About Mukundra Hills Tiger Reserve (MHTR):

• The Mukundara Hills Tiger Reserve, also known as the Darrah Wildlife Sanctuary, is spread across 4 districts – Bundi, Kota, Jhalawar & Chittorgarh in Rajasthan.
• It is situated in a valley formed by two parallel mountains, viz. Mukundra and Gargola.
• It encompasses the area of Mukandra National Park, Darrah Sanctuary, Jawahar Sagar Sanctuary, and part of Chambal Sanctuary (from Garadia Mahadev to Jawahar Sagar Dam), forming its core/critical tiger habitat.
• It is strategically located between Ranthambore and Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park, making it a vital corridor for tiger movement.
• This tiger reserve was once a hunting preserve belonging to the Maharaja of Kota.
• River: It is located on the eastern bank of the Chambal River and is drained by its tributaries.
• Vegetation: Dry Deciduous Forest
• Flora: Kala Dhok, or Kaladhi, is the predominant species, along with Khair, Ber, Kakan, Raunj, etc.
• Fauna:
  • The important fauna includes Leopard, Sloth bear, Nilgai, Chinkara, Spotted Deer, Small Indian Civet, Toddy Cat, Jackal, Hyena, Jungle Cat, Common Langur, etc.
  • The common reptiles and amphibians are Pythons, Rat Snake, Buff-striped keelbacks, Green keelback, crocodiles, Gharial, Otter, and Turtles.

About India's Largest Circular Stone Labyrinth:

• It was discovered in the Boramani grasslands of Solapur, Maharashtra.
• It is formed from small stone blocks.
• The rings guide movement inward toward a tightly coiled spiral at the center, creating a design that reflects both precision and symbolic intent.
• This structure is linked to Indo-Roman trade during the Satavahana dynasty period.
• The presence of soil accumulation between the stone rings shows that this structure has remained untouched for several centuries.
• Its design resembles classical labyrinth forms found in Mediterranean cultures, including motifs seen on Roman-era coins, while also incorporating a central spiral associated in India with the concept of the Chakravyuh.
  • The Chakravyūha is a complex military formation described in the Hindu epic Mahabharata, designed to encircle and overwhelm enemies through multiple defensive layers.
• Before this discovery, the largest known circular labyrinth in India had 11 circuits, making the Solapur example unprecedented in terms of circular complexity.
• Although there is a larger square labyrinth in Gedimedu in Tamil Nadu, this newly documented site is the largest circular stone labyrinth identified in the country to date.

Mazes vs. Labyrinths:

• Labyrinths and mazes are not the same; however both are patterns for a path from the entrance to the centre.
• Though the terms are often used interchangeably, they mean different things.
• Mazes are a kind of puzzle with multiple paths and decision points, and sometimes high walls.
• Labyrinths, by contrast, are unicursal: a single path twisting and turning through several concentric circles or circuits to arrive at a central goal, without walls or other obstructions to visibility.
  • There are no "wrong turns" in a labyrinth.
  • Labyrinths and/or labyrinth carvings in rock and stone date back more than 4,000 years.
  • There are labyrinths etched in Roman mosaics, in caves, cliffs, and tombs, on stone floors of medieval churches, and cut into turf.

About Akash-NG Missile System:

• Akash Next Generation (Akash-NG) is a state-of-the-art Surface-to-Air Missile (SAM) defence system.
• It was developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and produced by Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL).
• It is designed to protect vulnerable areas and points from air attacks.
• It succeeds the original Akash missile system, which has been operational with the Indian Air Force since 2014 and the Army since 2015.
• Features:
  • The next-generation variant is lighter.
  • It consists of several advanced features, including an indigenous Radio Frequency (RF) seeker, dual-pulse solid rocket motor, and fully homegrown radars and Command, Control, and Communication (C2) systems.
  • These features enable the system to detect and engage high-speed, low-altitude, and long-range high-altitude targets with high precision.
  • It is designed to engage multiple targets simultaneously, with a range of up to 30 km and an altitude of 18 km.
  • It has the ability to engage up to 10 targets simultaneously, with a firing rate of one missile every 10 seconds.
  • The system can also be deployed in various configurations, including mobile and fixed installations.

About Artificially Intelligent Lab Assistant (AILA):

• It is an AI agent which can independently run complex scientific experiments, analyse results, and make decisions in real time.
• It was developed by IIT Delhi researchers in collaboration with scientists from Denmark and Germany.
• Unlike earlier AI tools that mainly helped with writing or data analysis, AILA works directly with laboratory instruments.
• It can operate real scientific equipment, particularly the Atomic Force Microscope (AFM), one of the most delicate and complex instruments used to study materials at the nano scale.
• When AILA is instructed to perform an experiment, it writes the necessary code, operates the scientific instrument, collects data, and analyses the results on its own.
• The entire scientific workflow, data generation, processing, and interpretation, is automated through AILA.
• It performs experiments much like a trained scientist.

About Neelus sikkimensis:

• It is a new species of Collembola—tiny, soil-dwelling micro-arthropods.
• It was discovered in the high-altitude landscapes of Sikkim.
• It marks the first-ever record of the genus Neelus in India.
• It brings the total number of known species under this genus worldwide to eight.
• It exhibits several distinctive biological characteristics.
  • Microscopic Size: An extremely small body adapted for life deep within soil and moss.
  • Sensory Adaptation: A complete absence of eyes, typical of species living in dark, subterranean environments.
  • Unique Morphology: A specific “labral chaetotaxy” (arrangement of bristles on the mouthparts) that distinguishes it from its global relatives.

Key Facts about Arthropods:

• Arthropods are invertebrates with jointed legs.
• They make up about 75% of all animals on Earth and have a major role in maintaining ecosystems as pollinators, recyclers of nutrients, scavengers, and food for other animals.
• They include many animals we come across in our gardens, such as spiders, ants, centipedes, and slaters.
• Arthropods are divided into four major groups:
  • insects;
  • myriapods (including centipedes and millipedes);
  • arachnids (including spiders, mites, and scorpions);
  • crustaceans (including slaters, prawn, and crabs)

Key Facts about Collembola:

• Collembola are among the most abundant and diverse soil microarthropods, which are found in almost all (semi) terrestrial environments.
• They are among the oldest and most abundant hexapods on Earth and play a crucial role in soil health and nutrient cycling.
• They are commonly known as “springtails,” because of their ability to jump using a tail-like appendage.
• They live in all types of soil and feed on algae, fungi, plant roots, and decaying organic matter.

About Directed Energy Weapons System:

• It uses concentrated energy from electromagnetic or particle technology, rather than kinetic energy.
• It uses high-powered lasers to inflict damage on targets.
• It uses directed energy to heat up and destroy or damage the target.
• Capabilities of Directed Energy Weapons:
  • Precision and Low Collateral Damage: It can target specific weak spots of enemy systems, motors, electronics, or wings, minimising collateral damage.
  • Rapid Response: It engages with targets at the speed of light, eliminating fast-moving threats in real time.
  • Cost and Logistics: It has a low operational cost, only requiring a continuous supply of electricity to work indefinitely.
  • Counter-Drone and Stealth Technology: It is uniquely positioned to tackle swarm drones while ensuring there are no sounds or explosions, giving them stealth capabilities.
• Applications Directed Energy Weapons:
  • It has diverse military applications, offering rapid and precision strikes against threats such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), missiles and small vehicles and can be used in all war fighting environments.

About SHAKTI Scholars Young Research Fellowship:

• It is a six-month program aimed at supporting emerging scholars in researching women's issues in India.
• ​Objectives of SHAKTI Scholars Young Research Fellowship:
  • Encourage research on women's issues from a multidisciplinary perspective.
  • ​Promote academic and policy-oriented studies that contribute to gender equality, safety and empowerment.
  • ​Provide opportunities for young scholars to engage in meaningful research that can support the Commission's mandate.
• ​Duration: 6 months
• ​Research areas: Women’s safety and dignity, gender-based violence, legal rights and access to justice, cyber safety, implementation of the Prevention of Sexual Harassment (POSH) framework ETC.
• It is an initiative of National Commission for Women.
• ​Eligibility for SHAKTI Scholars Young Research Fellowship:
  • Academic: Must hold at least a graduate degree; preference is given to those completed or pursuing Masters, M.Phil., or Ph.D. in relevant fields.
  • Nationality & Age: The fellowship is open to Indian citizens aged between 21 and 30 years who hold at least a graduation degree from a recognised institution.
  • Financial Support: Selected candidates will receive a research grant of Rs 1 lakh to undertake a six-month study.

About Coringa Wildlife Sanctuary:

• Location: It is located in the Andhra Pradesh.
• It is part of the Godavari estuary, where the Coringa river confluences into the Bay of Bengal.
• Vegetation:It has extensive mangrove and dry deciduous tropical forests. It is the second-largest stretch of mangrove forests in India.
• Flora:Mangrove plants like Rhizophora spp, Avicennia spp, Sonnertia spp, etc; grow here.
• Fauna:It is home to endangered mammals like Smooth Indian otter, Fishing cat, Jackal, etc. Mangroves offer excellent habitat for birds like Black capped kingfisher, Brahminy kite, Sea gulls, Reef heron, Sand piper, etc.
• The sea coast of the Coringa Wildlife Sanctuary is a breeding ground for Olive ridley turtles.

Key Facts about Asian Waterbird Census:

• It is a citizen-science programme that supports the conservation and management of wetlands and waterbirds worldwide.
• It is conducted annually and is part of the global International Waterbird Census (IWC).
• It was initiated in 1987 in the Indian subcontinent and since has grown rapidly to cover major region of Asia, from Afghanistan eastwards to Japan, Southeast Asia and Australasia.
• In India it is conducted under the aegis of the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) and the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) in early January.

About Micrometeoroids:

• Micrometeoroids are typically extremely small, with sizes ranging from a few micrometres (a millionth of a meter) to up to about two millimetres.
• Origin: Most of them originate from collisions between asteroids in the Asteroid belt (between Mars and Jupiter) with a small portion coming from comets.
• Speed: They travel at extremely high velocities.
• Distribution: They exist everywhere in space, but due to the Earth’s gravity pull their distribution is slightly higher near our planet.
• The micrometeoroids in Earth’s orbital environment are effectively uncountable and they deliver billions of impacts to orbiting space crafts annually.

About Orbital debris:

• They are also called space debris, space junk or space trash.
• They consist of human-made objects in the Earth’s orbit which no longer serves any useful purpose.
• Origin: All orbital debris originated primarily from exploded rocket stages, satellites, accidental collisions and intentional anti-satellite weapon tests.
• The typical average speed of orbital debris is about 10 km/s.
• Orbital debris is mostly concentrated in a “shell” around the Earth in Low earth Orbit (LEO) ranging from about 200 km up to 2,000 km altitude.

About INSV Kaundinya:

• It is a stitched ship which is inspired by a fifth-century vessel shown in Ajanta cave paintings.
• It is named after the legendary mariner Kaundinya, who is believed to have sailed from India to Southeast Asia in ancient times.
• It has been built using traditional stitching techniques instead of metal nails. Artisans from Kerala used coconut fibre, coir rope, wooden joinery, natural resins and cotton sails.
• It is a joint initiative of the Indian Navy, Ministry of Culture, and Hodi Innovations.
• It features symbolic motis like
  • Gandabherunda (mythical two-headed eagle) symbol of the Kadamba dynasty and the Sun
  • The bow carries a Simha Yali
  • Harappan-style stone anchor on the deck
• Significance: INSV Kaundinya showcases India’s ancient maritime traditions. It reflects India’s historic role in trade, cultural exchange, and modern maritime diplomacy.

Who was Kaundinya?

• He is a legendary Indian mariner who sailed to Southeast Asia about 2,000 years ago.
• He married Queen Soma and founded the Funan kingdom.