During his recent visit to Thailand, the Indian Prime Minister gifted a Dokra Brass Peacock Boat to the Thai Prime Minister.

• The sculpture features a peacock-shaped boat, adorned with intricate patterns and colorful lacquer inlays. 

About Dokra Art

• Dokra (or Dhokra) art is an ancient form of metal casting craft with lost wax technique, tracing its roots back to the Indus Valley Civilization. 
• Deriving its name from the Dhokra Damar tribes, it is also practiced by the Gadwas, Gonds and Dhurwas tribes of eastern Indian states of Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Odisha and Jharkhand.
• Each piece is one-of-a-kind due to the single-use mold process.

Recently, Prime Minister of India inaugurated the new Pamban Bridge in Tamil Nadu, marking the opening of India’s first vertical lift railway sea bridge.

• Vertical Lift Bridge is a type of movable bridge in which a span rises vertically while remaining parallel with the deck.

About the New Bridge

• It replaces the original cantilever Bridge, built in 1914 and decommissioned in 2022, connecting Rameswaram Island to mainland India.
• Designed by Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL), it has a 72.5-meter navigational span that can be raised up to 17 meters to allow larger ships to pass.

Indian Lok Sabha Speaker attended the 150^th Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Summit in Tashkent in Uzbekistan.

About IPU

• Genesis: Began in 1889 as a small group of parliamentarians.
• Mission: Facilitate parliamentary diplomacy and empower parliaments and parliamentarians to promote peace, democracy, and sustainable development worldwide.
• It includes The Forum of Women Parliamentarians, a unique entity that has for 40 years provided women Members of Parliament a global platform to input into international decision-making. 
• Membership: 182 member countries with Belize becoming latest member and 15 associate members. 
  • India is a member country. 
• Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.

Kannadippaya has become the first tribal handicraft from Kerala to receive the Geographical Indication (GI) tag. 

About Kannadippaya

• It is a beautifully woven mat, also known as "mirror mat" due to its unique reflective pattern.
• Made from the soft inner layers of reed bamboo, the mat stands out for its unique properties — providing warmth during winter and cooling effect in summer.

India secured an uncontested position in the United Nations Intergovernmental Working Group of Experts on International Standards of Accounting and Reporting (ISAR) for 2025–2027 term.

About ISAR

• ISAR is a Standing Intergovernmental Working Group dedicated to assisting member States to improve quality and international comparability of financial reporting and non-financial disclosure, such as environmental issues, corporate governance, and corporate social responsibility.
• It holds its annual sessions in Geneva to address emerging issues in enterprise accounting and reporting.
• Membership: ISAR allows for 34 formal members to serve three-year terms. 
  • These members include nine African, seven Asian, six Latin American, three Eastern European, and nine Western European and Other States.

4 Great Indian Bustard chicks hatched in a week at the Sudasari Centre (Rajasthan), marking a key milestone in the species' recovery under the Bustard Recovery Program.

About Great Indian Bustard (Ardeotis nigriceps)

• Key Characteristics
  • Habitat: Endemic to the Indian Subcontinent, mainly found in Rajasthan and Gujarat, with small populations in Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh.
  • Diet: Omnivorous, feeding on grass seeds, insects (grasshoppers, beetles), and occasionally small rodents and reptiles.
• Conservation Status
  • Wildlife Protection Act, 1972: Schedule I 
  • IUCN: Critically Endangered
  • CITES: Appendix I
  • Identified as one of the species for recovery programme under Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats.

Food and grocery delivery firm Swiggy has received Rs 7.6-crore notice from Pune professional tax department.

About Professional Tax

• Professional tax is levied by the state government under Article 276 of the Constitution of India, which grants them the power to impose a tax on professions, trades and employment. 
• It is levied on income earned by employees, professionals, traders and individuals. 
• Professional tax is deductible under the Income Tax Act of 1961.

Kazakhstan discovered its largest deposit of rare earth elements in Central Kazakhstan’s Karaganda region.

About Rare Earth Elements (REE)

• REEs are a set of 17 elements including 15 lanthanides plus scandium and yttrium.
• Elemental forms of rare earths are iron grey to silvery lustrous metals that are typically soft, malleable, and ductile and usually reactive.
• Application: Electronic and communication equipments, Electric and hybrid vehicles, Flat-screen monitors and Televisions and Defense applications.
• REE resources in India are reported to be the fifth largest in the world but are tied with radioactivity making the extraction long, complex, and expensive.