1.
2003 in India
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Events in the year 2003 in the Republic of India. President of India – A. P. J. Abdul Kalam Prime Minister of India – Atal Bihari Vajpayee 26 January - The president of Iran, 5–9 February - Aero-India show is held in Bangalore. March - India put up a show at the ICC Cricket World Cup in South Africa after poor performances in the past. They were defeated by Australia in the Finals,18 April - Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, at his first rally in Srinagar, makes a historic announcement of a peace initiative with Pakistan. 22 June - Vajpayee is in China, India concedes that Tibet is an integral part of China. China agrees to recognise Sikkims accession to India,14 July - India refuses to send troops to Iraq. 25 August -52 killed in two blasts in Mumbai. 24 September - United States President George W. Bush invites Vajpayee to lunch in New York City during Vajpayees US trip and it is considered an important meeting for Indo-US relations. Several deals are struck on civilian nuclear technology, space, hi-tech trade,6 October - Vajpayee visits Bali for the second time in 2 years. 22 October - India announces confidence-building measures with respect to Indo-Pakistani relations, more buses, flights, higher mission strength, keshav, musician 8 January - Mahadeva Subramania Mani, entomologist. 14 July - Leela Chitnis, actress,27 July - Henning Holck-Larsen, engenner, co-founder of Larsen & Toubro. 25 October - Pandurang Shastri Athavale, philosopher, spiritual leader, social reformer,3 November - Narendra Prasad, actor, playwright, teacher and literary critic. 9 November - Binod Bihari Verma, writer,21 December - G. V. Iyer, film director
2.
2002 in India
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Events in the year 2002 in the Republic of India. 10 January –800 protesters are arrested in an illegal protest against the Communist government of West Bengal. The authorities there had outlawed disruptive protests at the end of 2001, mid-January – Direct flights to China are set to resume for the first time in 40 years after diplomatic talks between the two countries. 22 January – Five policemen are killed and 20 other people injured when Islamic militants attack an American cultural centre in Kolkata, Police arrest at least 50 suspects in the wake of the incident. The government immediately accuses its Pakistani counterpart of involvement in the attack,3 February – Russia gives its full backing to India over the Kashmir dispute with neighbouring Pakistan. Mid-February – The Cellular Operators Association announces that the ownership of mobile phones in India rocketed by 75% in the previous year, almost 6 million Indians now own mobile phones. 24 February – The Bharatiya Janata Party loses control of governments in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab. The BJP is expected to retain a role in a coalition in Uttar Pradesh, whereas the Punjab,27 February – A series of riots leaves hundreds dead, after 59 Hindu pilgrims die aboard a train burned by a Muslim mob in Godhra. 28 February – Violent sectarian clashes break out in the Gujarati city of Ahmadabad leaving over 500 Muslims, the riots came after the death the previous day of 58 Hindus whose train was deliberately set on fire by Muslim militants in Godhra, near Vadodara. Those victims were said to be supporters of the extremist Hindi group Vishwa Hindu Parishad, VHP has been campaigning for the construction of a Hindu temple on the controversial Ayodhya site following the destruction of an ancient mosque there in 1992. Violence rages on through March, claiming hundreds of lives, most of them Muslim,28 February – Gulbarg Society massacre, During the 2002 Gujarat riots, a mob attacked the Gulbarag Society, a lower middle-class Muslim neighbourhood in Chamanpura, Ahmedabad. 28 February – Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha presents the 2002–03 budget, amongst its major features are a 4. 8% increase in defence spending and a 5% surcharge on income tax to pay for this. 1 March – Continuing violence in Ahmedabad kills 28, police shoot,2 March – J. Jayalalithaa returns to power in Tamil Nadu as chief minister. In December 2001, a court had quashed her October 2000 corruption conviction that disqualified her from standing for election. 3 March – The speaker of the Lok Sabha, Ganti Mohana Chandra Balayogi, is killed in a crash in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh. He was the first low-caste Dalit to be elected to the post,8 March – Presidents rule is imposed on the northern state of Uttar Pradesh as no party could command a majority after the recent elections. 15 March –9,000 suspected Hindu hardliners are arrested, including 8,000 in Mumbai alone, Tensions are high surrounding attempts to construct a new Hindu temple on the site of the Ayodhya mosque, which was destroyed by Hindu extremists in 1992. 15 March – The New Delhi High Court overturns the October 2000 corruption conviction of former prime minister P. V, narasimha Rao.25 March – Police arrest Yasin Malik, leader of the separatist Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, in Srinagar
3.
2001 in India
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Events in the year 2001 in the Republic of India. President of India – K. R. Narayanan Prime Minister of India – Atal Bihari Vajpayee 1 January – Calcutta officially becomes Kolkata, reverting to its precolonial name. 1 January Dr. Leo Rebellos Encyclopedia of Letters Pen Power,2 January – Power cuts leave huge swathes of northern India in darkness for two days starting early on 2 January. A minor fault in Uttar Pradesh leads to a breakdown in the regional grid across Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Kashmir, Punjab, and Rajasthan. Early January – The government announces that it aims to double the number of operated by Air India in the next five to seven years as well as to sell off a 60% share in the company. Air Indias stock of aging craft is thought to have dulled the companys competitive edge in recent years, early January – The president of the Indian Science Congress, R. S. Paroda, warns a conference of 3,000 Indian scientists that the country could face a food shortage in 2020 as the population size outstrips the countrys level of supplies. 4 January – The government tests its first homemade jet fighter, the plane, originally scheduled to take its maiden flight in 1991, has taken 17 years to develop and will not be ready for service until 2010. On the festivals most important day an estimated 20 million Hindu pilgrims bathe in the waters of the three rivers which meet near the town. The festival is held every 12 years,15 January – Voters in Indian-administered Kashmir are able to participate in the first local elections in 23 years. The polls decide positions on some 125 village councils, Islamic militants have urged a boycott of the vote, which they say will undermine the separatist movement. 15 January – In a sign of improving relations, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee meets with the chairman of Chinas National Peoples Congress. Both leaders say they have made progress in discussing their two countries disputed borders. 16 January-11 people are killed when six members of the Kashmiri separatist guerrilla group Lashkar-e-Toiba attempt to storm Srinagars civilian airport. Mid-January – The government announces that it is willing to meet the United Liberation Front of Assam for open negotiations on ending the 20-year insurgency in the northeastern state, mid-January – The eastern state of Orissa urges further government assistance in the face of a major drought. Officials estimate that the state has lost around $150.7 million in failed rice crops alone and it is thought that deforestation has played a major part in the drought. Mid-January – Researchers reveal that unusually high sea temperatures caused by the extreme weather effect known as El Niño have irreversibly damaged coral reefs off Indias western coast, late January –150 million children across India are immunized against polio in one of the largest vaccination projects ever undertaken. Late January – The government extends its ceasefire in Kashmir for another month despite continuing separatist violence
4.
India
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India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and it is bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast. It shares land borders with Pakistan to the west, China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the northeast, in the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Indias Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a border with Thailand. The Indian subcontinent was home to the urban Indus Valley Civilisation of the 3rd millennium BCE, in the following millennium, the oldest scriptures associated with Hinduism began to be composed. Social stratification, based on caste, emerged in the first millennium BCE, early political consolidations took place under the Maurya and Gupta empires, the later peninsular Middle Kingdoms influenced cultures as far as southeast Asia. In the medieval era, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam arrived, much of the north fell to the Delhi sultanate, the south was united under the Vijayanagara Empire. The economy expanded in the 17th century in the Mughal empire, in the mid-18th century, the subcontinent came under British East India Company rule, and in the mid-19th under British crown rule. A nationalist movement emerged in the late 19th century, which later, under Mahatma Gandhi, was noted for nonviolent resistance, in 2015, the Indian economy was the worlds seventh largest by nominal GDP and third largest by purchasing power parity. Following market-based economic reforms in 1991, India became one of the major economies and is considered a newly industrialised country. However, it continues to face the challenges of poverty, corruption, malnutrition, a nuclear weapons state and regional power, it has the third largest standing army in the world and ranks sixth in military expenditure among nations. India is a constitutional republic governed under a parliamentary system. It is a pluralistic, multilingual and multi-ethnic society and is home to a diversity of wildlife in a variety of protected habitats. The name India is derived from Indus, which originates from the Old Persian word Hindu, the latter term stems from the Sanskrit word Sindhu, which was the historical local appellation for the Indus River. The ancient Greeks referred to the Indians as Indoi, which translates as The people of the Indus, the geographical term Bharat, which is recognised by the Constitution of India as an official name for the country, is used by many Indian languages in its variations. Scholars believe it to be named after the Vedic tribe of Bharatas in the second millennium B. C. E and it is also traditionally associated with the rule of the legendary emperor Bharata. Gaṇarājya is the Sanskrit/Hindi term for republic dating back to the ancient times, hindustan is a Persian name for India dating back to the 3rd century B. C. E. It was introduced into India by the Mughals and widely used since then and its meaning varied, referring to a region that encompassed northern India and Pakistan or India in its entirety
5.
2005 in India
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Events in the year 2005 in the Republic of India. The court said that medical policies were liable to be renewed on the same terms, however, insurance companies could load the premium to a limited extent if high payments were sought by a consumer. 25 January – A stampede at the Mandher Devi temple in Mandhradevi during a pilgrimage in India kills at least 215. 29 January – The Bharatiya Janata Party -led government in Goa headed by Manohar Parrikar is reduced to a minority after four BJP MLAs resign from the 40-member house. While the Indian National Congress has staked its claim to form the new government,29 January – Former BJP president Venkaiah Naidus helicopter is set on fire by suspected Maoists during his campaign tour of Gaya, Bihar. 10 March – TRAI slashes tariffs for international bandwidth prices by up to 70% with effect from 1 April,16 March – Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri, accused of the bombing of Air India Flight 182 in 1985, are found not guilty on all counts. 21 May – International Direct Dialling to countries in the Gulf,30 August – Removal of License Requirements for Exports of Controlled Items to India, Federal Register. 29 October – A train in Andhra Pradesh, derails, killing at least 77 people,29 October – At least 61 people are dead and many others wounded in three powerful blasts in Delhi. 22 November – Nitish Kumar defeated Rashtriya Janata Dal in the Bihar state election,29 December – Firing, possibly a terrorist attack, at IISC, Bangalore campus. 24 November – 20th Kushok Bakula Rinpoche 31 December – Lakshmi Tatma Sonali Majumdar, salsa dancer 3 January – Jyotindra Nath Dixit, diplomat,12 January – Amrish Puri, actor. 20 January – Parveen Babi, actress,3 March – Raveendran also known as Raveendran master, Malayalam and South Indian music composer. 22 March – Gemini Ganesan, actor,25 April – Swami Ranganathananda, President of Ramakrishna Math. 3 May – Jagjit Singh Aurora, military commander,21 May – Subodh Mukherjee, filmmaker. 25 May – Ismail Merchant, film producer,25 May – Sunil Dutt, actor, producer, director and politician. 23 July – C R Irani, journalist and editor,19 August – O. Madhavan, director and actor. 31 October – Amrita Pritam, poet, novelist and essayist,9 November – K. R. Narayanan, politician and 10th President of India. 24 November – Jamuna Baruah, actress,12 December – Ramanand Sagar, film director
6.
2006 in India
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Events in the year 2006 in the Republic of India. Abdul Kalam Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh 2 January – Rajnath Singh assumed office as Bharatiya Janata Party chief, 7–9 January – Pravasi Bharatiya Divas was organized in Hyderabad. 26 January – Saudi monarch King Abdullah was chief guest at Republic Day parade in New Delhi, 2–5 March – President of the United States, George W. Bush visited India. The United States signed a nuclear deal with India pending approval from the US Congress. 7 March –2006 Varanasi bombings, A terrorist attack in Varanasi killed at least 15 people,10 April – Fire at Brand India Fair at Meerut Victoria Park in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, killed 100. May – Medical doctors started a strike against central government decision on reservation for backward classes in Medical Institution. 6 July – The Nathula Pass between India and China, sealed during the Sino-Indian War, re-opened for trade after 44 years. 11 July –11 July 2006 Mumbai train bombings, A series of coordinated bomb attacks struck several commuter trains in Mumbai, India during the evening rush hour. 29 August – A 90% iron meteorite weighing 6.8 kilograms fell in Kanvarpura village in Rajasthan, near Rawatbhata and it came to earth in the middle of the day and was found by two shepherds. Scientists from the Geological Survey of India rushed to the village to recover the object, the Deputy Director-General of the Geological Survey, R. S. Goyal, said that devastation on a scale would have ensued had the meteorite struck the power station. September – The Marthandam College of Engineering and Technology was started,20 November –2006 West Bengal train disaster, A suspected terrorist attack killed five people on a train in a remote area of West Bengal. Sara Arjun, actress 3 January - Vijay Raghunath Pandharipande, physicist,25 March - Chandrakant Bakshi, author. 28 March - Bansi Lal, Haryanas four time chief minister,3 May - Pramod Mahajan, politician. 5 May - Naushad Ali, musician and composer,8 July - Raja Rao, novelist and short story writer. 21 August - Bismillah Khan, shehnai musician and Bharat Ratna winner,27 August - Hrishikesh Mukherjee, film director. 24 September - Padmini, actress and dancer,9 October - Kanshi Ram, politician and founder of Bahujan Samaj Party. 19 October- Srividya, South Indian actress, following days of religious or cultural significance were observed in 2006
7.
2007 in India
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Events in the year 2007 in the Republic of India. On 14 March,14 villagers were killed in police firing,10 January – India launches four satellites at a time with their PSLV-C7 rocket, including the SRE-1 test article, which will return to Earth in a test for a future Indian manned spaceflight program. 22 January – Indian spacecraft SRE1 successfully completes a twelve-day orbital test flight,24 January – India and Russia agree to jointly develop fifth-generation stealth fighter jets. Bombs were set off in two carriages, both filled with passengers, just after the train passed Diwana station near the Indian city of Panipat,80 kilometres north of New Delhi,68 people were killed in the ensuing fire and dozens more were injured. 20 February – A river boat carrying children on a trip on the Periyar River in southern India capsizes, killing at least 18 students. 15 March – Naxalite rebels attack a police outpost in the Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh, India, killing at least 49 officers and looting their weapons. 16 April – At least 11 people die in southern India as a train runs into a minibus carrying local officials near the village of Thirumatpur in Tamil Nadu. 18 May –18 May 2007 Hyderabad Bombing,9 people are killed in a bomb blast at the Mecca Masjid mosque in the Indian city of Hyderabad,19 July – Prathiba Patilis elected as the first female President of India. 25 August – Forty-four people are dead after two bombs explode in Hyderabad, August – India and the United States release the text of 123 agreement. This has been controversial in the Indian political environment with both Left and NDA opposing the UPA over the issue. 11 November – Miss India-Earth Pooja Chitgopekar won in Miss Earth 2007 beauty pageant as Miss Earth-Air held in Manila,21 November – Calcutta - Protests over Bangladeshi feminist writer Taslima Nasreen turn into deadly riots, troops are deployed. 22 December – Narendra Modi led government in Gujarat completes its term,24 December - Kautilya Pandit, prodigy 27 January - Kamleshwar, writer, screenwriter, critic and essayist. 28 January - O. P. Nayyar, film music director,2 February - Vijay Arora, actor. 4 March - Sunil Kumar Mahato, politician, assassinated,5 April - Leela Majumdar, writer. 5 April - Poornachandra Tejaswi, writer and novelist,13 April - Dhulipala Seetharama Sastry, actor. 27 May - Ibrahim Saeed, journalist, editor and scholar,27 May - G. Srinivasan, film producer. 13 June - Ramchandra Gandhi, philosopher, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi,15 June - Dr. Mohamad Abdul Tayyab, agricultural scientist. 2 July - Dilip Sardesai, cricketer,8 July - Chandra Shekhar, politician, 11th Prime Minister of India
8.
2nd millennium
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The second millennium was a period of time that began on January 1,1001 and ended on December 31,2000 of the Gregorian calendar. It was the period of one thousand years in the Anno Domini or Common Era. The Renaissance saw the beginning of the migration of humans from Europe, Africa. The interwoven international trade led to the formation of multi-national corporations, international business ventures reduced the impact of nationalism in popular thought. The world population doubled over the first seven centuries of the millennium, consequently, unchecked human activity had considerable social and environmental consequences, giving rise to extreme poverty, climate change and biotic crisis. The 2nd millennium was a period of time began on January 1,1001. It was the period of one thousand years in the Anno Domini or Common Era. The Julian calendar was used in Europe at the beginning of the millennium, so the end date is always calculated according to the Gregorian calendar, but the beginning date is usually according to the Julian calendar. Stephen Jay Gould argued that it is not possible to decide if the millennium ended on December 31,1999, or December 31,2000. The second millennium is perhaps more popularly thought of as beginning and ending a year earlier, thus starting at the beginning of 1000 and finishing at the end of 1999. Many public celebrations for the end of the millennium were held on December 31,1999 – January 1, the civilizations in this section are organized according to the UN geoscheme. The events in this section are organized according to the UN geoscheme, the people in this section are organized according to the UN geoscheme. See also Lists of people by nationality Category, People by century Category, People by nationality and period Gottlieb, Agnes Hooper, Henry Gottlieb, Barbar Bowers,1,000 Years,1,000 People, Ranking the Men and Women Who Shaped the Millennium
9.
President of India
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The President of the Republic of India is the Head of State of India and the Commander-in-chief of the Indian Armed Forces. The oath of the President is taken in the presence of the Chief Justice of India, the President resides in an estate known as the Rashtrapati Bhavan situated in Raisina Hill in New Delhi. The presidential retreats are The Retreat in Chharabra, Shimla and Rashtrapati Nilayam in Hyderabad, the 13th and current President is Pranab Mukherjee, who was elected on 22 July 2012, and sworn in on 25 July 2012. He is also the first Bengali to be elected as President, India achieved independence from the British on 15 August 1947, initially as a Dominion within the Commonwealth of Nations with George VI as king, represented in the country by a governor-general. Still, following this, the Constituent Assembly of India, under the leadership of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, the Constitution of India was eventually enacted on 26 November 1949 and came into force on 26 January 1950, making India a republic. The offices of monarch and governor-general were replaced by the new office of President of India, the constitution of the Republic of India gave the President the responsibility and authority to defend and protect the constitution of India and its rule of law. Invariably, any action taken by the executive or legislature entities of the constitution shall become law only after Presidents assent, the president shall not accept any actions of the executive or legislature which are unconstitutional. The president is the foremost, most empowered and prompt defender of the constitution, the primary duty of the President is to preserve, protect and defend the constitution and the law of India as made part of his oath. The President is the head of all independent constitutional entities. All his actions, recommendations and supervisory powers over the executive and legislative entities of India shall be used in accordance to uphold the constitution, there is no bar on the actions of the President to contest in the court of law. Legislative power is vested by the Parliament of India of which the president is the head. The President of the Republic summons both the Houses of the Parliament and prorogues them and he can dissolve the Lok Sabha. The President inaugurates Parliament by addressing it after the general elections, the Presidential address on these occasions is generally meant to outline the new policies of the government. All bills passed by the Parliament can become laws only after receiving the assent of the President per Article 111, after a bill is presented to him, the President shall declare either that he assents to the Bill, or that he withholds his assent from it. As a third option, he can return a bill to Parliament, if it is not a money bill, when, after reconsideration, the bill is passed accordingly and presented to the President, with or without amendments, the President cannot withhold his assent from it. Article 143 gave power to the president to consult the Supreme Court about the validity of any issue. These are in the nature of interim or temporary legislation and their continuance is subject to parliamentary approval, ordinances remain valid for no more than six weeks from the date the Parliament is convened unless approved by it earlier. Re-promulgation of ordinances after failing to get approval within stipulated time of the houses of parliament is unconstitutional act by the President
10.
A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
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Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam better known as A. P. J. Abdul Kalam /ˈæbdʊl kəˈlɑːm/, was the 11th President of India from 2002 to 2007, a career scientist turned statesman, Kalam was born and raised in Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu, and studied physics and aerospace engineering. He thus came to be known as the Missile Man of India for his work on the development of ballistic missile and launch vehicle technology. He also played a pivotal organisational, technical, and political role in Indias Pokhran-II nuclear tests in 1998, Kalam was elected as the 11th President of India in 2002 with the support of both the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the then-opposition Indian National Congress. Widely referred to as the Peoples President, he returned to his life of education, writing. He was a recipient of prestigious awards, including the Bharat Ratna. While delivering a lecture at the Indian Institute of Management Shillong, Kalam collapsed and died from an apparent cardiac arrest on 27 July 2015, thousands including national-level dignitaries attended the funeral ceremony held in his hometown of Rameshwaram, where he was buried with full state honours. His father Jainulabudeen was an owner and imam of a local mosque. His father owned a ferry that took Hindu pilgrims back and forth between Rameswaram and the now uninhabited Dhanushkodi, Kalam was the youngest of four brothers and one sister in his family. His ancestors had been traders and landowners, with numerous properties. Their business had involved trading groceries between the mainland and the island and to and from Sri Lanka, as well as ferrying pilgrims between the mainland and Pamban. As a result, the acquired the title of Mara Kalam iyakkivar. With the opening of the Pamban Bridge to the mainland in 1914, however, the businesses failed, by his early childhood, Kalams family had become poor, at an early age, he sold newspapers to supplement his familys income. In his school years, Kalam had average grades but was described as a bright and he spent hours on his studies, especially mathematics. He moved to Madras in 1955 to study engineering in Madras Institute of Technology. Kalam met the deadline, impressing the Dean, who said to him, I was putting you under stress. He narrowly missed achieving his dream of becoming a pilot, as he placed ninth in qualifiers. After graduating from the Madras Institute of Technology in 1960, Kalam joined the Aeronautical Development Establishment of the Defence Research and he started his career by designing a small hovercraft, but remained unconvinced by his choice of a job at DRDO
11.
Prime Minister of India
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The Prime Minister of India is the Head of Government and leader of the executive branch of the Government of India. The Prime Minister is also the adviser to the President of India. He or she can be a member of any of the two houses of Parliament, but has to be the leader of the party, having a majority in the Lok Sabha. The Prime Minister is the member of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. The Prime Minister selects and can dismiss other members of the cabinet, allocates posts to members within the Government, is the presiding member and chairman of the cabinet. The federal or union cabinet headed by the Prime Minister is appointed by the President of India to assist the latter in the administration of the affairs of the executive, Union cabinet is collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha as per Article 75. The Prime Minister shall always enjoy the confidence of Lok Sabha, India follows a parliamentary system in which the prime minister is the presiding, actual head of the government and chief of the executive branch. In such systems, the head of state or the head of states official representative usually holds a ceremonial position. The Prime Minister shall become a member of parliament within six months of beginning his/her tenure, he/She is expected to work with other central ministers to ensure the passage of bills by the Parliament. There shall be a Council of Ministers with the minister at the head to aid and advise the president who shall, in the exercise of his functions. The Prime Minister shall be appointed by the President and the other Ministers shall be appointed by the President on the advice of the Prime Minister. Like most parliamentary democracies, a Presidents duties are mostly ceremonial as long as the constitution and the rule of law is obeyed by the Union Cabinet, the Prime Minister of India is the head of union government and has the responsibility for executive power. The prime minister leads the functioning and exercise of authority of the government of India. President of India invites a person who is commanding support of majority members of Lok Sabha to form government at the federal level, in practice the prime minister nominates the members of their Council of Ministers to the president. They also work upon to decide a core group of Ministers as in-charge of the important functions, some specific ministries/department are not allocated to anyone in the cabinet but the prime minister himself. Per Article 78 of the constitution, the communication between the union cabinet and the president are through the prime minister. Other wise constitution recognises the prime minister as a member of the cabinet only outside the sphere of union cabinet. Be a member of the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha
12.
Atal Bihari Vajpayee
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Atal Bihari Vajpayee is an Indian politician who was the 10th Prime Minister of India, first for 13 days in 1996 and then from 1998 to 2004. A leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party, he is the first Prime Minister from outside the Indian National Congress party to serve a full five-year term, a parliamentarian for over four decades, Vajpayee was elected to the Lok Sabha ten times, and twice to the Rajya Sabha. He also served as the Member of Parliament for Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, until 2009, Vajpayee was one amongst the founder members of erstwhile Bharatiya Jana Sangh, which he had also headed. He was also the Minister of External Affairs in the cabinet of Morarji Desai, when Janata government collapsed, Vajpayee restarted the Jana Sangh as the Bharatiya Janata Party in 1980. On 25 December 2014 the office of President of India announced the Bharat Ratna award, Indias highest civilian honour, in a special gesture, the President of India conferred Bharat Ratna to Atal Bihari Vajpayee in his residence on 27 March 2015. His birthday,25 December, was declared Good Governance Day, Vajpayee was born to Krishna Devi and Krishna Bihari Vajpayee on 25 December 1924 in Gwalior. His grandfather, Pandit Shyam Lal Vajpayee, had migrated to Morena and his father, Krishna Bihari Vajpayee, was a poet and a schoolmaster in his hometown. Vajpayee studied from the Government Higher secondary school, Gorkhi, Bara, Vajpayee attended Gwaliors Victoria College and graduated with distinction in Hindi, English and Sanskrit. He completed his post-graduation with an M. A. in Political Science from Dayanand Anglo-Vedic College, Kanpur and his activism started with Arya Kumar Sabha of Gwalior, the youth wing of the Arya Samaj, of which he became the General Secretary in 1944. He also joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh as a swayamsevak in 1939, influenced by Babasaheb Apte, he attended the Officers Training Camp of the RSS during 1940-44 and became a full-time worker in 1947, technically a pracharak. He gave up studying law due to the partition riots and he was sent as a vistarak to Uttar Pradesh and quickly began working for the newspapers of Deendayal Upadhyaya, Rashtradharma, Panchjanya and the dailies Swadesh and Veer Arjun. Vajpayee never married and has remained a bachelor his entire life, in 1951, he was seconded by the RSS, along with Deendayal Upadhyaya, to work for the newly formed Bharatiya Jana Sangh, a Hindu right-wing political party associated with the RSS. He was appointed as a secretary of the party in charge of the Northern region. He soon became a follower and aide of party leader Syama Prasad Mookerjee, in 1954, Vajpayee was with Mookerjee when he went on a fast-unto-death in Kashmir to protest against perceived inferior treatment of non-Kashmiri Indian visitors to the state. Mookerjee died in prison during this strike, in 1957, Vajpayee lost to Raja Mahendra Pratap in Mathura for the Lok Sabha, the lower house of Indias Parliament, but was elected from Balrampur. There, his skills so impressed Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru that he predicted that Vajpayee would someday become Indias Prime Minister. By virtue of his oratorical and organizational skills, he became the face of the Jana Sangh, after the death of Deendayal Upadhyaya, the mantle of the leadership of Jana Sangh fell on the shoulders of a young Vajpayee. He became the president of the Jana Sangh in 1968 and, along with Nanaji Deshmukh, Balraj Madhok and L. K. Advani
13.
Manmohan Singh
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Manmohan Singh is an Indian economist and politician who served as the Prime Minister of India from 2004 to 2014. The first Sikh in office, Singh was also the first prime minister since Jawaharlal Nehru to be re-elected after completing a full five-year term, born in Gah, Singhs family migrated to India during its partition in 1947. After obtaining his doctorate in economics from Oxford, Singh worked for the United Nations during 1966–69 and he subsequently began his bureaucratic career when Lalit Narayan Mishra hired him as an advisor in the Ministry of Foreign Trade. Over the 70s and 80s, Singh held several key posts in the Government of India, such as Chief Economic Advisor, Reserve Bank governor and Planning Commission head. In 1991, as India faced an economic crisis, newly elected Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao surprisingly inducted the apolitical Singh into his cabinet as Finance Minister. Over the next few years, despite opposition, he as a Finance Minister carried out several structural reforms that liberalised Indias economy. Subsequently, Singh served as Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government of 1998–2004, in 2004, when the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance came to power, its chairperson Sonia Gandhi unexpectedly relinquished the premiership to Manmohan Singh. In 2008, opposition to a civil nuclear agreement with the United States nearly caused Singhs government to fall after Left Front parties withdrew their support. Although Indias economy grew rapidly under UPA I, its security was threatened by several terrorist incidents, the 2009 general election saw the UPA return with an increased mandate, with Singh retaining the office of Prime Minister. After his term ended in 2014 he opted out from the race to the office of the Prime Minister of India during 2014 Indian general election. Singh was never a member of the Lok Sabha but continues to serve as a member of the Indian Parliament, Singh was born to Gurmukh Singh and Amrit Kaur on 26 September 1932, in Gah, Punjab, British India, into a Sikh family. He lost his mother when he was young and was raised by his paternal grandmother. After the Partition of India, his family migrated to Amritsar, India and he completed his Economics Tripos at University of Cambridge as he was a member of St Johns College in 1957. Joan Robinson was a brilliant teacher, but she sought to awaken the inner conscience of her students in a manner that very few others were able to achieve. She questioned me a deal and made me think the unthinkable. She propounded the left wing interpretation of Keynes, maintaining that the state has to play more of a if you really want to combine development with social equity. Kaldor influenced me more, I found him pragmatic, scintillating, stimulating. Joan Robinson was an admirer of what was going on in China
14.
Chief Justice of India
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The Chief Justice of India is the head of the judiciary of India and the Supreme Court of India. The CJI also heads their administrative functions, as head of the supreme court, the chief justice is responsible for the allocation of cases and appointment of constitutional benches which deal with important matters of law. It has been a convention for decades now, to appoint the senior-most judge of the supreme court as the CJI. The present CJI is Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar and is the 44th CJI since January 1950, the year the constitution came into effect and the supreme court came into being. He succeeded Justice T. S. Thakur on 4 January 2017 and will remain in office till 28 August 2017, article 124 of the Constitution of India provides for the manner of appointing judges to the Supreme Court. However, this convention has been breached on a few occasions, ray appointed as CJI, superseding three judges senior to him allegedly because he had favoured her government, and when Justice H. R. The Oath of Office is presided by the President, article 124 of Constitution of India lays down the procedure for removal of a Judge of Supreme Court which is applicable to Chief Justice as well. Once appointed, the Chief Justice remains in office until the age of 65 years, when President Zakir Hussain died in office, the Vice President V. V. Giri, acted as the President. Later, Mr. Giri resigned as the Vice President, the CJI, Justice Mohammad Hidayatullah then became the acting President of India. The senior-most judge of the Supreme Court became the acting CJI, accordingly, such provisions have been laid down in The Supreme Court Judges Act,1958. This remuneration was revised in 2006-2008, after the sixth central pay commissions recommendation, list of Chief Justices of India Official website of Supreme Court of India Photo Gallery of Former Chief Justices of India
15.
Bharatiya Janata Party
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The Bharatiya Janata Party is one of the two major political parties in India, along with the Indian National Congress. As of 2016, it is the countrys largest political party in terms of representation in the parliament and state assemblies. The BJP is a party, with close ideological and organisational links to the Hindu nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. The BJPs origins lie in the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, formed in 1951 by Syama Prasad Mookerjee, after the State of Emergency in 1977, the Jana Sangh merged with several other parties to form the Janata Party, it defeated the incumbent Congress party in the 1977 general election. After three years in power, the Janata party dissolved in 1980 with the members of the erstwhile Jana Sangh reconvening to form the BJP. Although initially unsuccessful, winning two seats in the 1984 general election, it grew in strength on the back of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement. After the 1998 general election, the BJP-led coalition known as the National Democratic Alliance formed a government under Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee for a year. Following fresh elections, the NDA government, again headed by Vajpayee, lasted for a term in office. In the 2004 general election, the NDA suffered an unexpected defeat, long time Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi led it to a landslide victory in the 2014 general election. Since that election, Modi leads the NDA government as Prime Minister and as of March 2017, the official ideology of the BJP is integral humanism, first formulated by Deendayal Upadhyaya in 1965. The party expresses a commitment to Hindutva, and its policy has historically reflected Hindu nationalist positions, the BJP advocates social conservatism and a foreign policy centred on nationalist principles. Its key issues have included the abrogation of the status to Jammu and Kashmir, the building of a Ram temple in Ayodhya. However, the 1998–2004 NDA government did not pursue any of these controversial issues and it instead focused on a largely neoliberal economic policy prioritising globalisation and economic growth over social welfare. The BJPs origins lie in the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, popularly known as the Jana Sangh and it was founded in collaboration with the Hindu nationalist volunteer organisation, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, and was widely regarded as the political arm of the RSS. The RSS loaned several of its leading pracharaks, or full-time workers, prominent among these was Deendayal Upadhyaya, who was appointed General Secretary. The Jana Sangh won only three Lok Sabha seats in the first general elections in 1952 and it maintained a minor presence in parliament until 1967. The Jana Sanghs first major campaign, begun in early 1953, centred on a demand for the integration of Jammu. Mookerjee was arrested in May 1953 for violating orders from the state government restraining him from entering Kashmir and he died of a heart attack the following month, while still in jail
16.
Hyderabad
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Hyderabad is the capital of the southern Indian state of Telangana and de jure capital of Andhra Pradesh. At an average altitude of 542 metres, much of Hyderabad is situated on hilly terrain around artificial lakes, established in 1591 by Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah, Hyderabad remained under the rule of the Qutb Shahi dynasty for nearly a century before the Mughals captured the region. In 1724, Mughal viceroy Asif Jah I declared his sovereignty and created his own dynasty, the Nizams dominions became a princely state during the British Raj, and remained so for 150 years, with the city serving as its capital. The city continued as the capital of Hyderabad State after it was brought into the Indian Union in 1948, since 1956, Rashtrapati Nilayam in the city has been the winter office of the President of India. In 2014, the formed state of Telangana split from Andhra Pradesh. Relics of Qutb Shahi and Nizam rule remain visible today, the Charminar—commissioned by Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah—has come to symbolise Hyderabad, Golconda fort is another major landmark. The influence of Mughlai culture is evident in the regions distinctive cuisine. The Qutb Shahis and Nizams established Hyderabad as a cultural hub, the Telugu film industry based in the city is the countrys second-largest producer of motion pictures. Hyderabad was historically known as a pearl and diamond trading centre, many of the citys traditional bazaars remain open, including Laad Bazaar, Begum Bazaar and Sultan Bazaar. Special economic zones dedicated to technology have encouraged companies from India. The emergence of pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries in the 1990s led to the naming as Indias Genome Valley. With an output of US$74 billion, Hyderabad is the fifth-largest contributor to Indias overall gross domestic product, according to John Everett-Heath, the author of Oxford Concise Dictionary of World Place Names, Hyderabad means Haydars city or lion city, from haydar and ābād. It was named to honour the Caliph Ali Ibn Abi Talib, andrew Petersen, a scholar of Islamic architecture, says the city was originally called Baghnagar. One popular theory suggests that Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah, the founder of the city, named it Bhagyanagar or Bhāgnagar after Bhagmati and she converted to Islam and adopted the title Hyder Mahal. The city was renamed Hyderabad in her honour, French traveller Jean de Thévenot visited the Deccan region in 1666–1667 refers to the city in his book Travels in India as Bagnagar and Aiderabad. Archaeologists excavating near the city have unearthed Iron Age sites that may date from 500 BCE, the region comprising modern Hyderabad and its surroundings was known as Golkonda, and was ruled by the Chalukya dynasty from 624 CE to 1075 CE. The Kakatiya dynasty was reduced to a vassal of the Khilji dynasty in 1310 after its defeat by Sultan Alauddin Khilji of the Delhi Sultanate and this lasted until 1321, when the Kakatiya dynasty was annexed by Malik Kafur, Allaudin Khiljis general. During this period, Alauddin Khilji took the Koh-i-Noor diamond, which is said to have mined from the Kollur Mines of Golkonda
17.
P.A. Sangma
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Purno Agitok Sangma was an Indian politician who served as the Speaker of the Lok Sabha from 1996 to 1998 and Chief Minister of Meghalaya from 1988 to 1990. He was awarded Padma Vibhushan posthumously in 2017 by the Government of India and he becomes the 1st recipient of Padma Vibhushan from Meghalaya. P. A. Sangma was born on 1 September 1947 in village Chapathi in West Garo Hills, Meghalaya to Dipchon Ch. Marak and he did his graduation in B. A. from St. Anthonys College, Shillong. In 1973, he became Vice-President of the Pradesh Youth Congress in Meghalaya and he served as the General Secretary of the Pradesh Congress Committee of Meghalaya from 1975 to 1980. In 1977, he was elected to the 6th Lok Sabha from Tura in Meghalaya and remained a member of the Lok Sabha until the 14th Lok Sabha, from 1980 to 1988, he served the Union Government of India in various capacities. He was the Chief Minister of Meghalaya from 1988 to 1990, in 1991, when he was elected to the Lok Sabha again, he again served the Union government until 1996, when he became Speaker of Lok Sabha. He was expelled from the Congress on 20 May 1999, along with Sharad Pawar and Tariq Anwar and he was one of the founders of the Nationalist Congress Party along with Sharad Pawar and Tariq Anwar in 1999, after their expulsion. Sangma created a split in the NCP and this happened after Sharad Pawar became close to the NCPs former rival, Sonia Gandhi. After losing a battle for the NCP election symbol, Sangma later merged his faction with Mamata Banerjees Trinamool Congress and he resigned from his Lok Sabha seat on 10 October 2005 as a member of AITMC/TMC, and was reelected as an NCP candidate in February 2006. In the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, Sangma was one of two NTC MPs elected and he resigned from the 14th Lok Sabha in March 2008 to take part in the 2008 Meghalaya Legislative Assembly election. Sangma resigned from the NCP on 20 June 2012 after opposition from Sharad Pawar over his presidential candidature, Sangma, whose candidature had been proposed by AIADMK and BJD, and later, supported by BJP as well, contested against Pranab Mukherjee for the post of the President. He lost to Pranab Mukherjee in the results declared on 23 July 2012, former Union Minister and a Congress tribal leader Arvind Netam also came out strongly in favour of the candidature of Sangma for the presidential post. On 5 January 2013, Sangma launched the National Peoples Party on the national level, the National Peoples Party managed to win two seats in the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly in the 2013 Meghalaya Legislative Assembly election. On 22 July 2012, Pranab Mukherjee was declared the victor over P. A. Sangma, while securing the requires quota, Mukherjee secured 558,194 votes to Sangmas 239,966. After the final results were published, Mukherjee secured 7,13,424 value of votes, the Returning Officer for the Election, and the Secretary General of the Rajya Sabha, Vivek Agnihotri, then declared Mukherjee to be elected as President of India. On March 4,2016, he died suddenly after a heart attack and he is survived by his wife and children. C. P. His son, Conrad Sangma, is the Leader of the Opposition in the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly, biography - From Lok Sabha Speakers official site P
18.
Nationalist Congress Party
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The Nationalist Congress Party is a centrist nationalist political party in India. Its youth wing is the Nationalist Youth Congress, at the time of formation, the party also absorbed Indian Congress, which traced its origins to anti-coalition partner in the state of Maharashtra in alliance with INC. On 20 June 2012, P. A. Sangma quit the NCP to contest in presidential polls, the Election Symbol of NCP is an analogue clock that reads 10,10. The clock is drawn in blue and has two legs and an alarm button and it is situated on a tri-coloured Indian flag. This symbol used by the NCP is prominent and denotes that the NCP will keep fighting for its principles throughout, the NCP stands for upholding the democratic secular society along with equality, social justice and unity in the nation. It believes that the integrity of India can be achieved by strengthening federalism and it believed in empowering the weaker sections of the society, especially the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and the OBCs. NCP is a proponent of the universal disarmament policies, which alone can bring in peace in the country. NCP believes that economic growth in the country can be achieved only through competition, self-reliance, individual initiatives which cater to the demands of social justice and it believes in eradicating unemployment, starvation, communalism, exploitation from the society. Though primarily based in the state of Maharashtra, the NCP has gradually gained prominence in states such as Assam, Gujarat, Bihar, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and it is even present in the Union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Politics of India List of political parties in India Official website
19.
National Democratic Alliance (India)
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The National Democratic Alliance is a centre-right coalition of political parties in India. At the time of its formation in 1998, it was led by the Bharatiya Janata Party and had thirteen constituent parties and its honorary chairman is former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Also representing the alliance are L. K, the coalition was in power from 1998 to 2004. The alliance returned to power in the 2014 General election with a vote share of 38. 5%. Its leader, Narendra Modi, was sworn in as Prime Minister of India on 26 May 2014, the National Democratic Alliance was formed in May 1998 as a coalition to contest the general elections. With outside support provided by the Telugu Desam Party, the NDA was able to muster a majority in the elections of 1998. The government collapsed within a year because the withdrew its support, after the entry of a few more regional parties, the NDA proceeded to win the 1999 elections with a larger majority. Vajpayee became Prime Minister for a time, this time for a full five-year term. The NDA called elections in early 2004, six ahead of schedule. Its campaign was based around the slogan of India Shining which attempted to depict the NDA government as responsible for an economic transformation of the country. Some commentators have stated that the NDAs failure to reach out to the masses was the explanation for its defeat. The National Democratic Alliance does not have a governing structure in place. It has been up to the leaders of the parties to make decisions on issues such as sharing of seats in elections, allocation of ministries. Given the varied ideologies among the parties, there have been cases of disagreement. On 16 June 2013, the JD left the coalition and Sharad Yadav resigned from the role of the NDA convener, in 3 states - Goa, Maharashtra and Manipur, BJP shares power as Senior Partner with other politicial parties of NDA coalition. In 4 other states, Andhra Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Nagaland, the BJP has previously been the sole party in power in Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, and National Capital Territory of Delhi. ^ BJP had fielded 427 candidates on 427 seats out of 543, ajit Singh led Rashtriya Lok Dal withdrew from the NDA. NDA nominated P. A. Sangma as its candidate who lost against UPAs Pranab Mukherjee
20.
Venkaiah Naidu
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Muppavarapu Venkaiah Naidu is an Indian politician serving as the Minister of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation and Information and Broadcasting in the Modi ministry. A prominent leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party, he has served as its national president from 2002 to 2004. Earlier, he was the Union Cabinet Minister for Rural Development in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, Naidu was born on 1 July 1949 at Chavatapalem, in the Nellore district of the Indian State of Andhra Pradesh. He completed schooling from V. R, high School, Nellore, and pursued his bachelors degree in politics and diplomatic studies from V. R. College. Later, he acquired a degree in law with specialisation in international law from Andhra University College of Law. He was a swayamsevak in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and joined ABVP during his college days. He was elected as the president of the union of colleges affiliated to the Andhra University. He came into spotlight for his prominent role in the Jai Andhra Movement of 1972, while Kakani Venkata Ratnam led the movement from Vijayawada, Naidu took active part in the agitation in Nellore, until it was called off a year later. In 1974, he became the convener of the anti-corruption Jayaprakash Narayan Chhatra Sangharsh Samiti of Andhra Pradesh and he took to streets in protest against the emergency and was imprisoned. From 1977–80, he was president of its youth wing, both as a student leader and political figure, Naidu gained prominence as a brilliant orator, who vigorously championed the cause of the farmers and the development of backward areas. He rose to one of the most popular leaders of the BJP in Andhra Pradesh. After having served in various posts of the BJP at the state and national level. He has since been re-elected twice in 2004 and 2010 from Karnataka and he served as the party spokesperson from 1996 to 2000, bringing to the job his panache for quirky alliterations and similes. Unlike most politicians from southern India, Naidu made an effort to master Hindi, after the NDA victory in the 1999 general elections, he became the Union Cabinet Minister for Rural development in the government headed by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He was known for pushing for reforms in Rural development. He succeeded Jana Krishnamurthy as the National President of the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2002, on 28 January 2004, he was elected unopposed for a full 3-year term. After the defeat of the BJP led NDA in the 2004 general elections, however, he has remained in the forefront of the BJP as one of its senior vice-presidents and an important campaigner. M Venkaiah Naidu raised Special Status to Andhra Pradesh issue in Rajya Sabha, the then Prime Minister agreed to it, though it was not included in the AP Reorganisation Act-2014, but in last of 2016 He turned away from his words. Following the historic victory of the BJP in the 2014 general elections, he has sworn as the Minister for Urban Development, Naidu is also involved with the Swarna Bharath Trust, a social service organisation founded by him in Nellore
21.
Border Security Force
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The Border Security Force is the primary Border guarding force of India. It is a Central Armed Police Force charged with guarding Indias land border during peacetime and it is a Union Government Agency under the administrative control of Ministry of Home Affairs. The BSF has its own cadre of officers but its head, designated as a Director-General and it is an Armed Force of the Union of India tasked with various assignments from time to time. It currently stands as the worlds largest border guarding force, BSF has been termed as the First Line of Defence of Indian Territories. From independence in 1947 to 1965, the protection of Indias international boundaries was the responsibility of local police belonging to each border state, BSF is a Central Armed Police force charged with guarding Indias land border during peacetime and preventing transnational crime. It is a Union Government Agency under the control of Ministry of Home Affairs. It is one of law enforcement agency of India. It currently stands as the worlds largest border guarding force, the KF Rustamji, from the Indian police service, was the first Director General of BSF. Till 1965 India’s borders with Pakistan were manned by the State Armed Police Battalion, Pakistan attacked Sardar Post, Chhar Bet and Beria Bet on 9 April 1965 in Kutch. As a result of the recommendations of the Committee of Secretaries, in fact, for BSF the war on eastern front had started well before the war actually broke out in Dec 71. BSF had trained, supported and formed part of Mukti Bahini and had entered erstwhile East Pakistan before the hostilities broke out. BSF had played an important role in Liberation of Bangladesh which Indira Gandhi. Over 100 women have been deployed on the highly volatile Indo-Pak border, in total,595 women constables will be deployed on the border in different phases. Mr K F Rustamji IPS was the first Director General of Border Security Force from 21 July 1965 to 30 September 1974 & current Director General is Mr K K Sharma IPS since 29 February 2016. This attracts a number of spectators from both countries, as well as international tourists. Similar parades are being organised at Mahavir/Sadqi border near Fazilka and Hussainiwala/Gandasinghwala border near Firozpur, BSF contribution in reducing militancy in J&K is widely acknowledged. The BSF killed Ghazi Baba—chief of Jaish-e-Mohammed and the mastermind of the 2001 Indian Parliament attack—in August 2003 along with his deputy commander, the BSF raided Babas hideout in Srinagar and he was killed in the ensuing gun battle along with his deputy chief. In 2006 the Indian government has decided to implement recommendations to each security agency to its mandate
22.
Hizbul Mujahideen
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Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, founded by Muhammad Ahsan Dar in September 1989, is a Kashmiri separatist group. It is designated a terrorist organisation by India, the European Union, the current supreme commander of the group is a Sayeed Salahudeen. Holding a pro-Pakistan Ideology, the group is considered to be the largest indigenous militant group in Kashmir, in 1990 Ahsan Dar had more than 10,000 armed men under his command. However the book has been criticized for not containing accurate information, in 1991, after the merger with the Tahreek-e-Jihad-e-Islami, the strength of the Hizbul had reached 10,000. In the following years, rivalries developed within the Hizb, culminating in a killing of 21 people in a Pakistan administered Kashmir, by the late 1990s, several voices within the Hizb including its operational commander Abdul Majeed Dar sought a return to more peaceful approaches. In July 2000, Dar, along with four other Hizb commanders, the ceasefire was immediately ratified by the PAK based commander Sayeed Salahudeen, but was criticized strongly in the Pakistan media. It was withdrawn by Salahudeen by September, in 2002 Dar was denounced as an agent of the Indian intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing. He was expelled from the Hizb along with four divisional commanders, the ceasefire move, its immediate endorsement and subsequent withdrawal highlighted deep divisions between the more hawkish operatives in AK and those based in India. Dar and several other leaders were assassinated between 2001 and 2003. The organization today, under Salahudeen, is viewed as more hardcore. On 8 July 2016, a prominent Hezb separatist, 22-year old Burhan Muzaffar Wani, was dead by Indian security forces. More than 50,000 people joined his funeral procession and there were protests in the Kashmir valley
23.
Kashmir
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Kashmir is the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term Kashmir denoted only the valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal mountain range. In the first half of the 1st millennium, the Kashmir region became an important centre of Hinduism and later of Buddhism, later still, in the ninth century, in 1339, Shah Mir became the first Muslim ruler of Kashmir, inaugurating the Salatin-i-Kashmir or Swati dynasty. Kashmir was part of the Mughal Empire from 1586 to 1751 and that year, the Sikhs, under Ranjit Singh, annexed Kashmir. The Sanskrit word for Kashmir was, the Nilamata Purana describes the Valleys origin from the waters, a lake called Sati-saras. A popular, but uncertain, local etymology of Kashmira is that it is land desiccated from water, an alternative, but also uncertain, etymology derives the name from the name of the sage Kashyapa who is believed to have settled people in this land. Accordingly, Kashmir would be derived from either kashyapa-mir or kashyapa-meru, the Ancient Greeks called the region Kasperia which has been identified with Kaspapyros of Hecataeus and Kaspatyros of Herodotus. Kashmir is also believed to be the country meant by Ptolemys Kaspeiria, Cashmere is an archaic spelling of present-Kashmir, and in some countries it is still spelled this way. In the Kashmiri language, Kashmir itself is known as Kasheer, the Buddhist Mauryan emperor Ashoka is often credited with having founded the old capital of Kashmir, Shrinagari, now ruins on the outskirts of modern Srinagar. Kashmir was long to be a stronghold of Buddhism, as a Buddhist seat of learning, the Sarvāstivādan school strongly influenced Kashmir. East and Central Asian Buddhist monks are recorded as having visited the kingdom, in the late 4th century CE, the famous Kuchanese monk Kumārajīva, born to an Indian noble family, studied Dīrghāgama and Madhyāgama in Kashmir under Bandhudatta. He later became a translator who helped take Buddhism to China. His mother Jīva is thought to have retired to Kashmir, vimalākṣa, a Sarvāstivādan Buddhist monk, travelled from Kashmir to Kucha and there instructed Kumārajīva in the Vinayapiṭaka. Karkota Empire was a powerful Hindu empire, which originated in the region of Kashmir and it was founded by Durlabhvardhana during the lifetime of Harshavardhan. The dynasty marked the rise of Kashmir as a power in South Asia, avanti Varman ascended the throne of Kashmir on 855 A. D. establishing the Utpala dynasty and ending the rule of Karkota dynasty. According to tradition, Adi Shankara visited the pre-existing Sarvajñapīṭha in Kashmir in the late 8th century or early 9th century CE, the Madhaviya Shankaravijayam states this temple had four doors for scholars from the four cardinal directions. The southern door of Sarvajna Pitha was opened by Adi Shankara, abhinavagupta was one of Indias greatest philosophers, mystics and aestheticians. He was also considered an important musician, poet, dramatist, exegete, theologian, and logician – a polymathic personality who exercised strong influences on Indian culture
24.
RDX
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RDX is the organic compound with the formula 3. It is a white solid used as an explosive. Chemically, it is classified as nitramide, a more powerful explosive than TNT, it was used widely in World War II. It is often used in mixtures with other explosives and plasticizers or phlegmatizers, RDX is stable in storage and is considered one of the most powerful and brisant of the military high explosives. RDX is also known, but less commonly, as cyclonite, hexogen, T4, in the 1930s, the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, started investigating cyclonite to use against German U-boats that were being built with thicker hulls. The goal was a more powerful than TNT. For security reasons, Britain termed cyclonite as Research Department Explosive, the term RDX appeared in the United States in 1946. The first public reference in the United Kingdom to the name RDX, RDX was widely used during World War II, often in explosive mixtures with TNT such as Torpex, Composition B, Cyclotols, and H6. RDX was used in one of the first plastic explosives, the bouncing bomb depth charges used in the Dambusters Raid each contained 6,600 pounds of Torpex. RDX is believed to have used in many bomb plots including terrorist plots. RDX forms the base for a number of military explosives, Composition A, Granular explosive consisting of RDX. C-4 consists of RDX, a plasticizer, a binder, which is usually polyisobutylene, Composition CH-6,97. 5% RDX,1. 5% calcium stearate,0. 5% polyisobutylene, and 0. 5% graphite. DBX, Castable mixture consisting of 21% RDX, 21% ammonium nitrate, 40% TNT, developed during World War II, it was to be used in underwater munitions as a substitute for Torpex employing only half the amount of then-strategic RDX. As the supply of RDX became more adequate, the mixture was shelved, Cyclotol, Castable mixture of RDX with TNT designated by the amount of RDX/TNT, such as Cyclotol 70/30. HBX, Castable mixtures of RDX, TNT, powdered aluminium, h-6, Castable mixture of RDX, TNT, powdered aluminum, and paraffin wax. PBX, RDX is also used as a component of many polymer-bonded explosives. RDX-based PBXs typically consist of RDX and a polymer/co-polymer binder, semtex, Plastic demolition explosives containing RDX and PETN as major energetic components. Torpex, 42% RDX, 40% TNT, and 18% powdered aluminium, the mixture was designed during World War II and used mainly in underwater ordnance
25.
Grenade
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A grenade is a small bomb typically thrown by hand. A variety of hand grenades exist, the most common being explosive grenades designed to detonate after impact or after a set amount of time, Grenadiers were originally soldiers who specialized in throwing grenades. The word grenade derives from the French word for an explosive shell. Its first use in English dates from the 1590s and it is likely derived from Old French pomegranate and influenced by Spanish granada, as the fragmenting bomb is reminiscent of the many-seeded fruit. Rudimentary incendiary grenades appeared in the Eastern Roman Empire, not long after the reign of Leo III. Byzantine soldiers learned that Greek fire, a Byzantine invention of the century, could not only be thrown by flamethrowers at the enemy. The use of Greek fire spread to Muslim armies in the Near East, in China, during the Song Dynasty, weapons known as Zhen Tian Lei were created when Chinese soldiers packed gunpowder into ceramic or metal containers. In 1044, a military book Wujing Zongyao described various gunpowder recipes in which one can find, according to Joseph Needham, the Chinese also discovered the explosive potential of packing hollowed-out cannonball shells with gunpowder. The mid-14th-century book Huolongjing, written by Jiao Yu, recorded an earlier Song-era cast iron cannon known as the flying-cloud thunderclap cannon, the manuscript stated that, The shells are made of cast iron, as large as a bowl and shaped like a ball. Inside they contain half a pound of divine fire and they are sent flying towards the enemy camp from an eruptor, and when they get there a sound like a thunder-clap is heard, and flashes of light appear. If ten of these shells are fired successfully into the enemy camp, the first cast iron bombshells and grenades did not appear in Europe until 1467. A hoard of several hundred ceramic greandes were discovered during building works in front of a bastion of the Bavarian City of Ingolstadt. Lots of the grenades obtained their original blackpowder loads and igniters, most probably the grenades were intentially dumped the moat of the bastion before the year 1723. In 1643, it is possible that Grenados were thrown amongst the Welsh at Holt Bridge during the English Civil War and these grenades were not very effective and, as a result, saw little use. Improvised grenades were used from the mid-19th century, being especially useful in trench warfare. In the American Civil War, both sides used hand grenades equipped with a plunger that detonated the device on impact, the Union relied on experimental Ketchum Grenades, which had a tail to ensure that the nose would strike the target and start the fuse. The Confederacy used spherical hand grenades that weighed about six pounds and they also used Rains and Adams grenades, which were similar to the Ketchum in appearance and mechanism. Improvised hand grenades were used to great effect by the Russian defenders of Port Arthur during the Russo-Japanese War
26.
Arun Jaitley
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Arun Jaitley is an Indian politician and lawyer who is the current Finance Minister, Defence, Minister of Corporate Affairs in the Cabinet of India. From 2009 to 2014 he served as the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and he is a Senior Advocate of the Delhi High Court. He studied at St. Xaviers School, New Delhi from 1957–69 and he graduated in Commerce from Shri Ram College of Commerce, New Delhi in 1973. He passed his Law degree from the University of Delhi, in 1977, Jaitley was an Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad student leader in the Delhi University Campus in the seventies and rose to be the President of the Students Union of Delhi University in 1974. During the period of proclamation of Internal Emergency when civil liberties were suspended and he was a prominent leader of a movement against corruption launched in the year 1973 by Raj Narain and Jayaprakash Narayan. He was the Convenor of the National Committee for Students and Youth organisation appointed by Jai Prakash Narayan and he was also active in civil rights movement and helped found PUCL Bulletin along with Satish Jha and Smitu Kothari. After being released from jail he joined the Jan Sangh, in 1977, being the convener of the Loktantric Yuva Morcha at a time when the Congress suffered defeat, Jaitley was appointed the president of the Delhi ABVP and All India Secretary of the ABVP. He was then made the president of the wing of the BJP and the secretary of the Delhi Unit in 1980. Jaitley has been practising law before the Supreme Court of India, in January 1990, Delhi High Court designated him as a Senior Advocate. He was appointed Additional Solicitor General by the V. P. Singh government in 1989 and his clients cover the political spectrum from Sharad Yadav of the Janata Dal to Madhavrao Scindia of the Indian National Congress to L. K. Advani of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He has authored several publications on legal and current affairs and he has presented a paper on law relating to corruption and crime in India before the Indo-British Legal Forum. He was a delegate on behalf of the Government of India to the United Nations General Assembly Session in June 1998 where the Declaration on Laws Relating to Drugs and Money Laundering was approved. Jaitley has also appeared on behalf of giant multinational corporations such as PepsiCo against and Coca Cola, the companies were also issued show-cause notices as to why exemplary damages should not be imposed on them for indulging in environmental vandalism. In 2004, Jaitley appeared on behalf of Coca Cola in a Rajasthan High Court case and he has stopped practising law since June 2009. Jaitley has been a member of the executive of Bharatiya Janata Party since 1991. He became the spokesperson of the BJP during the preceding the 1999 general election. In 1999, After the Vajpayee Government of the BJP led National Democratic Alliance came to power, he was appointed Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting on 13 October 1999. He was also appointed Minister of State for Disinvestment, a new ministry created for the first time to effect to the policy of disinvestments under the World Trade Organisation regime
27.
Lucknow
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Lucknow is the capital of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and is also the administrative headquarters of the eponymous District and Division. It is the largest city in Uttar Pradesh, the eleventh most populous city, in North India, it is the third largest city after Delhi and Jaipur. Lucknow has always known as a multicultural city that flourished as a North Indian cultural and artistic hub. It continues to be an important centre of governance, administration, education, commerce, aerospace, finance, pharmaceuticals, technology, design, culture, tourism, music, the city stands at an elevation of approximately 123 metres above sea level. Lucknow district covers an area of 2,528 square kilometres, bounded on the east by Barabanki, on the west by Unnao, on the south by Raebareli and in the north by Sitapur and Hardoi, Lucknow sits on the northwestern shore of the Gomti River. Hindi is the language of the city and Urdu is also widely spoken. Lucknow is the centre of Shia Islam in India with the highest Shia Muslim population in India, historically, the capital of Awadh was controlled by the Delhi Sultanate which then came under Mughal rule. It was later transferred to the Nawabs of Awadh, in 1856, the British East India Company abolished local rule and took complete control of the city along with the rest of Awadh and, in 1857, transferred it to the British Raj. Along with the rest of India, Lucknow became independent from Britain on 15 August 1947 and it has been listed the 17th fastest growing city in India and 74th in world. Lucknow, along with Agra and Varanasi, is in the Uttar Pradesh Heritage Arc, Lucknow is the anglicised spelling of the local pronunciation lakhnau. According to one legend, the city is named after Lakshmana, the legend states that Lakshmana had a palace or an estate in the area, which was called Lakshmanapuri. However the Dalit movement believes that Lakhan Pasi, a ruler, was the settler of the city and is named after him. The settlement came to be known as Lakhanpur by the 11th century, a similar theory states that the city was known as Lakshmanavati after Lakshmana. The name changed to Lakhanavati, then Lakhnauti and finally Lakhnau, yet another theory states that the citys name is connected with Lakshmi, the Hindu goddess of wealth. Over time, the changed to Laksmanauti, Laksmnaut, Lakhsnaut, Lakhsnau and, finally. From 1350 onwards, Lucknow and parts of the Awadh region were ruled by the Delhi Sultanate, Sharqi Sultanate, Mughal Empire, Nawabs of Awadh, the British East India Company and the British Raj. Lucknow was one of the centres of the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and actively participated in Indias independence movement. Until 1719, the subah of Awadh was a province of the Mughal Empire administered by a Governor appointed by the Emperor, persian adventurer Saadat Khan, also known as Burhan-ul-Mulk, was appointed nizam of Awadh in 1722 and established his court in Faizabad, near Lucknow
28.
High Courts of India
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There are 24 High Courts at the state and union territory level of India which, together with the Supreme Court of India at the national level, comprise the countrys judicial system. Each High Court has jurisdiction over a state, a territory or a group of states. Below the High Courts is a hierarchy of subordinate courts such as the courts, family courts, criminal courts. High Courts are instituted as constitutional courts under Part VI, Chapter V, the High Courts are the principal civil courts of original jurisdiction in each state and union territory. High courts may also enjoy original jurisdiction in certain matters if so designated specifically in a state or federal law, however, the work of most High Courts primarily consists of appeals from lower courts and writ petitions in terms of Article 226 of the constitution. Writ jurisdiction is also original jurisdiction of High Court, the precise territorial jurisdiction of each High Court varies. The appeal order is the following, tehsil-kotwali-criminal/civil courts - district - high court - supreme court, each state is divided into judicial districts presided over by a District and Sessions Judge. He is known as a District Judge when he presides over a case. He is the highest judicial authority below a High Court judge, below him, there are courts of civil jurisdiction, known by different names in different states. Under Article 141 of the Constitution, all courts in India are bound by the judgments, judges in a High Court are appointed by the President of India in consultation with the Chief Justice of India and the governor of the state. High Courts are headed by a Chief Justice, the Chief Justices are ranked fourteenth and seventeenth in the Indian order of precedence. The Calcutta High Court is the oldest High Court in the country, High Courts that handle a large number of cases of a particular region have permanent benches established there. Benches are also present in states which come under the jurisdiction of a court outside its territorial limits, smaller states with few cases may have circuit benches established. Circuit benches are temporary courts which hold proceedings for a few selected months in a year, thus cases built up during this interim period are judged when the circuit court is in session. A systematic implementation of E-courts In India is the way to speed up the process, reduce if not eliminate the ills of the judicial system - corruption, inefficiency. The Madras High Court in Chennai, Bombay High Court in Mumbai, Calcutta High Court in Kolkata, Judge Strength in High Courts Increased. Soon, High Courts in 3 Northeastern States, new Chief Justice of Delhi High Court to Assume Charge on Wednesday. Media related to High Courts in India at Wikimedia Commons
29.
Babri Masjid
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The Babri Masjid was a mosque in Ayodhya, India. Located in Faizabad district, it was one of the largest mosques in the Uttar Pradesh state, according to the mosques inscriptions, it was built in 1528–29 CE by Mir Baqi, on orders of the Mughal emperor Babur. The mosque was located on a known as Ramkot. According to a section of Hindus, the Mughals destroyed a structure marking the birthplace of Rama to build the mosque, a claim denied by the Muslims. The political, historical and socio-religious debate over the history of the site, starting in the 19th century, there were several conflicts and court disputes between Hindus and Muslims over the mosque. On 6 December 1992, the demolition of the Babri Masjid by Hindu nationalist groups triggered riots all over India, the name Babri Masjid comes from the name of the Mughal emperor Babur, who is said to have ordered its construction. Before the 1940s, it was called Masjid-i-Janmasthan, including in the official documents such as revenue records, the rulers of the Delhi Sultanate and their successors, the Mughals, were great patrons of art and architecture and constructed many fine tombs, mosques and madrasas. These have a style which bears influences of later Tughlaq architecture. Mosques all over India were built in different styles, the most elegant styles developed in areas where indigenous art traditions were strong, the Babri Mosque followed the architectural school of Jaunpur Sultanate. When viewed from the west side, it resembled the Atala Masjid in Jaunpur, the architecture of the mosque is completely a replica of the mosques in the Delhi Sultanate. This was the forerunner of the Indo Islamic style adopted by Akbar, the sandstone used in building the Babri Mosque also had resonant qualities which contributed to the unique acoustics. The Babri mosques Tughluquid style integrated other design components and techniques, such as air cooling systems disguised as Islamic architectural elements like arches, vaults, in the Babri Masjid a passive environmental control system comprised the high ceiling, domes, and six large grille windows. The system helped keep the interior cool by allowing natural ventilation as well as daylight, the inscriptions in the Babri Masjid premises state that the mosque was built in 935 AH by Mir Baqi in accordance with the wishes of Babur. However, some historians have argued that it was built during the Delhi Sultanate period, R. Nath has stated that, judging from the architecture of the mosque, it should be taken to have been built in the pre-Mughal period. Here he met the Sufi saints Shah Jalal and Sayyid Musa Ashiqan, the pledge is not spelled out in the 1981 edition of Ghaffars book. Lala Sita Ram, who had access to the edition in 1932 wrote. Babur accepted the offer and returned to his homeland. While the inscription states that it was built on orders of Babur in 1528, the Baburnama does not mention either the mosque or the destruction of a temple
30.
Central Bureau of Investigation
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The Central Bureau of Investigation is the domestic intelligence and security service of India, which simultaneously serves as the nations prime federal law enforcement agency. It operates under the jurisdiction of the Government of India, the CBI is overseen by the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions of the Federal government, headed by a Cabinet Minister who reports directly to the Prime Minister. As far as national security is concern its comparable to those of the American FBI, however, CBIs powers and functions are limited to specific crimes by Acts. Alok Verma has assumed the role as the director since 19th Jan 2017 The CBI is involved in major criminal probes, the CBI was established in 1941 as the Special Police Establishment, tasked with domestic security. It was renamed the Central Bureau of Investigation on 1 April 1963 and its motto is Industry, Impartiality, Integrity. Agency headquarters is in the Indian capital, New Delhi, with offices located in major cities throughout India. The Bureau of Investigation traces its origins to the Special Police Establishment, the functions of the SPE were to investigate bribery and corruption in transactions with the War and Supply Department of India, set up during World War II with its headquarters in Lahore. The Superintendent of the War Department and the SPE was Khan Bahadur Qurban Ali Khan, the first legal advisor of the War Department was Rai Sahib Karam Chand Jain. This is DSPEs scope was enlarged to all departments of the Government of India. Its jurisdiction extended to the Union Territories, and could be extended to the states with the consent of the state governments involved. Sardar Patel, first Deputy Prime Minister of free India and head of the Home Department, desired to weed out corruption in erstwhile princely states such as Jodhpur, Rewa and Tonk. Patel directed Legal Advisor Karam Chand Jain to monitor criminal proceedings against the dewans, th DSPE acquired its popular current name, Central Bureau of Investigation, through a Home Ministry resolution dated 1.4.1963. The Supreme Court and a number of courts in the country also began assigning such investigations to the CBI on the basis of petitions filed by aggrieved parties. In 1987, the CBI was divided into two divisions, the Anti-Corruption Division and the Special Crimes Division, the founding director of the CBI was D. P. Kohli, who held the office from 1 April 1963 to 31 May 1968. For distinguished service, Kohli was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1967, Kohli saw in the Special Police Establishment the potential to growing into a National Investigative Agency. He nurtured the organisation during his career as inspector general and director. The CBI is headed by a Director, an IPS officer with a rank of Director General of Police, the director is selected based on the CVC Act 2003, and has a two-year term. Inspector, Sub-Inspector, Assistant Sub-Inspector, Head constable, Constable which are recruited through SSC or through deputation from Police, the amended Delhi Special Police Establishment Act empowers a committee to appoint the director of CBI
31.
Indian National Congress
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The Indian National Congress is one of two major political parties in India, the other being the Bharatiya Janata Party. Congress was founded in 1885 during the British Raj, its founders include Allan Octavian Hume, Dadabhai Naoroji, there have been seven Congress Prime Ministers, the first being Jawaharlal Nehru, and the most recent Manmohan Singh. The partys social liberal platform is considered to be on the centre-left of Indian politics. From 2004 to 2014, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance, a coalition of regional parties. As of March 2017, the party is in power in five states, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Meghalaya, in Bihar, it is a part of the ruling coalition. The Congress has previously directly ruled Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, in the 2014 general election, the Congress had its poorest post-independence general election performance, winning only 44 seats of the 543-member house. The party primarily endorses social liberalism—seeking to balance individual liberty and social justice, the Congress was founded in 1885 by Indian and British members of the Theosophical Society movement, including Scotsman Allan Octavian Hume. It has been suggested that the idea was conceived in a meeting of 17 men after a Theosophical Convention held in Madras in December 1884. Hume took the initiative, and in March 1885 the first notice convening the first Indian National Union to meet in Poona the following December was issued. Its objective was to obtain a share in government for educated Indians and to create a platform for civic. The first meeting was scheduled to be held in Poona, Hume organised the first meeting in Bombay with the approval of the Viceroy Lord Dufferin. Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee was the first president of the Congress, the first session was held from 28–31 December 1885, representing each province of India, the Partys delegates comprised 54 Hindus and 2 Muslims, the rest were of Parsi and Jain backgrounds. It also included Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Bipin Chandra Pal, Lala Lajpat Rai, Gopal Krishna Gokhale and Mohammed Ali Jinnah—later leader of the Muslim League and instrumental in the creation of Pakistan. The Congress was transformed into a movement by Surendranath Banerjea and Sir Henry Cotton during the partition of Bengal in 1905. Mahatma Gandhi returned from South Africa in 1915, in 1923 following the deaths of policemen at Chauri Chaura, Gandhi suspended the agitation. In protest, a number of leaders, Chittaranjan Das, Annie Besant, the Khilafat movement collapsed and the Congress was split. Although its members were predominantly Hindu, it had members from other religions, economic classes, at the Congress 1929 Lahore session under the presidency of Jawaharlal Nehru, Purna Swaraj was declared as the partys goal, declaring 26 January 1930 as Purna Swaraj Diwas, Independence Day. The same year, Srinivas Iyenger was expelled from the party for demanding full independence, the British government allowed provincial elections in India in the winter of 1936–37 under the Government of India Act 1935
32.
Sonia Gandhi
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Sonia Gandhi is an Italian-born Indian politician, who has served as President of the Indian National Congress party since 1998. She is the widow of former Prime Minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi who belonged to the Nehru–Gandhi family and she finally agreed to join politics in 1997, in 1998, she was elected President of the Congress party. She has served as the Chairperson of the ruling United Progressive Alliance in the Lok Sabha since 2004, in September 2010, on being re-elected for the fourth time, she became the longest serving president in the 125-year history of the Congress party. Her foreign birth has been a subject of debate and controversy. Also controversial was her friendship with Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi. Although Sonia is the fifth person to be leader of the Congress Party. She spent her adolescence in Orbassano, a town near Turin, being raised in a traditional Roman Catholic family and her father, Stefano Maino, was a building mason, who owned a small construction business in Orbassano. Stefano fought against the Soviet military alongside Hitlers Wehrmacht on the front in World War II, he called himself a loyal supporter of Benito Mussolini. Her mother and two still live around Orbassano. In 1964, she went to study English at the Bell Educational Trusts language school in the city of Cambridge, in 1965 at a Greek restaurant she met Rajiv Gandhi, who was enrolled in Trinity College at the University of Cambridge. Sonia and Rajiv Gandhi married in 1968, in a Hindu ceremony following which she moved into the house of her mother-in-law and then Prime Minister, the couple had two children, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Vadra. Despite belonging to the influential Nehru family, Sonia and Rajiv avoided all involvement in politics, Rajiv worked as an airline pilot while Sonia took care of her family. When Indira Gandhi was ousted from office in 1977 in the aftermath of the Indian Emergency, Sonia Gandhis involvement with Indian public life began after the assassination of her mother-in-law and her husbands election as prime minister. As the prime ministers wife she acted as his official hostess, in 1984, she actively campaigned against her husbands sister-in-law Maneka Gandhi who was running against Rajiv in Amethi. At the end of Rajiv Gandhis five years in office, the Bofors scandal broke out, Ottavio Quattrocchi, an Italian business man believed to be involved, was said to be a friend of Sonia Gandhi, having access to the Prime Ministers official residence. The BJP has alleged that she appeared on the voters list in New Delhi prior to obtaining Indian citizenship in April 1983, former senior Congress leader and current President of India Pranab Mukherjee said that she surrendered her Italian passport to the Italian Embassy on 27 April 1983. Italian nationality law did not permit dual nationality until 1992, so, by acquiring Indian citizenship in 1983, she would automatically have lost Italian citizenship. After Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated in 1991 and Sonia Gandhi refused to become Prime Minister, over the next few years, however, the Congress fortunes continued to dwindle and it lost the 1996 elections
33.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
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Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam is a state political party in the states of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry in India. It is a Dravidian party founded by C. N. Annadurai in 1949 as a faction from the Dravidar Kazhagam headed by Periyar. Since 1969, DMK has been headed by Karunanidhi, who has served as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu several times. DMK holds the distinction of being the first party other than the Indian National Congress to win elections with a clear majority on its own in any state in India. DMK traces its roots to the South Indian Liberal Federation formed in 1916, by P. Thyagaraya Chetty, natesa Mudaliar and a few others. The Justice Party, whose objectives included social equality and justice, E. V. Ramasami, a popular Tamil reformist leader of the time, had joined Indian National Congress in 1919, to oppose what he considered the Brahminic leadership of the party. Periyars experience at the Vaikom Satyagraha made him to start the Self-Respect Movement in 1926 which was rationalistic and anti-Brahministic and he quit Congress and in 1935, he joined the Justice Party. In the 1937 elections, the Justice Party lost and the Indian National Congress under C, rajagopalachari came to power in Madras Presidency. Rajajis introduction of Hindi as a subject in schools led to the anti-Hindi agitations, led by Periyar. In August 1944, Periyar created the Dravidar Kazhagham out of the Justice Party, over the years, many disputes arose between Periyar and his followers. In 1949, several of his followers led by C. N, until then E. V. K. Sampath, the nephew of Periyar, was considered his political heir. The name of the party was announced by Kudanthai Perunthagai, in 1953, actor M. G. Ramachandran joined the DMK, popularised the party flag and symbol which at that time stood for secession from India by showing it in his movies. MGR was a member of the DMK, and he was seen as an icon of the DMK and spread its message through films like Adimaippenn and Namnadu. In 1967, DMK came to power in Madras province 18 years after its formation and 10 years after it had first entered electoral politics and this began the Dravidian era in Madras province which later became Tamil Nadu. In 1969, party secretary and founder, CN Annadurai died. After his death, there came the power tussle between M Karunanidhi and V. R. Nedunchezhiyan, to pacify V. R. Nedunchezhiyan a new post called party president was created for M Karunanidhi and V. R. Nedunchezhiyan was the post of general secretary. MGR was appointed as the Treasurer of the Party, during the Indian President election, there was divided opinion between the leaders of Indian National Congress. She had also advised all party elected members to vote according to their conscience, Dr. V. V. Giri was elected as the President of India with the support of Mrs. Indira Gandhi
34.
M. Karunanidhi
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Muthuvel Karunanidhi is an Indian politician who has served as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu on five separate occasions. He is the head of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, a Dravidian political party in the state of Tamil Nadu and he has been the leader of the DMK since the death of its founder, C. N. Annadurai, in 1969. He holds the record of winning his seat in election in which he has participated. In the 2004 Lok Sabha Elections, he led the DMK-led DPA in Tamil Nadu and he is also a playwright and screenwriter in Tamil cinema. Since 1975, Karunanidhi has published six volumes of his autobiography, M. Karunanidhi was born as Dakshinamoorthy in Thirukuvalai, Nagapattinam district on 3 June 1924 to Muthuvel and Anjugam. He married three times, his wives are the late Padmavathy, Dayalu Ammal and Rajathi Ammal, Karunanidhis first wife Padmavathy was a sister of Chidambaram S. Jeyaraman, notable Tamil musician, music director and playback singer. Karunanidhis sons are M. K. Muthu, M. K. Alagiri, M. K. Stalin and his daughters are Selvi and Kanimozhi. Kanimozhi is a Rajya Sabha MP. M. K. Muthu, his eldest son was born to Padmavathy, Alagiri, Stalin, Selvi and Tamilarasu were born to Dayalu, while Kanimozhi is the only daughter from his third wife, Rajathi. Karunanidhi began his career as a screenwriter in the Tamil film industry, through his wit and oratorical skills he rapidly rose as a popular politician. He was famous for writing historical and social stories which propagated the socialist and rationalist ideals of the Dravidian movement to which he belonged and he first began using Tamil cinema to propagate his political ideas through the movie Parasakthi. Parasakthi was a point in Tamil cinema, as it espoused the ideologies of the Dravidian movement. The movie was banned but was eventually released in 1952. It was a box office hit, but its release was marred with controversies. The movie was opposed by orthodox Hindus since it contained elements that criticized Brahmanism, two other movies written by Karunanidhi that contained such messages were Panam and Thangarathnam. These movies contained themes such as widow remarriage, abolition of untouchability, self-respect marriages, abolition of zamindari, as his movies and plays with strong social messages became popular, they suffered from increased censorship, two of his plays in the 1950s were banned. Karunanidhi rose to fame as a scriptwriter for the Modern Theatres Studio in Salem about 350 kilometers from Madras or present day Chennai. T R Sundaram, the owner of Modern Theatres Studio at Yercaud foot hills, was instrumental in honouring the talents of Karunanidhi, Jayalalithaa and M G Ramachandran. Even today, whenever Karunanidhi visits Salem, he takes a ride through Modern Theatres and goes up to the first hair pin bend on the Yercaud hill road to relive nostalgia, Karunanidhi is known for his contributions to Tamil literature
35.
Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
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Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam English, Renaissance Dravida Progressive Federation, abbreviated as MDMK) is a political party active in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry. It was established by Vaiko in 1994, Vaiko was a member of Rajyasabha and a party activist of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. Vaiko grew in the party from his student days and actively participated in the party agitations and he was elected thrice to the Rajya Sabha and attracted the attention of many in parliament. In 1994, he was forced out of the parent body as he was seen as a threat to DMK chief Karunanidhis son, kerala government was keen in demolishing mullai periyar dam, this dam is the prime source for irrigation for more than 8 districts including Theni. They later withdrew their claim and joined DMK when it was found that they had forged letters of support of party executives, due to issues in seat sharing, MDMK quit the ADMK Alliance and boycotted the 2011 Assembly elections of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. The MDMK protested the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksas visit to Sanchi, Vaiko and his party members traveled to Sanchi. People who traveled through roadways were stopped by the police near Gadchiroli, some party members tried to reach the spot by rail and air but they were detained by police before reaching Sanchi. Earlier in the month, Dr. Swamy of the BJP made a pitch against Vaiko accusing him of acting against national interests for his regional political benefits. The colour of the top and bottom panel is red and middle panel is black, the party has a weekly journal called Sangoli which carries news and write ups for party workers
36.
Pattali Makkal Katchi
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Pattali Makkal Katchi is a political party in Tamil Nadu, India founded by Dr. S. Ramadoss in 1989 for the upliftment of Vanniyar Community, which in Tamil language called as பாட்டாளி - Pattali. PMK was founded by Dr S Ramadoss an activist on 16 July 1989, following the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, the PMK joined United Progressive Alliance led by the Congress. However, the DMK did not press for the removal from the UPA Government at the Centre. On 26 March 2009, PMK declared that, it would join the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam led front and left the United Progressive Alliance. The leaders of Pattali Makkal Katchi, who are also the national executives of the party are listed below, S. Ramadoss, mani, President of PMK Anbumani Ramadoss, Former Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha. He is the son of S. Ramadoss and former Union Minister of Health and his important contributions include his leadership in the பசுமை தாயகம் -Pasumai Thayagam movement, which has found wide acceptance among the people of the land. He is the partys Chief Minister Candidate for the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election,2016, shanmugam, Former Minister of State for Food Processing Industries. He has remained a member of the Lok Sabha from the Vellore constituency in Tamil Nadu in the 1998-99 elections, as a Member of Parliament of the 14th Lok Sabha, Moorthy represented the Chengalpattu constituency of Tamil Nadu. Mohamed Amukurajuddin, Leader of minority wing of PMK Rangasamy Velu and he was a member of the 14th Lok Sabha, representing the Arakkonam constituency of Tamil Nadu. He remained in the Railway Ministry from 2004 to 2009, one of the most phenomenal contributions of the PMK is in its Union Minister’s efforts to improve the rural healthcare facilities of people across the country, especially women and children. It was to end that Anbumani Ramadoss as a Health Minister established the famous National Rural Health Mission in 2005. This government initiation brought massive development to the poor, in terms of better medical facilities. Ramadoss has been an advocate of the anti-tobacco campaigns. As a Health Minister, he implemented measures to control sale of tobacco. His strong advocacy banned the drinking and smoking of alcohol and tobacco, or their respective advertisements in, founded Pasumai Thaayagam, which primarily works for the preservation of the environment and ecologically sustainable development
37.
Kala Ghoda Arts Festival
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From its inception in 1999, the Festival has grown in stature and popularity, attracting visitors and participants from other parts of the country, and the world. The Festival is organised by the Kala Ghoda Association and curated by teams handling each of the 12 sections of the festival, entry to all events is free to all and costs are met through corporate sponsorship. In recent years, the Festival has expanded beyond the Kala Ghoda crescent and these include the Mumbai Festival, the Celebrate Bandra Festival, and in 2007, the Kitab Festival. The Kala Ghoda Association official site
38.
Maharashtra Pollution Control Board
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The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board implements a range of environmental legislation in the state of Maharashtra, India. The MPCB functions under the control of Environment Department of the Government of Maharashtra. It was established under the provisions of Maharashtra Prevention of Water Pollution Act,1969, during a hearing of a PIL on the Panchganga river pollution, the court find that successive state governments had not appointed members for the board since its establishment on September 7,1970. The appointment of members is obligatory as stipulated in the Water Act,1974. There is no data available whether the government has appointed members other than the secretary-level officers. Awaaz Foundation is a Non-governmental organisation in India, works towards preserving and enhancing environment, MPCB official web site MPB Recruitment Details
39.
Pepsi
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Pepsi is a carbonated soft drink produced and manufactured by PepsiCo. Originally created and developed in 1893 and introduced as Brads Drink, it was renamed as Pepsi-Cola on August 28,1898 and it is currently known in North America alternatively as Pepsi-Cola as of 2014. The drink Pepsi was first introduced as Brads Drink in New Bern, North Carolina, United States, in 1893 by Caleb Bradham and it was renamed Pepsi Cola in 1898 after the root of the word dyspepsia and the kola nuts used in the recipe. The original recipe also included sugar and vanilla, Bradham sought to create a fountain drink that was appealing and would aid in digestion and boost energy. In 1903, Bradham moved the bottling of Pepsi-Cola from his drugstore to a rented warehouse and that year, Bradham sold 7,968 gallons of syrup. The next year, Pepsi was sold in bottles. In 1909, automobile race pioneer Barney Oldfield was the first celebrity to endorse Pepsi-Cola, describing it as A bully drink. refreshing, invigorating, the advertising theme Delicious and Healthful was then used over the next two decades. In 1926, Pepsi received its first logo redesign since the design of 1905. In 1929, the logo was changed again, assets were sold and Roy C. Megargel bought the Pepsi trademark. Megargel was unsuccessful, and soon Pepsis assets were purchased by Charles Guth, Loft was a candy manufacturer with retail stores that contained soda fountains. He sought to replace Coca-Cola at his stores fountains after Coke refused to him a discount on syrup. Guth then had Lofts chemists reformulate the Pepsi-Cola syrup formula, on three separate occasions between 1922 and 1933, The Coca-Cola Company was offered the opportunity to purchase the Pepsi-Cola company, and it declined on each occasion. The original trademark application for Pepsi-Cola was filed on September 23,1902 with registration approved on June 16,1903, in the applications statement, Caleb Bradham describes the trademark and indicated that the mark was in continuous use for his business since August 1,1901. The Pepsi-Colas description is a syrup for soda water. The trademark expired on April 15,1904, a second Pepsi-Cola trademark is on record with the USPTO. The federal status for the 1905 trademark is registered and renewed and is owned by PepsiCo of Purchase, in 2014, the 1940 wordmark was used again and replacing the current wordmark on many cans. During the Great Depression, Pepsi gained popularity following the introduction in 1936 of a 12-ounce bottle, coming at a time of economic crisis, the campaign succeeded in boosting Pepsis status. From 1936 to 1938, Pepsi-Colas profits doubled, Pepsis success under Guth came while the Loft Candy business was faltering
40.
Chembur
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Chembur is a suburb in eastern Mumbai, India. It is 15 km from downtown Mumbai and 10 km from Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, the name Chembur is probably derived from the word “Chimboree” which means Large Crab in Marathi, because the British were unable to pronounce the word chimboree. Before reclamation, Chembur lay on the corner of Trombay Island. This is however disputed and is said to be a reference to Chevul at the mouth of the Kundalika River on mainland Maharashtra. Later the area occupied is said to have occupied a branch of an animal home, the Bombay Presidency Golf Club was established in 1827 and was later re-built to meet international standards. No further activity was seen until the Kurla-Chembur single railway line was built in 1906 for garbage trains, the line was opened to passenger traffic in 1924. After construction activity in the 1920s, Chembur was finally opened up in the 1930s and it was made part of Greater Bombay in 1945. After independence, Chembur was one of the sites where refugee camps were set up to settle refugees after partition, the industrialisation of Trombay during and after the war led to the demand for housing and the growth of Chembur thereafter. Chembur lies in the Mumbai South Central parliamentary constituency and it used to lie in Mumbai North-East Parliamentary constituency prior to delimitation in 2008. After delimitation, it has moved to Mumbai South Central parliamentary Constituency. The Current sitting Member of Parliament of Mumbai South Central is Shiv Senas Rahul Shewale, sitting Member of the Legislative Assembly of Chembur is Mr. Prakash Vaikunth Phaterpekar of the Shiv Sena. Chembur is the seat of the M Ward Offices, the M Ward ranges from Thane Creek in East to Tansa Pipe Line No.2 in West, from Somaiyya Nalla in North to Mahul Creek in South. Chembur lies in ward numbers 141 to 149 with Councillors for each representing it in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, Chembur is surrounded by the suburbs of Kurla, Deonar, Mahul, Govandi, Chunabhatti and Ghatkopar. A marine alluvium type of soil is observed in Chembur and it has north-south running basalt hills to its south. Autorickshaws, taxis, BEST buses and trains are the modes of transport. The Harbour Line of the Mumbai Suburban Railway has station in Chembur, Suburban trains bound for Mumbai CST, Andheri and Panvel run throughout the day. The Lokmanya Tilak Terminus for long trains are located nearby. Line 1 of Mumbai Monorail opened in February 2014 and has a terminus at Chembur, Dayanand Saraswati Marg, V N Purav Marg, R C Marg, Station Avenue Road, the Eastern Express Highway and Sion Panvel Highway are some of the arterial roads of Chembur
41.
Mumbai
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Mumbai is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India and the ninth most populous agglomeration in the world, Mumbai lies on the west coast of India and has a deep natural harbour. In 2008, Mumbai was named a world city. It is also the wealthiest city in India, and has the highest GDP of any city in South, West, Mumbai has the highest number of billionaires and millionaires among all cities in India. The seven islands that came to constitute Mumbai were home to communities of fishing colonies, during the mid-18th century, Bombay was reshaped by the Hornby Vellard project, which undertook reclamation of the area between the seven islands from the sea. Along with construction of roads and railways, the reclamation project, completed in 1845. Bombay in the 19th century was characterised by economic and educational development, during the early 20th century it became a strong base for the Indian independence movement. Upon Indias independence in 1947 the city was incorporated into Bombay State, in 1960, following the Samyukta Maharashtra movement, a new state of Maharashtra was created with Bombay as the capital. Mumbai is the financial, commercial and entertainment capital of India and it is also home to some of Indias premier scientific and nuclear institutes like BARC, NPCL, IREL, TIFR, AERB, AECI, and the Department of Atomic Energy. The city also houses Indias Hindi and Marathi film and television industry, Mumbais business opportunities, as well as its potential to offer a higher standard of living, attract migrants from all over India, making the city a melting pot of many communities and cultures. The oldest known names for the city are Kakamuchee and Galajunkja, in 1508, Portuguese writer Gaspar Correia used the name Bombaim, in his Lendas da Índia. This name possibly originated as the Old Portuguese phrase bom baim, meaning good little bay, in 1516, Portuguese explorer Duarte Barbosa used the name Tana-Maiambu, Tana appears to refer to the adjoining town of Thane and Maiambu to Mumbadevi. Other variations recorded in the 16th and the 17th centuries include, Mombayn, Bombay, Bombain, Bombaym, Monbaym, Mombaim, Mombaym, Bambaye, Bombaiim, Bombeye, Boon Bay, and Bon Bahia. After the English gained possession of the city in the 17th century, Ali Muhammad Khan, imperial diwan or revenue minister of the Gujarat province, in the Mirat-i-Ahmedi referred to the city as Manbai. By the late 20th century, the city was referred to as Mumbai or Mambai in the Indian statewise official languages of Marathi, Konkani, Gujarati, Kannada and Sindhi, the Government of India officially changed the English name to Mumbai in November 1995. According to Slate magazine, they argued that Bombay was a corrupted English version of Mumbai, Slate also said The push to rename Bombay was part of a larger movement to strengthen Marathi identity in the Maharashtra region. A resident of Mumbai is called mumbaikar in the Marathi language, the term has been in use for quite some time but it gained popularity after the official name change to Mumbai. Mumbai is built on what was once an archipelago of seven islands, Bombay Island, Parel, Mazagaon, Mahim, Colaba, Worli and it is not exactly known when these islands were first inhabited
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Goa
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Goa /ˈɡoʊ. ə/ is a state in India within the coastal region known as the Konkan in western India. It is bounded by Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the east and it is Indias smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Goa is Indias richest state, with a GDP per capita two and a half times that of the country, Panaji is the states capital, while Vasco da Gama is its largest city. The historic city of Margao still exhibits the influence of the Portuguese. Goa is a former Portuguese province, the Portuguese overseas territory of Portuguese India existed for about 450 years until it was annexed by India in 1961. Goa is visited by large numbers of international and domestic tourists each year for its beaches, places of worship and it has rich flora and fauna, owing to its location on the Western Ghats range, a biodiversity hotspot. In ancient literature, Goa was known by names, such as Gomanchala, Gopakapattana, Gopakapattam, Gopakapuri, Govapuri, Govem. In the 3rd century BC, Goa was known as Aparantha and is mentioned by the Greek geographer Ptolemy, in the 13th century, the Greeks referred to Goa as Nelkinda. Other historical names for Goa are Sindapur, Sandabur, and Mahassapatam, Goas history goes back 20, 000–30,000 years. The rock art engravings exhibit the earliest traces of life in India. Upper Paleolithic or Mesolithic rock art engravings have been found on the bank of the river Kushavati at Usgalimal. Petroglyphs, cones, stone-axe, and choppers dating to 10,000 years ago have been found in places in Goa, such as Kazur, Mauxim. Evidence of Palaeolithic life is seen at Dabolim, Adkon, Shigao, Fatorpa, Arli, Maulinguinim, Diwar, Sanguem, Pilerne, difficulty in carbon dating the laterite rock compounds poses a problem for determining the exact time period. Early Goan society underwent radical change when Indo-Aryan and Dravidian migrants amalgamated with the aboriginal locals, in the 3rd century BC, Goa was part of the Maurya Empire, ruled by the Buddhist emperor, Ashoka of Magadha. Buddhist monks laid the foundation of Buddhism in Goa, between the 2nd century BC and the 6th century AD, Goa was ruled by the Bhojas of Goa. The rule later passed to the Chalukyas of Badami, who controlled it between 578 and 753, and later the Rashtrakutas of Malkhed from 753 to 963, from 765 to 1015, the Southern Silharas of Konkan ruled Goa as the feudatories of the Chalukyas and the Rashtrakutas. Over the next few centuries, Goa was successively ruled by the Kadambas as the feudatories of the Chalukyas of Kalyani, in 1312, Goa came under the governance of the Delhi Sultanate. The kingdoms grip on the region was weak, and by 1370 it was forced to surrender it to Harihara I of the Vijayanagara empire, the Vijayanagara monarchs held on to the territory until 1469, when it was appropriated by the Bahmani sultans of Gulbarga
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Indian general election, 2004
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Legislative elections were held in India in four phases between 20 April and 10 May 2004. Over 670 million people were eligible to vote, electing 543 members of the 14th Lok Sabha, the Lok Sabha, or House of the People, is the directly elected lower house of the Parliament of India. On 13 May, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and its alliance National Democratic Alliance conceded defeat, the Indian National Congress, which had governed India for all but five years from independence until 1996, returned to power after a record eight years out of office. It was able to put together a majority of more than 335 members out of 543 with the help of its allies. Despite the fact that Singh had never won a Lok Sabha seat, his considerable goodwill and Sonia Gandhis nomination won him the support of the UPA allies, seven states also held assembly elections to elect state governments along with the parliamentary elections. Over 370 million of the 675 million eligible citizens voted, with election violence claiming 48 lives, the Indian elections were held in phases in order to maintain law and order. A few states considered sensitive areas required deployment of the armed forces, the average enrolment of voters in each constituency is 1.2 million, although the largest constituency has 3.1 million. The Election Commission of India is responsible for deciding the dates, the Election Commission employed more than a million electronic voting machines for these elections. According to the magazine India Today,115.62 billion rupees were expected to have spent in campaigning for the elections by all political parties combined. Most of the money was spent on the involved in the election. The Election Commission limited poll expenses to Rs.2.5 million per constituency, thus, the actual spending is expected to have been approximately 10 times the limit. About 6.5 billion rupees are estimated to have spent on mobilising 150,000 vehicles. About a billion rupees are estimated to have spent on helicopters. Largely the contest was between BJP and its allies on one hand and Congress and its allies on the other, the situation did, however, show large regional differences. Ahead of the elections there were attempts to form a Congress-led national level joint opposition front, in the end, an agreement could not be reached, but on regional level alliances between Congress and regional parties were made in several states. This was the first time that Congress contested with that type of alliances in a parliamentary election, in several other states, such as Punjab and Andhra Pradesh, they took part in seat sharings with Congress. In Tamil Nadu they were part of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam -led Democratic Progressive Alliance, two parties refused to go along with either Congress or BJP, Bahujan Samaj Party and Samajwadi Party. Both are based in Uttar Pradesh, the largest state of India, Congress made several attempts to form alliances with them, but in vain
