11 Jun 2021 Dehing Patkai and Raimona National Parks

Dehing Patkai and Raimona National Parks

Context

Recently, the Assam government notified Dehing Patkai  as the 7^th National Park of the state.

It was created shortly after Raimona reserve forest in western Assam’s Kokrajhar district was upgraded to a national park (6^th) on the occasion of World Environment Day (5^th June).

About:

National Park

• An area, whether within a sanctuary or not, can be notified by the state government to be constituted as a National Park, by reason of its ecological, faunal, floral, or zoological association or importance, needed to for the purpose of protecting & propagating or developing wildlife therein or its environment.
• No human activity is permitted inside the national park except for the ones permitted by the Chief Wildlife Warden of the state under the conditions given in Wildlife Protection Act 1972
• Some human activities can be allowed inside a wildlife sanctuary, but no human activity is allowed in a national park.

Dehing Patkai National Park:

Location:

• It is located within the larger Dehing Patkai Elephant Reserve,which spreads across the coal- and oil-rich districts of Upper Assam (Dibrugarh and Tinsukia districts).
• The oldest refinery of Asia in Digboiand ‘open cast’ coal mining at Lidoare located near the sanctuary.
• The Dehing Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary is also known as the Jeypore Rainforest.

Naming:

• Dehing is the name of the river that flows through this forest and Patkai is the hill at the foot of which the sanctuary lies.

Flora:

• It is believed to be the last remaining contiguous patch of lowland rainforest areain Assam.

Fauna:

• Rare fauna found in the region include Chinese pangolin, flying fox, wild pig, sambar, barking deer, gaur, serowand Malayan giant squirrels.
• It is the only sanctuary in India which is home to seven different species of wild cats -tiger, leopard, clouded leopard, leopard cat, golden cat, jungle cat and marbled cat.
• Assamese macaque, a primate found in the forest, is in thered list of Near Threatened species.
• It has the highest concentration of the rare endangered White Winged Wood Duck.

Raimona National Park:

• Location:
  • The Raimona National Park is within the Bodoland Territorial Region.
  • The area of the park includes the northern part of the notified Ripu Reserve Forest, which forms the western-most buffer to the Manas National Park that straddles the India-Bhutan border.
• Borders and Boundary:
  • It is bounded on the west by the Sonkosh river and the Saral bhanga river on the east.
  • Both the rivers are tributaries of Brahmaputra.
  • The Pekua river defines Raimona’s southern boundary.
• Transboundary Conservation Landscape:
  • It shares contiguous forest patches of Phipsoo Wildlife Sanctuary and Jigme Singye Wangchuck National Park of Bhutan creating a transboundary conservation landscape of more than 2,400 sq km.
• Flora and Fauna:
  • It is famous for Golden Langur, an endemic species which has been named as the mascot of Bodoland region.
  • It also has Asian elephant, Royal Bengal tiger, Clouded leopard, Indian gaur, Wild water buffalo, Spotted deer, Hornbill, more than 150 species of butterflies, 170 species of birds, 380 varieties of plants and orchids.

Download Yojna IAS Daily Current Affairs of 11th June 2021

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Yojna IAS Current Affairs Team