Current Affair 1:

News:

India has increased its tally of Ramsar sites (Wetlands of International Importance) to 85 from existing 82 by designating three more wetlands as Ramsar Sites.

With this addition, the area of Ramsar sites touched to 1358067.757 ha in the country. The three new sites included are Nanjarayan Bird Sanctuary and Kazhuveli Bird Sanctuary in Tamil Nadu and Tawa Reservoir in Madhya Pradesh.

India is one of the Contracting Parties to Ramsar Convention, signed in Ramsar, Iran, in 1971. India became a signatory to the convention on 1st February 1982. During 1982 to 2013, a total of 26 sites were added to the list of Ramsar sites, however, during 2014 to 2024, the country has added 59 new wetlands to the list of Ramsar sites.

Currently, Tamil Nadu harbours maximum number of Ramsar Sites (18 sites) followed by Uttar Pradesh (10 sites).

We will see few important points for all three:

Nanjarayan Bird Sanctuary:

The Nanjarayan lake a large shallow wetland situated along the north-eastern region of Uthukuli Taluk of Tiruppur District in Tamil Nadu. The lake got its name from the fact that it was repaired and restored by King Nanjarayan who was ruling the region many centuries ago.

Kazhuveli Bird Sanctuary

The Kazhuveli Bird Sanctuary covering an area of 5151.6 ha was declared as the 16th bird sanctuary in Tamil Nadu in the year 2021. It is a brackish shallow lake located on the Coromandel Coast in Villupuram district, North of Pondicherry. The lake is one of the largest wetlands in peninsular India.

The lake can be divided into three parts based on the water features viz., the estuarine part with brackish water, the Uppukali creek feeding the sea water and the Kazuveli basin with fresh water.

The Kazhuveli Bird Sanctuary lies in the Central Asian Flyway.

Tawa Reservoir

The Tawa Reservoir has been constructed at the confluence of the Tawa and Denwa rivers. River Malani, Sonbhadra, and Nagdwari are the major tributaries of Tawa reservoir.

Tawa River, a left bank tributary originates from Mahadeo hills, flows through Betul district and joins river Narmada. It is the longest tributary of river Narmada (172 Km). Tawa Reservoir is situated near Itarsi town.

The reservoir is located inside the Satpura Tiger Reserve and forms the western boundary of the Satpura National Park and Bori Wildlife Sanctuary.

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