1.
Narendra Modi
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Narendra Damodardas Modi is an Indian politician who is the 14th and current Prime Minister of India, in office since May 2014. He was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014, Modi, a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party, is a Hindu nationalist and member of the right-wing Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. Born to a Gujarati family in Vadnagar, Modi helped his father sell tea as a child and he was introduced to the RSS at the age of eight, beginning a long association with the organisation. He left home after graduating school, partly because of an arranged marriage which he rejected. Modi traveled around India for two years, and visited a number of religious centres and he returned to Gujarat and moved to Ahmedabad in 1969 or 1970. In 1971 he became a worker for the RSS. During the state of emergency imposed across the country in 1975, the RSS assigned him to the BJP in 1985, and he held several positions within the party hierarchy until 2001, rising to the rank of general secretary. Modi was appointed minister of Gujarat in 2001, due to Keshubhai Patels failing health. Modi was elected to the assembly soon after. His administration has been considered complicit in the 2002 Gujarat riots, or otherwise criticised for its handling of it and his policies as chief minister, credited with encouraging economic growth, have received praise, and several industrial projects were begun during his tenure. His administration has been criticised for failing to improve health, poverty. Modi led the BJP in the 2014 general election, which gave the party a majority in the Lok Sabha, Modi himself was elected to parliament from Varanasi. Modi has attempted to improve efficiency in the bureaucracy, and centralised power through the abolition of the planning commission and he has begun a high-profile sanitation campaign, and weakened or abolished environmental and labour laws. Narendra Modi was born on 17 September 1950 to a family of grocers in Vadnagar, Mehsana district and he was the third of six children born to Damodardas Mulchand Modi and Hiraben Modi. Modis family belonged to the Modh-Ghanchi-Teli community, which is categorised as an Other Backward Class by the Indian government, as a child, Modi helped his father sell tea at the Vadnagar railway station, and later ran a tea stall with his brother near a bus terminus. Modi completed his secondary education in Vadnagar in 1967, where a teacher described him as an average student. Modi had a gift for rhetoric in debates, and this was noted by his teachers. Modi preferred playing larger-than-life characters in theatrical productions, which has influenced his political image, when eight years old, Modi discovered the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, and began attending its local shakhas
2.
Lok Sabha
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The Lok Sabha is the Lower house of Indias bicameral Parliament, with the Upper house being the Rajya Sabha. The house meets in the Lok Sabha Chambers of the Sansad Bhavan in New Delhi, under the current laws, the strength of Lok Sabha is 545, including the two seats reserved for members of the Anglo-Indian community. The total elective membership is distributed among the states in proportion to their population, a total of 131 seats are reserved for representatives of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The quorum for the House is 10% of the total membership, term of the House The Lok Sabha, unless sooner dissolved, continues to operate for five years from the date appointed for its first meeting and the expiration of the period of five years. An exercise to redraw Lok Sabha constituencies boundaries has been carried out by the Delimitation Commission based on the Indian census of 2001, the 16th Lok Sabha was elected in May 2014 and is the latest to date. The Lok Sabha has its own channel, Lok Sabha TV. A major portion of the Indian subcontinent was under British rule from 1858 to 1947, the Indian Councils Act 1861 provided for a Legislative Council consisting of the members of the Executive Council and non-official members. The Indian Councils Act 1892 established legislatures in each of the provinces of British India, although these Acts increased the representation of Indians in the government, their power still remained limited, and the electorate very small. The Indian Councils Act 1909 and the Government of India Act 1919 further expanded the participation of Indians in the administration, the Constituent Assembly was divided into two for the separate nations, with each new Assembly having sovereign powers transferred to it for the respective dominion. The Constitution of India was adopted on 26 November 1949 and came into effect on 26 January 1950, proclaiming India to be a sovereign, democratic republic. This contained the principles of the law of the land which would govern India in its new form. The Lok Sabha was duly constituted for the first time on 17 April 1952 after the first General Elections held from 25 October 1951 to 21 February 1952 and he / She should not be less than 25 years of age. He / She possesses such other qualifications as may be prescribed in that behalf by or under any law made by Parliament, a seat in the Lok Sabha will become vacant in the following circumstances, When the holder of the seat, by writing to the speaker, resigns. When the holder of the seat is absent from 60 consecutive days of proceedings of the House, when the holder of the seat is subject to any disqualifications mentioned in the Constitution or any law enacted by Parliament. A seat may also be vacated when the holder stands disqualified under the Anti-Defection Law, a member both of Parliament and of a House of the Legislature of a State. System of elections in Lok Sabha Members of the Lok Sabha are directly elected by the people of India, for the purpose of holding direct elections to Lok Sabha, each state is divided into territorial constituencies. This provision does not apply for states having a population of less than 6 million, note, The expression population here refers to the population ascertained at the preceding census of which relevant figure have been published. Lok Sabha has certain powers that make it more powerful than the Rajya Sabha, motions of no confidence against the government can be introduced and passed in the Lok Sabha
3.
New Delhi
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New Delhi is the capital of India and one of Delhi citys 11 districts. The National Capital Region is a larger entity comprising the entire National Capital Territory along with adjoining districts. The foundation stone of the city was laid by George V and it was designed by British architects, Sir Edwin Lutyens and Sir Herbert Baker. The new capital was inaugurated on 13 February 1931, by Viceroy, New Delhi has been selected as one of the hundred Indian cities to be developed as a smart city under Prime Minister of India Narendra Modis flagship Smart Cities Mission. Calcutta was the capital of India during the British Raj until December 1911, Delhi had served as the political and financial centre of several empires of ancient India and the Delhi Sultanate, most notably of the Mughal Empire from 1649 to 1857. During the early 1900s, a proposal was made to the British administration to shift the capital of the British Indian Empire, as India was officially named, from Calcutta on the east coast, to Delhi. The Government of British India felt that it would be easier to administer India from Delhi in the centre of northern India. The land for building the new city of Delhi was acquired under the Land Acquisition Act 1894. The foundation stone of New Delhi was laid by King George V and Queen Mary at the site of Delhi Durbar of 1911 at Kingsway Camp on 15 December 1911, during their imperial visit. Large parts of New Delhi were planned by Edwin Lutyens, who first visited Delhi in 1912, the contract was given to Sobha Singh. The original plan called for its construction in Tughlaqabad, inside the Tughlaqabad fort, construction really began after World War I and was completed by 1931. The city that was later dubbed Lutyens Delhi was inaugurated in ceremonies beginning on 10 February 1931 by Lord Irwin, Lutyens designed the central administrative area of the city as a testament to Britains imperial aspirations. Soon Lutyens started considering other places, however, it was rejected by the Viceroy when the cost of acquiring the necessary properties was found to be too high. The central axis of New Delhi, which faces east at India Gate, was previously meant to be a north-south axis linking the Viceroys House at one end with Paharganj at the other. During the projects early years, many believed it was a gate from Earth to Heaven itself. Eventually, owing to space constraints and the presence of a number of heritage sites in the North side. A site atop the Raisina Hill, formerly Raisina Village, a Meo village, was chosen for the Rashtrapati Bhawan, then known as the Viceroys House. The reason for this choice was that the hill lay directly opposite the Dinapanah citadel, which was considered the site of Indraprastha
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.
Shiromani Akali Dal
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The Shiromani Akali Dal, Punjabi, ਸ਼੍ਰੋਮਣੀ ਅਕਾਲੀ ਦਲ translation, Supreme Akali Party) is a Sikhism-centric political party in India. There are a number of parties with the name Shiromani Akali Dal. The party recognised as Shiromani Akali Dal by the Election Commission of India is the one led by Sukhbir Singh Badal and it controls Sikh religious bodies Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee, Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee and is the largest and most influential Sikh political party worldwide. The basic philosophy of Akali Dal is to give voice to Sikh issues and it believes that religion. Akali Dal was formed on 14 Dec 1920 as a force of the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee. The Akali Dal considers itself the representative of Sikhs. Sardar Sarmukh Singh Chubbal was the first president of a unified proper Akali Dal, the party launched the Punjabi Suba movement, demanding a state with majority of Punjabi speaking people, out of undivided East Punjab under the leadership of Sant Fateh Singh. In 1966, the present Punjab was formed, Akali Dal came to power in the new Punjab, but early governments didnt live long due to internal conflicts and power struggles within the party. Later, party strengthened and party governments completed full term, the current Punjab government is formed by Akali Dal in partnership with its regional and national ally Bharatiya Janata Party. It has 59 members in Punjab Legislative Assembly and combined with 12 of BJP, Akali Dal has absolute majority since 2015. Party patron and ex-president Parkash Singh Badal is the Chief Minister of Punjab, the party has 4 members in the Lok Sabha. Partys main political opponent is Indian National Congress, in the recent Delhi Assembly elections it did not retain the one seat it held in 2013 elections. Following is the list of presidents of the party as given on party website
6.
Sukhbir Singh Badal
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Sukhbir Singh Badal is an Indian politician who has been the Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab since 2009. He is also the president of Sikh political party Shiromani Akali Dal and he is the son of Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal. Sukhbir Badal was born on 9 July 1962 in Faridkot and his mothers name is Surinder Kaur. Initially, he was educated at The Lawrence School, Sanawar and he completed an M. A. Hons School in Economics from Panjab University Chandigarh from 1980 to 1984 and an M. B. A from California State University, Los Angeles in the United States. Sukhbir Singh Badal was a member of the 11th and 12th Lok Sabha and he was Union Minister of State for Industry in Second Vajpayee Ministry during 1998 to 1999. He was also a member of Rajya Sabha during 2001 to 2004, in 2004, he was re-elected from Faridkot for 14th Lok Sabha. He became the President of Akali Dal in January 2008, a year later in January 2009, he was made the Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab. He was not the Member of Punjab Vidhan Sabha at that time and he resigned in July 2009, upon the completion of six-month period available for contesting elections for the assembly, during which he did not contest any elections. He was again appointed Deputy Chief Minister in August 2009 after winning by-elections from Jalalabad Assembly Constituency, Sukhbir Badal defeated Bhagwant Mann in 2017 Assembly Elections, however, the SAD + BJP Alliance was defeated by Congress. In April 2015, a girl died and her mother was seriously injured when they were molested and thrown from a running bus near Gil village. The Bus was operated by Orbit aviation, a company owned by Badal. Subsequently, it was revealed by news channels that the Chief Minister of Punjab bribed the girls father with Rs.30 Lakh to buy his silence, Akali Dal-BJP combined secured victory in the 2012 Punjab elections, beating anti-incumbency for the first time in Punjab. Sukhbir was re-elected from Jalalabad and remained Deputy Chief Minister, in the new government he held portfolio of Home, Governance Reforms, Housing, Excise and Taxation, Investment Promotion, Sports and Youth Services Welfare and Civil Aviation. This victory and later victory in Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee elections in January 2013 elevated the position of Sukhbir Singh Badal as an important leader in Sikh politics, Punjab stood first in terms of setting up business as per a study released by World Bank. Held twice at Indian School of Business, Mohali, it was first took place in the year 2013 and subsequently in 2015. In the first edition of the summit, Punjab government in an effort to ease of doing business to new investors, had also set up a Punjab Bureau of Investment Promotion. It is an authority to give clearances to new business proposals. The summit was huge success and Punjab government garnered huge investment by signing MoU with the giants from across the world
7.
Chandigarh
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Chandigarh is a city and a union territory of India that serves as the capital of the Indian states of Haryana and Punjab. As a union territory, the city is governed directly by the Union Government and is not part of either state, Chandigarh is bordered by the state of Punjab to the north, west and south, and to the state of Haryana to the east. Chandigarh is considered to be a part of the Chandigarh capital region or Greater Chandigarh, which includes Chandigarh, and it is located 260 km north of New Delhi,229 km southeast of Amritsar and just 116 km southwest of Shimla. Chandigarh was one of the planned cities in the post-independence India and is internationally known for its architecture. Most of the government buildings and housing in the city, were designed by the Chandigarh Capital Project Team headed by Le Corbusier, Jane Drew and Maxwell Fry. In 2015, an article published by BBC named Chandigarh as one of the cities of the world in terms of architecture, cultural growth. Chandigarh’s Capitol Complex was in July 2016 declared by UNESCO as World Heritage at the 40th session of World Heritage Conference held in Istanbul, UNESCO inscription was under “The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier an outstanding contribution to the Modern Movement”. The city tops the list of Indian States and Union Territories by per capita income followed by Haryana, the city was reported to be the cleanest in India in 2010, based on a national government study. The union territory also heads the list of Indian states and territories according to Human Development Index, in 2015, a survey by LG Electronics, ranked Chandigarh as the happiest city in India over the happiness index. The metropolitan of Chandigarh-Mohali-Panchkula collectively forms a Tri-city, with a population of over 2 million. The name Chandigarh is a portmanteau of Chandi and Garh, Chandi refers to Hindu Goddess Chandi, the warrior Avatar of Goddess Parvati, and Garh means home. The name is derived from Chandi Mandir, an ancient temple devoted to the Hindu Goddess Chandi, the logo of The City Beautiful derives from the City Beautiful movement that was a popular philosophy in North American urban planning during the 1890s and 1900s. Architect Albert Mayer, the planner of Chandigarh, lamented the American rejection of City Beautiful concepts. The phrase was used on as a logo in official publications in the 1970s, the city has a pre-historic past. Due to the presence of lake, the area has fossil remains with imprints of a variety of aquatic plants and animals, and amphibian life. As it was a part of the Punjab region, it had many rivers nearby where the ancient, so, about 8000 years ago, the area was also known to be a home to the Harappans. Chandigarh was the city of Indias first Prime Minister, Jawahar Lal Nehru. After the partition of India in 1947, the former British province of Punjab was split between East Punjab in India and West Punjab in Pakistan, the Indian Punjab required a new capital city to replace Lahore, which became part of Pakistan during the partition
8.
Government of India
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It is located in New Delhi, the capital of India. There is a bicameral Parliament with the Lok Sabha as a lower house, the judicial branch systematically contains an apex Supreme Court,24 high courts, and several district courts, all inferior to the Supreme Court. Similar to the government, individual state governments each consist of executive, legislative. The legal system as applicable to the federal and individual state governments is based on the English Common, the full name of the country is the Republic of India. No other name appears in the Constitution, and this is the name appears on legal banknotes, in treaties. The Union Government, Central Government or Government of India are often used in an official and unofficial capacity to refer to the Government of India, because the seat of government is in New Delhi, New Delhi is commonly used as a metonym for the Central Government. Legislative branch in India is exercised by the Parliament and a legislature consisting of the Rajya Sabha. The latter is considered the house or the House of the people. The Parliament does not have control and sovereignty, as its laws are subject to judicial review by the Supreme Court of India. However, it does exercise some control over the executive branch, the members of the cabinet, including the prime minister and the Council of Ministers, are either chosen from parliament or elected there to within six months of assuming office. The cabinet as a whole is responsible to the Lok Sabha, the Lok Sabha is a temporary house and can only be dissolved when the party in power loses the support of the majority of the house. Whereas the Rajya Sabha is a permanent house which can never be dissolved though the members of the Rajya Sabha who are elected for a six-year term, the Executive Branch of government is the one that has sole authority and responsibility for the daily administration of the state bureaucracy. The division of power into separate branches of government is central to the idea of the separation of powers. The executive power is vested mainly in the President of India, the President has all constitutional powers and exercises them directly or through officers subordinate to him as per the aforesaid Article 53. The President is to act in accordance with aid and advice tendered by the Prime Minister, the Council of Ministers remains in power during the pleasure of the President. However, in practice, the Council of Ministers must retain the support of the Lok Sabha, if a President were to dismiss the Council of Ministers on his or her own initiative, it might trigger a constitutional crisis. Thus, in practice, the Council of Ministers cannot be dismissed as long as it holds the support of a majority in the Lok Sabha, the President is responsible for making a wide variety of appointments. His/Her work is to facilitate smooth transaction of business in Ministries/ Departments of the Government, the President is de jure the Commander in Chief of the Indian Armed Forces
9.
Parliament of India
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The Parliament of India is the supreme legislative body of the Republic of India. The Parliament is composed of the President of India and the houses and it is bicameral with two houses, the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha. The President in his role as head of legislature has powers to summon. The president can exercise these powers only upon the advice of the Prime Minister and those elected or nominated to either house of Parliament are referred to as members of parliament. The Parliament meets at Sansad Bhavan in New Delhi, the Sansad Bhavan is located in New Delhi. It was designed by Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker, who were responsible for planning, the construction of buildings took six years and the opening ceremony was performed on 18 January 1927 by the then Governor-General of India, Irwin. The construction costs for the building were ₹8.3 million, the parliament is 560 feet in diameter and covers an area of 6 acres. The Central hall consists of the chambers of Lok sabha, Rajya Sabha, surrounding these three chambers is the four storied circular structure providing accommodations for members and houses Parliamentary committees, offices and the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs. A new Parliament building may replace the existing complex, the new building is being considered on account of the stability concerns regarding the current complex. A committee to suggest alternatives to the current building has been set up by the Ex, the present building, an 85-year-old structure suffers from inadequacy of space to house members and their staff and is thought to suffer from structural issues. The building also needs to be protected because of its heritage tag, the Indian Parliament consists of two houses called the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha with the President of India acting as their head. The President of India, the Head of state is a component of Parliament, the President of India is elected by the members of Parliament of India and the state legislatures and serves for a term of five years. Lok Sabha or the house has 545 members. It has a term of five years, Rajya Sabha or the upper house is a permanent body not subject to dissolution. One third of the members every second year, and are replaced by newly elected members. Each member is elected for a term of six years and its members are indirectly elected by members of legislative bodies of the states. The Rajya Sabha can have a maximum of 250 members and it currently has a sanctioned strength of 245 members, of which 233 are elected from States and Union Territories and 12 are nominated by the President. The number of members from a state depends on its population, the minimum age for a person to become a member of Rajya Sabha is 30 years
10.
Punjab, India
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Punjab is a state in North India, forming part of the larger Punjab region. The state capital is located in Chandigarh, a Union Territory, after the partition of India in 1947, the Punjab province of British India was divided between India and Pakistan. The Indian Punjab was divided on the basis of language in 1966 and it was divided into 3 parts. Haryanvi speaking areas were carved out as Haryana, Hilly regions, Punjab is the only Sikh majority state in India with Sikhs being 57. 69% of the population. Agriculture is the largest industry in Punjab, Punjab has the largest number of steel rolling mill plants in India, which are located in Steel Town—Mandi Gobindgarh in the Fatehgarh Sahib district. The word Punjab is a compound of the Persian words panj, thus Panjāb roughly means the land of five rivers. The five rivers are the Sutlej, Beas, Ravi, Chenab, traditionally, in English, there used to be a definite article before the name, i. e. The name is sometimes spelled as Panjab. During the period when the epic Mahabharata was written, around 800–400 BCE, Punjab was known as Trigarta, the Indus Valley Civilization spanned much of the Punjab region with cities such as Rupar. The Vedic Civilization spread along the length of the Sarasvati River to cover most of northern India including Punjab and this civilisation shaped subsequent cultures in the Indian subcontinent. The Punjab region was conquered by many ancient empires including the Gandhara, Nandas, Mauryas, Shungas, Kushans, Guptas, Palas, Gurjara-Pratiharas, the furthest eastern extent of Alexander the Greats exploration was along the Indus River. Agriculture flourished and trading cities such as Jalandhar, Sangrur and Ludhiana grew in wealth, due to its location, the Punjab region came under constant attack and influence from both west and east. Punjab faced invasions by the Achaemenids, Greeks, Scythians, Turks and this resulted in the Punjab witnessing centuries of bitter bloodshed. Its culture combines Hindu, Buddhist, Islamic, Sikh and British influences, the regions of Azad Kashmir and Jammu have also been historically associated with the Punjab. The Punjab is the Sapta Sindhu region mentioned in the Rig Veda, among the classic books that were wholly or partly composed in this region are the following. The Brahmins of this region are called Saraswata after the legendary Saraswati river region, Hinduism has been prevalent in Punjab since historical times before the arrival of Islam and birth of Sikhism in Punjab. Some of the influential Sikh figures such as Guru Nanak, Banda Singh Bahadur, Bhai Mati Das, many of Punjabs Hindus converted to Sikhism. Punjabi Hindus can trace their roots from the time of the Vedas, many modern day cities in Indian Punjab and Pakistani Punjab are still named from that period like Lahore, Jalandhar, Chandigarh and so on
11.
Delhi
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Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory of Delhi or NCT, is a city and a union territory of India. It is bordered by Haryana on three sides and by Uttar Pradesh to the east, the NCT covers an area of 1,484 square kilometres. According to 2011 census, Delhis city population was about 11 million, Delhis urban area is now considered to extend beyond the NCT boundary to include an estimated population of over 26 million people making it the worlds second largest urban area. As of 2016 recent estimates of the economy of its urban area have ranked Delhi either the top or second most productive metro area of India. Delhi is the second wealthiest city after Mumbai in India, with a wealth of $450 billion. Delhi has been inhabited since the 6th century BC. Through most of its history, Delhi has served as a capital of various kingdoms and it has been captured, ransacked and rebuilt several times, particularly during the medieval period, and modern Delhi is a cluster of a number of cities spread across the metropolitan region. New Delhi is jointly administered by the government of India and the local government of Delhi. Delhi is also the centre of the National Capital Region, which is a unique interstate regional planning area created by the National Capital Region Planning Board Act of 1985, Delhi ranks among the cities with the worst air pollution in the world. There are a number of myths and legends associated with the origin of the name Delhi, one of them is derived from Dhillu or Dilu, a king who built a city at this location in 50 BC and named it after himself. The coins in circulation in the region under the Tomaras were called dehliwal, according to the Bhavishya Purana, King Prithiviraja of Indraprastha built a new fort in the modern-day Purana Qila area for the convenience of all four castes in his kingdom. He ordered the construction of a gateway to the fort and later named the fort dehali, another theory suggests that the citys original name was Dhillika. The people of Delhi are referred to as Delhiites or Dilliwalas, the city is referenced in various idioms of the Northern Indo-Aryan languages. Dilli dilwalon ka shehr or Dilli Dilwalon ki meaning Delhi belongs to the large-hearted/daring, aas-paas barse, Dilli pani tarse, literally meaning it pours all around, while Delhi lies parched. An allusion to the sometimes semi-arid climate of Delhi, it refers to situations of deprivation when one is surrounded by plenty. The area around Delhi was probably inhabited before the second millennium BC, the city is believed to be the site of Indraprastha, the legendary capital of the Pandavas in the Indian epic Mahabharata. According to Mahabharata, this land was initially a huge mass of forests called Khandavaprastha which was burnt down to build the city of Indraprastha, the earliest architectural relics date back to the Maurya period, in 1966, an inscription of the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka was discovered near Srinivaspuri. Remains of eight cities have been discovered in Delhi
12.
Parkash Singh Badal
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Parkash Singh Badal is an Indian politician who was Chief Minister of Punjab state from 1970 to 1971, from 1977 to 1980, from 1997 to 2002, and from 2007 to 2017. He is also the patron of Shiromani Akali Dal, a Sikh-centered regional political party and he was the president of the party from 1995 to 2008, when he was replaced by his son Sukhbir Singh Badal. The Government of India awarded him the second-highest civilian award, Padma Vibhushan, Parkash Badal was born on 8 December 1927 in Abul Khurana, near Malout. He belongs to the Dhillon Jat clan and he graduated from the Forman Christian College in Lahore. He started his career in 1947. He was Sarpanch of the village Badal and later Chairman of Block Samiti and he was elected to Punjab Vidhan Sabha in 1957 for the first time. He was re-elected in 1969, serving as Minister for Community Development, Panchayati Raj, Animal Husbandry, Dairying and he was Leader of the Opposition in 1972,1980 and 2002. In 1997 elections he won from Lambi Assembly Constituency and has been a winner in four terms. He was a minister in Prime Minister Morarji Desais government in 1977, serving as Minister of Agriculture. He has served as Punjab Chief Minister for four terms, the first time in 1970 when he became the youngest chief minister of an Indian state, presently he is serving his fifth term. Badal first became Chief Minister of Punjab in March 1970 and headed a government of Akali Dal. In June 1970 Jana Sangh withdrew support from the Badal government over their difference about the place of Hindi in Punjab, later, in early July, seven of Akali Dal defected to rival Akali Dal headed by ex-CM Gurnam Singh. An early session of assembly was called on 24 July to prove the majority of Badals government, however the motion of no confidence was not admitted due to lack of requisite support of one-fifth of MLAs. Congress decided to stay neutral and did not support the no confidence motion, in the 2007 Punjab state election Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party coalition government won 67 out of 117 seats and Parkash Singh Badal was sworn in as Chief Minister for the fourth time. Badal launched many schemes such as ambulance service, Talwandi Sabo thermal plant. Through a new policy, he reduced taxes on air conditioned buses. This also increased profits of a bus owned by his son, Sukhbir Singh Badal. In the 2012 election, Shiromani Akali Dal and Bharatiya Janata Party combined won 68 seats out of 117, Badal again became the Chief Minister of Punjab on 14 March 2012 after being sworn in by the Governor of Punjab, Shivraj Patil
13.
Ranjit Singh
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Maharaja Ranjit Singh, was the founder of the Sikh Empire, which ruled the northwest Indian subcontinent in the early half of the 19th century. He survived smallpox in infancy but lost sight in his left eye and he fought his first battle alongside his father at age 10. After his father died, he fought wars to expel the Afghans in his teenage years. His empire grew in the Punjab region under his leadership through 1839, prior to his rise, the Punjab region had numerous warring misls, twelve of which were under Sikh rulers and one Muslim. Ranjit Singh successfully absorbed and united the Sikh misls and took other local kingdoms to create the Sikh Empire. He repeatedly defeated invasions by Muslim armies, particularly those arriving from Afghanistan, Ranjit Singhs reign introduced reforms, modernization, investment into infrastructure, and general prosperity. His Khalsa army and government included Sikhs, Hindus, Muslims and he was popularly known as Sher-i-Punjab, or Lion of Punjab. Maharaja Ranjit Singh was succeeded by his son, Maharaja Kharak Singh, Ranjit Singh was born on 13 November 1780, to Mahan Singh Sukerchakia and Raj Kaur – the daughter of Raja Gajpat Singh of Jind, in Gujranwala, in the Majha region of Punjab. The childs name was changed to Ranjit by his father to commemorate his armys victory over the Muslim Chatha chieftain Pir Muhammad, Ranjit Singh contracted smallpox as an infant, which resulted in the loss of sight in his left eye and a pockmarked face. He was short in stature, never schooled, and did not learn to read or write anything beyond the Gurmukhi alphabet, however, he was trained at home in horse riding, musketry, at age 12, his father died. He then inherited his fathers Sukkarchakkia misl estates and was raised by his mother Raj Kaur, the first attempt on his life was made when he was age 13, by Hashmat Khan, but Ranjit Singh prevailed and killed the assailant instead. At age 18, his mother died and Lakhpat Rai was assassinated, in his teens, Ranjit Singh took to alcohol, a habit that intensified in the later decades of his life, according to the chronicles of his court historians and the Europeans who visited him. However, he neither smoked nor ate beef, and required all officials in his court, regardless of their religion, Ranjit Singh married many times, in various ceremonies, and had twenty wives. Some scholars note that the information on Ranjit Singhs marriages is unclear, according to Khushwant Singh in an 1889 interview with the French journal Le Voltaire, his son Dalip Singh remarked, I am the son of one of my fathers forty-six wives. At age 15, Ranjit Singh married his first wife Mahitab Kaur, the daughter of Sada Kaur and this marriage was pre-arranged in an attempt to reconcile warring Sikh misls, wherein Mahitab Kaur was betrothed to Ranjit Singh. However, the failed, with Mahitab Kaur never forgiving the fact that her father had been killed by Ranjit Singhs father. The separation became complete when Ranjit Singh married his second wife Raj Kaur of Nakai Misl in 1798, Raj Kaur, the daughter of Sardar Ran Singh Nakai, the third ruler of Nakai Misl, was Ranjit Singhs second wife and the mother of his heir, Kharak Singh. She changed her name from Raj Kaur to avoid confusion with Ranjit Singhs mother, throughout her life she remained the favourite of Ranjit Singh, who called her Mai Nakain
14.
Loreto Convent School, Delhi
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Loreto Convent School is a girls school in Delhi, India. It is first established in January 1965 at 28 Mall Road, with Mother Francis Clare as the Founder Principal, Loreto Convent, Delhi is an all-female Christian school. The school comes under the Loreto Educational Society in India, which runs and it is an English medium school situated in New Delhi cantt. It is affiliated to CBSE board, the school was started by sisters known as Loreto sisters who belong to the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It was first founded by a nun Mary Ward in England in 1609, ten Loreto sisters came from Ireland to Calcutta to open the first Loreto convent in India in 1842. Loreto, Delhi is one of the 17 schools in India, there are 119 Loreto schools in 12 countries and on 6 continents. The current principal of the school is Sr. Mercia Dsouza including 2 coordinators for senior and junior school, the school celebrated its golden jubilee in 2014. Each junior school class has 2 sections and rest all classes have 3 sections, Loreto Convent is an all girls English medium school affiliated to Central Board of Secondary Education. It has a school starting from nursery till class IV. After school hours it provides education to poor girls residing in the nearby areas. Various subjects like physics, chemistry, mathematics, biology, accountancy, economics, business studies, now there are 3 streams in the school giving children a better environment for studies - humanities, science and commerce. There are four houses, Various intra-school sports competitions are held, such as basketball, volleyball, kho-kho, badminton, cricket, other events include drawing competitions, creative writing competitions, general knowledge quizzes, extempores, declamations and debate competitions. The school is situated in Delhi Cantt. The school building is huge and is painted in pink colour and it has all the basic infrastructure like chemistry, biology and physics labs, computer lab, AV room, basketball and volleyball ground. It also has a vast land area where drill and march past is conducted
15.
Indian general election, 2009
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India held general elections to the 15th Lok Sabha in five phases between 16 April 2009 and 13 May 2009. With an electorate of 714 million, it was the largest democratic election in the till the Indian General Elections 2014 held from 7 April 2014. By constitutional requirement, elections to the Lok Sabha must be held five years. The previous election to the 14th Lok Sabha was conducted in May 2004, Elections are organised by the Election Commission of India and are normally held in multiple phases to better handle the large electoral base and its security concerns. The 2009 elections were held in five phases, in February 2009, Rs.11.20 billion was budgeted for election expenses by the Indian Parliament. A total of 8070 candidates contested for 543 Lok Sabha seats, the average election turnout over all 5 phases was around 59. 7%. The results of the election were announced three days of phase five, on 16 May 2009, following the first past the post system. Manmohan Singh became the first prime minister since Jawaharlal Nehru in 1962 to be re-elected after completing a full five-year term, the UPA was able to put together a comfortable majority with support from 322 members out of 543 members of the House. Though this is less than the 335 members who supported the UPA in the last parliament, External support came from the Bahujan Samaj Party, Samajwadi Party, Janata Dal, Rashtriya Janata Dal and other minor parties. On 22 May 2009, Manmohan Singh was sworn in as the Prime Minister at the Ashoka Hall of Rashtrapati Bhavan. The election, while following the normal cycle, came after a break in the old UPA alliance after the left parties withdrew support of the Indo-US nuclear deal forcing a vote of confidence. The 2009 elections adopted re-drawn electoral constituencies based on the 2001 census, following the 2002 Delimitation Commission of India, in the 2009 general elections,499 out of the total 543 Parliamentary constituencies were newly delimited constituencies. This affected the National Capital Region of Delhi, the Union Territory of Puducherry and all the states except Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Manipur and Nagaland. As in the 2004 election, this election was conducted completely using electronic voting machines. There were 828,804 Polling Stations around the country – a 20% increase over the number from the 2004 election and this was done mainly to avoid vulnerability to threat and intimidation, to overcome geographical barriers and to reduce the distance travelled by voters. The electoral rolls had to be completely updated because of the delimitation that took effect from February 2008, the process of updating the electoral rolls continued until the last date of filing nominations. 714 million people were eligible to vote in 2009, up 6. 4% from 2004 and this election also saw the entire country except the states of Assam, Nagaland and Jammu & Kashmir use photo electoral rolls. This meant that the photo of each elector was printed on the electoral rolls, in addition to the photo electoral rolls, the electors also needed to provide separate photo identification
16.
15th Lok Sabha
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Members of the 15th Lok Sabha were elected during the 2009 general election in India. It was dissolved on 18 May 2014 by President Pranab Mukherjee, the government introduced a total of 222 Bills in the 15th Lok Sabha. A total of 165 Bills were by passed by the House, Speaker, Meira Kumar, Indian National Congress, Sasaram, Bihar Deputy Speaker, M. D. T. The first 20 cabinet ministers including Manmohan Singh, swore in on 22 May 2009, the 5 non-Congress cabinet ministers, include M. K. Mukul Roy from Trinamool Congress, Sharad Pawar from Nationalist Congress Party, Seat was vacant as Akhilesh Yadav of Samajwadi Party resigned from this seat keeping the Kannauj Seat as he had contested from both and had to drop one seat. Jaganmohan Reddy of YSR Congress got elected from Kadapa, Andhra Pradesh and he resigned his seat, when he resigned from Indian National Congress. He contested that seat again won by 545,000 votes, Elections were held on 13 October 2011 for the Hissar Lok Sabha seat due to the death of Bhajan Lal. The HJC-BJP alliance, represented by Kuldeep Bishnoi s/o Bhajan Lal, on 3 May 2012, Akhilesh Yadav resigned from the Kannauj seat, to serve as Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, after Samajwadi Party won Assembly Elections. His wife, Dimple Yadav was elected unopposed from the seat in the bye-elections, on 13 October 2012 results of by-elections to Tehri Garhwal in Uttarakhand and Jangipur in West Bengal were declared. In Tehri, Mala Rajya Laxmi Shah of BJP won the seat while Abhijit Mukherjee retained the Jangipur seat as Congress nominee, Lok Sabha website List of winning candidates published by election commission of india on 17 May 2009. Tracking activity of MPs in Parliament A legislative history of the 15th Lok Sabha - The Hindu
17.
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
18.
1984 anti-Sikh riots
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Official Indian government reports admit to about 2800 deaths across India, including 2100 in Delhi. Other independent sources estimate the number of deaths to be around 8,000, Rajiv Gandhi was sworn in as Prime Minister after his mothers death and, when asked about the riots, said when a big tree falls, the earth shakes. The sporadic violence continued as a result of an armed Sikh separatist seeking independence, later operations by Indian paramilitary forces were initiated to clear the separatists from the countryside of Punjab state. The Indian government reported 2,700 deaths in the ensuing chaos, in the aftermath of the riots, the Indian government reported 20,000 had fled the city, however the Peoples Union for Civil Liberties reported at least 1,000 displaced persons. The most affected regions were the Sikh neighbourhoods in Delhi, Human rights organisations and newspapers across India believe the massacre was organised. The collusion of officials in the massacres and the judiciarys failure to penalise the killers alienated normal Sikhs. The Akal Takht, the religious body of Sikhism, considers the killings to be a genocide. In 2011, Human Rights Watch reported the Government of India had yet to prosecute those responsible for the mass killings, the United States has refused to recognise the riots as genocide, but does acknowledge that grave human rights violations did take place. Also in 2011, a new set of mass graves was discovered in Haryana, in 1973 Akali Dal and other Sikh groups introduced the Anandpur Sahib Resolution, which demanded special status for Punjab and Sikhs. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, security in Punjab started deteriorating due to State level and religious politics, others demanded an autonomous state within India, based on the Anandpur Sahib Resolution. A large number of Sikhs condemned the actions of the militants, by 1983, the situation in Punjab had become highly volatile. In October 1983, some Sikh militants stopped a bus and shot six Hindu bus passengers, on the same day, another group of extremists killed two officials on a train. The Congress-led Central Government dismissed Punjab state government of their own party, during the five months preceding Operation Blue Star, from 1 January 1984 to 3 June 1984,298 people had been killed in various violent incidents across Punjab. In five days preceding the Operation,48 people had killed in the violence. Bhindranwale had earlier taken residence in Harmandir Sahib and made it his headquarters in April 1980, Bhindranwale was accused of amassing weapons in the gurudwara to start a major armed uprising. After the operation, the Army placed total casualties at, Civilians,492 dead Military,136 killed and 220 wounded, unofficial casualty figures were much higher. Some suggest that casualties numbered 20,000. Mark Tully and Satish Jacob mention of use of tanks by the army at Sultanwind area against the civilian Sikhs marching towards Amritsar, the civilian casualties included Bhindranwale and his closest associate, the former Major General Shabeg Singh
19.
Bathinda
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It is in northwestern India in the Malwa Region,227 km west of the capital city of Chandigarh and is the fifth largest city of Punjab. Bathindas nicknamed the City of Lakes, courtesy of the lakes in the city. The first empress of India, Razia Sultan was imprisoned in the Qila Mubarak fort in Bathinda. Bathinda is a home of Central University of Punjab and upcoming AIIMS, Bathinda is home to two modern thermal power plants, Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Plant and Guru Hargobind Thermal Plant at Lehra Mohabbat. The city has a plant, a large oil refinery. A zoo, and a historic Qila Mubarak fort, Bathinda is one of the largest food grain and cotton markets in northern India, the area around Bathinda is a prolific grape growing area. It is one of the cities in education in Punjab. Three national highways, NH7 and NH-54 and NH 148B Bathinda to Narnaul pass through the city, bhatinda was changed to Bathinda to conform to the phonetical expression as locally pronounced. According to Henry George Raverty, Bathinda was known as Tabarhindh, the earliest mention of Tabarhindh occurs in the Jami-Ul-Hakayat written about 607 Hijri or 1211 AD. In 1004, Mahmud of Ghazni besieged the fort, which was located on the route from the northwest into the rich Ganges valley. In 1189, Muhammad Ghori attacked and occupied the fort of Bathinda, prithvi Raj Chauhan, the ruler of this region, managed to recover possession of the fort thirteen months later in 1191 after the first battle of Tarain. In circa 1754, the town was conquered by Maharaja Ala Singh, with the dawn of independence and merger of Patiala and East Punjab States into a division called PEPSU, Bathinda become a full-fledged district with headquarters at Bathinda city. As per written history it is one of oldest city of Punjab, as per provisional reports of Census India, population of Bathinda city in 2011 is 285,813, male and female are 151,782 and 134,031 respectively. The sex ratio of Bathinda city is 883 per 1000 males, total children in Bathinda city are 30,713,16,472 boys and 14,241 girls. Child sex ratio of girls is 865 per 1000 boys, hinduism is the majority religion in Bathinda city with 62. 61% people following the faith. Sikhism is the second most popular religion in the city which is followed by 35. 04% of the people, minorities are Muslims, Christians, Buddhists and Jains. Sikhs count for 70. 89% of the population in Bathinda District on a whole in spite of not being a majority in the city, Bathinda is in the northwestern region of India and is a part of the Indo-Gangetic alluvial plains. The exact cartographic co-ordinates of Bathinda are 30. 20°N74. 95°E /30.20,74.95 and it has an average elevation of 201 metres. Bathindas climate correspond to semi arid with high variation between summer and winter temperatures, average annual rainfall is in a range of 20 mm to 40 mm
20.
People's Party of Punjab
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Manpreet later merged the party with the congress after meeting party vice-president Rahul Gandhi. Manpreet Singh Badal resigned his seat in the Punjab Legislative Assembly prior to announcing the new party, the 2012 state election was the first to be contested by the party. It allied with the Communist Party of India, the Communist Party of India, Badal was the chief ministerial candidate of the coalition. The Sanjha Morcha was unsuccessful in winning any of the seats it had contested despite garnering an approximate share of 6% of the votes polled
21.
Manpreet Singh Badal
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Manpreet Singh Badal is an Indian politician and leader of the Indian National Congress. He has been member of Punjab Legislative Assembly from 1995 to 2012, Manpreet Singh Badal was born on 26 July 1962 in Muktsar. His father is Gurdas Singh Badal, the brother of Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, Manpreet Singh Badal attended The Doon School and St. Stephens College, Delhi. He was subsequently awarded a law degree by the University of London and he was elected to the Punjab Legislative Assembly in May 1995 on a Akali Dal ticket from Gidderbaha. He was re-elected from Gidderbaha constituency in 1997,2002 and 2007, in 2007 he was made finance minister in Parkash Singh Badal government. He was removed from this post over difference about debt waiver offer from the Centre with the rest of party, subsequently he was expelled from the Shiromani Akali Dal in October 2010. He formed a new party called Peoples Party of Punjab. In the 2012 Punjab elections, his party formed political alliance with CPI, CPM and he contested the elections from the Gidderbaha and Maur constituencies, losing from both seats. On 15 January,2016 Manpreet merged his party with the Congress
22.
Hindustan Times
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Hindustan Times is an Indian English-language daily newspaper founded in 1924 with roots in the Indian independence movement of the period. The newspaper is owned by Rajya Sabha M. P. Shobhana Bhartia and it is the flagship publication of HT Media. Hindustan Times is one of the largest newspapers in India, by circulation, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, it has a circulation of 1.16 million copies as of November 2015. The Indian Readership Survey 2014 revealed that HT is the second most widely read English newspaper in India after The Times of India. It is popular in North India, with editions from New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Lucknow, Patna, Ranchi, Bhopal. The print location of Jaipur was discontinued from June 2006 and that of Nagpur edition was discontinued from September 1997, HT launched a youth daily, HT Next, in 2004. The Mumbai edition was launched on 14 July 2005 and the Kolkata edition was launched in early 2000. In 2014 however, Hindustan Times was ranked 360th among Indias most trusted brands according to the Brand Trust Report 2014, a study conducted by Trust Research Advisory, other sister publications of Hindustan Times are Mint, Hindustan, Nandan and Kadambani. Hindustan Times is owned by the KK Birla branch of the Birla family, Hindustan Times was founded in 1924 by Sunder Singh Lyallpuri, founder-father of the Akali movement and the Shiromani Akali Dal in Punjab Province. S Mangal Singh Gill and S. Chanchal Singh were made in charge of the newspaper, Madan Mohan Malaviya and Tara Singh were among the members of the Managing Committee. The Managing Chairman and Chief Patron was Master Sunder Singh Lyallpuri, K. M. Panikkar was its first editor, Devdas Gandhi on the editors panel, and later editor. The opening ceremony was performed by Mahatma Gandhi on 26 September 1924, the first issue was published from Naya Bazar, Delhi. As an Oxonian, historian, and litterateur, Panikkar must have hoped to make his paper eventually more than an Akali sheet and he became the editor and funds flowed freely from activist Akali patrons. He exerted himself strenuously, but the paper made very little headway, in two years Panikkar could not take the print order any higher than 3,000. By then the Akali movement appeared to lose steam and funds dried up, the paper was saved from an untimely demise when Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya stepped in to realise his vision of a newspaper in Delhi. Malaviya raised ₹50,000 rupees to acquire the Hindustan Times along with the help of nationalist leaders Lajpat Rai and M. R. Jayakar and industrialist G. D. Birla, Birla took full control of the paper in 1933. The paper continues to be owned by the Birla family and it has its roots in the Indian independence movement of the first half of the twentieth century and even faced the noted Hindustan Times Contempt Case at Allahabad High Court. It was edited at times by many important people in India, including Devdas Gandhi, Sri Mulgaonkar, B. G. Verghese, sanjoy Narayan was editor in chief of the paper from August 2008 till July 2016
23.
Election Commission of India
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The Election Commission of India is an autonomous constitutional authority responsible for administering election processes in India. The body administers elections to the Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, state legislatures, the Election Commission operates under the authority of Constitution per Article 324, and subsequently enacted Representation of the People Act. The Commission has the powers under the Constitution, to act in an appropriate manner when the enacted laws make insufficient provisions to deal with a situation in the conduct of an election. Originally in 1950, the commission had only a Chief Election Commissioner, two additional Commissioners were appointed to the commission for the first time on October 16,1989 but they had a very short tenure, ending on January 1,1990. The Election Commissioner Amendment Act,1989 made the Commission a multi-member body, the concept of a 3-member Commission has been in operation since then, with the decisions being made by a majority vote. Other Election Commissioners can be removed by the President of India on the recommendation of the Chief Election Commissioner, a Chief Election Commissioner has never been impeached in India. In 2009, just before the 2009 Lok Sabha Elections, CEC N, the President opined that such a recommendation is not binding on the President, and hence rejected it. Subsequently, after Gopalaswamis retirement the next month, Chawla became the Chief Election Commissioner, one of the most important features of the democratic polity is elections at regular intervals. In every election, it issues a Model code of Conduct for political parties and candidates to elections in a free. The Commission issued the code for the first time in 1971 for the 5th Lok Sabha elections and it lays down guidelines for the conduct of political parties and candidates during an election period. It contains the rules of electoral morality. However, this lack of statutory backing does not prevent the Commission from enforcing it, a law regarding the registration process for political parties was enacted in 1989 and a number of parties got registered with the Commission. The registration helps avoid confusion ensures that the parties are brought under the purview of the commission. To curb the influence of money during elections, the Election Commission has made many suggestions. These limits have been revised over time, the Election Commission, by appointing observers from the Indian Revenue Service, keeps an eye on the individual account of election expenditure. The campaign period has also reduced by the Commission from 21 to 14 days for Lok Sabha. The Commission can issue an order for prohibition of publication and disseminating of results of opinion polls or exit polls to prevent influencing the voting trends in the electorate. In an attempt to decriminalise politics, the Election Commission has approached the Supreme Court to put a ban on convicted politicians from contesting elections. The Constitutional Act, passed in 1992 by the Narasimha Rao government, the Election Commission had tried to bring improvements in election procedures by the introduction of Electronic voting machines or EVMs
24.
The Economic Times
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The Economic Times is an English-language, Indian daily newspaper published by the Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. First published in 1961, it is the worlds second-most widely read English-language business newspaper, after the Wall Street Journal, with a readership of over 800,000. The Economic Times is published simultaneously from 12 cities—Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Lucknow, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Nagpur, Chandigarh, the Economic Times is headquartered in Mumbai at The Times of India building. Its main content is based on the Indian economy, international finance, the founder- editor of the paper when it was launched in 1961 was P. S. The current editor of The Economic Times is Bodhisattva Ganguli, like the London-based Financial Times, The Economic Times is printed on salmon pink paper. It is sold in all cities in India. In June 2009, it launched a channel called ET Now. 1960s and 1970s, PS Hariharan, DK Rangnekar 1980s, Hannan Ezekiel, Manu Shroff Early to mid 1990s, T
25.
Modi ministry
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The Modi Ministry is the Council of Ministers headed by Narendra Modi that was formed after the 2014 general election which was held in nine phases from 7 April to 12 May in 2014. The results of the election were announced on 16 May 2014, the Council assumed office on 26 May 2014. Modis Council of Ministers consists of seven ministers, of whom 6 hold the rank of Cabinet minister. This is the highest number of female Cabinet ministers in any Indian government in history, the only other government to appoint more than 1 female Cabinet minister, was the first UPA government from 2004 to 2009, which had 3 female Cabinet Ministers. According to a Gallup poll, 63% of Indians approved of their countrys leadership in 2014, the figures in 2013 were 30% approval, and 48% disapproval. The 2014 general election was held in nine phases from 7 April to 12 May, the results of the election were announced on 16 May 2014. On 20 May 2014, a meeting of the party of BJP was organised at the Central Hall of the Parliament of India. On 9 November 2014, there was an expansion and reshuffling in his cabinet and 21 new cabinet ministers were sworn in, Prime Minister Narendra Modi appointed Nripendra Misra as his Principal Secretary and Ajit Doval as National Security Advisor in his first week in office. He also appointed IAS officer A. K, sharma and Indian Forest Service officer Bharat Lal as joint secretaries in the Prime Ministers Office. Both officers were part of Modis government in Gujarat during his tenure as Chief Minister, on 31 May 2014, Prime Minister Modi abolished all existing Group of Ministers and Empowered Group of Ministers. A statement from the PMO explained, This would expedite the process of decision making, the Ministries and Departments will now process the issues pending before the EGoMs and GoMs and take appropriate decisions at the level of Ministries and Departments itself. The UPA-II government had set up 68 GoMs and 14 EGoMs during its tenure, the move was described by the Indian media as being in alignment with Modis policy of minimum government, maximum governance. The Indian Express stated that the GoMs and EGoMs had become a symbol, the Times of India described the new governments decision as a move to restore the authority of the Union Cabinet in decision-making and ensure ministerial accountability. Newly appointed cabinet minister Gopinath Munde, who was in charge of the Rural Development, Panchayati Raj, Cabinet minister Nitin Gadkari, who is in charge of Road Transport and Highways, and Shipping, was assigned to look after Mundes portfolios on 4 June. On 10 June 2014, in step to downsize the government. He also decided to reconstitute five crucial Cabinet Committees, the total strength of the Union Council of Ministers has been capped at 82. On July 5th 2016, the Union Council of Ministers was further expanded with the induction of 19 new Ministers and reduction of 5 old Ministers tallying to 77 Members of Union Council of Ministers
26.
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
27.
Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare
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The 3 broad areas of scope for the Ministry are agriculture, food processing and co-operation. The agriculture ministry is headed by Minister of Agriculture Radha Mohan Singh, S S Ahluwalia, Sudarshan Bhagat & Parshottam Rupalai are the Ministers of State. Agriculture is the source of livelihood for more than half population of India. Agriculture provides the bulk of goods required by non-agriculture sectors. India is an agrarian economy - with 52. 1% of the population estimated to directly or indirectly employed in agriculture. The combined efforts of Central Government, State Governments and the community have succeeded in achieving record production of 244.78 million tonnes of foodgrains during 2010-11. Other causes behind record production include remunerative prices for various crops through enhanced minimum support prices, Agriculture in India is of significance because of this as well as a history of food shortages and a growing population. Department of Revenue and Agriculture and Commerce was set up in June 1871 to deal with all the matters in India. Until this ministry was established, matters related to agriculture were within the portfolio of the Home Department, in 1881, Department of Revenue & Agriculture was set up to deal with combined portfolios of education, health, agriculture, revenue. However, In 1947, Department of Agriculture was redesignated as Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Agriculture and farmers Welfare consists of the following three Departments. Department of Agriculture, Co-operation and Farmers Welfare and this Departments responsibilities are assigned to it in the Government of India Rules,1961 as amended time to time. Co-operation in this context refers largely to promote farmer co-operative movements, Department of Agriculture Research and Education. This Departments responsibilities are basic and operation research, technology development, in addition, this Department manages the Indian Council of Agricultural Research. Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries and this Departments primary responsibilities are to increase the productivity of livestock and aquaculture. The administrative head of the Ministry are the Secretaries of the three departments, a leading program of the Ministry is the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, which was launched in 2007 on the recommendations of the National Development Council of India. This program sought to improve the state of agriculture in India by providing stronger planning, better co-ordination and greater funding to improve productivity. The total budget for this program in 2009-10 was just over INR38,000 crore, the Ministry publishes an annual report titled Agricultural Statistics At a Glance. This gives a picture of the state of the Indias agriculture including demographics of the agrarian sector, crop production, rural economic indicators such as credit
28.
Ananth Kumar
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H. N. Ananth Kumar is an Indian politician belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party. Since 1996 he has represented Bangalore South constituency in the Lok Sabha, Ananth Kumar has served as Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers since May 2014 and as Minister of Parliamentary Affairs since July 2016 in the Narendra Modi government. Having been influenced by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, he was a member of its student wing, during the Emergency, he was imprisoned along with thousands of other student activists by the Indira Gandhi government. He was elected as the State Secretary of the ABVP and later and he later joined BJP and was nominated as the State President of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha. He was then made National Secretary of the party in 1996 and he was elected from Bangalore South Lok Sabha constituency to the 11th Lok Sabha in 1996. In 1998 he was re-elected and was inducted into the Union Cabinet headed by Atal Bihari Vajpayee as the Minister for Civil Aviation, in 1999, he was re-elected to a 3rd Consecutive term and became a cabinet minister in the National Democratic Alliance government. He handled various ministries like Tourism, Sports & Youth Affairs, Culture, Urban Development, in 2004, he was appointed National General Secretary of the BJP and has held that post ever since. On 26 May 2014, Kumar was appointed Minister of Chemicals, from these terms from 1996 to 2016, Sri Ananth Kumar has completed a glorious two decades without a break in the prestigious constituency of Bengaluru South. And incidentally, BJP as a party has held to this constituency for a silver jubilee years, Ananth Kumar was born on 22 July 1959 in Bangalore, Karnataka to H N Narayan Sastry and Girija. He graduated in faculty of Arts from K S Arts College, Hubli affiliated to the Karnatak University and later, law College affiliated to the Mysore University. He married Tejaswini and the couple have 2 daughters – Aishwarya, members of Fourteenth Lok Sabha – Parliament of India website Official website of Ananth Kumar
29.
Ministry of Civil Aviation (India)
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Its functions also extend to overseeing airport facilities, air traffic services and carriage of passengers and goods by air. The Ministry also administers implementation of the 1934 Aircraft Act and is responsible for the Commission of Railways Safety. The ministry is under the charge of Pusapati Ashok Gajapati Raju and it is located at Rajiv Gandhi Bhavan, Safdarjung Airport, New Delhi. Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Akademi Airports Authority of India Air India Pawan Hans Helicopters Ltd
30.
Ministry of Commerce and Industry (India)
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The Ministry of Commerce and Industry administers two departments, the Department of Commerce and the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion. The head of the Ministry is a Minister of Cabinet rank, the incumbent Minister of Commerce and Industry is Nirmala Sitharaman, who has held the post since 27 May 2014. The Minister of Commerce and Industry is the head of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the first Minister of Commerce and Industry of independent India was Syama Prasad Mukherjee. The current Minister of State is Nirmala Sitharaman, of the Bharatiya Janata Party, has held office since 26 May 2014 and it is also responsible for facilitating and increasing the FDI flows to the country. It is also responsible to calculate WPI, Department of Commerce Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion
31.
Ram Vilas Paswan
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Ram Vilas Paswan is an Indian politician, from Bihar and the current Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution. Paswan is also the president of the Lok Janshakti Party, eight time Lok Sabha member and former Rajya Sabha MP, started his political career as member of Samyukta Socialist Party and was elected to the Bihar Legislative Assembly in 1969. Next he joined Lok Dal upon its formation in 1974, and he opposed the emergency, and was arrested during the period. He entered the Lok Sabha in 1977, as a Janata Party member from Hajipur constituency, was chosen again 1980,1984,1989,1996 and 1998, in 2000, he formed the Lok Janshakti Party as its President. Subsequently, in 2004 he joined the ruling United Progressive Alliance government and remained a Union Minister in Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers and he won the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, but lost the 2009 elections. After being member of a Rajya Sabha member from 2010 to 2014, Paswan was born in a Dalit family in 1946 in Bihar. Paswan holds a Bachelor of Laws and a Master of Arts degrees from Kosi College, Khagaria, Paswan was elected to the Bihar state legislative assembly in 1969 as a member of the Samyukta Socialist Party from a reserved constituency. In 1974, as an ardent follower of Raj Narain and Jayaprakash Narayan Paswan became the secretary of the Lok Dal. He was personally close to the prominent leaders of anti-emergency like Raj Narain, Karpoori Thakur and he parted ways with Morarji Desai and joined Janata Party-S led by Lokbandhu Raj Narain as partys president and later as its Chairman. In 1975, when emergency was proclaimed in India, he was arrested and spent the entire period in jail. On being released in 1977, he became a member of the Janata Party and won election to Parliament for the first time on its ticket and he was re-elected to the 7th Lok Sabha in 1980 and 1984 from Hajipur constituency. In 1983, he established the Dalit Sena, an organisation for Dalit emancipation, Paswan was re-elected to the 9th Lok Sabha in 1989 and was appointed Union Minister of Labour and Welfare in the Vishwanath Pratap Singh government. In 1996 he even led the alliance or Proposition in the Lok Sabha as the Prime Minister was a member of the Rajya Sabha. This was also the year when he first became the Union Railway Minister and he continued to hold that post till 1998. Thereafter, he was the Union Communications Minister from October 1999 to September 2001 when he was shifted to the Coal Ministry, in 2000 Paswan broke from the Janata Dal, to form the Lok Janshakti Party. Following the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, Paswan joined the United Progressive Alliance government and was made the Union Minister in Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, in the February 2005 Bihar State elections, Paswans party LJP along with the Indian National Congress contested the election. The result was no particular party or alliance could form a government by itself. However, Paswan consistently refused to support either Laloo Yadav, whom he accused of being extremely corrupt, in the November 2005 Bihar state elections, Paswans third-alliance was utterly devastated, the Laloo Yadav-Congress alliance reduced to a minority and the NDA formed the new government
32.
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
33.
Ministry of Defence (India)
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The Ministry of Defence is charged with co-ordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government relating directly to national security and the Indian armed forces. The Ministry has the largest budget among the departments of India. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of the country, the Ministry of Defence provides policy framework and resources to the Armed Forces to discharge their responsibility in the context of the defence of the country. The Armed Forces and Indian Coast Guard under the Defence Ministry are primarily responsible for ensuring the integrity of the nation. At present, the new creation of National Defence University, for training of military officials and concerned civilian officials, will be administered. The Ministry organises and runs Republic Day celebrations and parade every year in January, a Military Department was created by the Supreme Government of the British East India Company at Kolkata in the year 1776. Its main function was to co-ordinate and record orders, relating to the Army, the Military Department initially functioned as a branch of the Public Department and maintained a list of Army personnel. With the Charter Act of 1833 the Secretariat of the Government of the East India Company was re-organised into four Departments, each headed by a Secretary to the Government. The Armies in the Presidencies of Bengal, Bombay & Madras functioned as the respective Presidency Armies until April 1895, for administrative convenience, it was divided into four Commands, Punjab, Bengal, Madras and Bombay. The supreme authority over the Indian Army was vested in the Governor General-in-Council, subject to the Control of the Crown, two Members in the Council were responsible for military affairs. One was the Military Member, who supervised all administrative and financial matters, the other was the Commander-in-Chief who was responsible for all operational matters. The Military Department was abolished in March 1906 and was replaced by two separate Departments, the Army Department and the Military Supply Department, in April 1909 the Military Supply Department was abolished and its functions were taken over by the Army Department. The Army Department was re-designated as the Defence Department in January 1938, the Department of Defence became the Ministry of Defence under a Cabinet Minister in August 1947. The functions of MOD which in 1947 was mainly logistic support to the Armed Forces, has far reaching changes. In November 1962, following the 1962 war, a Department of Defence Production was set-up to deal with research, development, in November 1965, the Department of Defence Supplies was created for planning and execution of schemes for import substitution of requirements for defence purposes. These two Departments were later merged to form the Department of Defence Production and Supplies, in 1980, the Department of Defence Research and Development was created. In January 2004, the Department of Defence Production and Supplies was renamed the Department of Defence Production, a Scientific Adviser to the Defence Minister was appointed to advise on scientific aspects of military equipment and the research and design of Defence forces equipment. The Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare was created in 2004, the Raksha Mantri is the head of the Ministry of Defence
34.
Nirmala Sitharaman
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Until recently, she served as a national spokesperson for the Bharatiya Janata Party. Sitharaman then served at Pricewaterhouse Coopers as a Senior Manager and later for the BBC World Service and she is one of the founding directors of Pranava school in Hyderabad. She was formerly a member of the National Commission for Women, Nirmala Sitharaman joined Narendra Modis ministry in May 2014. Until then, she was working as a part of a team of six headed by Ravi Shankar Prasad. She joined the BJP in 2006 even as her husband Dr. Parakala Prabhakar joined the Prajarajyam party floated by filmstar Chiranjeevi in 2007, while her husband grew disillusioned with Chiranjeevis party and felt the need to quit the PRP that spoke of social justice. In the early 2000s, Dr Prabhakar was the spokesperson of the Andhra Pradesh unit of the BJP, meanwhile, Nirmala was slowly gaining in popularity in the BJP. It was during Nitin Gadkaris tenure as BJP president that Nirmala Sitharaman was enlisted as one of the six party spokespersons in March 2010, since then, she has been a regular on the news TV channels defending her BJP and its leaders including Narendra Modi. Interestingly, as party spokesperson, she became popular in the Modi-ruled Gujarat than in Delhi. As a visible spokesperson of the BJP, Nirmala played an important role in the run up to the 2014 elections by effectively projecting the Modi-for-PM message. And even before the elections were held, it was a presumption in political circles that if the NDA indeed came to power. In an election that not many thought would be that one-sided and she Contested and won a bye-election to the Rajya Sabha from the state of Andhra Pradesh. On 29 May 2016, she was one among the 12 candidates nominated by the BJP to contest the Rajya Sabha elections due on 11 June 2016 and she successfully contested the elections from Karnataka. She met her husband, Parakala Prabhakar, an Andhraite from Narsapuram, while Nirmala leaned towards the BJP, her husband was from a pro-Congress family. Her mother-in-law was a Congress MLA in Andhra Pradesh, while her father-in-law was a Minister in the Andhra Pradesh Congress Govt in 1970s. In 1991, Nirmala and her returned to India from UK and moved to Narsapuram in the coastal Andhra Pradesh, Nirmala. She got stuck in the hospital for over a week because of the unrest triggered by the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi in May 1991, later, blessed with a daughter, the family made Hyderabad their home. Nirmala is a member of Pranava School in Hyderabad and was a member of the National Commission for Women from 2003-05. It was during her stint at NCW that she came in contact with Sushma Swaraj who sounded Nirmala out for a role in BJP
35.
Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation
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The Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation is a ministry of the Government of India. In 1999, the Department of Drinking Water Supply was formed under Ministry of Rural Development, for focused attention on drinking water and sanitation. The Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation is the department for the overall policy, planning, funding and coordination of programmes of drinking water. The ministry is responsible for the implementation of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan in rural India and it got 8 million toilets constructed surpassing the target of 6 million toilets for the year 2015-16
36.
Uma Bharti
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Uma Bharti is an Indian politician and cabinet minister for water resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation in the Union Government of India. Raised by Vijaya Raje Scindia of Gwalior, she became involved with the Bharatiya Janata Party at a young age. In 1989, she contested the Khajuraho seat, and retained it in elections conducted in 1991,1996 and 1998. In 1999, she switched constituencies and won the Bhopal seat and she is occasionally addressed by the Hindu honorific Sādhvī, a respectful Sanskrit title for a female renunciant. Bharti was one of the most prominent leaders in the controversial Ram Janmabhoomi movement of the 1980s and 1990s, organised by the BJP and she was present at the demolition of the Babri Masjid, and was later indicted by the Liberhan Commission for her role in the incident. In the 2003 Assembly polls, she led the BJP to a majority in the Madhya Pradesh Vidhān Sabhā. She defeated her Congress opponent from the Malehra seat by a 25% margin and she resigned from the post of Chief Minister in August 2004, when an arrest warrant was issued against her regarding the 1994 Hubli riot case. Uma Bharti was born on 3 May 1959 in Dunda, Tikamgarh District in the state of Madhya Pradesh to a family of peasants and she attended school up until the sixth standard. As a child, she displayed considerable interest in texts like the Bhagvad Gita which led to her being seen as a spiritual child. She began to give religious discourses while still a child, which brought her into contact with Rajmata Vijayaraje Scindia and she describes herself in her youth as a religious missionary. With the support of Vijaya Raje Scindia, Bharti became involved with the Madhya Pradesh state BJP while still in her twenties, in 1984, she contested Lok Sabha elections for the first time, but lost in the Congress wave that followed the assassination of Indira Gandhi. In 1989, she won in the Khajuraho Lok Sabha constituency, and retained the seat in the elections of 1991,1996, Bharti rose to national prominence when she became one of the major faces of the Ramjanmabhoomi movement alongside L. K. Advani and others. Her fiery speeches are credited for helping the movement achieve the momentum that it did, in December 1992 she was one of several prominent Sangh Parivar figures present at a rally in Ayodhya that developed into a riot that culminated in the demolition of the Babri Mosque. Bharti was indicted for inciting a mob to violence by the Liberhan Commission that probed the incident, Bharti herself denies that she incited the mob, but says she does not regret it, and is willing to take moral responsibility for the demolition. She acknowledges that the BJP reaped massive political benefits from the incident, in the 1999 Lok Sabha elections, she switched constituencies and won the Bhopal seat. Bharti was appointed the Chief ministerial candidate of the BJP for the 2003 Assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh. On the back of a campaign based on a plank of development. She herself defeated her Congress opponent from the Malehra seat by a 25% margin, in August 2004, after only a year in office, an arrest warrant was issued against Uma Bharti in connection with the 1994 Hubli riots, forcing her resignation
