INSPIRIT IAS ACADEMY

2021-02-10 18:06:15 Bommai Golu, also known as Bommala Koluvu, Kolu, or Gombe Habba, is a festival of colourful dolls celebrated in the South. During this festival, women in South Indian households bring out their collections of colourful dolls and set them on steps, to celebrate the nine days of Navaratri. Every house follows a different tradition based on the kind of dolls that have been collected over the years. Pride of place is given to the dolls that have been handed down for generations, from mothers to daughters. Depicted here are the popular Chebbiar Bommai dolls, an elderly couple symbolising prosperity, long married life and the wisdom of age. #BOMMAI_GOLU Open / Comment

2021-02-10 18:06:15 The festival of Gangaur is dedicated to Parvati, the goddess of marriage and fertility, and is celebrated for 18 days by the womenfolk of Rajasthan. The name comes from the words ‘gana’ referring to Shiva and ‘gaur’ which refers to Gauri, another name for Parvati.
As per local legend, the festival marks the first time Parvati visited her mother’s house, after her marriage to Shiva. Small, clay idols of Shiva and Parvati are carried around town during this festival, while worshippers pray for the welfare of their families. On the last day of Gangaur, the clay idols of Shiva and Parvati are immersed in water to signify Parvati’s return to Kailash. Open / Comment

2021-02-10 18:06:15 Dibru-Saikhowa National Park is a national park in Assam, India, located in Dibrugarh and Tinsukia districts.
It is situated in the south bank of the river Brahmaputra in Assam.
It is the largest swamp forest in north-eastern India.
It is an identified Important Bird Area (IBA) having more than 382 species of Birds, some of which are Greater Adjutant Stork, Lesser Adjutant Stork, Greater Crested Grebe etc
It is most famous for the rare white-winged wood ducks as well as feral horses.
The forest type comprises semi-evergreen forests, deciduous forests, littoral and swamp forests and patches of wet evergreen forests.
Maguri Motapung wetland is a part of the Reserve. Open / Comment

2021-02-10 18:06:15 The Pong Dam is also known as the Beas Dam.
It is an earth-fill embankment dam on the Beas River in Himachal Pradesh.
The lake created by the dam, Maharana Pratap Sagar, is a renowned bird sanctuary.
This reservoir or lake is a famous wildlife sanctuary and one of the international wetland sites declared by Ramsar Convention in India.
The purpose of the dam is water storage for irrigation and hydroelectric power generation.
It was declared a Ramsar Site in the year 2002.
It is the only place in the country after the Bharatpur sanctuary in Rajasthan where the red-necked grebe descends every year.
Other visitors include White Fronted Goose, Whooper Swan, Indian Skimmer, White rumped Vultures, Black bellied Tern. Open / Comment

2021-02-10 18:06:14 MALAI MAHADESHWARA WILDLIFE SANCTUARY
The Forest Department has launched a pilot project to encourage community farming and help augment farm income of local villagers on the outskirts of malai mahadeshwara wildlife sanctuary.
Malai Mahadeshwara Wildlife Sanctuary is located in the Chamarajanagar district of Karnataka.
It is spread over 906.18 sq km – is contiguous to BRT Tiger Reserve, Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve and the Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary.
The area was declared as Wildlife Sanctuary in 2013.
It consists mainly of dry deciduous type degrading to scrub forest in the fringe areas, and are interspersed with patches of moist deciduous, semi-evergreen, evergreen and shola forests occurring at varying altitudes.
State Board for Wildlife had given its concurrence to declare Malai Mahadeshwara Wildlife Sanctuary as a tiger reserve in January 2019.
In the justification to declare the sanctuary a tiger reserve, the authorities have stated that this is a unique geographical zone that acts as a bridge between the Western and Eastern Ghats. Open / Comment

2021-02-10 18:06:14 Malayali is a tribal group from the Eastern Ghats in North Tamil Nadu.
With a population of around 3,58,000 people they are the largest Scheduled tribes in that region.
The tribal are usually hill farmers and they cultivate different types of millet.
The name derives from malai-alam meaning "hill-place," denoting an inhabitant of the hills.
They are the largest Scheduled Tribe in Tamil Nadu.
They are divided in to three groups: the Periya Malayalis ("big" Malayalis) who live in the Shevaroys, the Nadu Malayalis ("middle" Malayalis) from the Pachaimalais, and the Chinna Malayalis ("small" Malayalis) from the Kollaimalais.
The Malayalis have not, however, like the Todas of the Nilgiris, any claim to be considered as an ancient hill tribe, but are Tamil speaking people who migrated from the plains to the hills in comparatively recent times, probably during the middle of eighteenth century.
They speak Tamil language and the Tamil script are used by them for both inter-and intra-group communication.
Mostly they are non-vegetarians. Their staple food consists of ragi, rice, samai (millet), jowar, horse-gram, groundnut and wild yams. Only the men consume local varieties of alcoholic drinks. Open / Comment