Suryakant Tripathi 'Nirala'

Suryakant Tripathi 'Nirala' (सूर्यकांत त्रिपाठी 'निराला') (February 21, 1896 – October 15, 1961) was one of the most famous figures of the modern Hindi literature. He was a poet, novelist, essayist and story-writer. He also drew many sketches.

Life

Suryakant Tripathi 'Nirala', one of the most significant poets of modern Hindi, was born on February 21, 1896 in a Brahmin family of Midnapore in Bengal (originally from Unnao,Uttar Pradesh). He was a also a famous poet of Hindi Kavi Sammelan. Though a student of Bengali, Nirala took keen interest in Sanskrit from the very beginning. In time, through his natural intelligence and acquired knowledge, he became an authority on various languages – Bengali, English, Sanskrit, and Hindi.

Nirala's life, barring short periods, was one long sequence of misfortunes and tragedies. His father, 'Pandit Ramsahaya Tripathi' was a government servant and was a tyrannical person. His mother died when he was very young. Nirala was educated in the Bengali medium. However, after passing matriculation exam, he continued his education at home by reading Sanskrit and English literature. Thereon he shifted to Lucknow and then to Village Gadhakola of District Unnao, to which his father originally belonged. Growing up, he took inspiration from personalities like, Ramakrishna Paramhans, Swami Vivekananda and Rabindranath Tagore.

VISHAMBHAR DAYAL TRIPATHI

VISHAMBHAR DAYAL TRIPATHI (5.10.1899 - 18.11.1959) born at Bangarmau, Unnao , he was a great man in all aspects of life. He was a brilliant scholar, being a Gold Medallist from Banaras Hindu University. His enormous sacrifices for the country can be compared with any great leader or freedom fighter of the Nation. He was a close associate of Subash Chandra Bose 

He was several times sent to jail during the freedom struggle.

was jailed for 6 months during the 'Namak Satyagrah Aandolan' in 1930. 

was fined Rs. 450 and sent to jail for 4 months in 1931 in connection with the 'Pipri Kand'.

was again jailed for 6 months for his participation in 'Lagan bandi Aandolan' in 1932.

was jailed for 6 months in 1933 during the 'Savinay Awagya Aandolan'.

was jailed from 1942 - 1945 during the 'Krips Mission'.

He was- 

The Chairman of the Committee which was sent to Andman Nicobar to assess the possibility of development over there.

The Chairman of the Zamindari Abolition Committee.

The Chairman of the recognition Committee of High School & Intermediate Board U.P.

The founder of D.S.N. College, Unnao and opened many other educational institutions in the District.

In 1946 Vishambhar Dayal Tripathi was elected to the Legislative Assembly and was the Member of Parliament from 1952 to 1959 till his death (18th Nov.1959)

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare (baptised 26 April 1564; died 23 April 1616) was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon". His surviving works, including some collaborations, consist of about 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and several other poems. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright.

Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children:Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Between 1585 and 1592, he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part owner of a playing company called the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men. He appears to have retired to Stratford around 1613, where he died three years later. Few records of Shakespeare's private life survive, and there has been considerable speculation about such matters as his physical appearance, sexuality, religious beliefs, and whether the works attributed to him were written by others.

Statue of Liberty

The Statue of Liberty is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, designed by Frédéric Bartholdi and dedicated on October 28, 1886. The statue, a gift to the United States from the people of France, is of a robed female figure representing Libertas, the Roman goddess of freedom, who bears a torch and a tabula ansata (a tablet evoking the law) upon which is inscribed the date of the American Declaration of Independence. A broken chain lies at her feet. The statue has become an iconic symbol of freedom and of the United States.

Bartholdi was inspired by French law professor and politician Édouard René de Laboulaye, who commented in 1865 that any monument raised to American independence would properly be a joint project of the French and American peoples. Due to the troubled political situation in France, work on the statue did not commence until the early 1870s. In 1875, Laboulaye proposed that the French finance the statue and the Americans provide the pedestal and the site. Bartholdi completed both the head and the torch-bearing arm before the statue was fully designed, and these pieces were exhibited for publicity at international expositions. The arm was displayed in New York's Madison Square Park from 1876 to 1882. Fundraising proved difficult, especially for the Americans, and by 1885 work on the pedestal was threatened due to lack of funds. Publisher Joseph Pulitzer of the World initiated a drive for donations to complete the project, and the campaign inspired over 120,000 contributors, most of whom gave less than a dollar. The statue was constructed in France, shipped overseas in crates, and assembled on the completed pedestal on what was then called Bedloe's Island. The statue's completion was marked by New York's first ticker-tape parade and a dedication ceremony presided over by President Grover Cleveland.

Sydney

Sydney is the largest and most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. Inhabitants of Sydney are called Sydneysiders, comprising a cosmopolitan and international population of people from numerous places around the world.

The site of the first British colony in Australia, Sydney was established in 1788 at Sydney Cove by Arthur Phillip, commodore of the First Fleet as a penal colony. The city is built on hills surrounding Port Jackson which is commonly known as Sydney Harbour, where the iconic Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge are featured prominently. The hinterland of the metropolitan area is surrounded by national parks, and the coastal regions feature many bays, rivers, inlets and beaches including the famous Bondi Beach. Within the city are many notable parks, including Hyde Park and the Royal Botanical Gardens.

In 2010, Sydney was ranked 7th in Asia and 28th globally for economic innovation in the Innovation Cities Top 100 Index by innovation agency 2 think now. Sydney also ranks among the top 10 most livable cities in the world according to Mercer Human Resource Consulting and The Economist.

Sydney has a reputation as an international centre for commerce, arts, fashion, culture, entertainment, music, education and tourism, making it one of GaWC's Alpha + world cities. Sydney has hosted major international sporting events, including the 1938 British Empire Games, the 2000 Summer Olympics, and the final match of the 2003 Rugby World Cup. The main airport serving Sydney is Sydney (Kingsford Smith) Airport.

Arvind Kejriwal

Arvind Kejriwal was born in Hissar, Haryana in 1968, and graduated from IIT Kharagpur as a Mechanical engineer in 1989. Later, he joined the Indian Revenue Service (IRS), a part of the Indian Civil Services in 1992, and was posted at the Income-tax Commissioner's Office in Delhi. Soon, he realized that much of the corruption prevalent in government is owing to lack of transparency in the process. Even while in his official position, he started crusading against the corrupt practices. Initially, Arvind was instrumental in bringing in a number of changes to increase transparency in the Income Tax office.

In January 2000, he took a sabbatical from work and founded Parivartan - a Delhi based citizens’ movement which works on ensuring a just, transparent and accountable governance. Thereafter, in February 2006, he resigned from the job, to work full-time at 'Parivartan'.

Together with Aruna Roy and others, he campaigned for the Right to Information Act, which soon became a silent social movement, Delhi Right to Information Act was passed in 2001 and eventually at the national-level Act the Indian Parliament passed the Right to Information Act (RTI) in 2005. Thereafter, in July 2006, he spearheaded an awareness campaign for RTI across India. To motivate others Arvind has now instituted an RTI Award through his organisation.

The right to information holds as much importance in the lives of the poor as it does for the general public and professionals. Yet, many Indians remain passive spectators in the process of electing governments. Arvind uses the Right to Information Act to equip individual citizens with the power to question their government. Through his organization Parivartan he promotes participation in governance by people.

On February 6, 2007, Arvind was named CNN-IBN 'Indian of the Year' in Public Service for the year 2006.

Awards

• 2004: Ashoka Fellow, Civic Engagement.
• 2005: 'Satyendra Dubey Memorial Award', IIT Kanpur for his campaign for bringing transparency in Government.
• 2006: Ramon Magsaysay Award for Emergent Leadership.
• 2006: CNN-IBN, 'Indian of the Year' in Public Service 
• 2009: Distinguished Alumnus Award, IIT Kharagpur for Emergent Leadership.
• 2010: Policy Change Agent of the Year, Economic Times Corporate Excellence Award along with Aruna Roy.

Anna Hazare

Kisan Bapat Baburao Hazare (born 15 January 1940), popularly known as Anna Hazare is an Indian social activist who is especially recognized for his contribution to the development of Ralegan Siddhi, a village in Parner taluka of Ahmednagar district, Maharashtra, India and his efforts for establishing it as a model village, for which he was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the Government of India in 1992.

On 5 April 2011, Hazare started a 'fast unto death' to exert pressure on the Government of India to enact a strong anti-corruption act as envisaged in the Jan Lokpal Bill, a law that will establish a Lokpal (ombudsman) that will have the power to deal with corruption in public offices. The fast led to nation wide protests in support of Hazare. The fast ended on 9 April 2011. All of his demands of the movement are agreed by the Government of India and Government issued a gazette notification on formation of a joint committee headed by senior minister Pranab Mukherjee to draft an effective Lokpal Bill.

Homi Jehangir Bhabha

Homi Jehangir Bhabha, FRS (30 October 1909 – 24 January 1966) was an Indian nuclear physicist and the chief architect of the Indian atomic energy program. He was also responsible for the establishment of two well-known research institutions, namely the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), and the Atomic Energy Establishment at Trombay (which after Bhabha's death was renamed as the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC)). As a scientist, he is remembered for deriving a correct expression for the probability of scattering positrons by electrons, a process now known as Bhabha scattering.

Early life

Bhabha was born into a wealthy and prominent Parsi family, through which he was related to Dinshaw Maneckji Petit, Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Dorab Tata. He received his early education at Bombay's Cathedral Grammar School and entered Elphinstone College at age 15 after passing his Senior Cambridge Examination with Honors. He then attended the Royal Institute of Science until 1927 before joining Caius College of Cambridge University. This was due to the insistence of his father and his uncle Dorab Tata, who planned for Bhabha to obtain an engineering degree from Cambridge and then return to India, where he would join the Tata Iron and Steel Company in Jamshedpur.

Bhabha Atomic Research Centre

The Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) is India's primary nuclear research facility based in Mumbai. It has a number of nuclear reactors, all of which are used for India's nuclear power and research programme.

BARC was started in 1954, as the Atomic Energy Establishment, the Trombay (AEET), and became India's primary nuclear research centre, taking over charge of most nuclear scientists that were at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. After Homi J. Bhabha's death in 1966, the centre was renamed as the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre.

The first reactors at BARC and its affiliated power generation centres were imported from the west. India's first power reactors, installed at the Tarapur Atomic Power Plant (TAPP) were from the United States.

The primary importance of BARC is as a research centre. The BARC and the Indian government has consistently maintained that the reactors are used for this purpose only: Apsara (1956; named by the then Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru when he likened the blue Cerenkov radiation to the beauty of the Apsaras (Indra's court dancers), CIRUS (1960; the "Canada-India Reactor" with assistance from Canada), the now-defunct ZERLINA (1961; Zero Energy Reactor for Lattice Investigations and Neutron Assay), Purnima I (1972), Purnima II (1984), Dhruva(1985), Purnima III (1990), and Kamini.

The plutonium used in India's 1974 nuclear test carried out in Pokhran in the Thar desert of Rajasthan (Peaceful Nuclear Explosion) came from CIRUS. The 1974 test (and the 1998 tests that followed) gave Indian scientists the technological know-how and confidence not only to develop nuclear fuel for future reactors to be used in power generation and research, but also the capacity to refine the same fuel into weapons-grade fuel to be used in the development of nuclear weapons.

BARC is also responsible for India's first PWR at Kalpakkam, a 80Mw land based prototype of INS Arihant's nuclear power unit, as well as the Arihant's power pack itself.

Bank of Baroda

Bank of Baroda is the third largest bank in India, after the State Bank of India and the Punjab National Bank and ahead of ICICI Bank. BoB has total assets in excess of Rs. 2.27 lakh crores, or Rs. 2,274 billion, a network of over 3,000 branches and offices, and about 1,100 ATMs. IT plans to open 400 new branches in the coming year. It offers a wide range of banking products and financial services to corporate and retail customers through a variety of delivery channels and through its specialised subsidiaries and affiliates in the areas of investment banking, credit cards and asset management. Its total business was Rs. 4,402 billion as of June 30.

As of August 2010, the bank has 78 branches abroad and by the end of FY11 this number should climb to 90. In 2010, BOB opened a branch in Auckland, New Zealand, and its tenth branch in the United Kingdom. The bank also plans to open five branches in Africa. Besides branches, BoB plans to open three outlets in the Persian Gulf region that will consist of ATMs with a couple of people.

The Maharajah of Baroda, Sir Sayajirao Gaekwad III, founded the bank on 20 July 1908 in the princely state of Baroda, in Gujarat. The bank, along with 13 other major commercial banks of India, was nationalised on 19 July 1969, by the government of India.

Indian Bank

Indian Bank, established in 1907, is a major Indian Commercial Bank headquartered in Chennai, India. It has 22,000 employees, 1,657 branches and is one of the big public sector banks of India. It has overseas branches in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Singapore, and 229 correspondent banks in 69 countries. The Government of India nationalized the bank, along with 13 other major commercial banks, on 19 July 1969.

History

Indian bank was founded by Annamalai and Ramaswami Chettiar in 1907. This was in response to the financial crash faced by two leading trading companies in Madras, Arbuthnot's and Binny's.

• 1907: Established on 15 August
• 1932: Indian Bank opened a branch in Colombo.

C. V. Raman

Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman, FRS (7 November 1888 – 21 November 1970) was an Indian physicist whose work was influential in the growth of science in the world. He was the recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1930 for the discovery that when light traverses a transparent material, some of the light that is deflected changes in wavelength. This phenomenon is now called Raman scattering and is the result of the Raman effect.

Early years

Venkata Raman was born at Thiruvanaikaval, near Tiruchirappalli, Madras Presidency to R. Chandrasekhara Iyer (b. 1866) and Parvati Ammal (Saptarshi Parvati). He was the second of their eight children. At an early age, Raman moved to the city of Vizag, Andhra Pradesh. Studied in St.Aloysius Anglo-Indian High School. His father was a lecturer in Mathematics and physics, so he grew up in an academic atmosphere.

Raman entered Presidency College, Chennai in 1902. In 1904, he gained his B.Sc., winning the first place and the gold medal in physics. In 1907, he gained his M.Sc., obtaining the highest distinctions. He joined the Indian Finance Department as an Assistant Accountant General.

Vikram Sarabhai

Vikram Ambalal Sarabhai (August 12, 1919 – December 31, 1971) was an Indian physicist. He is considered to be the father of the Indian space program.

Biography

Early years and education

Vikram ambalal Sarabhai was born on 12 August 1919 in the city of Ahmedabad , Gujarat State in western India. The Sarabhai family was an important and rich Jain business family. His father Ambalal Sarabhai was an affluent industrialist and owned many mills in Gujarat. Vikram Sarabhai was one of the eight children of Ambalal and Sarla Devi.

To educate her eight children, Sarla Devi established a private school on the lines of the Montessori method, propounded by Maria Montessori, which was gaining fame at that time. As the Sarabhai family was involved in the Indian freedom struggle, many leaders of the freedom struggle like Mahatma Gandhi, Motilal Nehru, Rabindranath Tagore and Jawaharlal Nehru used to frequent the Sarabhai house. This is said to have greatly influenced the young Vikram Sarabhai and played an important role in the growth of his personality.

Chhota Imambara

Chhota Imambara (छोटा इमामबाड़ा), also known as Hussainabad Imambara is an imposing monument located in the city of Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India. Built by Muhammad Ali Shah, The third Nawab of Avadh in 1838, it was to serve as his own mausoleum. It is also known as the Palace of Lights because of its decorations during special festivals.

The chandeliers used to decorate the interior of this building was brought from Belgium. Thousands of labourers worked on the project to gain famine relief.

It has a gilded white dome and several turrets and minarets. The tombs of Muhammad Ali Shah and other members of his family are inside the imambara. The walls are decorated with Arabic calligraphy.

Outside the imambara is the watch tower called Satkhanda or tower of seven storeys. Though it is called satkhanda, it has only four storeys, as the construction of the tower was abandoned when Ali Shah died. satkhanda is built between 1837-1842 in the time of mohammad ali shah. mohammad ali shah wanted to made it same as kutubmeenaar of delhi and leaning tower of pisa.the main purpose of this construction is moon watching.

Bara Imambara

Bara Imambara

Bara Imambara (बड़ा इमामबाड़ा) is an imambara complex in Lucknow, India, built by Asaf-ud-daulah, Nawab of Lucknow, in 1784. It is also called the Asafi Imambara.

Bara means big, and an imambara is a shrine built by Shia Muslims for the purpose of Azadari. The Bara Imambara is among the grandest buildings of Lucknow.

The complex also includes the large Asfi mosque, the bhulbhulayah (the labyrinth), and bowli, a step well with running water. Two imposing gateways lead to the main hall.

The Bara Imambara was built in 1783, a year of a devastating famine, and one of Asaf-ud-Daula's objectives in embarking on this grandiose project was to provide employment for people in the region. According to reports, the famine continued for over a decade and the construction of the building continued for this time. It is said that ordinary people used to work in the day building up the edifice, while noblemen and other elite were called at night to break down all the structure raised, as they were incapable of doing anything else, according to a chronicle of the period. This see-saw efforts continued till the famine period was over. It was a project that preceded a Keynesian like intervention for employment generation.

Vijender Singh

Vijender Singh Beniwal (born October 29, 1985) is an Olympic Medalist Indian boxer from Kalwas, Bhiwani district in Haryana. He belongs to a Haryanvi family of Jat ethnicity. Vijender’s early days were spent in his village where he did his schooling, after which he received a bachelor’s degree from a local college in Bhiwani. He practiced boxing at the Bhiwani Boxing Club where coach Jagdish Singh recognized his talent and encouraged him to take to professional boxing.

Vijender went on to compete at the sub-junior nationals where he won a silver medal for two years in succession. Having won medals in different competitions at the national level, Vijender was picked to train and compete at several international level competitions such as the 2004 Athens Summer Olympics and the 2006 Commonwealth Games. At the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, he won the bronze medal after losing the semifinal bout against Kazakhstan's Bakhtiyar Artayev. At the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, he defeated Carlos Góngora of Ecuador 9–4 in the quarterfinals which guaranteed him a bronze medal—the first ever Olympic medal for an Indian boxer.

After this historic win, Vijender was felicitated with a number of awards, including the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award—India's highest sporting honour. In 2009, he participated at the World Amateur Boxing Championships where he won the bronze medal. In the same year, the International Boxing Association (AIBA) announced Vijender as the top-ranked boxer in its annual middleweight category list with 2800 points. He is credited for bringing back the sport of boxing into the limelight in India.

Prithvi Missile

Prithvi is a tactical surface-to-surface, short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) developed by DRDO of India under the Integrated Guided Missile Development Program.

Development and History

The Government of India launched the Integrated Guided Missile Development Program in 1983 to achieve self sufficiency in the development and production of wide range of Ballistic Missiles, Surface to Air Missiles etc.

Prithvi was the first missile to be developed under the Program. DRDO attempted to build Surface-to-air Missile under Project devil.

Variants make use of either liquid or both liquid and solid fuels. Developed as a battlefield missile, it could carry a nuclear warhead in its role as a tactical nuclear weapon.

Variants

The Prithvi missile project encompassed developing 3 variants for use by the Indian Army, Indian Air Force and the Indian Navy. The initial project framework of the Integrated Guided Missile Development Program outlines the variants in the following manner.

• Prithvi I (SS-150) - Army Version (150 km range with a payload of 1,000 kg)
• Prithvi II (SS-250) - Air Force Version (250 km range with a payload of 500 kg)
• Prithvi III (SS-350) - Naval Version (350 km range with a payload of 500 kg)
• Dhanush- Dhanush is reportedly a naval version of Prithvi which can be launched from Ships. Some sources claim that Dhanush is a System consisting of stabilization platform and missiles, which has the capability to launch both Prithvi II and Prithvi III from Ships while others report that Dhanush is a variant of Prithvi-II Ballistic Missile.

India Gate

India Gate

The India Gate is the national monument of India. Situated in the heart of New Delhi, India Gate was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens. Originally known as All India War Memorial, it is a prominent landmark in Delhi and commemorates the 90,000 soldiers of the British Indian Army who lost their lives while fighting for the British Indian Empire, or more correctly the British Raj in World War I and the Third Anglo-Afghan War. It is composed of red sand stone and granite.

Originally, a Statue of King George V had stood under the now-vacant canopy in front of the India Gate, and was removed to Coronation Park with other statues. Following India's independence, India Gate became the site of the Indian Army's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, known as the Amar Jawan Jyoti (The flame of the immortal soldier).

The 42-metre tall India Gate is situated such that many important roads spread out from it. Traffic passing around India Gate used to be continuous until the roads were closed to the public due to terrorist threats.

The lawns around Rajpath throng with people during the evening, when the India Gate is lit up. Ice cream and street food vendors come out during this time and it becomes a popular picnic venue for families.

Saina Nehwal

Saina Nehwal (born March 17, 1990) is an Indian Khel Ratna winning badminton player currently ranked number 3 in the world by Badminton World Federation. Saina is the first Indian woman to reach the singles quarterfinals at the Olympics and the first Indian to win the World Junior Badminton Championships. Saina Nehwal made history on June 21, 2009, becoming the first Indian to win a Super Series tournament, by clinching the Indonesia Open with a stunning victory over higher-ranked Chinese Wang Lin in Jakarta. (The Super Series tournament is roughly equivalent to a Grand Slam in tennis).

Saina won her second career Super Series title by winning the Singapore Open title on June 20, 2010. She completed a hat-trick in the same year by winning the Indonesian Open on June 27, 2010. This win resulted in her rise to 3rd ranking and subsequently to No. 2. Later in the same year she also won Hong Kong Super Series on December 12, 2010.

Previously coached by S. M. Arif, a Dronacharya Award winner, Saina is the reigning Indian national junior champion and is currently coached by Indonesian badminton legend Atik Jauhari since August 2008, with the former All England champion and national coach Pullela Gopichand being her mentor.

Saina was born in Hisar, Haryana and has spent her entire life in Hyderabad, India. Her foray into the world of badminton was influenced by her father Dr. Harvir Singh, a scientist at the Directorate of Oilseeds Research, Hyderabad and her mother Usha Nehwal, both of whom were former badminton champions in Haryana. She is the top ranked player (women) in Indian Badminton history.

Gary Kirsten

Gary Kirsten (born 23 November 1967 in Cape Town) is a former South African cricketer, and the World Cup winning coach of the Indian cricket team. He played 101 Test matches and 185 One-day internationals for South Africa between 1993 and 2004, mainly as an opening batsman. His half brother Peter, also played provincial cricket for Western Province, and then later for the South Africa cricket team which included the highlight of the Cricket World Cup in 1992.

Playing career

Kirsten made his Test debut against Australia in Melbourne in 1993. He retired from international cricket in 2004 after crafting a match-winning 76 in his final innings, against New Zealand. Against the same country he had made history by becoming the first ever Protea to play in 100 Test matches.

Over the years, he gained a reputation as being a sturdy batsman in both Test cricket and one-day cricket. He could up the tempo of an innings if he needed to, but more often than not he simply waited for the bad ball, much like Steve Waugh and Justin Langer. He was also a reliable fielder. Kirsten held the South African records for most runs and centuries in a Test career, before both were surpassed by Jacques Kallis. He was the first Test batsman to make hundreds against each of the other 9 Test nations. He made a score of 275 against England as a result of batting for over 14 and a half hours as South Africa followed on at Kingsmead, still stands as the second-longest innings (in terms of duration) in Test history. The high score was later surpassed by Graeme Smith when he made 277 against England in 2003. He still holds the record for highest innings by a South African in a One Day International; 188 not-out made against the United Arab Emirates during the 1996 World Cup, which is the sixth highest innings of all time in One-Day International cricket, and the highest score in World Cup cricket history.

Agra Fort

Agra Fort (आगरा का लाल किला) is a UNESCO World Heritage site located in Agra, India. It is about 2.5 km northwest of its more famous sister monument, the Taj Mahal. The fort can be more accurately described as a walled city.

After Panipat, Mughals captured the fort and a vast treasure - which included a diamond that was later named as the Koh-i-Noor diamond - was seized. Babur stayed in the fort in the palace of Ibrahim. He built a baoli (step well) in it. Humayun was crowned here in 1530.Humayun was defeated in Bilgram in 1540. Sher Shah held the fort for five years. The Mughals defeated the Afghans finally at Panipat in 1556.

Realizing the importance of its central situation, Akbar made it his capital and arrived in Agra in 1558. His historian, Abdul Fazal, recorded that this was a brick fort known as 'Badalgarh' . It was in a ruined condition and Akbar had it rebuilt with red sandstone from Barauli area in Rajasthan. Architects laid the foundation and it was built with bricks in the inner core with sandstone on external surfaces. Builders worked on it for eight years, completing it in 1573.

Red Fort, Delhi

The Red Fort (लाल किला) is a 17th century fort complex constructed by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in the walled city of Old Delhi (in present day Delhi, India) that served as the residence of the Imperial Family of India. It also served as the capital of the Mughals until 1857, when Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar was exiled by the British Indian government. The British used it as a military camp until India became independent in 1947. It is now a popular tourist site, as well as a powerful symbol of India's sovereignty: the Prime Minister of India raises the flag of India on the ramparts of the Lahori Gate of the fort complex every year on Independence Day. It was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2007

Mughal Emperor Shahjahan, started construction of the massive fort in 1638 and work was completed in 1648 (10 years). The Red Fort was originally referred to as "Qila-i-Mubarak" (the blessed fort), because it was the residence of the royal family. The layout of the Red Fort was organised to retain and integrate this site with the Salimgarh Fort. The fortress palace was an important focal point of the medieval city of Shahjahanabad. The planning and aesthetics of the Red Fort represent the zenith of Mughal creativity which prevailed during the reign of Emperor Shah Jahan. This Fort has had many developments added on after its construction by Emperor Shahjahan. The significant phases of development were under Aurangzeb and later Mughal rulers. Important physical changes were carried out in the overall settings of the site after the Indian Mutiny in 1857. After Independence, the site experienced a few changes in terms of addition/alteration to the structures. During the British period the Fort was mainly used as a cantonment and even after Independence, a significant part of the Fort remained under the control of the Indian Army until the year 2003. The Red Fort is an attraction for tourists from around the world.

Battle of Alesia

Julius Ceaser

The Battle of Alesia or Siege of Alesia took place in September, 52 BC around the Gallic oppidum of Alesia, a major town centre and hill fort of the Mandubii tribe. It was fought by an army of the Roman Republic commanded by Julius Caesar, aided by cavalry commanders Mark Antony, Titus Labienus and Gaius Trebonius, against a confederation of Gallic tribes united under the leadership of Vercingetorix of the Averni, and was the last major engagement between Gauls and Romans, marking the turning point of the Gallic Wars in favour of Rome. The Siege of Alesia is considered one of Caesar's greatest military achievements, and is still one of the classic examples of siege warfare and investment. The battle of Alesia can safely be described as the official end of the Celtic heritage in France, Belgium, Switzerland and Northern Italy.

The battle site was probably atop Mont Auxois, above modern Alise-Sainte-Reine in France, but this location—some have argued—does not fit Caesar's description of the battle. A number of alternatives have been proposed over time, among which only Chaux-des-Crotenay (in Jura in modern France) remains a challenger today.

At one point in the battle the Romans were outnumbered by the Gauls by four to one. The event is described by several contemporary authors, including Caesar himself in his Commentarii de Bello Gallico. After the Roman victory, Gaul (very roughly modern France) was subdued and became a Roman province. The refusal of the Roman senate to allow Caesar the honour of a triumph for his victory in the Gallic Wars eventually led, in part, to the Roman Civil War of 49–45 BC.

Euthanasia

Euthanasia refers to the practice of ending a life in a manner which relieves pain and suffering. According to the House of Lords Select Committee on Medical Ethics, the precise definition of euthanasia is "a deliberate intervention undertaken with the express intention of ending a life, to relieve intractable suffering."

Euthanasia is categorized in different ways, which include voluntary, non-voluntary, or involuntary and active or passive. Euthanasia is usually used to refer to active euthanasia, and in this sense, euthanasia is usually considered to be criminal homicide, but voluntary, passive euthanasia is widely non-criminal.

The controversy surrounding euthanasia centers around a two-pronged argument by opponents which characterizes euthanasia as either voluntary "suicides", or as involuntary murders. (Hence, opponents argue that a broad policy of "euthanasia" is tantamount to eugenics). Much hinges on whether a particular death was considered an "easy", "painless", or "happy" one, or whether it was a "wrongful death". Proponents typically consider a death that increased suffering to be "wrongful", while opponents typically consider any deliberate death as "wrongful". "Euthanasia's" original meaning introduced the idea of a "rightful death" beyond that only found in natural deaths.

Euthanasia in India

Passive euthanasia is legal in India. On 7 March 2011 the Supreme Court of India legalised passive euthanasia by means of the withdrawal of life support to patients in a permanent vegetative state. The decision was made as part of the verdict in a case involving Aruna Shanbaug, who has been in a vegetative state for 37 years at King Edward Memorial Hospital. The high court rejected active euthanasia by means of lethal injection. In the absence of a law regulating euthanasia in India, the court stated that its decision becomes the law of the land until the Indian parliament enacts a suitable law. Active euthanasia, including the administration of lethal compounds for the purpose of ending life, is still illegal in India, and in most countries.

Ratan Tata

Ratan Naval Tata is the present Chairman of Tata Sons and therefore, Tata Group,. He is also the chairman of major Tata companies such as Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Tata Power, Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Tea, Tata Chemicals, The Indian Hotels Company and Tata Teleservices.

Early life and Education

Ratan Tata born to Naval Tata and Soonoo Commisariat in the Tata family, a prominent family belonging to the Parsi community. Ratan is the great-grandson of Tata group founder Jamsedji Tata. After his parents separated in 1944, he was brought up by his grandmother Lady Navajbai and did his schooling in Mumbai from Campion School. Later, he enrolled in Cornell University, where he earned a B.S in architecture with structural engineering in 1962, and has also completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School.

Sunil Bharti Mittal

Sunil Bharti Mittal (born 23 October 1957) is an Indian telecom mogul, philanthropist and the founder, chairman and Group CEO of Bharti Enterprises. The US$8.3 billion turnover company runs India's largest GSM-based mobile phone service and world's fifth largest wireless company with over 190 million customers across 19 countries in Asia and Africa. 

A first generation entrepreneur, Mittal started his first business in April 1976 at the age of 18, with a capital investment of 20,000 (US$444)borrowed from his father. His first business was to make crankshafts for local bicycle manufacturers.

In 1980, he along with his brothers Rakesh, Rajan started an Import Enterprise named Bharti Overseas Trading Corporation. He sold his bicycle parts and yarn factories and moved to Mumbai.

In 1981, he purchased importing licences from exporting companies in Punjab. He then imported thousands of Suzuki Motors's portable electric-power generators from Japan. The importing of generators was suddenly banned by the then Indian Government and just two licences to manufacture generators in India were issued to two companies.

Jim Corbett National Park

Jim Corbett National Park—named after the hunter and conservationist Jim Corbett who played a key role in its establishment—is the oldest national park in India. The park was established in 1936 as Hailey National Park. Situated in Nainital district of Uttarakhand the park acts as a protected area for the critically endangered Bengal tiger of India, the secure survival of which is the main objective of Project Tiger, an Indian wildlife protection initiative.

The park has sub-Himalayan belt geographical and ecological characteristics. An ecotourism destination, it contains 488 different species of plants and a diverse variety of fauna. The increase in tourist activities, among other problems, continues to present a serious challenge to the park's ecological balance.

Corbett has been a haunt for tourists and wildlife lovers for a long time. Tourism activity is only allowed in selected areas of Corbett Tiger Reserve so that people get an opportunity to see its splendid landscape and the diverse wildlife. In recent years the number of people coming here has increased dramatically. Presently, every season more than 70,000 visitors come to the park from India and other countries.

The Jim Corbett National Park is a heaven for the adventure seekers and wildlife adventure lovers alike. Corbett National Park is India's first national park which comprises 520.8 km². area of hills, riverine belts, marshy depressions, grass lands and large lake. The elevation ranges from 1,300 feet to 4,000 feet. Winter nights in Corbett national park are cold but the days are bright and sunny. It rains from July to September.

People's Republic of China

The People's Republic of China, commonly known as China, is the most populous state in the world with over 1.3 billion people. Located in East Asia, it is a single-party state governed by the Communist Party of China (CPC). The PRC exercises jurisdiction over 22 provinces, five autonomous regions, four directly administered municipalities (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chongqing), and two highly autonomous special administrative regions (SARs) – Hong Kong and Macau. Its capital city is Beijing.

At about 9.6 million square kilometres (3.7 million square miles), the PRC is the world's third- or fourth-largest country by total area, depending on the definition of what is included in that total, and the second largest by land area. Its landscape is diverse, with forest steppes and deserts (the Gobi and Taklamakan) in the dry north near Mongolia and Russia's Siberia, and subtropical forests in the wet south close to Vietnam, Laos, and Burma. The terrain in the west is rugged and elevated, with the Himalayas and the Tian Shan mountain ranges forming China's natural borders with India, Nepal and Central Asia. In contrast, mainland China's eastern seaboard is low-lying and has a 14,500-kilometre (9,000 mi) long coastline (the 11th longest in the world), bounded on the southeast by the South China Sea and on the east by the East China Sea, beyond which lie Taiwan, Korea, and Japan.

Automated Teller Machine (ATM)

An Automated Teller Machine (ATM), commonly called a cashpoint in UK English after the trademark of the same name, is a computerised telecommunications device that provides the clients of a financial institution with access to financial transactions in a public space without the need for a cashier, human clerk or bank teller. ATMs are known by various other names including automatic banking machine, cash machine, and various regional variants derived from trademarks on ATM systems held by particular banks.

On most modern ATMs, the customer is identified by inserting a plastic ATM card with a magnetic stripe or a plastic smart card with a chip, that contains a unique card number and some security information such as an expiration date or CVVC (CVV). Authentication is provided by the customer entering a personal identification number (PIN).

Using an ATM, customers can access their bank accounts in order to make cash withdrawals, credit card cash advances, and check their account balances as well as purchase prepaid cellphone credit. If the currency being withdrawn from the ATM is different from that which the bank account is denominated in (e.g.: Withdrawing Japanese Yen from a bank account containing US Dollars), the money will be converted at a wholesale exchange rate. Thus, ATMs often provide the best possible exchange rate for foreign travelers and are heavily used for this purpose as well.

Banknote

A banknote (more commonly known as a bill) is a kind of negotiable instrument, a promissory note made by a bank payable to the bearer on demand, used as money, and under many jurisdictions is used as legal tender. Along with coins, banknotes make up the cash forms of all modern money. With the exception of non-circulating high-value or precious metal commemorative issues, coins are generally used for lower valued monetary units, while banknotes are used for higher values.

Originally, the value of money was determined by the intrinsic value of the material the money was made of, such as silver or gold. However, carrying around a lot of precious metal was cumbersome and often dangerous. As an alternative, banknotes would be issued. In financial terms, a note is a promise to pay someone money. Banknotes were originally a promise to pay the bearer an amount of precious metal stored in a vault somewhere. In this way the stored value (usually in gold or silver coins) backing the banknote could transfer ownership in exchange for goods or services.

Abstract art

Abstract art is now generally understood to mean art that does not depict objects in the natural world, but instead uses colour and form in a non-representational way. In the very early 20th century, the term was more often used to describe art, such as Cubist and Futurist art, that depicts real forms in a simplified or rather reduced way—keeping only an allusion of the original natural subject. Such paintings were often claimed to capture something of the depicted objects' immutable intrinsic qualities rather than its externalappearance. The more precise terms, "non-figurative art," "non-objective art," and "non-representational art" avoid any possible ambiguity.

History

Non-objective art is not an invention of the 20th century — humans have made non-objective art since they first drew pictures in the dirt. In the Islamic religion the depiction of humans is not allowed, and consequently the Islamic culture developed a high standard of decorative arts. Calligraphy is also a form of non-figurative art. Abstract designs have also existed in Western culture in many contexts. However, Abstract art is distinct from pattern-making in design, since it draws on the distinction between decorative art and fine art, in which a painting is an object of thoughtful contemplation in its own right.

Constructivism (1915) and De Stijl (1917) were parallel movements which took abstraction into the three dimensions of sculpture and architecture. The Constructivists believed that the artist's work was a revolutionary activity, to express the aspirations of the people, using machine production and graphic and photographic means of communication. Some of the American Abstract expressionists are purely abstract and include: Barnett Newman, Mark Rothko, Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock, Franz Kline, and Hans Hofmann although they were at times inspired by myth, figuration, architecture, and nature. Op Art (1962) and Minimalism (1965) were two recent idioms. It is, at present possible that an artist's work is seen as an individual entity rather than part of a movement.

Vikram Samvat (विक्रम संवत्)

Vikram Samvat  is the calendar established by Indian emperor Vikramaditya. It is a popularly used calendar in India and the official calendar of Nepal.

The Vikrama Samvat was founded by the emperor Vikramaditya of Ujjain following his victory over the Sakas in 56 BCE, although it is popularly (and incorrectly) associated with the subsequent king Chandragupta Vikramaditya. It is a lunar calendar based on ancient Hindu tradition. The Vikram Samvat calendar is 56.7 years ahead (in count) of the solar Gregorian calendar. For example, the year 2056 BS began in CE 1999 and ended in CE 2000. In Northern India the calendar starts with the first day after the new moon in the month Chaitra, which usually falls in March/April in the Gregorian calendar. Again in Western India the same era begins with the first day after the new moon in the month of Kartika which usually falls in October and November in the Gregorian calendar. In Nepal, it begins in mid-April and marks the start of the solar new year.

In India, Saka Calendar is officially used but interestingly in the Hindi version of Preamble of The Constitution of India, the date of adoption of constitution 26 Nov 1950 is presented in Vikram Samvat (Margsheersh Shukla Saptami Samvat 2006 ).

Swami Vivekananda

Swami Vivekananda (January 12, 1863–July 4, 1902), born Narendranath Dutta was the chief disciple of the 19th century mystic Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and the founder of Ramakrishna Mission. He is considered a key figure in the introduction of Hindu philosophies of Vedanta and Yoga in Europe and America and is also credited with raising interfaith awareness, bringing Hinduism to the status of a major world religion during the end of the 19th century. Vivekananda is considered to be a major force in the revival of Hinduism in modern India. He is perhaps best known for his inspiring speech beginning with "Sisters and Brothers of America", through which he introduced Hinduism at the Parliament of the World's Religions at Chicago in 1893. Swami Vivekananda was born in an aristocratic Bengali family of Calcutta in 1863. Swami's parents influenced his thinking—the father by his rational mind and the mother by her religious temperament. From his childhood, he showed inclination towards spirituality and God realization. While searching for a man who could directly demonstrate the reality of God, he came to Ramakrishna and became his disciple. As a guru, Ramakrishna taught him Advaita Vedanta (non-dualism) and that all religions are true, and service to man was the most effective worship of God. After the death of his Guru, Vivekananda became a wandering monk, touring the Indian subcontinent and getting first-hand knowledge of India's condition. He later sailed to Chicago and represented India as a delegate in the 1893 Parliament of World Religions. An eloquent speaker, Vivekananda was invited to several forums in the United States and spoke at universities and clubs. He conducted hundreds of public and private lectures and classes, disseminating Vedanta and Yoga in America, England and a few other countries in Europe. He also established the Vedanta societies in America and England. Later he sailed back to India and in 1897 founded the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission, a philanthropic and spiritual organization.