About Operation Southern Readiness 26-2:

• It is a multinational maritime training exercise.
• It is hosted by the Indian Navy at the Southern Naval Command, Kochi.
• The four-day multinational training engagement will be conducted in partnership with the Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) under the aegis of the Indian Navy-led Combined Task Force 154 (CTF 154), CMF’s dedicated Training Task Force.
• It brings together personnel from CMF partner nations for professional maritime security training, practical exercises, and the exchange of best practices.
• The CMF is a multinational maritime partnership comprising more than 40 nations, with the Indian Navy playing an active role in advancing collaborative maritime security efforts.
• The initiative is aimed at strengthening regional capacity building and enhancing collective maritime security through closer cooperation among participating countries.
• The training programme will combine classroom instruction, simulator-based training, and practical exposure.
• Sessions will cover areas including Maritime Law, Maritime Domain Awareness and Information Sharing, Counter-Narcotics, Force Protection, Asymmetric Threats, and maritime Uncrewed Systems.
• Participants will also be trained in Damage Control and Firefighting, maritime communications, Survival at Sea, Boarding procedures, and hands-on training onboard Indian naval ships.

About Koala:

• It is an iconic Australian animal.
• Often called the koala “bear,” this tree-climbing animal is a marsupial—a mammal with a pouch for the development of offspring.
• Scientific Name: Phascolarctos cinereus
• It is the only extant representative of the family Phascolarctidae, and its closest living relatives are the wombats.
• Habitat and Distribution:
  • The koalas live in eastern Australia and range from northern Queensland to southwestern Victoria.
  • They are primarily found in regions with abundant eucalyptus trees, which are essential for food and shelter.
  • Koalas are arboreal, remaining mostly in the branches of the eucalyptus trees, where they are able to feed and stay out of reach of their predators.
  • Generally solitary, individuals move within a home range of more than a dozen trees, one of which is favoured over the others.
• Conservation Status:
  • IUCN Red List: Vulnerable

About Arun-3 Hydroelectric Project:

• It is a 900 MW run-of-the-river hydropower project being developed on the Arun River in the Sankhuwasabha District of Eastern Nepal.
  • Arun is a tributary of the Koshi River in Nepal.
• It envisages a concrete gravity dam and a Head Race Tunnel (HRT) of 11.74 km with an underground power house containing four generating units of 225 MW each on the left bank.
• Once completed, it will be the biggest hydroelectric facility in Nepal.
• It is being developed on a build-own-operate and transfer (BOOT) basis by Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam (SJVN) Arun 3 Power Development Company (SAPDC), a joint venture of the Government of India and the Government of Himachal Pradesh.
• SAPDC will operate the facility for a period of 25 years, excluding the construction period of five years, before transferring ownership to the Nepal government.
• Nepal will receive 21.9% of the electricity generated at the power plant as free power during these initial 25 years of commercial operations.
• The project will provide surplus power to India, strengthening economic linkages with Nepal.
• The power from the project shall be exported from Dhalkebar in Nepal to Muzaffarpur in India.

About Qeshm Island:

• It is the largest island in the Persian Gulf near the Straits of Hormoz.
• It belongs to Iran.
• The Arabic name means “long island.”
• It lies parallel to the Iranian coast, across the naval port city of Bandar Abbas, from which it is separated by the Khuran (Khoran) or Clarence Strait.
• It has an irregular outline and a generally rocky coast except for sandy bays and mud flats fringing the northwest.
• Irregular table-topped hills almost cover Qeshm.
• It has a hot and arid climate, typical of the Persian Gulf region.
• It is home to the Hara mangrove forest, a vital breeding ground for migratory birds, and the Qeshm Geopark – the first of its kind in the region to be recognised by UNESCO, an honour it attained in 2006.
• Namakdan Salt Cave: One of the world’s longest salt caves, stretching for more than 6km, is located on the island.

About Border Roads Organisation (BRO):

• BRO is the government of India’s premier border infrastructure agency.
• Establishment: It was formed on 7 May 1960 to secure India’s borders and develop infrastructure in remote areas of the north and northeastern states of the country.
• Since 2015–16, BRO has been functioning fully under the Ministry of Defence. Earlier, it was partially under the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.
• Motto: Shramena Sarvam Sadhyam (everything is achievable through hard work).
• It develops and maintains road networks in India’s border areas and friendly neighboring countries.
• This includes infrastructure operations in 19 states and three union territories (including Andaman and Nicobar Islands) and neighboring countries such as Afghanistan, Bhutan, Myanmar, Tajikistan, and Sri Lanka.
• Over the years, the organisation has diversified into the construction of steel bridges, airfields, townships, tunneling works, and hydroelectric projects.
• Beyond building roads, the BRO is often India’s first line of defence against disasters. From the Himalayas to the North East and the Andaman & Nicobar Islands, its teams restore lifelines when calamity strikes.
• It has an operational role during national emergencies and the outbreak of hostilities, when it provides direct support to the Army in the maintenance of roads in the forward zones and executes other functions specified by the government.
• It also provides the workforce for the rehabilitation of certain forward airfields of the Indian Air Force during operations.
• BRO is also included in the Order of Battle of the Armed Forces, ensuring their support at any time.
• In order to ensure coordination and expeditious execution of projects, the Government of India set up the Border Roads Development Board (BRDB) with the Prime Minister as Chairman of the Board and the Defence Minister as Deputy Chairman.
• The executive head of the BRO is the Director General of Border Roads (DGBR), who holds the rank of Lieutenant General.
• The BRO is staffed by officers and troops drawn from the Indian Army’s Corps of Engineers, Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, Army Service Corps, Military Police, and army personnel on extra-regimental employment.
• Engineering Service and personnel from the General Reserve Engineer Force (GREF) form the parent cadre of the Border Roads Organisation.
• BRO also employs more than two lakh (200,000) local workers in the task of ensuring employment in far-flung areas.

About PARIVARTAN Scheme:

• PARIVARTAN (Programme for Accelerated Renewal and Incentivization of Vehicle Assets for Reducing Transport Air Pollution and Network Emissions) was launched by the central government.
• It is aimed at facilitating the replacement of older, highly polluting trucks and buses operating in the National Capital Region (NCR) with cleaner Bharat Stage (BS)-VI compliant or electric vehicles.
• Implementing Ministry: It is implemented by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH).
• Funding: It is funded by the National Capital Region Planning Board (NCRPB)
• States Covered: Rajasthan, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and NCT of Delhi issued notifications granting Motor Vehicle Tax concessions.
• Incentives under the Scheme:
  • Motor Vehicle Tax concessions, registration fee waivers,
  • 5% interest subvention on vehicle loans,
  • A minimum 8% OEM discount on eligible new vehicles,
  • Monthly fuel voucher support for eligible diesel and CNG replacement vehicles, and
  • One-time financial assistance for electric replacement vehicles and Certificate of Deposit (CoD) trading.
• It will be implemented through an integrated digital platform that will seamlessly interface with VAHAN, V-Scrap, DigiELV, the Public Financial Management System (PFMS), participating lenders.
• MoHUA Approves Guidelines for PARIVARTAN Scheme to Accelerate Replacement of Old Trucks and Buses in NCR

About Malvan- Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Craft:

• It is the second of the Mahe-class Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Craft (ASW-SWC).
• It has been indigenously designed and constructed by Cochin Shipyard Limited.
• It draws its name from the historic coastal town of Malvan in Maharashtra,
• It has the legacy of the erstwhile INS Malvan, an Indian Naval Minesweeper which remained in service till 2003.
• Features of Malvan – Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Craft
  • Capacity: It has displacing capacity of 1,100 tons.
  • Propulsion: It is Waterjets propelled ASW SWCs
  • Armaments:
    • It is equipped with torpedoes, multifunctional anti-submarine rockets, and state-of-the-art sensors including advanced radars and sonar systems.
    • The ship is equipped for underwater surveillance, Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) operations in coastal waters, Low Intensity Maritime Operations (LIMO) along with mine warfare capabilities.
  • It has over 80% indigenous content and marks a milestone in indigenous warship construction and reaffirms the Government of India’s vision of ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’.

About Finland:

• Location: It is located in Northern Europe.
• Bordering Countries: Norway (north), Sweden (northwest) and Russia (east).
• Bordering water bodies: It is bounded by the Gulf of Finland (south), Gulf of Bothnia (southwest) and Baltic Sea.
• Capital City: Helsinki
• It is a member of the European Union (EU) and NATO.
• Geographical Features of Finland:
  • Climate: Finland has a severe climate due to its northern location. Winter is the longest season, with temperatures in the north falling as low as -22 °F (-30 °C). 
  • Terrain: It is heavily forested and contains lakes, numerous rivers, and extensive areas of marshland.
  • It has one of the highest concentrations of lakes of any country in the world. The largest lake of Finland is Lake Saimaa.
  • Highest Point: Mount Halti
  • Natural Resources: The country consists of copper, iron ore, nickel, cobalt, and chromium.

About Lestes Paloti:

• It is a new species of spreadwing damselfly discovered in Kerala.
• Lestes paloti is the first new species described in the genus Lestes from India since Lestes garoensis was described by Lahiri in 1987.
• Habitat: It inhabits scrub vegetation around homesteads and on laterite hillocks, often away from open water bodies.
• Characteristics: It changes from brown during the dry season to bluish during the monsoon.

What are Damselflies?

• They are a group of predatory, aerial insects that are in the order Odonata.
• Habitat of Damselflies: Damselflies are found mainly near shallow, freshwater habitats and are graceful fliers with slender bodies and long, filmy, net-veined wings.
• They are generally smaller, more delicate, and fly weakly in comparison with dragonflies.
• Spreadwing damselflies are easy to identify as they hold their wings in a "V" shape over their abdomens.