The Ministry of Tourism, under the Swadesh Darshan scheme is developing thematic circuits in the country in planned and prioritized manner. Under the scheme fifteen thematic circuits have been identified for development namely; North-East Circuit, Buddhist Circuit, Himalayan Circuit, Coastal Circuit, Krishna Circuit, Desert Circuit, Tribal Circuit, Eco Circuit, Wildlife Circuit, Rural Circuit, Spiritual Circuit, Ramayana Circuit, Heritage Circuit, Sufi Circuit, and Tirthankara Circuit.
Submission of proposals by the State Governments under the scheme is a continuous process. The projects under the scheme are identified for development in consultation with the State Governments/Union Territory Administrations and are sanctioned subject to availability of funds, submission of suitable Detailed Project Reports, adherence to scheme guidelines and utilization of funds released earlier.
Ministry of Tourism has taken several steps for development of tourism in the country which inter-alia includes the following:
i. Launched the Swadesh Darshan and PRASHAD Schemes for development of tourism infrastructure in the country. Identified 17 Iconic Sites in the country for development by seeking convergence with other Central Ministries/Departments/State Governments /Urban Local Bodies
Launched the “Adopt a Heritage-Apni Dharohar Apni Pehchan” Project for development and maintenance of tourist amenities at heritage sites/monuments and other tourist sites.
iv. Development and promotion of ‘Niche Tourism’ products to attract tourist with specific interest and to ensure repeat visits for the unique products in which India has a comparative advantage.
Launched 24x7 toll free Multi-Lingual Tourist Helpline. Promoting India as a holistic tourism destination including its various tourism sites and products through Incredible India 2.0 Campaign.
vii. Providing facility of e-Visa for 5 sub-categories i.e. e-Tourist visa, e-Business visa, e-Medical visa, e-Medical Attendant visa and e-Conference visa for nationals of 170 countries.
E-Visa has been further liberalized and the visa fee has been substantially reduced. Revamp of Incredible India Website having information on tourism sites/destinations in different States/Union Territory Administrations.
Launched Incredible India Tourist Facilitator Programme on an online digital platform to provide basic, advanced and refresher courses for tourist facilitators.
In 2016, Ministry of Culture was given the task of establishing Virtual Museums in at least 50 locations.
Subsequently, Ministry of Culture has developed three Virtual Experiential Museums: - Man Mahal at Varanasi, Ajanta Caves at National Musuem, Delhi and Humayun Tomb in Delhi (last two are under development). Ministry of Culture also proposes to set up a National Virtual Experiential Site Museum at Vadnagar, Gujarat.
Ministry of Tourism under its schemes of ‘Swadesh Darshan’ and ‘Development of Iconic sites’, has developed tourism infrastructure at various heritage destinations.
Under both these schemes, the primary objective is to develop the identified destinations as benchmark tourist destinations in terms of comprehensive development of infrastructure & services.
“Find the Incredible You” Campaign focuses on the promotion of niche tourism products of the Country on digital and social media. It focuses on transformative experiences brought alive through unique storytelling in the format of autobiographies of travellers, with the tagline ‘Find the Incredible you’. The Campaign was the winner of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Gold Award 2019.
PATA awards this year attracted 197 entries from 78 Organizations and individuals worldwide. The winners were selected by an independent judging Committee. The PATA grand awards are presented to outstanding entries in four principal categories: Marketing; Education and Training; Environment and Heritage and Culture. India won the award in 'Marketing – Primary Government Destination' category.
The Ministry has launched the ‘Incredible India 2.0’ campaign in the Country in September 2017, which marks a shift from generic promotions undertaken across the world to market specific promotional plans and content creation. The campaign focuses on digital and social media and the promotion of Niche tourism products, including yoga, wellness, luxury, cuisine, wildlife etc.
The Ninth edition of Indo-Bangladesh Joint Military Exercise “SAMPRITI-IX” commenced at Umroi, Meghalaya on 03 Feb 2020.
The main focus of this edition of the fourteen days joint exercise is on Counter Terrorism Operations in mountainous and jungle terrain.
To achieve interoperability in joint operations, a Command Post Exercise (CPX) and a Field Training Exercise (FTX) will be conducted simultaneously.
A delegation comprising of 31 officers and 138 other ranks of Bangladesh Army and a Company Group of Indian Army will participate in the joint military exercise.
The mandate of the Ministry of Culture is to preserve and promote the tangible and intangible cultural heritage of the country including traditional art, folk art and tribal art through its organizations and schemes.
To protect, preserve & promote various forms of folk, traditional art and culture throughout the country, the Government of India has set up seven Zonal Cultural Centres (ZCCs) with headquarters at Patiala, Nagpur, Udaipur, Prayagraj, Kolkata, Dimapur and Thanjavur. These ZCCs organize various cultural activities and programmes all over the country on regular basis for which annual grant-in-aid is provided to them.
A number of schemes viz. Award to Young Talented Artists, Guru Shishya Parampara, Theatre Rejuvenation, Research & Documentation, Shilpgram, OCTAVE and National Cultural Exchange Programme (NCEP) are being implemented by these ZCCs. Government/Non Governmental Organisations are also involved for the conservation of traditional art and culture by these ZCCs.
Further, Ministry of Culture also administers various financial grant schemes which include Scheme of Financial Assistance for Promotion of Art and Culture (5 Components), Scheme of Scholarship and Fellowship for Promotion of Art and Culture (3 Components) and Scheme of Financial Assistance for creation of Cultural Infrastructure (3 components) for the purpose.
As regard the Intangible cultural heritageis concerned, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) which is an attached office of Ministry of Culture, is the premier organization responsible for conservation and preservation of protected monuments and areas of national importance related to antiquities and art treasures.
What is it? It is a tax levied on dividends that a company pays to its shareholders out of its profits.
How is it applied? The Dividend Distribution Tax, or DDT, is taxable at source, and is deducted at the time of the company distributing dividends.
The dividend is the part of profits that the company shares with its shareholders.
The law provides for the Dividend Distribution Tax to be levied at the hands of the company, and not at the hands of the receiving shareholder. However, an additional tax is imposed on the shareholder, who receives over Rs. 10 lakh in dividend income in a financial year.
Is Dividend Distribution Tax applicable to private companies? Under Section 115-O, the Income Tax Act, any domestic firm which is declaring or distributing dividend has to pay DDT at the rate of 15 per cent on the gross amount of dividend.
Is Dividend Distribution Tax fair? Market participants, especially brokers, have been calling for long to scrap the DDT. The tax makes markets unattractive as it leads to significant taxation of corporate earnings, they argue.
Other than Dividend Distribution Tax (DDT), the Securities Transaction Tax (STT) and Long-Term Capital Gains (LTCG) tax are other major taxes levied on market instruments.
What is deposit insurance? How is it regulated in India? Deposit insurance is providing insurance protection to the depositor’s money by receiving a premium.
The government has set up Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC) under RBIto protect depositors if a bank fails. Every insured bank pays premium amounting to 0.001% of its deposits to DICGC every year.
What happens to depositors’ money when a bank fails? When a bank is liquidated, depositors are entitled to receive an insurance amount of ₹1 lakh per individual from the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation of India (DICGC).
The ₹1 lakh insurance limit includes both principal and interest dues across your savings bank accounts, current accounts, fixed deposits and recurring deposits held with the bank.
What is the procedure for depositors to claim the money from a failed bank? The DICGC does not deal directly with depositors.
The RBI (or the Registrar), on directing that a bank be liquidated, appoints an official liquidator to oversee the winding up process.
Under the DICGC Act, the liquidator is supposed to hand over a list of all the insured depositors (with their dues) to the DICGC within three months of taking charge. The DICGC is supposed to pay these dues within two months of receiving this list. In FY19, it took an average 1,425 days for the DICGC to receive and settle the first claims on a de-registered bank.
Who are insured by the DICGC? The corporation covers all commercial and co-operative banks, except in Meghalaya, Chandigarh, Lakshadweep and Dadra and Nagar Haveli. Besides, Only primary cooperative societies are not insured by the DICGC.
The DICGC does not include the following types of deposits: Deposits of foreign governments. Deposits of central/state governments. Inter-bank deposits. Deposits of the state land development banks with the state co-operative bank. Any amount due on account of any deposit received outside India.
Any amount specifically exempted by the DICGC with previous approval of RBI.
The UK stopped being a member of the European Union (EU) after 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020.
What is the European Union? The EU is an economic and political union involving 28 European countries. It allows free trade, which means goods can move between member countries without any checks or extra charges. The EU also allows free movement of people, to live and work in whichever country they choose.
The UK joined in 1973 (when it was known as the European Economic Community) and it will be the first member state to withdraw.
What happens after Brexit day? After the UK formally leaves the EU, there is still a lot to talk about and months of negotiation will follow. While the UK has agreed the terms of its EU departure, both sides still need to decide what their future relationship will look like.
During the 11-month transition period, the UK will continue to follow all of the EU’s rules and its trading relationship will remain the same. What needs to be agreed? The transition period is meant to give both sides some breathing space while a new free trade agreement is negotiated.
This is needed because the UK will leave the single market and customs union at the end of the transition. A free trade agreement allow goods to move around the EU without checks or extra charges.
If a new one cannot be agreed in time, then the UK faces the prospect of having to trade with no deal in place. That would mean tariffs (taxes) on UK goods travelling to the EU and other trade barriers.
Aside from trade, many other aspects of the future UK-EU relationship will also need to be decided. For example: Law enforcement, data sharing and security. Aviation standards and safety. Access to fishing waters. Supplies of electricity and gas. Licensing and regulation of medicines.
What caused Brexit to happen? So far, there seem to be three theories for what drove so many people to vote Brexit: Immigrants: Faced with rising immigration locals worried about their jobs and the erosion of the English way of life wanted their government to clamp down on immigration. This was a revolt against unrestricted immigration from poorer Eastern European states, Syrian refugees residing in the EU and millions of Turks about to join the EU.
Elites: Faced with decades of economic malaise, stagnant real wages and economic destitution in former industrial heartlands ever since the rise of “Thaterchism” and the embrace of Neoliberal policies by Tony Blair’s New Labour the non-Londoners have decided to revolt against the elite. This isn’t just about being against the EU as it stands, and its free market and free movement of peoples.
Bureaucracy: Faced with Brussel’s asphyxiating amount of red tape the English people decide to “take back control” of their country’s bureaucracy. The three theories are obviously intertwined at times and contradictory at others, that’s why it matters who is going to be negotiating the post-Brexit relationship between the UK and the EU.
What is the Brexit deal? The transition period and other aspects of the UK’s departure were agreed in a separate deal called the withdrawal agreement. Most of that was negotiated by Theresa May’s government. But after Mr Johnson replaced her in July 2019, he removed the most controversial part – the backstop.
The backstop was designed to ensure there would be no border posts or barriers between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland after Brexit. If needed, it would have kept the UK in a close trading relationship with the EU.
Under Mr Johnson’s deal, a customs border will effectively be created between Northern Ireland and Great Britain. Some goods entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain will be subject to checks and will have to pay EU import taxes (known as tariffs). These would be refunded if goods remain in Northern Ireland (ie are not moved to the Republic of Ireland).
What is Yellow Rust? It is a disease that appears as yellow stripes of powder or dust on leaves and leaf sheaths of the wheat crop.
How it occurs? This occurs when the rust colonies in the leaves drain the carbohydrates from the plant and reduce the green leaf area. Rain, dew and fog favour the disease’s development.
Spread: The disease can spread rapidly under congenial conditions and affects crop development, and eventually the yield. Yield due to the disease can affected by between 5 and 30 per cent.
Where else is it observed in India? In India, it is a major disease in the Northern Hill Zone and the North-Western Plain Zone and spreads easily during the onset of cool weather and when wind conditions are favourable.
Disease management: Breeding resistant varieties is the most cost-effective method to control this rust.
These resistance genes, however, have become ineffective due to the acquisition of virulence to that particular resistance gene rendering the variety susceptible.
Background: The judgment came in a reference made by a three-judge bench in the case of Sushila Aggarwal v. State of NCT of Delhi regarding the scope of Section 438 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) which provides for grant of anticipatory bail.
Observations made by the Court: If there are any special circumstances necessitating a limit on the tenure of anticipatory bail, it is open for the court to do so. Nothing in Section 438 CrPC compels or obliges courts to impose conditions limiting relief in terms of time.
When Parliament has not thought it appropriate to curtail the rights of the citizens, it would be not appropriate for the SC to curtail powers granted to courts with regard to anticipatory bail.
Anticipatory bail application could be moved by a person even before filing of FIR. The court, while granting anticipatory bail, should examine seriousness and gravity of the offence to impose any condition on the petitioner, if necessary.
Need: Arbitrary arrests continue to be a pervasive phenomenon in the country and therefore, discretionary power of courts to grant anticipatory bail should not be curtailed and the protection should continue till end of trial.
Besides, the spectre of arbitrary and heavy-handed arrests, too often to harass and humiliate citizens.
What is Anticipatory Bail? The provision of anticipatory bail under Section 438 was introduced when CrPC was amended in 1973.
Section 438 is a procedural provision concerned with personal liberty of each individual, who is entitled to the benefit of the presumption of innocence. As opposed to ordinary bail, which is granted to a person who is under arrest, in anticipatory bail, a person is directed to be released on bail even before arrest made.
Who can apply? 438 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, lays down the law on anticipatory bail. Sub-section (1) of the provision reads: “When any person has reason to believe that he may be arrested on an accusation of having committed a non-bailable offence, he may apply to the High Court or the Court of Session for a direction under this section; and that Court may, if it thinks fit, direct that in the event of such arrest, he shall be released on bail.”
The provision empowers only the Sessions Court and High Court to grant anticipatory bail.
Significance: The reason for enactment of Section 438 in the Code was parliamentary acceptance of the crucial underpinning of personal liberty in a free and democratic country.
Parliament wished to foster respect for personal liberty and accord primacy to a fundamental tenet of criminal jurisprudence, that everyone is presumed to be innocent till he or she is found guilty.
Life and liberty are the cherished attributes of every individual. The urge for freedom is natural to each human being.
In the 1980 Gurbaksh Singh Sibbia vs State of Punjab case, a five-judge Supreme Court bench led by then Chief Justice Y V Chandrachud ruled that S. 438 (1) is to be interpreted in the light of Article 21 of the Constitution (protection of life and personal liberty).
A ‘fruit train’, said to be the first of its kind in the country, was recently flagged off from Tadipatri Railway Station in Andhra Pradesh.
The fruit train was carrying a load of 980 metric tonnes of locally grown bananas to the Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Mumbai, from where the consignment will be exported to Iran.
This is the first time in India that an entire train is being sent to the gateway port (JNPT) for export.
This helps save both time and fuel as 150 trucks would have been required to send a consignment of this size by road to JNPT, which is over 900 km away, before the temperature-controlled containers are loaded on ships.
Bodo language- Key facts: Estimated to have 1.5 million speakers (Census 2011), Bodo is listed in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution. It is spoken in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Meghalaya, and West Bengal.
While Bodo is officially written in the Devanagri script, the language has a history of having been written in at least three different scripts — until in 1974, the Government recognised Devanagari as its official script. In the first decade of the 20th century, Bodos started writing in the Assamese/Bangla script. Then they also used Roman Script. In the pre-13th century era, it was called Deodhai.
Promises in the accord regarding Bodo language: It was only in 2003, under the then Bodo Accord, that the language was listed in the Eighth Schedule. And it was the first tribal language to be included in the Eight Schedule. In Assam, it has enjoyed the status of official associate language in undivided Goalpara district since 1986.
Now the 2020 Accord makes Bodo the associate official language throughout Assam. The new Accord also promises to establish a separate directorate for Bodo medium schools, provincialise schools and colleges in the BTAD (Bodoland Territorial Autonomous District) and establish a Cultural Complex-cum-Centre of Excellence in Kokrajhar for protection and promotion of the language.
What is the Finance Commission? The Finance Commission is constituted by the President under article 280 of the Constitution, mainly to give its recommendations on distribution of tax revenues between the Union and the States and amongst the States themselves.
Two distinctive features of the Commission’s work involve redressing the vertical imbalances between the taxation powers and expenditure responsibilities of the centre and the States respectively and equalization of all public services across the States.
What are the functions of the Finance Commission? It is the duty of the Commission to make recommendations to the President as to: the distribution between the Union and the States of the net proceeds of taxes which are to be, or may be, divided between them and the allocation between the States of the respective shares of such proceeds;
the principles which should govern the grants-in-aid of the revenues of the States out of the Consolidated Fund of India;
the measures needed to augment the Consolidated Fund of a State to supplement the resources of the Panchayats and Municipalities in the State on the basis of the recommendations made by the Finance Commission of the State; any other matter referred to the Commission by the President in the interests of sound finance.
The Commission determines its procedure and have such powers in the performance of their functions as Parliament may by law confer on them.
Who appoints the Finance Commission and what are the qualifications for Members? The Finance Commission is appointed by the President under Article 280 of the Constitution.
As per the provisions contained in the Finance Commission [Miscellaneous Provisions] Act, 1951 and The Finance Commission (Salaries & Allowances) Rules, 1951, the Chairman of the Commission is selected from among persons who have had experience in public affairs, and the four other members are selected from among persons who:
are, or have been, or are qualified to be appointed as Judges of a High Court; or have special knowledge of the finances and accounts of Government; or have had wide experience in financial matters and in administration; or have special knowledge of economics.
When was the first Commission Constituted and how many Commissions have been Constituted so far? The First Finance Commission was constituted vide Presidential Order dated 22.11.1951 under the chairmanship of Shri K.C. Neogy on 6th April, 1952. Fifteenth Finance Commissions have been Constituted so far at intervals of every five years.
Why is there a need for a Finance Commission? The Indian federal system allows for the division of power and responsibilities between the centre and states. Correspondingly, the taxation powers are also broadly divided between the centre and states. State legislatures may devolve some of their taxation powers to local bodies.
Need for permanent status: Finance commissions have over the past several decades adopted different approaches with regard to principles of tax devolution, grants to be given to states and fiscal consolidation issues. In other words, there has to be continuity and change between finance commissions.
There is a need to ensure broad consistency between Finance Commissions so that there is some degree of certainty in the flow of funds, especially to the states. This has become even more critical in the post GST scenario.
If it is given permanent status, the Commission can function as a leaner entity in the intervening period till the next Finance Commission is set up in a full-fledged manner. During the intervening period, it can also address issues arising from implementation of the recommendations of the finance commission.
In 2016, the Maldives pulled out of the Commonwealth. Maldives has been formally reinstated into the Commonwealth as its 54th member state.
About Commonwealth of Nations: The Commonwealth of Nations, at one time known as British Commonwealth, is an organisation of fifty three states that were principally below the colonial rule of British Government. They came into existence with the proclamation of sovereignty of the state from the colonial rule of British Empire and were later given self-governance.
It proclaims that the Commonwealth nations are “free and equal.” The insignia of this Commonwealth Association is Queen Elizabeth II who is considered the Supreme of the Commonwealth nations.
The member states of the commonwealth are not legally liable or bound to each other. They are rather united by language, history, culture, likeness of the democracy, human rights and the rule of law.
Their values are listed down within the Commonwealth Charter and the hands of harmony towards the member states are extended by the Commonwealth Games held every four years.
Former British mandates that did not become members of the Commonwealth are Egypt, Transjordan, Iraq, British Palestine, Sudan, British Somaliland, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates.
Key facts: Former name — British Commonwealth. Composition: intergovernmental organisation of 53 member states that are mostly former territories of the British Empire.
It operates by intergovernmental consensus of the member states. Established in 1949 by the London Declaration.
Structure: Head of the Commonwealth — Queen Elizabeth II is the Head of the Commonwealth. The position is symbolic.
What are Quantum Technologies? Quantum technologies comprise quantum computing, quantum communication, quantum optics, quantum information processing, quantum internet and quantum artificial intelligence.
Need for special attention: The interest and excitement about quantum computer is because of its power to dabble with complex calculations involved in fields like cyber-security which digital computers now deal with. Quantum communications can enhance (cyber) security, provide unique fingerprints and also increase available bandwidth for internet networks.
What is a quantum computer? Quantum computers work by harnessing the properties of quantum mechanics. Quantum computers use logical units called quantum bits, or qubits for short, that can be put into a quantum state where they can simultaneously represent both 0 and 1.
Difference between classical and quantum computers? Classical computers process information in a binary format, called bits, which can represent either a 0 or 1. While the bits in a classical computer all operate independently from one another, in a quantum computer, the status of one qubit effects the status of all the other qubits in the system, so they can all work together to achieve a solution.
How the result is obtained? While a conventional computer outputs the same answer to a problem every time you run a calculation, the outputs of a quantum computer are probabilistic. That means it does not always produce the same answer. So to use a quantum computer, you have to run a calculation through the system thousands or even millions of times, and the array of outputs converge around the answer that is most likely to be correct.
About Green India Mission: GIM is one of the eight missions launched under the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC).
GIM, launched in February 2014, is aimed at protecting, restoring and enhancing India’s diminishing forest cover and responding to climate change by a combination of adaptation and mitigation measures.
Objectives of the Mission: To protect, restore and enhance India’s falling forest cover. To respond to climate change through a combination of adaptation as well as mitigation measures.
To increased forest-based livelihood incomes. To enhance annual Carbon sequestration by 50 to 60 million tonnes in the year 2020.
Goals: Improvement in quality of forest cover and ecosystem services of forests /non-forests, including moderately dense, open forests, degraded grassland and wetlands (5 m ha).
Eco-restoration/afforestation of scrub, shifting cultivation areas, cold deserts, mangroves, ravines and abandoned mining areas (1.8 m ha).
Improvement in forest and tree cover in urban/peri-urban lands (0.20 m ha) Improvement in forest and tree cover on marginal agricultural lands/fallows and other non-forest lands under agroforestry /social forestry (3 m ha) Management of public forest/ non-forests areas (taken up under the Mission) by the community institutions
Adoption of improved fuelwood-use efficiency and alternative energy devices by project-area households. Diversification of forest-based livelihoods of about 3 million households living in and around forests.
India is a party to the Convention since 1982 and committed to the Ramsar approach of wise use of wetlands. The theme for 2020 is ‘Wetlands and Biodiversity’.
Status of wetlands in India: The bad news is that India’s cities have lost 25 ha of wetland for every one sq. km’s increase of built-up area in the last four decades.
The good news is that 10 more wetland sites around India have been added to the Ramsar Convention, rendering them sites of ‘national importance’.
Wetlands in India: The country has over 757,000 wetlands with a total wetland area of 15.3 million ha, accounting for nearly 4.7% of the total geographical area of the country.
India has 37 Ramsar sites now, covering an area of 1.07 million ha. The latest additions include Maharashtra’s first Ramsar site, the Nandur Madhmeshwar bird sanctuary; three more from Punjab (in Keshopur-Miani, Beas Conservation Reserve and Nangal); and six more from Uttar Pradesh (in Nawabganj, Parvati Agra, Saman, Samaspur, Sandi and Sarsai Nawar).
Significance of wetlands: Wetlands provide a wide range of important ecosystem services, such as food, water, groundwater recharge, water purification, flood moderation, erosion control, microclimate regulation, landscape aesthetics and, of course, livelihood opportunities. They are in fact a major source of water and the principal place from which India’s cities receive their freshwater.
Threats: Increasing urbanisation has significantly reduced the amount of area under wetlands.
According to an assessment undertaken by Wetlands International South Asia (WISA), between 1970 and 2014, cities have rapidly degraded wetlands, to the tune of 25 ha per sq. km of built-up area.
The biggest offenders were the metropolitans of New Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai and Hyderabad, which treat wastelands as their private dumping grounds.
Context: The Tyler Prize 2020 has been awarded to two pioneers who quantified the economic value of our natural environment. Of two, one is from India- Pavan Sukhdev.
About the Prize: Established in 1973 by the late John and Alice Tyler. This global environmental prize recognizes individuals who have contributed in an outstanding manner to the scientific knowledge and public leadership to preserve and enhance the environment of the world.
Recipients encompass the spectrum of environmental concerns, including environmental policy, health, air and water pollution, ecosystem disruption and loss of biodiversity, and energy resources.
Context: The flame-throated bulbul, also called the Rubigula, was chosen as the mascot of the 36th National Games to be held in Goa because it is the State bird.
Key facts: Endemic to southern peninsular India. IUCN status:Least Concern. Listed in Schedule – IV of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.