Prime Minister Held Official Talks with President of France | Joint UNESCO Nomination for Xuanzang’s Records | Queen Pineapple | NCERT Dancing Girl Row | Dengue Vaccine Safety Concerns

Prime Minister Held Official Talks with President of France

International

Context

• PM Modi held bilateral talks with French President Emmanuel Macron in France.

• This marked the first meeting between the two leaders since India-France ties were elevated to a “Special Global Strategic Partnership” earlier this year.

Major Highlights

• Adoption of the “Innovation Roadmap 2030”, aimed at providing long-term direction to bilateral cooperation in technology and innovation. 
• The two leaders also agreed to establish a Joint India-France AI Working Group to deepen collaboration in artificial intelligence.

Additional Information – India-France Relations

• • India–France Strategic Partnership: It was launched on 26 January 1998 and is India’s first-ever Strategic Partnership.
  • Rafale Fighter Jets: India procured 36 Rafales from Dassault Aviation.
  • Scorpene Submarines (Project P-75): Collaboration with France’s Naval Group, 6 submarines built in India; latest is INS Vaghsheer.
  • Recently both nations formally concluded an Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) to procure 26 Rafale-M fighter jets for the Indian Navy. 

• Joint Exercises: Shakti, Varuna, FRINJEX-23.

• • Economic Cooperation:  Within the European Union, France remains India’s fifth-largest trading partner, following the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, and Germany.
  • The process of enabling Unified Payment Interface (UPI) has been successful in France.
  • Joint missions: TRISHNA (satellite mission), MDA systems, ground station support.
• International Solar Alliance (ISA): Co-founded by India and France in 2015 to promote solar energy worldwide.

Joint UNESCO Nomination for Xuanzang’s Records

Art and Culture

Context

• India and China are in advanced discussions regarding a joint UNESCO nomination for Xuanzang’s work, ‘The Great Tang Records on the Western Regions’.

Xuanzang (Hiuen Tsang) 

• He was a Chinese Buddhist monk, scholar, and traveler who journeyed across India during the 7th century CE.
• He spent nearly 19 years travelling through India and studying Buddhist philosophy.
• He studied at the ancient university of Nalanda University. 
• His work, The Great Tang Records on the Western Regions, provides detailed information about:

1. Political conditions under Harshavardhana and other rulers.
2. Social and economic life in early medieval India.
3. Religious traditions and Buddhist institutions.
4. Economic and geographical conditions of early medieval India.

Other Joint Nominations Under Consideration

• Panchatantra with Iran: India is exploring a joint UNESCO nomination of Panchatantra with Iran. The Panchatantra has influenced Persian literature and folklore for centuries and represents a shared literary heritage.
• Satyagraha with South Africa: The idea reflects the historical association of Mahatma Gandhi’s non-violent movement with South Africa.

Shared Civilizational Traditions:

1. Ramayana traditions shared between India and Indonesia.
2. Buddhist scriptures and heritage common to India and China.

Queen Pineapple

Economy

Context

• Ahead of the pineapple festival in Delhi, Tripura eyes global status for queen pineapple.

About

• The queen pineapple was declared the state fruit of Tripura in 2018, four years after it attained the GI tag in 2014 for its golden-yellow hue and a distinct aroma.
• Cultivation: An area with 30–40% slope is generally selected for cultivation and plants require sandy soil and good drainage to prevent water logging and temperature range of 180°C to 32°C is most favorable for its cultivation.
• Tripura’s unique agro climatic condition makes it one of India’s leading pineapple-producing regions where Queen and Kew varieties are mostly cultivated by tribal growers.
• Mission Queen Pineapple: It is a three year long centrally-funded farm-to-plate programme worth Rs 236 crore launched in 2026.
• India contributes roughly 6-8% of total global pineapple production. On a regional scale, West Bengal and Assam are the top-producing states.

Do you Know? 

• Cultivation of pineapple originated in South America and gradually spread to other tropical parts of the world. 
• Pineapple cultivation was introduced to India by the Portuguese in 1548 AD.
• Costa Rica is the leading global producer and exporter of pineapple.

NCERT Dancing Girl Row

Art and Culture

Context

• After facing backlash, NCERT has decided to restore the original image of the Indus Valley Civilization’s iconic Dancing Girl in its Class 9 textbook, reversing its earlier decision to depict the figurine with a covered torso.

Dancing Girl

• The “Dancing Girl” is a 4,500-year-old bronze statuette unearthed in 1926 by archaeologist Ernest Mackay at Mohenjo-daro (present-day Pakistan), a major urban centre of the Indus Valley Civilization. 
• The statue is around 10.5 centimetres tall and  is adorned with a necklace and a large number of bangles stacked on her arms.
• Material and Technique: The bronze sculpture was created using the lost-wax technique, a metal-casting method that continues to be practiced in parts of India, including West Bengal, Jharkhand, and Chhattisgarh.
• Today, the original artefact is housed in the National Museum, New Delhi.

Additional Information – Harappan Civilization

• The Harappan civilization is believed to be one of the oldest world civilizations together with Egypt and Mesopotamia. 
• It was developed along the river Indus and for that reason it is also known as the Indus Valley Civilization. 
• The Harappan civilization is identified as a Bronze-age civilization because many objects have been found that are made up of copper based alloys.

Major Features of Civilization

• • Urban Planning: Their towns were well planned and they had brick houses which were situated along the roads.

• Every house was equipped with a staircase, a kitchen and several rooms. 

• • Their courtyards had wells, bathrooms and they had proper drainage systems. 
• Ornaments: The Harappans wore ornaments made of gold, silver, ivory,shell, clay, semi-precious stones and others. 
• Trade and Commerce: The civilization had extensive trade networks, reaching as far as Mesopotamia, Afghanistan, and the Arabian Peninsula. 
• Religion and Iconography: Harappan artifacts depict various symbols and motifs believed to be related to religious beliefs.
  • These include figures such as the “Priest King” and images of animals like bulls, suggesting possible reverence for certain animals.
• Craftsmanship and Artistry: The Harappans produced intricate pottery, including the famous red pottery with black painted motifs.
  • They also created  jewelry, sculptures, and seals made of steatite, terracotta, and other materials.
• Agriculture: They cultivated crops such as wheat, barley, peas, and cotton.
• Social Organization: The society was likely stratified, with evidence suggesting a hierarchical structure. This is indicated by variations in housing sizes and the presence of public buildings.
• Decline and Disappearance: The reasons for the decline of the Harappan Civilization are still debated among historians and archaeologists.
  • Possible factors include ecological changes, such as shifts in river courses, as well as invasions and internal conflicts.

Major Harappan Sites

Dengue Vaccine Safety Concerns

Science & technology

Context

• Brazil recently suspended the administration of its dengue vaccine, Butantan-DV, after reports of severe adverse events, including two deaths, during a large-scale vaccination campaign. 

Additional Information – Dengue

• • Pathogen – Dengue is a viral infection caused by the dengue virus (DENV).
  • DENV is an RNA virus of the Flaviviridae family with four serotypes (DENV-1 to 4). 

• Symptoms: High fever, severe headache, pain behind the eyes, muscle and joint pains, nausea, vomiting, swollen glands, rash. 

• Transmission: The virus is transmitted to humans through the bites of infected female mosquitoes, primarily the Aedes Aegypti mosquito.
• There is a possibility of maternal transmission of Dengue (from a pregnant mother to her baby), transmission via blood products, organ donation and transfusions.
• Prevention: There is no specific antiviral treatment for dengue, so prevention relies on controlling mosquito populations and raising public awareness. 
• The mosquitoes that spread dengue are active during the day. The best way of protection is to protect yourself from mosquito bites.

India’s first indigenous dengue vaccine

• DengiAll is an indigenous, tetravalent, single-dose dengue vaccine candidate being developed by Panacea Biotec in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).