About Lebanon:

• Location: It is situated on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea in Western Asia.
• Borders: It is bounded in the northern and eastern parts by Syria; in the southern part by Israel; in the western part by the Mediterranean Sea.
• Capital City: Beirut
• Geographical Features of Lebanon:
  • Climate: Its Mediterranean climate brings mild, wet winters and hot, dry summers.
  • Mountains: Its major mountains are Lebanon Mountains (Jabal Lubnan), Hermon Ranges.
  • Highest Peak: The highest point of Lebanon is Qurnat as Sawda’
  • Major Valley: Bekaa (Al-Biqa)
  • River: The Litani the most significant river which irrigates the heart of the fertile Bekaa Valley.
  • Natural Resources: It mainly consists of mineral products which include limestone, gypsum, oil, natural gas, and salt.

About Dongria Kondh Tribe:

• It is a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG) Community.
• Dongria Kondhs are ancient occupants of Niyamgiri hills spread across Kalahandi and Rayagada districts of Odisha.
• They derive their name from dongar, meaning ‘hill’ and the name for themselves is Jharnia: protector of streams.
• Belief: They trace their ancestry to Niyam Raja, a mythical god-king, who they believe is a creator of the Niyamgiri hills and whose stewardship has been left to them. 
• Culture and Society:
  • The Dongria have distinctive jewellery, tattoos and hairstyles. Women wear many rings through their ears and three through their noses, while boys wear two nose rings. 
  • They have no overarching political or religious leader
  • Clans and villages have their own leaders and individuals with specific ceremonial functions, including the beju and bejuni, male and female priests.
  • Language: They speak two languages namely “kuyi” and “kuvi”,vocabulary which is completely unrelated to odiya, the state’s official language.
  • Members of the Dongria Kondh tribe perform a traditional dance at Phakeri.
• Economy: The economy and livelihood of Dongria kondh is dependent on collection of Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) and podu cultivation. They are traditionally horticulturists.

About Pradhan Mantri Viksit Bharat Rozgar Yojana:

• It is a flagship employment generation scheme launched by the Government of India to encourage job creation in the formal sector.
• The scheme provides financial incentives to employers and first-time employees, promoting increased enrollment in the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO).
• It aims to boost employment opportunities, strengthen social security coverage, and support the vision of a developed India by 2047.
• Key Features of Pradhan Mantri Viksit Bharat Rozgar Yojana:
  • Part A – Support to First-Time Employees:
    • Targeting first-time employees registered with EPFO, this Part will offer one-month EPF wage up to Rs 15,000 in two installments.
    • Employees with salaries up to Rs 1 lakh will be eligible for the incentives.
    • All payments to the First Time Employees under Part A of the Scheme will be made through DBT (Direct Benefit Transfer) mode using Aadhar Bridge Payment System (ABPS).
  • Part B – Incentives for Employers:
    • This part will encourage generation of additional employment in all sectors, with a special focus on the manufacturing sector.
    • The employers will get incentives in respect of  new employees with salaries up to Rs 1 lakh.
    • The Government will incentivize employers, up to Rs 3000 per month, for two years, for each additional employment, sustained  for at least six months.
    • For the manufacturing sector, incentives will be extended to the 3rd and 4th  years as well.
    • Payments to the Employers under Part B will be made directly into their PAN-linked Accounts.

About Financial Action Task Force:

• It is an independent intergovernmental body that develops and promotes policies to protect the global financial system against money laundering and terrorist financing.
• Origin:
  • It was established in 1989 during the G7 Summit in Paris in response to a growing concern about money laundering.
  • In 2001, its mandate expanded to include terrorism financing.
• Headquarters: Paris, France.
• Members: FATF members include 40 countries, including the United States, India, China, Saudi Arabia, Britain, Germany, France, and the EU as such.
  • India became a member of FATF in 2010.
  • In addition, over 200 jurisdictions around the world have committed to the FATF Recommendations through the global network of FSRBs and FATF memberships.
• FATF regularly publishes reports that raise awareness about the latest money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation financing techniques.
• Once a member, a country or organization must endorse and support the most recent FATF recommendations and commit to being evaluated by (and evaluating) other members.
• The FATF holds countries to account that do not comply with the FATF Standards.
• If a country repeatedly fails to implement FATF Standards, then it can be placed under the grey and black lists.
• The FATF recommendations are recognised as the global anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CFT) standard.

About Energy Transition Index:

• It is released by the World Economic Forum.
• It evaluates countries on energy security, sustainability and equity, along with the readiness of their policy, financial and infrastructure environments to support the transition.
• A country’s final ETI score is a weighted composite of two sub-indices: system performance (60%) and transition readiness (40%).
  • System performance is evenly distributed across equity, security and sustainability dimensions, while transition readiness is divided into two categories: core enablers and enabling factors.
    • Core enablers include regulation and political commitment as well as finance and investment, while enabling factors encompass innovation, infrastructure and education and human capital.
  • ETI scores use a 0-100 scale, with 100 representing the highest global performance for each indicator and index component. 

Key Findings of Energy Transition Index 2026

• Sweden, Finland and Denmark retained their top three positions globally
• Singapore posted one of the largest improvements, climbing 10 places to 42nd due to stronger regulations and political commitment.
• Six G20 members featured in the top 20: Germany (9th), France (10th), the United Kingdom (11th), China (14th), Brazil (17th) and the United States (19th).

About Turquoise Nexus Initiative:

• It is aimed at integrating food security, water management and climate adaptation into national climate plans.
• It is unveiled by Turkey’s upcoming COP31 Presidency and Food and Agriculture Organization.
• It will help developing countries align NDCs and Paris Agreement efforts with farmer-inclusive strategies and improved climate finance.
• It is a proposed programme under FAO’s multistakeholder Food and Agriculture for Sustainable Transformation (FAST) Partnership which was launched by the COP27 Presidency in 2022 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.  

Key facts about FAST Partnership

• The FAST Partnership is a multi-stakeholder partnership that aims to catalyze and accelerate the transformation of agriculture and food systems by 2030 for people, climate, and nature.
• FAST is the most consistent COP-to-COP mechanism for agrifood systems.
• The three pillars of FAST are:
  • Access to finance: enhance country capacities to identify and access climate finance and investment.
  • Knowledge and capacity: develop analyses and voluntary guidelines, support capacity development across stakeholders.
  • Policy support and dialogue: ensure agrifood systems are fully embedded and prioritized in climate change policies.

About New Naval Platforms:

INS Dunagiri

• It is the fifth Project 17A stealth frigate.
• It was designed by Warship Design Bureau (WDB).
• It was built at Garden Reach Shipbuilding and Engineers Ltd (GRSE).
• It is equipped with advanced weapons and sensors, including BrahMos surface-to-surface missiles and the Medium Range Surface-to-Air Missile system, significantly enhancing the Navy’s combat capability.
• Sanshodhak
  • It is the fourth Survey Vessel (Large).
  • Function: It is designed for coastal and deep-water hydrographic surveys and collection of oceanographic and geophysical data for defence and civil applications.
  • It is equipped with advanced survey systems including Autonomous Underwater Vehicles and Remotely Operated Vehicles.
• Agray
  • It is the fourth of the Arnala-class Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Craft.
  • It is equipped with lightweight torpedoes, indigenous rocket launchers, and shallow-water sonar systems to detect and engage underwater threats in littoral waters.

About Fast X-ray Transient:

• FXTs are energetic, non-repeating bursts of low-energy X-rays associated with violent cosmic events.
• They typically last from a few minutes to several hours before fading rapidly, making them difficult to study and leaving their origins largely uncertain.
• Many FXTs are associated with high-redshift long period gamma-ray bursts (lGRBs).
• Known X-ray transient types with these timescales include stellar flares, X-ray binary outbursts, supernova shock breakouts (SN SBOs) and gamma-ray bursts (GRBs).

What is Gamma-Ray Burst?

• It is a powerful astronomical cosmic burst of high-energy gamma-ray.
• It emits more energy in a few seconds than our Sun will emit in its lifetime.
• It has two distinct emission phases: the short-lived prompt emission (the initial burst phase that emits gamma-rays), followed by a long-lived multi-wavelength afterglow phase.
• Sources of Gamma Ray:
  • They are produced by the hottest and most energetic objects in the universe, such as neutron stars and pulsars, supernova explosions, and regions around black holes.
  • On Earth, gamma waves are generated by nuclear explosions, lightning, and the less dramatic activity of radioactive decay.

About Bharat Climate Observation Network:

• It is a national observational initiative conceptualized and implemented by Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) under the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), Government of India,
• Objective: It is to develop a long-term, high-precision climate monitoring framework across the country.
• Functions:
  • Monitor Meteorological Parameters: BCON will monitor meteorological parameters, climate-active trace gases (greenhouse gases and short-lived climate forcers), atmospheric chemistry and soil moisture observations.
  • National Database: BCON will develop a robust national database that supports the detection of long term trends, advances climate change research, and strengthens India’s capacity for climate assessment and evidence based policy development.
• Significance of Bharat Climate Observation Network Data:
  • The high accuracy datasets produced through BCON will also provide the critical validation and benchmarking required for Earth System Models, including India’s first ESM, the IITM ESM.
  • It enables more accurate simulations of the Indian climate change and enhancing future climate projections.