Dudhwa Tiger Reserve

• The Dudhwa Tiger Reserve is a protected area in Uttar Pradesh that stretches mainly across the Lakhimpur Kheri and Bahraich districts.
• It comprises the Dudhwa National Park, Kishanpur Wildlife Sanctuary and Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary.
• It covers an area of 1,284.3 sq.km and includes three large forest fragments amidst the matrix dominated by agriculture.
• It shares the north-eastern boundary with Nepal, which is defined to a large extent by the Mohana River.
• The area is a vast alluvial floodplain traversed by numerous rivers and streams flowing in south-easterly direction.
• In 1987, the Dudhwa National Park and the Kishanpur Wildlife Sanctuary were brought under the purview of the ‘Project Tiger’ as Dudhwa Tiger Reserve.

Incredible India handle goofs up on Tawang Monastery

• Known in Tibetan as Gaden Namgyal Lhatse, the Tawang Monastery was indeed built according to the wishes of the 5th Dalai Lama, Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso.
• But it was founded in 1680-81, by a monk named Merag Lodre Gyatso of the Gelug sect after the 4th Dalai Lama gave him a painting of goddess Palden Lhamo to be kept in the monastery. An 8-metre high gilded statue of Lord Buddha dominates the sanctum of the monastery.
• Local legend has it that China had attacked Tawang in 1962 primarily to extract the secret to eternal youth, believed to be buried under the monastery, built at about 10,000 ft above sea level.
• An international tourism campaign by the India since 2002, Incredible India, had erred a decade ago by passing off a black African rhino as the Great Indian Rhinoceros, the bulk of whose population is in Kaziranga.
• The rhinos in Assam are one-horned, unlike their African cousins that sport two horns.

E-pashuhaat portal

• The Agriculture Ministry launched e-pashuhaat portal for dairy farmers in November 2016.
• The portal is playing a crucial role in connecting farmers, breeders and other agencies to trade in disease-free germplasm, namely live animals, frozen semen and embryos.
• A mobile application e-pashuhat (GPMS Transportal) has also been created recently and integrated with UMANG (Unified Mobile Application for New-age Governance) application.
• They can now know the availability of disease-free germplasm services within a 100KM radius of their location.

Ssireum

• Ssireum or Korean wrestling is a folk wrestling style and the traditional national sport of Korea since the fourth century.
• In the modern form, each contestant wears a belt (satba) that wraps around the waist and the thigh.
• The sport has some similarities to Japanese sumo.
• In South Korea, wrestlers are topless and only wear tight shorts, while in the North they don sleeveless jackets.
• Southern matches are held on the sand while the North uses a round mattress.
• There has only been one inter-Korean wrestling competition, on the South’s Jeju Island, in 2003.
• Recently UNESCO accepted a joint bid for Korean wrestling to be recognised as one of the world’s most treasured cultural practices.
• The two Koreas had originally filed separate applications for their traditional form of wrestling to be recognised on the UN agency’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list.

Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Urban Livelihoods Mission  

• To reduce poverty and vulnerability of the urban poor households by enabling them to access gainful self-employment and skilled wage employment opportunities.
• The mission would aim at providing shelters equipped with essential services to the urban homeless in a phased manner.
• The mission would also address livelihood concerns of urban street vendors by facilitating access to suitable spaces, institutional credit, social security and skills to urban street vendors for accessing emerging market opportunities.

Regional Integrated Multi-Hazard Early Warning System (RIMES)

• RIMES is an international and intergovernmental institution, owned and managed by its Member States, for the generation and application of early warning information.
• It was established after the aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami on 30 April 2009 and was registered with the United Nations.
• RIMES operate from its regional early warning centre located at the campus of the Asian Institute of Technology in Pathumthani, Thailand.
• Currently, the Government of India serves as the RIMES Council Chair.

‘HAUSLA-2018’

• The National Festival for Children of Child Care Institutions (CCIs)- “Hausla 2018” of the Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) inaugurated in New Delhi.
• It provides a national platform for the children from CCIs across India to showcase their talent, to make them realise the hidden talent they possess and to help take it forward in their life.
• The theme for the event is “Child Safety”.
• CIF (Childline India Foundation) and NIPCCD will be assisting the Ministry in organizing the events.

National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development

• The National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development (NIPCCD) is an Indian government agency in New Delhi under the Ministry of Women and Children Development.
• NIPCCD tasked with the promotion of voluntary action research, training and documentation in the overall domain of women empowerment and child development in India.
• Established in 1966, the Institute has four Regional Centres, Guwahati, Bangalore, Lucknow, and Indore.
• In April 1985, the Institute received the Maurice Pate Memorial Award from UNICEF in honour of “its work in developing services for children, training, research and advocacy”.

Constitution Day

• The Constitution of India will be made available in Braille for the first time ahead of the Constitution Day on November 26.
• This is a joint project undertaken by The Buddhist Association for the blind along with Saavi Foundation and Swagat Thorat.
• A book in Braille script cannot cross more than 150 pages due to its limitations.
• The Constitution will be made available in five parts in Braille for the benefit of visually challenged individuals.
• Swagat Thorat has been running India’s first Braille newspaper ‘Sparshdnyan’ since 2008.
• This will helpful for UPSC aspirants and lawyers from the blind community.

Open Transit Data portal

• Delhi Government launched a dedicated Open Transit Data portal named- otd.delhi.gov.in.
• It will help to spot locations of cluster buses at intervals of 10 seconds.
• Delhi became the first city in the country to open up transit data of city buses.
• This portal was designed by and developed by IIIT-Delhi.
• It will also enable the government to install real-time Passenger Information Systems (PIS) or display boards at bus stops and terminals also providing the Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA) at any bus stop.
• In future, the portal will incorporate multi-modal transport data feed including those of Metro trains and last mile connectivity vehicles.

‘Jhiri Mela’

• The Jhiri Mela is celebrated annually as a commemoration to the memory of a martyred farmer named, ‘Baba Jittoo’.
• Baba Jittoo’, a farmer gave up his life about 500 years ago in protest against the oppressive demands of a landlord.

Jangalmahal Festival

• ‘Jangalmahal’ festival began in the adjoining forested areas of West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia districts of West Bengal.
• Initiated and organized by the ‘Jangal Mahal Udyog’, the festival aims to revive and popularise the culture and heritage of Jangal Mahal.

Baliyatra festival

• The historic Bali Yatra festival was inaugurated in Cuttack, Odisha on the occasion of Kartik Purnima.
• It is held on the banks of Mahanadi river in Cuttack, to mark the day when ancient Sadhabas (ancient mariners) would set sail to distant lands of Bali, for trade and cultural expansion.