages and dialects.
• It can convert spoken words into text across 10 scripts and automatically identify the language being spoken, without users having to select one first.
  • Examples: It supports languages such as Garo, Angika, Chakma, Kokborok, Tulu, Bundeli and Bajjika.
• The SraVaani model is based on Project Vaani, one of IISc’s major programs, to understand the linguistic diversity of India.
  • SraVaani uses a FastConformer-based automatic speech recognition
• Applications: It could support applications in areas such as education, digital services, banking, healthcare, e-governance and customer support, particularly where users prefer interacting in regional languages.