1. Qaumi Ekta Week Observed Across Country.
The Qaumi Ekta Week is being observed across the country from today to foster and reinforce the spirit of communal harmony and national Integration. The observation of the week will help to highlight the inherent strength and resilience of the nation to withstand actual and potential threats to the eclectic and secular fabric of the country.
The occasion also provides an opportunity to reaffirm age old traditions and faith in the values of tolerance, co-existence and brotherhood in a multi-cultural and multi-religious society.
As part of the week long programmes, today’s day is being observed as National Integration Day. Programmes like meetings, symposia and seminars will be organized to emphasize the themes of secularism, anti-communalism and non-violence.
2.Union Government introduces Daily Drug Regimen for treatment of Tuberculosis.
The Ministry of Health & Family Welfare launched Daily Drug Regimen for treatment of Tuberculosis (TB) patients across the country under The Revis.
Under it, Health Ministry is providing a thrice-weekly regimen for treatment of TB, however, it has now decided to change treatment strategy for TB patients.
TB is a bacterial disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria that most often affect lungs. The disease is spread from person to person through the air.
3. Steering Committee of SARTTAC held in New Delhi.
Interim Meeting of the Steering Committee of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)’s South Asia Regional Training and Technical Assistance Center (SARTTAC) took place in New Delhi.
Officials from all Six (6) Member countries along with the Development Partner representatives and IMF staff attended the meeting.
The Committee appreciated the range of training delivered to Member countries, including in-country training and the inclusion of subnational officials from India.
The Committee highlighted the large demand from member countries to work with SARTTAC on their capacity development needs; this includes growing interest from India’s subnational Governments.
The Committee members also recognized the high resource costs of customization and agreed that scope to customize all activities was constrained.
The members stressed that the SARTTAC’s Budget’s to be managed flexibly to ensure the Center was able to respond in an agile way to meet members’ needs.
SARTTAC was encouraged to continue its dissemination of results, its coordination with external partners in the region, and its outreach activities. The next Steering Committee meeting will take place in Sri Lanka in May, 2018.
4. Ethiopians Birhanu Legese and Almaz Ayana win Delhi Half Marathon.
Rio Olympics and world 10,000m champion Almaz Ayana made a successful debut on the road, clinching the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon elite women’s title with élan on a chilly but bright Sunday morning here. Ethiopia’s Ayana took 1:07:11 to reach the destination ahead of country mates Ababel Yeshaneh (1:07:19) and Netsanet Gudeta (1:07:24).
In the men’s elite category, it was again Ethiopia boys who dominated the podium taking the first two spots. Berhanu Legese retained his crown in 59 minutes and 46 seconds. Andamlak Belihu came in five seconds later on his debut over the distance and America’s Leonard Korir was third with 59:52. IAAF world championships marathon gold medallist Geoffrey Kirui came a cropper as he finished a disappointing sixth. In 2016, he was fourth.
“I cannot explain the happiness I have after winning the crown here again. The conditions out there were good and I will definitely be back next year,” said Legese, who also won the crown in 2015. Belihu gave credit for his success to Ethiopia’s Guye Adola, who created a course record of 59:06 in 2014 here. “It was a good timing for me. I trained under Adola that’s why I came with such timing and his advice really helped me,” Belihu said with the help of a translator. Top three athletes were neck-and-neck till 15 kilometres but thereafter Legese tried to sprint and it brought in the desired results.
He pushed hard and after the 18-kilometre mark, managed to distance himself from the rest. He carried on the momentum till the end to win the crown.This being her first outing on the road, women’s champion Ayana overcame early jitters as she got confused after pacemakers dropped out and language too being a barrier as she was unable to communicate. But the world champion defied all odds to reign supreme.
5. Gleadovia konyakianorum is a Parasitic plant found in Nagaland.
Scientists have discovered a new species of parasitic flowering plant that has no chlorophyll, and survives by feeding on another species of plant that does (chlorophyll helps a plant make its own food using sunlight).
The species, named Gleadovia konyakianorum, in honour of the Konyak tribe of Nagas, was identified during a botanical exploration earlier this year near Tobu town of Mon district in eastern Nagaland.
“It is a holoparasite [complete parasite] that derives its entire nutritional requirement from the host plant, which is a Strobilanthes species. The plant was found in the semi-evergreen forest at an altitude of 1,500-1,600 metres,” said Dilip Kumar Roy, a scientist with the Botanical Survey of India (BSI).
Along with Mr. Roy, two others – N Odoyo, also from the BSI, and a Russian scientist, Leonid V. Averyanov – have published the details of the newly discovered species in the journal Phytotaxa.
Though it is has no chlorophyll, the plant has a vascular system and extracts its nutrition from the host plant with the help of a haustorium, the scientists said. A haustorium is a specialised structure with which plant parasites attach themselves to the tissue of host plants and derive nutrition.
Gleadovia konyakianorum is a root parasite that grows up to 10 cm in height, and bears white, tubular flowers. Interestingly, this is only the fourth species from the genus Gleadovia to be found in the world. The other three are Gleadovia banerjiana (discovered in Manipur), Gleadovia mupinense (found in China) and Gleadovia ruborum (discovered in Uttarakhand and also reported from China).
The white flowering parasite was found in a group of 15-20 plants, and since the species hasn’t been reported anywhere else, scientists have described its status as ‘data deficient’ as per the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species Criteria.
6. Worlds biggest toilet pot model unveiled at Trump village in Haryana.
The Worlds bigThe world`s biggest toilet pot model was unveiled at Marora, popularly known as the "Trump village", in Haryana on the World Toilet Day today in a bid to create awareness towards sanitation and use of toilets.
A mega toilet pot made up of iron, fibre, wood and plaster of Paris - measuring 20x10 feet - was unveiled in the hamlet to mark the World Toilet Day, which is observed on November 19 to inspire action to tackle the global sanitation crisis.
The nondescript village, with a population of 1,800, in Mewat region was in June rechristened as "Trump village" by NGO Sulabh International Social Service Organisation in a gesture to US president Donald Trump ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi`s visit to Washington.
The Nuh district administration, however, later said the move to rename the village was "illegal", forcing the organisation members to remove boards mentioning the new name.
Sanitation expert and Sulabh International founder Bindeshwar Pathak and other dignitaries inaugurated the "biggest toilet pot of the world" model and dedicated another 95 new household toilets to the residents of the village.
"It`s a symbolic gesture to inaugurate a large toilet pot at Trump village to mark the World Toilet Day to create awareness among people towards the use of toilets and safe sanitation," Mr Pathak said.
He said the large pot replica would be moved to Delhi`s Sulabh Toilet Museum.
Mr Pathak had in June announced in Washington his decision to adopt Marora. He had said the move was aimed to encourage businessmen to adopt villages in India to promote sanitation.
Since then, Sulabh International has carried out the construction of toilets for every household and set up of a vocational training centre for girls in the village.
"Organising a programme in a remote village of Haryana on the World Toilet Day was a promotional concept in connection with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi`s vision to make villages in India free from open defecation on the occasion of Mahatma Gandhi`s 150th birth anniversary year in 2019," Mr Pathak said.
7. Union Government cancels Israeli missile deal worth $500-million.
Asking the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) to indigenously develop and produce a Man-Portable Anti-Tank Guided Missile (MPATGM) for the Army, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has decided to cancel the $500 million deal for Spike ATGM with Israel. The deal, seen as another proof of growing Indo-Israel defence cooperation, was expected to be signed after price negotiations with Rafael Advanced Defence Systems of Israel were completed last year.
In anticipation of this deal, Rafael had entered into a joint venture with Kalyani group for missile production in India. The missile sub-systems manufacturing facility, based near Hyderabad, was inaugurated in August.
Ministry sources told The Indian Express that the decision to cancel the deal was based on the consideration that importing a foreign ATGM at this stage would adversely impact the programme for indigenous development of the weapon system by DRDO. Earlier, India had also rejected an offer from US-based Raytheon-Lockheed Martin for Javelin ATGM in favour of the Israeli weapon system.
“DRDO has successfully produced the Nag and Anamika ATGMs. It is confident about providing the Army with an MPATGM of 3rd generation missile technology, at par with Spike, within three to four years. It won’t also need any transfer of technology,” sources said.
8. Universal Children`s Day is observed on 20 November.
United Nations Universal Children’s Day was established in 1954 and is celebrated on November 20th each year to promote international togetherness, awareness among children worldwide, and improving children`s welfare.
November 20th is an important date as it is the date in 1959 when the UN General Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child. It is also the date in 1989 when the UN General assembly adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Since 1990, Universal Children`s Day also marks the anniversary of the date that the UN General Assembly adopted both the declaration and the convention on children`s rights.
Mothers and fathers, teachers, nurses and doctors, government leaders and civil society activists, religious and community elders, corporate moguls and media professionals as well as young people and children themselves can play an important part in making Universal Children`s Day relevant for their societies, communities and nations.
Universal Children`s Day offers each of us an inspirational entry-point to advocate, promote and celebrate children`s rights, translating into dialogues and actions that will build a better world for Children.
9. Nagaland, Andaman &Nicobar Islands Sign MoU with India under UDAY Scheme.
Nov 20 (UNI) On the second anniversary of Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY) on Monday, the Government of India signed four Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) under the Scheme with Nagaland and Union Territories (UTs) of Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Dadra & Nagar Haveli & Daman & Diu for operational improvements.
These State/UTs have joined only for operational improvement and will not undergo financial restructuring/issue of bonds under the scheme. With the above, UDAY club has now grown to 27 states and 4 UTs.
An overall net benefit of approximately Rs 551 crore, Rs 18 crore, Rs 13 crore and Rs 10 crore respectively would accrue to the State of Nagaland & UTs of Andaman & Nicobar, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu by opting to participate in UDAY, by way of cheaper funds for capex, reduction in AT&C and Transmission losses, interventions in energy efficiency, during the period of turnaround.
The MoU paves way for improving operational efficiency of the Electricity Departments/DISCOM of the State/Union Territory. Through compulsory distribution transformer metering, consumer indexing & GIS mapping of losses, upgrade/change transformers, meters etc., smart metering of high-end consumers, feeder audit etc. AT&C losses and transmission losses would be brought down, besides eliminating the gap between cost of supply of power and realisation.
10. India-Myanmar joint Army exercise begins in Meghalaya.
The week-long army warfare exercise by India and Myanmar, the first to be held in the country, began today at the Joint Warfare Centre at Umroi near Shillong, officials said.
The exercise code-named India-Myanmar Bilateral Army Exercise (IMBAX) is aimed at building and promoting closer relations with armies of the neighbouring countries, they said.
The six-day training exercise also aims to train the officers of Myanmar Army in various United Nations Peacekeeping roles and tasks, the statement said.
The training curriculum will enable the participants of Myanmar Army with the requisite knowledge and skills to meet the evolving challenges of peacekeeping operations in accordance with principles, policies and guidelines of the United Nations.
At the exercise, 15 officers from the Myanmar Army and 16 officers from Indian Army took part. They were welcomed by Red Horns Division GOC Major General PS Behl, Army spokesperson said in a statement.
The Indo-Myanmar joint Army Exercise is a positive step in the bilateral relations between the two neighbouring nations, the statement said.
The conduct of such exercises in future will not only enable mutual capacity enhancement, but will assist in building strong bonds of friendship and cooperation between India and Myanmar, it added.
A week-long Indo-Bangla army exercise concluded at the Centre last week.
11. Maharashtra Government to constitute Gender Budget Cells to effectively implement welfare schemes of women and children.
Maharashtra government set to constitute ‘Gender Budget Cells’ for facilitating the coordination amongst other departments.
Maharashtra Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar announced the setting up of Gender Budget Cells.
The inter-departmental committee would be set up among the concerned department to ensure better effective implementation of various schemes.
Further Mungantiwar said that a nodal officer would be appointed in each administrative department to monitor the implementation of the schemes of WCD.
Besides, evaluating quality improvement, the culture of evaluation should also take root in the administration.” Sources in the department said that at least 30% of allocations in various schemes of WCD like animal husbandry are earmarked for women.
12. India ranks 51 on IMD Talent Rankings.
The IMD global business school has released the latest rank list of countries for their ability to attract, develop and retain talent and India has climbed up the ladder since last year with a global rank of 51. Switzerland has topped the list, closely followed by Denmark and Belgium.
However, India has not been successful in terms of investment in education as a percentage of GDP. According to the rank list by IMD, it ranked among the bottom five countries in the world in this aspect.
“India needs to emphasise the education system as a key to prosperity. It also needs to prevent brain drain by providing better opportunities to local talent,” says Arturo Bris, Head of Competitiveness, IMD Switzerland.
Among the top ten were Austria, Finland, Netherlands, Norway, Germany, Sweden and Luxembourg. European nations dominated the rankings.
“The outstanding education systems in Europe sets them apart from the rest of the pack. This allows them to develop local talent and at the same time attract foreign, highly-skilled professionals, which many European businesses rely upon to perform,” the IMD report said.
China took the lead among BRICS nations, ranking at 40, followed by Russia at 43 and South Africa at 48. Among Asian economies, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan took the top positions by attracting and retaining high skilled workers, even though European nations have the higher footing in this regard.
IMD Switzerland Chief Economist Christos Cabolis commented that India has the potential to thrive in the digital economy. He states that India has the necessary domestic talent pool with its labour growth, emphasising that science is necessary in schools and that the country needs to work on investing in all levels of education and mastering competence in job.
Bris commented that India needs to do a better job of attracting foreign labour and retaining local talent. He stated that factors like remuneration levels, quality of life and property rights are hindering domestic employment and that investment in education is weak.
The IMD also released a World Talent Ranking which covers 63 countries, assessing the methods of attracting and retaining talent. India was ranked at 62 in investment and development, 43 in appeal and 29 in readiness.
13. J P Nadda inaugurates 1st World Conference on Access to Medical Products in New Delhi.
Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda on Tuesday called for promoting industry and academia collaboration for developing affordable medical products.
“There is a need for promoting industry and academia collaboration for developing affordable medical products so that innovations and advances in medical sector can reach a vast population,” said Nadda inaugurating “1st World Conference on Access to Medical Products and International Laws for Trade and Health” here.
The conference was in context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Highlighting the importance of transparency between regulatory authorities and pharma sector, Nadda said: “The coordination between the national regulatory authorities and pharmaceutical sector will enable launch and registration of new health technologies.”
He further said that the dialogue on role of competition in competitive pricing and discussion on related WTO agreements influencing health should lead to a larger umbrella of suggested policy options for the government.
Nadda stated that the 2015 National Medical Device Policy would enable local manufacturing in the multiproduct, multidisciplinary industry.
“In India, nearly 150,000 orthopaedic knee procedures are done every day. More investments and more players in the medical devices sector will lead to lowering down of prices and access to medical products as most of the governments are sensitive to access and pricing of medical products,” he added.
Present on the occasion, V.K. Paul, member, NITI Aayog, said there was a need for investment in medical products for preventive therapy and treatment.
He highlighted the importance of affordability, quality, domestic production capacity and creation an eco-system of policy and innovation for greater accessibility of affordable medical drugs and devices.
“Technology is an integral block for strengthening medical systems in any country and must also ensure timely maintenance of medical equipment by suppliers in remote and rural areas such that equipment functions effectively,” said Paul.
14. India becomes Second Largest Fish Producing Country in the World.
ombining the production of all types of fisheries (capture and culture), the total fish production has reached at about 11.41 million tonnes in 2016-17 and India has become the second largest fish producing country in the world, Union Agriculture Minister Radhan Mohan Singh said while addressing a conference on the occasion of World Fisheries Day in New Delhi today.
He said that the scheme `Blue Revolution` has been launched with the outlay of Rs. 300 crore for the integrated development of the Fisheries sector in the country. As a result, overall fish production has registered an increase of about 18.86% in comparison to the last three years, whereas inland fish production has registered a growth of more than 26%.
On the occasion, the government also clarified that the previously implemented "Letter of Permit" or "L.O.P." system in the E.E.E. has been stopped since January, 2017. Besides, specific decisions have been taken to safeguard the interests of traditional fishermen in the area of Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) beyond 12 nautical miles, which is regulated by the Government of India, such as the traditional fishers have been exempted from the fishing ban implemented during monsoon period in the EEZ; use of LED lights/other artificial lights for fishing as well as practice of bull-trailing or pair-trailing have been completely banned, recently on 10th November, 2017. The Minister said that the duration of fishing ban has also been increased from 47 days to 61 days, with the consent of all coastal State Governments.
15. India`s first mission to the Sun to be launched in 2019.
Dominating the space scene with its commendable space program, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) now has its vision set on the Sun.
With probes currently circling Mars and the moon, ISRO Satellite Centre Director Mylswamy Annadurai recently revealed the space agency`s plans to launch `Aditya-L1`, the first Indian mission to study the Sun, by the year 2020.
He also added that the space organisation is planning to launch four more important satellites in the next three months and is working to launch 70 satellites in the next three years.
According to ISRO, the Aditya-1 mission was conceived as a 400kg class satellite carrying one payload, the Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VELC) and was planned to launch in a 800 km low earth orbit.
A Satellite placed in the halo orbit around the Lagrangian point 1 (L1) of the Sun-Earth system has the major advantage of continuously viewing the Sun without any occultation/ eclipses.
Therefore, the Aditya-1 mission has now been revised to “Aditya-L1 mission” and will be inserted in a halo orbit around the L1, which is 1.5 million km from the Earth. The satellite carries additional six payloads with enhanced science scope and objectives.
The project has been approved and the satellite will be launched in the 2019 – 2020 timeframe by PSLV-XL from Sriharikota, ISRO said.
16. Brahmos Flight test from IAFs Su-30MKI Fighter Aircraft.
Brahmos, the world’s fastest supersonic cruise missile created history on 22nd Nov 2017 after it was successfully flight-tested first time from the Indian Air Force’s (IAF) frontline fighter aircraft Sukhoi-30MKI against a sea based target in the Bay of Bengal. The missile was gravity dropped from the Su-30 from fuselage, and the two stage missile’s engine fired up and straightway propelled towards the intended target at the sea in Bay of Bengal.
The successful maiden test firing of Brahmos Air Launched Cruise Missile (ALCM) from Su-30MKI will significantly bolster the IAF’s air combat operations capability from stand-off ranges. Brahmos ALCM weighing 2.5 ton is the heaviest weapon to be deployed on India’s Su-30 fighter aircraft modified by HAL to carry weapons. Brahmos, the world-class weapon with multi-platform, multi-mission role is now capable of being launched from Land, Sea and Air, completing the tactical cruise missile triad for India. Brahmos is a joint venture between DRDO of India and NPOM of Russia.
Raksha Mantri Smt Nirmala Sitharaman congratulated DRDO and BrahMos for the outstanding accomplishment.
Dr S Christopher, Chairman DRDO & Secretary, Department of Defence R&D congratulated the Scientists and Engineers for this excellent text book kind of flight test.
The missile test was witnessed by Dr Sudhir Mishra, DG (BrahMos) & CEO & MD, BrahMos Aerospace along with senior IAF officials, Scientists and Officials from
DRDO and BrahMos.
17. Union Government observes Vasectomy Fortnight.
The government will observe ‘Vasectomy Fortnight’ starting November 21 to raise awareness about male sterilisation and to promote the participation of men in family planning.
A national workshop promoting men’s participation in family planning was organised by the Health Ministry today which highlighted concrete strategies to understand and incorporate the male perspective and their needs. The workshop also saw the launch of the Family Planning Logistics Management Information System (FP-LMIS) manual which was developed to facilitate the distribution of contraceptives and strengthen supply chain management.
“Male participation in improving the reproductive health of couples is crucial. While the permanent methods of contraception have traditionally found more acceptance in India, the maximum number of acceptors are women,” a statement said.
All states and Union territories would observe Vasectomy Fortnight from November 21 to December 4 whereby quality male sterilisation services would be provided at public health facilities. Its theme is “Zimmedar Purush ki yehi hai Pehchan, Parivar Niyojan mein jo de Yogdaan”. During the event, various myths about use of contraceptives by men would be dispelled. “Male participation in adoption of family planning has been a challenge along with other numerous challenges that must still be overcome, particularly in terms of raising public awareness around promoting and male engagement in family planning services,” the statement added.
18. Facebook Aims to Train 5 lakh Indians on Digital Skills by 2020.
In a bid to help entrepreneurs start and scale up businesses besides imparting digital skills to job seekers, social networking giant Facebook said it would train some five lakh people in India on digital skills by 2020.
It unveiled two programmes on Wednesday — Facebook digital training and Facebook startup training hubs. “India is poised to have a digital economy worth $1 trillion by 2022. We believe the best way to prepare India for this digital economy is by providing tools, knowledge, and skills people need to succeed,” said Ritesh Mehta, Facebook’s head of programmes, India and South Asia.
According to him, these tools will help people learn digital skills and enable entrepreneurs and small and medium businesses in digitising their business. Apart from these two, Facebook also runs offline training programmes as well as Blueprint (free online training for advertising on Facebook).
“Through all these initiatives, we hope to train more than half-a-million people in India by 2020,” he said adding that more than 51,700 SMBs have been trained by Facebook in India, including 12,000 women entrepreneurs, through Boost and SheMeansBusiness. Facebook is working with organisations like Digital Vidya, EDII, DharmaLife and StartupIndia to develop the curriculum that is designed to work in low network strength regions as well.
The digital training hub of the US-based company will provide free social and content marketing training for anyone – from students to business owners – who is looking to develop digital skills.
The curriculum includes social media basics, how to build and create an audience, how to create content, how to measure online activity and how to stay ahead of the curve.It will also help people learn skills such as personal branding, digital storytelling, consumer behaviour and reputation management.
On the other hand, the start-up training hub will help developers and tech start-ups build better products and businesses. It will cover a range of subjects including how entrepreneurs can protect their ideas, how to hire, how to go about getting funding, regulations and legal hurdles an entrepreneur needs to consider, among others.
19. Northeast development summit held in Manipur.
President Ram Nath Kovind Tuesday said that besides being a frontier, the Northeast has been at the heart of the Indian imagination. Addressing a gathering after inaugurating the two-day North East Development Summit at Imphal, the President said he hoped the summit will result in “actionable decisions” on Northeast’s development.
“For a short period in our history, there has been a misconception about the eight states of the Northeast being a frontier of India. I say short period deliberately, after all for hundreds of thousands of years of civilisation, apart from being a frontier, the Northeast has been at the heart of Indian imagination. If you take South Asia and Southeast Asia as a continuum as it has been perceived for most of history, then the Northeast has been in the middle of it,” he said.
“The Northeast has an amazing social and cultural eco-system. Few regions in the world have such cultural, ethnic and religious diversity packed into such a small area,” he said. He also said the geographical location of the Northeast made it an “obvious gateway to India” and highlighted the Centre’s efforts to improve connectivity by modes of road, railway and air to the states in the region.
Later, Kovind also addressed the inaugural event of Sangai Festival.
The summit opened amid a 26-hour strike called by Coordination Committee, an umbrella organisation of six insurgent groups, as a protest against Kovind’s visit.
It is being organised by the Manipur government in association with India Foundation, a Delhi-based think tank, and is aimed at “building confidence” and altering the “perception” among visiting delegates and investors.
20. Migratory Birds start Arriving in Chilika Lake.
After a long flight of thousands of miles, not often punctuated by breaks, lakhs of migratory birds have made their way to the Chilika Lake, Asia’s largest brackish water lagoon.
Major bird congregations have been spotted in the wetlands of the Nalabana Bird Sanctuary inside Chilika and Mangalajodi, a major village on the banks of the lake.
“Usually, congregation of migratory birds are noticed from the second week of October. By this time, Nalabana alone would have hosted more than 4 lakh birds. But brewing of a low pressure area over the Bay of Bengal and heavy rain experienced for four days during the second week of November delayed the arrival of birds,” said Sushant Nanda, Chief Executive of Chilika Development Authority.
Mr. Nanda said several portions of the vast mudflats are still under water. “As of now about 2 lakh birds have arrived. Most of these bird species can adapt to watery areas,” he said.
Nalabana with a 15.59-sq.-km area is hosting the highest number of migratory birds this time round. Similarly, the wetlands of Mangalajodi have begun to fill up with lakhs of ruffs, godwits, plovers, sandpipers and migratory ducks. With 11.59 sq km of mudflats, Mangalajodi receives about 3 lakh birds during winter.