Railway
The Red Panda Winter Carnival is celebrated in which state?
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Answer: Option B — Sikkim
Detailed Solution
The Red Panda Winter Carnival is an annual festival held in Sikkim, mainly in Gangtok, in December. It is organised by the Sikkim government, along with tourism organisations, to promote winter tourism in the state and to celebrate its culture, food, music and adventure activities.
The carnival is named after the red panda, the state animal of Sikkim. The red panda is a small, reddish-brown mammal with a long, ringed tail, which lives in the cool temperate forests of the eastern Himalayas, at heights of about 2,200 to 4,800 metres. It feeds mainly on bamboo leaves and is active at dawn and dusk. It is classified as an endangered species, because of the loss of its forest habitat, poaching and other threats. The carnival also aims to raise awareness about the conservation of the red panda and the environment.
The Red Panda Winter Carnival includes cultural programmes with traditional dances and music of the different communities of Sikkim, such as the Lepchas, Bhutias and Nepalis; rock and folk music concerts; food festivals with local dishes such as momos, thukpa and sel roti; displays of handicrafts and handloom; fashion shows; and adventure activities, such as paragliding, river rafting and mountain biking. Visitors can also enjoy the winter scenery and snow in the higher areas.
Sikkim is India's first fully organic state (declared in 2016) and is famous for its natural beauty, monasteries and mountains, including Kanchenjunga, the highest peak in India and the third highest in the world. Its state bird is the blood pheasant, and its state flower is the noble dendrobium (an orchid). The Khangchendzonga National Park in Sikkim was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site (mixed site) in 2016.
Why not the other options?
- ✗Arunachal Pradesh is also home to red pandas, but the Red Panda Winter Carnival is held in Sikkim.
- ✗Meghalaya is known for festivals such as Wangala.
- ✗Himachal Pradesh is known for the Kullu Dussehra and winter carnivals at Manali and Shimla.
Quick tip
Remember: The Red Panda Winter Carnival = Sikkim (Gangtok) and December. The red panda is the state animal of Sikkim.
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Festivals & Fairs of India — Preparation
This question tests your understanding of Festivals & Fairs of India, a key topic in the General Knowledge section. The detailed solution above uses a step-by-step approach to show the reasoning, and where available, a shortcut that helps you solve similar questions in under 90 seconds during the actual exam.
This topic covers the religious, harvest, tribal and cultural festivals of India, the fairs (melas) held across the country, and the states, communities and seasons linked to them. It also includes festivals listed by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage, such as Kumbh Mela and Durga Puja in Kolkata. Most questions ask which state celebrates a festival, which tribe it belongs to, or what event it marks. Harvest festivals are especially common: Pongal (Tamil Nadu), Onam (Kerala), Bihu (Assam), Lohri and Baisakhi (Punjab) and Nuakhai (Odisha). Fairs such as the Pushkar camel fair (Rajasthan) and the Sonepur cattle fair (Bihar) are also frequently tested. Revise festivals state by state. Practise the festivals and fairs questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.