1.
States and union territories of India
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India is a federal union comprising twenty-nine states and seven union territories. The states and union territories are further subdivided into districts and further into smaller administrative divisions, the Constitution of India distributes the sovereign executive and legislative powers exercisable with respect to the territory of any State between the Union and that State. The Indian subcontinent has been ruled by different ethnic groups throughout its history. Between 1947 and 1950, the territories of the states were politically integrated into the Indian Union. The new Constitution of India, which came into force on 26 January 1950, the new republic was also declared to be a Union of States. The nine Part A states were Assam, Bihar, Bombay, Madhya Pradesh, Madras, Orissa, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal. The eight Part B states were former princely states or groups of states, governed by a rajpramukh, who was usually the ruler of a constituent state. The rajpramukh was appointed by the President of India, the Part B states were Hyderabad, Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya Bharat, Mysore, Patiala and East Punjab States Union, Rajasthan, Saurashtra, and Travancore-Cochin. The ten Part C states included both the former chief commissioners provinces and some states, and each was governed by a chief commissioner appointed by the President of India. The Part C states were Ajmer, Bhopal, Bilaspur, Coorg, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Cutch, Manipur, Tripura, the only Part D state was the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which were administered by a lieutenant governor appointed by the central government. The Union Territory of Puducherry was created in 1954 comprising the previous French enclaves of Pondichéry, Karaikal, Yanam, Andhra State was created on 1 October 1953 from the Telugu-speaking northern districts of Madras State. The States Reorganisation Act of 1956 reorganised the states based on linguistic lines resulting in the creation of the new states, as a result of this act, Madras State retained its name with Kanyakumari district added to from Travancore-Cochin. Andhra Pradesh was created with the merger of Andhra State with the Telugu-speaking districts of Hyderabad State in 1956, kerala was created with the merger of Malabar district and the Kasaragod taluk of South Canara districts of Madras State with Travancore-Cochin. The Laccadive Islands which were divided between South Canara and Malabar districts of Madras State were united and organised into the territory of Lakshadweep. Bombay State was enlarged by the addition of Saurashtra State and Kutch State, Rajasthan and Punjab gained territories from Ajmer and Patiala and East Punjab States Union respectively and certain territories of Bihar was transferred to West Bengal. Bombay State was split into the states of Gujarat and Maharashtra on 1 May 1960 by the Bombay Reorganisation Act. Nagaland was formed on 1 December 1963, the Punjab Reorganisation Act of 1966 resulted in the creation of Haryana on 1 November and the transfer of the northern districts of Punjab to Himachal Pradesh. The act also designated Chandigarh as a territory and the shared capital of Punjab
2.
Bihar
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Bihar is a state in the eastern part of India. It is the 13th-largest state of India, with an area of 94,163 km2. The third-largest state of India by population, it is contiguous with Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the Bihar plain is split by the river Ganges which flows from west to east. On November 15,2000, southern Bihar was ceded to form the new state of Jharkhand, only 11. 3% of the population of Bihar lives in urban areas, which is lowest in India after Himachal Pradesh. Additionally, almost 58% of Biharis are below the age of 25, the official languages of the state are Hindi and Urdu. Other languages commonly used within the state include Bhojpuri, Maithili, Magahi, Bajjika, in ancient and classical India, Bihar was considered a centre of power, learning, and culture. From Magadha arose Indias first empire, the Maurya empire, as well as one of the worlds most widely adhered-to religions, Magadha empires, notably under the Maurya and Gupta dynasties, unified large parts of South Asia under a central rule. Another region of Bihar is Mithila which was a centre of Brahmanical learning. Since the late 1970s, Bihar has lagged far behind other Indian states in terms of social, the state government has, however, made significant strides in developing the state. The name Bihar is derived from the Sanskrit and Pali word, Vihara, the region roughly encompassing the present state was dotted with Buddhist vihara, the abodes of Buddhist monks in the ancient and medieval periods. Medieval writer Minhaj al-Siraj Juzjani records in the Tabakat-i-Nasiri that in 1198, Bakhtiyar Khalji committed a massacre in a town now known as Bihar Sharif, chirand, on the northern bank of the Ganga River, in Saran district, has an archaeological record from the Neolithic age. Regions of Bihar—such as Magadha, Mithila and Anga—are mentioned in religious texts, the power centre of ancient Bihar was in the region of modern-day southwestern Bihar called Magadha, which remained the centre of power, learning, and culture in India for 1000 years. The Haryanka dynasty, founded in 684 BC, ruled Magadha from the city of Rajgriha, the two well-known kings from this dynasty were Bimbisara and his son Ajatashatru, who imprisoned his father to ascend the throne. Ajatashatru founded the city of Pataliputra which later became the capital of Magadha and he declared war and conquered the Vajji of north Bihar, another powerful Mahajanapada north of Ganges with its capital at Vaishali. Vaishali was ruled by the Licchavi clan, who had a form of government where the king was elected from the number of rajas. The Haryanka dynasty was followed by the Shishunaga dynasty, later the Nanda Dynasty ruled a vast tract stretching from Bengal to Punjab. The Nanda dynasty was replaced by the Maurya Empire, Indias first empire, the Maurya Empire and the religion of Buddhism arose in the region that now makes up modern Bihar. The Mauryan Empire, which originated from Magadha in 325 BC, was founded by Chandragupta Maurya and it had its capital at Pataliputra
3.
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
4.
Literacy in India
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Literacy in India is a key for socio-economic progress, and the Indian literacy rate has grown to 74. 04% from 12% at the end of British rule in 1947. Although this was a greater than sixfold improvement, the level is well below the average literacy rate of 84%. The 2011 census, however, indicated a 2001–2011 decadal literacy growth of 9. 2%, there is a wide gender disparity in the literacy rate in India, effective literacy rates in 2011 were 82. 14% for men and 65. 46% for women. The low female literacy rate has had a negative impact on family planning. Studies have indicated that female literacy is a predictor of the use of contraception among married Indian couples. The table below shows the adult and youth literacy rates for India, Adult literacy rate is based on the 15+ years age group, while the youth literacy rate is for the 15–24 years age group. Now of the factors contributing to this relatively low literacy rate is usefulness of education. There is a shortage of classrooms to accommodate all the students in 2006–2007, in addition, there is no proper sanitation in most schools. The study of 188 government-run primary schools in central and northern India revealed that 59% of the schools had no drinking water facility, in 600,000 villages and multiplying urban slum habitats, free and compulsory education is the basic literacy instruction dispensed by barely qualified para teachers. The average Pupil Teacher Ratio for All India is 42,1, such inadequacies resulted in a non-standardized school system where literacy rates may differ. Furthermore, the allocated to education was never above 4. 3% of the GDP from 1951 to 2002 despite the target of 6% by the Kothari Commission. This further complicates the problem in India. Discrimination of lower castes has resulted in high rates and low enrollment rates. On 21 February 2005, the Prime Minister of India said that he was pained to note that only 47 out of 100 children enrolled in class I reach class VIII, putting the dropout rate at 52.78 per cent. It is estimated that at least 35 million, and possibly as many as 60 million, absolute poverty in India has also deterred the pursuit of formal education as education is not deemed of as the highest priority among the poor as compared to other basic necessities. The MRP-based poverty estimates of about 22% of poverty in 2004–05 which translated to 22 out of per 100 people are not meeting their basic needs, the large proportion of illiterate females is another reason for the low literacy rate in India. Inequality based on gender differences resulted in female literacy rates being lower at 65. 46% than that of their counterparts at 82. 14%. Due to strong stereotyping of female and male roles, Sons are thought of to be more useful, females are pulled to help out on agricultural farms at home as they are increasingly replacing the males on such activities which require no formal education
5.
Indian road network
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India has a road network of over 5,472,144 kilometres as on 31 March 2015, the second largest road network in the world. However, qualitatively Indias roads are a mix of modern highways and narrow, unpaved roads, as on 31 March 2015,61. 05% of Indian roads were paved. Adjusted for its population, India has less than 3.8 kilometres of roads per 1000 people. In terms of quality, all season,4 or more highways, India has less than 0.07 kilometres of highways per 1000 people. These are some of the lowest road and highway densities in the world, for context, United States has 21 kilometres of roads per 1000 people, while France about 15 kilometres per 1000 people – predominantly paved and high quality in both cases. In terms of all season,4 or more highways, developed countries such as United States. India in its past did not allocate enough resources to build or maintain its road network and this has changed since 1995, with major efforts currently underway to modernize the countrys road infrastructure. According to the CIA World Factbook, as of 2015, India had about 96,000 kilometers of highways and expressways. Major projects are being implemented under the National Highways Development Project, the Government of India is attempting to promote foreign investment in road projects. The first evidence of development in the Indian subcontinent can be traced back to approximately 2800 BC from the ancient cities of Harrapa. Ruling emperors and monarchs of ancient India had constructed roads to connect the cities, archaeological excavations give us fresh information about road connectivity in ancient India. The Grand Trunk Road was built by Sher Shah Suri in 1540-45 connecting Sonargaon near Dhaka in Bangladesh with Peshawar in modern-day Pakistan linking several cities from in India, India inherited a poor road network infrastructure at the time of its independence in 1947. Beyond that, between 1947 and 1988, India witnessed no new projects, and the roads were poorly maintained. Predominantly all roads were single lane, and most were unpaved, India had no expressways, and less than 200 kilometers of 4-lane highways. In 1988, an entity called the National Highways Authority of India was established in India by an Act of Parliament. The Act empowered this entity to develop, maintain and manage Indias road network through National Highways, however, even though the Authority was created in 1988, not much happened till India introduced widespread economic liberalization in the early 1990s. Road transport is vital to Indias economy and it enables the countrys transportation sector to contribute 4.7 percent towards India’s gross domestic product, in comparison to railways that contributed 1 percent, in 2009–2010. Road transport has gained its importance over the years despite significant barriers and inefficiencies in inter-state freight and passenger movement compared to railways, the government of India considers road network as critical to the countrys development, social integration and security needs of the country
6.
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
7.
Mithila (region)
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Mithila is a geographical and cultural region located in the northern part of South Asia. The native language is known as Maithili and its speakers are referred to as Maithils, Mithila is bounded on the north by the Himalayas and on the south, west and east by the Ganges, Kaushiki and Gandaki respectively. The majority of the Mithila region falls within modern day India more specifically the state of Bihar, Mithila was also the ancient name of the city of Janakpur. The name is used to refer to the Videha Kingdom itself. The Mithila kingdom existed on the eastern Indo-Gangetic Plain, an area today is spread over more than half of Indias Bihar state. Although Janakpur was the capital of Mithila during the ancient period, the name Mithila is derived after mythical King Miti which in Dhatki language means Soil. He was supposed to have created from the body of his father King Nimi. He established the capital of his kingdom at Mithilapuri and hence the region came to be called Mithila, since he was born out of body of his father, he took the title Janaka. After this, the Kings of Mithila were called Janaka, another name of the region was Tirabhukti meaning bound by rivers. This was later corrupted into Tirhut, Mithila first gained prominence after being settled by Indo-Aryan peoples who established the Videha kingdom. During the late Vedic period, Videha became one of the political and cultural centers of South Asia, along with Kuru. The Kings of the Videha Kingdom where called Janakas, the Videha Kingdom later became incorporated into the Vajji confederacy which was based in the city of Vaishali which is also in Mithila. From the 11th century to the 20th century, Mithila was ruled by various indigenous dynasties, the first of these where the Karnatas who where of Parmar Rajput origin, the Oinwar dynasty who where Maithil Brahmins and the Khandavalas of Raj Darbhanga who where also Maithil Brahmins. It was during this period that the capital of Mithila was shifted to Darbhanga, Mithila is distinct geographical region with natural boundaries like rivers and hills. It is largely a flat and fertile alluvial plain criss-crossed by numerous river which originate from the Himalayas, the flat plains and fertile sources have meant that Mithila has a rich variety of biotic resources however frequent flood have restricted the people from taking advantage of these. Mithila has seven major rivers, Mahananda, Gandak, Kosi, Bagmati, Kamala, Balan, and they flow from the Himalaya mountains in the north to the Ganges river in the south. These rivers regularly flood, depositing silt onto the farmlands and sometimes causing death or hardship, Maithili language speakers are referred to as Maithils and they are an Indo-Aryan ethno-linguistic group. There are an estimated 35 million Maithils in India alone, the vast majority of them are Hindu but there is a small Muslim minority
8.
Maithili language
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Maithili is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in the Mithila region which is today mainly situated in northern Bihar of India and a few districts of the Nepal Terai. It is one of the largest languages in India and the second largest language in Nepal, less commonly, it was written with a Maithili variant of Kaithi, a script used to transcribe other neighboring languages such as Bhojpuri, Magahi, and Awadhi. In 2002, Maithili was included in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution, which allows it to be used in education, government and it is recognized as one of the largest languages in India and is the second most widely used language in Nepal. In 2007, Maithili was included in the Interim Constitution of Nepal 2063, Part 1, in the past, Maithili was written primarily in Mithilakshar, but today it is written in the Devanagari script. Native speakers are referred to as Maithils, Madhubani and Darbhanga constitute cultural and linguistic centers. Native speakers also reside in Delhi, Kolkata, Ranchi and Mumbai, in Nepal, Maithili is spoken mainly in the Outer Terai districts including Sarlahi, Mahottari, Dhanusa, Sunsari, Siraha and Saptari Districts. Janakpur is an important linguistic centre of Maithili, in the 19th century, linguistic scholars considered Maithili as a dialect of Eastern Hindi languages and grouped it with other languages spoken in Bihar. Hoernlé compared it with Gaudian languages and recognised that it shows similarities with Bengali languages than with Hindi. Grierson recognized it as a language and published the first grammar in 1881. Chatterji grouped Maithili with Magadhi Prakrit, the standard form of Maithili is spoken in Darbhanga and Madhubani districts in Bihar, India. Several geographic variations of Maithili dialects are spoken in India and Nepal, including Dehati, Some dialects such as Bantar, Barmeli, Musar and Tati are spoken only in Nepal, while the Kortha, Jolaha and Thetiya dialects are spoken in India. All the dialects are intelligible to native Maithili speakers, other dialects include, Thēthi is spoken between the western part of the Mahottari and the eastern part of the Sarlahi districts of Nepal, and in adjacent areas in Bihar. The Madhubani dialect spoken in north India is generally considered to be the standard form, central Maithili is also considered as the standard form. The Kulhaiya dialect is spoken in most of north-eastern Bihar, Maithili dates back to the 14th century. The Varna Ratnākara is the earliest known text, preserved from 1507. The name Maithili is derived from the word Mithila, an ancient kingdom of which King Janaka was the ruler, Maithili is also one of the names of Sita, the wife of King Rama and daughter of King Janaka. Scholars in Mithila used Sanskrit for their work and Maithili was the language of the common folk. In 1324, Ghyasuddin Tughluq, the emperor of Delhi invaded Mithila, defeated Harasimhadeva, entrusted Mithila to his family priest Kameshvar Jha, a Maithil Brahmin of the Oinwar dynasty
9.
Indo-Aryan peoples
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Indo-Aryan peoples are a diverse Indo-European ethnolinguistic group of speakers of Indo-Aryan languages. There are over one billion native speakers of Indo-Aryan languages, most of them native to South Asia and these migrations started approximately 1,800 BCE, after the invention of the war chariot, and also brought Indo-Aryan languages into the Levant and possibly Inner Asia. 1800–1400 BCE in the steppes around the Aral sea, present-day Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, the proto-Indo-Iranians were influenced by the Bactria-Margiana Culture, south of the Andronovo culture, from which they borrowed their distinctive religious beliefs and practices. The Indo-Aryans split off around 1800-1600 BCE from the Iranians, whereafter the Indo-Aryans migrated into the Levant, horseplay at Harappa - People Fas Harvard - Harvard University A tale of two horses - Frontline
10.
Kingdom of the Videhas
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Videha was an ancient kingdom in Vedic India established by King Janaka and based in Mithila, India. The kingdoms trans-boundary is presently located in Mithila region of Northern Bihar of India, according to the sacred Ramayana, the capital of Videha kingdom is mentioned as Mithila. During the late Vedic period, Videha became one of the political and cultural centers of South Asia, along with Kuru. Raychaudhuri suggests 14th- to 8th-century BCE range, while Witzel suggests c.900 to 500 BCE for the Brahmanas, the Vedic school of Aitareyins probably moved to Videha and other centers of scholarship, during the late Vedic period. The region and culture of Videha is often mention in Hindu literature, the texts mention the idea of royal dynasty and the tradition of philosopher-kings who renounce, with examples including Nami, Janaka and other kings. King Nimi or Nami of Videha is included as the 21st of the twenty four Tirthankaras in Jainism, towards the end of the Vedic period, Videha likely became part of the Vriji confederation and subsequently into the Magadha empire. The Videha kingdom is mentioned in the Sanskrit epics, the Mahabharata. In the Ramayana, Sita is the princess from Videha, who marries Rama creating an alliance between the kingdoms of Kosala and Videha, the capital of Videha was in Janakpur, a town presently located in Southern Nepal
11.
Janaka
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Janaka is the name used to refer to the kings of Videha. The Videha kingdom was located between east of Gandaki River, west of Koshi River, north of Ganga river and south of Himalayas, the region is now divided between the present day Indian state of Bihar and a small part of Province No.2 of Nepal. Janaka Dynasty ruled the Videha kingdom from their capital, Mithila, a certain King Janaka, who probably reigned during the 7th century BCE, is mentioned in the late Vedic literature as a great philosopher-king. A King Janaka is also mentioned in the Ramayana epic, Janaka is the foster father of Sita, the heroine of the Hindu epic Ramayana. His conversation with Ashtavakra is recorded as Ashtavakra Gita, wherein he is depicted as one realised, many spiritual teachers have referred to this writing often translating and deducing its meaning. Under his reign, Videha became a dominant political and cultural center of the Indian subcontinent, Bihar Kings of Mithila Maithils Rama Sita Trikaranasuddhi Urmila Videha Dictionary of Hindu Lord and Legend by Anna Dhallapiccola
12.
Vajji
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Vajji or Vrijji was a confederacy of neighbouring clans including the Licchavis and one of the principal mahājanapadas of Ancient India. The area they ruled constitutes the region of Mithila in northern Bihar, both the Buddhist text Anguttara Nikaya and the Jaina text Bhagavati Sutra included Vajji in their lists of solasa mahājanapadas. The name of this mahājanapada was derived from one of its ruling clans, the Vajji state is indicated to have been a republic. This clan is mentioned by Pāṇini, Chanakya and Xuanzang, the territory of Vajji was located north of the Ganges in Bihar and extended up to the Madhesh region. On the west, the Gandaki River was probably the boundary between Vajji and the Malla mahājanapada and possibly also separated it from the Kosala mahājanapada, on the east, its territory probably extended up to the forests along the banks of the rivers Koshi and Mahananda. The capital of this mahājanapada was Vaishali, other important towns and villages were Kundapura or Kundagrama, Bhoganagara and Hatthigama. The rulers of Vajji were a confederacy of the eight clans of whom the Vajjis, the Licchavis, the Jñatrikas, manudeva was a famous king of the Licchavi who desired Amrapali after he saw her dance in Vaishali. The identities of the four clans are not certain. Known as the Vajji Sangha “Vajji Confederation”, Vajji consisted of several janapadas, gramas and gosthas, eminent people were chosen from each khanda as representatives to the Vajji gana parishad “peoples council of Vajji”. These representatives were called gana mukhyas, the chairman of the council was titled ganapramukha but often he was addressed as a king although his post was neither dynastic nor hereditary. The other executives were the mahabaladhrikrita, the binishchayamatya or chief justice, the capital was Vaishali, a prosperous city. In the introductory portion of the Ekapanna Jataka, Vaishali was described as encompassed by a wall with the three gates with watch towers. The main gosthas were the Licchavis, Mallas and Śakyas, around 600 BCE, the Licchavis were disciples of Mahavira and Gautama Buddha. During their lifetimes, both Mahavira and Gautama Buddha visited Vaishali several times, kingdoms of Ancient India List of rulers of Mithila
13.
Vaishali (ancient city)
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Vaishali was a city in Bihar, India, and is now an archeological site. It is a part of the Tirhut Division and it was the capital city of the Licchavi, considered one of the first example of a republic, in the Vajjian Confederacy mahajanapada, around the 6th century BCE. It was here in 599 BCE the 24th Jain Tirthankara, Bhagwan Mahavira was born and brought up in Kundalagrama in Vaiśālī republic and it contains one of the best-preserved of the Pillars of Ashoka, topped by a single Asiatic lion. At the time of the Buddha, Vaiśālī, which he visited on occasions, was a very large city, rich and prosperous, crowded with people. There were 7,707 pleasure grounds and an number of lotus ponds. Its courtesan, Amrapali, was famous for her beauty, the city had three walls, each one gāvuta away from the other, and at three places in the walls were gates with watch towers. Outside the town, leading uninterruptedly up to the Himalaya, was the Mahavana, nearby were other forests, such as Gosingalasāla. Vaishali derives its name from King Vishal of the Mahabharata age, the city was also called Visālā. Buddhaghosa, the a 5th-century Indian Theravadin Buddhist commentator and scholar says, even before the advent of Buddhism and Jainism, Vaiśālī was the capital of the vibrant republican Licchavi state. In that period, Vaiśālī was an ancient metropolis and the city of the republic of the Vaiśālī state. However, very little is known about the history of Vaiśālī. The last among the 34 was Sumati, who is considered a contemporary of Dasaratha, father of the Hindu god, in the republic of Vaiśālī, Lord Mahavira was born. Gautama Buddha delivered his last sermon at Vaiśālī and announced his Parinirvana there, Vaiśālī is also renowned as the land of Amrapali, the great Indian courtesan, who appears in many folktales, as well as in Buddhist literature. Ambapali became a disciple of Buddha. Manudev was a king of the illustrious Lichchavi clan of the confederacy. A kilometer away is Abhishek Pushkarini, the coronation tank, the sacred waters of the tank anointed the elected representatives of Vaiśālī. Next to it stands the Japanese temple and the Vishwa Shanti Stupa built by the Nipponzan Myohoji sect of Japan, a small part of the Buddhas relics found in Vaiśālī have been enshrined in the foundation and in the chhatra of the Stupa. Near the coronation tank is Stupa 1 or the Relic Stupa, here the Lichchavis reverentially encased one of the eight portions of the Masters relics, which they received after the Mahaparinirvana. After his last discourse the Awakened One set out for Kushinagar, Buddha gave them his alms bowl but they still refused to return
14.
Russia
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Russia, also officially the Russian Federation, is a country in Eurasia. The European western part of the country is more populated and urbanised than the eastern. Russias capital Moscow is one of the largest cities in the world, other urban centers include Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod. Extending across the entirety of Northern Asia and much of Eastern Europe, Russia spans eleven time zones and incorporates a range of environments. It shares maritime borders with Japan by the Sea of Okhotsk, the East Slavs emerged as a recognizable group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD. Founded and ruled by a Varangian warrior elite and their descendants, in 988 it adopted Orthodox Christianity from the Byzantine Empire, beginning the synthesis of Byzantine and Slavic cultures that defined Russian culture for the next millennium. Rus ultimately disintegrated into a number of states, most of the Rus lands were overrun by the Mongol invasion. The Soviet Union played a role in the Allied victory in World War II. The Soviet era saw some of the most significant technological achievements of the 20th century, including the worlds first human-made satellite and the launching of the first humans in space. By the end of 1990, the Soviet Union had the second largest economy, largest standing military in the world. It is governed as a federal semi-presidential republic, the Russian economy ranks as the twelfth largest by nominal GDP and sixth largest by purchasing power parity in 2015. Russias extensive mineral and energy resources are the largest such reserves in the world, making it one of the producers of oil. The country is one of the five recognized nuclear weapons states and possesses the largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction, Russia is a great power as well as a regional power and has been characterised as a potential superpower. The name Russia is derived from Rus, a state populated mostly by the East Slavs. However, this name became more prominent in the later history, and the country typically was called by its inhabitants Русская Земля. In order to distinguish this state from other states derived from it, it is denoted as Kievan Rus by modern historiography, an old Latin version of the name Rus was Ruthenia, mostly applied to the western and southern regions of Rus that were adjacent to Catholic Europe. The current name of the country, Россия, comes from the Byzantine Greek designation of the Kievan Rus, the standard way to refer to citizens of Russia is Russians in English and rossiyane in Russian. There are two Russian words which are translated into English as Russians
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Bolshoy Shantar Island
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Bolshoy Shantar is an island in the Sea of Okhotsk, Russia. It is the island of the Shantar Islands. It is about 72 km in length and 49 km in width and it has a large brackish lake on its north side which is connected to the sea through a narrow passage. Yakshin Bay indents the southwest side of the island, administratively this island belongs to the Khabarovsk Krai of the Russian Federation. The Shantar Islands were explored by Russian surveyors between 1711 and 1725, Bolshoy Shantar was frequented by American whaleships between 1852 and 1874. They hunted bowhead whales, particularly in the passages that separate Bolshoy Shantar from Feklistova and Prokofyeva and they also went ashore to obtain wood and water and hunt bears and foxes. On 18 October 1858, the bark Rajah, of New Bedford, was wrecked on the side of the island during a strong gale. Five men, including the captain, were buried on the island, items from the wreck were found on the island as late as 1861. There are spruce forests on the island and smelts and are found in Lake Bolshoe, in the spring and summer Stellers sea eagle and Aleutian tern nest on the island, long-billed murrelet also appear to breed here. This island is mentioned in Grand Theft Auto IV as the location of the headquarters of a fictional Peer-to-peer Programme called Shitster Bear kills camper in Bolshoy Shantar Island
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Ministry of Panchayati Raj
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The Ministry of Panchayati Raj is a branch of the Government of India looking after the ongoing process of decentralisation and local governance in the States. In a federation the powers and functions of the government are divided among two governments, in India it is the Union Government and the various State Governments. However, with the passage of 73rd and 74th amendment act of the Constitution of India, in 1993 the division of powers, as such India now has not two but three tier of Governments in its federal setup. Ministry of Panchayati Raj looks into all matters relating of Panchayati Raj and it was created in May 2004. The ministry is headed by a minister of cabinet rank, the ministry is now headed by Narendra Singh Tomar. Ministry of Panchayati Raj is responsible for the work of advocacy for, a New Ministry of Panchayati Raj has been created w. e. f. As per the amended allocation of Business Rules, all matters relating of Panchayati Raj, the State governments/Union Territory Administrations, at present, are at varying degrees of the implementation of 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment Acts. Depending upon the situation, States/UT Administrations will be encouraged to institute Ward Sabhas and Mahila Sabhas. The Ministry attaches great importance to the capacity building of elected representatives and it is estimated that about 3 million elected Members and the Staff assigned to the Elected Bodies needs training to enable them to discharge their functions effectively. The Ministry will also be funding research studies, workshops and seminars for development of Panchayats, e- Panchayat is one of the Mission Mode Project, currently being implemented with a vision to empower and transform rural India. As a first step towards formulating the project, the Ministry of Panchayati Raj constituted an Expert Group in June,2007 under the Chairmanship of Dr. B. K, gairola, Director General, NIC, Government of India. The Expert Group was entrusted with the task of assessing the IT Programmes of Ministry of Panchayati Raj, in order to understand the ground realities, the Committee conducted field visits to some of the Gram Panchayats in the selected rural areas where some IT initiatives had been undertaken. Inputs from eminent experts in the public and private sector were also taken into account as part of the consultative process and it was felt that a more comprehensive approach was required to make a cognisable impact on the functioning of the Panchayats for the benefit of the citizens. These recommendations formed the basis for the conceptualisation of ePanchayat MMP, the e-Panchayat project holds great promise for the rural masses as it aims to transform the Panchayati Raj Institutions into symbols of modernity, transparency and efficiency. This is one of its kind nationwide IT initiative introduced by Ministry of Panchayati Raj that endeavours to ensure peoples participation in decision making, implementation. The project aims to automate the functioning of the 2.45 lakh Panchayats in the country, the Ministry was created on May 27,2004, with Mani Shankar Aiyar being the first minister. National Panchayati Raj Day E-Panchayat Mission Mode Project Official website
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Poverty in India
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If current trends continue, Indias share of world GDP will significantly increase from 7. 3% in 2016 to 8. 5% by 2020. In 2015, around 170 million people, or 12. 4%, lived in poverty, the different definitions and different underlying small sample surveys used to determine poverty in India, have resulted in widely different estimates of poverty from 1950s to 2010s. In 2012, the Indian government stated 22% of its population is below its official poverty limit. The World Bank, in 2011 based on 2005s PPPs International Comparison Program, estimated 23. 6% of Indian population, or about 276 million people, lived below $1.25 per day on purchasing power parity. According to United Nations Millennium Development Goals programme 270 millions or 21. 9% people out of 1.2 billion of Indians lived below poverty line of $1.25 in 2011-2012, Poverty in India is a historical reality. From late 19th century through early 20th century, under British colonial rule, poverty in India intensified, famines and diseases killed millions each time. After India gained its independence in 1947, mass deaths from famines were prevented, rapid economic growth since 1991, has led to sharp reductions in extreme poverty in India. However, those above poverty line live a fragile economic life, the World Bank reviewed and proposed revisions in May 2014, to its poverty calculation methodology and purchasing power parity basis for measuring poverty worldwide, including India. According to this methodology, the world had 872.3 million people below the new poverty line. In other words, India with 17. 5% of total population, had 20. 6% share of worlds poorest in 2011. As of 2014, 58% of the population were living on less than $3.10 per day. The Asian Development Bank estimates India’s population to be at 1.28 billion with a growth rate, from 2010-2015. In 2014,49. 9% of the population aged 15 years, however, there are still 21. 9% of the population who live below the national poverty line. Economic measures There are several definitions of poverty, and scholars disagree as to which definition is appropriate for India, inside India, both income-based poverty definition and consumption-based poverty statistics are in use. Each state in India has its own poverty threshold to determine how people are below its poverty line. These differences in definition yield a complex and conflicting picture about poverty in India, as with many countries, poverty was historically defined and estimated in India using a sustenance food standard. Indias current official poverty rates are based on its Planning Commission’s data derived from so-called Tendulkar methodology and it defines poverty not in terms of annual income, but in terms of consumption or spending per individual over a certain period for a basket of essential goods. Further, this methodology sets different poverty lines for rural and urban areas, since 2007, India set its official threshold at ₹26 a day in rural areas and about ₹32 per day in urban areas
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Hindu
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Hindu refers to any person who regards themselves as culturally, ethnically, or religiously adhering to aspects of Hinduism. It has historically used as a geographical, cultural, or religious identifier for people indigenous to South Asia. The historical meaning of the term Hindu has evolved with time, by the 16th century, the term began to refer to residents of India who were not Turks or Muslims. The historical development of Hindu self-identity within the Indian population, in a religious or cultural sense, is unclear, competing theories state that Hindu identity developed in the British colonial era, or that it developed post-8th century CE after the Islamic invasion and medieval Hindu-Muslim wars. A sense of Hindu identity and the term Hindu appears in texts dated between the 13th and 18th century in Sanskrit and regional languages. The 14th- and 18th-century Indian poets such as Vidyapati, Kabir and Eknath used the phrase Hindu dharma, the Christian friar Sebastiao Manrique used the term Hindu in religious context in 1649. In the 18th century, the European merchants and colonists began to refer to the followers of Indian religions collectively as Hindus, in contrast to Mohamedans for Mughals, scholars state that the custom of distinguishing between Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs is a modern phenomenon. Hindoo is a spelling variant, whose use today may be considered derogatory. At more than 1.03 billion, Hindus are the third largest group after Christians. The vast majority of Hindus, approximately 966 million, live in India, according to Indias 2011 census. After India, the next 9 countries with the largest Hindu populations are, in decreasing order, Nepal, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, United States, Malaysia, United Kingdom and Myanmar. These together accounted for 99% of the worlds Hindu population, the word Hindu is derived from the Indo-Aryan and Sanskrit word Sindhu, which means a large body of water, covering river, ocean. It was used as the name of the Indus river and also referred to its tributaries, the Punjab region, called Sapta Sindhava in the Vedas, is called Hapta Hindu in Zend Avesta. The 6th-century BCE inscription of Darius I mentions the province of Hidush, the people of India were referred to as Hinduvān and hindavī was used as the adjective for Indian in the 8th century text Chachnama. The term Hindu in these ancient records is an ethno-geographical term, the Arabic equivalent Al-Hind likewise referred to the country of India. Among the earliest known records of Hindu with connotations of religion may be in the 7th-century CE Chinese text Record of the Western Regions by the Buddhist scholar Xuanzang, Xuanzang uses the transliterated term In-tu whose connotation overflows in the religious according to Arvind Sharma. The Hindu community occurs as the amorphous Other of the Muslim community in the court chronicles, wilfred Cantwell Smith notes that Hindu retained its geographical reference initially, Indian, indigenous, local, virtually native. Slowly, the Indian groups themselves started using the term, differentiating themselves, the poet Vidyapatis poem Kirtilata contrasts the cultures of Hindus and Turks in a city and concludes The Hindus and the Turks live close together, Each makes fun of the others religion
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Muslim
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A Muslim is someone who follows or practices Islam, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion. Muslims consider the Quran, their book, to be the verbatim word of God as revealed to the Islamic prophet. They also follow the teachings and practices of Muhammad as recorded in traditional accounts, Muslim is an Arabic word meaning one who submits. Most Muslims will accept anyone who has publicly pronounced Shahadah as a Muslim, the shahadah states, There is no god but the God and Muhammad is the last messenger of the God. The testimony authorized by God in the Quran that can found in Surah 3,18 states, There is no god except God, which in Arabic, is the exact testimony which God Himself utters, as well as the angels and those who possess knowledge utter. The word muslim is the active participle of the verb of which islām is a verbal noun, based on the triliteral S-L-M to be whole. A female adherent is a muslima, the plural form in Arabic is muslimūn or muslimīn, and its feminine equivalent is muslimāt. The Arabic form muslimun is the stem IV participle of the triliteral S-L-M, the ordinary word in English is Muslim. It is sometimes transliterated as Moslem, which is an older spelling, the word Mosalman is a common equivalent for Muslim used in Central Asia. Until at least the mid-1960s, many English-language writers used the term Mohammedans or Mahometans, although such terms were not necessarily intended to be pejorative, Muslims argue that the terms are offensive because they allegedly imply that Muslims worship Muhammad rather than God. Other obsolete terms include Muslimite and Muslimist, musulmán/Mosalmán is a synonym for Muslim and is modified from Arabic. In English it was sometimes spelled Mussulman and has become archaic in usage, the Muslim philosopher Ibn Arabi said, A Muslim is a person who has dedicated his worship exclusively to God. Islam means making ones religion and faith Gods alone. The Quran states that men were Muslims because they submitted to God, preached His message and upheld His values. Thus, in Surah 3,52 of the Quran, Jesus disciples tell him, We believe in God, and you be our witness that we are Muslims. In Muslim belief, before the Quran, God had given the Tawrat to Moses, the Zabur to David and the Injil to Jesus, who are all considered important Muslim prophets. The most populous Muslim-majority country is Indonesia, home to 12. 7% of the worlds Muslims, followed by Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Egypt. About 20% of the worlds Muslims lives in the Middle East and North Africa, Sizable minorities are found in India, China, Russia, Ethiopia. The country with the highest proportion of self-described Muslims as a proportion of its population is Morocco
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Demographics of India
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India is the second most populated country in the world with nearly a fifth of the worlds population. According to the United Nations in July 2016, the population stood at 1,326,801,576, India is projected to be the worlds most populous country by 2022, surpassing China, its population reaching 1.7 billion by 2050. Thus, India is expected to become the first political entity in history to be home to more than 1.5 billion people and its population growth rate is 1. 2%, ranking 94th in the world in 2013. The Indian population reached the mark in 1998. India has more than 50% of its population below the age of 25 and more than 65% below the age of 35. It is expected that, in 2020, the age of an Indian will be 29 years, compared to 37 for China and 48 for Japan. India has more than two thousand ethnic groups, and every religion is represented, as are four major families of languages as well as two language isolates. Further complexity is lent by the variation that occurs across this population on social parameters such as income. Only the continent of Africa exceeds the linguistic, genetic and cultural diversity of the nation of India, the sex ratio is 944 females for 1000 males. It has been estimated that the population was about 100 million in 1600 and it reached 255 million according to the first census taken in 1881. Mortality rates fell in the period 1920–45, primarily due to biological immunisation, Other factors included rising incomes, better living conditions, improved nutrition, a safer and cleaner environment, and better official health policies and medical care. India occupies 2. 41% of the land area but supports over 18% of the worlds population. At the 2001 census 72. 2% of the lived in about 638,000 villages. Indias population has exceeded that of the continent of Africa by 200 million people. However, because Africas population growth is nearly double that of India, the table below summarises Indias demographics according to religion at the 2011 census in per cent. The data is unadjusted, the 1981 census was not conducted in Assam, the table below represents the infant mortality rate trends in India, based on gender, over the last 15 years. In the urban areas of India, average male infant mortality rates are higher than average female infant mortality rates. They are also similar to sex ratios below 900 girls to 1000 boys observed in mothers of different age groups
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Slovenia
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Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a nation state in southern Central Europe, located at the crossroads of main European cultural and trade routes. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and it covers 20,273 square kilometers and has a population of 2.06 million. It is a republic and a member of the United Nations, European Union. The capital and largest city is Ljubljana, additionally, the Dinaric Alps and the Pannonian Plain meet on the territory of Slovenia. The country, marked by a significant biological diversity, is one of the most water-rich in Europe, with a river network, a rich aquifer system. Over half of the territory is covered by forest, the human settlement of Slovenia is dispersed and uneven. Slovenia has historically been the crossroads of South Slavic, Germanic, Romance, although the population is not homogeneous, the majority is Slovene. South Slavic language Slovene is the language throughout the country. Slovenia is a largely secularized country, but its culture and identity have been influenced by Catholicism as well as Lutheranism. The economy of Slovenia is small, open, and export-oriented and has strongly influenced by international conditions. It has been hurt by the Eurozone crisis, started in the late 2000s. The main economic field is services, followed by industry and construction, Historically, the current territory of Slovenia was part of many different state formations, including the Roman Empire and the Holy Roman Empire, followed by the Habsburg Monarchy. In October 1918, the Slovenes exercised self-determination for the first time by co-founding the State of Slovenes, Croats, in December 1918, they merged with the Kingdom of Serbia into the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. During World War II, Slovenia was occupied and annexed by Germany, Italy, and Hungary, with a tiny area transferred to the Independent State of Croatia, in June 1991, after the introduction of multi-party representative democracy, Slovenia split from Yugoslavia and became an independent country. Present-day Slovenia has been inhabited since prehistoric times, and there is evidence of habitation from around 250,000 years ago. A pierced cave bear bone, dating from 43100 ±700 BP, in the 1920s and 1930s, artifacts belonging to the Cro-Magnon such as pierced bones, bone points, and needle were found by archaeologist Srečko Brodar in Potok Cave. It shows that wooden wheels appeared almost simultaneously in Mesopotamia and Europe, in the transition period between the Bronze age to the Iron age, the Urnfield culture flourished. Archaeological remains dating from the Hallstatt period have been found, particularly in southeastern Slovenia, among them a number of situlas in Novo Mesto, in the Iron Age, present-day Slovenia was inhabited by Illyrian and Celtic tribes until the 1st century BC
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Family planning in India
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Family planning in India is based on efforts largely sponsored by the Indian government. From 1965-2009, contraceptive usage has more than tripled and the fertility rate has more than halved, India adds up to 1,000,000 people to its population every 20 days. Continuing at these rates, India is set to reach up to two billion people this century if drastic family planning changes are not made, women in India are not being fully educated on contraception usage and what they are putting in their bodies. From 2005-2006 data was collected to indicate only 15. 6% of women using contraception in India were informed of all their option, contraceptive usage has been rising gradually in India. In 1970, 13% of married women used modern contraceptive methods, according to Jin Rou New and colleagues research and data they were able to compile enough data to create the following table
Madhepura district
