1.
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
2.
President of India
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The President of the Republic of India is the Head of State of India and the Commander-in-chief of the Indian Armed Forces. The oath of the President is taken in the presence of the Chief Justice of India, the President resides in an estate known as the Rashtrapati Bhavan situated in Raisina Hill in New Delhi. The presidential retreats are The Retreat in Chharabra, Shimla and Rashtrapati Nilayam in Hyderabad, the 13th and current President is Pranab Mukherjee, who was elected on 22 July 2012, and sworn in on 25 July 2012. He is also the first Bengali to be elected as President, India achieved independence from the British on 15 August 1947, initially as a Dominion within the Commonwealth of Nations with George VI as king, represented in the country by a governor-general. Still, following this, the Constituent Assembly of India, under the leadership of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, the Constitution of India was eventually enacted on 26 November 1949 and came into force on 26 January 1950, making India a republic. The offices of monarch and governor-general were replaced by the new office of President of India, the constitution of the Republic of India gave the President the responsibility and authority to defend and protect the constitution of India and its rule of law. Invariably, any action taken by the executive or legislature entities of the constitution shall become law only after Presidents assent, the president shall not accept any actions of the executive or legislature which are unconstitutional. The president is the foremost, most empowered and prompt defender of the constitution, the primary duty of the President is to preserve, protect and defend the constitution and the law of India as made part of his oath. The President is the head of all independent constitutional entities. All his actions, recommendations and supervisory powers over the executive and legislative entities of India shall be used in accordance to uphold the constitution, there is no bar on the actions of the President to contest in the court of law. Legislative power is vested by the Parliament of India of which the president is the head. The President of the Republic summons both the Houses of the Parliament and prorogues them and he can dissolve the Lok Sabha. The President inaugurates Parliament by addressing it after the general elections, the Presidential address on these occasions is generally meant to outline the new policies of the government. All bills passed by the Parliament can become laws only after receiving the assent of the President per Article 111, after a bill is presented to him, the President shall declare either that he assents to the Bill, or that he withholds his assent from it. As a third option, he can return a bill to Parliament, if it is not a money bill, when, after reconsideration, the bill is passed accordingly and presented to the President, with or without amendments, the President cannot withhold his assent from it. Article 143 gave power to the president to consult the Supreme Court about the validity of any issue. These are in the nature of interim or temporary legislation and their continuance is subject to parliamentary approval, ordinances remain valid for no more than six weeks from the date the Parliament is convened unless approved by it earlier. Re-promulgation of ordinances after failing to get approval within stipulated time of the houses of parliament is unconstitutional act by the President
3.
International Women's Day
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International Womens Day is celebrated on March 8 every year. It commemorates the movement for womens rights, the earliest Womens Day observance was held on February 28,1909 in New York and organized by the Socialist Party of America. On March 8,1917, in the capital of the Russian Empire, Petrograd and this was the beginning of the Russian Revolution. Seven days later, the Emperor of Russia Nicholas II abdicated, March 8 was declared a national holiday in Soviet Russia in 1917. The day was celebrated by the socialist movement and communist countries until it was adopted in 1975 by the United Nations. The earliest Womens Day observance was held on February 28,1909 in New York and it was called National womans day. It has been claimed that the event was commemorating a strike, the story that the day originated in a protest by women garment workers in New York on March 8,1857, has been described as a myth. In August 1910, an International Womens Conference was organized to precede the general meeting of the Socialist Second International in Copenhagen, delegates agreed with the idea as a strategy to promote equal rights including suffrage for women. The following year on March 19,1911 IWD was marked for the first time, by over a people in Austria, Denmark, Germany. In the Austro-Hungarian Empire alone, there were 300 demonstrations, in Vienna, women paraded on the Ringstrasse and carried banners honouring the martyrs of the Paris Commune. Women demanded that they be given the right to vote and to public office. They also protested against employment sex discrimination, americans continued to celebrate National Womens Day on the last Sunday in February. In 1913 Russian women observed their first International Womens Day on the last Saturday in February, although there were some women-led strikes, marches, and other protests in the years leading up to 1914, none of them happened on March 8. In 1914 International Womens Day was held on March 8, possibly because that day was a Sunday, the 1914 observance of the Day in Germany was dedicated to womens right to vote, which German women did not win until 1918. In London there was a march from Bow to Trafalgar Square in support of womens suffrage on March 8,1914, sylvia Pankhurst was arrested in front of Charing Cross station on her way to speak in Trafalgar Square. In 1917 demonstrations marking International Womens Day in Petrograd, Russia, Women in Saint Petersburg went on strike that day for Bread and Peace – demanding the end of World War I, an end to Russian food shortages, and the end of czarism. Leon Trotsky wrote,23 February was International Womans Day and meetings, but we did not imagine that this Womens Day would inaugurate the revolution. Revolutionary actions were foreseen but without date, but in morning, despite the orders to the contrary, textile workers left their work in several factories and sent delegates to ask for support of the strike… which led to mass strike
4.
Pranab Mukherjee
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Pranab Kumar Mukherjee is the 13th and current President of India, he has been in office since July 2012. In a political career spanning six decades, Mukherjee was a leader of the Indian National Congress. Prior to his election as President, Mukherjee was Union Finance Minister from 2009 to 2012, Mukherjee got his break in politics in 1969 when Prime Minister Indira Gandhi helped him get elected to the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of Parliament, on a Congress ticket. Following a meteoric rise, he one of Indira Gandhis most trusted lieutenants. During the controversial Internal Emergency of 1975–77, he was accused of committing gross excesses, Mukherjees service in a number of ministerial capacities culminated in his first stint as finance minister in 1982–84. Mukherjee was also Leader of the House in the Rajya Sabha from 1980 to 1985, Mukherjee was sidelined from the Congress during the premiership of Rajiv Gandhi, Indiras son. Mukherjee had viewed himself, and not the inexperienced Rajiv, as the successor to Indira following her assassination in 1984. Mukherjee lost out in the power struggle. He formed his own party, the Rashtriya Samajwadi Congress, which merged with the Congress in 1989 after reaching a consensus with Rajiv Gandhi, Mukherjees political career revived when Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao appointed him Planning Commission head in 1991 and foreign minister in 1995. Following this, as elder statesman of the Congress, Mukherjee was the principal, when the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance came into power in 2004, Mukherjee won a Lok Sabha seat for the first time. From then until his resignation in 2012, Mukherjee was practically number-two in Prime Minister Manmohan Singhs government and he held a number of key cabinet portfolios—Defence, External Affairs and Finance —apart from heading several Groups of Ministers and being Leader of the House in the Lok Sabha. He is the wealthiest president of India to date, Pranab was born in a Bengali Brahmin family in Mirati in the Birbhum district of Bengal province. He attended the Suri Vidyasagar College in Suri, then affiliated to University of Calcutta and he subsequently earned an MA degree in Political Science and History and also LL. B. degree both from University of Calcutta. He was an upper-division Clerk in the Office of the Deputy Accountant-General in Calcutta, in 1963, he became Lecturerteaching Political Science at the Vidyanagar College and he also worked as a Journalist with the Desher Dak before entering politics. Mukherjees political career began in 1969, when he managed the successful Midnapore by-election campaign of an independent candidate, then Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi, recognised Mukherjees talents and recruited him to her party, the Indian National Congress. He became a member of the Rajya Sabha in July 1969, Mukherjee was re-elected to the house in 1975,1981,1993 and 1999. Mukherjee became a Gandhi loyalist, and is described as his man for all seasons. Mukherjees rise was rapid in the phase of his career
5.
Rani of Jhansi
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Lakshmibai, the Rani of Jhansi, born as Manikarnika, pronunciation, was the queen of the Maratha-ruled Jhansi State, situated in the north-central part of India. She was one of the figures of the Indian Rebellion of 1857. Lakshmibai was born on 19 November 1828 in the town of Varanasi into a Marathi Brahmin family. She was named Manikarnika and was nicknamed Manu and her father was Moropant Tambe and her mother Bhagirathi Sapre. Her mother died when she was of four years and her father worked for a court Peshwa of Bithoor district who brought up Manikarnika like his own daughter. The Peshwa called her Chhabili, which means playful and she was educated at home and was more independent in her childhood than others of her age, her studies included shooting, horsemanship, and fencing. Manikarnika was married to the Maharaja of Jhansi, Raja Gangadhar Rao Newalkar and she gave birth to a boy, later named Damodar Rao, in 1851, who died after four months. The Maharaja adopted a child called Anand Rao, the son of Gangadhar Raos cousin, when she was informed of this she cried out I shall not surrender my Jhansi. In March 1854, Lakshmibai was given a pension of Rs.60,000 and ordered to leave the palace. Rani Lakshmibai has been known to the British most commonly as the Rani of Jhansi, Rani Lakshmibai was accustomed to riding on horseback accompanied by a small escort between the palace and the temple although sometimes she was carried by palanquin. Her horses included Sarangi, Pavan and Badal, according to tradition she rode Badal when escaping from the fort in 1858, the Rani Mahal, the palace of Rani Lakshmibai, has now been converted into a museum. It houses a collection of remains of the period between the 9th and 12th centuries AD. After two years there were about 12 survivors and these together with group of 24 they encountered sought the city of Jhalrapatan where there were yet more refugees from Jhansi. Damodar Rao surrendered himself to a British official and his ends in May 1860 when he has been allowed a pension of Rs. 10,000, seven retainers only, and is in the guardianship of Munshi Dharmanarayan, a rumour that the cartridges supplied by the East India Company to the soldiers in its army contained pork or beef fat began to spread throughout India in the early months of 1857. Till this point, Lakshmibai was reluctant to rebel against the British and her involvement in this massacre is still a subject of debate. An army doctor, Thomas Lowe, wrote after the rebellion characterising her as the Jezebel of India, the young rani upon whose head rested the blood of the slain. Four days after the massacre the sepoys left Jhansi having obtained a sum of money from the Rani
6.
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
7.
2012 Delhi gang rape
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The 2012 Delhi gang rape case involved a rape and fatal assault that occurred on 16 December 2012 in Munirka, a neighbourhood in South Delhi. There were six others in the bus, including the driver, all of whom raped the woman, eleven days after the assault, she was transferred to a hospital in Singapore for emergency treatment, but died from her injuries two days later. The incident generated widespread national and international coverage and was widely condemned, similar protests took place in major cities throughout the country. All the accused were arrested and charged with assault and murder. One of the accused, Ram Singh, died in custody from possible suicide on 11 March 2013 in the Tihar Jail. According to some published reports, the police say Ram Singh hanged himself, the rest of the accused went on trial in a fast-track court, the prosecution finished presenting its evidence on 8 July 2013. The juvenile was convicted of rape and murder and given the sentence of three years imprisonment in a reform facility. On 10 September 2013, the four remaining adult defendants were guilty of rape and murder. On 13 March 2014, Delhi High Court in the reference case and hearing appeals against the conviction by the lower Court, upheld the guilty verdict. After considering about 80,000 suggestions, the committee submitted a report indicated that failures on the part of the government. In 2013, the Criminal Law Ordinance,2013 was promulgated by President Pranab Mukherjee, several new laws were passed, a BBC documentary titled Indias Daughter based on the attack was broadcast in the UK on 4 March 2015. Indian-Canadian filmmaker Deepa Mehtas 2016 film Anatomy of Violence was also based on the incident, exploring the social conditions and values in Indian society that made it possible. The victims, a 23-year-old woman, Jyoti Singh, and her friend, Awindra Pratap Pandey, were returning home on the night of 16 December 2012 after watching the film Life of Pi in Saket, South Delhi. They boarded an off-duty charter bus at Munirka for Dwarka that was being driven by joyriders at about 9,30 pm, There were only six others on the bus, including the driver. One of the men, a minor, had called for passengers telling them that the bus was going towards their destination, Pandey became suspicious when the bus deviated from its normal route and its doors were shut. When he objected, the group of six men already on board, including the driver, taunted the couple, during the argument, a scuffle ensued between Pandey and the group of men. He was beaten, gagged and knocked unconscious with an iron rod, the men then dragged Jyoti to the rear of the bus, beating her with the rod and raping her while the bus driver continued to drive. That rod was later described by police as being a rusted, L-shaped implement of the used as a wheel jack handle
8.
Manasi Pradhan
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Manasi Pradhan is an Indian women activist and author who received the Rani Lakshmibai Stree Shakti Puraskar in 2013. She is the founder of Honour for Women National Campaign, a movement to end violence against women in India. Along with Mary Prema Pierick, global head of the Missionaries of Charity, Pradhan is widely regarded as one of the pioneers of the 21st century global feminist movement. She is frequently featured among World’s top feminist authors and activists by prestigious international publications and organizations and she is the founder of Nirbhaya Vahini, Nirbhaya Samaroh and OYSS Women. She has served on the panel of Central Board of Film Certification for India, Pradhan was born to a very poor family in a remote village called Ayatapur in Banapur block of Khordha district, Odisha. She was the eldest among two daughters and a son born to Hemalata Pradhan and Godabarish Pradhan and her father was a farmer and mother a house wife. Female education was considered a taboo in most rural areas of Banapur then. Girls were rarely allowed to attend high school, after completing her middle school in the village, there was strong pressure to end her studies. Further, there was no school in the nearby areas. She traveled 15 km daily, amidst hilly terrain and swamp, to the high school in the entire region. After completing her schooling from Patitapaban High School in Gambharimunda, the family shifted to Puri for her college education, with little earning from the village farmland, it became difficult to sustain and the burden of the entire family fell on her shoulder. Soon after passing the examination, she had to work to support her family. She earned a B. A. in Economics from Government Women’s College, Puri and she obtained Bachelor of Laws from G. M. She worked with the department, Govt. of Odisha and Andhra Bank for a short period. In October 1983, at the age of 21, she began her own printing business, in few years time, the business grew exponentially, putting her in the league of few successful women entrepreneurs of her time. In 1987, she founded OYSS Women, the initial motive was to help girl students achieve higher education and develop them as future leaders in the society. Apart from the above, the organization undertakes numerous activities and events and is credited for pioneering contribution in empowering women. The organization is spearheading the Honour for Women National Campaign
9.
History of India
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Evidence of anatomically modern humans in the Indian subcontinent is recorded as long as 75,000 years ago, or with earlier hominids including Homo erectus from about 500,000 years ago. A sophisticated and technologically advanced urban culture developed in the Mature Harappan period and this civilisation collapsed at the start of the second millennium BCE and was later followed by the Iron Age Vedic Civilisation. The era saw the composition of the Vedas, the texts of Hinduism. The Vedic Civilisation extended over much of the Indo-Gangetic plain and witnessed the rise of major polities known as the Mahajanapadas, in one of these kingdoms, Magadha, Gautama Buddha and Mahavira propagated their Shramanic philosophies during the fifth and sixth century BCE. Most of the subcontinent was conquered by the Maurya Empire during the 4th, from the 3rd century BCE onwards Prakrit and Pali literature in the north and the Tamil Sangam literature in southern India started to flourish. Wootz steel originated in south India in the 3rd century BCE and was exported to foreign countries, various parts of India were ruled by numerous dynasties for the next 1,500 years, among which the Gupta Empire stands out. This period, witnessing a Hindu religious and intellectual resurgence, is known as the classical or Golden Age of India, Indian cultural influence spread over many parts of Southeast Asia which led to the establishment of Indianised kingdoms in Southeast Asia. Southern India saw the rise of imperial powers from the middle of the fifth century, most notable being the Chalukya, Chola, Pallava, Chera, Pandyan. The Chola dynasty conquered southern India and successfully invaded parts of Southeast Asia, Sri Lanka, Maldives, the early medieval period Indian mathematics influenced the development of mathematics and astronomy in the Arab world and the Hindu numerals were introduced. The 15th century saw the emergence of Sikhism, in the 16th century, Mughals came from Central Asia and gradually covered most of India. From the late 18th century to the century, large areas of India were annexed by the British East India Company of the British Empire. James Mill, in his The History of British India, distinguished three phases in the history of India, namely Hindu, Muslim and British civilisations and this periodisation has been influential, but has also been criticised for the misconceptions it gave rise to. Another influential periodisation is the division into ancient, classical, medieval and modern periods, according to Thapar, a periodisation could also be based on significant social and economic changes, which are not strictly related to a change of ruling powers. Tools crafted by proto-humans that have dated back two million years have been discovered in the northwestern part of the subcontinent. The ancient history of the region some of South Asias oldest settlements. The earliest archaeological site in the subcontinent is the Palaeolithic hominid site in the Soan River valley, soanian sites are found in the Sivalik region across what are now India, Pakistan, and Nepal. The first confirmed semi-permanent settlements appeared 9,000 years ago in the Bhimbetka rock shelters in modern Madhya Pradesh, early Neolithic culture in the Indian subcontinent is represented by the Bhirrana findings in Haryana, India as well as Mehrgarh findings in Balochistan, Pakistan. The Edakkal Caves are pictorial writings believed to date to at least 6,000 BCE, from the Neolithic man, the Stone Age carvings of Edakkal are rare and are the only known examples from South India
10.
Ahilyabai Holkar
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Maharani Ahilya Bai Holkar was the Holkar Queen of the Maratha ruled Malwa kingdom, India. Rajmata Ahilyabai was born in the village of Chondi in Jamkhed, Ahmednagar and she moved the capital to Maheshwar south of Indore on the Narmada River. Ahilyabais husband Khanderao Holkar was killed in the battle of Kumbher in 1754, twelve years later, her father-in-law, Malhar Rao Holkar, died. A year after that she was crowned as the queen of the Malwa kingdom and she tried to protect her kingdom from plundering Muslim invaders. She personally led armies into battle and she appointed Tukojirao Holkar as the Chief of Army. Rani Ahilyabai was a builder and patron of many Hindu temples which embellished Maheshwar. Seeing the destroyed and desecrated temple in Somnath, Rani Ahilyabai built a temple where Lord Shiva is still worshipped by Hindus, Ahilyabai was born on 31 May 1725 in the village of Chaundi, in the present-day Ahmednagar district in Maharashtra. Her father, Mankoji Rao Shinde, was the Patil of the village, women then did not go to school, but Ahilyabais father taught her to read and write. Recognising her piety and her character, he brought the girl to the Holkar territory as a bride for his son and she was married to Khanderao in 1733. Ahilya Bai’s husband Khanderao was killed during the siege of Kumbher in 1754, twelve years later, her father-in-law, Malharrao died. Malharrao was succeeded by Malerao, the son of Khanderao. From 1767 until her death in 1795, she ruled Malwa and you may halt there for four or five days. You should keep your big artillery and arrange for its ammunition as much as possible…. On the march you should arrange for military posts being located for protection of the road. Already trained to be a ruler, Ahilyabai petitioned the Peshwa after Malhar’s death, some in Malwa objected to her assumption of rule, but the army of Holkar supported her leadership. She led them in person, with four bows and quivers of arrows fitted to the corners of the howdah of her favourite elephant, Ahilyabai daily public audience and was always accessible to anyone who needed her ear. She also built forts and roads in Malwa, sponsored festivals, outside Malwa, she built dozens of temples, ghats, wells, tanks and rest-houses across an area stretching from the Himalayas to pilgrimage centres in South India. The Bharatiya Sanskritikosh lists as sites she embellished, Kashi, Gaya, Somnath, Ayodhya, Mathura, Hardwar, Kanchi, Avanti, Dwarka, Badrinarayan, Rameshwar, there are many stories of her care for her people. To honour the memory of Ahilyadevi Holkar, in 1996 leading citizens of Indore instituted an award in her name to be bestowed annually on a public figure
