About Sharda River:

• It is a transboundary river of northern India and western Nepal.
• Course:
  • It rises as the Kali River in far northern Uttarakhand in the Great Himalayas on the eastern slopes of the Nanda Devi massif.
• Its major tributaries are the Dhauliganga, Goriganga, and Sarju.
• The Sharda Barrage (dam), near Banbasa (Uttarakhand), is the source of the Sharda Canal (completed 1930), one of the longest irrigation canals in northern India.

About Kondaveedu Fort:

• Kondaveedu Fort, also known as Kondavid Fort, is located in Andhra Pradesh.
• History:
  • It was constructed during the period of the Telugu Chodas, strengthened by the Kakatiyas and occupied by Prolaya Vema Reddy, who shifted his capital from Addanki to Kondaveedu in 1323 AD.
  • Later it was taken over by the Gajpathis of Orissa and ravaged by the Bahmani Sultans in 1458.
  • The fort later came under the control of the Vijayanagara Empire, the Golconda Sultanate, the Mughals, the French, and the British.
• The architecture displays a blend of Hindu and Islamic styles.
  • It was mainly constructed with granite stones and lime mortar.
  • It features two main entrances called Kolepalli Darwaza and Nadella Darwaza.
  • The fort is also known for its ancient water conservation system with several ponds supplying water to inhabitants.
  • Recent archaeological findings include Buddhist stupa remains dating back to the 1st or 2nd century CE.

About Dalma Wildlife Sanctuary:

• It is located in Jharkhand.
  • It is situated around the Dalma Hills on the Chottanagpur Plateau.
• The Sanctuary gets its name from the “Dalma mai” a local goddess who is revered and worshipped by the local people and the people of adjoining villages of Dalma.
• The entire forest of Dalma Sanctuary falls in the catchment of the Subarnarekha River and Dimna Lake of Jamshedpur.
• It features two prominent waterfalls: Sitaguldi and Dassam.
• Vegetation:
  • The forests of Dalma come under the category “Dry peninsular Sal” and “Northern dry mixed deciduous Forest“.
  • Most of the Dalma forests shed leaves in the summer and attain their full bloom at the onset of monsoon.
• Flora:
  • Medicinal plants like Ananatmula, Satawari, Sarpgandha, are abundant in the sanctuary.
• Fauna:
  • Besides elephants, the sanctuary has a considerable population of other wildlife like barking deer, wild boar, giant squirrel, porcupine, pangolin, sloth bear, etc.
  • Commonly seen birds in the sanctuary are falcons, golden orioles, Indian tree pies, paradise fly catchers, grey hornbills, Indian peafowl, etc.

About Shipki La Pass:

• It is a high mountain pass, bordering India and China in Himachal Pradesh.
• It serves as the boundary post on the frontier between China and India.
• It is an offshoot of the ancient Silk Road.
• The old name of Shipki La was Pema La, or Shared Gate, also known as Shared Pass.
• It was declared the Line of Actual Control post-1962, and later, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police named it Shipki La.
• The Sutlej River (known as Langqen Zangbo in Tibet) enters India through this pass, flowing from the Tibet Autonomous Region.
• The pass works as the third frontier post of India for carrying out trade and commerce activities with China.
  • The other two passes are the Lipulekh Pass in Uttarakhand and the Nathula Pass in Sikkim.

About Polyrhachis garbhangaensis:

• It is a new species of ant.
• It was discovered in Garbhanga Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, Assam.
• It has been named after its place of discovery and is proposed to be known as the “Assamese Spiny Ant.”
• It belongs to a rare and specialised group of spiny ants called the mucronata group.
• It is only the third species of this group ever recorded in India.
• Unlike its close relatives, which are usually black, this species has a bright yellow-orange abdomen.
• It also has curved spines on its body that likely help protect it from predators.

About Global Teacher Prize:

• It is an annual award presented to an exceptional teacher who has made a significant impact on their students and community.
• The prize aims to highlight the importance of educators and recognize the outstanding contributions they make to society.
• Eligibility and Criteria:
  • It is open to teachers from all countries, working in various educational settings including public, private, and alternative schools.
  • Candidates are evaluated based on their innovative teaching practices, achievements in the classroom, and efforts to improve the quality of education in their community.
  • The selection process also considers the teacher’s impact on their students’ learning and their ability to overcome challenging environments.
• Nomination: Teachers can be nominated by others or can apply themselves.
• Award: The award comes with a cash prize of $1 million, making it one of the most prestigious recognitions in the field of education.
• It is presented by GEMS Education and organised by the Varkey Foundation in collaboration with UNESCO.

About Graphics Processing Units (GPU):

• A GPU is an electronic circuit board that can quickly perform many mathematical calculations. 
• Like a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a GPU is also a chip component in computing devices.
• The technology was originally designed to speed up 3-D graphics rendering.
• Traditional GPUs are of two types:
  • First, there are standalone chips, which often come in add-on cards for large desktop computers.
  • Second are GPUs combined with a CPU in the same chip package, which are often found in laptops and game consoles.
  • In both cases, the CPU controls what the GPU does.
• Working of GPU:
  • GPUs work by using parallel processing, where multiple processors handle separate parts of a single task.
  • A GPU also has its own RAM to store the data it is processing. This RAM is designed specifically to hold the large amounts of information coming into the GPU for highly intensive graphics use cases.
• Applications: It is used in areas including high-performance computing, machine learning, Artificial Intelligence (AI), weather forecasting, and crypto currency mining.

About Veerangana Durgavati Tiger Reserve:

• Location: It is located in Madhya Pradesh.
• It encompasses areas within the Nauradehi Wildlife Sanctuary and Durgavati Wildlife Sanctuary.
• Rivers: It straddles parts of the Narmada and Yamuna River basins.
• Vegetation: It mainly consists of Dry deciduous type vegetation.
• Flora: The chief floral elements include Teak, Saja, Dhaora, Ber, Amla, etc.
• Fauna: Tiger, leopard, wolf, jackal, Indian fox, striped hyena, Nilgai, Chinkara, Chital, Sambhar, Black Buck, Barking deer, Commom Langur, Rhesus Macaque, etc.
  • It is one of the few remaining strongholds for the White-Rumped and the Indian Vultures, critically endangered raptors of India. 

About Seychelles:

• Location: It is an archipelagic island country located in the western Indian Ocean.
• It is located to the northeast of Madagascar and east of mainland Africa. 
  • Other major islands near Seychelles include Comoros, Mauritius and Maldives.
• Capital City: Victoria.

Geographical Features of Seychelles

• Climate: The climate is tropical oceanic, with little temperature variation during the year.
• It is composed of two main island groups: the Mahé group which are mountainous granitic islands and a second group are coralline islands.
• Highest Point: The highest point in Seychelles is Morne Seychellois.

About Eurasian Otter:

• It is also known as the European Otter, common otter, and Old-World Otter.
• It is a semiaquatic carnivorous mammal native to Eurasia.
• Habitat: It lives in highland and lowland lakes, rivers, streams, marshes, swamp forests, and coastal areas, independent of their size, origin, or latitude.
• Distribution: It is mainly found in the Middle-East, Europe, Northern Africa, across to Eastern Russia, China, and other Asian countries.
  • In India, it occurs in northern, northeast and southern India.
• Features of Eurasian Otter:
  • It is an elusive, solitary Otter.
  • Adaptation: Adaptations for an aquatic lifestyle include webbed feet, the ability to close the small ears and the nose when under water, and very dense, short fur that traps a layer of air to insulate the animal.
  • Threats: Water pollution and hunting of the mammal for its fur.
• Conservation Status of Eurasian Otter:
  • IUCN: Near threatened
  • CITES: Appendix I
  • Wildlife Protection Act, 1972: Schedule II