Raigad Fort

Context:

• The fort of Raigad is part of the 12 forts nominated for UNESCO World Heritage under the title “Maratha Military Landscapes of India”

About Raigad fort:

• It carries the echoes of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s reign.
• The “Sabhasad Bakhar” (Ancient letter) reflects how Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj selected the Raigad fort as the capital of the Maratha Empire.
• It mentions, “Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj observed the potential of the hill or Rairi, which has steep escarpment and is the tallest of all mountains and hills in the region.
• The seamless and unbroken nature of the rock was a great potential.
• The fort of Daulatabad is also a good fort; however, it is not as good as Raigad, as this is taller and better, hence will be most suitable as a capital and a throne for the king.”
• Raigad, surrounded by valleys shaped by the Kal and Gandhari rivers, stands as an isolated massif without connections to neighbouring hills.
• Its impregnable nature, attributed to physiographic features like steep cliffs and 1500-foot escarpments, is underscored by innovative military defence tactics.
• Grant Duff, a British historian of the Maratha period has drawn parallels between Raigad and the Rock of Gibraltar.
• He has gone to the extent of labelling Raigad as the Gibraltar of the east.
• The theme of the backdrop of this year’s Rashtriya Ekta Divas celebrations at Kevadiya, Gujarat is the Raigad Fort.

History of Raigad Fort:

• In 1653 CE, Raigad (then known as Rairi) was captured by the Maratha forces from the Mores’.
• In order to make the fort worthy of being a capital, Shivaji Maharaj assigned the work of reconstruction of the fort to Hiroji Indulkar.
• Subsquently, on 6th June, 1674 CE a grand coronation ceremony of Shivaji Maharaj was held on Raigad post, during which he attained the title of “Chhatrapati”.
• The fort served as the second capital of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and played an important role in the administration and expansion of the Maratha Kingdom.
• It is identified as Durgaraj (king of forts).
• Various landmarks have lent it the credo of ‘Shiva teerth’.
• The fort has attained the status of a holy shrine for the Shivbhakts as thousands of people throng the fort.
• Shivaji Maharaj had wrested the Fort from Chandrarao More in 1656 CE.
• Shivaji Maharaj had ruled Hindvi Swaraj from Raigad Fort for six years till his death in 1680 CE.
• It is quite unfortunate that except Shivaji Maharaj’s Samadhi, Naqqar Khana, Sirkai Devi Temple, Jagadishwar Temple – a shrine dedicated to Lord Siva – most of the structures located within the fort, including the Hall of Public Audience (Rajsadar), Royal Complex, Queens’ palace (Ranivasa), Bazarpeth, Manore (pleasure pavilions), Wadeshwar Temple, Khublada Burj, Massid Morcha, Nanne Darwaza are in a bad state of preservation.

Birsa Munda

Context:

• PM Modi asks to celebrate 150th birth anniversary of Birsa Munda

About Birsa Munda:

• Birsa Munda was a young freedom fighter and a tribal leader, whose spirit of activism in the late nineteenth century, is remembered to be a strong mark of protest against British rule in India.
• Born and raised in the tribal belt around Bihar and Jharkhand, Birsa Munda’s achievements are known to be even more remarkable by virtue of the fact that he came to acquire them before he was 25.
• In recognition of his impact on the national movement, the state of Jharkhand was created on his birth anniversary in 2000.
• Born on November 15, 1875, Birsa spent much of his childhood moving from one village to another with his parents.
• He belonged to the Munda tribe in the Chhotanagpur Plateau area.
• He received his early education under the guidance of his teacher Jaipal Nag.
• On the recommendation of Jaipal Nag, Birsa converted to Christianity in order to join the German Mission School.
• He, however, opted out of the school after a few years.
• The impact of Christianity was felt in the way he came to relate to religion later.
• Having gained awareness of the British colonial rulers and the efforts of the missionaries to convert tribals to Christianity, Birsa started the faith of ‘Birsait’.
• Soon members of the Munda and Oraon community started joining the Birsait sect and it turned into a challenge to British conversion activities.
• During the period, 1886 to 1890, Birsa Munda spent a large amount of time in Chaibasa which was close to the centre of the Sardars agitation.
• The activities of the Sardars had a strong impact on the mind of the young Birsa, who soon became a part of the anti-missionary and anti-government program.
• By the time he left Chaibasa in 1890, Birsa was strongly entrenched in the movement against the British oppression of the tribal communities.
• On March 3, 1900, Birsa Munda was arrested by the British police while he was sleeping with his tribal guerilla army at Jamkopai forest in Chakradharpur.
• He died in Ranchi jail on June 9, 1900 at a young age of 25.
• Though he lived a short span of life and the fact that the movement died out soon after his death, Birsa Munda is known to have mobilised the tribal community against the British and had also forced the colonial officials to introduce laws protecting the land rights of the tribals.
• Birsa’s achievements as a young tribal revolutionary has continued to be celebrated over decades now and he has successfully carved out a space for himself in popular and folk literature, academia, and mass media.

CERT-In releases advisory on online scams

News:

• Cyber-security agency Computer Emergency Response Team of India (CERT-In) shared a list of ways in which online scams are being perpetrated by fraudsters in the country, including “digital arrest”.
• The public advisory talks about more than a dozen ways fraudsters use to dupe people and steal their money and private data.
• It came on a day when Prime Minister Narendra Modi too cautioned people against such frauds in his monthly ‘Mann ki Baat’ radio broadcast.

More info:

• The CERT-In advisory said “digital arrest” is an online scam as “government agencies do not use platforms like WhatsApp or Skype for official communication”. “Verify their identity by directly contacting the relevant agency,” it recommended.
• In a case of “digital arrest”, victims receive a phone call, e-mail, or message claiming that they are under investigation for illegal activities, such as identity theft or money laundering, the advisory said.
• The scammer threatens the victim with arrest or legal consequences unless he or she takes immediate action.
• They often create a sense of panic to prevent rational thinking, the advisory said.
• Under the guise of “clearing their name”, “assisting with the investigation” ,or “refundable security deposit/escrow account”, individuals are coerced into transferring large sums of money to specified bank accounts or UPI IDs, it added.
• The advisory also spoke about other online cons like “phishing scams”, in which scammers create e-mails or messages that appear legitimate, often using logos and branding from trusted organisations.
• “Emotional manipulation scams” are perpetrated on online dating communication apps where scammers build emotional connections and then solicit money for emergencies like medical treatment and request that funds be sent via crypto currency.
• “Job scams” are meant to con fresh graduates by posting about fake work listings on legitimate hiring portals or social media.
• As part of “tech-support scams”, cyber criminals take advantage of a user’s lack of technical knowledge and stealthily gain access to his computer by warning about a virus and then steal sensitive personal data.
• “Investment scams” cash on a person’s desire to earn quick money as they promise “unrealistic” returns via Ponzi or pyramid schemes and in “cash-on-delivery scams”, criminals set up fake online stores accepting CoD orders. When the product is delivered, it is either counterfeit or completely different from what was advertised.
• To con people using “fake charity appeal scams”, scammers create convincing websites or social media profiles asking for donations for fake causes like disaster relief or health initiatives and use such images or stories that provoke sympathy or urgency.
• “Mistaken money-transfer scams” are those in which fraudsters contact a victim via e-mail or social media, claiming that money has been mistakenly sent to his account as they use fake transaction receipts to ask the person to return the funds immediately to avoid legal issues.
• “Phone scams” are those where victims receive calls or messages under the fake name of a telecom regulatory body, saying there is an “issue” in their service as they urgently seek one-time passwords (OTPs) and banking information for identity verification.
• “Parcel scams” are like “digital arrest” where victims are informed over a call or message that they are under probe as their ‘drugs-laden parcel’ has been seized and they will be arrested or may have to face legal consequences if they do not pay a fine.
• As part of the “loan or cards scam”, fraudsters offer loans with low interest rates, coupled with quick approval, and “disappear” after the victim transfers an upfront fee for securing the loan.

INDIA IN SPACE

Context:

• Building on the moon landing, ISRO is now planning a Venus mission and further moon exploration, a new launcher is being developed as the private sector also begins to take a hand in the space effort.
• A green propulsion system and low earth orbit satellite developed in the private sector will be seen in action soon.

News:

• The Indian government recently signed off on numerous new projects, including work on a new rocket and new moon and Venus mission.
• India is also preparing to launch the NISAR and Proba-3 satellites, and has received some good news from Astrosat.
• The private sector is also working on satellite projects of its own.

Recent approvals:

• The union cabinet approved ISRO’s development of the Next Generation Launch Vehicle (NGLV).
• ISRO is expected to develop the vehicle in collaboration with industry.
• The Cabinet has also approved a scientific mission to Venus and the next Chandrayaan mission to the Moon.
• The Venus Orbiter Mission is expected to be launched in a window available in March 2028.
• With the mission, scientists hope to study the planet’s acerbic surface and atmosphere to understand how different planets of the Solar System evolved.

Chandrayaan-4 and LUPEX:

• Chandrayaan-4 will be a sample-return mission.
• Its components will be launched on two separate LVM-3 launch vehicles; they will dock in earth orbit before going to the moon, and land on the surface near the location of Chandrayaan 3.
• There the mission will scoop up some samples of moon soil and rock and send them back to the earth onboard a bespoke canister.
• The mission is expected to be launched by 2027.
• The Space Commission also approved a joint moon mission with Japan called the Lunar Polar Exploration Mission (LUPEX).
• For LUPEX, ISRO is developing a different moon lander than the one it used for Chandrayaan-3, and which it hopes can be used in crewed lunar missions in future.
• The Commission also signed off on the development of a third launch pad at Sriharikota, which ISRO will need to test and launch the NGLV (Next Generation Launch Vehicle).

SBS and Axiom-4:

• The Cabinet Committee on Security approved the third phase of the Space Based Surveillance (SBS) missions.
• For this, ISRO will build 21 satellites and private companies will build another 31.
• This is a significant improvement over the four satellites ISRO built for SBS-1 in 2001 and six for SBS-2 in 2013.
• India’s astronaut-designate Sudhanshu Shukla had his space suit measured and also underwent pressurisation tests at the SpaceX headquarters.
• The event marks the official start of his 10-day training programme before he will fly to the International Space Station aboard the Axiom-4 mission next year.

Satellites en route to India:

• The NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) is an earth-observation satellite whose radar antenna reflector recently landed in India from the Jet Propulsion Lab in California.
• ISRO is expected to launch NISAR in early 2025 on board a Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle.
• The other mission, Proba-3 from Europe, will study the Sun’s corona.
• It will have two satellites flying in formation: one will gaze at the Sun while the other will block the first satellite’s view of the Sun’s central area, like creating an eclipse, leaving only light from the corona to hit the cameras.
• The European Space Agency has said Proba 3 is expected to launch on board a PSLV-XL vehicle on November 29.
• India previously launched Proba-1 on the PSLV-C3 mission, in 2001.

From the private sector:

• Manastu Space signed an agreement with Dhruva Space to test its green propulsion technology to power the latter’s Launching Expeditions for Aspiring Payloads (LEAP-3) mission.
• LEAP-3 will carry payloads from different companies in 2025.
• Manastu is developing a green propulsion system using a hydrogen-peroxide-based fuel.
• It first tested LEAP on the PSLV-C58 mission on January 1 this year.
• Bellatrix Aerospace unveiled ‘Project 200’, a prototype for a satellite that can fly at an altitude of 200 km. a.k.a. the ultra-low earth orbit.
• Ananth Technologies became the first private Indian company to assemble, integrate, and test two Space Docking Experiment (SpaDEx) satellites for ISRO.

Space science:

• Scientists have found that the crater where Chandrayaan-3 landed is older than the South Pole Aitken Basin, itself 4.2-4.3 billion years old.
• This was based on data from the Optical High-Resolution Camera onboard the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter and navigational cameras on board Pragyaan, the Chandrayaan-3 rover.
• Astrosat, India’s first multi-wavelength space observatory, was built with a mission life of five years but has now operated for nine.
• Based on fuel readings, it is expected to last for another two years.
• The data collected by the observatory has been the basis of more than 400 published papers.