1) Dampa Tiger Reserve: A new species of toad (Frog) – Bufoides bhupathyi found in Dampa tiger reserve.
- Location: western flank (Lushai Hills) of Mizoram.
- On the West, it is bound by the Chittagong hill tracts (Sazek hill range) of Bangladesh.
- In 1994, it was declared a tiger reserve under the Project Tiger initiative.
- River: drained by the River Khawthlangtuipui in the West and the Teirei River to the East.
- Flora: ranges from tropical evergreen to semi-evergreen forests.
- Fauna: Hoolock Gibbon, Tiger, Leopard, Clouded Leopard, Golden Cat, Himalayan Black Bear etc.
2) Vizhinjam port: The under-construction Vizhinjam International Seaport receives its first ship.
- It will be country’s first deepwater container transshipment terminal.
- Location near Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala.
- It is being built on a public-private-partnership (PPP) mode set to be completed in 2024.
- Significance
- Proximity to international shipping routes connecting Europe, the Gulf and East Asia.
- Located on minimal littoral drift resulting in limited maintenance dredging.
- Ideal location for fuel bunkering.
3) Inter- Parliamentary Forum (IPU): Ninth P20 Summit hosted by the Parliament of India in cooperation with IPU in New Delhi.
- P20 Summit is an annual gathering of G20 Parliament Speakers discussing global issues.
- Genesis: Established in 1889 as a small group of parliamentarians.
- About: the global organization of national parliaments that facilitates parliamentary diplomacy.
- Objective: Parliamentary ecosystems for Democracy, for everyone:
- Building effective, inclusive, resilient and innovative parliaments.
- Membership: 179 Members (Including India) and 14 Associate Members.
4) Navratna status: Ircon International Limited (IRCON) and RITES Ltd, both are Central Public Sector Enterprise under the Ministry of Railways, have been granted Navratna Status.
- ‘Navratna’ company has the authority to invest up to Rs 1,000 crore without explicit government approval.
- Status of Navratna is granted based on various parameters, such as:
- CPSEs which are Miniratna I, and
- Have obtained ‘excellent’ or ‘very good’ MoU rating in three of the last five years and
- Having composite score of 60 or above in selected performance indicators.
- The status is conferred by Ministry of Finance.
