Fort William, India
Fort William is a fort built in Calcutta on the eastern banks of the River Hooghly, the major distributary of the River Ganges, during the early years of the Bengal Presidency of British India. It was named after King William III of England and Ireland, in front of the Fort is the Maidan, which used to be a part of the Fort and is the largest urban park in Calcutta. There are actually two Fort Williams, the old and the new, the original was built in 1696 by the British East India Company under the supervision of John Goldsborough. Sir Charles Eyre started construction near the bank of the River Hooghly with the South-East Bastion and it was named after King William III in 1700. John Beard, his successor, added the North-East Bastion in 1701, the original building had two stories and projecting wings. An internal guard room became the Black Hole of Calcutta, in 1756, the Nawab of Bengal, Siraj Ud Daulah, attacked the Fort, temporarily conquered the city, and changed its name to Alinagar. This led the British to build a new fort in the Maidan, the rebuilding of the fort was started by Robert Clive in 1758, after the Battle of Plassey, and completed in 1781 at a cost of approximately two million pounds.
The area around the Fort was cleared, and the Maidan became the Lungs of Kolkata and it stretches for around 3 km in the north-south direction and is around 1 km wide. Fort William is one of Kolkatas most enduring Raj era edifice. This is a fort of stupendous dimensions and is spread over an area of 70.9 hectares and it was built by Robert Clive in the year 1781. The Old Fort was repaired and used as a house from 1766 onwards. Today this fort located in the periphery of the lush green Maidan is the property of Indian Army, the headquarters of Eastern Command is based at Fort William and it has provisions for accommodating 10,000 army personnel. The Army guards it heavily, and civilian entry is restricted, the Fort is built of brick and mortar in the shape of an irregular octagon with an area 5 km². Five of its sides face landward, and three towards the Hooghly River, the design is that of a star fort, suited to defence against cannon, but from before the advent of explosive shells. It is surrounded by a dry moat 9 m deep and 15 m broad, there are six gates, Plassey, Water Gate, St Georges and the Treasury Gate.
There are similar forts at places like Thalassery in Kerala and it has a 9-hole golf course currently
Whitehall
Whitehall is a road in the City of Westminster, Central London, which forms the first part of the A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea. It is the main thoroughfare running south from Trafalgar Square towards Parliament Square, the name Whitehall is used as a metonym for British civil service, and as the geographic name for the surrounding area. The name was taken from the Palace of Whitehall that was the residence of Kings Henry VIII through to William III, before its destruction by fire in 1698, only the Banqueting House survived. Whitehall was originally a road that led to the front of the palace. As well as government buildings, the street is known for its statues and monuments, including Britains primary war memorial. The Whitehall Theatre, now the Trafalgar Studios, has been a place for farce comedies since the mid-20th century. The name Whitehall was used for buildings in the Tudor period. It either referred to a made of light stone, or as a general term for any festival building.
This included the Royal Palace of Whitehall, which in turn gave its name to the street, the street is about 0.4 miles long and runs through the City of Westminster. It is part of the A3212, a road in Central London that leads towards Chelsea via the Houses of Parliament. It runs south from Trafalgar Square, past numerous government buildings, including the old War Office building, Horse Guards, the Ministry of Defence, the Cabinet Office and it ends at the Cenotaph, the road ahead being Parliament Street. Great Scotland Yard and Horse Guards Avenue branch off to the east, the nearest tube stations are Charing Cross at the north end, and Westminster at the south. Numerous London bus routes run along Whitehall, including 12,24,53,88,159 and 453. It had become a street by the 16th century, and had become a popular place to live by the 17th, with residents including Lord Howard of Effingham. The Palace of Whitehall, to the east of the road, was originally named York Palace, the palace was redesigned in 1531–32 and became the Kings main residence in the decade.
He married Ann Boleyn here in 1533, followed by Jane Seymour in 1536, Charles I owned an extensive art collection at the palace and several of William Shakespeares plays had their first performances here. It ceased to be a residence after 1689, when William III moved to Kensington Palace. The palace was damaged by fire in 1691, following which the front entrance was redesigned by Sir Christopher Wren, in 1698, most of the palace burned to the ground owing to an accident started by a careless washerwoman
Impeachment
Impeachment is the process by which a legislative body formally levels charges against a high official of Government. Impeachment does not necessarily mean removal from office, it is only a statement of charges, akin to an indictment in criminal law. Once an individual is impeached, he or she must face the possibility of conviction via legislative vote, in the United States, for example, impeachment at the Federal level is reserved for those who may have committed high crimes and misdemeanors. Several Federal officials, including two Presidents and several judges, have been impeached over the course of US history, US President Richard Nixon resigned before Watergate scandal impeachment proceedings could begin. The federal procedure in the United States involves a vote for impeachment in the House of Representatives on a document known as the Article of Impeachment, each separate grounds will be a separate Article. House members who support the impeachment appoint managers who will act like prosecutors in the preparation for the Senate hearing, the defendant has the right to legal counsel, the right to cross-examine all witnesses and to testify in his or her defense.
The senators must take an oath or affirmation that they perform their duties honestly. The hearing cannot be conducted without a 50% plus one quorum, after the hearing the deliberations are held in private. Removal requires a majority of the Senate. Impeachment has its origins in English law but fell out of use in the 18th century and it exists under constitutional law in many nations around the world, including Brazil, the Republic of Ireland, Russia, South Korea and the United States. The word impeachment derives from Latin root impedicare expressing the idea of becoming caught or entrapped, and has analogues in the modern French verb empêcher, medieval popular etymology associated it with derivations from the Latin impetere. Impeachment was first used in the British political system, the process was first used by the English Good Parliament against Baron Latimer in the second half of the 14th century. In private organizations, a motion to impeach can be used to prefer charges, the Austrian Federal President can be impeached by the Federal Assembly before the Constitutional Court.
The constitution provides for the recall of the president by a referendum, neither of these courses has ever been taken. This is likely because while the President is vested with considerable powers on paper, he acts as a ceremonial figurehead in practice. The President of the Federative Republic of Brazil, state governors and municipal mayors may be impeached by the Chamber of Deputies, upon conviction, the officeholder has his political rights revoked for eight years--which has the effect of barring him from running for any office. On December 30,1992, Fernando Collor de Mello, the 32nd President of Brazil, the Senate nonetheless voted to convict Collor and bar him from holding any office for eight years, due to evidence of bribery and misappropriation. On April 17,2016, the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies approved the opening of the impeachment case against the president, Dilma Rousseff, the case was revised by the Federal Senate which, on May 12, approved the suspension of the President
London
London /ˈlʌndən/ is the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south east of the island of Great Britain and it was founded by the Romans, who named it Londinium. Londons ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its 1. 12-square-mile medieval boundaries. London is a global city in the arts, education, fashion, healthcare, professional services and development, tourism. It is crowned as the worlds largest financial centre and has the fifth- or sixth-largest metropolitan area GDP in the world, London is a world cultural capital. It is the worlds most-visited city as measured by international arrivals and has the worlds largest city airport system measured by passenger traffic, London is the worlds leading investment destination, hosting more international retailers and ultra high-net-worth individuals than any other city. Londons universities form the largest concentration of education institutes in Europe. In 2012, London became the first city to have hosted the modern Summer Olympic Games three times, London has a diverse range of people and cultures, and more than 300 languages are spoken in the region.
Its estimated mid-2015 municipal population was 8,673,713, the largest of any city in the European Union, Londons urban area is the second most populous in the EU, after Paris, with 9,787,426 inhabitants at the 2011 census. The citys metropolitan area is the most populous in the EU with 13,879,757 inhabitants, the city-region therefore has a similar land area and population to that of the New York metropolitan area. London was the worlds most populous city from around 1831 to 1925, Other famous landmarks include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Pauls Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, and The Shard. The London Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world, the etymology of London is uncertain. It is an ancient name, found in sources from the 2nd century and it is recorded c.121 as Londinium, which points to Romano-British origin, and hand-written Roman tablets recovered in the city originating from AD 65/70-80 include the word Londinio. The earliest attempted explanation, now disregarded, is attributed to Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae and this had it that the name originated from a supposed King Lud, who had allegedly taken over the city and named it Kaerlud.
From 1898, it was accepted that the name was of Celtic origin and meant place belonging to a man called *Londinos. The ultimate difficulty lies in reconciling the Latin form Londinium with the modern Welsh Llundain, which should demand a form *lōndinion, from earlier *loundiniom. The possibility cannot be ruled out that the Welsh name was borrowed back in from English at a date, and thus cannot be used as a basis from which to reconstruct the original name. Until 1889, the name London officially applied only to the City of London, two recent discoveries indicate probable very early settlements near the Thames in the London area
P. Rajagopalachari
Diwan Bahadur Sir Perungavur Rajagopalachari, KCSI, CIE, spelt in contemporary records as Sir P. Rajagopala Achariyar, was an Indian administrator. He was the Diwan of Cochin State from December 1896 to August 1901, Rajagopalachari was born in Madras and educated at Presidency College and Madras Law College. He joined the Judicial Department Indian Civil Service on 3 May 1886 and was appointed deputy collector in December 1887, from 2 May 1890 to December 1896, he served as assistant collector and magistrate in Madras Province. In December 1896, Rajagopalachari was appointed Diwan by Maharaja Rama Varma of Cochin and he served in his capacity from 1896 to 1901. During his tenure as diwan, the Cochin Native Merchants Association was founded and this became the Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry - Cochin. In 1901, the Central Records of the Cochin State were established at Tripunithura and this evolved into the Kerala State Archives Department. The Sadhu Jana Paripalana Sangham was established in 1907 by social reformer Ayyankali to campaign for education for Dalits, Rajagopalachari was supportive of the movement, and in 1907 the government of Travancore passed an order for the admission of Dalit children in schools.
However, the landlords who owned most of the schools were obstinate in allowing Dalit children into their schools. Low caste agragrian workers refused to farm their fields, in 1910, Rajagopalachari and Mitchell, who headed the education department, made the order for admission of Dalit children public, thereby putting an end to the controversy. Rajagopalachari brought reforms in the administration. Dalits, who were excluded from the administration, were made eligible for nomination to the State Assembly. Ayyankali became the first Dalit member to be nominated to the Travancore State Assembly, Rajagopalachari donated 8acres of land for the construction of an Islamic college by Sheikh Mohammad Hamadani Thangal. Rajagopalacharis administration had its own share of controversies, M. A. Shakoor, in his biography of Vakkom Moulavi, calls Rajagopalacharis administration authoritarian. In 1914, Rajagopalachari returned to Madras as Secretary of the Judicial Department, in 1917, he was appointed to the Council of the Governor of Madras.
When the Madras Legislative Council came into being, as per the provisions of the Government of India Act 1919, on 17 December 1920 and it is believed that he was instrumental in formulating the no-confidence motion against the Justice Party Government of the Raja of Panagal. His tenure came to an end in 1923 and he was succeeded by L. D. Samikannu Pillai, in 1923, he was appointed to the Council of India in London, resigning in 1925 due to ill-health and returning to India. Rajagopalachari was appointed Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire in 1909, a bust of Rajagopalachari is present in the hall of the Madras Legislative Council. Rajagopalachari had a brother P. Narasimhachari who was a Justice in High Court - Rangoon and he had notable grand nephews - C. T. Rajagopal, C. T. Venugopal and C. T. Krishnama Chari History of Cochin
Government of the United Kingdom
Her Majestys Government, commonly referred to as the UK government or British government, is the central government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The government is led by the Prime Minister, who all the remaining ministers. The prime minister and the other most senior ministers belong to the supreme decision-making committee, the government ministers all sit in Parliament, and are accountable to it. After an election, the monarch selects as prime minister the leader of the party most likely to command a majority of MPs in the House of Commons. Under the uncodified British constitution, executive authority lies with the monarch, although this authority is exercised only by, or on the advice of, the prime minister, the Cabinet members advise the monarch as members of the Privy Council. They exercise power directly as leaders of the Government Departments, the current prime minister is Theresa May, who took office on 13 July 2016. She is the leader of the Conservative Party, which won a majority of seats in the House of Commons in the election on 7 May 2015.
Prior to this and the Conservatives led a government from 2010 to 2015 with the Liberal Democrats. A key principle of the British Constitution is that the government is responsible to Parliament, Britain is a constitutional monarchy in which the reigning monarch does not make any open political decisions. All political decisions are taken by the government and Parliament and this constitutional state of affairs is the result of a long history of constraining and reducing the political power of the monarch, beginning with the Magna Carta in 1215. Parliament is split into two houses, the House of Lords and the House of Commons, the House of Commons is the lower house and is the more powerful. The House of Lords is the house and although it can vote to amend proposed laws. Parliamentary time is essential for bills to be passed into law, Ministers of the Crown are responsible to the House in which they sit, they make statements in that House and take questions from members of that House. For most senior ministers this is usually the elected House of Commons rather than the House of Lords, since the start of Edward VIIs reign, in 1901, the prime minister has always been an elected member of Parliament and therefore directly accountable to the House of Commons.
Under the British system the government is required by convention and for reasons to maintain the confidence of the House of Commons. It requires the support of the House of Commons for the maintenance of supply, by convention if a government loses the confidence of the House of Commons it must either resign or a General Election is held. The support of the Lords, while useful to the government in getting its legislation passed without delay, is not vital, a government is not required to resign even if it loses the confidence of the Lords and is defeated in key votes in that House. The House of Commons is thus the Responsible house, the prime minister is held to account during Prime Ministers Question Time which provides an opportunity for MPs from all parties to question the PM on any subject
Abdul Qadir (Muslim leader)
Sir Abdul Qadir was an editor and Muslim community leader in British India. He was the leader of Anjuman-i-Himayat-i-Islam in 1941 and he used his position as the lead of this organization to form other, pro-partition of India organizations. Qadir was born in Ludhiana on 15 March 1874, Qadir was the editor of the Observer, the first Muslim newspaper published in English in 1898. In 1901 he launched the magazine Makhzan, an Urdu language publication and this magazine published the early works of Allama Muhammad Iqbal. In 1904 Qadir went to law in London, and was called to the bar in 1907 after which he returned to India. Qadir had been knighted by the British in the 1927 Birthday Honours and he died on 9 February 1950 at the age of 75 and buried in Miani Sahib Graveyard, Lahore. His son Manzur Qadir, was a prominent Pakistani jurist who served as the Foreign Minister of Pakistan during the rule of Ayub Khan. Indian Muslims and the Partition of India
Malik Khizar Hayat Tiwana
Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Malik Khizar Hayat Tiwana, KCSI, OBE was the Punjab Unionist party Premier of the Punjab during the climactic period of 1942-47. He belongs to the Tiwana Jat clan and he was born at Chak Muzafar Abad in Kalra district, India. Tiwana was educated, like his father, at Aitchison College, at the age of 16 he volunteered for war service and was commissioned to the 17th Cavalry as a temporary honorary second lieutenant in the Indian Land Forces on 17 April 1918. In addition to his brief World War I service, Tiwana briefly served in the Afghan campaign which followed and he was advanced to honorary second lieutenant on 21 November 1919, and was promoted to the honorary rank of captain on 17 April 1923. Tiwana thereafter assisted his father in the management of the estates in the Punjab, taking responsibility for them while his father was in London. Tiwana remained in this post until 1942, succeeding Sir Sikander as Prime Minister of the Punjab from 1942 until 1947 and he was promoted to honorary lieutenant-colonel on 12 January 1943.
Appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Star of India in the 1946 Kings Birthday Honors, Tiwana resigned his premiership on 2 March 1947. Shaukat Hayat Khan Khizr Tiwana, Ian Talbot, Oxford University Press, c 2002
Imperial Legislative Council
The Imperial Legislative Council was a legislature for British India from 1861 to 1947. It succeeded the Council of the Governor-General of India, and was succeeded by the Constituent Assembly of India, during the rule of the East India Company, the council of the Governor-General of India had both executive and legislative responsibilities. The council had four members of the Council elected by the Court of Directors, the first three members were permitted to participate on all occasions, but the fourth member was only allowed to sit and vote when legislation was being debated. In 1858, the British Crown took over the administration from the East India Company, the one member who had a vote only on legislative questions came to be appointed by the Sovereign, and the other three members by the Secretary of State for India. The Regulating Act of 1773 limited the influence of the Governor-General of India and established the Council of Four, pitts India Act of 1784 reduced the membership to three, and established the India Board.
The Indian Councils Act 1861 made several changes to the Councils composition, the council was now called the Governor-Generals Legislative Council or the Imperial Legislative Council. Three members were to be appointed by the Secretary of State for India, the Governor-General was empowered to appoint an additional six to twelve members. The five individuals appointed by the Indian Secretary or Sovereign headed the executive departments, there were 45 Indians nominated as additional non-official members from 1862 to 1892. Out of these 25 were zamindars and 7 were rulers of princely states, the others were lawyers, magistrates and merchants. The participation of the Indian members in the meetings was negligible. The members were allowed to ask questions in the Council but not allowed to ask supplementaries or discuss the answer and they were however empowered to discuss the annual financial statement under certain restrictions but could not vote on it. Ananda Charlu, Madras Rahimtulla M. B. E Nominated Ratodero Larrkanao Nawab Syed Muhammad Bahadur, Madras Nawab Fateh Ali Khan Kazilbash, Punjab R. G.
For the first time, Indians were admitted to membership, and there were six Muslim representatives, K. R. Subba Rao Pantulu, C. The Governor-General nonetheless retained significant power over legislation and he could authorise the expenditure of money without the Legislatures consent for ecclesiastical, political defence purposes, and for any purpose during emergencies. He was permitted to veto, or even stop debate on, if he recommended the passage of a bill, but only one chamber co-operated, he could declare the bill passed over the objections of the other chamber. The Legislature had no authority over foreign affairs and defence, Council of India Council of State Viceroys Executive Council Central Legislative Assembly Interim Government of India History of Assembly at Legislative Assembly of Delhi website
Governor-General of India
The office was created in 1773, with the title of Governor-General of the Presidency of Fort William. The officer had direct control only over Fort William, but supervised other British East India Company officials in India, complete authority over all of British India was granted in 1833, and the official came to be known as the Governor-General of India. In 1858, the territories of the East India Company came under the control of the British government. The governor-general headed the government of India, which administered the provinces of British India, including the Punjab, Bombay, the United Provinces. To reflect the role as the representative of the monarch to the feudal rulers of the princely states, from 1858 the term Viceroy. Until 1858, the governor-general was selected by the Court of Directors of the East India Company, after 1947, the sovereign continued to appoint the governor-general, but did so on the advice of the Indian government. Governors-General served at the pleasure of the sovereign, though the practice was to have them serve five-year terms, Governors-General could have their commission rescinded and if one were removed or left a provisional governor-general was sometimes appointed until a new holder of the office could be chosen.
Provisional governors-general were often chosen from among the provincial governors, many parts of the Indian subcontinent were governed by the East India Company, which nominally acted as the agent of the Mughal Emperor. In 1773, motivated by corruption in the Company, the British government assumed control over the governance of India with the passage of the Regulating Act of 1773. A Governor-General and Supreme Council of Bengal were appointed to rule over the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal, the first Governor-General and Council were named in the Act, their successors were to be elected by the East India Companys Court of Directors. The Act provided for a term for the Governor-General and Council. The Charter Act 1833 replaced the Governor-General and Council of Fort William with the Governor-General, the power to elect the Governor-General was retained by the Court of Directors, but the choice became subject to the Sovereigns approval. After the Indian Rebellion of 1857, the East India Companys territories in India were put under the control of the Sovereign.
The Government of India Act 1858 vested the power to appoint the Governor-General in the Sovereign, the Governor-General, in turn, had the power to appoint all lieutenant governors in India, subject to the Sovereigns approval. India and Pakistan acquired independence in 1947, but Governors-General continued to be appointed over each nation until republican constitutions were written, Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma remained Governor-General of India for some time after independence, but the two nations were otherwise headed by native Governors-General. India became a republic in 1950, Pakistan became an Islamic one in 1956. The Governor-General originally had power only over the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal, the Regulating Act, granted them additional powers relating to foreign affairs and defence. The powers of the Governor-General in respect of foreign affairs were increased by the India Act 1784, while the Governor-General thus became the controller of foreign policy in India, he was not the explicit head of British India
East India Company
The company ruled the beginnings of the British Empire in India. The company received a Royal Charter from Queen Elizabeth I on 31 December 1600, wealthy merchants and aristocrats owned the Companys shares. Initially the government owned no shares and had only indirect control, during its first century of operation the focus of the Company was trade, not the building of an empire in India. The company eventually came to rule large areas of India with its own armies, exercising military power. Despite frequent government intervention, the company had recurring problems with its finances, the official government machinery of British India had assumed its governmental functions and absorbed its armies. Soon after the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588, London merchants presented a petition to Queen Elizabeth I for permission to sail to the Indian Ocean, one of them, Edward Bonventure, sailed around Cape Comorin to the Malay Peninsula and returned to England in 1594. In 1596, three ships sailed east, these were all lost at sea.
Two days later, on 24 September, the Adventurers reconvened and resolved to apply to the Queen for support of the project, the Adventurers convened again a year later. For a period of fifteen years the charter awarded the newly formed company a monopoly on trade with all countries east of the Cape of Good Hope and west of the Straits of Magellan. Anybody who traded in breach of the charter without a licence from the Company was liable to forfeiture of their ships and cargo, the governance of the company was in the hands of one governor and 24 directors or committees, who made up the Court of Directors. They, in turn, reported to the Court of Proprietors, ten committees reported to the Court of Directors. According to tradition, business was transacted at the Nags Head Inn, opposite St Botolphs church in Bishopsgate. Sir James Lancaster commanded the first East India Company voyage in 1601, in March 1604 Sir Henry Middleton commanded the second voyage. Early in 1608 Alexander Sharpeigh was appointed captain of the Companys Ascension, thereafter two ships and Union sailed from Woolwich on 14 March 1607–8.
Initially, the company struggled in the trade because of the competition from the already well-established Dutch East India Company. The company opened a factory in Bantam on the first voyage, the factory in Bantam was closed in 1683. During this time belonging to the company arriving in India docked at Surat. In the next two years, the company established its first factory in south India in the town of Machilipatnam on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal
