Phawngpui or Blue Mountain

Why in news?

• Forest Fires ravaged Mizoram’s Phawngpui hill recently.

About Phawngpui:

• Phawngpui , also known as Blue Mountain, is the highest mountain peak in the Mizo Hills (Lushai Hills) and in the state of Mizoram with an elevation of 2157 m.
• It is in Lawngtlai district, in the southeastern region of Mizoram near the Myanmar border.
• A highly revered peak, considered to be the abode of local deities, Phawngpui is a major centre of folk religion and location for folklore stories.
• The name is derived from the Lai language, phong, meaning "grassland" or "meadow", and the suffix -pui meaning, "great". This was because the mountain was mostly covered with all types of meadows, hence appropriately the "great meadow".
• Since 1992 the mountain has been included in the protected area of the Phawngpui National Park, one of only two national parks of India in Mizoram.

Flora and fauna

• The area is encircled by matted bamboo groves and other alluring vegetations.
• Birds like peregrine falcon, Blyth's tragopan, sunbirds, grey sibia, golden-throated barbet, Mrs. Hume's pheasant, hornbill etc are found.
•  The very rare clouded leopard has been recorded in the area since 1997.

Prelims Question:

Blue Mountain national park is located in:
(a)Mizoram
(b)Manipur
(c)Assam
(d)Nagaland

Answer to Prelims question