Important Facts for Prelims (3rd December 2018) | 03 Dec 2018

Hornbill Festival- 2018

• Recently Union Home Minister has inaugurated the 10-day long annual Hornbill festival.
• At the beginning of December each year, Nagaland hosts its biggest event—the Hornbill Festival to celebrate its diverse community and culture.
• The event has been taking place every year since 2000, and takes place from December 1-10, coinciding with the Nagaland Statehood Day on December 1.
• The festival has tribes and sub-tribes from different regions of Nagaland come to Kisama (close to state capital Kohima) and display best of their community—from dance and song to literature and food.
• The festival has been named after the Great Indian Hornbill because this bird features heavily in Naga folktales and stories, and feathers of the hornbill form an important part of the tribal dresses.
• The name of the festival is misleading because the hornbill isn’t Nagaland’s state bird. The state bird of Nagaland is the lesser-known and endangered bird- Blyth's Tragopan.
• People from all over the world come together to take part in the celebrations.
• This festival is one of its kind because it opens up the areas with ‘restricted entry’ into protected areas for visitors without compromising on ethics and traditions.
• The Hornbill festival of Nagaland is an excellent example of tribal tourism.

Cope India 2018

• The Air Forces of the United States and India are participating in a 12-day joint exercise called 'Cope India 2018'. It is being held after a gap of eight years, with the last one having taken place in 2010.
• Cope India 2018, which was first held in 2004, is the fourth edition in the series of bilateral joint exercises held between the Indian Air Force and the US Air Force, which is conducted in India.
• For the first time, the exercise is being planned at two air force bases, Kalaikunda and Panagarh of West Bengal from December 3-14.
• The aim of the exercise is to provide operational exposure and undertake a mutual exchange of best practices towards enhancing operational capability.
• The exercise showcases the efforts and commitment of the two nations to a free and open Indo-Pacific region.

Saharia Tribe

• The Saharia or Sahariya Tribe, one of the most backward tribes in the country, resides in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.
• They worship many Hindu God and Goddesses and also celebrate various Hindu festivals.
• They have been classified as a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG) because of low development indices.

Talanoa Dialogue

• The Dialogue was launched at the UN Climate Change Conference COP-23 in Bonn (Germany) in 2017 and will run throughout 2018.
• Talanoa is a traditional word in Fijian (Fiji being the island nation presiding over the COP-23 in Bonn) to reflect a process of inclusive, participatory and transparent dialogue.
• The purpose of Talanoa is to share stories, build empathy and to make wise decisions for the collective good.
• The process of Talanoa involves the sharing of ideas, skills and experience through storytelling.

Food Sustainability Index (FSI)

• The Food Sustainability Index (FSI), is developed by The Economist Intelligence Unit with the Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition. This editions’ title was 'Fixing Food-2018: Best Practices towards the Sustainable Development Goals'.
• It is a model designed to assess the sustainability of national food systems in a qualitative and quantitative manner.
• The FSI studies the infrastructure and processes that go into feeding the population, such as growing, harvesting and transportation.
• The Food Sustainability Index is based on three broad categories: food loss & waste, sustainable agriculture and nutritional challenges.
• A comparison with the global scenario indicates that India does well on preventing food loss and wastage, but is below average in sustainable agriculture and is one of the worst while tackling nutritional challenges.
• Despite the increase in food production, it ranks India 33^rd among 67 countries in 2018. Among BRICS countries, only China (23) is ranked better than India.
• France topped the index followed by Netherlands and Canada.
• The first edition of the FSI was published in 2016.