Types of Satellites/Indian Space Programme
Types of SatellitesIndia Satellite Programmes
Types of Satellites
A satellite is a moon, planet or machine that orbits a planet or star. For example, Earth is a satellite because it orbits the sun. Likewise, the moon is a satellite because it orbits Earth. Usually, the word “satellite” refers to a machine that is launched into space and moves around Earth or another body in space.
Earth and the moon are examples of natural satellites. Thousands of artificial, or man-made, satellites orbit Earth.
A. Astronomical Satellites
• These satellites are used for the observation of distant stars and other objects in space. India’s envisioned ASTROSAT is an Astronomical satellite.
• The most famous astronomical satellite is the Hubble Telescope. Although now reaching the end of its life it has enabled scientists to see many things that would otherwise not have been possible.
• These satellites are used for the observation of distant stars and other objects in space. India’s envisioned ASTROSAT is an Astronomical satellite.
• The most famous astronomical satellite is the Hubble Telescope. Although now reaching the end of its life it has enabled scientists to see many things that would otherwise not have been possible.
Astronomy Satellites have many Different Applications:
• They can be used to make star maps.
• They can be used to study mysterious phenomena such as Black holes and Quasars.
• They can be used to take pictures of the planets in the solar system.
• They can be used to make maps of different planetary surfaces.
• They can be used to make star maps.
• They can be used to study mysterious phenomena such as Black holes and Quasars.
• They can be used to take pictures of the planets in the solar system.
• They can be used to make maps of different planetary surfaces.
B. Communications Satellites
• These satellites possibly form the greatest number of satellites that are in orbit. They are used for communicating over large distances. INSAT and GSAT of India comes under this category.
• The Indian National Satellite (INSAT) systems which are placed in Geo-stationary orbits are one of the largest domestic communication satellite systems in Asia-Pacific region.
• The height of the satellite above the Earth enables the satellites to communicate over vast distances, and thereby overcoming the curvature of the Earth’s surface.
Even within the communications field there are a number of sub-categories.
• Some satellites are used for point to point telecommunications links, others are used for mobile communications, and there are those used for direct broadcast. There are even some satellites used for mobile phone style communications.
• These satellites possibly form the greatest number of satellites that are in orbit. They are used for communicating over large distances. INSAT and GSAT of India comes under this category.
• The Indian National Satellite (INSAT) systems which are placed in Geo-stationary orbits are one of the largest domestic communication satellite systems in Asia-Pacific region.
• The height of the satellite above the Earth enables the satellites to communicate over vast distances, and thereby overcoming the curvature of the Earth’s surface.
Even within the communications field there are a number of sub-categories.
• Some satellites are used for point to point telecommunications links, others are used for mobile communications, and there are those used for direct broadcast. There are even some satellites used for mobile phone style communications.
C. Earth Observation Satellites
• These satellites are used for observing the earth’s surface and as a result they are often termed geographical satellites. India’s IRS and RESOURCESAT are part of this.
• The data is used for several applications covering agriculture, water resources, urban development, mineral prospecting, environment, forestry, drought and flood forecasting, ocean resources and disaster management.
• Using these satellites it is possible to see many features that are not obvious from the earth’s surface, or even at the altitudes at which aircraft fly.
• Using these earth observation satellites many geographical features have become obvious and they have even been used in mineral search and exploitation.
• These satellites are used for observing the earth’s surface and as a result they are often termed geographical satellites. India’s IRS and RESOURCESAT are part of this.
• The data is used for several applications covering agriculture, water resources, urban development, mineral prospecting, environment, forestry, drought and flood forecasting, ocean resources and disaster management.
• Using these satellites it is possible to see many features that are not obvious from the earth’s surface, or even at the altitudes at which aircraft fly.
• Using these earth observation satellites many geographical features have become obvious and they have even been used in mineral search and exploitation.
D. Navigation Satellites
• In recent years, satellites have been used for accurate navigation. The 1st system known as GPS (Global Positioning System) was set up by the USA and was primarily intended for use as a highly accurate military system. Since then, it has been adopted by a huge number of commercial and private users including India.
• India launched its own navigation satellite in the name of IRNSS-Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System.
• In recent years, satellites have been used for accurate navigation. The 1st system known as GPS (Global Positioning System) was set up by the USA and was primarily intended for use as a highly accurate military system. Since then, it has been adopted by a huge number of commercial and private users including India.
• India launched its own navigation satellite in the name of IRNSS-Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System.
E. Reconnaissance Satellites:
• These satellites are able to see objects on the ground and are accordingly used for military purposes. As such their performance and operation is kept secret and not publicized. DRONES are part of reconnaissance system.
• These satellites are able to see objects on the ground and are accordingly used for military purposes. As such their performance and operation is kept secret and not publicized. DRONES are part of reconnaissance system.
F. Weather Satellites
• As the name implies these satellites are used to monitor the weather. They have helped considerably in the forecasting of the weather and have helped provide a much better understanding not only of the underlying phenomena, but also in enabling predictions to be made.
• India’s Kalpana-1 and INSAT-3A are part of this.
• As the name implies these satellites are used to monitor the weather. They have helped considerably in the forecasting of the weather and have helped provide a much better understanding not only of the underlying phenomena, but also in enabling predictions to be made.
• India’s Kalpana-1 and INSAT-3A are part of this.
G. Student Satellites
• ISRO has influenced educational institutions by its activities like making satellites for communication, remote sensing and astronomy. The launch of Chandrayaan-1 increased the interest of universities and institutions towards making experimental student satellites. Capable Universities and institution can venture into space technology on orbit with guidance and support from ISRO in following ways:
• Every satellite carries a payload that performs the intended function to achieve the mission goal and the main bus that supports the payload function. The Development of payloads may comprise of detectors, electronics and associated algorithms, which can be an experimental piggy back payload on the ISRO’s on-going (Small or operational) satellite projects.
• Example- ANUSAT, STUDSAT, YOUTHSAT, Jugnu, SRMsat.
• ISRO has influenced educational institutions by its activities like making satellites for communication, remote sensing and astronomy. The launch of Chandrayaan-1 increased the interest of universities and institutions towards making experimental student satellites. Capable Universities and institution can venture into space technology on orbit with guidance and support from ISRO in following ways:
• Every satellite carries a payload that performs the intended function to achieve the mission goal and the main bus that supports the payload function. The Development of payloads may comprise of detectors, electronics and associated algorithms, which can be an experimental piggy back payload on the ISRO’s on-going (Small or operational) satellite projects.
• Example- ANUSAT, STUDSAT, YOUTHSAT, Jugnu, SRMsat.
Regional Powers/Marathas/Society in 18th Century
Regional Power-CentersThe Maratha Indian States and Society In the 18th Century
Regional Powers
• The states that arose in India during the phase of Mughal decline and the following century varied greatly in terms of resources, longevity, and essential character.
• Some of them-such as Awadh in the north and Hyderabad in the south were located in areas that had harboured regional states in the immediate pre-Mughal period and thus could hark back to an older local or regional tradition of state formation.
• Others were states that had a more original character and derived from very specific processes that had taken place in the course of the late 16th and 17th centuries. In particular, many of the post-Mughal states were based on ethnic or sectarian groupings – the Marathas, the Jats, and the Sikhs, for instance-which had no real precedent in Indian history.
• Some of them-such as Awadh in the north and Hyderabad in the south were located in areas that had harboured regional states in the immediate pre-Mughal period and thus could hark back to an older local or regional tradition of state formation.
• Others were states that had a more original character and derived from very specific processes that had taken place in the course of the late 16th and 17th centuries. In particular, many of the post-Mughal states were based on ethnic or sectarian groupings – the Marathas, the Jats, and the Sikhs, for instance-which had no real precedent in Indian history.
KINGDOM OF BENGAL
• Taking advantage of the growing weakness of the central authority Murshid Quli Khan and Alivardi Khan, made Bengal virtually independent.
• Even though Murshid Quli Khan was made Governor of Bengal as late as 1717, he had been its effective ruler since 1700, when he was appointed its Dewan.
• He soon freed himself from central control, though he sent regular tribute to the Emperor.
• He established peace by freeing Bengal of internal and external danger.
• Bengal was now also relatively free of uprisings by zamindars.
• The only three major uprisings during his rule were first by Sitaram Ray, Udai Narayan and Ghulani Muhammad, and then by Shujat Khan, and finally by Najat Khan.
• After defeating them, Murshid Quli Khan gave their zamindaris to his favourite, Ramjivan.
• Murshid Quh Khan died in 1727, and his son-in-law Slmja-ud-din ruled Bengal till 1739.
• In that year, Alivardi Khan deposed and killed Shuja-ud-din’s son, Sarfaraz Khan, and made himself the Nawab.
• These three Nawabs gave Bengal a long period of peace and orderly administration and promoted its trade and industry.
• Mursliid Quli Khan effected economies in the administration and reorganized the finances of Bengal by transferring large parts of jagir lands into khahsah lands by carrying out a fresh revenue settlement, and by introducing the system of revenue-farming.
• Mursliid Quli Khan also granted agricultural loans (taccavi) to the poor cultivators to relieve their distress as well as to enable them to pay land revenue in time. He was thus able to increase the resources of the Bengal Government.
• But the system of revenue-farming led to increased economic pressure on the peasant. Moreover, even though he demanded only the standard revenue and forbade illegal cesses, he collected the revenue from the zamindars and the peasants with utmost cruelty.
• Another result of his reforms was that many of the older zamindars were driven out and their place taken by upstart revenue-farmers.
• Murshid Quli Khan and the succeeding Nawabs gave equal opportunities for employment to Hindus and Muslims.
• They filled the highest civil posts and many of the military posts with Bengalis, most of whom were Hindus.
• In choosing revenue farmers Murshid Quli Khan gave preference to local zamindars and mahajans (money-lenders) who were mainly Hindus. He thus laid the foundations of a new landed aristocracy in Bengal.
• All the three Nawabs recognized that expansion of trade benefited the people and the Government, and, therefore, gave encouragement to all merchants, Indian or foreign.
• They provided for the safety of roads and rivers from thieves and robbers by establishing regular thanas and chowkies.
• They checked private trade by officials and prevented abuses in the customs administration.
• At the same time they made it a point to maintain strict control over the foreign trading companies and their servants and prevented them from abusing their privileges.
• They compelled the servants of the English East India Company to obey the laws of the land and to pay the same customs duties as were being paid by other merchants.
• Alivardi Khan did not permit the English and the French to fortify their factories in Calcutta and Chandranagar.
• The Bengal Nawabs proved, however, to be short-sighted and negligent, by not firmly putting down the increasing tendency of the English.
• Initially they had the power to deal with the Company’s threats, but they continued to believe that a mere trading company could not threaten their power.
• They failed to see that the English Company was no mere company of traders but was the representative of the most aggressive and expansionist colonialism of the time.
• The Nawabs of Bengal neglected to build a strong army and paid a heavy price for it. The army of Murshid Quh Khan consisted of only 2000 cavalry and 4000 infantry.
• Alivardi Khan was constantly troubled by the repeated invasions of the Marathas and, in the end, he had to cede a large part of Orissa to them.
• When, in 1756-57, English East India Company declared war on Siraj-ud-Daulah, the successor of Alivardi, the absence of a strong army contributed much to the victory of the Company.
• The Bengal Nawabs also failed to check the growing corruption among their officials. Even judicial officials, the qazis and muftis, were taking bribes.
• The foreign companies took full advantage of this weakness to undermine official rules and regulations and policies.
• Even though Murshid Quli Khan was made Governor of Bengal as late as 1717, he had been its effective ruler since 1700, when he was appointed its Dewan.
• He soon freed himself from central control, though he sent regular tribute to the Emperor.
• He established peace by freeing Bengal of internal and external danger.
• Bengal was now also relatively free of uprisings by zamindars.
• The only three major uprisings during his rule were first by Sitaram Ray, Udai Narayan and Ghulani Muhammad, and then by Shujat Khan, and finally by Najat Khan.
• After defeating them, Murshid Quli Khan gave their zamindaris to his favourite, Ramjivan.
• Murshid Quh Khan died in 1727, and his son-in-law Slmja-ud-din ruled Bengal till 1739.
• In that year, Alivardi Khan deposed and killed Shuja-ud-din’s son, Sarfaraz Khan, and made himself the Nawab.
• These three Nawabs gave Bengal a long period of peace and orderly administration and promoted its trade and industry.
• Mursliid Quli Khan effected economies in the administration and reorganized the finances of Bengal by transferring large parts of jagir lands into khahsah lands by carrying out a fresh revenue settlement, and by introducing the system of revenue-farming.
• Mursliid Quli Khan also granted agricultural loans (taccavi) to the poor cultivators to relieve their distress as well as to enable them to pay land revenue in time. He was thus able to increase the resources of the Bengal Government.
• But the system of revenue-farming led to increased economic pressure on the peasant. Moreover, even though he demanded only the standard revenue and forbade illegal cesses, he collected the revenue from the zamindars and the peasants with utmost cruelty.
• Another result of his reforms was that many of the older zamindars were driven out and their place taken by upstart revenue-farmers.
• Murshid Quli Khan and the succeeding Nawabs gave equal opportunities for employment to Hindus and Muslims.
• They filled the highest civil posts and many of the military posts with Bengalis, most of whom were Hindus.
• In choosing revenue farmers Murshid Quli Khan gave preference to local zamindars and mahajans (money-lenders) who were mainly Hindus. He thus laid the foundations of a new landed aristocracy in Bengal.
• All the three Nawabs recognized that expansion of trade benefited the people and the Government, and, therefore, gave encouragement to all merchants, Indian or foreign.
• They provided for the safety of roads and rivers from thieves and robbers by establishing regular thanas and chowkies.
• They checked private trade by officials and prevented abuses in the customs administration.
• At the same time they made it a point to maintain strict control over the foreign trading companies and their servants and prevented them from abusing their privileges.
• They compelled the servants of the English East India Company to obey the laws of the land and to pay the same customs duties as were being paid by other merchants.
• Alivardi Khan did not permit the English and the French to fortify their factories in Calcutta and Chandranagar.
• The Bengal Nawabs proved, however, to be short-sighted and negligent, by not firmly putting down the increasing tendency of the English.
• Initially they had the power to deal with the Company’s threats, but they continued to believe that a mere trading company could not threaten their power.
• They failed to see that the English Company was no mere company of traders but was the representative of the most aggressive and expansionist colonialism of the time.
• The Nawabs of Bengal neglected to build a strong army and paid a heavy price for it. The army of Murshid Quh Khan consisted of only 2000 cavalry and 4000 infantry.
• Alivardi Khan was constantly troubled by the repeated invasions of the Marathas and, in the end, he had to cede a large part of Orissa to them.
• When, in 1756-57, English East India Company declared war on Siraj-ud-Daulah, the successor of Alivardi, the absence of a strong army contributed much to the victory of the Company.
• The Bengal Nawabs also failed to check the growing corruption among their officials. Even judicial officials, the qazis and muftis, were taking bribes.
• The foreign companies took full advantage of this weakness to undermine official rules and regulations and policies.
AUTONOMOUS KINGDOM OF AVADH
• The founder of the autonomous kingdom of Avadh was Saadat Khan Burhan-ul-Mulk who was appointed Governor of Avadh in 1722.
• He was an extremely bold, energetic, iron-willed, and intelligent person.
• At the time of his appointment, rebellious zamindars had raised their heads everywhere in the province and they refused to pay the land tax, organized their own private armies, erected forts, and defied the Imperial Government.
• Saadat Kha succeeded in suppressing lawlessness and disciplining the big zamindars and thus, increasing the financial resources of his government.
• Most of the defeated zamindars were, however, not displaced. They were usually confirmed in their estates after they had submitted and agreed to pay their dues (land revenue) regularly. Moreover, they continued to be refractory. Whenever the Nawab’s military hold weakened or he was engaged in some other direction, they would rebel, thus weakening the Nawab’s power.
• As Safdar Jang, Saadat Khan’s successor, made out a fresh revenue settlement in 1723. He is said to have improved the lot of the peasant by levying equitable land revenue and by protecting them from oppression by the big zamindars.
• Like the Bengal Nawabs, he too did not discriminate between Hindus and Muslims. Many of his commanders and high officials were Hindus, and he curbed refractory zamindars, chiefs, and nobles irrespective of their religion.
• His troops’ were well-paid, well-armed, and well-trained. His administration was efficient.
• Before his death in 1739, he had become virtually independent and had made the province a hereditary possession.
• He was succeeded by his nephew Safdar Jang, who was simultaneously appointed the wazir of the Empire in 1748 and granted in addition the province of Allahabad.
• Safdar Jang gave a long period of peace to the people of Avadh and Allahabad before his death in 1754.
• He suppressed rebellious zamindars and made an alliance with the Maratha sardars so that his dominion was saved from their incursions.
• He carried on warfare against the Rohelas and the Bangash Pathans. In his war against the Bangash Nawabs in 1750-51, he secured Maratha military help by paying a daily allowance of Rs. 25,000 and Jat support by paying Rs. 15,000 a day.
• Later, he entered into an agreement with the Peshva by which the Peshwa was to help the Mughal Empire against Ahmad Shah Abdali and to protect it from such internal rebels as the Indian Pathans and the Rajput rajas.
• In return the Peshwa was to be paid Rs. 50 lakhs, granted the chauth of the Punjab, Sindh, and several districts of northern India, and made the Governor of Ajmer and Agra. The agreement failed, however, as the Peshwa went over to Safdar Jang’s enemies at Delhi who promised him the governorship of Avadh and Allahabad.
• Safdar Jang also organized an equitable system of justice.
• He too adopted a policy of impartiality in the employment of Hindus and Muslims. The highest post in his Government was held by a Hindu,
• He was an extremely bold, energetic, iron-willed, and intelligent person.
• At the time of his appointment, rebellious zamindars had raised their heads everywhere in the province and they refused to pay the land tax, organized their own private armies, erected forts, and defied the Imperial Government.
• Saadat Kha succeeded in suppressing lawlessness and disciplining the big zamindars and thus, increasing the financial resources of his government.
• Most of the defeated zamindars were, however, not displaced. They were usually confirmed in their estates after they had submitted and agreed to pay their dues (land revenue) regularly. Moreover, they continued to be refractory. Whenever the Nawab’s military hold weakened or he was engaged in some other direction, they would rebel, thus weakening the Nawab’s power.
• As Safdar Jang, Saadat Khan’s successor, made out a fresh revenue settlement in 1723. He is said to have improved the lot of the peasant by levying equitable land revenue and by protecting them from oppression by the big zamindars.
• Like the Bengal Nawabs, he too did not discriminate between Hindus and Muslims. Many of his commanders and high officials were Hindus, and he curbed refractory zamindars, chiefs, and nobles irrespective of their religion.
• His troops’ were well-paid, well-armed, and well-trained. His administration was efficient.
• Before his death in 1739, he had become virtually independent and had made the province a hereditary possession.
• He was succeeded by his nephew Safdar Jang, who was simultaneously appointed the wazir of the Empire in 1748 and granted in addition the province of Allahabad.
• Safdar Jang gave a long period of peace to the people of Avadh and Allahabad before his death in 1754.
• He suppressed rebellious zamindars and made an alliance with the Maratha sardars so that his dominion was saved from their incursions.
• He carried on warfare against the Rohelas and the Bangash Pathans. In his war against the Bangash Nawabs in 1750-51, he secured Maratha military help by paying a daily allowance of Rs. 25,000 and Jat support by paying Rs. 15,000 a day.
• Later, he entered into an agreement with the Peshva by which the Peshwa was to help the Mughal Empire against Ahmad Shah Abdali and to protect it from such internal rebels as the Indian Pathans and the Rajput rajas.
• In return the Peshwa was to be paid Rs. 50 lakhs, granted the chauth of the Punjab, Sindh, and several districts of northern India, and made the Governor of Ajmer and Agra. The agreement failed, however, as the Peshwa went over to Safdar Jang’s enemies at Delhi who promised him the governorship of Avadh and Allahabad.
• Safdar Jang also organized an equitable system of justice.
• He too adopted a policy of impartiality in the employment of Hindus and Muslims. The highest post in his Government was held by a Hindu,
MAHARAJA NAWAB RAI
• The prolonged period of peace and of economic prosperity of the nobles under the government of the Nawabs resulted in time in the growth of a distinct Lucknow culture around the Avadh court.
• Lucknow, for long an important city of Avadh, and the seat of the Avadh Nawabs after 1775, soon rivaled Delhi in its patronage of arts and literature. It also developed as an important centre of handicrafts.
• Safdar Jang maintained a very high standard of personal morality. All his life he was devoted to his only wife.
• As a matter of fact all the founders of the three autonomous kingdoms of Hyderabad, Bengal, and Avadh, namely, Nizam-uI-Mulk, Murshid Quli Khan and Alivardi Khan, and Saadat Khan and Safdar Jang, were men of high personal morality.
• Nearly all of them led austere and simple, lives. Their lives give refute the belief that all the leading nobles of the 18th century led extravagant and luxurious lives. It was only in their public and political dealings that they resorted to fraud, intrigue and treachery.
• Lucknow, for long an important city of Avadh, and the seat of the Avadh Nawabs after 1775, soon rivaled Delhi in its patronage of arts and literature. It also developed as an important centre of handicrafts.
• Safdar Jang maintained a very high standard of personal morality. All his life he was devoted to his only wife.
• As a matter of fact all the founders of the three autonomous kingdoms of Hyderabad, Bengal, and Avadh, namely, Nizam-uI-Mulk, Murshid Quli Khan and Alivardi Khan, and Saadat Khan and Safdar Jang, were men of high personal morality.
• Nearly all of them led austere and simple, lives. Their lives give refute the belief that all the leading nobles of the 18th century led extravagant and luxurious lives. It was only in their public and political dealings that they resorted to fraud, intrigue and treachery.
THE SIKHS
• The origins of the Sikhs, a religious group initially formed as a sect within the larger Hindu community, lie in the Punjab in the 15th century.
• The Sikh founder, Guru Nanak (1469-1539), was roughly a contemporary of Babur, and belonged to the Khatri community of scribes and traders.
• From an early career as a scribe for an important noble of the Lodi dynasty, Nanak became a wandering preacher before settling down at Kartarpur in the Punjab at about the time of Babur’s invasion.
• By the time of his death, he had numerous followers, albeit within a limited region, and, like many other religious leaders of the time, founded a fictive lineage (i.e., one not related by blood) of Gurus who succeeded him.
• His immediate successor was Guru Angad, chosen by Nanak before his death. He too was a Khatri, as indeed were all the remaining Gurus, though of various subcastes.
• In practice, the essential teachings of Nanak, collected in the Adi Granth (Punjabi: “First Book”), represented a syncretic melding of elements of Vaishnava devotional Hinduism and Sufi Islam, with a goodly amount of social criticism thrown in.
• No political program is evident in the work, but religious movements in the period had a tendency to assume political overtones, by virtue of the fact that they created bonds of solidarity among their adherents, who could then challenge the authority of the state in some fashion.
• The Sikh challenge to the Mughal state could be seen as prefigured in Nanak’s own critical remarks directed at Babur, but in reality it took almost three-quarters of a century to come to fruition.
• It was in the early 17th century-when under somewhat obscure circumstances Guru Arjun was tortured and killed by Mughal authorities-that the first signs of a major conflict appeared.
• Guru Arjun was accused of abetting a rebel Mughal prince, Khusraw, and, more significantly, found mention in Jahangir’s memoirs as someone who ran a “shop” where religious falsehoods were sold (apparently a reference to the Khatri origins of the Guru).
• His successor, Hargobind (1595-1644), then began the move toward armed assertion by constructing a fortified centre and holding court from the so-called Akal Takht (“Throne of the Timeless One”).
• After a brief imprisonment by the Mughals for these activities, Hargobind was released, and he once more entered into armed conflict with Mughal officials. He was forced to spend the last years of his life in the Rajput principality of Hindur, outside direct Mughal jurisdiction, where he maintained a small military force.
• Under Hargobind’s son Tegh Bahadur, who became ninth Guru in 1664, conflicts with the Mughals once again increased, partly as a result of Tegh Bahadur’s success as a preacher and proselytizer and partly because of the rather orthodox line of Sunni Islam espoused by Aurangzeb.
• In 1675 Tegh Bahadur was captured and executed upon his refusal to accept Islam, thus laying the path for the increased militancy under the last of the Gurus, Gobind Singh (1675-1708).
• It should be stressed that it was the very success of the Sikh Gurus in attracting followers and acquiring temporal power that prompted such a response from the Mughals. However, rather than suppressing Sikhism, the policy of Aurangzeb backfired.
• Guru Gobind Singh assumed all the trappings of a chieftain, gave battle to Mughal forces on more than one occasion, and founded a new centre at Anandpur in 1689.
• His letters also suggest the partial assumption of temporal authority, being termed hukmnamas (loosely, “royal orders”). However, he still chose to negotiate with the Mughals, first with Aurangzeb and then, after the latter’s death, with Bahadur Shah I.
• Ironically, with Gobind Singh’s death, the Sikh threat to Mughal dominance increased. In a further twist, this resulted from the assumption of leadership in the Punjab by Banda Singh Bahadur, a Maratha who had come under the Guru’s influence during the latter’s last days at Nanded in Maharashtra.
• Between 1709 and late 1710 the Sikhs under Banda enjoyed dramatic successes in the sarkars (districts) of Sirhind, Hisar, and Saharanpur, all of them ominously close to Delhi.
• Banda set up a capital at Mukhlispur, issued coins in the names of the Gurus (a particularly bold lèse-majesté), and began to use a seal on his orders even as the Mughals did.
• In late 1710 and 1711 the Mughal forces counter-attacked, and Banda and his forces retreated.
• Expelled from Sirhind, he then moved his operations west into the vicinity of Lahore. Here too he was unsuccessful, and eventually he and his forces were forced to retreat to the fort of Gurdas Nangal. There they surrendered to Mughal forces after a prolonged siege, and Banda was executed in Delhi in 1716.
• This phase of activity is especially important for two reasons.
• The Sikh founder, Guru Nanak (1469-1539), was roughly a contemporary of Babur, and belonged to the Khatri community of scribes and traders.
• From an early career as a scribe for an important noble of the Lodi dynasty, Nanak became a wandering preacher before settling down at Kartarpur in the Punjab at about the time of Babur’s invasion.
• By the time of his death, he had numerous followers, albeit within a limited region, and, like many other religious leaders of the time, founded a fictive lineage (i.e., one not related by blood) of Gurus who succeeded him.
• His immediate successor was Guru Angad, chosen by Nanak before his death. He too was a Khatri, as indeed were all the remaining Gurus, though of various subcastes.
• In practice, the essential teachings of Nanak, collected in the Adi Granth (Punjabi: “First Book”), represented a syncretic melding of elements of Vaishnava devotional Hinduism and Sufi Islam, with a goodly amount of social criticism thrown in.
• No political program is evident in the work, but religious movements in the period had a tendency to assume political overtones, by virtue of the fact that they created bonds of solidarity among their adherents, who could then challenge the authority of the state in some fashion.
• The Sikh challenge to the Mughal state could be seen as prefigured in Nanak’s own critical remarks directed at Babur, but in reality it took almost three-quarters of a century to come to fruition.
• It was in the early 17th century-when under somewhat obscure circumstances Guru Arjun was tortured and killed by Mughal authorities-that the first signs of a major conflict appeared.
• Guru Arjun was accused of abetting a rebel Mughal prince, Khusraw, and, more significantly, found mention in Jahangir’s memoirs as someone who ran a “shop” where religious falsehoods were sold (apparently a reference to the Khatri origins of the Guru).
• His successor, Hargobind (1595-1644), then began the move toward armed assertion by constructing a fortified centre and holding court from the so-called Akal Takht (“Throne of the Timeless One”).
• After a brief imprisonment by the Mughals for these activities, Hargobind was released, and he once more entered into armed conflict with Mughal officials. He was forced to spend the last years of his life in the Rajput principality of Hindur, outside direct Mughal jurisdiction, where he maintained a small military force.
• Under Hargobind’s son Tegh Bahadur, who became ninth Guru in 1664, conflicts with the Mughals once again increased, partly as a result of Tegh Bahadur’s success as a preacher and proselytizer and partly because of the rather orthodox line of Sunni Islam espoused by Aurangzeb.
• In 1675 Tegh Bahadur was captured and executed upon his refusal to accept Islam, thus laying the path for the increased militancy under the last of the Gurus, Gobind Singh (1675-1708).
• It should be stressed that it was the very success of the Sikh Gurus in attracting followers and acquiring temporal power that prompted such a response from the Mughals. However, rather than suppressing Sikhism, the policy of Aurangzeb backfired.
• Guru Gobind Singh assumed all the trappings of a chieftain, gave battle to Mughal forces on more than one occasion, and founded a new centre at Anandpur in 1689.
• His letters also suggest the partial assumption of temporal authority, being termed hukmnamas (loosely, “royal orders”). However, he still chose to negotiate with the Mughals, first with Aurangzeb and then, after the latter’s death, with Bahadur Shah I.
• Ironically, with Gobind Singh’s death, the Sikh threat to Mughal dominance increased. In a further twist, this resulted from the assumption of leadership in the Punjab by Banda Singh Bahadur, a Maratha who had come under the Guru’s influence during the latter’s last days at Nanded in Maharashtra.
• Between 1709 and late 1710 the Sikhs under Banda enjoyed dramatic successes in the sarkars (districts) of Sirhind, Hisar, and Saharanpur, all of them ominously close to Delhi.
• Banda set up a capital at Mukhlispur, issued coins in the names of the Gurus (a particularly bold lèse-majesté), and began to use a seal on his orders even as the Mughals did.
• In late 1710 and 1711 the Mughal forces counter-attacked, and Banda and his forces retreated.
• Expelled from Sirhind, he then moved his operations west into the vicinity of Lahore. Here too he was unsuccessful, and eventually he and his forces were forced to retreat to the fort of Gurdas Nangal. There they surrendered to Mughal forces after a prolonged siege, and Banda was executed in Delhi in 1716.
• This phase of activity is especially important for two reasons.
– First, as distinct from the sporadic militancy exhibited under Hargobind and then Gobind Singh, it was in this period that a full-scale Sikh rebellion against Mughal authority broke out for the first time.
– Second, Banda’s role in the matter itself, which was somewhat enigmatic, lends the affair a curious flavour. Some of Banda’s letters speak of orthodox Islam as an enemy to be rallied against, thus suggesting that the Sikhs at this time were moving somewhat away from their initial orientation as mediators between popular Hinduism and Islam.
– Second, Banda’s role in the matter itself, which was somewhat enigmatic, lends the affair a curious flavour. Some of Banda’s letters speak of orthodox Islam as an enemy to be rallied against, thus suggesting that the Sikhs at this time were moving somewhat away from their initial orientation as mediators between popular Hinduism and Islam.
• The quelling by Mughal forces of the Sikhs under Banda did not mean an end to Sikh resistance to Mughal claims.
• In the 1720s and ’30s Amritsar emerged as a centre of Sikh activity, partly because of its preeminence as a pilgrimage centre.
• Kapur Singh, the most important of the Sikh leaders of the time, operated from its vicinity and gradually set about consolidating a revenue-cum-military system, based in part on compromises with the Mughal governors of the province.
• Other Sikhs were, however, less willing than Kapur Singh to deal with the Mughal authorities and took the paths of social banditry and raiding.
• These activities served as a damper on the attempts by the Mughal governors of Lahore subah to set up an independent power base for themselves in the region.
• First Abd al-Samad Khan and then his son Zakariyya Khan attempted the twin tracks of conciliation and coercion, but all to little avail. After the latter’s demise in 1745, the balance shifted still further in favour of the Sikh warrior-leaders, such as Jassa Singh Ahluwalia, later the founder of the kingdom of Kapurthala.
• The mushrooming of pockets under the authority of Sikh leaders was thus a feature of the two decades preceding Durrani invasion of the Punjab and took place not merely in the eastern Punjab but in the Bari Doab, not far from Lahore itself.
• A unique centre was yet to emerge, and the end of the line of Gurus with Gobind Singh ensured that spiritual and temporal authority could not be combined in a single person as before.
• Nevertheless, the principal opposition faced by Durrani in his campaigns of the 1750s and ’60s in the Punjab came from the Sikhs, even if the Mughal forces and Marathas played a role of significance on occasion.
• These were sanguinary engagements, which cost the Sikhs many thousands of lives, as the Afghan chroniclers themselves testify.
• Eventually, by the mid-1760s, Sikh authority over Lahore had been established, and the Afghans had been unable to consolidate their early gains.
• Under Ahmad Shah’s successor, Timur Shah (ruled 1772-93), some of the territories and towns that had been taken by the Sikhs (such as Multan) were recovered, and the descendants of Ahmad Shah continued to harbour ambitions in this direction until the end of the century.
• But by the 1770s they were dealing with a confederation of about 60 Sikh chieftains, some of whom founded what were to remain princely states under the British-such as Nabha and Patiala.
• However, rather as in the case of the Marathas, the confederate structure did not mean that there were never differences or conflicts between these chiefdoms. Nevertheless, at least in the face of their major adversary, the Durrani’s clan and its allies, these chiefdoms came together to present a united front.
• The Sikh chiefdoms continued many of the administrative practices initiated by the Mughals.
• The main subordinates of the chiefs were given Jaagir assignments, and the Persianized culture of the Mughal bureaucracy continued to hold sway.
• Unlike the Gurus themselves, who, as has been noted, were exclusively drawn from Khatri stock, the bulk of the Sikh chieftains tended to be of Jat origin. Thus, besides the states set up in other regions, such as Bharatpur, the Jats can be said to have dominated state building in the Punjab in this period as well.
• It was one such chief, Ranjit Singh, grandson of Charhat Singh Shukerchakia, who eventually welded these principalities for a brief time into a larger entity.
• Ranjit Singh’s effective rule lasted four decades, from 1799 to 1839, and was realized in a context already dominated by the growing power of the English East India Company.
• Within 10 years of his death, the British had annexed Punjab, and so this period can be seen as the last gasp of the old-regime polities in India.
• His rise to power was based on superior military force, partly serviced by European mercenaries and by the strategic location of the territories that he had inherited from his father.
• Ranjit Singh’s kingdom combined disparate elements. On the one hand, it represented the culmination of nearly a century of Sikh rebellions against Mughal rule. On the other hand, it was based on intelligent application of the principles of statecraft learned from the Afghans.
• This emerges from the fact that he used as his capital the great trading city of Lahore, which he captured in 1799, in the aftermath of invasions by Shah Zaman, the successor of Timur Shah.
• Having gained control of the trade routes, he imposed monopolies on the trade in salt, grain, and textiles from Kashmir to enhance his revenues. Using the cash he was able to collect by these means, he built up an army of 40,000 cavalry and infantry, and by 1809 he was undisputed master of most of Punjab.
• Over the remaining three decades of his rule, Ranjit Singh continued to consolidate his territories, largely at the expense of Afghan and Rajput, as well as lesser Sikh, chieftains.
• In 1818 he took Multan, and in1819 he made major gains in Kashmir. At the time of his death, the territory that he controlled sat solidly astride the main trade routes extending from north India to Central Asia, Iran, and western Asia.
• In a number of areas, he established tributary relations with chieftains, thus not wholly subverting their authority.
• The model around which the Sikh state was built bears a striking resemblance to that of the Mughals.
• Jagirs remained a crucial form of remuneration for military service, and, in the directly taxed lands, officials bearing the title of kardar (agent) were appointed at the level of a unit called-as elsewhere in Mughal domains-the ta’alluqa (district, today known as taluka) (district).
• However strong the state of Ranjit Singh might have appeared, it was in fact based on a fragile system of alliances, as became apparent soon after his death.
• At the level of the palace, a dispute broke out in the early 1840s between two factions, one supporting Chand Kaur, daughter-in-law of Ranjit Singh, who wished to be regent, and the other supporting Shir Singh.
• But such disputes could scarcely have been the real reason for the collapse of Sikh power within a decade.
• Rather, it would appear that the state created by Ranjit Singh never really made the transition from being a conquering power to being a stable system of alliances between conflicting social groups and regional interests.
• In any event, the process of disintegration was accelerated and given a helping hand by the British between 1845 and 1849.
• In the 1720s and ’30s Amritsar emerged as a centre of Sikh activity, partly because of its preeminence as a pilgrimage centre.
• Kapur Singh, the most important of the Sikh leaders of the time, operated from its vicinity and gradually set about consolidating a revenue-cum-military system, based in part on compromises with the Mughal governors of the province.
• Other Sikhs were, however, less willing than Kapur Singh to deal with the Mughal authorities and took the paths of social banditry and raiding.
• These activities served as a damper on the attempts by the Mughal governors of Lahore subah to set up an independent power base for themselves in the region.
• First Abd al-Samad Khan and then his son Zakariyya Khan attempted the twin tracks of conciliation and coercion, but all to little avail. After the latter’s demise in 1745, the balance shifted still further in favour of the Sikh warrior-leaders, such as Jassa Singh Ahluwalia, later the founder of the kingdom of Kapurthala.
• The mushrooming of pockets under the authority of Sikh leaders was thus a feature of the two decades preceding Durrani invasion of the Punjab and took place not merely in the eastern Punjab but in the Bari Doab, not far from Lahore itself.
• A unique centre was yet to emerge, and the end of the line of Gurus with Gobind Singh ensured that spiritual and temporal authority could not be combined in a single person as before.
• Nevertheless, the principal opposition faced by Durrani in his campaigns of the 1750s and ’60s in the Punjab came from the Sikhs, even if the Mughal forces and Marathas played a role of significance on occasion.
• These were sanguinary engagements, which cost the Sikhs many thousands of lives, as the Afghan chroniclers themselves testify.
• Eventually, by the mid-1760s, Sikh authority over Lahore had been established, and the Afghans had been unable to consolidate their early gains.
• Under Ahmad Shah’s successor, Timur Shah (ruled 1772-93), some of the territories and towns that had been taken by the Sikhs (such as Multan) were recovered, and the descendants of Ahmad Shah continued to harbour ambitions in this direction until the end of the century.
• But by the 1770s they were dealing with a confederation of about 60 Sikh chieftains, some of whom founded what were to remain princely states under the British-such as Nabha and Patiala.
• However, rather as in the case of the Marathas, the confederate structure did not mean that there were never differences or conflicts between these chiefdoms. Nevertheless, at least in the face of their major adversary, the Durrani’s clan and its allies, these chiefdoms came together to present a united front.
• The Sikh chiefdoms continued many of the administrative practices initiated by the Mughals.
• The main subordinates of the chiefs were given Jaagir assignments, and the Persianized culture of the Mughal bureaucracy continued to hold sway.
• Unlike the Gurus themselves, who, as has been noted, were exclusively drawn from Khatri stock, the bulk of the Sikh chieftains tended to be of Jat origin. Thus, besides the states set up in other regions, such as Bharatpur, the Jats can be said to have dominated state building in the Punjab in this period as well.
• It was one such chief, Ranjit Singh, grandson of Charhat Singh Shukerchakia, who eventually welded these principalities for a brief time into a larger entity.
• Ranjit Singh’s effective rule lasted four decades, from 1799 to 1839, and was realized in a context already dominated by the growing power of the English East India Company.
• Within 10 years of his death, the British had annexed Punjab, and so this period can be seen as the last gasp of the old-regime polities in India.
• His rise to power was based on superior military force, partly serviced by European mercenaries and by the strategic location of the territories that he had inherited from his father.
• Ranjit Singh’s kingdom combined disparate elements. On the one hand, it represented the culmination of nearly a century of Sikh rebellions against Mughal rule. On the other hand, it was based on intelligent application of the principles of statecraft learned from the Afghans.
• This emerges from the fact that he used as his capital the great trading city of Lahore, which he captured in 1799, in the aftermath of invasions by Shah Zaman, the successor of Timur Shah.
• Having gained control of the trade routes, he imposed monopolies on the trade in salt, grain, and textiles from Kashmir to enhance his revenues. Using the cash he was able to collect by these means, he built up an army of 40,000 cavalry and infantry, and by 1809 he was undisputed master of most of Punjab.
• Over the remaining three decades of his rule, Ranjit Singh continued to consolidate his territories, largely at the expense of Afghan and Rajput, as well as lesser Sikh, chieftains.
• In 1818 he took Multan, and in1819 he made major gains in Kashmir. At the time of his death, the territory that he controlled sat solidly astride the main trade routes extending from north India to Central Asia, Iran, and western Asia.
• In a number of areas, he established tributary relations with chieftains, thus not wholly subverting their authority.
• The model around which the Sikh state was built bears a striking resemblance to that of the Mughals.
• Jagirs remained a crucial form of remuneration for military service, and, in the directly taxed lands, officials bearing the title of kardar (agent) were appointed at the level of a unit called-as elsewhere in Mughal domains-the ta’alluqa (district, today known as taluka) (district).
• However strong the state of Ranjit Singh might have appeared, it was in fact based on a fragile system of alliances, as became apparent soon after his death.
• At the level of the palace, a dispute broke out in the early 1840s between two factions, one supporting Chand Kaur, daughter-in-law of Ranjit Singh, who wished to be regent, and the other supporting Shir Singh.
• But such disputes could scarcely have been the real reason for the collapse of Sikh power within a decade.
• Rather, it would appear that the state created by Ranjit Singh never really made the transition from being a conquering power to being a stable system of alliances between conflicting social groups and regional interests.
• In any event, the process of disintegration was accelerated and given a helping hand by the British between 1845 and 1849.
AREAS AROUND DELHI
Rajput States
• The principal Rajput states took advantage of the growing weakness of Mughal power to virtually free themselves from central control while at the same time increasing their influence in the rest of the Empire.
• In the reigns of Farrukh Siyar and Muhammad Shah the rulers of Amber and Marwar were appointed governors of important Mughal provinces such as Agra, Gujarat, and Malwa.
• The Rajputana states continued to be as divided as before. The biggest among them expanded at the cost of their weaker neighbours, Rajput and non-Rajput.
• Most of the larger Rajput states were constantly involved in petty quarrels and civil wars.
• The internal politics of these states were often characterized by the same type of corruption, intrigue, and treachery as prevailed at the Mughal court. For example, Ajit Singh of Marwar was killed by his own son.
• The most outstanding Rajput ruler of the 18th century was Raja Sawai Jai Singh of Amber (1681-1743).
• In the reigns of Farrukh Siyar and Muhammad Shah the rulers of Amber and Marwar were appointed governors of important Mughal provinces such as Agra, Gujarat, and Malwa.
• The Rajputana states continued to be as divided as before. The biggest among them expanded at the cost of their weaker neighbours, Rajput and non-Rajput.
• Most of the larger Rajput states were constantly involved in petty quarrels and civil wars.
• The internal politics of these states were often characterized by the same type of corruption, intrigue, and treachery as prevailed at the Mughal court. For example, Ajit Singh of Marwar was killed by his own son.
• The most outstanding Rajput ruler of the 18th century was Raja Sawai Jai Singh of Amber (1681-1743).
– He was a distinguished statesman, law-maker, and reformer and a man of scientific temper in an age when Indians were oblivious to scientific progress.
– He founded the city of Jaipur in the territory taken from the Jats and made it a great seat of science and art.
– Jaipur was built upon strictly scientific principles and according to a regular plan. Its broad streets are intersected at right angles.
– Jai Singh was above everything a great astronomer. He erected observatories with accurate and advanced instruments, some of them of his own invention are at Delhi, Jaipur, Ujjain, Varanasi, and Mathura.
– His astronomical observations were remarkably accurate. He drew up a set of tables, entitled Zij-i-Muhammad Shahi, to enable people to make astronomical observations.
– He got ‘Elements of Geometry”, translated into Sanskrit as well as several works on trignometry, and Napier’s work on the construction and use of logarithms.
– Jai Singh was also a social reformer. He tried to enforce a law to reduce the lavish expenditure which a Rajput had to incur on a daughter’s wedding and which often led to infanticide.
– He ruled Jaipur for nearly 44 years from 1699 to 1743.
– He founded the city of Jaipur in the territory taken from the Jats and made it a great seat of science and art.
– Jaipur was built upon strictly scientific principles and according to a regular plan. Its broad streets are intersected at right angles.
– Jai Singh was above everything a great astronomer. He erected observatories with accurate and advanced instruments, some of them of his own invention are at Delhi, Jaipur, Ujjain, Varanasi, and Mathura.
– His astronomical observations were remarkably accurate. He drew up a set of tables, entitled Zij-i-Muhammad Shahi, to enable people to make astronomical observations.
– He got ‘Elements of Geometry”, translated into Sanskrit as well as several works on trignometry, and Napier’s work on the construction and use of logarithms.
– Jai Singh was also a social reformer. He tried to enforce a law to reduce the lavish expenditure which a Rajput had to incur on a daughter’s wedding and which often led to infanticide.
– He ruled Jaipur for nearly 44 years from 1699 to 1743.
The Jats
• The Jats, a caste of agriculturists, lived in the region around Delhi, Agra and Mathura.
• Oppression by Mughal officials drove the Jat peasants around Mathura to revolt.
• They revolted under the leadership of their Jat zamindars in 1669 and then again in 1688.
• These revolts were crushed but the area remained disturbed.
• After the death of Aurangzeb, they created disturbances all around Delhi.
• Though originally a peasant uprising, the Jat revolt, led by zamindars soon became predatory.
• They plundered all and sundry, the rich and the poor, the jagirdars and the peasants, the Hindus and the Muslims.
• They took active part in the Court intrigues at Delhi, often changing sides to suit their own advantage.
• The Jat state of Bharatpur was set up by Churaman and Badan Singh.
• The Jat power reached its highest glory under Suraj Mal, who ruled from 1756 to 1763 and who was an extremely able administrator and soldier and a very wise statesman.
• He extended his authority over a large area which extended from the Ganga in the East to Chambal in the South, the province of Agra in the West to the province of Delhi in the North. His state included the districts of Agra, Mathura, Meerut, and Aligarh.
• Oppression by Mughal officials drove the Jat peasants around Mathura to revolt.
• They revolted under the leadership of their Jat zamindars in 1669 and then again in 1688.
• These revolts were crushed but the area remained disturbed.
• After the death of Aurangzeb, they created disturbances all around Delhi.
• Though originally a peasant uprising, the Jat revolt, led by zamindars soon became predatory.
• They plundered all and sundry, the rich and the poor, the jagirdars and the peasants, the Hindus and the Muslims.
• They took active part in the Court intrigues at Delhi, often changing sides to suit their own advantage.
• The Jat state of Bharatpur was set up by Churaman and Badan Singh.
• The Jat power reached its highest glory under Suraj Mal, who ruled from 1756 to 1763 and who was an extremely able administrator and soldier and a very wise statesman.
• He extended his authority over a large area which extended from the Ganga in the East to Chambal in the South, the province of Agra in the West to the province of Delhi in the North. His state included the districts of Agra, Mathura, Meerut, and Aligarh.
THE SOUTHERN STATES
• In the south several states did make a determined bid in this period to consolidate their power by the use of maritime outlets and principal among these were Travancore in Kerala under Martanda Varma and Rama Varma, and Mysore under Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan.
• These states rose to prominence, however, only in the latter half of the 18th century, or at least after 1740. Before that, the southern Indian scene had been dominated by a group of Muslim notables who had accompanied the Mughal expansion into the region in the 1680s and 90s or else had come in a second wave that followed immediately after 1700.
• Among these notables, many of whom set themselves up as tribute-paying chiefs under Mughal authority, can be counted the relatively petty nawabs (deputies) of the Balaghat, or northern Karnataka (such as Abdul-Rasul Khan of Sira), but there were also far more substantial men, such as the Nizam-ul-Mulk and Said Allah Khan at Arcot.
• The Nizam-ul-Mulk consolidated his position in Hyderabad by the 1740s, whereas the Arcot principality emerged some three decades earlier.
• Neither of these rulers, while establishing dynastic succession, claimed full sovereignty, and thus they continued to cast themselves as representatives of Mughal authority.
• Southern Indian politics in the 1720s emerged, therefore, as a game with many petty players and three formidable ones: the Marathas (both at Thanjavur and elsewhere), the Nizam, and the Arcot (or Karnatak). In the second half of the 18th century, the power of all three of these centres declined.
• These states rose to prominence, however, only in the latter half of the 18th century, or at least after 1740. Before that, the southern Indian scene had been dominated by a group of Muslim notables who had accompanied the Mughal expansion into the region in the 1680s and 90s or else had come in a second wave that followed immediately after 1700.
• Among these notables, many of whom set themselves up as tribute-paying chiefs under Mughal authority, can be counted the relatively petty nawabs (deputies) of the Balaghat, or northern Karnataka (such as Abdul-Rasul Khan of Sira), but there were also far more substantial men, such as the Nizam-ul-Mulk and Said Allah Khan at Arcot.
• The Nizam-ul-Mulk consolidated his position in Hyderabad by the 1740s, whereas the Arcot principality emerged some three decades earlier.
• Neither of these rulers, while establishing dynastic succession, claimed full sovereignty, and thus they continued to cast themselves as representatives of Mughal authority.
• Southern Indian politics in the 1720s emerged, therefore, as a game with many petty players and three formidable ones: the Marathas (both at Thanjavur and elsewhere), the Nizam, and the Arcot (or Karnatak). In the second half of the 18th century, the power of all three of these centres declined.
Hyderabad
• Nizam-ul-Mulk Asaf Jah, the founder of Hyderabad state, was one of the most powerful members at the court of the Mughal Emperor Farrukh Siyar.
• He was entrusted first with the governorship of Awadh, and later given charge of the Deccan.
• As the Mughal governor of the Deccan provinces, Asaf Jah already had full control over its political and financial administration.
• Taking advantage of the turmoil in the Deccan and the competition amongst the court nobility, he gathered power in his hands and became the actual ruler of that region.
• He brought skilled soldiers and administrators from northern India who welcomed the new opportunities in the south and appointed them mansabdars and granted jagirs to them.
• Although he was still a servant of the Mughal emperor, he ruled quite independently without seeking any direction from Delhi or facing any interference.
• The Mughal emperor merely confirmed the decisions already taken by the Nizam.
• The state of Hyderabad was constantly engaged in a struggle against the Marathas to the west and with independent Telugu warrior chiefs (nayakas) of the plateau.
• The ambitions of the Nizam to control the rich textile-producing areas of the Coromandel coast in the east were checked by the British who were becoming increasingly powerful in that region.
• When the British and French took hold over most of India, the Nizams played a delicate game of balance and subterfuge.
• They allied themselves with each side at different times, playing an important role in the wars involving Tipu Sultan, the French, and the British.
• The Nizams eventually won the friendship of the Western invaders without giving up their powers. As a result, Hyderabad was ruled by a Nizam till independence of India, and became the largest princely state of India.
• He was entrusted first with the governorship of Awadh, and later given charge of the Deccan.
• As the Mughal governor of the Deccan provinces, Asaf Jah already had full control over its political and financial administration.
• Taking advantage of the turmoil in the Deccan and the competition amongst the court nobility, he gathered power in his hands and became the actual ruler of that region.
• He brought skilled soldiers and administrators from northern India who welcomed the new opportunities in the south and appointed them mansabdars and granted jagirs to them.
• Although he was still a servant of the Mughal emperor, he ruled quite independently without seeking any direction from Delhi or facing any interference.
• The Mughal emperor merely confirmed the decisions already taken by the Nizam.
• The state of Hyderabad was constantly engaged in a struggle against the Marathas to the west and with independent Telugu warrior chiefs (nayakas) of the plateau.
• The ambitions of the Nizam to control the rich textile-producing areas of the Coromandel coast in the east were checked by the British who were becoming increasingly powerful in that region.
• When the British and French took hold over most of India, the Nizams played a delicate game of balance and subterfuge.
• They allied themselves with each side at different times, playing an important role in the wars involving Tipu Sultan, the French, and the British.
• The Nizams eventually won the friendship of the Western invaders without giving up their powers. As a result, Hyderabad was ruled by a Nizam till independence of India, and became the largest princely state of India.
Mysore
• The rise of Mysore to importance dates to the mid-17th century, when rulers of the Vadiyar dynasty, such as Kanthirava Narasaraja and Cikka Deva Raja, fought campaigns to extend Vadiyar control over parts of what is now interior Tamil Nadu (especially Dharmapuri, Salem, and Coimbatore).
• Until the second half of the 18th century, however, Mysore was a landlocked kingdom and dependent therefore on trade and military supplies brought through the ports of the Indian east coast.
• As these ports came increasingly under European control, Mysore’s vulnerability increased.
• A cavalry commander of migrant origin, Hyder Ali, assumed effective power in the kingdom in 1761, reducing the Vadiyars to figureheads and displacing the powerful Kalale family of ministers.
• First Hyder Ali and then, after 1782, his son, Tipu Sultan, made attempts to consolidate Mysore and make it a kingdom with access to not one but both coasts of peninsular India.
• Against the Kodavas, the inhabitants of the upland kingdom of Kodagu (Coorg), they were relatively successful.
• Coastal Karnataka and northern Kerala came under their sway, enabling Tipu to open diplomatic and commercial relations on his own account with the Middle East.
• Tipu’s ambitions apparently greatly exceeded those of his father, and he strove actively to escape the all-pervasive shadow of Mughal suzerainty, as discussed above.
• However, as in the Sikh kingdom of Ranjit Singh, the problem with the Mysore of Hyder and Tipu was their inability to build an internal consensus.
• Their dependence on migrants and mercenaries for both military and fiscal expertise was considerable, and they were always resisted by local chiefs, the so-called Poligars.
• More crucial was the fact that by the 1770s Mysore faced a formidable military adversary in the form of the English East India Company, which did not allow it any breathing room.
• It was the English who denied Mysore access to the relatively rich agricultural lands and ports of the Coromandel coastal plain in eastern India, and, equally as significant, it was at the hands of an English attacking force that Tipu finally was killed in 1799 during the fourth of the Mysore Wars.
• Until the second half of the 18th century, however, Mysore was a landlocked kingdom and dependent therefore on trade and military supplies brought through the ports of the Indian east coast.
• As these ports came increasingly under European control, Mysore’s vulnerability increased.
• A cavalry commander of migrant origin, Hyder Ali, assumed effective power in the kingdom in 1761, reducing the Vadiyars to figureheads and displacing the powerful Kalale family of ministers.
• First Hyder Ali and then, after 1782, his son, Tipu Sultan, made attempts to consolidate Mysore and make it a kingdom with access to not one but both coasts of peninsular India.
• Against the Kodavas, the inhabitants of the upland kingdom of Kodagu (Coorg), they were relatively successful.
• Coastal Karnataka and northern Kerala came under their sway, enabling Tipu to open diplomatic and commercial relations on his own account with the Middle East.
• Tipu’s ambitions apparently greatly exceeded those of his father, and he strove actively to escape the all-pervasive shadow of Mughal suzerainty, as discussed above.
• However, as in the Sikh kingdom of Ranjit Singh, the problem with the Mysore of Hyder and Tipu was their inability to build an internal consensus.
• Their dependence on migrants and mercenaries for both military and fiscal expertise was considerable, and they were always resisted by local chiefs, the so-called Poligars.
• More crucial was the fact that by the 1770s Mysore faced a formidable military adversary in the form of the English East India Company, which did not allow it any breathing room.
• It was the English who denied Mysore access to the relatively rich agricultural lands and ports of the Coromandel coastal plain in eastern India, and, equally as significant, it was at the hands of an English attacking force that Tipu finally was killed in 1799 during the fourth of the Mysore Wars.
Arcot
• The Nawabdom of the Carnatic was established by the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, who in 1692 appointed Zulfikhar Ali Khan as the first Nawab of the Carnatic, with his seat at Arcot as a reward for his victory over the Marathas led by Rajaram.
• With the Vijayanagara Empire in serious decline, the Nawabdom of the Carnatic controlled a vast territory south of the Krishna river.
• The Nawab Saadatullah Khan I (1710-1732) moved his court from Gingee to Arcot. His successor Dost Ali (1732-1740) conquered and annexed Madurai in 1736.
• In 1740, the Maratha forces attacked the Nawab, Dost Ali Khan, in the pass of Damalcherry.
• In the war that followed, Dost Ali, one of his sons Hasan Ali, and a number of prominent persons lost their lives. This initial success at once enhanced Maratha prestige in the south.
• From Damalcherry the Marathas proceeded to Arcot, which surrendered to them without much resistance. Chanda Saheb and his son were arrested and sent to Nagpur.
• Chanda Sahib was the son-in-law of the Nawab of Carnatic Dost Ali Khan, under whom he worked as a Dewan.
• Chanda Sahib was an ally of the French and annexed the Madurai Nayak and was declared as the Nawab of Tanjore. He was weakened by constant Maratha attacks and was defeated by Muhammed Ali Khan Wallajah who was allied to Nasir Jung.
• After his forces were defeated by Robert Clive and the Maratha Empire he attempted to recuperate his losses but was beheaded in a mutiny by Hindu subjects in the Tanjore army.
• After 1749 the growing influences of the English and the French and their colonial wars had a huge impact on the Carnatic.
• Nawab Muhammad Ali Khan Wallajah supported the English against the French and Hyder Ali, placing him heavily in debt. As a result he had to surrender much of his territory to the East India Company.
• The thirteenth Nawab, Ghulam Muhammad Ghouse Khan (1825-1855), died without issue, and the British annexed the Carnatic Nawabdom, applying the doctrine of lapse.
• Ghouse Khan’s uncle Azim Jah was created the first Prince of Arcot (Amir-e-Arcot) in 1867 by Queen Victoria, and was given a tax free-pension in perpetuity.
• With the Vijayanagara Empire in serious decline, the Nawabdom of the Carnatic controlled a vast territory south of the Krishna river.
• The Nawab Saadatullah Khan I (1710-1732) moved his court from Gingee to Arcot. His successor Dost Ali (1732-1740) conquered and annexed Madurai in 1736.
• In 1740, the Maratha forces attacked the Nawab, Dost Ali Khan, in the pass of Damalcherry.
• In the war that followed, Dost Ali, one of his sons Hasan Ali, and a number of prominent persons lost their lives. This initial success at once enhanced Maratha prestige in the south.
• From Damalcherry the Marathas proceeded to Arcot, which surrendered to them without much resistance. Chanda Saheb and his son were arrested and sent to Nagpur.
• Chanda Sahib was the son-in-law of the Nawab of Carnatic Dost Ali Khan, under whom he worked as a Dewan.
• Chanda Sahib was an ally of the French and annexed the Madurai Nayak and was declared as the Nawab of Tanjore. He was weakened by constant Maratha attacks and was defeated by Muhammed Ali Khan Wallajah who was allied to Nasir Jung.
• After his forces were defeated by Robert Clive and the Maratha Empire he attempted to recuperate his losses but was beheaded in a mutiny by Hindu subjects in the Tanjore army.
• After 1749 the growing influences of the English and the French and their colonial wars had a huge impact on the Carnatic.
• Nawab Muhammad Ali Khan Wallajah supported the English against the French and Hyder Ali, placing him heavily in debt. As a result he had to surrender much of his territory to the East India Company.
• The thirteenth Nawab, Ghulam Muhammad Ghouse Khan (1825-1855), died without issue, and the British annexed the Carnatic Nawabdom, applying the doctrine of lapse.
• Ghouse Khan’s uncle Azim Jah was created the first Prince of Arcot (Amir-e-Arcot) in 1867 by Queen Victoria, and was given a tax free-pension in perpetuity.
• In the south several states did make a determined bid in this period to consolidate their power by the use of maritime outlets and principal among these were Travancore in Kerala under Martanda Varma and Rama Varma, and Mysore under Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan.
• These states rose to prominence, however, only in the latter half of the 18th century, or at least after 1740. Before that, the southern Indian scene had been dominated by a group of Muslim notables who had accompanied the Mughal expansion into the region in the 1680s and 90s or else had come in a second wave that followed immediately after 1700.
• Among these notables, many of whom set themselves up as tribute-paying chiefs under Mughal authority, can be counted the relatively petty nawabs (deputies) of the Balaghat, or northern Karnataka (such as Abdul-Rasul Khan of Sira), but there were also far more substantial men, such as the Nizam-ul-Mulk and Said Allah Khan at Arcot.
• The Nizam-ul-Mulk consolidated his position in Hyderabad by the 1740s, whereas the Arcot principality emerged some three decades earlier.
• Neither of these rulers, while establishing dynastic succession, claimed full sovereignty, and thus they continued to cast themselves as representatives of Mughal authority.
• Southern Indian politics in the 1720s emerged, therefore, as a game with many petty players and three formidable ones: the Marathas (both at Thanjavur and elsewhere), the Nizam, and the Arcot (or Karnatak). In the second half of the 18th century, the power of all three of these centres declined.
Hyderabad
• Nizam-ul-Mulk Asaf Jah, the founder of Hyderabad state, was one of the most powerful members at the court of the Mughal Emperor Farrukh Siyar.
• He was entrusted first with the governorship of Awadh, and later given charge of the Deccan.
• As the Mughal governor of the Deccan provinces, Asaf Jah already had full control over its political and financial administration.
• Taking advantage of the turmoil in the Deccan and the competition amongst the court nobility, he gathered power in his hands and became the actual ruler of that region.
• He brought skilled soldiers and administrators from northern India who welcomed the new opportunities in the south and appointed them mansabdars and granted jagirs to them.
• Although he was still a servant of the Mughal emperor, he ruled quite independently without seeking any direction from Delhi or facing any interference.
• The Mughal emperor merely confirmed the decisions already taken by the Nizam.
• The state of Hyderabad was constantly engaged in a struggle against the Marathas to the west and with independent Telugu warrior chiefs (nayakas) of the plateau.
• The ambitions of the Nizam to control the rich textile-producing areas of the Coromandel coast in the east were checked by the British who were becoming increasingly powerful in that region.
• When the British and French took hold over most of India, the Nizams played a delicate game of balance and subterfuge.
• They allied themselves with each side at different times, playing an important role in the wars involving Tipu Sultan, the French, and the British.
• The Nizams eventually won the friendship of the Western invaders without giving up their powers. As a result, Hyderabad was ruled by a Nizam till independence of India, and became the largest princely state of India.
Mysore
• The rise of Mysore to importance dates to the mid-17th century, when rulers of the Vadiyar dynasty, such as Kanthirava Narasaraja and Cikka Deva Raja, fought campaigns to extend Vadiyar control over parts of what is now interior Tamil Nadu (especially Dharmapuri, Salem, and Coimbatore).
• Until the second half of the 18th century, however, Mysore was a landlocked kingdom and dependent therefore on trade and military supplies brought through the ports of the Indian east coast.
• As these ports came increasingly under European control, Mysore’s vulnerability increased.
• A cavalry commander of migrant origin, Hyder Ali, assumed effective power in the kingdom in 1761, reducing the Vadiyars to figureheads and displacing the powerful Kalale family of ministers.
• First Hyder Ali and then, after 1782, his son, Tipu Sultan, made attempts to consolidate Mysore and make it a kingdom with access to not one but both coasts of peninsular India.
• Against the Kodavas, the inhabitants of the upland kingdom of Kodagu (Coorg), they were relatively successful.
• Coastal Karnataka and northern Kerala came under their sway, enabling Tipu to open diplomatic and commercial relations on his own account with the Middle East.
• Tipu’s ambitions apparently greatly exceeded those of his father, and he strove actively to escape the all-pervasive shadow of Mughal suzerainty, as discussed above.
• However, as in the Sikh kingdom of Ranjit Singh, the problem with the Mysore of Hyder and Tipu was their inability to build an internal consensus.
• Their dependence on migrants and mercenaries for both military and fiscal expertise was considerable, and they were always resisted by local chiefs, the so-called Poligars.
• More crucial was the fact that by the 1770s Mysore faced a formidable military adversary in the form of the English East India Company, which did not allow it any breathing room.
• It was the English who denied Mysore access to the relatively rich agricultural lands and ports of the Coromandel coastal plain in eastern India, and, equally as significant, it was at the hands of an English attacking force that Tipu finally was killed in 1799 during the fourth of the Mysore Wars.
Arcot
• The Nawabdom of the Carnatic was established by the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, who in 1692 appointed Zulfikhar Ali Khan as the first Nawab of the Carnatic, with his seat at Arcot as a reward for his victory over the Marathas led by Rajaram.
• With the Vijayanagara Empire in serious decline, the Nawabdom of the Carnatic controlled a vast territory south of the Krishna river.
• The Nawab Saadatullah Khan I (1710-1732) moved his court from Gingee to Arcot. His successor Dost Ali (1732-1740) conquered and annexed Madurai in 1736.
• In 1740, the Maratha forces attacked the Nawab, Dost Ali Khan, in the pass of Damalcherry.
• In the war that followed, Dost Ali, one of his sons Hasan Ali, and a number of prominent persons lost their lives. This initial success at once enhanced Maratha prestige in the south.
• From Damalcherry the Marathas proceeded to Arcot, which surrendered to them without much resistance. Chanda Saheb and his son were arrested and sent to Nagpur.
• Chanda Sahib was the son-in-law of the Nawab of Carnatic Dost Ali Khan, under whom he worked as a Dewan.
• Chanda Sahib was an ally of the French and annexed the Madurai Nayak and was declared as the Nawab of Tanjore. He was weakened by constant Maratha attacks and was defeated by Muhammed Ali Khan Wallajah who was allied to Nasir Jung.
• After his forces were defeated by Robert Clive and the Maratha Empire he attempted to recuperate his losses but was beheaded in a mutiny by Hindu subjects in the Tanjore army.
• After 1749 the growing influences of the English and the French and their colonial wars had a huge impact on the Carnatic.
• Nawab Muhammad Ali Khan Wallajah supported the English against the French and Hyder Ali, placing him heavily in debt. As a result he had to surrender much of his territory to the East India Company.
• The thirteenth Nawab, Ghulam Muhammad Ghouse Khan (1825-1855), died without issue, and the British annexed the Carnatic Nawabdom, applying the doctrine of lapse.
• Ghouse Khan’s uncle Azim Jah was created the first Prince of Arcot (Amir-e-Arcot) in 1867 by Queen Victoria, and was given a tax free-pension in perpetuity.
• These states rose to prominence, however, only in the latter half of the 18th century, or at least after 1740. Before that, the southern Indian scene had been dominated by a group of Muslim notables who had accompanied the Mughal expansion into the region in the 1680s and 90s or else had come in a second wave that followed immediately after 1700.
• Among these notables, many of whom set themselves up as tribute-paying chiefs under Mughal authority, can be counted the relatively petty nawabs (deputies) of the Balaghat, or northern Karnataka (such as Abdul-Rasul Khan of Sira), but there were also far more substantial men, such as the Nizam-ul-Mulk and Said Allah Khan at Arcot.
• The Nizam-ul-Mulk consolidated his position in Hyderabad by the 1740s, whereas the Arcot principality emerged some three decades earlier.
• Neither of these rulers, while establishing dynastic succession, claimed full sovereignty, and thus they continued to cast themselves as representatives of Mughal authority.
• Southern Indian politics in the 1720s emerged, therefore, as a game with many petty players and three formidable ones: the Marathas (both at Thanjavur and elsewhere), the Nizam, and the Arcot (or Karnatak). In the second half of the 18th century, the power of all three of these centres declined.
Hyderabad
• Nizam-ul-Mulk Asaf Jah, the founder of Hyderabad state, was one of the most powerful members at the court of the Mughal Emperor Farrukh Siyar.
• He was entrusted first with the governorship of Awadh, and later given charge of the Deccan.
• As the Mughal governor of the Deccan provinces, Asaf Jah already had full control over its political and financial administration.
• Taking advantage of the turmoil in the Deccan and the competition amongst the court nobility, he gathered power in his hands and became the actual ruler of that region.
• He brought skilled soldiers and administrators from northern India who welcomed the new opportunities in the south and appointed them mansabdars and granted jagirs to them.
• Although he was still a servant of the Mughal emperor, he ruled quite independently without seeking any direction from Delhi or facing any interference.
• The Mughal emperor merely confirmed the decisions already taken by the Nizam.
• The state of Hyderabad was constantly engaged in a struggle against the Marathas to the west and with independent Telugu warrior chiefs (nayakas) of the plateau.
• The ambitions of the Nizam to control the rich textile-producing areas of the Coromandel coast in the east were checked by the British who were becoming increasingly powerful in that region.
• When the British and French took hold over most of India, the Nizams played a delicate game of balance and subterfuge.
• They allied themselves with each side at different times, playing an important role in the wars involving Tipu Sultan, the French, and the British.
• The Nizams eventually won the friendship of the Western invaders without giving up their powers. As a result, Hyderabad was ruled by a Nizam till independence of India, and became the largest princely state of India.
Mysore
• The rise of Mysore to importance dates to the mid-17th century, when rulers of the Vadiyar dynasty, such as Kanthirava Narasaraja and Cikka Deva Raja, fought campaigns to extend Vadiyar control over parts of what is now interior Tamil Nadu (especially Dharmapuri, Salem, and Coimbatore).
• Until the second half of the 18th century, however, Mysore was a landlocked kingdom and dependent therefore on trade and military supplies brought through the ports of the Indian east coast.
• As these ports came increasingly under European control, Mysore’s vulnerability increased.
• A cavalry commander of migrant origin, Hyder Ali, assumed effective power in the kingdom in 1761, reducing the Vadiyars to figureheads and displacing the powerful Kalale family of ministers.
• First Hyder Ali and then, after 1782, his son, Tipu Sultan, made attempts to consolidate Mysore and make it a kingdom with access to not one but both coasts of peninsular India.
• Against the Kodavas, the inhabitants of the upland kingdom of Kodagu (Coorg), they were relatively successful.
• Coastal Karnataka and northern Kerala came under their sway, enabling Tipu to open diplomatic and commercial relations on his own account with the Middle East.
• Tipu’s ambitions apparently greatly exceeded those of his father, and he strove actively to escape the all-pervasive shadow of Mughal suzerainty, as discussed above.
• However, as in the Sikh kingdom of Ranjit Singh, the problem with the Mysore of Hyder and Tipu was their inability to build an internal consensus.
• Their dependence on migrants and mercenaries for both military and fiscal expertise was considerable, and they were always resisted by local chiefs, the so-called Poligars.
• More crucial was the fact that by the 1770s Mysore faced a formidable military adversary in the form of the English East India Company, which did not allow it any breathing room.
• It was the English who denied Mysore access to the relatively rich agricultural lands and ports of the Coromandel coastal plain in eastern India, and, equally as significant, it was at the hands of an English attacking force that Tipu finally was killed in 1799 during the fourth of the Mysore Wars.
Arcot
• The Nawabdom of the Carnatic was established by the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, who in 1692 appointed Zulfikhar Ali Khan as the first Nawab of the Carnatic, with his seat at Arcot as a reward for his victory over the Marathas led by Rajaram.
• With the Vijayanagara Empire in serious decline, the Nawabdom of the Carnatic controlled a vast territory south of the Krishna river.
• The Nawab Saadatullah Khan I (1710-1732) moved his court from Gingee to Arcot. His successor Dost Ali (1732-1740) conquered and annexed Madurai in 1736.
• In 1740, the Maratha forces attacked the Nawab, Dost Ali Khan, in the pass of Damalcherry.
• In the war that followed, Dost Ali, one of his sons Hasan Ali, and a number of prominent persons lost their lives. This initial success at once enhanced Maratha prestige in the south.
• From Damalcherry the Marathas proceeded to Arcot, which surrendered to them without much resistance. Chanda Saheb and his son were arrested and sent to Nagpur.
• Chanda Sahib was the son-in-law of the Nawab of Carnatic Dost Ali Khan, under whom he worked as a Dewan.
• Chanda Sahib was an ally of the French and annexed the Madurai Nayak and was declared as the Nawab of Tanjore. He was weakened by constant Maratha attacks and was defeated by Muhammed Ali Khan Wallajah who was allied to Nasir Jung.
• After his forces were defeated by Robert Clive and the Maratha Empire he attempted to recuperate his losses but was beheaded in a mutiny by Hindu subjects in the Tanjore army.
• After 1749 the growing influences of the English and the French and their colonial wars had a huge impact on the Carnatic.
• Nawab Muhammad Ali Khan Wallajah supported the English against the French and Hyder Ali, placing him heavily in debt. As a result he had to surrender much of his territory to the East India Company.
• The thirteenth Nawab, Ghulam Muhammad Ghouse Khan (1825-1855), died without issue, and the British annexed the Carnatic Nawabdom, applying the doctrine of lapse.
• Ghouse Khan’s uncle Azim Jah was created the first Prince of Arcot (Amir-e-Arcot) in 1867 by Queen Victoria, and was given a tax free-pension in perpetuity.
National Framework for Elimination of Malaria 2016-2030
National Framework for Elimination of Malaria 2016-2030
• The Union Health Minister has launched the National Framework for MalariaElimination (NFME) 2016-2030, which outlines India’s strategy for elimination of the disease by 2030 and will contribute to improved health and quality of life and alleviation of poverty.
• The NFME document clearly defines goals, objectives, strategies, targets and timelines and will serve as a roadmap for advocating and planning malaria elimination in the country in a phased manner.
• The NFME document clearly defines goals, objectives, strategies, targets and timelines and will serve as a roadmap for advocating and planning malaria elimination in the country in a phased manner.
The objectives of the NFME:
” Eliminate malaria from all low (Category 1) and moderate (Category 2) endemic states/UTs (26) by 2022;
• Reduce incidence of malaria to less than 1 case per 1000 population in all States/UTs and the districts and malaria elimination in 31 states/UTs by 2024;
• Interrupt indigenous transmission of malaria in all States/ UTs (Category 3) by 2027;
• Prevent re-establishment of local transmission of malaria in areas where it has been eliminated and to maintain malaria-free status of the country by 2030. The milestones and targets are set for 2016, 2020, 2022, 2024, 2027 and 2030 by when the entire country has sustained zero indigenous cases and deaths due to malaria for 3 years and initiated the processes for certification of malaria elimination status to the country.
• The NFME 2016-2030 also defines key strategic approaches such as programme phasing considering the varying malaria endemicity in the country; classification of States/UTs based on API as primary criterion (Category 0: Prevention of re- introduction phase; Category 1: Elimination phase; Category 2: Pre-elimination phase; Category 3: Intensified control phase); district as the unit of planning and implementation; focus on high endemic areas; and special strategy for P. vivax elimination.
• In the short-term, i.e. by end of 2016, all states/UTs are expected to include malaria elimination in their broader health policies and planning framework; by end of 2017, all states are expected to bring down API to less than 1 per thousand population; and by end of 2020, 15 states/UTs under category 1 (elimination phase) are expected to interrupt transmission of malaria and achieve zero indigenous cases and deaths due to malaria.
• This framework demonstrates renewed commitment and strategic thinking on India’s part, and is a significant effort for the malaria elimination efforts and goals of the region and globally also.
• The main goals of the National Framework for Malaria Elimination in India are to:
• Eliminate malaria (zero indigenous cases) throughout the entire country by 2030; and
• Maintain malaria free status in areas where malaria transmission has been interrupted and prevent re-introduction of malaria
• Reduce incidence of malaria to less than 1 case per 1000 population in all States/UTs and the districts and malaria elimination in 31 states/UTs by 2024;
• Interrupt indigenous transmission of malaria in all States/ UTs (Category 3) by 2027;
• Prevent re-establishment of local transmission of malaria in areas where it has been eliminated and to maintain malaria-free status of the country by 2030. The milestones and targets are set for 2016, 2020, 2022, 2024, 2027 and 2030 by when the entire country has sustained zero indigenous cases and deaths due to malaria for 3 years and initiated the processes for certification of malaria elimination status to the country.
• The NFME 2016-2030 also defines key strategic approaches such as programme phasing considering the varying malaria endemicity in the country; classification of States/UTs based on API as primary criterion (Category 0: Prevention of re- introduction phase; Category 1: Elimination phase; Category 2: Pre-elimination phase; Category 3: Intensified control phase); district as the unit of planning and implementation; focus on high endemic areas; and special strategy for P. vivax elimination.
• In the short-term, i.e. by end of 2016, all states/UTs are expected to include malaria elimination in their broader health policies and planning framework; by end of 2017, all states are expected to bring down API to less than 1 per thousand population; and by end of 2020, 15 states/UTs under category 1 (elimination phase) are expected to interrupt transmission of malaria and achieve zero indigenous cases and deaths due to malaria.
• This framework demonstrates renewed commitment and strategic thinking on India’s part, and is a significant effort for the malaria elimination efforts and goals of the region and globally also.
• The main goals of the National Framework for Malaria Elimination in India are to:
• Eliminate malaria (zero indigenous cases) throughout the entire country by 2030; and
• Maintain malaria free status in areas where malaria transmission has been interrupted and prevent re-introduction of malaria
Maglev Technology
Maglev Technology
Introduction:
• Maglev is a transport method that uses magnetic levitation to move vehicles without making contact with the ground.
• Maglev trains move more smoothly and more quietly than wheeled mass transit systems.
• The power needed for levitation is typically not a large percentage of its overall energy consumption.
• In itself, maglev technology includes no moving parts.
• Maglev trains move more smoothly and more quietly than wheeled mass transit systems.
• The power needed for levitation is typically not a large percentage of its overall energy consumption.
• In itself, maglev technology includes no moving parts.
How Maglev train works?
• Maglev train hovers 10 centimeters above the tracks and is propelled by electrically charged magnets which lift and moves train carriages above the rail tracks.
• This train travels along a guideway using magnets to create both lift and propulsion.
• This lift and propulsion reduces friction and allow it to attain higher speeds(minimum speed of 350 km per hour (kmph) and maximum 500kmph) compared to conventional wheeled trains.
• This train travels along a guideway using magnets to create both lift and propulsion.
• This lift and propulsion reduces friction and allow it to attain higher speeds(minimum speed of 350 km per hour (kmph) and maximum 500kmph) compared to conventional wheeled trains.
The two notable types of maglev technology are:
I. Electromagnetic suspension (EMS), electronically controlled electromagnets in the train attracts it to a magnetically conductive (usually steel) track.
II. Electrodynamic suspension (EDS) uses superconducting electromagnets or strong permanent magnets that create a magnetic field, which induces currents in nearby metallic conductors when there is relative movement, which pushes and pulls the train towards the designed levitation position on the guide way.
The world’s first commercial Maglev line opened in 2004 and is located in Shanghai, China.
Use of technology in India:
• The railways had invited expressions of interest for Maglev trains in July, 2016.
• In September, 2016, six companies, including Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd and Switzerland-based SwissRapide AG, had evinced interest in developing Maglev’s in India.
• The project would be implemented on a PPP (public-private partnership) basis as a joint venture between the railways and a private company wherein the railways would contribute 26% of the equity.
• In September, 2016, six companies, including Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd and Switzerland-based SwissRapide AG, had evinced interest in developing Maglev’s in India.
• The project would be implemented on a PPP (public-private partnership) basis as a joint venture between the railways and a private company wherein the railways would contribute 26% of the equity.
List of Maglev train proposals in the Country:
• Mumbai – Delhi
• Mumbai – Nagpur
• Chennai – Bangalore – Mysore
• Pune (Pimple Saudagar) – Mumbai (Panvel)
• Kochi Metro
• Mumbai – Nagpur
• Chennai – Bangalore – Mysore
• Pune (Pimple Saudagar) – Mumbai (Panvel)
• Kochi Metro
Silica Aerogel
Silica Aerogel
Introduction:
• Silica aerogel is a nanostructured material with high specific surface area, high porosity, low density, low dielectric constant and excellent heat insulation properties.
• Aerogel was invented by NASA in the 1930s.However, the newly developed “Silica Aerogel,” which is being hailed as the world’s lightest material that acts as an effective insulator, has been developed by Indian scientists from Vikram Sarabhai Space Center.
• It is also referred to as “frozen smoke”, for its lightness or “blue air.”
• It is the world’s lightest synthetic material made by man.
• Aerogel was invented by NASA in the 1930s.However, the newly developed “Silica Aerogel,” which is being hailed as the world’s lightest material that acts as an effective insulator, has been developed by Indian scientists from Vikram Sarabhai Space Center.
• It is also referred to as “frozen smoke”, for its lightness or “blue air.”
• It is the world’s lightest synthetic material made by man.
Properties of Silica Aerogel:
• The material has uses both in space and on Earth.
• So light in weight that it can be delicately placed on a flower head.
• Excellent thermal resistance and acts as a good insulator.
• The matrix of aerogel is made up of 99 per cent air.
• The material is still very fragile and brittle and scientists at the space centre are still finding ways to make it tough and resilient.
• So light in weight that it can be delicately placed on a flower head.
• Excellent thermal resistance and acts as a good insulator.
• The matrix of aerogel is made up of 99 per cent air.
• The material is still very fragile and brittle and scientists at the space centre are still finding ways to make it tough and resilient.
Applications:
• Scientists hope it can be used to insulate rocket engines.
• This synthetic material can be incorporated both on Earth as well as in space.
• It can be also painted on windows in to keep buildings cool or warm.
• If used as a filler in soldiers’ uniforms it can possibly help save many lives at the Siachen glacier.
• It can be also painted on windows in to keep buildings cool or warm.
• It has applications for thermal jacket, foot insoles, as well as for window glazing.
• It is extremely useful for people working in very cold environments, in a very strategic way.
• It can be smartly used as a filler in soldiers’ uniforms to keep them warm when subjected to freezing cold climatic conditions.
• Frozen smoke can be used to make light weight clothing, if painted on windows it can keep buildings cool or warm.
• The material is likely to be used on India’s moon rover in Chandryaan-2 mission.
• This synthetic material can be incorporated both on Earth as well as in space.
• It can be also painted on windows in to keep buildings cool or warm.
• If used as a filler in soldiers’ uniforms it can possibly help save many lives at the Siachen glacier.
• It can be also painted on windows in to keep buildings cool or warm.
• It has applications for thermal jacket, foot insoles, as well as for window glazing.
• It is extremely useful for people working in very cold environments, in a very strategic way.
• It can be smartly used as a filler in soldiers’ uniforms to keep them warm when subjected to freezing cold climatic conditions.
• Frozen smoke can be used to make light weight clothing, if painted on windows it can keep buildings cool or warm.
• The material is likely to be used on India’s moon rover in Chandryaan-2 mission.
Safety:
• Silica-based aerogels are not known to be carcinogenic or toxic.
However, they are a mechanical irritant to the eyes, skin, respiratory tract, and digestive system.
• Small silica particles can potentially cause silicosis when inhaled.They can also induce dryness of the skin, eyes, and mucous membranes. Therefore, it is recommended that protective gear including respiratory protection, gloves and eye goggles be worn whenever handling aerogels.
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