• Salman Rushdie is back with his latest novel, Victory City.
• The book is a fictionalised telling of the story of the Vijayanagara Kingdom, narrated by a sorceress and poet named Pampa Kampana, who, over more than two centuries, witnessed Vijayanagara’s many victories and defeats.

About Vijaynagara Kingdom

• From their capital, now known as Hampi, on the banks of the Tungabhadra river, the kings of Vijayanagara at the peak of their power ruled over a territory of more than 360,000 sq. km.
• Founded in 1336, the kingdom of Vijayanagara lasted for more than three centuries, a period in which it withstood multiple political stresses, and saw significant advances in art and economy.
• It was one of the most powerful kingdoms in the sub-continent.
• Over the course of its existence from 1336 to 1646, the kingdom saw various ups and downs. Founded by Harihara I of the Sangama dynasty, Vijayanagara expanded from a strategic position on the banks of the Tungabhadra river. By the 15th century, it had become a force to reckon with.
• The kingdom reached its peak under Krishna Deva Raya (reign 1509-1529), a period in which it enjoyed military superiority to its rival kingdoms such as the Bahmani Sultanate, the Golconda Sultanate and the Gajapatis of Odisha.
• At its peak, the kingdom stretched from Goa in the Konkan coast to parts of southern Odisha in the east and all the way to the very tip of the subcontinent in the south.
• It was the last bastion of Hindu rule in the South.
• A lasting theme in Vijayanagara’s historiography has been its characterisation as “a Hindu bulwark against Muhammadan conquests”, writes historian Phillip B. Wagoner.
• Vijayanagara has been remembered as an era of “cultural conservatism”, when classical forms of Hinduism were preserved amidst growing Islamization of the rest of the subcontinent, especially the North.

Economy of Vijaynagan empire

• The foundations of the kingdom rested on its thriving trade and a monetised economy.
• While the economy of the kingdom was largely dependent on agriculture, trade thrived in its many ports on either coast.
  • Traveller Abd al-Razzaq Samarqandi chronicled how “the ports of Mangalore, Honavar, Bhatkal, Barkur, Cochin, Cannanore, Machilipatnam, and Dharmadam saw traders from Africa, Arabia, Aden, the Red sea, China and Bengal and also served as ship building centres”.
• The empire’s principal exports were pepper, ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, myrobalan, tamarind timber, anafistula, precious and semi-precious stones, pearls, musk, ambergris, rhubarb, aloe, cotton cloth and porcelain.
• Razzaq also chronicled the high degree of monetisation in the Vijayanagara kingdom. In his classic History of South India, K A Nilakanta Sastri wrote that coins were minted by the state as well as by merchant guilds using gold, silver, copper and brass, and their value depended on material weight.

Vijayanagar’s contributions to culture and architecture

• In this period when poetry and scholarship flourished, both in sacral and secular contexts. Literature in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada as well as Sanskrit was produced in the kingdom, with new writing styles and methods emerging.
• In architecture, Vijayanagara saw various enduring constructions. According to art historian Percy Brown, Vijayanagara architecture is “a vibrant combination and blossoming of the Chalukya, Hoysala, Pandya and Chola styles, idioms that prospered in previous centuries.”
• The Prasanna Virupaksha temple of Bukka I and the Hazara Rama temple of Krishna Deva Raya are striking examples of Vijayanagara’s characteristic style and intricate artistry.
• Vijayanagara’s capital Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site today, known for its sophisticated fortifications as well as innumerable temples and other architectural marvels. From accounts of foreign travellers, by the beginning of the 16th century, Hampi-Vijayanagara was probably the second largest urban settlement on the planet (after Beijing) and among the most prosperous.

• President paid tributes to Dr Zakir Hussain on his 126th birth anniversary.
• He served as third President of India from 13 May 1967 until his death on 3 May 1969
• He was first Muslim to hold the position.
• He helped found the Muslim National University in Aligarh (later moved to New Delhi and today known as Jamia Millia Islamia) and served as its vice-chancellor from 1926 to 1948.
• He was closely associated with Mahatma Gandhi and was chairman of the Basic National Education Committee established in 1937 which framed a new educational policy known as Nai Talim with its emphasis on free and compulsory education in the first language.
• He was also the first incumbent to die in office in 1969 and had the shortest tenure of any President.
• From 1956-58 he served on the executive board of UNESCO.
• Husain also served as Governor of Bihar from 1957 to 1962 and was elected as the Vice President of India in 1962.
• He was awarded the Bharat Ratna in 1963.

• The main treatments for cancer are surgery, radiotherapy and systemic therapy.
• Surgery and radiotherapy have improved over time, but advances in systemic therapy have been particularly impressive, with Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy being a recent breakthrough attracting global attention.
• Systemic therapy began with chemotherapy, which attacks cancer cells due to their fast growth. Chemotherapy drugs have limited success and significant side effects because they affect many types of cells in the body.
• The next advancement was targeted agents, also known as immunotherapy, which work by binding to specific targets on the cancer or immune cells supporting its growth. This approach is less toxic as it affects fewer non-tumor cells, but only works on tumours that have these targets.

About CAR T-cell Therapy:

• CAR T-cell therapies are a major breakthrough in cancer treatment.
• Unlike chemotherapy or immunotherapy which involve taking drugs, CAR T-cell therapies use a patient’s own cells. They are modified in the laboratory to activate T-cells and target tumor cells.
• CAR T-cell therapy has been approved for leukaemias (cancers arising from the cells that produce white blood cells) and lymphomas (arising from the lymphatic system).

Procedure:

• T cells are taken from a patient’s blood and then the gene for a special receptor that binds to a certain protein on the patient’s cancer cells is added to the T cells in the laboratory.
• The special receptor is called a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR). Large numbers of the CAR T cells are grown in the laboratory and given to the patient by infusion.

About T Cells

• T cells, also known as T lymphocytes, are a type of white blood cell that play a central role in the immune response.
• T cells are involved in cell-mediated immunity, which means they help the body recognize and respond to foreign substances, such as viruses, bacteria, and abnormal cells, such as cancer cells.
• There are two major types of T cells: the helper T cell and the cytotoxic T cell.
• As the names suggest, helper T cells ‘help’ other cells of the immune system, whilst cytotoxic T cells kill virally infected cells and tumors.

Significance:

• CAR T-cell therapies are even more specific than targeted agents and directly stimulate the patient’s immune system to fight cancer, leading to greater clinical efficacy. That’s why they’re referred to as “living drugs.”

Challenges:

• Preparation: The difficulty of preparing CAR T-cell therapies has been a major hindrance to their widespread use.
• Side Effects: The potential side-effects are also significant, associated with cytokine release syndrome (a widespread activation of the immune system and collateral damage to the body’s normal cells) and neurological symptoms (severe confusion, seizures, and speech impairment).
• Affordability: Introduction of CAR T-cell therapy faces challenges of cost and value. Critics argue that developing CAR T-cell therapy in India may not be cost-effective as it will still be unaffordable for most people.

• Dr Randeep Guleria, professor and HoD, department of pulmonary medicine and sleep disorders, at AIIMS, New Delhi, has been appointed the president of AIIMS-Bilaspur recently .
• Dr Guleria was conferred with Dr BC Roy Award in 2014 and the Padma Shri in 2015.
• He is the first Indian to get a Doctorate of Medicine (DM) in pulmonary and critical care medicine. He joined AIIMS, New Delhi, in 1992 as an assistant professor in the department of medicine and was subsequently promoted to the posts of associate professor, additional professor and professor.
• The department of pulmonary medicine and sleep disorders was created by him in 2011.

• Mukesh Dhiman, an artist of Pathiar village in Kangra district, who specialises in Kangra style of painting, recently displayed his miniature paintings at an exhibition in Frankfurt city of Germany.
• Kumar is part of the Indian delegation that had gone to Germany under the aegis of the Union Ministry of Textiles. The ministry had organised an exhibition-cum-demonstration of the traditional Indian art in Germany that concluded today.

About Kangra style of painting

• The name Kangra style is given to this group of painting for the reason that they are identical in style to the portraits of Raja Sansar Chand of Kangra. Paintings of the Kangra style are attributed mainly to the Nainsukh family.
• Some of the Pahari painters found patronage in the Punjab under Maharaja Ranjit Singh and the Sikh nobility in the beginning of the 19th century and executed portraits and other miniatures in a modified version of the Kangra style which continued till the middle of the 19th century.

Salient features

• The delicacy of drawing and quality of naturalism are the stand-out features of this school of art
• The Kangra style is by far the most poetic and lyrical of Indian styles marked with serene beauty and delicacy of execution.
• Distinctive is the delineation of the female face, with a straight nose in line with the forehead, which came in vogue around the 1790s, is the most distinctive feature of this style.
• Most popular themes that were painted were the Bhagvata Purana, Gita Govinda, Nala Damayanti, Bihari Satsai, Ragamala and Baramasa

• The Indian armed forces are seeking 18armed Predator MQ 9A drones from the US.
• The Predator armed drones can fly up to 50,000 feet for up to 24 hours and carry an option of Hellfire air-to-ground missiles for high-value targets or air-to-air missiles to bring down aerial enemy targets.
• Of these 18 drones from the US, 6 drones will be provided to each of the three services.
• The Indian Navy already has two General Atomics-manufactured Sea Guardian (MQ 9B) drones for maritime domain awareness on lease from the US. Currently, the navy is the leading service in armed drone acquisition and deployment.
• Also the National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO) (an electronic and spatial intelligence organisation) will also soon acquire 8 Indian-manufactured Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) drones for border surveillance. The MALE drones have been built with the help of Israel in a joint venture in Gujarat.
• Both China and Pakistan have the Wing Loong II armed drones in their arsenals, therefore, the acquisition of these surveillance and predator drones is significant from India’s security perspective.

• A US media report has claimed that China has been operating a fleet of spy balloons targeting many countries including India.
• This comes in the backdrop of U.S. Air Force fighter jet shooting down spy balloon off South Carolina coast.

About Spy Balloon

• Spy balloon is a high-altitude surveillance tool that usually operates at 80,000-120,000 feet.
• It gathers intelligence and carry out other military missions.
• It is equipped with cameras and imaging devices suspended beneath the gas-filled white object to capture things of interest.
• Advantages: Cost-effective in comparison to satellites. Also, scan an area from close quarters and capture clearer, high-resolution images of target.
• Disadvantage: Deflected due to wind current.

• All the probable three landing sites are on moon’s south polar region on the side facing earth.
  • Landing sites are decided on basis of local and global slope, illumination from sun, radio communication with earth, and crater and boulder sizes.
  • Prime landing site lies between Manzius U and Boguslawsky M craters (southern pole region) on moon.
• Chandrayaan-3 is a follow-on mission to Chandrayaan-2.
• Its primary objective is putting a Lander and rover in highlands near south pole of Moon in 2023.
• It consists of Lander and Rover configuration.
  • Lander: Chandra’s Surface Thermophysical Experiment measure thermal conductivity and temperature; Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity measures seismicity around landing site; Langmuir Probe estimates plasma density and its variations.
  • Rover: Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) and Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS) for deriving elemental composition in vicinity of landing site.
• It’ll be launched by Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) Mk III from Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.
  • GSLV is a 3-stage rocket, powered by a cryogenic engine.

Earlier Chandrayaan Missions

• Chandrayaan-1 (2008): Successfully inserted into lunar orbit.
• Chandrayaan-2 (2019): Successfully launched and inserted into lunar orbit in 2019, but it’s lander crash-landed on the moon’s surface due to a software glitch.

• The Ministry of Minority Affairs has announced a new Haj policy under which the application forms have been made available for free and the package cost per pilgrim has been reduced by Rs 50,000.
  • The reduction of Rs 50,000 comes primarily in the form of relaxation of norms for foreign currency – earlier a Haj pilgrim had to submit the equivalent of 2,100 Saudi Riyal, amounting to approximately Rs 44,000, that was submitted to the Haj Committee for foreign exchange.

About Hajj Pilgrimage

• The Hajj is a religious pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia that is mandatory for all able-bodied Muslims who can afford it. It is one of the Five Pillars of Islam and is considered a central part of Muslim religious life.
  • Five Pillars:
    • Shahada (Faith): The declaration of faith in the oneness of God and the acceptance of Muhammad as God’s prophet.
    • Salah (Prayer): Performing the five daily prayers facing the Kaaba in Mecca.
    • Zakat (Charity): Giving a portion of one’s wealth to those in need.
    • Sawm (Fasting): Fasting during the month of Ramadan.
    • Hajj (Pilgrimage): Making a pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca at least once in a lifetime if one is physically and financially able.
  • The Hajj takes place during the Islamic month of Dhu al-Hijjah and involves several rituals.
    • Dhu al-Hijjah is the twelfth and final month of the Islamic calendar. It is considered one of the most sacred months in the Islamic year and is seen as a time of renewal, spiritual growth, and reflection, and is considered an important time to strive for greater closeness with God.
  • Participating in the Hajj is seen as a way to demonstrate one’s devotion to God and to earn spiritual merit, and it is a source of great pride and inspiration for many Muslims.

Hajj Pilgrimage Promotion in India

• Nodal Ministry-Ministry of Minority Affairs.
• Haj pilgrimage for the Indian Pilgrims is conducted either through Haj Committee of India (HCoI), which is a statutory organization under the administrative control of Ministry of Minority Affairs or through the Haj Group Organisers (HGOs) dully approved by Ministry.
• Also, the Hajj pilgrimage is promoted by various religious organizations, Islamic cultural centers, and other government agencies.
• India signed the Haj 2023 bilateral agreement with Saudi Arabia. According to the agreement, a total of 1,75,025 Indian Haj pilgrims will be able to perform Haj, reportedly the highest in history.

• India hosted 9th Asian Ministerial Energy Roundtable in association with IEF in Bengaluru.
• Theme for this roundtable was “Mapping new pathways for energy security, inclusive growth and energy transitions”.

India’s Steps towards Energy Transition

• India recognizes that its energy transition path will involve a variety of energy solutions to support energy and economic growth. Advanced biofuels, green hydrogen, renewables and nuclear will play a critical role in the energy mix as India charters its path to the energy transition.
• India has met its commitment of 40% of its installed electricity capacity from non-fossil energy sources by 2030 November 2021.
• The country’s installed Renewable Energy (RE) capacity by October 2022 stands at 166 Giga Watt while its nuclear energy-based installed electricity capacity stands at 6.78 Giga Watt.
• India is setting up 2G refineries utilizing agricultural waste and bamboo to make ethanol, using indigenous technology.
• This contributes to achieving rural prosperity and also goes a long way in reducing pollution along with achieving energy security goals.
• E20 Fuel launched recently also added to the splendid Indian journey to decarbonization with roll out of E20 by PM yesterday, much earlier than the initial target date of 1st April 2023.
  • Fifteen cities will be covered under phase 1. A phased rollout of E20 in the entire country is targeted till April 2025.

About International Energy Forum

• IEF is world’s largest international organization of energy ministers from 72 countries (including India) and includes both producing and consuming nations.
• Member countries are signatories to IEF Charter, which outlines framework of global energy dialogue through this inter-governmental organization.
• HQ: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.