FLAMINGO FESTIVAL
The annual Flamingo Festival will be held near Pulicat Lake in the first week of January -2020.
Main Point:-
- Pulicat lake in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh is famous for its rich biodiversity and high biomass of fish, prawns and plankton.
- Every year around 75 aquatic and terrestrial bird species migrate to the region.
- This time rare rare birds like Black-tailed Godwit and Kentish Plover are also seen here.
Pulicat Lake:-
- It is the second largest salt water lake in the country after Chilka Lake (Odisha).
- Situated on the border of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, 96% of this lake comes under Andhra Pradesh and 4% part of Tamil Nadu.
- Pulicat lake is called Pazhavekardu Ari in Tamil language.
- This lake is separated from the Bay of Bengal by Sriharikota which acts like a barrier island.
- Species of birds like Gray Pelican, Painted Stork come here every year.
- Both gray pelicans and painted stork are placed in the "Near Threatened" category on the IUCN Red List.
Dal Lake:-
Dal Lake is located in Srinagar, the capital of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. In Kashmiri language, 'dal' means 'lake'.
- It is famous for tourism and entertainment in Kashmir. It is also called the "Crown of Kashmir" or "Jewel of Srinagar".
- Significantly, it is the second largest lake in Jammu and Kashmir. Wular lake located in Jammu and Kashmir is the largest lake in India along with Jammu and Kashmir.
- Spread over an area of 18 kilometers, this lake is surrounded by Shankaracharya hills from three directions. It is part of a natural wetland that includes a floating garden.
- Floating gardens are known in Kashmiri language as "Raad" in which lotus flowers bloom during July and August.
- The wetlands are divided into four basins; Gagaribal, Lokut Dal, Bod Dal and Naginn. In the center of both Lokut Daln and Bod Dal is located Dweep, known as ‘Roop Lank’ (or Char Chinari) and ‘Sona Lank’ respectively.
- The major attractions of Dal Lake are houseboats (shikare) which also provide accommodation to tourists in Srinagar.
Khond Tribe:-
The Khond tribe lives exclusively in the hills and forests of the state of Odisha.
- The tribe speaks Kui (Dravidian language) and its southern dialect Kuvi (Kuwi).
- Most of the Khonds now cultivate rice, but some groups, such as Kuttia Khond, still do jhum agriculture.
- Dongria Khond resides in the Niyamgiri hills of Odisha, which are "Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups-PVTGs".
Particularly weaker tribal groups (PVTGs):-
- PVTGs are more vulnerable in tribal groups. In the year 1973, Dhebar Commission classified Primitive Tribal Groups-PGTs as a separate category.
- In 2006, the Government of India changed the name of PGT to PVTG.
- The 75 tribal groups have been specifically classified as weak tribal groups (PVTGs) by the Ministry of Home Affairs.
- Odisha has the highest number of 75 listed PVTGs.
- Some of the basic features of PVTGs are:
- Most of the symmetry is found in them.
- Their physical stature is relatively different.
- They do not have any written language.
