SOME FACTS ABOUT BHARAT RATNA

**: 1st Indian to be awarded the Bharat Ratna -- सी राजगोपालचारी

**: 1st Bharat Ratna Awardee to become the President of India -- डाँ. एस राधाकृष्णन...

**: 1st person to be awarded the Bharat Ratna posthumously -- लाल बहादुर शास्त्री

**: 1st Scientist to be awarded the Bharat Ratna --सी वी रमन

**: 1st and only Industrialist to be awarded the Bharat Ratna -- जे आर डी टाटा

**: 1st woman to be awarded the Bharat Ratna -- श्रीमती इन्दिरा गाँधी

National Sports Awards 2011

National Sports Awards 2011
Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna :
Mr. Gagan Narang - Shooting
Dronacharya Awards :
Mr. I. Venkateshwara Rao - Boxing
Mr. Devender Kumar Rathore - Gymnastics
Mr. Ramphal - Wrestling
Dr. Kuntal Roy - Athletics * (Life time achievement)
Mr. Rajinder Singh - Hockey * (Life time achievement)
Dhyan Chand Awards :
Mr. Shabbir Ali - Football
Mr. Sushil Kohli - Swimming
Mr. Rajkumar - Wrestling
Arjuna Awards :
Mr. Rahul Banerjee - Archery
Ms. Preeja Sreedharan - Athletics
Mr. Vikas Gowda - Athletics
Ms. Jwala Gutta - Badminton
Mr. M. Suranjoy Singh - Boxing
Mr. Zaheer Khan - Cricket
Mr. Sunil Chhetri - Football
Mr. Ashish Kumar - Gymnastics
Mr. Rajpal Singh - Hockey (Men)
Mr. Rakesh Kumar - Kabaddi (Men)
Ms. Tejeswini Bai V. - Kabaddi (Women)
Ms. Tejaswini Ravindra Sawant - Shooting
Mr. Veerdhawal Vikram Khade - Swimming
Mr. Somdev Kishore Devvarman - Tennis
Mr. Sanjay Kumar - Volleyball
Mr. Ravinder Singh - Wrestling
Mr. Naib S Katulu Ravikumar - Weightlifting
Ms. Wangkhem Sandhyarani Devi - Wushu
Mr. Prasantha Karamakar - Swimming - Paralympics

List of World Presidents, Prime Ministers & Capital

List of World Presidents, Prime Ministers & capital
 
● Afghanistan: President - Hamid Karzai; Capital - Kabul.

● Algeria: President - Abdelaziz Bouteflika; Prime Minister - Ahmed Ouyahia; Capital-
Algiers.

● Argentina: President- Ms. Cristina Fernandez Kirchner; Capital- Buenos Aires.

● Australia: Governor-General- Ms. Quentin Bryce; PRIME MINISTER- Kevin Rudd; Capital (Federal)- Canberra.

● Austria: President- Heinz Fischer; Chancellor-Werner Faymann, Capital- Vienna.

● Bahrain: King - Hamad ibn al-Khalifah; Prime Minister - Sheikh Khalifah Sulman al-Khalifah; Capital- Manama.

● Bangladesh: President - Zillur Rahman; PRIME MINISTER - Ms. Sheikh Hasina; Capital- Dhaka.

● Belarus: President- Alexander Lukashenko; Prime Minister - Sergei Sidorsky; Capital- Minsk.

● Belgium: King - Albert II; Prime Minister-Herman Van Rompuy; Capital- Brussels.

● Bhutan: King - Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuk; Prime Minister-Jigmi Y. Thinley;
Capital – Thimphu

● Bolivia: President- Evo Morales; Capital – La Paz.

● Brazil: President- Ms. Dilma Rousseff; Capital - Brasilia.

● Bulgaria: President - Georgi Purvanov; Prime Minister - Boyko Borisov; Capital-
Sofia.

● Burkina Faso: President – Blaise Compaore; Prime Minister – Tertius Zongo; Capital-
Ouagadougou.

● Cambodia: King - Norodom Sihamoni; Prime Minister - Hun Sen; Capital – Phnom Penh.

● Canada: Governor-General Ms. Michaelle Jean; PRIME MINISTER - Stephen Harper; Capital- Ottawa.

● Chile: President - Ms. Sebastian Pinera; Capital - Santiago.

● China: President- Hu Jintao; Prime Minister-Wen Jiabao; Capital- Beijing.

● Colombia: President- Juan Manuel Santos; Capital - Bogota.

● Croatia: President - Stjepan Mesic; Prime Minister -Dr. Ivo Sanader; Capital-Zagreb.

● Cuba: President- Raul Castro; Capital -Havana.

● Czech Republic: President- Vaclav Klaus; Prime Minister -Jan Fischer; Capital-Prague.

● Denmark: Queen - Margrethe II; Prime Minister- Lars Lokke Rasmussen; Capital - Copenhagen.

● Ecuador: President- Rafael Correa; Capital-Quito.

● Egypt: President - Mohamed Hussein Tantawi (Acting); Capital-Cairo.

● Finland: President - Ms. Tarja Halonen; Prime Minister - Matti Vanhanen; Capital-Helsinki.

● France: President- Nicolas Sarkozy; Prime Minister - Francois Fillon; Capital- Paris.

● Germany: President - Horst Koehler; Chancellor - Ms. Angela Merkel; Capital-Berlin.

● Guyana: President - Bharrat Jagdeo; Prime Minister - Samuel Hinds; Capital- Georgetown.

● Greece: President – Karolos Papoulias; Prime Minister – George Papandreou; Capital - Athens.

● Hungary: President- Pal Schmitt; PRIME MINISTER - Viktor Orban; Capital- Budapest.

● Indonesia: President - Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono; Capital- Jakarta.

● Iran: President - Mahmoud Ahmadinejad; Capital- Teheran.

● Iraq: President -Jalai Talabani; Prime Minister - Nuri al-Maliki, Capital- Baghdad.

● Ireland: President- Ms. Mary McAleese; Prime Minister - Brian Cowen, Capital- Dublin.

● Israel: President - Shimon Peres; PRIME MINISTER - Benjamin Netanyahu; Capital- Jerusalem.

● Italy: President - Georgio Napolitano; Prime Minister- Silvio Berlusconi; Capital- Rome.

● Japan: Emperor- Akihito; Prime Minister: Naoto Kan; Capital- Tokyo.

● Jordan: King - Abdullah II; Prime Minister-Nader al-Dahabi; Capital- Amman.

● Kazakhstan: President - Nursultan A. Nazarbayev; Prime Minister – Karim Masimov; Capital- Astana.

● Kenya: President - Mwai Kibaki; Prime Minister - Raila Odinga; Capital - Nairobi.

● Korea, North: President – Marshal Kim Jong II; Prime Minister – Hong Song Nam;
Capital- Pyongyang.

● Korea, South: President-, Lee Myung-Bak; Prime Minister - Kim Hwang-sik; Capital -
Seoul.

● Kuwait: Emir - Sheikh Sabah ai-Ahmad al-Sabah; Capital - Kuwait.

● Kyrgyzstan: President (Interim) – Kurmanbek Bakiyey; Prime Minister - Daniyar Usenov
Capital - Bishkek.

● Madagascar: President - Andy Rajoelina; Prime Minister - Eugene Mangalaza; Capital-
Antananarivo.

● Malaysia: King - T. S. S. Syed Putra Jamalullail; Prime Minister- Najib Tun Razak; Capital-Kuala Lumpur.

● Maldives: President - Mohammed "Anni" Nasheed; Capital - Male.

● Mauritius: President - Anerood Jugnauth; Prime Minister - Navinchandra Ramgoolam; Capital - Port Louis.

● Mexico: President – Felipe Calderon; Capital – Mexico City.

● Mongolia: President - Nambaryn Enkhbayar; Prime Minister - Sukhbaatar Batblod; Capital - Ulan Bator.

● Montenegro: President - Filip Vujanovic; Prime Minister-Milo Dukanovic; Capital – Podgorica

● Morocco: King - Mohammed VI; Prime Minister - Abbas El Fassi; Capital - Rabat.

● Myanmar (Burma) : Head of Govt. : Gen. Than Shwe; Capital - Nyapidaw.

● Nepal: President - Dr. Ram Baran Yadav; Prime Minister – Jhala Nath Khanal; Capital -Kathmandu.

● Netherlands: Queen - Beatrix; Capital-Amsterdam.

● New Zealand: Governor-General – Anand Satyanand; PrimeMinister - John Key; Capital-
Wellington.

● Nigeria: President - Goodluck Jonathan; Capital - Abuja.

● Norway: King - Harald V; Prime Minister – Jens Stoltenberg; Capital - Oslo.

● Pakistan: President - Asif Ali Zardari; Prime Minister - Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani; Capital -Islamabad. .

● Panama: President - Ricardo Martenelli; Capital - Panama City.

● Paraguay: President - Fernando Lugo; Capital – Asuncion

● Peru: President - Alan Garcia; Prime Minister -Javier Velasquez; Capital- Lima.

● Philippines: President - Ms. Gloria Macapagal- Arroyo; Capital - Manila.

● Poland: President - Lech Kaczynski; Prime Minister- Donald Tusk; Capital- Warsaw.

● Portugal: President - Amibal Cavaco Silva; Prime Minister - Jose Socrates; Capital-
Lisbon.

● Romania: President - Traian Basecue; Prime Minister - Emil Boc; Capital - Bucharest.

● Russia: President - Dmitry Medvedev; Prime Minister - Vladimir Putin; Capital - Moscow.

● Rwanda: President - Paul Kagame; Prime Minister - Bernard Makuza; Capital -Kigali.

● Saudi Arabia : King - Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al Saud; Capital- Riyadh.

● Serbia: President - Boris Tadic; Prime Minister - Mirko Cvetkovic; Capital - Belgrade.

● Singapore: President - S. R. Nathan; PRIME MINISTER - Lee Hsien Loong; Capital - Singapore.

● Slovakia: President - Ivan Gasparovic; Prime Minister - Robert Fico; Capital-Bratislava.

● South Africa : President- Jacob Zuma; Capital-Cape Town (Legislative) and Tshwane
(Formerly Pretoria) (Administrative).

● Spain: King - Juan Carlos I; Prime Minister-Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero; Capital -Madrid.

● Sri Lanka: President - Mahinda Rajapaksa; Prime Minister - – D.M. Jayaratne; Capital- Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte (Colombo).

● Sudan: President - Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir; Capital - Khartoum.

● Sweden: King - Carl XVI Gustaf; PRIME MINISTER – Fredrik Reinfeldt; Capital - Stockholm.

● Switzerland: President - Hans-Rudolf Merz; Capital – Berne

● Syria: President - Bashar Al-Assad; Prime Minister - Muhammad Naji al-Otari; Capital- Damascus.

● Taiwan: President - Ma Ying-jeou; Prime Minister -Wu Den-yih; Capital – Taipei.

● Turkey: President - Abdullah Gul; Prime Minister - Recep Tayyip Erdogan; Capital- Ankara.

● Ukraine: President - Victor Yushchenko; Prime Minister- Mykola Azarov; Capital- Kiev.

● United Arab Emirates: Prime Minister- Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum;
Capital- Abu Dhabi.

● United Kingdom: Queen - Elizabeth II; Prime Minister - Gordon Brown; Capital - London.

● United States of America: President – Barack Obama; Secretary of State -Ms. Hillary Clinton; Capital- Washington, D.C.

● Uzbekistan: President - Islam A. Karimov; Prime Minister - Shavkat Mirziyayev; Capital- Tashkent.

● Venezuela: President - Hugo Chavez Frias; Capital - Caracas.

● Vietnam: President - Nguyen Minh Triet; Prime Minister - Nguyen Tan Dung; Capital-
Hanoi.

● Zimbabwe: President - Robert G. Mugabe; PRIME MINISTER - Morgan Tsvangirai; Capital- Harare.

Anna Hazare Biography

Anna Hazare Biography :

From a tenacious soldier to a social reformer, and a right to information crusader, Anna Hazare’s journey of four decades has been unprecedented in terms of a non-violent yet effective campaign of resurrecting a barren village into an `ideal village’ model and empowering the faceless citizen through pioneering work on Right to Information. His efforts to empower grampanchayats, protect efficient government officers from frequent transfers and fight against the red tapism in government offices have also received accolades.

His tryst with the army came when many Indian soldiers became martyrs in the Indo-China War of 1962 and the Government of India had appealed to young Indians to join the Indian army. Being passionate about patriotism, he promptly responded to the appeal and joined the Indian Army in 1963. During his 15-year tenure as a soldier, he was posted to several states like Sikkim, Bhutan, Jammu-Kashmir, Assam, Mizoram, Leh and Ladakh and braved challenging weathers.
At times, Hazare used to be frustrated with life and wondered about the very existence of human life. His mind yearned to look out for a solution to this simple and basic question. His frustration reached the peak level and at one particular moment, he also contemplated suicide. For this, he had also penned a two page essay on why he wants to live no more. Fortunately for him, inspiration came from the most unexpected quarters – at the book stall of the railway station of New Delhi, where he was located then. He came across a book of Swami Vivekananda and immediately bought it.

He was inspired by Vivekananda’s photograph on the cover. As he started reading the book, he found answers to all his questions, he says. The book revealed to him that the ultimate motive of human life should be service to humanity. Striving for the betterment of common people is equivalent to offering a prayer to the God, he realized.

In the year 1965, Pakistan attacked India and at that time, Hazare was posted at the Khemkaran border. On November 12, 1965, Pakistan launched air attacks on Indian base and all of Hazare’s comrades became martyrs, It was a close shave for Hazare as one bullet had passed by his head. Hazare believes this was the turning point of his life as it meant he had a purpose to life.

Anna was greatly influenced by Swami Vivekananda’s teachings. It was at that particular moment that Hazare took an oath to dedicate his life in the service of humanity, at the age of 26. He decided not not to let go of a life time by being involved merely in earning the daily bread for the family. That’s the reason why he pledged to be a bachelor. By then he had completed only three years in the army and so would not be eligible for the pension scheme. In order to be self-sufficient, he continued to be in the army for 12 more years. After that, he opted for voluntary retirement and returned to his native place in Ralegan Siddhi, in the Parner tehsil of Ahmednagar district.

While in the army, Hazare used to visit Ralegan Siddhi for two months every year and used to see the miserable condition of farmers due to water scarcity. Ralegan Siddhi falls in the drought-prone area with a mere 400 to 500 mm of annual rainfall. There were no weirs to retain rainwater. During the month of April and May, water tankers were the only means of drinking water. Almost 80 per cent of the villagers were dependent on other villages for food grains. Residents used to walk for more than four to six kilometers in search of work and some of them had opted to open country liquor dens as a source of income.

More than 30-35 such dens located in and around the village had tarnished the dignity of the village and marred the social peace. Small scuffles, thefts and physical brawls resulted in loss of civic sense. Morality had reached such a nadir that some of the residents stole wooden logs of the temple of the village deity Yadavbaba to burn the choolah of one of the country liquor outfits.

Hazare came across the work of one Vilasrao Salunke, a resident of Saswad near Pune who had started a novel project of water management through watershed development in a joint venture with the Gram Panchyat. Hazare visited the project and decided to implement it in Ralegan Siddhi. By keeping an eye on conserving every drop of water and preventing erosion of the fertile soil, he steered the villagers to begin working towards water conservation. At the outset, they completed 48 Nala Bunding work, contour trenches, staggered trenches, gully plugs, meadows development and of forestation of 500 hectares of land. Thereafter, they constructed five RCC weirs and 16 Gabion Weirs.

This resulted in increase in the ground water level. After that, Hazare along with his team worked out the cropping pattern suitable to the quality of soil and the water volume available for farming. This led to increase in the water table by making water available for 1,500 acres of land instead of 300 acres. As a natural sequel, this effort led to yielding of food-grains and the villagers became self-sufficient in terms of food. The table turned turtle – earlier there was no work available for the villagers, now manpower was required to be imported from neighbouring villages.

The changes in the economics brought all the villagers under one roof of unity and people voluntarily contributed in terms of labour and money to build a school, a hostel, a temple and other buildings. Mass marriages, grains bank, dairy, cooperative society, self-help groups for women and youth mandals helped develop the village in all aspects and gave a new face to it.

Hazare opines that proper planning of natural and human resources can result in the betterment of a person, area, village instead of exploiting such resources. He says, ``Today we all are exploiting the earthen resources like petrol, diesel, kerosene, coal and water. This can never be termed as perennial development as it is going to lead a state of destruction one day. The sources of energy are limited and hence I am concerned about the next generations. Today many of the villages of almost every state are feeling the brunt of water shortage. Building concrete jungles does not mean development as Gandhiji had rightly said.

Creation of a human idol should be the main objective rather than creating towering buildings. Surely, one needs to live for oneself and the family but simultaneously one owes something to your neighbour, your village and your nation too. For this, you need an idol who could lead to this goal. Such leadership is not created by power or money but only by virtues like pure thinking, matching action and willingness to sacrifice. It is the thumb rule of farming that – When a seed buries itself, it leads to a better yield. in order to get better yield of grains, one single grain needs to burry itself.

The society needs such volunteers who are ready to get buried in selfless service for the better future of the society.’’

Hazare’s Ralegan Siddhi became the first role model of an ideal village and has become a tourist spot for many visitors across the nation, since it shows the metamorphoses from the worst village to an ideal village. Visitors include politicians, researchers, social workers and students. Four postgraduate students have completed Ph. D. thesis on Ralegan Siddhi.

Social Life :

Anna rightly thought that Development is marred by corruption and started a new venture in 1991 called Bhrashtachar Virodhi Jan Aandolan (BVJA) or public movement against corruption. It was found that some 42 forest officers had duped the state government for crores of rupees through corruption in confederacy. Hazare submitted the evidences to the government but the latter was reluctant to take action against all these officers as one of the ministers of the ruling party was involved in the scam. A distressed Hazare returned the Padmashree .

Award to the President of India and also returned the Vriksha Mitra Award given by then prime minister of India Rajiv Gandhi.

He further went on an indefinite hunger strike in Alandi on the same issue. Finally, the government woke up from deep slumber and took action against the culprits. Hazare’s sustained campaign on this issue had a great effect - six of the ministers were forced to resign and more than 400 officers from different government offices were sent back to home.

Hazare realized that it was not enough to merely take action against fraudulent ministers or officers but to change the entire system that was studded with loopholes. Hence, he campaigned for the Right to Information Act. The state government turned a blind eye towards the pleas in this regard and so he first agitated in the historical Azad Maidan in Mumbai in the year 1997. To create mass public awareness about RTI amongst the youth, Hazare traveled extensively throughout the state. The government kept promising that RTI Act would be made but never raised this issue in the house or the state assembly. Hazare did not relent – he agitated at least ten times.

Finally, again he went on an indefinite hunger strike at Azad Maidan in the last week of July 2003. At last, the President of India signed the draft of the Right to Information Act after his 12-day-long hunger strike and ordered the state government to implement it with effect from 2002. The same draft was considered as the base document for the making of the National Right to Information Act-2005.

After the implementation of the RTI Act-2005, Hazare travelled for more than 12,000 Kms across the state creating awareness about the Act. In the second phase, he interacted with more than one lakh college students and also conducted mass public meetings across 24 districts of the state. The third phase included daily 2-3 public meetings in more than 155 tehsil places. In this massive campaign, posters, banners were displayed and more than one lakh booklets of the provisions of the Act were distributed at a nominal price.

This created enough of awareness and people were educated on the issue of rights of citizens.

Hazare deservedly won the coveted Padmashree and then Padmabhushan. Care International of the USA, Transparency International, Seoul (South Korea) also felicitated him. Apart from this, he received awards worth Rs 25 lakh and donated the entire amount for the Swami Vivekananda Kritadnyata Nidhi (social gratitude fund). Out of the two lakh rupees received from the above amount, mass marriages are carried of at least 25-30 poor couples every year.

That Hazare has given his life for social betterment is reflected thus: ``I do have my home in the village but I have not entered it for the past 35 years. I have implemented schemes costing more than several crores of rupees but I do not have bank balance. Last 12 years I have been working in the field of eradication of corruption. This movement is run entirely by public support without and grants or sponsorships. I appeal for money wherever I go for a public meeting and urge them to contribute generously. The same money I use to carry out my campaigns. The money collected at such public meetings is counted in front of the villagers and my volunteers issue a receipt of the same on the spot.’’

He further states that, ``The movement that we started many years back without a penny in wallet, has spread its wings in all the 33 districts and 252 tehsils of the state. Hence we have been instrumental in offering rights to local bodies like Gramsabha, preventing red-tapism and initiating the law of transfers. This has prevented corruption on a large scale. This has also resulted in offering social justice to the economically backward class. The Union Government keeps on making various schemes for poor people in availing kerosene, LPG and pulses on ration card but the middlemen keep on gulping the subsidies of the same. Our efforts made these necessities available to the poor.’’

The state government promoted opening of cooperative societies, credit societies & urban banks. Believing in the principles of cooperative sector, the utmost lower class of the society invested their savings with such cooperative societies. However, the directors of such societies devoured the money and failed to pay back the basic amount to the members of the societies. This created havoc and people were duped for crores of rupees and did not have money for the marriages of their daughters or for medical treatment. Hazare agitated for over eight months. The result was that more than Rs 125 crore was recovered from defaulters and the members of such societies heaved a sigh of relief. Recovery of around Rs. 400 crores is in the pipeline.

In the future, the BVJA will work for the decentralisation of power and laws related to the same. Says Hazare, ``we have decided to develop centers to create awareness amongst people about govt. schemes and train activists to know the modus operandi of corruption in each sector. As the state government has decided to set up committees at almost every nodal point like state, district, tehsil, and village level with one member on such committee represented by our organisation. We have trained more than 400 volunteers to work on such committees.’’

Actually the government should train the members of NGOs who can work in the sector of prevention of corruption. Then and then only we can dream of corruption-free state, concludes Hazare.

(Current Affairs) Person In News

 

• April-2011 (New)

• February-2011

• January-2011

• December-2010

• November-2010

• October-2010

• September-2010

• August-2010

• July-2010

• June-2010

• May-2010

• April-2010

Nobel Personality in India

 

Abdul Ghaffar Khan

He was known as the 'Frontier Gandhi'. He was a nationalist Muslim leader of the North-West Frontier Province. He first started a militant organisation known as the 'Red Shirt', and later on joined the non-violent Civil Disobedience Movement started by Mahatma Gandhi.

Acharya Vinoba Bhave

Saintly personality; had devoted his life to social welfare; founder of the Bhoodan movement.

Amir Khusrau

Assumed 'Parrot of India', was a famous poet and author who wrote in poetry and prose and also composed music. He enjoyed the patronage of successive Sultans of Delhi from Balban to Ghiyas-ud-din Tughluq. He died in 1324-25. His works include Tughluqnamah and the Tarikh-i-Alai.

Anand Mohan Bose

He was a prominent Indian public man in his times. He was the first Indian to be a Wrangler of Cambridge University in 1873. He was the founder-secretary of the Indian Association which was established in Calcutta in 1876, and presided over the 14th session of the Indian National Congress held in Ma

Ashutosh Mukherjee

He was an eminent lawyer and educationist. He was certainly a maker of modern Bengal, if not of India, by virtue of his eminent services to the cause of education. At the early age of 25 he became a member of the Senate of the Calcutta University of which he became the vice-chancellor.

Aurobindo Ghosh

An ardent nationalist who later became a saint, was educated in England. His views were readily accepted by Lala Lajpat Rai of Punjab and Bal Gangadhar Tilak of Maharashtra and led to the formation of an extremist school within the Congress.

Bal Gangadhar Tilak

Patriot and statesman, known as Lokmanya. He organised Extremist Party within the Congress with Lala Lajpat Rai and Bipin Chandra Pai. Britishers called him "Father of Indian Unrest". He gave the clarion call "Swaraj is my birth right". Tilak was the founder-editor of Mahratta (English) and Kesar

Bhagat Singh

Known as Shahid-e-Azam. Founded Naujawan Bharat Sabha. Exploded bomb in Central Legislative Assembly at Lahore on April 8, 1929. He was arrested and sentenced for life. He along with Sukh Dev and Shivram Rajguru, was hanged on March 23, 1931 for participating in Lahore conspiracy.

Chakravarti Rajagopalachari

A prominent Indian politician, born in South India in 1879. He was the General Secretary of the Indian National Congress in 1921-22 and was a member of the Congress Working Commitee. Rajagopalachari was the Chief Minister of Madras from 1937-39.

Dadabhai Naoro Ji

He was elected president of the Indian National Congress at its second session held in Calcutta in 1886. He was the first Indian to be elected a member of the House of Commons in England on a ticket of Liberal Party. Twice again, in 1893 and in 1906, he was elected president of the INC.

Dr. B. R. Ambedkar

A prominent leader of the Scheduled Castes. Built up a party of the untouchables, became a member of the Constitutent Assembly and piloted through it the Indian Constitution Act which declared India to be Republic. He also piloted the Hindu Code through the Indian Legislature.

Dr. Rajendra Prasad

He was the first President of the Republic of India. Born in Bihar in 1884, educated at the Calcutta Universty, he began his career as an advocate and soon commanded a very large practice at Patna High Court. Prasad became the president of Congress in 1934, 1939 and 1947; a minister in Nehru's cabin

Gopal Krishna Gokhale

He was a prominent Indian nationalist, and presided over the 1905 session of the Indian National Congress. In 1905 he founded at Poona the Servants of India Society. He died in 1915. He is considered as the 'Political Guru' of Gandhiji.

Govinda Ballabh Pant

The celebrated Sanskrit grammarian, was the author of Ashtadhyayi. He was one of the leading members and leaders of the Indian National Congress. He became the Chief Minister in his native province of Uttar Pradesh after independence.

Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar

Social reformer and educationist from Bengal and a pioneer in the field of primary education and widow re-marriage.

Jamshedji Tata

Parsi industrialist and philanthropist. Father of Indian industry, founded Tata, Iron and Steel Company in Bihar.

Lal Bahadur Shastri

Prime Minister of India from May, 1964 to his death on 11 January, 1966. He was conferred Bharat Ratna posthumously. He was a martyr for the cause of peace between India and Pakistan at Tashkent.

Lala Lajpat Rai

Indian national leader known as "Lion of Punjab". Founder editor of Bande Mataram, The Punjabeeand The People. Died of injuries caused by police lathi-charge while leading a demonstration against Simon Commission at Lahore in 1928. Author of Young India, The Arya Samaj and England's Debt to India.

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

Better known as Mahatma Gandhi, was born on October 2, 1869 at Porbandar in Gujarat. Became a barrister-at-law (1891) in England. Went to South Africa in 1893. Stayed there till 1914 for the cause of the emancipation of the Indians from the insulting life.

Mrs. Vijayalakshmi Pandit

Born in 1900, was a talented daughter of Pandit Motilal Nehru. She held many high offices after Indian independence including the post of India's High Commissioner in England (1955-61) and India's Ambassador to the U. S. S. R. as well as to the U. S. A.

Mrs. Annie Besant

English theosophist, bom in London in October 1847. She founded the Central Hindu College at Banaras and was elected president of the Theosophical Society in 1907. In 1916 she founded the Indian Home Rule League and became its first president and in 1917.

Mrs. Sarojini Naldu

The most talented Indian lady, born of Bengali parents, was a poet and orator who took a prominent part in Indian politics. She presided over the Kanpur session of the Indian National Congress in 1925 and was the first lady to be appointed a state Governor in the Republic of India.

Netaji Subhash Bose

Popularly known as Netaji, was born on January 23, 1879, at Cuttack. He passed the Indian Civil Service Examination in 1920. He joined the Indian National Congress in 1921. In 1938 he was the president of the INC at its Haripura session and in 1939 he was elected president of its Tripuri session.

Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru

He was the first Prime Minister of Independent India and is known as the architect of modem India. He was born in Allahabad on Novemeber 14,1889. In 1928 be became the General Secretary of the Indian National Congress and in 1929 its President. At the Lahore session under his Presidentship was pass

Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya

A leading nationalist leader, prominent educationist and social reformer. Later on joined the second session of the Indian National Congress held in 1886 and twice became its President in 1909 and 1918. His greatest achievement was the foundation in 1915 in Benaras of the Hindu University.

Pandit Motilal Nehru

A renowned Indian patriot, was born on 6th May, 1861 in Delhi. He began his career as a lawyer at the Allahabad High Court, joined the Indian National Movement and started a journal named The Independent' to support the cause of Indian Nationalism. Along with C. R. Das he formed the Swarajist Party

Rabindranath Tagore

Poet, novelist, patriot, educationist, essayist, painter and philosopher. He founded Shantiniketan (now Viswabharati University) in West Bengal. The first Asian to receive Nobel Prize in Literature (for Gitanjati in 1913), writer of National Anthems of India and Bangladesh.

Ram Manohar Lohla

A social and political revolutionary, he founded the'Samajwadi Party' after difference of opinion with the Congress.

Ramakrishna Paramhansa

He was a very great spiritual teacher of the Hindus in modern times. His two-noteworthy disciples were Keshavchandra Sen and Swami Vivekanand.

Rasbehari Basu

He was elected president of the Surat session of the Indian National Congress in 1907 in which the Moderates and Extremists came to a serious clash. Next year he presided over the Madras session of the INC.

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel

A renowned Indian patriot and politician, was born on the 31st, October, 1875 in Gujarat and began his career as a lawyer. He took a leading part in the Bardoli Satyagraha movement. In 1931 he became the president of the Congress. He joined the "interim Government" set up in 1946 as the Home Ministe

Sarvapalli Radha Krishan

The second President of the Republic of India. Radha Krishnan was appointed as India's ambassador to the USSR in 1949. In 1962 he became the President of India. His birthday, Sept 5, is celebrated as Teacher's Day.'

Shaukat Ali

A prominent leader and politician amongst the Indian Muhammadans. He along with his brother Muhammad All, led the Khilafat Movement in 1919-20. He also joined the Indian National Congress and the non-co-operation movement.

Sir Sayyid Ahmed Khan

He was a prominent leader of the Indian Muhammadans. Remained loyal to the British during the Sepoy Mutiny (1857-58), founded the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College at Aligarh in 1875. In 1920 the college was raised to the status of University and called the Aligarh Muslim University.

Sister Nivedita

A famous disciple of Swami Vivekananda, was an Irish lady named Miss Margaret Nobel.

Swami Vivekananda

Disciple of Rama Krishna Paramahansa, and founder of Ramakrishna Mission at Belur. He championed the supremacy of Vedantic philosophy and his talk at the Chicago conference of world religions in 1893 made westerners realise the greatness of Hinduism for the first time.

V. D. C Savarkar

He founded Mitra Mandal aimed at achieving freedom by armed rebellion, founded Abhinav Bharat, started Free Indian Society in England (London). Savarkar was arrested in Nasik conspiracy case and sentenced to transportation for life and freed in 1937. He authored Indian War of Independence.

Wumesh Chandra Banerjee

The first president of the Indian National Congress held at Bombay in 1885. He was made Congress President a second time at its Allahabad session in 1892.

Zakir Hussain

Proposed Wardha Scheme of education, formerly Vice-Chancellor of Jamia Millia. He was elected as President of India in 1967.

World Top Ten Powerful People - Forbes

Rank	Name	Organization	Age
1	Hu Jintao President	People's Republic of China	68
2	Barack Obama President	United States of America	49
3	Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al Saud King	Saudi Arabia	86
4	Vladimir Putin Prime Minister	Russia	58
5	Pope Benedict XVI Pope	Roman Catholic Church	84
6	Angela Merkel Chancellor	Germany	56
7	David Cameron Prime Minister	United Kingdom	44
8	Ben Bernanke Chairman	Federal Reserve	57
9	Sonia Gandhi President	Indian National Congress	64
10	Bill Gates Co-Chair	Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation	55