General Knowledge Questions and Answers

Types of GST Returns and their Due Dates

2017-07-05T03:36:00.005-07:00

Free GST billing & return Filing at Clear Tax GST
India's Easiest GST Software

In this article - We will going discuss the various returns that are required to be furnished under the New GST law.

What information is required to be filed.

Who has the accountability to file these returns and what are the timeline's for submission of these returns?

A return is a document that a taxpayer is required to file all the tax as per the law with the tax administrative authorities

Under the Goods service Tax law regime - a normal taxpayer will be required to furnish three returns monthly and one annual return and Similarly.

There are separate returns process for a taxpayer registered under the composition scheme.

Taxpayer register as an Input Service of Distributor and a person liable to deduct or collect the tax amount(TDS/TCS)

In the below given table, We have provided details under the GST Law of all the returns which are required to be filed.

Return From	What need to file?	By Whom to ?	By When to?
GSTR1	Details of outward supplies of taxable goods and or services effected	Registered / Taxable Supplier	every 10th of the next month
GSTR2	Details of inward supplies of taxable amount of goods and services effected claiming input tax credit.	Registered / Taxable Recipient	every 15th of the next month
GSTR3	Monthly return on the basis of finalization of details of outward supplies and in-ward supplies along with the payment of tax amount.	Registered / Taxable Person	every 20th of the next month
GSTR4	Quarterly return for compounding taxable person.	Composition or Supplier	every 18th of the month succeeding qut.
GSTR5	Return for Non-Resident foreign taxable person	Non-Resident / Taxable Person	every 20th of the next month
GSTR6	Return for Input Service Distributor	Input Service/ Distributor	every 13th of the next month
GSTR7	Return for authorities deducting tax at source.	Tax amount Deductor	every 10th of the next month
GSTR8	Details of supplies effected through e-commerce operator and the amount of tax collected	E-commerce/ Operator/Tax Collector	every 10th of the next month
GSTR9	Annual Return's	Registered / Taxable Person	every 31st December of next FY
GSTR10	Final Return's	Taxable person whose registration has been surrendered / Cancelled	Within 3 months of the date of cancellation or date of cancellation order, whichever is later
GSTR11	Details of inward supplies to be furnished by a person having (UIN account )	Person having UIN account and claiming refund number	every 28th of the month following the month for which statement is filed

All these above returns are required to be filed (digitally) online through a common portal to be provided by GSTN, non-government, private limited company promoted by the central and state governments with the specific mandate to build the IT Infrastructure and the services required for implementing Goods and Services Tax (GST regime).

Does GST apply to me?

2017-07-05T03:35:00.002-07:00

Our tax laws are preparing to go through a historic change. GST or Goods and Services Tax is being prepared to replace existing taxes such as VAT, service tax, excise duty and several local state taxes and levies.

GST is expected to have a far reaching impact. Whether you run a business or provide a service, however big or small, it is very likely GST will impact you.

The government is preparing for a start date of 1st July 2017 for GST.

GST applies to all Businesses

Businesses includes – trade, commerce, manufacture, profession, vocation or any other similar activity, irrespective of its volume or frequency. It also includes supply of goods/ services for starting or closure of a business.

Services means anything other than goods. It is likely that services & goods carry a different GST rate.

GST applies to all persons

Persons includes – Individuals, HUF, Company, Firm, LLP, AOP, Co-operative society, Society, Trust etc. However, GST does not apply to Agriculturists.

Agriculture includes floriculture, horticulture, sericulture, raising of crops, grass or garden produce. But does not include dairy farming, poultry farming, stock breeding, gathering of fruit or rearing of seedlings or plants.

GST registration required when

Having a PAN is mandatory to obtain GST registration. However, non-resident person can get GST registration on the of basis other documents, which the government may prescribe.

One registration shall be required for each state. The taxpayer can choose to get separate registrations for its different business verticals in the State.

GST registration is MANDATORY in the following cases –

TURNOVER BASIS

You must collect and pay GST when your turnover in a financial year exceeds Rs. 20lakhs. [Limit is Rs 10lakhs for some special category states]. These limits apply for payment of GST.

“Aggregate turnover” means the aggregate value of all taxable supplies,exempt supplies, exports of goods and/or services and inter-State supplies of a person having the same PAN, to be computed on all India basis and excludes taxes, if any, charged under the CGST Act, SGST Act and the IGST Act, as the case may be.

OTHER CASES [GST registration is mandatory irrespective of turnover]

Those making inter-state supply of goods/services

Any person who supplies goods/services in a taxable territory and has no fixed place of business – referred to as casual taxable persons. Registration issued to such a person is valid for a period of 90 days.

Any person who supplies goods/services and has no fixed place of business in India – referred to as non-resident taxable persons. Registration issued to such a person is valid for a period of 90 days.

Person required to pay tax under reverse charge mechanism. Reverse charge mechanism means where the person receiving the goods/services has to pay tax instead of the supplier.

Agents or any other person who makes supply on behalf of other registered taxable persons

Distributors or input service distributors. This person has the same PAN as the office of the supplier. This person is an officer of the supplier, he receives supplies and issues tax invoice to distribute credit of CGST/SGST/IGST.

E-Commerce Operator

Persons who supplies (except branded services) via an e-commerce operator

Aggregator supplying services under his brand name
Person supplying online information and database access or retrieval services from a place outside India to a person in India, other than a registered taxable person.

What is GST? Goods & Services Tax Law Explained for Beginners

2017-07-05T03:34:00.001-07:00

The Goods and Services Tax or GST is scheduled to be launched on the 1st of July, and it is set to revolutionize the way we do our taxes. But what is GST and how will it reform the current tax structure? And most importantly, why does the country need such a huge overhaul in its taxation policies? We answer these pressing questions in this in-depth article.

Contents

# What is GST?

# Why is Goods and Services Tax so Important?

# How does GST work?

# How will GST help India and common man?

# GST Law in India – A Detailed History

# Summary

What is GST?

Goods & Services Tax is a comprehensive, multi-stage, destination-based tax that will be levied on every value addition.

To understand this, we need to understand the concepts under this definition. Let us start with the term ‘Multi-stage’. Now, there are multiple steps an item goes through from manufacture or production to the final sale. Buying of raw materials is the first stage. The second stage is production or manufacture. Then, there is the warehousing of materials. Next, comes the sale of the product to the retailer. And in the final stage, the retailer sells you – the end consumer – the product, completing its life cycle.

So, if we had to look at a pictorial description of the various stages, it would look like:

Goods and Services Tax will be levied on each of these stages, which makes it a multi-stage tax. How? We will see that shortly, but before that, let us talk about ‘Value Addition’.

Let us assume that a manufacturer wants to make a shirt. For this he must buy yarn. This gets turned into a shirt after manufacture. So, the value of the yarn is increased when it gets woven into a shirt. Then, the manufacturer sells it to the warehousing agent who attaches labels and tags to each shirt. That is another addition of value after which the warehouse sells it to the retailer who packages each shirt separately and invests in marketing of the shirt thus increasing its value.

GST will be levied on these value additions – the monetary worth added at each stage to achieve the final sale to the end customer.

There is one more term we need to talk about in the definition – Destination-Based. Goods and Services Tax will be levied on all transactions happening during the entire manufacturing chain. Earlier, when a product was manufactured, the centre would levy an Excise Duty on the manufacture, and then the state will add a VAT tax when the item is sold to the next stage in the cycle. Then there would be a VAT at the next point of sale.

So, earlier the pattern of tax levy was like this:

Now, Goods and Services Tax will be levied at every point of sale. Assume that the entire manufacture process is happening in Rajasthan and the final point of sale is in Karnataka. Since Goods & Services Tax is levied at the point of consumption, so the state of Rajasthan will get revenue in the manufacturing and warehousing stages, but lose out on the revenue when the product moves out Rajasthan and reaches the end consumer in Karnataka. This means that Karnataka will earn that revenue on the final sale, because it is a destination-based tax and this revenue will be collected at the final point of sale/destination which is Karnataka.

Browse GST articles by Topic

Registration	Returns	Invoice
Transition to GST	Composition Scheme	Penalties & Appeals
News & Announcements	Input Tax Credit	Analysis & Opinions
GST Software	Accounts & Record	Time, Place & Value of Supply
Procedure	Payments & Refunds	GST Terms

Why is Goods and Services Tax so Important?

So, now that we have defined GST, let us talk about why it will play such a significant role in transforming the current tax structure, and therefore, the economy.

Currently, the Indian tax structure is divided into two – Direct and Indirect Taxes. Direct Taxes are levies where the liability cannot be passed on to someone else. An example of this is Income Tax where you earn the income and you alone are liable to pay the tax on it.

In the case of Indirect Taxes, the liability of the tax can be passed on to someone else. This means that when the shopkeeper must pay VAT on his sale, he can pass on the liability to the customer. So, in effect, the customer pays the price of the item as well as the VAT on it so the shopkeeper can deposit the VAT to the government. This means that the customer must pay not just the price of the product, but he also pays the tax liability, and therefore, he has a higher outlay when he buys an item.

This happens because the shopkeeper has paid a tax when he bought the item from the wholesaler. To recover that amount, as well as to make up for the VAT he must pay to the government, he passes the liability to the customer who has to pay the additional amount. There is currently no other way for the shopkeeper to recover whatever he pays from his own pocket during transactions and therefore, he has no choice but to pass on the liability to the customer.

Goods and Services Tax will address this issue after it is implemented. It has a system of Input Tax Credit which will allow sellers to claim the tax already paid, so that the final liability on the end consumer is decreased.

How does GST work?

A nationwide tax reform cannot function without strict guidelines and provisions. The GST Council has devised a fool proof method of implementing this new tax regime by dividing it into three categories. Wondering how they work? Let our experts explain this to you in detail.

When Goods and Services Tax is implemented, there will be 3 kinds of applicable Goods and Services Taxes:

CGST: where the revenue will be collected by the central government

SGST: where the revenue will be collected by the state governments for intra-state sales

IGST: where the revenue will be collected by the central government for inter-state sales

In most cases, the tax structure under the new regime will be as follows:

Transaction	New Regime	Old Regime	Comments
Sale within the state	CGST + SGST	VAT + Central Excise/Service tax	Revenue will now be shared between the Centre and the State
Sale to another State	IGST	Central Sales Tax + Excise/Service Tax	There will only be one type of tax (central) now in case of inter-state sales.

Example

A dealer in Maharashtra sold goods to a consumer in Maharashtra worth Rs. 10,000. The Goods and Services Tax rate is 18% comprising CGST rate of 9% and SGST rate of 9%. In such cases the dealer collects Rs. 1800 and of this amount, Rs. 900 will go to the central government and Rs. 900 will go to the Maharashtra government.

Now, let us assume the dealer in Maharashtra had sold goods to a dealer in Gujarat worth Rs. 10,000. The GST rate is 18% comprising of CGST rate of 9% and SGST rate of 9%. In such case the dealer has to charge Rs. 1800 as IGST. This IGST will go to the Centre. There will no longer be any need to pay CGST and SGST.

How will GST help India and common man?

The basis of Goods and Services Tax is the seamless flow of Input Tax Credit (ITC) along the entire value addition chain. At every step of the manufacturing process, businesses will have the option to claim the tax already paid in the previous transaction. Understanding this process is crucial for businesses. A detailed explanation here.

To understand this, let us first understand what is Input Tax Credit. It is the credit an individual receives for the tax paid on the inputs used in manufacturing the product. So, if there is a 10% tax that the individual must submit to the government, he can subtract the amount he has paid in taxes at the time of purchase and submit the balance amount to the government.

Let us understand this with a hypothetical numerical example.

Say a shirt manufacturer pays Rs. 100 to buy raw materials. If the rate of taxes is set at 10%, and there is no profit or loss involved, then he has to pay Rs. 10 as tax. So, the final cost of the shirt now becomes Rs (100+10=) 110.

At the next stage, the wholesaler buys the shirt from the manufacturer at Rs. 110, and adds labels to it. When he is adding labels, he is adding value. Therefore, his cost increases by say Rs. 40. On top of this, he has to pay a 10% tax, and the final cost therefore becomes Rs. (110+40=) 150 + 10% tax = Rs. 165.

Now, the retailer pays Rs. 165 to buy the shirt from the wholesaler because the tax liability had passed on to him. He has to package the shirt, and when he does that, he is adding value again. This time, let’s say his value add is Rs. 30. Now when he sells the shirt, he adds this value (plus the VAT he has to pay the government) to the final cost. So, the cost of the shirt becomes Rs. 214.5 Let us see a breakup for this:

Cost = Rs. 165 + Value add = Rs. 30 + 10% tax = Rs. 195 + Rs. 19.5 = Rs. 214.5

So, the customer pays Rs. 214.5 for a shirt the cost price of which was basically only Rs. 170 (Rs 110 + Rs. 40 + Rs. 30). Along the way the tax liability was passed on at every stage of transaction and the final liability comes to rest with the customer. This is called the Cascading Effect of Taxes where a tax is paid on tax and the value of the item keeps increasing every time this happens.

Action	Cost	10% Tax	Total
Buys Raw Material @ 100	100	10	110
Manufactures @ 40	150	15	165
Adds value @ 30	195	19.5	214.5
Total	170	44.5	214.5

In the case of Goods and Services Tax, there is a way to claim credit for tax paid in acquiring input. What happens in this case is, the individual who has paid a tax already can claim credit for this tax when he submits his taxes.

In our example, when the wholesaler buys from the manufacturer, he pays a 10% tax on his cost price because the liability has been passed on to him. Then he adds value of Rs. 40 on his cost price of Rs. 100 and this brings up his cost to Rs. 140. Now he has to pay 10% of this price to the government as tax. But he has already paid one tax to the manufacturer. So, this time what he does is, instead of paying Rs (10% of 140=) 14 to the government as tax, he subtracts the amount he has paid already. So, he deducts the Rs. 10 he paid on his purchase from his new liability of Rs. 14, and pays only Rs. 4 to the government. So, the Rs. 10 becomes his input credit.

When he pays Rs. 4 to the government, he can pass on its liability to the retailer. So, the retailer pays Rs. (140+14=) 154 to him to buy the shirt. At the next stage, the retailer adds value of Rs. 30 to his cost price and has to pay a 10% tax on it to the government. When he adds value, his price becomes Rs. 170. Now, if he had to pay 10% tax on it, he would pass on the liability to the customer. But he already has input credit because he has paid Rs.14 to the wholesaler as the latter’s tax. So, now he reduces Rs. 14 from his tax liability of Rs. (10% of 170=) 17 and has to pay only Rs. 3 to the government. And therefore, he can now sell the shirt for Rs. (140+30+17) 187 to the customer.

Action	Cost	10% Tax	Actual Liability	Total
Buys Raw Material	100	10	10	110
Manufactures @ 40	140	14	4	154
Adds Value @ 30	170	17	3	187
Total	170		17	187

In the end, every time an individual was able to claim input tax credit, the sale price for him reduced and the cost price for the person buying his product reduced because of a lower tax liability. The final value of the shirt also therefore reduced from Rs. 214.5 to Rs. 187, thus reducing the tax burden on the final customer.

So essentially, Goods & Services Tax is going to have a two-pronged benefit. One, it will reduce the cascading effect of taxes, and second, by allowing input tax credit, it will reduce the burden of taxes and, hopefully, prices.

GST Law in India – A Detailed History

GST is not a new phenomenon. It was first implemented in France in 1954, and since then many countries have implemented this unified taxation system to become part of a global whole. Now that India is adopting this new tax regime, let us look back at the how and when of the Goods and Services Tax and its history in the nation.

France was the world’s first country to implement GST Law in the year 1954. Since then, 159 other countries have adopted the GST Law in some form or other. In many countries, VAT is the substitute for GST, but unlike the Indian VAT system, these countries have a single VAT tax which fulfills the same purpose as GST.

In India, the discussion on GST Law was flagged off in the year 2000, when the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee brought the issue to the table.

History of GST in India – Year by Year Events

Summary

The idea behind having one consolidated indirect tax to subsume multiple currently existing indirect taxes is to benefit the Indian economy in a number of ways:

It will help the country’s businesses gain a level playing field
It will put us on par with foreign nations who have a more structured tax system
It will also translate into gains for the end consumer who not have to pay cascading taxes any more
There will now be a single tax on goods and services

In addition to the above,

The Goods and Services Tax Law aims at streamlining the indirect taxation regime. As mentioned above, GST will subsume all indirect taxes levied on goods and service, including State and Central level taxes. The GST mechanism is an advancement on the VAT system, the idea being that a unified GST Law will create a seamless nationwide market.
It is also expected that Goods and Services Tax will improve the collection of taxes as well as boost the development of Indian economy by removing the indirect tax barriers between states and integrating the country through a uniform tax rate.

50 Beautiful and Amazing Photos of India

2017-07-05T03:23:00.000-07:00

The Beauty of India: 50 Beautiful and Amazing Photos of India

Nelliyampathy hill ranges

gir national park

lakshman jhula

shimoga waterfalls karnataka

Thalaiyuthu

Padmasambhava Buddhist Center

majali in assam

europe waterfalls

Pangong lake is located nearly 150kms away from Leh city

Taj mahal - Agra

Images for moonar

Rameshwaram Pamban Bridge

Images for kerala houseboat

jammu and kashmir holy places

Hampi

Hussain Sagar

Images for mahabaleshwar

mohangarh fort

rishikesh water rafting

kerala kalari fight

himalaya kanchenjunga

darjiling toy train

madhya pradesh khajuraho

agra fort

mysore palace

Chaukhamba is one the most beautiful peaks in Uttarakhand

srinagar dal lake

Images for murudeshwar karnataka

mumbai sea link bridge

guruvayur sri krishna temple

kedhar nadeswaram temple

Images for indian navy aircraft

Punjab Amritsar - Golden temple

How Hybrid Cars Work

2015-02-18T01:53:00.002-08:00

How Hybrids Work - Fuel Economy

Hybrid cars like the 2007 Honda Civic Hybrid are designed for fuel efficiency and low emissions. See more hybrid car pictures.

Have you pulled your car up to the gas pump lately and been shocked by the high price of gasoline? As the pump clicked past $20, $30, $40 or even $50, maybe you thought about trading in your car for something that gets better mileage. Or maybe you're worried that your car is contributing to the greenhouse effect.

The auto industry has the technology to address these concerns. It's the hybrid car. There are a lot of hybrid models on the market these days, and most automobile manufacturers have announced plans to manufacture their own versions.

How does a hybrid automobile work? What goes on under the hood to give you 20 or 30 more miles per gallon than the standard automobile? And does it pollute less just because it gets better gas mileage? In this article, we'll help you understand how this technology works, and we'll even give you some tips on how to drive a hybrid car for maximum efficiency.

Many people have probably owned a hybrid vehicle at some point. For example, a mo-ped (a motorized pedal bike) is a type of hybrid because it combines the power of a gasoline engine with the pedal power of its rider. In fact, hybrid vehicles are all around us. Most of the locomotives we see pulling trains are diesel-electric hybrids. Cities like Seattle have diesel-electric buses -- these can draw electric power from overhead wires or run on diesel when they are away from the wires. Giant mining trucks are often diesel-electric hybrids. Submarines are also hybrid vehicles -- some are nuclear-electric and some are diesel-electric. Any vehicle that combines two or more sources of power that can directly or indirectly provide propulsion power is a hybrid. Most hybrid cars on the road right now are gasoline-electric hybrids, although French car maker PSA Peugeot Citroen has two diesel-electric hybrid cars in the works. Since gasoline hybrids are the kind you'll find at your local car dealership, we'll focus on those in this article.

agni-5-sets

2015-02-05T04:08:00.000-08:00

பெங்களூரு: அக்னி-5 ஏவுகணை வெற்றி புதிய அத்தியாயத்தை தொடங்க வழிகோலியுள்ளதாக பெருமை தெரிவித்தார் இந்திய பாதுகாப்பு ஆராய்ச்சி மற்றும் மே்பாட்டு அமைப்பின் (drdo) முன்னாள் தலைவர் அவினாஷ் சந்தர். அணு ஆயுதங்களுடன் கண்டம் விட்டு கண்டம் பாய்ந்து சென்று தாக்கும் அக்னி-5 ஏவுகணை சோதனை கடந்த வாரம் வெற்றிகரமாக நடந்தது. இந்தியாவிடம் ஏற்கனவே பிருதிவி, ஆகாஷ், நாக், திரிசூல், அக்னி ஏவுகணைகள் உள்ளன. அக்னி ரக ஏவுகணைகளில் அக்னி-1 ஏவுகணை 700 கிலோ மீட்டர் தூரமும், அக்னி-2 ஏவுகணை 2 ஆயிரம் கி.மீ. தூரமும், அக்னி-3 ஏவுகணை 2,500 கி.மீ. தூரமும், அக்னி-4 ஏவுகணை 3,500 கி.மீ. தூரமும் சென்று தாக்க வல்லவை. 17.5 மீட்டர் நீளமும் 2 மீட்டர் அகலமும் கொண்ட அக்னி-5 ஏவுகணை கண்டம் விட்டு கண்டம் பாய்ந்து சென்று தாக்கும் திறன் கொண்டது. 1 டன் எடையுள்ள அணுஆயுதங்களை சுமந்தபடி 5 ஆயிரத்துக்கும் அதிகமான கிலோ மீட்டர் தூரம் பாய்ந்து சென்று இலக்கை தாக்கக்கூடியது.

தொலை தூரம் பாய்ந்து தாக்கும் அக்னி-5 ஏவுகணை வெற்றிகரமாக சோதித்து பார்க்கப்பட்ட நிலையில், (அப்போதைய) டிஆர்டிஓ தலைவர் அவினாஷ் சந்தர் 'ஒன்இந்தியாவுக்கு' அளித்த சிறப்பு பேட்டி: அக்னி-5 ஏவுகணை எங்களுக்கு மறக்க முடியாத அனுபவத்தை தந்துள்ளது. நடமாடும் வாகனத்தில் இருந்து இதுபோன்ற ஒரு சக்தி வாய்ந்த ஏவுகணையை ஏவியது முக்கியத்துவம் வாய்ந்ததாகும். எனவே, எந்த ஒரு இடத்தில் இருந்தும், சக்தி வாய்ந்த ஏவுகணையை ஏவும் நம்பிக்கையை கொடுத்துள்ளது. குறிதவறாமல் இலக்கை தாக்கும் இந்த ஏவுகணை, டிஆர்டிஓ வரலாற்றில் ஒரு மைல் கல்லாகும். இன்னும் பல ஏவுகணை சோதனைகள் நடத்த இந்த வெற்றி உதவும். இவ்வாறு அவர் தெரிவித்தார்.

Important Regional (folk) Dances and States

2015-02-05T03:36:00.000-08:00

RRB General knowledge questions

Important Regional (folk) Dances and States

Bihu - Assam

* Sattriya - Assam

Ottam Thullal - Kerala

* Kathakali - Kerala

Yakshagana - Karnataka

Bhangra - Punjab

Tamasha - Maharashtra

Koli - Maharashtra

Nautanki - Uttar Pradesh

Garba - Gujarat

Chau dance - Orissa ,Bihar

Cheraw (Bamboo Dance) - Mizoram

Kummi - Tamil Nadu

Bharatanatyam -  Tamil Nadu


Lahoo Dance - Meghalaya

Kalbelia - Rajasthan ( UNESCO heritage list)

Kuchipudi - Andhra pradesh

Kottam - Andhra pradesh


Important GK Questions about Dance

1. Which place did bharatanatyam originate?
Answer: Tamil Nadu

2. Which dance is associated with the personality Rukmini Devi Arundale ?
Answer: Bharatanatyam

3. Which dance is known as the "Ballet of East" ?
Answer: Manipuri

4. Which dance is based on Geethagovindam wrote by Jayadevan ?
Answer: Odissi dance

5. Which place did Kuchipudi dance originate?
Answer: kuchipudi village in Andhra Pradesh

6. Which dance is associated with the personality Siddhendra Yogi ?
Answer: Kuchipudi dance

7. Where did the dance Kathak originate?
Answer: Uttar Pradesh

* 8. What is the total number of classical dances in India ?
Answer: 8

* 9. Which state has most number of classical dances ?
Answer: Kerala (Kathakali,Mohiniyattam)

* 10. Which dance form was originated in majuli island ?
Answer: Sattriya

Tourist places of Tamil Nadu

2015-02-05T03:34:00.002-08:00

Tamil Nadu – Tamil Nadu means the lend of the Tamil speaking, the thousands of year old highly developed Dravidian language that is stile alive here almost in its original purity.A rich tradition of literature and arts has flourished in Tamil Nadu For about 2000 years splendid temples that dot the country bear witness to the architectural achievements of the Tamils. The Pallavas. Cholas and Pandyas-early Dravidian calns-that rules this southern wedge of the Indian peninsula- all contributed to the development of this architectural style. Marvellous old temple towns all over Tamil Nadu with their ancient rituals and festivals are living museums. For the visitor, Tamil Nadu offers golden beaches on the Coromandel coast, cool scenic hill resorts in the depth of the western Ghats and exciting wildlife reserves and sanctuaries. Tamil Nadu is noted for its tradition of exquisite textile and handicrafts. Rich jewel- colored silks, elegant bronzes cast in the style of the ancient chola Craftsmen, brass temple lamps, intricately, carved wood and stone are part of the artistic wealth of Tamil Nadu. No visit to Tamil Nadu is complete without witnessing a performance of Bharatanatyam , where beautiful dancers decked in silk and flowers bring alive the statuesque poses of exquisite temple sculpture.

Tourist places of Tamil Nadu

Madras- Capital and gateway to the state, it is a major trade centre, well important cities besides being a sea port. It is also the Hollywood of south India. British architecture is very strong here. Fort St. George, St. Mary’s Church, St. George’s Cathedral, St. Andrew’s Kirk, Santhome Basilica, Kapaleeswarar temple, Ashtalakshmi temple, the big mosque, Fort Museum, Government Museum, National Art Gallery, Bronze Galley, Anna Square, Marina Beach, Elliots Beach, Velankanni Church, Valluvar Kottam, Snake Park, Children’s Park,deer sanctuary, Planetarium, Kalakshetra, theosophicalSociety, Cholamandalam- the aritist’s village, Arignar Anna Zoological Park,Vandalur. Airport; Madras.

Parthasarathy temple is the 8th Century Vaishnavite Hindu temple at Triplicane, Chennai, is dedicated to Lord Krishna is probably the oldest temple in Chennai.. It is one of 108 divyadesams or holy places of the god Vishnu. Name ‘Parthasarathy’ in Sanskrit means ‘charioteer of Arjuna’, and Lord Krishna is revered in this role in this temple. There are separate Dwajasthambams (flag) and entrances for Lord Parthasarathy and Lord Narasimha. Temple was initially built by Pallavas in the 8th century and later renovated by Cholas and the Vijayanagara kings in the 11th century. One of the characteristic features is that it includes four deities, avatars, or incarnation of Vishnu: Narasimha (lion), Rama, Varaha (boar) and Venkata Krishna.

Udhagamandalam ( Ooty), Kadaikanal, Yercaud – hill resorts.

Mamallapuram ( Mahabalipuram)- beach resort where there are pallava period monuments of world fame. Among them Arjuna’s penance, the world’s largest bas frlif is noteworthy.

Poompuhar- Monuments complex recapturing ancient glory, it was once a great sea port.

Kanniyakumari- Pilgrim town, beach resort (Vattakottai) and the southern most tip of India. Vivekananda rock Memorial just off the coast.

Courtallam, Hogenakal- health resorts famous for their waterfalls.

Covelong, Muthukadu – beach resorts, boating and windsurfing. Airport: Madras.

Mudumalai, Vedanthangal, Point Calimere, Mundanthurai, Kalakkadu, Anaimalai- Wildlife and bird sanctuaries.

Nagore- famous for its dargah.

Velankanni –church noted for the shrine of our lady of health

Kodaikanal is one of the most visited tourist destinations. It is open all year, thanks to its pleasant climate. The mountain station is very calm and collected, because of its clean air and the old world heritage of the city from the period of British colonial times.

Kodaikanal is a delightful and gorgeous hill station in the middle Palan Hills near Madurai in Tamil Naduhiding. The presence of various tourist attractions such as Berijam lake, which is one of the most beautiful lakes in the south of India, besides the natural beauty and tranquility of the hill resort to a very popular tourist destination.
Kodaikanal is situated at an altitude of approximately 2133 m. The small mountain village located only covers 21.45 ha-km. is known for its reputation of educational institutions. The hill station is also very famous for its bananas, fruit and plums, because of their freshness and flavor.

Kodaikanal unique thing is that her beauty is not related to urbanization, which have been contaminated appeared on a different hill stations. There are a number of rows of beautiful pine trees, clear springs and spectacular views of mild weather. With her wooded slopes, mighty rocks, enchanting waterfalls and beautiful Lake Kodaikanal required to fascinate any visitor.

Like most other hill stations runs the town’s economy on tourism. Kodaikanal visiting season is from April to June and the second season is from October to January. During this time, the capacities of all the hotels booked and the city is full of tourists from all over. The rest of the off-peak hours is a good time to visit and explore how the city is almost empty.

There are several other destinations of interest and to Kodaikanal, among them the Kodaikanal lake (a reservoir), Bryant Park, COAKER go, Bear Shola Falls Shembaganur Museum of Natural History, is PAMB nose dolphins (also Liril falls after the famous Liril Advertising Soap was made here in 1985.)

Kodaikanal is well on the road to the nearby cities Madurai, Trichy and Coimbatore, which connected all airports. The nearest railheads are Palan, Kodi Dingul road and rail junction. 2 to 3 hours by car to kodai through steep and winding stairs from the street or Batlagundu Palan is a memorable experience. Passengers to points on the road to stop and enjoy the beautiful landscape of hills Palan.

Kodaikanal with all its environs offer the tourists a trip of a lifetime with the chance of the closeness to nature and a remarkable experience.

Tamil General Knowledge questions

2015-02-05T03:26:00.003-08:00

பொது அறிவு கேள்வி பதில்கள்-tamil general knowledge QA

சில பயனுள்ள பொது அறிவு கேள்வி பதில்கள்:
1. ஒரு தடவை கூட லோக்சபாவிற்கு செல்லாத இந்திய பிரதமர் யார்?
திரு. சரண்சிங்.

2. உலக சுற்றுச்சூழல் தினம் எப்போது கடைபிடிக்கப்படுகிறது?
ஜூன் 5.

3. மனித உடலில் வியர்க்காத பகுதி எது?
உதடு.

4. ஒரு ஹெக்டார் என்பது எவ்வளவு ஏக்கர்?
கிட்டத்தட்ட 2.5 ஏக்கர்.

5. வேர்க்கடலையின் அறிவியல் பெயர் என்ன?
அராக்கிஸ் ஹைபோஜியா.

6. பஞ்ச தந்திர கதைகளை எழுதியவர் யார்?
விஷ்ணு சர்மா.

7. வருடத்தின் ஒரே நாளில் 24 மணிநேரத்தில் பகலும், இரவும் சரியாக
12 மணிநேரம் மட்டும் வருவது எந்த நாளில்?
மார்ச்சு 21.

8. மனித தலையில் உள்ள மொத்த எலும்புகள் எத்தனை?
22 .

9. ஈக்களின் சுவை உணர் உறுப்பு எது?
நாக்கு.

10. தமிழில் வெளிவந்த முதல் வரலாற்று நூல் எது?
மோகனாங்கி.

11. பாலில் உள்ளதை விட அதிக கால்சியம் உள்ள காய்கறி எது?
வெங்காயம்.

12. கவிஞர் கண்ணதாசன் பாடல் எழுதிய கடைசி படம் எது?
மூன்றாம் பிறை.

13. தமிழில் முதல் நாவல் எழுதியவர் யார்?
தமிழில் முதல் நாவலை எழுதியவர் மாயூரம் வேதநாயகம் பிள்ளை. அவர் 1879ல் எழுதிய 'பிரதாப முதலியார் சரித்திரம்'தான் தமிழில் முதல் உரைநடை வடிவ நாவல்.

14. நமது இந்திய நேரம் எந்த இடத்தினை அடிப்படையாய் வைத்து கணிக்கப்படுகிறது?
அலகாபாத்.

General Knowledge objective type Questions in Hindi...

2015-02-05T03:22:00.001-08:00

General Knowledge objective type Questions in Hindi (सामान्य ज्ञान )

1.राष्ट्रध्वज की लंबाई और चौड़ाई का अनुपात क्या है?
(A)2:1
(B)3:2
(C)4:3
(D)5:4
Ans: B
2.DVD का पूरा नाम क्या है?
(A)डिमांड व्हीडियो डिस्क (Demand Video Disc)
(B)डिजिटल व्होलेटिक डिस्क (Digital Volatile Disc)
(C)डिजिटल व्हायेबल डिस्क (Digitally Viable Disc)
(D)डिजिटल व्हर्सटाइल डिस्क (Digital Versatile Disc)
Ans: D
3.संसार की सबसे लंबी नदी कौन सी है?
(A)मिसीसिपी
(B)नील
(C)अमेजान
(D)गंगा
Ans: B
4.हमारा राष्ट्रीय चिह्न कहाँ से लिया गया है?
(A)साँची के स्तूप से
(B)सिन्धुघाटी में मिले अवशेष से
(C)सारनाथ में स्थित अशोक स्तम्भ से
(D)गया स्थित बौद्धविहार से
Ans: C
5.यदि राष्ट्रपति अपना त्यागपत्र देना चाहें तो वे अपना त्यागपत्र किन्हें देंगे?
(A)प्रधानमन्त्री
(B)स्पीकर
(C)उपराष्ट्रपति
(D)भारत के प्रमुख न्यायमूर्ति
Ans: C
6.अकबर का मकबरा कहाँ पर स्थित है?
(A)आगरा
(B)सिकंदरा
(C)फतेहपुर सीकरी
(D)दिल्ली
Ans: B
7.ग्राण्ड ट्रंक सड़क की योजना किसने बनाई थी?
(A)चन्द्रगुप्त
(B)शेरशाह सूरी
(C)अकबर
(D)लॉर्ड कर्जन
Ans: B
8.”दलाल स्ट्रीट” कहाँ स्थित है?
(A)मुम्बई
(B)दिल्ली
(C)लंदन
(D)न्यूयार्क
Ans: A
9.नासिक में किस नदी के किनारे कुम्भ मेला लगता है?
(A)गंगा
(B)सतलज
(C)महानदी
(D)गोदावरी
Ans: D
10.छत्तीसगढ़ राज्य की राजधानी क्या है?
(A)राँची
(B)भोपाल
(C)रायपुर
(D)देहरादून
Ans: C
11.”जवाहर सागर” बाँध किस नदी पर स्थित है?
(A)कृष्णा
(B)चम्बल
(C)बेतवा
(D)सतलज
Ans: B
12.भारत का कौन सा राज्य “चीनी का कटोरा” के नाम से जाना जाता है?
(A)उत्तरांचल
(B)उत्तर प्रदेश
(C)हिमाचल प्रदेश
(D)बिहार
Ans: B
13.भारत का सबसे बड़ा बन्दरगाह कौन सा है?
(A)मुम्बई
(B)कोलकाता
(C)विशाखापट्टनम
(D)कोच्चि
Ans: A
14.भौगोलिक दृष्टि से भारत की प्राचीनतम पर्वत श्रृंखला कौन सी है?
(A)हिमालय
(B)विन्ध्याचल
(C)अरावली
(D)सतपुड़ा
Ans: C
15.सिन्धु नदी का उदगम स्थल कहाँ है?
(A)डल झील
(B)मानसरोवर झील
(C)शेषनाग झील
(D)वुलर झील
Ans: B
16.निम्नलिखित में से कौन भारतीय राष्ट्रीय कांग्रेस के अध्यक्ष कभी नहीं बने?
(A)गोपालकृष्ण गोखले
(B)सुभाषचन्द्र बोस
(C)बाल गंगाधर तिलक
(D)बदरुद्दीन तैयब जी
Ans: C
17.गांधी जी के “राजनैतिक गुरु” कौन थे?
(A)चितरंजन दास
(B)बाल गंगाधर तिलक
(C)रानाडे
(D)गोपालकृष्ण गोखले
Ans: D
18.भारतीय राष्ट्रीय कांग्रेस के प्रथम मुस्लिम अध्यक्ष कौन थे?
(A)बदरुद्दीन तैयब जी
(B)मौलाना अबुल कलाम आजाद
(C)एम.ए. अन्सारी
(D)रफी अहमद किदवई
Ans: A
19.राष्ट्रध्वज के अशोक चक्र में कितनी तीलियाँ होती हैं?
(A)20
(B)24
(C)28
(D)32
Ans: B
20.भारत रत्न पुरष्कार प्राप्त करने वाले प्रथम व्यक्ति कौन हैं?
(A)पं. जवाहर लाल नेहरु
(B)मोहनदास करमचंद गांधी
(C)चक्रवर्ती राजगोपालाचारी
(D)डॉक्टर सर्वपल्ली राधाकृष्णन
Ans: D

India History of Independence

2015-02-05T03:17:00.000-08:00

¤ Sailing of San Gabriel To India

When the San Gabriel sailed around the Cape of Good Hope to finally dock at Calicut, a prosperous port and an independent principality on the Malabar Coast in May, 1498, half a century of the Portuguese tentative to find a sea route to India was finally crowned with success.

The man behind the quest was Vasco da Gama (1460-1524) – a devout Roman Catholic whose nightlong vigil in a Lisbon chapel before commending himself to the unsure waters had finally paid off. and if ‘Christians and spices’ were his twin pretext at the outset, da Gama’s successive visits to India, first in 1500 to set up a ‘factory’ or a trading base, then in 1502 to wreak havoc on the port and Arab trading vessels alike, proved that Portugal and its prime sailor had other things on their mind as well.
The Portuguese were probably here to stay, and da Gama was to earn himself the distinction of Governor of all Portuguese possessions in India in the twilight of his life.

While da Gamma paved the way for the Portuguese to India, Dom Alphonso D’Albuquerque (1495-1515) chalked out and consolidated Portugal’s trade routes to India during the sixteenth century.

¤ Portuguese Emerged As New Ruler

Albuquerque was an imperial rather than a commercial emissary of Portugal. Harnessing strategic ports mainly in the Persian Gulf, along the west coast of India and beyond, overrode the need to garner support of the local rulers. This drove him to capture Goa on the west coast of India in 1510, Melaka (Malacca) on the Malay peninsula in 1511, Hormuz at the opening of the Persian Gulf in 1515, Bassein in 1534, Daman and Diu in 1535 and Colombo in 1597. The series of offensives proved that the Portuguese were the new rulers of the roost.

Their mercantile and imperial strategies were paralleled by a drive to convert the masses to Roman Catholic Christianity. Temples disappeared from the Goan landscape to be replaced with churches, monasteries and seminaries. As the Portuguese Viceroy in India, Albuquerque encouraged mixed marriages with the intent of procuring fresh recruits, especially in the form of offsprings, to serve the Portuguese project in India and elsewhere.

However, with the rise of military, political and maritime mights like the Dutch and the English, History forced the Portuguese in India into the wings.

Unable to cast its net much further than Goa after being united to Spain, Portugal’s focus of interest shifted from India to more lucrative lands.

¤ The Arrival of Dutch

The Dutch sailed their ships eastward for the first time in 1595. However, their first stop was not India but Jakarta in Indonesia where they lost no time in establishing their monopoly over the spice trade. India was significant only insofar as it constituted part of the great Asian trade route that the Dutch had developed and that cut through Ceylon and Cape Town.

Even though in 1602, when the Dutch East India Company was chartered, the Dutch harboured no military ambitions about India, around 1605, a fleet of thirty-eight ships dispatched by the Dutch East India Company inflicted a crushing defeat on Portuguese ships off Johore and the Dutch wrested the fortress at Ambiona from Portuguese control. The unstoppable Dutch then went on to seize secret Portuguese maps and oceanic charts detailing the trade routes with India. These were soon to serve as guides to the eastern waters.

¤ Arrival of English

The English entered the East Indies almost as the same time as the Dutch. However, the English were quick to realise that the Dutch were unwilling to share their turf in the East Indies with them. The tenacity with which the Dutch refused to relent on the East Indies forced the British to turn to India. Spices in India abounded in the south but the trade monopoly of the local rulers and other Europeans had to be broken.

The British East India Company was established by the Royal Charter in 1600, and in course of time, the Protestant Dutch and English would embark upon the common project of eroding Catholic Spain and Portugal’s trade monopoly in the Indian Ocean.

It is interesting to note, however, that although the Dutch had their ‘factories’ in Cochin, Nagapatam and even up in Agra, they did not give the idea of military expansion in India much thought. The spice trade was rewarding and they were quite content with just that.

¤ French Also Making Forays Into India

The Dutch and the English were not the only nations to take an interest in India in those days.The seventeenth century also saw the French making forays into India. While the success stories of the Dutch and the British East India Companies were a motivating factor, the reasons for setting up the French East India Company were not mercantile.

The initial wave brought along men of letters, explorers, adventurers, missionaries et al. Jean Baptiste Tavernier and François Bernier’s vivid accounts of the Mughal kingdom and beyond went a long way in moulding Europe’s impressions about this distant, exotic and opulent land.

The French set up their first trading post in 1666 at Surat. The Sultan of Golconda then allowed them to set up another trading post in Masulipatam on the Coromandel Coast in 1669. In 1670, the Sultan gave the French land in Pondicherry. In the next two decades, the French obtained trading concessions in Bengal and Chandernagore, and established a post at Mahe on the Malabar coast of southwest India.

But the French East India Company did not turn out to be as prosperous as the Dutch and the British East India Companies.
Meanwhile, the British had made some important moves.

¤ British Developed Strong Relations With Mughals

Sir Thomas Roe arrived at the Mughal Emperor Jahangir’s court as the envoy of King James I of England, and stayed in India from 1614-1618. While William Hawkins had already initiated successful diplomatic relations with the Mughal court, Roe consolidated them further, gaining in the process not only friends in the Mughal court but also the Emperor’s permission to establish a British East India Company trading post at Surat. Roe’s diplomacy with the Mughals paid off so well that by 1618, the East India Company became their unspoken naval aide.

Henceforth the commercial rise of the British in India was meteoric. By 1661, Bombay was given to Charles II of England as dowry when he married Catherine of Braganza. Bombay was then dutifully passed on to the British East India Company. By 1708, around the dawn of the Modern Indian Era, the British found themselves quite comfortably placed in India, at least commercially.

and Aurangzeb’s exit from Indian History in 1707 and its aftermath were to eventually throw up the new keepers of India’s destiny – the British.

¤ The Decline of Mughal Court

The decline of the Mughal empire after Aurangzeb’s death was shockingly swift. (See Medieval Indian History). Power and glory bowed out to disarray and disgrace The state treasury ran dry. It was clearly an oft repeated moment in History when devoid of will, a dynasty lingered on, waiting to be saved or damned.

¤ The Advent of Nadir Shah

A series of disastrous invasions against Delhi finally broke its spirit. The first of these was led by the famous Persian king, Nadir Shah in 1739. At the time, the court in Delhi was fending off the Maratha offensive.
One of the finest ministers of the Mughal court , Nizam-ul-Mulk met Nadir when the latter arrived near Delhi and talked him out of his initial idea of sacking Delhi by offering him Rs 50,00,000. The matter would have been settled had not one of Nizam's rival generals at court convinced Nadir Shah that the latter was being short-changed. Delhi’s legendary wealth could not be relinquished for so paltry a sum.

Soon Nadir Shah marched over to Delhi in time to have a khutba read in his name. Unfortunately, it was around the same time that a rumour about Nadir Shah’s death spread in Delhi. Not only was this news greeted with jubilation by the inhabitants of Delhi, some of them went so far as to actually attack a few Iranian soldiers. No one could have forseen the consequences.

On March 11, 1739 an order was issued by Nadir Shah. Delhi witnessed yet another blood bath. Chandni Chowk, the fruit market, the Dariba bazaar and the buildings around the Jama Masjid were burnt to cinders. Each and every inhabitant of the area was killed in retaliation. People living around the area still point at the Khooni Darwaza (Gateway of Slaughter) in the old city and talk of the massacre as though it had taken place only the previous day. The royal treasury was sacked and its contents seized. When Nadir Shah left Delhi after 57 days, he also took along with him the fabulous Peacock Throne of the Mughals and the last remnants of the Mughal pride.

Lead by Ahmad Shah Abdali, an ex-general in Nadir Shah’s army, the Afghans were the next raiders of Delhi. Abdali led as many as seven invasions into India between 1748-1767.

In January 1757, Abdali captured Delhi. What followed was a carnage of the Nadir Shah vintage. After pillaging Delhi, the Afghans overran most of Northern India. It is said that after the sack of Mathura, Brindaban and Gokul, for `seven days the waters of the Jamuna flowed a blood-red colour.’

An outbreak of cholera in Abdali’s army forced him to withdraw, though not before making the Delhi court cough up around 120,000,000 rupees. He also demanded, and got Kashmir, Lahore, Sirhind and Multan. This, unfortunately, was not the last time that Abdali was to invade India.
and a retiring Delhi court would leave it to the Marathas to counter Abdali’s next invasion. Unable to resist the immense riches of Delhi, Abdali stormed the city again. On January 13, 1761, he took on the Maratha confederation, and humbled the Marathas in the third and final battle of Panipat, rooting out the possiblity of Maratha dominion over North India, at least for the next decade.

Abdali returned in 1764, driven once again by his lust not so much for power as for gold. His sixth invasion had the Sikhs, who had by then carved out a kingdom for themselves under the famous Maharaja Ranjit Singh, up in arms. The determined Sikhs, who never allowed the Marathas to establish themselves up north, now put up a stiff resistance. When Abdali invaded India for the last time in 1767, he met his comeuppance at the hands of the Sikhs who then took Lahore and Central Punjab. However the areas extending from Peshawar and beyond remained with Abdali.

¤ The Slow Rise of British

Against this troubled backdrop, the British rise to power was slow, but remarkably steady. Slow because the British had an uphill task to accomplish; first there were the French to deal with. The commercial rivalry amongst the British and the French had its roots in the prevailing political situation in Europe.
As long as the French carried on business in a small way in India, the British left them to themselves. But between 1720 and 1740, the French East India Company's trade with India recorded almost a ten-fold growth to measure upto half the volume of that the British East India Company at the time. The stakes were too high for either to ignore – especially since the British East India Company generated more than ten percent of England's revenue.

¤ The Rise of Carnatic War

This was the time when the War of Austrian Succession (1740-48) had broken out in Europe, following Fredrick the Great of Prussia's seizure of Silesia in 1740. The French and British found themselves in opposing camps in this war. Later, during the Seven Years War (1756-63), both were at loggerheads with each other once again, supporting rival camps. These two European wars were to have an immediate bearing on India’s political destiny.

Between 1746-48, the French and English finally came to blows in the first Carnatic War (1746-48) in the Deccan. Two more of these wars sealed the fate of the French East India Company in India.

The first Carnatic War was perhaps a fallout of the Austrian War of Succession. The fight was over Madras and though the French had captured it, it was given back to the English as part of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle of 1748. In the meanwhile the British and French had got their fleets upto the Indian mainland – an important development as the balance of power within the mainland was fast slanting in favour of the Europeans. and Dupleix, the French governor of the time, decided to turn the tide in France’s favour.

A shrewd and resourceful character with great diplomatic skills and a fine understanding of local politics, Dupleix was nevertheless difficult to work with because of his nervous temperament and inadequate military knowledge.

The opportunity Dupleix was waiting for came his way in 1748 when the Nawab of Arcot (in present Tamil Nadu) died leaving behind the question of succession unresolved. Dupleix succeeded in having a Nizam of his choice, Chanda Sahib enthroned. The new Nizam was supported by the old Nawab's grandson, Muzzafar Jung, and backed by French troops under the able command of de Bussy. The idea was to close in on Madras by surrounding it with French territory.

Everything would have gone off as planned but for Robert Clive who arrived in Madras as a clerk and proved himself to be a brilliant strategist. He laid the seige of Arcot in 1751 with a mere 210 men, turning Dupleix’s dream into a nightmare. Chanda Sahib was killed and a British nominee was placed on the throne of Arcot. Recalled to France in 1754, Dupleix retired in ignominy.

Dupleix was succeeded by Godeheu, who sued for peace with the British. Both the French and the British agreed not to interfere in India’s internal matters and went back to their old positions. The French also agreed to give up everything they had taken so far. Godeheu was denounced for having ‘signed the ruin of the country and the dishonour of the nation’, but the damage was done. The British had emerged much stronger after the second Carnatic War.

The third and final phase of this Anglo-French war for supremacy was precipitated by the Seven Years War in the shape of the third Carnatic War (1756-63). However, despite very fine French generals like de Bussy and Lally, the British inflicted a crushing defeat on the French who ended up losing practically everything they had in India.

The dream of the ‘dominion de l'empire de la France’ in India was over. and thanks to their naval supremacy, greater resources and steadier support from Europe, the British had emerged as the clear winners.

¤ British Rose To Power In India

Thereafter, the British steadily rose to power in India, at least till the Uprising of 1857.

The Uprising was a culmination of a number of factors. People were growing increasingly resentful of Britain’s political and cultural motives in India. But the mandatory use of Enfield Rifles, and cartridges greased with animal tallow – pig or cow – that were to be readied by mouth by practising Hindus and Muslims in the Sepoy Army of Indian troops, precipitated the event.

There is enough evidence to support the fact that the Uprising had been planned for months before the actual outbreak. However, revolutionaries failed to spread the word about it beyond Central India and Delhi, and the Uprising did not quite unfold as planned. Had it gone according to schedule, the Uprising would have broken out in many areas simultaneously and been difficult for the British to contain. However, as things turned out, trouble erupted sporadically in various places in May 1857 and there was little, if any, coordination between the outbreaks. For the British, quelling such a rebellion was hardly intimidating.

¤ The Revolt of 1857

Stories about the British and Indian confrontation in Delhi in 1857 abound. Tales of valour and bravery about both sides alternate with accounts of unimaginable horror and destruction.

The poet-Mughal in Delhi, Bahadur Shah Zafar, Tatia Tope of Gwalior (Gwalior itself did not rebel, Tope was merely a general), the Rani of Jhansi too joined in the rebellion as they had their own interests to protect. None of them would actually have rebelled had the British not rethought the `compensation’ that these rulers were being paid in exchange for a share in the governance.

The people of Delhi, Lucknow, Gwalior and the rest of India, however, had nothing to gain, at least not personally. Their war was not for a private kingdom; they were fighting for freedom.

Scholars and historians who have revisited the event have tried to define the Uprising in terms that were at times limiting or expansive – a simple Mutiny, India’s first National War of Independence, a Princely plot, to name few. In any case, it would be difficult to package the event in a single neat definition.

Following the Uprising, the British Crown in Parliament formally took over the responsibility of ruling India from the British East India Company.

What was happening in the Indian society all this while was difficult to overlook. A cultural revolution had been taking place even before the Uprising of 1857. Sati was banned, the Arya Samaj was a new religious alternative, education for women was encouraged and a whole new breed of intellectuals – mostly from Bengal – were making their presence felt. This new breed of Indians was a power to reckon with.

After the Uprising, India was poised at the dawn of a new era of political awareness.

¤ Indian National Congress Came Into Being

In December 1885, despite the Governor General of India, Lord Dufferin’s reluctance to endorse the idea, Allan Octavian Hume formed the Indian National Union (which would soon be renamed Indian National Congress), alongwith seventy-two learned Indian delegates hailing from different parts of the country. The Indian National Congress’ first meeting took place in Bombay in 1885, and was presided over by W C Bonnerjee.

In its early phase, referred to as the phase of the Moderates (1885-1905), the Congress pledged loyalty to the British. The moderates were a class of elite erudite men who were into philosophy and intellectual discussions; the much more popular peoples’ leaders were to follow. One of the most prominent leaders, Dadabhai Naoroji, wrote extensively to highlight the drain of wealth from India to Britain.

The Congress was soon to enter a turbulent phase, and in 1907, during the session at Surat, there was an open split in the party. The moderates led by Gopal Krishna Gokhale and Pherozeshah Mehta and those that the British qualified as extremists headed by Bal Gangadhar Tilak, parted ways. The Congress would regain its vitality only years later (1919-1934) under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi.

In 1905, Lord Curzon’s brainchild, the partition of Bengal was implemented. The decision evoked sharp reactions from all quarters of India. The day on which the partition came into effect was observed as a day of mourning and fasting throughout Bengal. Rabindranath Tagore, the famous Nobel-laureate and writer, passionately spoke out against it. This was the time when the Swadeshi movement was first launched; Indians participated in auto-da-fés of foreign goods and turned to indigenously manufactured articles. Lots of young leaders from Bengal took up the task of educating people. On August 15, 1906, a National Council of Education was set up under the educationist Aurobindo Ghose.

The government came down heavily on the agitators, disrupting meetings, insulting leaders and beating up peaceful protestors. In 1907, Lala Lajpat Rai and Sardar Ajit Singh were deported from the Punjab. In 1908, Bal Gangadhar Tilak was arrested and sentenced to six years of prison. Aurobindo Ghose was arrested, prosecuted and although acquitted, he chose to retire to Pondicherry.

The agitation against the partition of Bengal (although the partition was revoked in 1911) ushered in the age of Indian nationalism. It was a question of time before this nationalistic fervour settled down to the more concrete issue of how India was to cast aside the British yoke.

¤ Indian National Movement Continues

While Great Britain was entangled in World War I, India's national movement, despite being at a nascent stage, continued to throw up surprises. In December 1915, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, the first nationalist leader with a deep understanding of India’s grassroots, and a considerable following, voiced the idea of Home Rule (`swadeshi’, was a word the British were wary of). It was for the first time that someone had alluded to Home Rule being the goal of the Indian National Movement. On April 28, 1916, the Home Rule League was founded, with its headquarters in Poona (Pune). Tilak went on a whirlwind tour of the country, appealing to everybody to unite under the banner of Home Rule League. Annie Besant who subscribed to the cause herself assisted him in this task.

The implications of the Home Rule movement were clear to all now. The independence of India was the goal of the Indian national movement. But while the idea of independence was swiftly gaining ground, for the most part, the bougeoisie was still unsure about whether it needed to jump into the fray or hold itself at bay. Meanwhile the Crown rule decided to tighten the clamps. Laws were formulated to prevent agitations, undesirable elements were banned from entering India, propaganda came under government scrutiny – the British had reason to be nervous.

¤ Gandhiji

and then, as Jawaharlal Nehru would later say, Gandhi came.

He was not anyone's idea of a charismatic leader. Just a short, thin, shrivelled man, with what Sarojini Naidu called `Mickey Mouse ears’ and a twinkle in his eyes. He talked of ahimsa, or non-violence and ahimsa would finally disarm the British.

When Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi finally returned to India from South Africa at the age of 46, his arrival was preceded by his formidable reputation as a political leader. Moments after having docked at Bombay, he was asked to lead the National Movement.

Gandhi, however, declined, opting to get to know India thoroughly. The first causes he chose to associate with were minor local affairs, and the nationalist leaders of the time did not know what to make of this almost too-mild, too-moral and too-impractical maverick.

During 1917-18, with revolutionary conspiracies being on the rise within the country, the British grew progressively uneasy. To counter these, Justice S A T Rowlatt proposed the Rowlatt Acts. Among other things, this act empowered the government with special wartime controls that included the right to try political cases without a jury, and gave the provincial governments along with the centre, the power to imprison without trial. Gandhi, in his typical style, said that the repressive Rowlatt Acts raised issues of trust and self-respect, and hence needed be met with a moral response in the form of a hartal, or a protest that entailed striking work on April 8, 1919.

¤ The Massacre At Jallianwala Bagh

The flashpoint came in Punjab. On April 12, 1919, General R E H Dyer who had taken over the troops in Punjab the day before, prohibited all meetings and gatherings. So when a group of unarmed people congregated at the Jallianwala Bagh, a walled park with only a single narrow entrance, on April 13, 1919 to celebrate the Sikh festival of Baisakhi. What followed was to blight the pages of Indian History and its peoples’ minds for a very long time to come. A peaceful congregation had been transformed into an unmitigated blood bath.

Later, during the court martial, General Dyer coldly observed that he had fired only 1600 rounds of ammunition on the crowd as that was all he had. He added that he would have fired more had he so deemed fit.

The brutality of the Jallianwallah Bagh massacre shocked the country. It also shook the moderates out of their stupour and brought Gandhi out in the open.

¤ Congress Launched Non-Cooperation Movement

In 1920, under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi, the Indian National Congress launched the first movement of protest – the Non-Cooperation Movement. It involved surrendering all titles, honorary offices and nominated posts in local bodies. Government functions and darbars were to be boycotted. Parents were requested to withdraw their children from government schools and colleges. Indians stayed way from the British courts and army, and were to stand for elections to government and legislative bodies. Ahimsa or non-violence was to be observed strictly.

The magnitude of the Non Cooperation Movement amazed every political leader in India. Gandhi’s approach was not so meek after all. The idea appealed immensely to popular imagination and suddenly, in a single sweep, the Non-Cooperation Movement had touched every man on the street. People came out in droves to support Gandhi and his movement.

The government machinery did not actually break down, but came under visible strain. Unfortunately, at a time when the movement was showing signs of success, in Chauri Chaura, a mob of 3000 people killed 25 policemen and one officer. Similar incidents had taken place earlier on November 17, 1921, in Bombay and on January 13, 1922, in Madras. On February 7, Gandhi suspended the movement. He was arrested on March 13, 1922. Suddenly, the future of swaraj, or self-rule within a year seemed uncertain.

Gandhi came under fire from several quarters for disassociating himself from the Non-Cooperation Movement. The man of the masses took the masses along when he made his exit. and this was not to be the only time when differences of opinion cropped up in the Congress about Gandhi's actions. and each time, in the end, people invariably gave in to the Mahatma. Gandhi had won over the heart of an entire nation.

In 1927 the British government set up a committee headed by Sir John Simon to review the state of affairs in India. However, the committee that came to be known as the Simon Commission did not include even a single Indian. The Congress took umbrage to the omission.

At this time, young radicals like Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhash Chandra Bose were insisting on making total independence the goal of the Congress. At midnight, on December 31, 1929, Jawaharlal Nehru unfurled the Tricolor on the banks of the river Ravi in Punjab and the Congress called for purna swaraj, or complete Independence. January 26, 1930, was declared as Independence Day. From February 14 to 16, 1930, the Congress Working Committee met at Gandhi's famous ashram in Sabarmati and requested him to launch the Civil Disobedience Movement ‘at a time and place of his choice.’

On February 27, the plan for the agitation was made public. The entire nation was in ferment. Everyone, including the British, was curious to see what the Mahatma would do next.

On March 12, 1930, accompanied by 78 colleagues of the Sabarmati Ashram, Mahatma Gandhi embarked on a 60-mile march to the sea coast of Dandi. He intended to defy the new salt taxes that the government had levied and that would directly impact each and every peasant. To begin with, the government thought it better to ignore the event. However, soon the entire country was abuzz with hartals, protests, agitations, processions. The rising tide of discontent had to be checked. Gandhi was arrested on May 5, 1930. Abbas Tyabji took the relay to lead the movement. When Tyabji was arrested, Sarojini Naidu, the nightingale of India, replaced him.

All over India, the mood was upbeat, the atmosphere tense and the people on the streets. Louis Fischer wrote about the Civil Disobedience: "The British beat the Indians with batons and rifle butts. The Indians neither cringed nor complained nor retreated. That made England powerless and India invincible."

¤ First Round Table Conference

When the first Round Table Conference was held in London from November 12, 1930 to January 19, 1931, not a single member of the Congress attended it. The British now appealed to the Congress to work with them. Lord Irwin also declared that Mahatma Gandhi and the other members of the Congress Working Committee would soon be freed to consider the matter ‘freely and fearlessly.’

The Mahatma and Lord Irwin finally met. The result was the Gandhi-Irwin pact. Amongst other things, the Civil Disobedience Movement was withdrawn under the pact, and a second Round Table Conference with Congress participation was agreed upon. This peace did not last long. Gandhi attended the Second Round Table conference in London in 1931 as the sole representative of the Congress. He demanded control of foreign affairs and defence, and the matter of minorities, with little help from Muhammad Ali Jinnah, His Highness the Aga Khan and Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, ended in a complete deadlock. Gandhi returned to India on December 28, 1931 empty-handed.

By May 1934, the Civil Disobedience Movement had been completely withdrawn.

During World War II, the Congress decided that India should co-operate with Britain on the understanding that complete independence would be granted to India after that. The British, however were unwilling to discuss the issue of independence during wartime. This had the members of the Congress wondering about the intentions of the government. Meanwhile, the divide between Jinnah's Muslim League and the Congress' aims and demands had grown sharper. In early 1940, Jinnah declared Pakistan as the goal of the League.

After the fall of France in 1940, Gandhi declared, "We do not seek independence out of Britain's ruin." The British reply to this was an offer to discuss an Indian constituent assembly, as well as Dominion status `after the war’. The offer was spurned. This resulted in yet status would be another deadlock not to be resolved till 1947.

¤ The Launching of Quit India movement

Gandhi with his usual innovative skill now had the country and Congress rallying behind him. The moment had arrived to launch the Quit India movement. The unnerving part was that the launch of another Civil Disobedience Movement could coincide with the Japanese advances from the far-east towards India. "After all," Gandhi said, "this is open rebellion." The country was willing to court risks for the freedom that was to be won.

The movement was launched on August 8, 1942 in Bombay. Gandhi declared: "I want freedom immediately, this very night, before dawn, if it can be had. You may take it from me that I am not going to strike a bargain with the Viceroy for ministers and the like… Here is the mantra, a short one, that I give you… Do or die. We shall either free India or die in the attempt."

From 1942 onwards it was quite clear that the countdown to an independent India had begun.

¤ Arrival of Lord Mountbatten

In 1946, Lord Mountbatten arrived in Delhi amid a buzz of political activity. After World War II, the British seemed keen to wash their hands off India. For their part, the Indians were not loathe to such an idea.

However, there were too many emotional ties – the British and the Indians went too far back together for the British to just pack up and leave. Mountbatten was entrusted with the responsibility of transferring power to the Indians, safeguarding British interests and prestige for future interaction with independent India and Pakistan. and in the bargain, if Partition was inevitable, the nations would have to live with the realisation and the consequences

¤ Partition of India

It was one of the worst movements of people in recent history after that of the Jews in the World War II. A nation was dismembered. On August 15, 1947 – India kept her ‘tryst with destiny’. Midnight bore her the precious gift of freedom. Following an announcement on August 17, 1947 Pakistan became the other independent state.

Gandhi, the father of the nation, did not join in the celebrations that followed. He was elsewhere working in riot torn areas, praying for peace. For him independence was tinged with sadness and disappointment. He was ready to withdraw from active politics.

Accusations of siding with the Muslims and giving Pakistan away too easily, dogged Gandhi since the day the state of Pakistan was declared. On January 30, 1948, a Hindu fundamentalist called Nathu Ram Godse shot the Mahatma. India lost the man who, alongwith so many others, had taught it to dream of independence, and to throw a bridge between that dream and reality. and on August 15, 1947, Indians had walked across that bridge.

Matthew Hayden with the Mongoose Bat

2015-02-05T03:13:00.000-08:00

File under "Sights I Never Expected to See": Matthew Hayden, post international retirement, clobbering bowlers all around an international stadium with what looked like a baby's brass rattle in those paws of his. Here's introducing Matt the Bat, now with a longer handle, aka the Mongoose bat.
For the uninitiated, the Mongoose is a something of a miniature version of a normal cricket bat, but it has two distinguishing features: the handle is as long as the blade and the splice, which normal bats have in the blade, is built into that handle to guarantee a clean hitting surface on the bat. Its USP - if you've been following events in the build-up to the IPL - is that it essentially allows a batsman to hit harder and further without changing the way he plays. On the basis of what Hayden achieved at the Feroz Shah Kotla today, the Mongoose suits Twenty20 to the T.
Its short, stocky frame - the base is reportedly five centimeters - allows for sweet timing and that was as evident as crystal. The first sign that Hayden, after two poor games, was roaring back in to form came in the second over when he slammed three boundaries in four balls.
The Mongoose made its debut in the second ball of the fourth over, after Hayden had already muscled some good shots with his normal blade. He's has always wielded the bat like a club, but here was Hayden with a big handle and small blade. To the naked eye, the Mongoose looked silly in his bear hands. In fact, at first it just didn't look right. Surely he would mishit one, inside-edge one onto his stumps, fail to reach out to a spinner, or be caught short of his crease while putting in a dive? None happened.
The first shot Hayden played with the Mongoose was a letdown. He went for an ugly heave and got a streaky single to the leg side. You can't time a cricket ball at pace with that toothpick, was the common assumption. Then Rajat Bhatia came in to the attack for some military medium stuff, only to feel the full effect of what Hayden and his buddy could do. Bhatia to Hayden was never going to be a key contest, but this was too one-sided. Hayden swept four to fine leg, slammed a straight six, tickled another off the pads for four, and slogged four to long-on. Bhatia was nonplussed.
Right, so this thing can do a bit, you started to think. But what about against spin, when the pace is taken off and the pitch plays a bit slow and low? The answer came all too soon, as Tillakaratne Dilshan was called on for some offspin in the eighth over. Hayden was back at his furious best: Dilshan tossed it up and the punishment was immediate - three sixes stung Delhi and sent the crowd into raptures. The second was a mishit but still soared into the stands. You marveled at the distance the ball travelled after it struck the blade of the bat.
The Mongoose didn't restrict Hayden in any way, as you might have expected it to. What it lacks in reach, it more than makes up for with effect. Length balls were swatted over the infield nonchalantly; those that hit the edges ran away to fine leg or third man; two balls that came off the toe end sped past extra cover; those that hit the sweet spot just disappeared. A low full toss from Dirk Nannes - and it's for this specific delivery and the yorker that the Mongoose could prove to be most crucial - was sent speeding past short fine leg.
The Mongoose didn't require Hayden to change his grip or style, but it did allow him to smack the ball harder and further. It was the perfect remedy for Hayden to strike form and Chennai to canter home. On the evidence of what we saw this evening, its power really is phenomenal.
Watching Hayden in full flow is one of the more delightful viewing experiences today, his brute force and style elevating him above many currently active hard-hitting batsmen in international cricket. But watching him with that little thing in his hands was something else. Cricket has traditionally been averse to change and innovation, but watching Hayden bludgeon both pace and spin around the park, you cannot help but wonder - will the Mongoose make its way onto the international scene?
In 1983, Tony Montana blasted through a door firing his automatic machine gun and screaming six words that went on to become part of cinema lore - "Say hello to my little friend!" Twenty-seven years later, a man who has already etched his name cricket's history with a pivotal role in how openers approached the game unveiled a small piece of willow that threatens to further revolutionize batting. Talk about creative mojo.

General Knowledge 2015

2015-02-05T03:12:00.004-08:00

General Knowledge - PV101

Q1.	Which Indian state is the largest producer in the world of the golden coloured 'Muga' silk ? (A) Assam (B) Orissa (C) West Bengal (D) Karnataka Answer :
Q2.	Which Indian freedom fighter was popularly called 'Mahamana' ? (A) Bal Gangadhar Tilak (B) Jai Prakash Narain (C) Gopal Hari Deshmukh (D) Madan Mohan Malaviya Answer :
Q3.	Which Indian state would you be in if you were watching birds at Ranganathittu Birds Sanctuary, situated on an island in the Kaveri river ? (A) Karnataka (B) Maharashtra (C) Tamil Nadu (D) Andhra Pradesh Answer :
Q4.	'Anandmath', 'Durgeshnondini' and 'Kapalkundala' novels were authored by which Bengali writer ? (A) Rabindranath Tagore (B) Sharat Chandra Chatterjee (C) Bankim Chandra Chatterjee (D) Bibhuti Bhushan Bandopadhyay Answer :
Q5.	Baglihar Dam, also known as Baglihar Hydroelectric Power Project, in Jammu & Kashmir is built across which river ? (A) Beas (B) Chenab (C) Jhelum (D) Sutlej Answer :
Q6.	Where was the first Indian Institute of Management (IIM) established in 1961 ? (A) Kolkata (B) Bengaluru (C) Ahmedabad (D) Lucknow Answer :
Q7.	What line connects the points on a map that receive equal amounts of rainfall ? (A) Isobar (B) Isohel (C) Isotherm (D) Isohyet Answer :
Q8.	On 28 May 2008, the Indian Air Force attained the Airborne Warning And Control System (AWACS) capability by procuring the Phalcon radar (mounted on Russian plane IL-76) from which country ? (A) France (B) Israel (C) Russia (D) Germany Answer :
Q9.	Which India born physicist invented the 'Optical Fibre' ? (A) C.V. Raman (B) Satyendra Nath Bose (C) Homi J. Bhabha (D) Narinder Singh Kapany Answer :
Q10.	Which Australian state was formerly known as "Van Diemen's Land" ? (A) Victoria (B) Queensland (C) Tasmania (D) New South Wales Answer :

GENERAL AWARENESS PRACTICE EXAMS

2013-10-21T23:45:00.001-07:00

GENERAL AWARENESS PRACTICE MCQs FOR IBPS
EXAMS
1. Recently who received the Mahatma Gandhi International Award for Peace and Reconciliation?
1) Angela Merkel of Germany
2) Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia
3) Brigalia Bam of South Africa
4) Azim Premji of India
5) None of above

2. Loans to poor people by banks have many limitations including lack of security and high
operating cost. So to help them which type of finance system developed?
1) Ponzi schemes
2) Micro Finance System
3) Money Laundering Schemes
4) Money tampering finance
5) Super vision Finance

3. The following statements are related to Micro Finance system. Locate the wrong option.
1) It provides micro credit having scope for small savings and remittance of funds
2) It based on the principle of livelihood creation
3) The livelihood mission means engaging in activities in a routine fashion to generate cash or
non-cash income
4) High volumes of low transactions done through this system
5) None

4. Who introduced the concept of Microfinance in Bangladesh in the form of the "Grameen
Bank"? He is the Nobel laureate known by many as the "father of microfinance systems''.
1) C.D.Deshmuck
2) Amartya Sen
3) Muhammad Yunus
4) Sheik Hassena
5) Muzibaer Rehman

5. The beneficiaries of Micro finance business is?
1) Land less labour
2) Marginal farmers
3) Vendors in the small markets
4) Hawkers
5) All of above

6. Salustiano Sanchez is the?
1) Highest goal maker in SAAF foot ball contest
2) First pilot of C-17 transport aircraft carrier
3) Japan prime minister visiting USA for Arms Reduction Talks
4) World oldest man recently died
5) None

7. The Micro Finance Institutions (MFI) differ from one another in terms of?
1) Product offering
2) Loan repayment structure
3) Product offerings
4) Legal structure
5) All of above

8. Indian Micro Finance Institutes (MFI) usually adopt the group-based lending models, which are
of two types, SHG model and JLG model. SHG means Self Help Group and JLG means?
1) Joint Liability Game
2) Josh Liability Group
3) Joint Loan Group
4) Joint Liability Group
5) None

9. To control high rate interest rates, coercive collections and illegal insurance practices by the
Micro Finance Institutes, Andhra Pradesh government passed Andhra Pradesh Microfinance
Institutions (Regulation of Money Lending) Act in?
1) 2013
2) 2005
3) 2007
4) 2009
5) 2011

10. In the Not-For-profit Micro Finance Institutes, which among the following are included?
1) Societies
2) Public Trusts
3) Non-profit companies
4) All of above
5) None

11. One of the delivery channel for Micro Finance is SHG model. SHG means?
1) Soar Help Group
2) Sake Help Group
3) Self Hope Group
4) Store Help Group
5) Self Help Group

12. Co-operatives registered under state or National Acts and MACS come under Mutual benefit
MFIs. MACS means?
1) Moral-Aided Co-operative Societies
2) Mint-Aided Co-operative Societies
3) Mutually-Aided Co-operative Societies
4) Mutually-Aided Co-ordinate Societies
5) None

13. Non-banking financial companies, producer companies and LAB come under the category of
For-Profit -MFIs. LAB means?
1) Loan Area Banks
2) Legal Area Banks
3) Local Axis Banks
4) Local Area Banks
5) None

14. SKS Microfinance Ltd, the only listed micro lender in the country founded by?
1) Sudipa Sen
2) M.B.N.Rao
3) Kunal Ghosh
4) Vikram Akula
5) None

15. Who launched an 'India Microfinance Platform', a portal on microfinance activities across the
country, with the assistance of World bank funds on 28 June 2013?
1) SBI
2) ICICI
3) SIDBI
4) Exim Bank
5) NABARD

16. SIDBI related statements are given. Pick the wrong statement.
1) SIDBI means Small Industries Development Bank of India
2) It was established on April 2, 1990
3) It is the principal financial institution for the promotion, financing and development of industry in
the small scale sector
4) Its head office is in Hyderabad
5) None

17. Chairman of SIDBI is?
1) S.K.Roy
2) T.C.A. Ranganathan
3) Sushil Muhnot
4) U.K.Sinha
5) Rahul Khullar

18. Which committee has recommended creation of a separate category of NBFCs operating in
the microfinance sector to be designated as NBFC-MFIs (Non-Banking Finance Company - Micro
Finance Institutes)?
1) C. Ranga Rajan
2) Chandra Sekhar
3) Y. H. Malegam
4) Tarapore
5) R.K. Sundaram

19. Recommendations of Malegam committee on Micro Finance Sector do not include ...
1) MFI should not charge more than 24 % of its disbursed loans.
2) Processing fee on the loan amount must not be more than 1%.
3) margin of interest to be not more than 20 percent.
4) MFIs should lend to an individual borrower only as a member of a JLG and should have the
responsibility of ensuring that the borrower is not a member of another JLG.
5) Bank advances to MFIs should continue to enjoy 'priority sector lending' status.

20. On 9 October 2013 RBI announced set up a Technical Committee under the chairman ship of
............ to examine the feasibility of encrypted SMS-based fund transfers.
1) Anand Sinha
2) Raghu Ram Rajan
3) Urjith Patel
4) Pandu Ranga
5) Sambamurthy

21. State Bank of India first woman Chair person is?
1) Shubhalakshmi Panse
2) Chanda Kocchar
3) Nainal Lal Kidwai
4) Arundhati Bhattacharya
5) None

22. In order to invite more foreign exchange, the government of India intends to allow the banks to
offer ......... as declared on 30 September 2013.
1) overburdened bonds
2) roll chunk bonds
3) euro facilitation bonds
4) quasi-sovereign bonds
5) None

23. Which member of the world bank group launched the Indian rupee denominated bond, may
be the first step towards internationalization of the Indian currency?
1) IBRD
2) IDA
3) IFC
4) MIGA
5) IMF

24. On 3 October 2013, CCEA approved the Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) for
reforming .........
1) Primary education
2) Mid school education
3) Technical education
4) Distance education
5) Higher education

25. Details of current account deficit (CAD) given. Pick the wrong option.
1) CAD of first quarter of 2013-14 registered at 4.9 per cent of GDP.
2) High imports of gold and oil largely led to a worsening of the deficit.
3) 4.4 % CAD registered in the corresponding Q 1 of the previous financial year.
4) By 2014-15, CAD will be reduced to 3.0% as per the statement of FM in the Budget 2013-14.
5) None

26. On 17 September 2013, the Customs Duty on Articles of Jewellery and of Goldsmiths' or
Silversmiths' Wares revised from 10 % to ...
1) 36 %
2) 24 %
3) 20%
4) 18%
5) 15%

27. FIU has begun a probe into the transactions of investors and owners of crisis-ridden National
Spot Exchange Limited (NSEL). FIU means?
1) Financial Intelligence Unit
2) Financial Insurance Unit
3) First Intelligence Unit
4) Financial Inject Unit
5) None

28. National Spot Exchange Limited promoted by?
1) Rana Kapoor
2) Chanda Kochhar
3) Raja Promod
4) Jignesh Sha
5) None

29. New class of Foreign Portfolio Investor (FPI) regulations given by SEBI on 5 Oct 2013. Locate
the wrong option.
1) KYC (Know Your Client) requirements and other registration procedures would be much
simpler for FPIs compared to current practices.
2) SEBI grants permanent registration to them compare to current practice of granting approvals
for one year or five years.
3) All existing FIIs (Foreign Institutional Investors) their Sub Accounts and QFI (Qualified Foreign
Investors) will be eventually merged into this new investor class to be known as FPIs.
4) FPI not allowed from USA.
5) FPIs would be allowed to invest across a host of the capital market segments, including in
shares, debentures, warrants, mutual funds, collective investment schemes, derivatives, treasury
bills and government securities.

30. Who is the Chairman of Competition Commission of India?
1) K.Subramanyam
2) D.Subba Rao
3) Ashok Chawla
4) U.K.Sinha
5) Yogesh Agarwal

31. Annual Plenary Meetings of IMF and World Bank on 11th and 12th October, 2013 held at
........
1) Washington D.C
2) Rome
3) London
4) Paris
5) Manila

32. 11th India-ASEAN summit began in .......
1) Brunei
2) Indonesia
3) Japan
4) Singapore
5) Philippines

33. Which Indian Batsman was appointed as the brand ambassador of Border Security Force?
1) Sachin Tendulkar
2) Yuvraj Singh
3) Virat Kohli
4) V.V.S.Laxman
5) Sunil Gavaskar

34. Nobel Prize in Literature 2013 conferred on Alice Munro. She belongs to ........
1) Israel
2) Ireland
3) USA
4) Canada
5) UK

35. India and which country decided to observe year 2014 as the year of Friendly Exchanges?
1) Indonesia
2) Pakistan
3) France
4) China
5) Maldives

36. Which Chinese politician has been recently gets life sentence on graft charges?
1) Li Keqiang
2) Xi Jinping
3) Bo Xila
4) Zhang Dejiang
5) None

37. Which party got more seats in Northern Provincial Elections of Sri Lanka?
1) United Progressive Tamil Alliance (UPTA)
2) Liberation of Tamil Tigers Eelam (LTTE)
3) Tamil National Alliance (TNA)
4) United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA)
5) None

38. Who is the chairman of National Integration Council?
1) Loksabha Speaker
2) Rajyasabha Deputy Chairman
3) Prime Minister
4) Supreme Court Chief Justice
5) None

ANSWERS:
1-3, 2-2, 3-5, 4-3, 5-5, 6-4, 7-5, 8-4, 9-5, 10-4
11-5, 12-3, 13-4, 14-4, 15-3, 16-4, 17-3, 18-3, 19-3, 20-5
21-4, 22-4, 23-3, 24-5, 25-4, 26-5, 27-1, 28-4, 29-4, 30-3
31-1, 32-1, 33-3, 34-4, 35-4, 36-3, 37-3, 38-3

General Awareness With Reference To The Banking
Industry Practice Questions

1. U.K. Sinha, who was in the recent news, is the Chairman of
1) Planning Commission of India
2) Securities and Exchange Board of India
3) Competition Commission of India
4) Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority
5) Forwards Market Commission

2. Who among the following was recently appointed as the new Governor of the Reserve Bank of
India?
1) K.C. Chakrabarty
2) Urjit Patel
3) Raghuram Rajan
4) Anand Sinha
5) H.R. Khan

3. Which of the following does not correctly describe NABARD?
1) It is an apex development bank
2) Its headquarters is based in New Delhi
3) It was established in 1982 by a special act by the parliament
4) It is active in developing financial inclusion policy
5) It is responsible for credit flow for elevation of agriculture & rural non farm sector

4. To which country does Muhammad Yunus, who developed the concepts of microcredit and
microfinance, belong?
1) Egypt
2) Pakistan
3) Indonesia
4) Afghanistan
5) Bangladesh

5. Which of the following does not correctly explain the market practice of Insider Trading?
1) It is the trading of a public company's stock.
2) It is the trading of bonds or stock options by individuals with access to non-public information
about the company.
3) Matters related to insider trading in India are dealt by Forward Market Commission.
4) Insider trading in India is governed by the Prohibition of Insider Trading regulations 1992.
5) None of these

6. Which of the following has the authority to appoint Banking Ombudsman in India?
1) SEBI
2) RBI
3) NABARD
4) CII
5) Ministry of Finance, Government of India

7. Union Finance Minister P.Chidambaram recently asked Public sector banks of India to set up
ATMs in all branches by
1) December 2013
2) January 2014
3) March 2014
4) October 2014
5) January 2015

8. Which of the following companies manufacture Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in India?
1) Bharat Electronics Limited
2) Electronics Corporation of India
3) Hindustan Machine Tools
4) Steel Authority of India Limited
5) Both 1 and 2

9. Which of the following, in the banking sector, measures the ability of a company to meet its
short term debt obligations?
1) Current ratio
2) Acid test ratio
3) Cash ratio
4) Working capital ratio
5) All of the above

10. The Reserve Bank of India recently barred from disbursing loans against gold coins weighing
more than
1) 10 grams
2) 25 grams
3) 50 grams
4) 100 grams
5) 122 grams

11. Who has authored the titled 'Half Life'?
1) Shelley Jackson
2) Vikram Seth
3) Hillary Clinton
4) Lisa Ray
5) Angelina Jolie

12. Which of the following is correct regarding the Securities Transaction Tax?
1) It is not applicable on off-market transactions
2) It is not applicable on commodity
3) It is not applicable on currency transactions
4) It was originally introduced in 2004
5) All of the above

13. Which of the following statements is/are correct regarding FDI or FII stake in any company?
1) Less than 10% stake in a company is treated as FDI under international classification.
2) More than 10 percent stake in a company is treated as FII under international classification.
3) FDI entities have greater powers in terms of share transactions and voting rights in comparison
to FII.
4) FII are allowed to conduct private transaction, while FDIs are not.
5) All of the above

14. Every commercial bank in India have to maintain liquid assets such as precious metals (gold)
or other approved securities as reserves other than the cash. This is known as Statutory Liquidity
Ratio. What is present rate?
1) 40%
2) 32%
3) 25%
4) 23%
5) 18%

15. The government is giving a fresh push to its flagship rural employment scheme ahead of the
general elections, providing additional funds to four states. Which one is not among those
states?
1) Uttar Pradesh
2) Bihar
3) Chhattisgarh
4) Jharkhand
5) Odisha

16. What is the standard weight in which gold is quoted in the international market?
1) Ounce
2) Gram
3) Troy ounce
4) Grain
5) Pennyweight

17. Who heads the committee on Insurance Broking which was in news recently?
1) Abhihit Sen
2) Suresh Mathur
3) Anil Pradhan
4) Ketan Agarwal
5) Dinesh Avasthi

18. Mr. Anil Khatri filed a complaint with the Banking Ombudsman. However, he is not satisfied
with the decision of the Ombudsman. Whom can he approach now for the redressal of his
grievance?
1) Chief Justice of respective High Court
2) Banking Ombudsman Tribunal
3) Governor of Reserve Bank of India
4) Supreme Court of India
5) Deputy Governor of Reserve Bank of India

19. What is the name of a path-breaking initiative by the Government and the Indian Banks'
Association which promises to bring basic banking services to 73,000 unbanked villages with a
population of 2,000 and above?
1) Swabalamban
2) Chetna
3) Swabhimaan
4) Akanksha
5) Sugam - Sulabh

20. In which state of India is the Koyna Hydroelectric Power Project located?
1) Odisha
2) Maharashtra
3) Andhra Pradesh
4) Karnataka
5) Gujarat

21. Which of the following categories does not come under Priority Sector Lending in India?
1) Education
2) Housing
3) Export credit
4) Health
5) Micro and Small Enterprises

22. What was the number of banking licence applicants before the Reserve Bank of India for
opening of new banks by 31 May 2013?
1) 15
2) 26
3) 33
4) 40
5) 44

23. As per a new circular by the Reserve Bank of India in July 2013, for High Risk Customers /
entities, Banks will now be required to update KYC data only once in
1) 1 month
2) 3 months
3) 6 months
4) 1 year
5) 2 years

24. To whom is the Pre-Shipment Finance given in India?
1) Aviation companies
2) Exporters
3) Stock Market Brokers
4) Importers
5) Individuals with CIBIL rank above 850

25. With which of the following countries in the Nifty Index associated?
1) Japan
2) USA
3) India
4) The Netherlands
5) Britain

26. The abbreviation RIDF stands for
1) Rural Infrastructure Development Fund
2) Rural Investment for Development of Farming
3) Rate in Diligent Firm
4) Rural India's Direct Fund
5) None of these

27. In which month of the year is Income Tax Return filed in India where the assesses is a
Company?
1) March
2) May
3) July
4) October
5) December

28. With which sport is Akshay B. Gaikwad associated?
1) Chess
2) Shooting
3) Billiards
4) Weightlifting
5) Archery

29. The 'Father of Mouse' died recently. Who was he?
1) Paul L. Morton
2) Douglas Engelbart
3) Eileen Clegg
4) Alan Kay
5) John R. Woodward

30. On which day is the World Consumer Rights Day celebrated across the world?
1) 14 January
2) 15 March
3) 8 April
4) 1 July
5) 5 August

31. The document which specifies the internal operations of a company is known as
1) Audit Report
2) Assessment Report
3) Article of Association
4) Operational Synopsis
5) Blueprint

32. With reference to the Swadhar Scheme, who among the following is/are not its beneficiaries?
1) Women victims of terrorist/ extremist violence
2) Widows deserted by their families
3) Women subject to domestic violence
4) Women survivors of natural disaster
5) Women with HIV/ AIDS deserted by their family

33. Which of the following companies has maximum sharedholding in the India Mortgage
Guarantee Corporation (IMGC)?
1) National Housing Bank
2) Genworth
3) Asian Development Bank
4) International Finance Corporation
5) World Bank

34. The Reserve Bank recently released the final guidelines for issuing of new banking licences.
As per these guidelines, foreign shareholding in the new bank for the first five years will be up to?
1) 16%
2) 33%
3) 49%
4) 51%
5) 64%

35. Which term is used to describe a situation where an inflation rate is high, the economic
growth rate slows down, and unemployment remains steadily high?
1) Recession
2) Depreciation
3) Stagflation
4) Depression
5) Running inflation

36. Which of the following is not correct regarding the Reverse Repo Rate?
1) It is the rate at which commercial banks borrow money from Reserve Bank of India.
2) It is a monetary policy instrument.
3) An increase in the reverse repo rate will decrease the money supply.
4) Both 2 and 3
5) None of these

37. Which measure is used by the Reserve Bank of India to buy or sell government bonds or
other securities in open market?
1) Rationing of Credit
2) Direct Action
3) Consumer Credit
4) Consumer Credit Regulation
5) Open Market Operations

38. Who among the following is the Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation?
1) Ranjit Sinha
2) Amar Pratap Singh
3) U.S. Misra
4) R.K. Raghavan
5) P.C. Sharma

39. Who among the following is the recipient of the Rajiv Gandhi National Sadhbhavna Award
2013?
1) A.R. Rahman
2) D.R. Mehta
3) Amjad Ali Khan
4) Yash Chopra
5) Shiv Kumar Sharma

40. Who is appointed as the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of the United States of
America?
1) Treasury Secretary of the United States.
2) A member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve Bank.
3) A former Governor on the board of the International Monetary Fund.
4) Anyone having expertise in the field of finance and social service.
5) None of these

ANSWERS:
1-2, 2-3, 3-2, 4-5, 5-3, 6-2, 7-3, 8-5, 9-5, 10-3
11-1, 12-5, 13-3, 14-4, 15-3, 16-3, 17-2, 18-5, 19-3, 20-2
21-4, 22-2, 23-5, 24-2, 25-3, 26-1, 27-4, 28-4, 29-2, 30-2
31-3, 32-3, 33-1, 34-3, 35-3, 36-1, 37-5, 38-1, 39-3, 40-2

GENERAL AWARENESS PRACTICE MCQs FOR IBPS
EXAMS

1. The 23rd ASEAN Summit was held in which of the following cities in October 2013?
1) Bali (Indonesia)
2) Phnom Penh (Cambodia)
3) Jakarta (Indonesia)
4) Bandar Seri Begawan (Brunei)
5) Hanoi (Vietnam)

2. The Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought was established in December 1988 by the
European Parliament. Who is the winner of the 2013 Sakharov Prize?
1) Nelson Mandela
2) Malala Yousafzai
3) Anatoly Marchenko
4) Aung San Suu Kyi
5) Taslima Nasrin

3. Which Bangladesh cricketer became the first player to score a century and take a hat-trick
in the same Test match in October 2013?
1) Tamim Iqbal
2) Shakib Al Hasan
3) Sohag Gazi
4) Abdur Razzak
5) None of these

4. Which of the following statements is not true with regard to OPCW?
1) The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) was awarded the
2013 Nobel Peace Prize for its efforts to stop chemical warfare.
2) It was established in 1997 with headquarters in The Hague, Netherlands.
3) It has 189 member states and currently involved in destroying Syria's stockpiles of
chemical weapons.
4) Ahmet Uzumcu of Turkey is the present Director General of OPCW.
5) OPCW is an agency of the United Nations.

5. The 2013 Nobel Prize in Economics has been awarded to?
1) Eugene Fama (USA)
2) Lars Peter Hansen (USA)
3) Robert Shiller (USA)
4) Both 1 and 2
5) All 1, 2 and 3

6. Who is the winner of the 2013 Man Booker Prize for Literature?
1) Ruth Ozeki (A Tale for the Time Being)
2) Jim Crace (Harvest)
3) Eleanor Catton (The Luminaries)
4) Colm Toibin (The Testament of Mary)
5) NoViolet Bulawayo (We Need New Names)

7. The 2013 Global Hunger Index (GHI) was released on October 14, 2013 by the International
Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). What is India's rank?
1) 118
2) 56
3) 37
4) 63
5) 78

8. The United Nations Organization declared which of the following days as the International
Day of the Girl Child?
1) October 10
2) October 11
3) October 12
4) October 14
5) October 15

9. The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2013 was awarded jointly to?
1) Martin Karplus, Michael Levitt and Arieh Warshel
2) Michael Levitt and Robert Shiller
3) James Rothman, Randy Schekman and Thomas Sudhof
4) Peter Higgs and Francois Englert
5) None of these

10. On October 9, 2013 US President Barack Obama nominated which of the following women
to be Chair of the Federal Reserve, the Central Bank of USA?
1) Susan Rice
2) Sheryl Sandberg
3) Janet Yellen
4) Janet Napolitano
5) Melinda Gates

11. Laiki Bank was closed in 2013. It was the second largest banking group in?
1) Greece
2) Spain
3) Cyprus
4) Portugal
5) Italy

12. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), which is the
largest exporter of major conventional arms worldwide?
1) USA
2) Russia
3) Germany
4) France
5) China

13. An elected government completed its five-year term for the first time in which of the
following countries in 2013?
1) Bangladesh
2) Myanmar
3) Italy
4) Pakistan
5) Australia

14. Belgian mathematician Pierre Deligne was given the 2013 Abel Prize. This Prize is given
by?
1) Belgium
2) USA
3) UK
4) Sweden
5) Norway

15. Which of the following books is not written by R.K. Narayan?
1) Swami and Friends
2) The Bachelor of Arts
3) The Guide
4) The Sword and the Sickle
5) Waiting for the Mahatma

16. Rajiv Gandhi Thermal Power Station is located in Hisar district of?
1) Rajasthan
2) Haryana
3) Punjab
4) Himachal Pradesh
5) Uttar Pradesh

17. India has entered into a Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) with Liechtenstein.
This country is located in?
1) East Asia
2) West Asia
3) Europe
4) Africa
5) South America

18. The theme of which of the following 2013 Summits was "Africa: A partnership for
Development, Integration and Industrialization"?
1) G20
2) ASEAN
3) African Union
4) BRICS
5) None of these

19. Akshay Urja shops are set up by the Ministry of?
1) Commerce and Industry
2) Power
3) Science and Technology
4) New and Renewable Energy
5) Petroleum and Natural Gas

20. Shanti Prayas-2 is the name of a military exercise in?
1) India
2) Sri Lanka
3) Nepal
4) Bhutan
5) Mauritius

21. Which of the following schemes is not an employment generation scheme?
1) Food for Work scheme
2) Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana
3) Rural Landless Employment Guarantee Program
4) Mid Day Meal scheme
5) MGNREGS

22. Which of the following dams is built across Narmada River?
1) Tehri Dam
2) Bhakra Dam
3) Hirakud Dam
4) Mullaperiyar Dam
5) Sardar Sarovar Dam

23. Dr. M.S. Swaminathan is the author of?
1) The End of Poverty
2) Small is Beautiful
3) Development as Freedom
4) Towards Hunger Free India
5) Argumentative Indian

24. When all people at all times have access to sufficient, safe, nutritious food to maintain a
healthy and active life, it is called?
1) Food Preservation
2) Food Production
3) Food Security
4) Food Distribution System
5) None of these

25. Which of the following is not included while calculating Human Development Index (HDI)?
1) Life expectancy at birth
2) Per capita income
3) Literacy rate
4) Rate of migration to urban areas
5) Both 1 and 2

26. The scheme launched for the empowerment of adolescent girls in India is?
1) Prerna
2) Swabhiman
3) Sabla
4) SEWA
5) Kutir Jyothi

27. 'Key Resolve' is an annual joint military exercise between the United States and?
1) India 2) China
3) France 4) South Korea
5) United Kingdom

28. Which bank has launched an 'Incredible India Travel Card' in association with the Tourism
Ministry?
1) SBI
2) HDFC Bank
3) YES Bank
4) ICICI Bank
5) Bank of Baroda

29. The Petroleum Ministry has appointed a Committee to prepare a roadmap for enhancing
domestic production of oil and gas so as to reduce the country's import dependency by 2030.
Who is its Chairman?
1) Y.V. Reddy
2) Vijay Kelkar
3) Bimal Jalan
4) D. Subba Rao
5) None of these

30. Who is the director of the award winning Hindi film 'Paan Singh Tomar'?
1) Irfan Khan
2) Anurag Basu
3) Sujay Ghosh
4) Tigmanshu Dhulia
5) Prakash Jha

31. Who won the men's singles title at the 2013 All-England Badminton Championship?
1) Chen Long
2) Lee Chong Wei
3) Zhengming Wang
4) Pengyu Du
5) None of these

32. Which of the following has become the first state in India to ban manual scavenging?
1) Haryana
2) Delhi
3) Gujarat
4) Punjab
5) Rajasthan

33. The Government has constituted a committee of experts to prepare a blueprint for allwomen
bank. This panel was headed by?
1) M.D. Mallya
2) Jayshree Vyas
3) M.B.N. Rao
4) Arundhati Bhattacharya
5) Usha Ananthasubramanian

34. Which of the following books is not written by Kalidasa?
1) Raghuvamsa
2) Meghaduta
3) Kumarasambhava
4) Vikramorvasiyam
5) Ramcharitmanas

35. Which of the following schemes was launched with the aim of increasing self-reliance and
autonomy of women by providing self employment?
1) STEP
2) IFAD
3) Aadhar
4) Aastha
5) None of these

ANSWERS
1.4 2.2 3.3 4.5 5.5 6.3 7.4 8.2 9.1 10.3
11.3 12.1 13.4 14.5 15.4 16.2 17.3 18.4 19.4 20.3
21.4 22.5 23.4 24.3 25.4 26.3 27.4 28.3 29.2 30.4
31.1 32.2 33.3 34.5 35.1

GENERAL AWARENESS PRACTICE QUESTIONS

1. The foreign investment promotion board (FIPB) works under the?
1) RBI
2) Ministry of External affairs
3) Ministry of Finance
4) SBI
5) none

2. On 11 September 2013, RBI said the BSBDA account is also applicable to Foreign banks
as they are also Scheduled Banks. It provides zero balance accounts to poor people. What is
the expansion of BSBDA?
1) Basic Savings Bank Dual Account
2) Base Savings Bank Deposit Account
3) Basic Small Bank Deposit Account
4) Basic Savings Bank Deposit Application
5) Basic Savings Bank Deposit Account

3. In which state the 15000th branch of SBI was opened `on 17 August 2013.
1) West Bengal
2) AP
3) Kerala
4) Tamilnadu
5) Haryana

4. The involvement of financial intermediary in aiding credit creation without regulatory
oversight is called ...
1) Virtual banking
2) Common banking
3) Unit banking
4) Shadow banking
5) Yes banking

5. On 23 August 2013, RBI sold 48 days CMB to meet the temporary cash flow mismatches
of the Government of India. CMB means ....?
1) Cash Money Bill
2) Call Management Bill
3) Cash Management Borrowing
4) Core Management Bill
5) Cash Management Bill

6. On 8 August 2013, RBI decla-red the ....... sale of government bonds to decrease the
liquidity of funds in the market?
1) monthly
2) yearly
3) bi-monthly
4)half yearly
5) weekly

7. As per the promise given to World Trade Organization earlier, India should allow how many
branches of foreign banks in India per year?
1) 12
2) 24
3) 45
4) 15
5) 20

8. Mr. Jagdish originally Indian Citizen goes to Singapore obtains citizenship of Singa-pore
and desires to settle there.
1) He is an NRI
2) He is PIO
3) He is not an NRI
4) both 1 & 2
5) None

9. Which of the following banks are planning to launch 'by-invitation-only' branches under
Kohinoor brand in 20 cities which will serve affluent customers?
1) ICICI bank
2) Axis bank
3) HDFC bank
4) SBI
5) IDBI bank

10. On 4 September 2013, Raghuram Rajan announced constitution of a panel to strengthen
monetary policy framework to be headed by ....
1) K.C.Chakravarthy
2) Anand Sinha
3) H.R.Khan
4) D.Subba Rao
5) Urjith Patel

11. Nachiket Mor appointed as the head to assess the approach to financial inclusion by ...
1) SEBI
2) GOI
3) WTO
4) RBI
5) World Bank

12. ...... heads the panel to take a close look at rising NPAs and suggest steps to improve the
recovery of bad debts as announced by RBI on 4 September 2013?
1) H.R.Khan
2) Anand Sinha
3) K.C.Chakrabarthy
4) Urjith Patel
5) Syamala Gopinath

13. An outside panel of experts to screen applications for new bank licenses will be headed by
?
1) Subba Rao
2) Kelkar
3) Bimal Jalan
4) Rangarajan
5) None

14. The aim of the differential rate of interest scheme is to provide concessional loans to?
1) public sector enterprices
2) pravite sector enterprices
3) weaker sections of society
4) all the above
5) none

15. The first stock exchange in India was established in?
1) Calcutta
2) Delhi
3) Bombay
4) Madras
5) Hyderabad

16. Government has decided to start "A set of missions" to address the needs of agriculture
development in 12th five year plan. These missions are
1) NFSM(National Food Security Mission) & NHM( National Horticulture Mission)
2) NMSA(National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture
3) NMO (National Missions on Oil seeds & Oil palm)
4) NMAET(Mational Mission on Agriculture Extension & Technology)
5) All above

17. In which of the following countries, The G - 20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank
Governors Meeting was held in July 2013?
1) USA
2) China
3) India
4) Germany
5) Russia

18. A method of paperless banking to augment environment conservation through paperless
banking transactions, which are also faster than conventional transactions is called .....?
1) Green Banking Channel
2) Red Banking Channel
3) White Banking Channel
4) Black Banking Channel
5) All of above

19. e-Gift card facility first time introduced by...
1) Andhra Bank
2) Kotak Mahendra Bank
3) Allahabad bank
4) UBI
5) Axis bank

20. PMEGP is a credit linked subsidy program to encourage micro enterprises which are
being implemented through ……….
1) KVIC
2) SIDBI
3) DRDA
4) All the above
5) none of the above

21. On 2 September 2013, which bank became the first bank to translate financial literacy
curriculum into Gujarati?
1) ICICI
2) SBI
3) Indian bank
4) UBI
5) Axis

22. RBI asked banks to link the disbursal of home loans to ...... on 3 September 2013, as it
advised the banks not to go for the upfront disbursal of loans.
1) value of Market loan
2) route map of construction place
3) stages of construction
4) HDFC rules of loan disbursal
5) None

23. To help mutual funds, how much fund borrowing window opened by the RBI recently?
1) Rs.15,000cr
2) Rs.1500cr
3) Rs.75,000cr
4) Rs.8000cr
5) Rs.25,000cr

24. RBI made an announcement on 14th August 2013 to cut down the amount of foreign
exchange an Indian may use to invest or spend abroad from the current annual limit of $ 200,000
to ......
1) $ 1,00,000
2) $ 55,000
3) $ 45,000
4) $ 1,75,000
5) $ 75,000

25. On 21 July 2013, RBI reduced realization period for exports to .....
1) 21 Months
2) 18 Months
3) 12 Months
4) 8 Months
5) 9 Months

26. On which of the following rates China Central Bank lifted the ban on 19 July 2013 to
motivate the economy to boost its growth ?

1) Deposit rates
2) Locker rates
3) Lending rates
4) Bank rate
5) None

27. On which day Indian rupee had shown the lowest value of 68.80 against dollar?
1) 20 August
2) 1 September
3) 11 August
4) 31 July
5) 28 August

28. The government had appointed Arundhati Bhattacharya as the Chairperson ?
1) Oriental bank of commerce
2) SBI
3) BOI
4) Allahabad bank
5) None

29. FEDAI means
1) Foreign Exchange Dealers Association of India
2) It is a self regulating body of all authorized dealers in foreign exchange
3) It frames ground rules called "FEDAI Rules" for smooth conduct of all forex transactions
among member banks
4) It promotes the interest of authorized dealers and regulates their dealings with Public /
Brokers / RBI and all other bodies
5) All the above

30. Who is the present CMD of Bank of Baroda?
1) S.L.Bhansal
2) S.S Mundra
3) M.Narendra
4) Ajay Kumar
5) None

31. Head office of Corporation Bank is in ?
1) Pune
2) Hyderabad
3) Mangalore
4) Delhi
5) None

32 All foreign exchange activities (exchange control) in our country are regulated through the
following act
1) RBI Act
2) Foreign Exchange Manage ment Act (FEMA)
3) Foreign Exchange Regulation Act(FERA)
4) Foreign Trade (Development &Regulation) Act
5) Foreign Contribution & Regulation Act (FCRA)

33. PAN is required to be quoted, as per RBI's KYC guidelines if the amount of transaction in
cash is:
1) above Rs.50000
2) Rs.50000 or above
3) less than Rs.50000
4) Rs.10000 and above
5) none

34. "Good People to bank with" is the punch line of which bank?
1) Union Bank of India
2) IDBI
3) HSBC
4) DBS
5) Yes Bank

35. "World 's Local Bank" is the punch line of ?
1) Union Bank of India
2) IDBI
3) HSBC
4) DBS
5) Yes Bank

36. Which of the following is not an Indian bank?
1) Union Bank of India
2) Dena bank
3) DBS
4) SBI
5) UCO bank

37. 'Under micro credit, credit up to a maximum amount of Rs._____ can be allowed under
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priority sector:
1) Rs.10000
2) Rs.25000
3) Rs.50000
4) Rs.1 lac
5) Rs.2 lac

38. Who has been appointed as the new Chairperson of the Central Board of Direct Taxes
(CBDT)?
1) Archana Bhargava
2) Sudha Sharma
3) Poonam Saxena
4) Chitra
5) None

39. India has raised the ceiling for Foreign Direct Investment in asset reconstruction
companies to?
1) 26%
2)74%
3) 52%
4) 100%
5) 50%

ANSWERS:
1.3 2.5 3.4 4.4 5.5 6.5 7.1 8.4 9.4 10.5
11.4 12.3 13.3 14.3 15.3 16.5 17.5 18.1 19.5 20.1
21.5 22.3 23.5 24.5 25.5 26.3 27.5 28.2 29.5 30.2
31.3 32.2 33.2 34.1 35.3 36.3 37.3 38.2 39.2

TOP TEN HISTORICAL PLACES IN INDIA HISTORY OF INDIA

2013-10-21T23:07:00.002-07:00

History and Culture

History & Culture

Being one of the oldest cultures in the world, India is rich in culture and heritage. This fact is visible in tons of monuments, their ruins, buildings, temples, forts, palaces, tombs and caves all across India.

This also makes India an irresistible historic travel destination. We present to you some of the most fabulous monuments and historical places! Take a journey to the past and enjoy traveling the length and breadth of this vast landmass to have an experience unparalleled.

Here's the list of 10 must see destinations for history buffs.

Taj Mahal, Agra

The architecture of Taj Mahal is considered to be the most stunning masterpieces of the world. Shah Jahan built the wonderful Taj Mahal, as a tomb for his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal. Taj Mahal means ‘Crown of the palace’.

It is situated in Agra in the state of Uttar Pradesh. River Yamuna once flowed besides this beautiful monument; today it is almost dry. Beautiful and lush green gardens surround the Taj Mahal. The reflection of the Taj Mahal can be seen in the waters of the large pool in front of it.

The Taj Mahal continues to astonish tourists with its marvelous carvings, jewelry and faultless symmetry. It is built on a platform, each side being 100m long. There are four minarets, one at each corner of this platform. The huge dome of the Taj is perfectly shaped. Designs created with pietra dura (pieces of stone inlaid in marble) decorate the walls of the Taj, its interior has beautiful marble screens.

It was designed by Shiraz, an Iranian Architect. Over 20,000 men were employed for its construction. It started in 1632 and took over twenty years to complete. When Shah Jahan died, he was buried next to Mumtaz Mahal.

This World Heritage site is thronged by thousands of visitors from all over the world and remains as one of the most astonishing pieces of architecture in the world.

Khajuraho Temples

This temple town in the state of Madhya Pradesh is a UNESCO World Heritage site and is famous for its endlessly intriguing erotic sculptures. Equally intriguing for the modern mind is the way this celebration of the carnal is tied to the austere Jain religion, though many temples are also Hindu by denomination.

Khajuraho was the first capital of the Chandelas, who ruled Bundelkhand from the 10th to the 14th centuries. The Chandelas abided by the Tantric tenets: working inward from the erotic to the purely spiritual sanctums.

The name of Khajuraho finds its origin from the Khajur tree (the date palm tree) which can be found in plenty in this region. Khajuraho originally consisted of 85 temples of which only 22 exist today. Khajuraho temples were constructed over a period of hundred years from the mid 9th century to the early 12th century. These temples are built in the Nagara type of architecture. Each temple is dissimilar from the others temples in its own way. The temples give us a glimpse of the golden era of Indian art and architecture.

The Khajuraho temples are very different from the normal temples in India - religion, deities and worshipping is not the essence of these temples. It is also about admiring the stunning architecture, sculpture and art of that period.

These wonderful temples lay abandoned and susceptible to the forces of nature. These magnificent temples were restored and revived in 19th century. It is India’s second most favorite tourists spot next to Taj Mahal.

Ajanta and Ellora Caves, Aurangabad

The World Heritage sites of Ajanta and Ellora (near Aurangabad, Maharashtra) have rock-cut caves, hewn into the Sahyadri hills over 2,000 years ago by Buddhist monks. They contain some of the finest murals and sculptures India has ever produced.

Most of the beautiful cave temples at Ajanta were built during the Gupta period. There are beautiful murals (paintings done on walls) in the caves, depicting scenes from the life of the Buddha. The caves are carved in the form of a Chaitya.

Ellora houses 34 caves out of which 12 caves are Buddhists, 17 Hindus and the rest are Jains. They are fine examples of how various religions co-exist in vicinity. The Chaityas and Viharas set in these caves were retreat to many Buddhist monks.

Ellora also has the 8th-century Kailashnath Temple, a freestanding monolith carved topdown out of mountain rock. The temple depicts scenes from the Ramayana and Mahabharata. The architecture of the Kailasa temple is breathtaking.

Impressive figures were carved out on the walls of these caves with the help of simple tools like chisels and hammer. Amidst various images and beautiful paintings there are also sculptures of calm and tranquil Buddha. Ajanta and Ellora caves portray the harmony between Hindu, Buddhist and Jainism through its sculptures.

These cave temples richly ornamented with sculpture and carved with paintings of exceptional skill is a must visit to understand the splendor which ancient Indian artisans possessed.

Sun Temple, Konark

The Sun temple in Konark in the state of Orissa was built by King Narasimhadeva in 13th century. This magnificent temple to Surya, the Sun God, is one of India’s architectural wonders and a UNESCO World Heritage.

Built on the shores of the Bay of Bengal in Orissa, its main image is a superb statue of the sun god standing on his chariot. Twelve superbly carved wheels, each representing a month of the year and seven stone horses, representing the days of the week, pull the sun god in his journey across the skies. The temple is covered with exquisite sculptures of beautiful maidens, erotic couples, dancers, deities and animals. It is a magnum opus of Orissa’s architectural grandeur. The drive along the seashore from the temple town of Puri to Konark is delightful.

The wheels of the chariot at the base of the temple are the main attraction of the Sun Temple. The shadow created by the spokes of the wheel act as sundials and gives the exact time of the day. The roof of the temple which is pyramid shaped is made from sandstone and is about 30m in height.

The temple walls are adorned with floral, geometrical, human, animal, divine and semi divine figures. Pair of monolithic elephants and horses depicts the dynamism of medieval sculpture.

This temple is also referred as the Black Pagoda, since it was built in black granite. The Sun temple looks magnificent even in its ruined state. Only a personal visit to Konark gives a clear picture of the imposing yet exquisite temple.

Dravidian Monuments at Hampi

The World Heritage site of Hampi, set in a landscape of rocks and waterways, holds the evocative ruins of magnificent temples and palaces that testify to the wealth and power of medieval Vijayanagar Empire. Located in the state of Karnataka, Hampi was the capital of the three generations of Hindu rulers. Krishnadeva Raya and Achyta Raya were the most illustrious rulers.

Especially impressive are the Virupakasha temple with a towering spire, the Vittala temple with its carved stone chariot and musical pillars, the 6.7 m tall monolith statue of Narasimha, Vishnu’s half man and half lion incarnation and the Royal Centre which has the 14th century Mahanavami Dibba, a massive platform of rough-hewn masonry but superb carving.

What we see today in Hampi are the ruins of magnificent monuments. Hampi was pillaged by the Deccan Muslim rulers in 1565 for over a period of 6 months before it was abandoned.

The rich Vijayanagar rulers built the beautiful Vitthalswami and Hazara Rama Temples. The temples are adorned with beautiful sculptures. The ruin of the Vitthalswami Temple is dedicated to the incarnation of Lord Vishnu. The stone chariot outside the Vittlaswami temple is a shrine dedicated to Vishnu’s mount Garuda. Purandra Dasara Mantapa another monument in the vicinity is also worth visiting.

The Virupaksha Temple is dedicated to one of the forms of Lord Shiva. Malyavanta Raghunathaswamy temple reflects the Dravidian form of art and architecture. Its walls are opulently decorated with sculptures of marine animals and beautiful artworks. Its architecture has won the admiration of travelers in the past and present alike.

The house of victory for where the Kings would view the Dassera celebration is an exemplary piece of sophisticated sculpture. Do not miss the Hazara Ramaswami Temple, Elephant Stables and the exceptional Queen’s bath.

The grandiosity and austerity of this place can be understood only by visiting

Buddhist Monuments at Sanchi

Sanchi is home to the most famous and oldest Buddhist Stupa in the world. Now, it’s a UNESCO World Heritage site. Dotted around the Sanchi stupa are monasteries, temples and pillars, which are fine examples of classical art.

The great King Ashoka realized wars don’t pay; he embraced Buddhism and was influential in its spread from South Asia. Ashoka built a large number of Stupas, such as the Great Stupa at Sanchi. Stupas are dome-shaped monuments built on the Buddha’s relics (remains, like hair and teeth that are held sacred).

The carvings on these stupas illustrate the events of Buddha’s life. The supremacy of Buddhist artwork in the form monasteries, chaitya and stupas makes Sanchi a pilgrimage centre of Buddhists. Ironically, Buddha had never visited this place in his lifetime.

The diameter of the Sanchi Stupa is 108 ft. and it was built in ancient times. It is the largest stupa in India and the oldest existing Buddhist memorial.

During Ashoka’s reign, numerous monolithic pillars were produced. The Ashoka pillar at Sanchi was carved out of a single piece of rock. These have decorative tops, called capitals, bearing beautifully carved animal figures.

The lion capital and the wheel found on the Ashokan pillars are of special significance to Indians. The lion capital is printed on the Indian Currency and Indian documents. The wheel also appears on the Indian national flag.

Visit Sanchi to delve into the real realm of Buddhism and experience the ambience of Sanchi along with its succoring beauty which remains unrivaled.

Qutub Minar and Red Fort, Delhi

Qutub Minar, a UNESCO World Heritage monument, is a fine example of Indo-Islamic architecture.

The construction of Qutub Minar was started by Qutub-ud-din Aibak. However, the construction was completed by Iltumish, his son-in-law in 1232 A.D. Qutub Minar is 990 ft high and is the tallest minaret in the world.

Qutub Minar has five floors; each floor has a projecting balcony. Every floor displays beautiful carvings. Climbing the Minar is a wonderful experience. It consists of 378 steps; the apex of the tower gives you a bird’s eye view of Delhi.

Matching the grandiosity of Qutub Minar is the Red Fort in Delhi. Built in red stone by Shah Jahan on the banks of the river Yamuna, it consists of Diwan-e-Am, Diwan-e-Khas and other wonderful creations. It is one of the most wonderful pieces of architecture in the world. The entrance to the fort is through the Lahore Gate, which faces Lahore, as the name implies.

The Diwan-e-Am was the hall for the public audience. Although made of sandstone it is covered with shell plaster which gives it the ivory effect. The Diwan-e-Khas was meant for the private audience. It is built of white marble and consists of intricately carved columns. Magnificently ornamented with flowers and other stones, the Peacock Throne once the adorned the Diwan-e-Khas, unfortunately it was carried away by Nadir Shah in 1739 to Iran.

The Qutub Minar and Red Fort are mementos which reminds us about the grandeur of the past era. History buffs must pay a visit to both these historical places to see the way in which calligraphy, geometric patterns and floral motifs were used in decoration.

Buddhist Temples at Bodh Gaya

Bodh Gaya is the birthplace of Buddhism. Buddhists from all over the world are drawn to Bodh Gaya in the state of Bihar. This is the place where Lord Buddha gained enlightenment over 2,500 years ago and founded the religion based on compassion, reason and universal truths, shorn of ritual and superstition.

The Bodhi tree, under which he is said to have found the answers he was seeking after a long and hard meditation, is the core of the Mahabodhi Mahavihara Temple Complex, now a World Heritage site. The Mahabodhi temple has Jataka stories engraved on its walls.

Surrounding the complex are monasteries built by various Buddhist countries, in their own architectural styles. Several Buddhists temples and monasteries have been built by the people from China, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Bhutan, Vietnam, Tibet, Japan and Thailand around the Mahabodhi Mahavihara Temple complex. The Chinese temple has a 200 year old statue of Buddha. The Japanese and Burmese temple is shaped like a pagoda and the Thai Temple has a fantastic bronze state of the Buddha.

About 80 km from Bodh Gaya is Rajgir; there are remains of places associated with the Buddha such as the Gridhrakuta Hill, where he delivered sermons, or Venuvan, the tranquil bamboo grove near the hot springs he used to frequent.

Come, pay a visit and experience peace and tranquility at Bodh Gaya and enrich your mind and soul.

Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka

The Rock shelters of Bhimbetka have over 700 rock shelters out of which 400 have paintings. Situated in the foothills of the Vindhya Mountains, the paintings displayed belong to the Mesolithic period. There is a strong resemblance between the inhabitants of the adjacent villages and those depicted in the rock paintings.

The Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka was discovered accidentally by archaeologist Dr. Vishnu Wakankar in 1957-58.

The dense forests which cover the Rock Shelter have protected the rock paintings from being ruined by the quirk of nature. The paintings are done in red and white with the use of green and yellow occasionally. The theme of these paintings is obtained from everyday events. Hunting, animal fights, dancing, honey collection, masks, beautification of bodies, disguises, horse and elephant riders are portrayed in the paintings. Some of the animals that have been depicted in the paintings are tiger, rhinoceros, bison, antelopes, peacocks and elephants.

Manganese, soft red stone, wooden charcoal and hematite have been used to make colours. Possibly animals fat and leaf extracts were used in making the mixture.

Based on the type of tools used in rock paintings, the rock shelters of Bhimbetka display the chronological evolution of prehistoric man. Bhimbetka is filled with natural art and is a great source of joy for archaeologist. These outstanding paintings can be found even on the ceilings of rock shelters which are at frightening heights.

Travel to Bhimbetka, another World Heritage site to view the largest collection of pre-historic cave paintings. The trip promises an opening of your mind.

Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

The UNESCO World Heritage site at Mahabalipuram dates back to the 7th century when it was a thriving port of the Pallava Empire. This site is also called Mamallapuram, named after the great wrestler Mamalla, the title of Pallava king Narasimha Varman I. The monuments of Mahabalipuram are well known for rock carvings and monolithic sculptures. These monuments exhibit intricate sculptures and carvings which are evidence to the artisans’ creativity and craftsmanship.

The biggest attraction of this place is the spectacular Shore Temple. It is surrounded by rows of Nandi bulls looking out to the sea. Located on the Bay of Bengal, this temple was re-built stone by stone after it was washed away by the sea in a cyclone. The Shore temples are also referred as the Seven Pagodas. Out of the seven pagodas, six are submerged in the sea.

Further inland is another marvel, Arjuna’s Penance, the world’s largest bas-relief panel with over a hundred figures of men, gods and beasts.

Five beautiful rock-cut shrines offer testimony to the genius of Pallava stone-carvers. An interesting feature of these ratha is that each one of these is carved differently from a huge piece of rock.

The charm of Mahabalipuram lies not only in its monumental architecture but also in its silvery sand beach, unique handicrafts and stone-carved showpiece that are sold in plenty in the stalls near the shore.

Visit this magnificent place to view the splendid rock-cut temple architectures and marvelous cave structures.

languages in india

2013-10-21T23:00:00.002-07:00

Language	Family	Speakers (in millions, 2011)^[25]	State(s)
Assamese	Indo-Aryan, Eastern	13	Assam, Arunachal Pradesh
Bengali	Indo-Aryan, Eastern	83	West Bengal, Tripura, Assam, Andaman & Nicobar Islands
Bodo	Tibeto-Burman	1.4	Assam
Dogri	Indo-Aryan, Northwestern	2.3	Jammu and Kashmir
Gujarati	Indo-Aryan, Western	46	Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, Gujarat
Hindi	Indo-Aryan, Central	258–422^[26]	Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Bihar, Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh, the National capital territory of Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand
Kannada	Dravidian	38	Karnataka
Kashmiri	Indo-Aryan, Dardic	5.5	Jammu and Kashmir
Konkani	Indo-Aryan, Southern	2.5–7.6^[27]	Goa, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Kerala
Maithili	Indo-Aryan, Eastern	12–32^[28]	Bihar
Malayalam	Dravidian	33	Kerala, Lakshadweep, Puducherry
Manipuri (alsoMeitei orMeithei)	Tibeto-Burman	1.5	Manipur
Marathi	Indo-Aryan, Southern	72	Maharashtra, Goa, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu
Nepali	Indo-Aryan, Northern	2.9	Sikkim, West Bengal
Oriya	Indo-Aryan, Eastern	33	Odisha
Punjabi	Indo-Aryan, Northwestern	29	Chandigarh, Delhi, Haryana, Punjab
Sanskrit	Indo-Aryan	0.01	non-regional
Santhali	Munda	6.5	Santhal tribals of the Chota Nagpur Plateau (comprising the states of Bihar,Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha)
Sindhi	Indo-Aryan, Northwestern	2.5	non-regional
Tamil	Dravidian	61	Tamil Nadu, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Puducherry
Telugu	Dravidian	74	Andhra Pradesh, Puducherry, Andaman & Nicobar Islands
Urdu	Indo-Aryan, Central	52	Jammu and Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh

National Symbol of India

2013-10-21T22:45:00.005-07:00

state emblem

The state emblem is an adaptation from the Sarnath Lion Capital of Ashoka. In the original, there are four lions, standing back to back, mounted on an abacus with a frieze carrying sculptures in high relief of an elephant, a galloping horse, a bull and a lion separated by intervening wheels over a bell-shaped lotus.
principal religions

National Song

The song Vande Mataram, composed in Sanskrit by Bankimchandra Chatterji, was a source of inspiration to the people in their struggle for freedom. It has an equal status with Jana-gana-mana.

National Flower

Lotus, (Nelumbo Lucifera) is the national flower of India. It is a sacred flower and occupies a unique position in the art and mythology in ancient India and has been an auspicious symbol of Indian culture since time immemorial.

National Flag
The National flag is a horizontal tricolour of deep saffron (kesari) at the top, white in the middle and dark green at the bottom in equal proportion. The ratio of width of the flag to its length is two to three.

National Calendar
The national calendar is based on the Saka Era with Chaitra as its first month and a normal year of 365 days was adopted from 22 March 1957 along with the Gregorian calendar for the following official purposes:

NATIONAL BIRD
The Indian peacock, Pavo cristatus (Linnaeus), the national bird of India, is a colourful, swan-sized bird, with a fan-shaped crest of feathers, a white patch under the eye and a long, slender neck. The male of the species is more colourful than the female, with a glistening blue breast and neck and a spectacular bronze-green train of around 200 elongated feathers.

National Anthem
The song Jana-gana-mana, composed originally in Bengali by Rabindranath Tagore, was adopted in its Hindi version by the Constituent Assembly as the national anthem of India on 24 January 1950. It was first sung on 27 December 1911 at the Calcutta Session of the Indian National Congress.

National Animal
The magnificent tiger, Panthera tigris (Linnaeus), is a striped animal. It has a thick yellow coat of fur with dark stripes.

General Knowledge in Hindi

2013-06-18T04:28:00.000-07:00

GK Quiz In Hindi,

1 भारत की प्रथम सिंचाई परियोजना कौन सीथी।
- दामोदार घाटी सिंचाई परियोजना
2. भारत का प्रथम व्यवस्थित बसा शहर कौनसा है।
-चंडीगढ़
3. गैंडे के लिए प्रसिद्ध राष्ट्रीय उद्यान कौनसा है।
- काजीरंगा नेशनल पार्क (असम)
4. केंद्र राज्य वित्त संबंधों को निपटारा भारतीय संविधान के किस अनुच्छेद में वर्णन है।
- अनुच्छेद 280
5. भारत के नियंत्रण एवं महालेखा परीक्षक की नियुक्ति संविधान के किस अनुच्छेद के तहत की जाती है।
- अनुच्छेद 148
6. किस प्रधानमंत्री के कार्यकाल में दोउपप्रधानमंत्री एक साथ नियुक्त हुए थे।
- मोरारजी देसाई
7. लोकसभा में विरोधी दल के पहले मान्यता प्राप्त नेता थे।
- वाईवी च्हवाण
8. कोटा स्थित सेज में किसका उत्पादन होता है।
- सूचना प्रौद्योगिकी
9. स्वतंत्र भारत की प्रथम मंत्रिपरिषद में शामिल एकमात्र महिला मंत्री थी।
- राजकुमारी अमृत कौर
10. केंद्रीय मंत्री परिषद में राजस्थान के मंत्रियों के संख्या कितनीहै।
- छह
11. राज्य में सोयाबीन की खेती सर्वाधिककिस क्षेत्र में होती है।
- हाड़ौती क्षेत्र में
12. धान का कटोरा कौनसा जिला कहलाता है।
- गंगानगर
13. भारत में सर्वाधिक एफडीआई किस देश से होता है।
- मोरीसश
14. भारत में रु का अवमूल्य सर्वप्रथम कब किया गया।
- 1991 में
15. किस मुगल बादशाह ने राम-सिया नाम के सिक्के चलाए।
- अकबर
16. वर्तमान में भारत की राष्ट्रीय आय का अनुमान कौन लगाता है।
- सीएसओ
17. कौनसा देश मसालों का घर कहलाता है।
- भारत
18. महात्मा बुद्ध का जन्म स्थान लुंबिनी कहां पर स्थित है।
- बिहार में
19. राजस्थान में ओरियेंटल रिसर्च इंस्टीट्यूट कहां पर स्थित है।
- जोधपुर
20. उम्मेदसागर बांध किस स्थान से संबंधित है।
- कोटा

Union Budget 2013: Facts and figures

2013-03-28T23:15:00.003-07:00

generalknowledgequestionsandanswers: General Knowledge for SBI Associates IBPS RRB Bank Clerk PO Exams

The home of bank job aspirants(SBI, Associate banks, IBPS,RRB PO and clerk): The current affairs is updated everyday for exam preparation. Visit regularly to improve your awareness in banking and finance to score good in SBI & associate banks, IBPS, & RRB exams. Regular updation of general knowledge, current affairs, banking and finance terms, Model question papers & tips for appearing bank exams for IBPS, SBI & associate banks, RRB & other banks is available.

Fiscal deficit seen at 5.2 point of GDP in 2012/13
Fiscal deficit seen at 4.8 point of GDP in 2013/14

Faced with huge fiscal deficit, India had no choice but to rationalize expenditure

Gross market borrowing seen at 6.29 trillion rupees in 2013/14
Net market borrowing seen at 4.84 trillion rupees in 2013/14
Short-term borrowing seen at 198.44 billion rupees in 2013/14
To buy back 500 billion rupees worth of bonds in 2013/14

2013/14 major subsidies bill estimated at 2.48 trillion rupees from 1.82 trillion rupees

Petroleum subsidy seen at 650 billion rupees in 2013/14
Revised petroleum subsidy for 2012/13 at 968.8 billion rupees
Estimated 900 billion rupees spending on food subsidies in 2013/14
Revised food subsidies at 850 billion rupees in 2012/13
Revised 2012/13 fertiliser subsidy at 659.7 billion rupees

Duty free limit for Gold raised to Rs. 50,000 in case of a male passenger and Rs. 1 lakh for female passengers.
Tax Administration Reforms Commission to be set up to review tax laws

Total budget expenditure seen at 16.65 trillion rupees in 2013/14

Non-plan expenditure estimated at about 11.1 trillion rupees in 2013/14
India's 2013/14 plan expenditure seen at 5.55 trillion rupees
Revised estimate for total expenditure is 14.3 trillion rupees in 2012/13, which is 96 point of budget estimate
Set aside 100 billion rupees towards spending on food subsidies in 2013/14
Expect 133 billion rupees through direct tax proposals in 2013/14
Expect 47 billion rupees through indirect tax proposals in 2013/14
Target 558.14 billion rupees from stake sales in state-run firms in 2013/14
Expect revenue of 408.5 bln rupees from airwave surcharges, auction of telecom spectrum, licence fees in 2013/14

Rs. 1000-crore Nirbhaya Fund announced for the empowerment of women

National Housing Bank (NHB) to set up urban housing bank fund and Rs. 2,000 crore will be allocated in this regard

Rs. 14,000 crore capital infusion into public sector banks in 2013-14

PSU banks to have ATMs at all their branches by March 31, 2014
Rs. 6,000 crore to be allocated for rural housing fund in 2013-14

Defence allocation increased to Rs. 2.03 lakh crore

Rs. 6,275 crore to ministry of science and technology, Rs. 5,880 crore to Department of Atomic Energy
Tax-free infrastructure bonds of Rs.50,000 crore to be issued
Foodgrain production during 2013-13 estimated at 250 million tonnes
Person taking a home loan for his first home during the period 2013-14 will be entitled to an additional deduction of Rs. 1 lakh
Re-financing capacity of SIDBI increased to Rs. 10,000 crore from Rs. 5,000 crore for Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises
Rs. 27,049 crore allocation to the Agriculture Ministry in 2013-14

Rs. 7 lakh crore target fixed for agriculture credit for 2013-14 compared to Rs. 5.75 lakh crore in the current year.

Eastern Indian states to get Rs. 1,000 crore allocation for improving agricultural production

Govt committed to food security bill. 10,000 crores set apart for expenditure likely under the act

Rs. 37,330 crore allocated for Ministry of Health & Family Welfare

Rs. 3511 crore allocated to Minority Affairs Ministry which is 60 per cent of the revised estimates
Additional sum of Rs. 200 crore to Women and Child Welfare
Rs. 37,330 crore allocated for Ministry of Health & Family Welfare

General Knowledge Quiz 2013

2013-02-14T01:31:00.000-08:00

General Awareness: Quiz on persons resigned

1. Anindya Kumar Mitra resigned as the Advocate-General of .

a) West Bengal
b) Madhya Pradesh
c) Orissa
d) Uttar Pradesh

The correct answer is a) West Bengal

2.____ Solicitor-General of India resigned from his office

a) Rohinton F Nariman
b) Nitin Gadkari
c) BS Yeddyyurappa
d) Arjun Munda

The correct answer is a) Rohinton F Nariman

3._____ Resigned from the Post of BJP National President.

a) Rohinton F Nariman
b) Nitin Gadkari
c) BS Yeddyyurappa
d) Arjun Munda

The correct answer is b) Nitin Gadkar

4.Chief Minister of Jharkhand __________ Resigned and Recommended dissolution of State Assembly.

a) Rohinton F Nariman
b) Nitin Gadkari
c) BS Yeddyyurappa
d) Arjun Munda

The correct answer is d) Arjun Munda

5. Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti on _____________ resigned after 13months in office .

a) 21 December 2012
b) 20 January 2013
c) 01 September 2012
d) 16 May 2012

The correct answer is a) 21 December 2012

General Awareness: Music and Musicians quiz

1.In music, how many quavers equal a minim?

a) 1

b) 2

c) 3

d) 4

The correct answer is d) 4

2.What musical instrument did Sherlock Holmes play?

a) Guitar

b) Violen

c) Sitar

d) Piano

The correct answer is b) Violen

3. Miles Davis is famous for playing which musical instrument?

a) Trumpet

b) Violen

c) Sitar

d) Piano

The correct answer is a) Trumpet

4. What is the highest pitched woodwind instrument?

a) Piccolo

b) Violen

c) Sitar

d) Piano

The correct answer is a) Piccolo

5. In which US city did the Carringtons live?

a) Denver

b) New York

c) Chicago

d) San Diego

The correct answer is a) Denver

States of India (2013)

2013-01-29T03:53:00.001-08:00

States of India

Clickable Map of India:

Click to know about the history of the states.

After the partition of British India into India and Pakistan, there were 9 provinces and about 460 princely states in India. Most of the princely states within the Indian territory consented to join India. Some joined India under their own initiative and others were convinced by Sardar Villabbhai Patel (a very senior member of the Indian Congress) to join India. Patel who held negotiations with the princely states, came to an agreement with the princely state rulers that they would continue getting monthly allowances as they were given to them by the British. And so began the designing of the internal map of India.

The big princely states of Mysore, Hyderabad and Kashmir remained in their original sizes and became new Indian states. To the big provinces like Bombay, Orissa and Bengal, small princely states around them were joined and these provinces also became new India's states. In north India some clinging princely states were joined together to create a new state. Rajastan was created in this way. Along with the states which the government created, there were also regions in India which for different reasons were subjected directly to the central government and were called union territories. For example Himachal Pradesh in north India was created by adjoining some princely states. It was a union territory.

Indian leaders and politicians who had different linguistic and cultural backgrounds demanded that the Indian states should be based on linguistic and cultural boundaries. The central government leaders, which belonged to the Congress party, opposed this idea. They feared that this could eventually lead towards separation of different Indian societies from India and would break the unity. But after a few years of opposition the central government agreed to create Indian states based on linguistic differences.

The first step in this direction was made in 1953 when Andra Pradesh, in south India, was created for the Telegu speakers. In 1956 began the first organized process of creating Indian states based on linguistic differences. Among the states created that year were, Andra Pradesh which was created by adjoining certain parts of Telegu speaking areas from former Madras province and most of Hyderabad. For speakers of Malyalam, the state of Kerala was created. For Kanadda speakers the state of Mysore was created (which later on changed its name to Karnataka) from the former Mysore state and also from Kanadda speaking regions in Bombay, Madras and Hyderabad states. Along with states created based on linguistic boundaries, some other big states were created by joining small nearby states. For example Madya Pradesh, Punjab and Rajastan.

The central Indian government did not accept demands of all different cultural leaders for an autonomous Indian state. For example, the Sikhs wanted an autonomous Punjabi state which would have a Sikh majority with its official language, Punjabi. The central government did not accept this demand, instead created in 1956 the state of Punjab, which included also Hindi speakers in its territory and did not have a Sikh majority. But the Sikhs did not give up and continued demanding the Punjab state and in 1966, Punjab was parted into three new states. One of three states remained with the name Punjab and most of the Sikh population of India lived within its territory, but they were not the complete majority of that state. Another demand the central government did not accept was of the Maithali speakers, in present day Bihar, who also demanded a separate autonomous state for Maithali speakers.

Maharashtra for Marathi speakers and Gujarat for Gujarati speakers were created in 1960. Gujarat was created on northern part of the former Bombay state and Maharashtra was created from southern Bombay state and were joined to it parts of Madya Pradesh and Hyderabad. This process erased from India's map the state of Hyderabad, which was now distributed within three different states. Not all Gujaratis were enthused by the creation of new Gujarati state because this division meant that they had to give up the city of Bombay to the Maharashtrians.

Later on other states were created. In east India the state of Assam was parted a few times to create some new states. In 1963, Nagaland was created. In 1972, Manipur was created and there were others small states created from parts of Assam. In west India, Goa was established as a state in 1987. Before their establishment as states, Goa; Manipur and Nagaland were union territories. In the states that exist in India today, there are demands by other communities of India to create new autonomous states for their communities.

These demands for new states in India rise and fall according to the political power of the demanders. To point out such demands, which exist or existed, one can point out the demand of Jammu residents for an autonomous Jammu state in present day Kashmir. The Buddhist of Ladakh in Kashmir also demand autonomous state. In Bihar there was a demand for a separate Maithali state for Maithali speakers. In west Bengal, the Gurkha demands an autonomous Gurkhaland in north Bengal. Along the borders of Orissa and Bihar some tribal communities demanded to create Jharkhand. Similar demands of the aboriginal tribes of India exist in Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Andra Pradesh.

In the year 2000, three new states were established in India. Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Uttaranchal. Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh were created from parts of Bihar and Orissa. And Uttaranchal was created from north Uttar Pradesh.

Prime Ministers of India

2013-01-29T03:52:00.002-08:00

Prime Ministers of India

Indian National Congress Janata Party Janata Dal Bhartiya Janta Party

Name		Entered office	Left office
1	Jawaharlal Nehru (14 Nov 1889 - 27 May 1964)	15-Aug-47	27-May-64
2	Gulzarilal Nanda (4 Jul 1898 - 15 Jan 1998)	27-May-64	9-Jun-64
3	Lal Bahadur Shastri (2 Oct 1904 - 11 Jan 1966)	9-Jun-64	11-Jan-66
2	Gulzarilal Nanda (4 Jul 1898 - 15 Jan 1998)	11-Jan-66	19-Feb-66
4	Indira Gandhi (19 Nov 1917 - 31 Oct 1984)	19-Jan-66	24-Mar-77
5	Morarji Desai (29 Feb 1896 - 10 Apr 1995)	24-Mar-77	28-Jul-79
6	Choudhary Charan Singh (23 Dec 1902 - 29 May 1987)	28-Jul-79	15-Jan-80
4	Indira Gandhi (19 Nov 1917 - 31 Oct 1984)	15-Jan-80	31-Oct-84
7	Rajiv Gandhi (20 Aug 1944 - 21 May 1991)	31-Oct-84	2-Dec-89
8	Vishwanath Pratap Singh (25 Jun 1931 - present)	2-Dec-89	10-Nov-90
9	Chandra Shekhar (1 Jul 1927 - 8 Jul 2007)	10-Nov-90	21-Jun-91
10	P. V. Narasimha Rao (28 Jun 1921 - 23 Dec 2004)	21-Jun-91	16-May-96
11	Atal Behari Vajpayee (25 Dec 1924 - present)	16-May-96	1-Jun-96
12	H. D. Deve Gowda (18 May 1933 - present)	1-Jun-96	21-Apr-97
13	Inder Kumar Gujral (Dec 1919 - present)	21-Apr-97	19-Mar-98
11	Atal Behari Vajpayee (25 Dec 1924 - present)	19-Mar-98	22-May-04
14	Manmohan Singh (26 Sep 1932 - present)	22-May-04	present

Presidents of India

2013-01-29T03:51:00.002-08:00

Presidents of India

Indian National Congress Janata Party Independent A Acting

	President	Took office	Left office	Vice-President
1	Rajendra Prasad	Jan 26, 1950	May 13, 1962	Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
2	Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan	May 13, 1962	May 13, 1967	Zakir Hussain
3	Zakir Hussain	May 13, 1967	May 03, 1969	Varahagiri Venkata Giri
A	Varahagiri Venkata Giri	May 03, 1969	Jul 20, 1969
A	Muhammad Hidayatullah	Jul 20, 1969	Aug 24, 1969
4	Varahagiri Venkata Giri	Aug 24, 1969	Aug 24, 1974	Gopal Swarup Pathak
5	Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed	Aug 24, 1974	Feb 11, 1977	Basappa Danappa Jatti
A	Basappa Danappa Jatti	Feb 11, 1977	Jul 25, 1977
6	Neelam Sanjiva Reddy	Jul 25, 1977	Jul 25, 1982	Muhammad Hidayatullah
7	Giani Zail Singh	Jul 25, 1982	Jul 25, 1987	Ramaswamy Venkataraman
8	Ramaswamy Venkataraman	Jul 25, 1987	Jul 25, 1992	Shankar Dayal Sharma
9	Shankar Dayal Sharma	Jul 25, 1992	Jul 25, 1997	Kocheril Raman Narayanan
10	Kocheril Raman Narayanan	Jul 25, 1997	Jul 25, 2002	Krishan Kant
11	A. P. J. Abdul Kalam	Jul 25, 2002	Jul 25, 2007	Bhairon Singh Shekhawat
12	Pratibha Patil	Jul 25, 2007	Incumbent	Mohammad Hamid Ansari

History of India, Hindi

2013-01-29T03:45:00.003-08:00

Home

Indian history and culture is full of richness and affluence, which undoubtedly has had a significant impact on the evolution of the current society. Home to the Indus Valley civilization and a region of historic trade routes and vast empires, the Indian history is identified with its commercial and cultural wealth over the past thousands of years. Four major world religions, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism originated here, while Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Islam and Christianity arrived in the first millennium AD and mingled into the region's diverse culture. India became a modern nation-state in 1947 after a struggle for independence that was marked by widespread nonviolent resistance. The history of India can be divided into four major segments, the ancient era, the medieval era, the modern era and the post-independence era.

The hallmark of Indian history dates back to the stone age with paintings at the Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka in Madhya Pradesh. These paintings symbolise the earliest known traces of human life in India. The first known permanent settlements appeared over 9,000 years ago and gradually developed into the Indus Valley Civilization, dating back to 3300 BCE in western India. It was followed by the Vedic Civilization, which laid the foundations of Hinduism and other cultural aspects of early Indian society. From around 550 BCE, many independent kingdoms and republics known as the Mahajanapadas were established across the country.

The empire built by the Maurya dynasty under Emperor Ashoka united most of South Asia in the third century BCE. From 180 BCE, a series of invasions from Central Asia followed, including those led by the Indo-Greeks, Indo-Scythians, Indo-Parthians and Kushans in the north-western Indian subcontinent. From the third century CE, the Gupta dynasty oversaw the period referred to as "The Golden Age" of Indian history. Among the notable South Indian empires were the Chalukyas, Rashtrakutas, Hoysalas, Pallavas, Pandyas, and Cholas. Science, engineering, art, literature, astronomy, and philosophy flourished under the patronage of these kings. Paintings at the Ajanta Caves in Aurangabad, Maharashtra were made in the 6th century.

A number of invasions from Central Asia between the tenth and twelfth centuries is an important landmark in history of India, as much of north India came under the rule of the Delhi Sultanate, and later the Mughal dynasty. Mughal emperors gradually expanded their kingdoms to cover large parts of the subcontinent. Nevertheless, several indigenous kingdoms, such as the Vijayanagara Empire, flourished, especially in the south. In the seventeenth and eighteenth century, the Mughal supremacy declined and the Maratha Empire became the dominant power. From the sixteenth century, several European countries, including Portugal, Netherlands, France, and the United Kingdom, started arriving as traders and later took advantage of the fractious nature of relations between the kingdoms to establish colonies in the country.

The first half of the twentieth century is an important period in the history of India, as a nationwide struggle for independence was launched by the Indian National Congress and other political organizations. Led by Mahatma Gandhi, and displaying commitment to ahimsa, or non-violence, millions of protesters engaged in mass campaigns of civil disobedience. Finally, on 15 August 1947, India gained independence from British rule, but was partitioned, in accordance with the wishes of the Muslim League, along the lines of religion to create the Islamic nation-state of Pakistan. Three years later, on 26 January 1950, India became a republic and a new constitution came into effect. Unfortunately, Indian history since independence has been marked by poverty, corruption, and intermittent periods of chaos.

The history of India is a mingle between the East and the West. India has always been an invader's paradise, while at the same time its natural isolation and magnetic religions allowed it to adapt to and absorb many of the peoples who penetrated its mountain passes. No matter how many Persians, Greeks, Chinese nomads, Arabs, Portuguese, Britishers and other raiders had their way into this great country, many of them merged into the society giving rise to a country full of diversity in terms of culture, religion, language and architecture.

Hindi

The constitution of India (Article 343) recognises Hindi as the official language of India. Hindi is also the main language in many states of India such as Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal/ Uttarakhand, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Chhatisgarh and Himachal Pradesh. It is spoken by more than 437 million people in the world. The other dialects of Hindi are Brajbhasha, Bundeli, Awadhi, Marwari, Maithili, Bhojpuri, to name only a few.

Hindi can be traced back to as early as the seventh or eighth century. The dialect that has been chosen as the official language is Khariboli in the Devnagari script. Other dialects of Hindi are Brajbhasa, Bundeli, Awadhi, Marwari, Maithili and Bhojpuri.

It was in the 10th century that authentic Hindi poetry took its form and since then it has been constantly modified. History of Hindi literature as a whole can be divided into four stages: Adikal (the Early Period), Bhaktikal (the Devotional Period), Ritikal (the Scholastic Period) and Adhunikkal (the Modern Period).

Adikal-
Adikal starts from the middle of the 10th century to the beginning of the 14th century. The poetry of this period has been divided into three categories Apabhramsha Poetry, Heroic Poetry and Miscellaneous Poetry. Apabhramsha Poetry includes the Siddha literature (750-1200), the Nath literature and the Jain literature. Siddha literature was written in the popular language and this echoed devotional themes combined with a strong erotic feeling. Between the 7th and the 14th century, the poet Gorakhnath and his followers mainly composed the Nath literature. They avoided eroticism, scorned racial discrimination and put stress on moral values, using the Doha (couplet) and the Chaupai (quartet) styles in their poems. These compositions had a great influence on the Sant (devotional literature made popular by Rahim and Kabir et al) literature. During this period Jain poets like Swayambhu, Som Datt Suri, Sharang Dhar and Nalla Singh composed the Charit Kavyas, which propagate moral tenets and portrayals of Nature. Heroic Poetry was composed wholly in the native speech.

Bhakti Kal or the Devotional Period :
The bhakti kal stretched between the 14th and the 17th century. During this age Islamic customs were heaped upon the common people and the Hindus were quite dejected by this. The poets of this period felt that it was their moral duty to arouse a sense of devotion through religious poetry. These poets have been divided into two groups: Nirguna and Saguna poets, depending upon the devotional attitude towards the Lord. Nirgunas have been further divided into two groups on the basis of different sadhanas (disciplines) followed by them. Those that put emphasis on the importance of knowledge for the realization of God were called the Saint poets. Kabir Das, Guru Nanak, Dharma Das, Maluk Das, Dadudayal, Sunder Das belong to this genre. In their Sakhis (couplets) and Padas (songs) they condemned rituals and laid emphasis on the theory of Monotheism (the belief that there is one God).

Poets who believed love was the path of realizing God were called Sufi Poets. Jayasi, Manjhan, Kutuban and Usman were the pioneers of this school. Poets of the Saguna style are also divided into two groups: the followers of Rama and those of Krishna. Tulsi Das is the leading poet of the former group along with Agra Das, Nabha Das and Pran Chand Chauhan. Tulsi Das depicts Rama as the Ideal Man in his classical works Ramacharitamanasa, Gitavali, Kavitavali and Vinay Patrika. The devotees of Krishna have, however, portrayed him according to his popular image, that of the playful Krishna. These poets like Surdas, Nand Das, Parmananda Das and Meera have written about love and beauty. The devotional period created immortal literature and is distinguished as the golden age of Hindi Poetry.

Ritikal or the Scholastic period:
The poets of Ritikal can be classified into two groups on the basis of their subject: Ritibaddha (those wedded to rhetorics) and Ritimukta (free from rhetorical conventions). The former poets composed on definitional and (Lakshana) and illustrative (Lakshya) themes. The essential nature of Rasa, Alankara, Nayikabheda were illustrated by them through Saviyas and Kavithas. Poets like Chintamani, Keshav, Mati Ram, Deva, Kulpati Misra and Bhikari Das were leaders of this style. The second group consists of free-minded poets like Alam, Ghananand, Bodha and Thakur. They wrote in a spontaneous manner with feelings of love, quite quite dissilimar to rhetorical poetry. This age saw two more poetic trends. Didactic poetry in stray verses composed by Vrinda, Vaital and Giridhar and Heroic Poetry by Bhushan, Sudan, Lal and various others.

Adhunikkal or Modern Period:
Modern Hindi literature has been divided into four phases; the age of Bharatendu or the Renaissance (1868-1893), Dwivedi Yug (1893-1918), Chhayavada Yug (1918-1937) and the Contemporary Period (1937 onwards). Bharatendu Harishchandra (1849-1882) brought in a modern outlook in Hindi literature and is thus called the 'Father of Modern Hindi Literature'. Mahavir Prasad Dwivedi later took up this vision. Dwivedi was a reformist by nature and he brought in a refined style of writing in Hindi poetry, which later acquired a deeper moral tone. This was the age of revival when the glory and grandeur of ancient Indian culture was fully adopted to enrich modern life. Social, political and economic problems were portrayed in poetry while songs were of social awakening. This trend helped in the emergence of National Cultural Poetry whose leading poets were Makhanlal Chaturvedi, Balkrishna Shama 'Navin', Siyaram Gupta and 'Dinkar'. These poets put more stress on moral aspect of life rather than on love or beauty, which later evolved in the Chhayavada style of poetry.

Kamayani is the zenith of this school and Chhayavada was best represented by Prasad, Nirala, Pant and Mahadevi Verma. After the decline of this movement in came the leftist ideology which found voice in two opposite styles of Hindi poetry. One was Progressivism and Prayogavada or later called Nai Kavita. The former was an effort of translating Marx's philosophy of Social realism into art. The most notable figure of this movement was Sumitranandan Pant. The latter safeguarded artistic freedom and brought in new poetic content and talent to reflect modern insight. The pioneers of this trend were Aggeya, Girija Kumar, Mathur and Dharamvir Bharati. A third style called Personal Lyrics also appeared, aiming at free and spontaneous human expressions with Harivansh Rai Bachchan as the leader of this trend. The history of Hindi poetry, thus, extends over a period of almost one thousand years.

The proper development of Hindi prose followed the rise and growth of Khari Boli (colloquial dialect). Pre-Bharatendu writers like Ram Prasad Niranjani, Sadasukh Lal, Insha Allah Khan and Sadal Misra composed proses mainly based on mythological stories. Insha Allah Khan used the typical Khari Boli while others were more influenced by Sanskrit and Braj Bhasha. The development of Hindi prose has been classified into three periods: The first phase (1868-1918), the period of growth (1918-1937) and the present age of excellence (1938 onwards).

The First Phase:
Prose literature of Bharatendu and Dwivedi era covers the first phase. The writers of this age developed drama, novel, short story, essay and literary criticism.Popular dramatic compositions were done mainly by Bharatendu Harishchandra, Bal Krishna Bhatt and Radha Krishna Das. They inclined more towards satires on contemporary conditions, social and patriotic plays. Eminent prosateurs of this age included Devaki Nandan Khatri (novelist), Chandradhar Sharma (short-story writer), Mahavir Prasad Dwivedi (essayist) and Padma Singh Sharma (critic).

The period of growth
This is represented by Jayshankar Prasad, Rai Krishna Das and Mahadevi Varma. Drama acquired a distinct place for itself in this period but the theatre did not respond to it. Again, fiction attained new proportions with Premchand as its most outstanding representative.

The period of excellence
This period came more whole-heartedly after the Independence of India in 1947. Hindi drama of this period laid emphasis on realistic expressions and two new forms evolved like poetic Drama and radio play. Now the theatre also became interested in enacting these plays. 'Ashka' Jagdish Chandra Mathur, Mohan Rakesh and Lakshminarayan Lal have acquired distinction amongst modern playwrights. Fiction made a wonderful progress during this period. Realism, psycho-analytical techniques and prose-style was the main ingredient of the plot structure. Modern Hindi fiction found its mentors in Yash Pal, Agyeya and Renu. Essay and literary criticism also developed during this period. Essayists like Hazari Prasad Dwivedi, Mahadevi Varma and Siyaram Sharan Gupta found new ways of expressing themselves through reminiscences, reportage and sketch. The history of Hindi prose is not expansive, as it had started out quite late. However, it has progressed at a rapid pace.

Partition of India

India received independence at midnight on 14 of August 1947, as the British Raj came to an end. On the same day, an islamic state Pakistan was born, which was carved out of Punjab and Bengal. The division of India into two parts, in spite of the unwillingness of Mahatma Gandhi, is known as the Parition of India. Sir Cyril Radcliffe did the carving in five weeks, and the demarcation on the map came to be known as Radcliffe Boundary Award. The partition of India led to an unprecedented transfer of a large number of people and rendered ten million homeless. Such a scale of migration of population is not known until now in history. An estimated twenty million Hindus left West Punjab and East Bengal, and eighteen million Muslims went to Pakistan. As a result of this mass movement, over half a million people lost their lives in Hindu-Muslim conflicts during migration; there were 22,000 reported cases of rape and kidnapping of women; 220,000 people were declared missing. The data given here is official, and it is difficult to reckon the actual numbers for these inhumane acts.

As a result of the partition of India, two self governing countries legally came into existence at the stroke of midnight on 14-15 August 1947. The ceremonies for the transfer of power were held a day earlier in Karachi, which was the capital of Pakistan during that time. The reason for an earlier ceremony in Karachi was to allow the last British Viceroy, Louis Mountbatten, to attend both the ceremony in Karachi as well as the ceremony in Delhi. Pakistan celebrates Independence Day on 14 August, while India celebrates it on 15 August.

Mountbatten Plan

The actual partition of India into two new dominions was done according to what is known as the 3rd June Plan or Mountbatten Plan.

The border between India and Pakistan was determined by a British government official. The commissioned report for the partition of India was referred to as the Radcliffe Award. It was named after the London lawyer, Sir Cyril Radcliffe, who wrote it. An islamic state, Pakistan came into existence with two non-contiguous enclaves. The first being East Pakistan (today Bangladesh) and the second being West Pakistan. Both the enclaves were separated geographically by India. India was carved from the majority Hindu regions of the colony, and Pakistan was carved from the majority Muslim areas.

On July 18, 1947, the Indian Independence Act was passed by the British Parliament that finalized the partition of India. The Government of India Act 1935 was adapted to provide a legal framework for the two new dominions. Following the partition of India, Pakistan was added as a new member state in the United Nations. The union formed from the fusion of the Hindu states assumed the name India, which was automatically granted a seat as a successor of British India. There were 565 Princely States which were not directly governed by British rule, but rather a ruler. After the partition of India, these states were given a choice to join either India or Pakistan.

Perspectives

The Partition of India was a highly controversial arrangement, and still remains a cause of much tension on the subcontinent. British Viceroy Lord Mountbatten has often been accused of rushing the process through, and is alleged to have influenced the Radcliffe Awards in India's favor. Everyone agreed that India being a secular nation would be a more desirable country, as compared to Pakistan, an islamic state. The commission took so long to decide on a final boundary that the two nations were granted their independence even before there was a defined boundary between them. Even then, the members were so upset at their work and its results that they refused compensation for their efforts on the commission.

A large number of critics allege that unprofessional management and haste led to the cruelties during the Partition of India. Independence was declared prior to the actual Partition of India, therefore it was up to the new governments of India and Pakistan to keep public order during the mass exodus from both the regions. No proper plans were implemented for population migration. It was an impossible task to efficiently handle a large movement of people for the newly formed governments on both sides, at which both the states failed. There was a complete breakdown of law and order; leading to many deaths in riots, massacre, or just from the hardships of their flight to safety. What ensued was one of the largest population movements in recorded history. According to Richard Symonds "at the lowest estimate, half a million people perished and twelve million became homeless."

However, some argue that the Britishers were forced to expedite the partition of India by events on the ground. Law and order had broken down many times with much bloodshed on both sides, before the partition of India. A massive civil war was looming in the country by the time Mountbatten became Viceroy. During World War II Britain had suffered, and had only limited resources. The limited resources perhaps were insufficient for the task of maintaining law and order. Probably, Mountbatten had no real options left and he tried to achieve the best he could under difficult circumstances. Historian Lawrence James concurs that in 1947 Louis Mounbatten was left with no option but to cut and run from India. The alternative being getting involved in a potentially bloody civil war which was looming in the country, from which it would have been difficult to get out. Some historians have argued that much of the blame for the massacres lies with the nationalists such as Nehru, Jinnah and Gandhi.

Religions in India

India known as the land of spirituality and philosophy, was the birthplace of some religions, which even exist today in the world.

The most dominant religion in India today is Hinduism. About 80% of Indians are Hindus. Hinduism is a colorful religion with a vast gallery of Gods and Goddesses. Hinduism is one of the ancient religions in the world. It is supposed to have developed about 5000 years ago. Later on in ancient period other religions developed in India.

Around 500 BC two other religions developed in India, namely, Buddhism and Jainism. Today only about 0.5% of Indians are Jains and about 0.7% are Buddhist. In ancient times Jainism and specially Buddhism were very popular in India. Indians who accepted Buddhist philosophy spread it not only within the Indian sub-continent but also to kingdoms east and south of India.

These three ancient religions, Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism, are seen as the molders of the India philosophy. In 'modern' period new religions were also established in India.

One comparatively new religion in India is Sikhism and it was established in the 15th century. About 2% of Indians are Sikhs. There were other attempts to create new religions in India but they did not always succeed. For example, a Moghul emperor, Akbar, who reigned between 1556 - 1605, tried to establish a new religion, Din- E- Elahi, but it did not survive. There are other religious philosophies whose believers see themselves as a separate religion, but they do not always get this recognition. For example Lingayat of south India see themselves as a different religion, while others see them as a sect of Hinduism. There are also some tribal communities who demand to be recognized as separate religion from Hinduism. In the 19th century some Hindu reformers tried to remodel Hinduism to adjust it to modern period.

Along with the religions that developed in India, there are followers of non- Indian religions. The largest non-Indian religion is Islam. They are about 12% of India's population. Christians are more then 2% of India's population. There are also Zoroastrians who even though make less then 0.01% of India's population, are known around India. There are also a few thousand Jews in India. Judaism and Christianity might have arrived in India before they arrived in Europe.

Arrival of Non-Indo Religions

India, well known as the land of spirituality and philosophy, was the birthplace of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism among other religions. Along with the religions that developed in India, there are also followers of religions of non- Indian origins. Among these religions are Islam, Christianity, Zoroastrianism, Bahaism and Judaism. The followers of these different religions arrived in India at different times.

The largest religion of non-Indian origin is Islam. They are about 12% of India's population. Muslims who arrived in India converted Indians to Islam. Islam was spread in India through two means, peaceful and sword. The first spreaders of Islam in India were individuals who saw in spreading Islam a holy precept. They used peaceful means to convert to Islam. But most of Indians are believed to have converted to Islam through the sword, which means the Muslim invaders gave the Indians an option to choose between death and Islam. The different Muslim rulers of India also brought into their kingdoms Muslim mercenaries, businessmen and slaves from different parts of the world like Russia, Afghanistan, Turkey, Arab countries and Africa. These people remained in India, married local Indians and converted them to Islam.

Like the Muslims, the Christians, who arrived to India also converted Indians to their religion, Christianity. Christians are about 2.5% of India's population. Most of the Indians were converted to Christianity by the missionaries who arrived in India with the European powers from 15th century. Of the European powers, the Portuguese were most enthusiast to baptize Indians. But Christianity did not arrive in India with the arrival of European missionaries. It reached India almost 2000 years ago.

Christianity originates in Israel. One of the Apostles (the 12 chief disciples of Jesus), St. Judas Thomas, was a carpenter. He was brought to India by a merchant to build a temple. St. Thomas arrived in Kerala, in south India in 52 AD. He succeeded in converting local Indians to Christianity. His converts were called Syrian Christians. One assumption says that some of the Syrian Christians were actually local Jews converted by St. Judas Thomas to Christianity. The disciples of Jesus at first intended to convince the Jews to adopt the philosophy of Jesus as new Judaism. Therefore they arrived to regions where Jews had settled in the world. Among these regions where Jews had settled was India. Two Apostles are believed to have arrived in India for this purpose. St. Judas Thomas arrived in Kerala in south India and St. Bartholomew in western Maharashtra in west India.

Judaism is probably the oldest religion of non-Indian origin to arrive in India. Today there are also a few thousand Jews in India. Judaism and Christianity might have arrived in India before they reached Europe.

The different Jewish communities of India, Bene Israel, Cochini, Baghdadi and Bne Menashe claims their arrival in India in different ways and it is not always clear how they really came to India. The Bene Israel, which is the largest Jewish community of India, lived earlier in the villages of west Maharashtra. They are believed to exist in India for over 2000 years. The Cochini Jews in south India also claim that their first forefathers arrived in India over 2000 years ago during King Solomon's rule. The Bne Menashe of East India who claim to origin from the 'Lost Tribes' arrived much later in India. The Bne Menashes arrived in east India from China and Myanmar (Burma). In the late 18th century, Jews from Arab countries and Iran arrived in India because of religious persecutions in their countries. They were called collectively as Baghdadi Jews.

Two other religions that arrived in India because of religious persecutions in their countries were Zoroastrianism and Bahaism. Both of them arrived from Iran.

Languages

India is the home of many languages. India is a vast country with lot of cultural and geographical diversities. There are a number of languages spoken in India. Some of these languages are accepted nationally while others are accepted as dialects of that particular region. The foreign intrusions have left an impact on the Indian local languages. English language, the legacy of the British rule in India, became the commonly used official language of India.

The eighth schedule of the Indian constitution recognizes 22 languages. All these languages have evolved from the great language families drawn from history. The major ones to make an influence are the Aryan and the Dravidian. They have influenced each other and have, in turn, been influenced by the Austeric and Sino-Tibetan tongues.

The Indian Constitution (Article 343) declares Hindi to be the official language of the Union. Hindi is also the mother tongue of about 20% of the Indian population in the area known as the 'Hindi-belt' or the 'cow-belt' of northern India. This includes the states of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand/Uttaranchal, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Chhatisgarh and Rajasthan. Haryana and Himachal Pradesh also have Hindi as their official language. Like the other languages of the north, Hindi is of Indo-Aryan origin. But in south India, it's quite a different scene altogether. The Dravidian languages bear little resemblance to their Indic or Indo-Aryan counterparts.

English enjoys a special status and remains the additional official language of India. It is the authoritative legislative and judicial language. In fact, one could say that English is the official language of India for all practical purposes.

Apart from the more widely spoken English and Hindi, there are the various regional languages. Each state has its own language which is generally its official language. The 8th schedule of the Constitution of India lists 22 such regional languages.

Languages Of India
Assamese	A language of Assam that's spoken by nearly 60 percent of the State's population.
Bengali	An official language of West Bengal, now spoken by nearly 200 million people in West Bengal and in Bangladesh.
Bodo	Assam
Dogri	Jammu and Kashmir
Gujarati	It is the official language of Gujarat. 70 percent of the State's population speak Gujrathi but it the most spread language not only in India but also abroad.
Hindi	The official language of India, accent and dialect differs with different regions but almost every Indian has a working knowledge of Hindi. It is written in a Devanagiri script.
Kannada	A language of Karnataka and is spoken by 65 percent of the state's population. It belongs to the Dravidian family.
Kashmiri	Though the language is mistaken as a state language of Kashmir only 55 per cent of the state's population speak Kashmiri.
Konkani	Goa, Karnataka, Maharashtra
Maithili	Bihar
Malayalam	The state language of Kerala. It is the youngest of all developed languages in the Dravidian family.
Manipuri/Meitei	Manipur
Marathi	An official language of Maharashtra. It has a fully developed literature of the modern type.
Nepali	Sikkim, West Bengal
Oriya	A branch of the Indo-Aryan family, is the official language of the State of Orissa.
Punjabi	The official language of the State of Punjab. It is written in Gurmukhi script, created by the Sikh Guru, Angad.
Sanskrit	The classical language of India that has lost it's value in the modern world. It is also one of the oldest languages in the world- perhaps the oldest to be recorded. All the ancient scripts are found to be written in the same language.
Santhali	Santhal tribals of the Chota Nagpur Plateau (comprising the states of Bihar, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa)
Sindhi	Is spoken by a great number of people in the Northwest frontier of the Indian sub-continent comprising parts of India and Pakistan.
Tamil	The State language of Tamil Nadu. Tamil literature goes back to Centuries before the Christian era and is spoken by more than 73 million people. It belongs to the Dravidian language family.
Telugu	A language of Andhra Pradesh. It is numerically the biggest linguistic unit in India.
Urdu	The state language of Jammu and Kashmir and is spoken by more than 28 million people in India. Urdu and Hindi have proceeded from the same source. Urdu is written in the Persio - Arabic script and contains many words from the Persian language. Literature Indian literature is generally acknowledged as one of the oldest in the world. India has 22 officially recognized languages, and a huge variety of literature has been produced in these languages over the years. In Indian literature, oral and written forms are both important. Hindu literary traditions dominate a large part of Indian culture. Apart from the Vedas which are a sacred form of knowledge, there are other works such as the Hindu epics Ramayana and Mahabharata, treatises such as Vaastu Shastra in architecture and town planning, and Arthashastra in political science. Devotional Hindu drama, poetry and songs span the subcontinent. Among the best known are the works of Kalidasa (writer of the famed Sanskrit play Recognition of Shakuntala) and Tulsidas (who wrote an epic Hindi poem based on the Ramayana, called Raamcharitmaanas). Tamil poetry of the Sangam poetry which dates back to 1st century BCE is well renowned. Muslim literary traditions also dominate a large part of Indian culture. In the medieval period, during which time India was mostly under Muslim rule, Indian Muslim literature flourished, most notably in the Persian and Urdu poetry. Among contemporary Indian literature Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore became India's first Nobel laureate. So far India's highest literary honor, the Jnanpith awards, has been conferred seven times upon Bengali writers, which is the highest for any language in India. Monuments India is blessed with number of world heritage monuments showcasing the breathtaking architecture and intricate work. Taj Mahal, a unique master-piece is the wonder in itself, an absolute epitome of Indian culture, heritage and civilization. Behind each monument is an underlying sense of mystery, intrigue and romance. Five thousand years of Indian History has given us the treasure of thousands of monuments across the country, monuments belonging to Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims and Christians. Monuments in India forms a great heritage of India and they are evidence of India's historical past. These monuments reflects the culture and the heritage of yore days. The ancient culture of India is reflected in its historical monuments namely; forts, palaces, temples, monasteries, caves and tombs. These magnificent buildings were built by different rulers. Each ruler had left his indelible mark on the monuments that were built during his time. It is not very difficult to distinguish a monument built by the Mughals from that built by the British. Almost all regions in India can boast of some historical monument or fort.. A variety of architectural forms that have remained unchanged through the ages can be seen throughout India. Some of the distinguished monuments of India are the the Taj Mahal, Qutub Minar, Red Fort, Konark temple, Agra Fort, Ajanta caves, Humayun's tomb and Fatehpur Sikri. The British had also incorporated some fine elements from Indian Islamic architecture into Neo-Classical styles. Among the prominent buildings created by them are Victoria Terminus (Mumbai), Victoria Memorial (Kolkata), Prince of Wales Museum (Mumbai) and many more Indo-Saracenic public buildings of that period. Science and Mathematics in India In all early civilizations, the first expression of mathematical understanding appears in the form of counting systems. Numbers in very early societies were typically represented by groups of lines, though later different numbers came to be assigned specific numeral names and symbols (as in India) or were designated by alphabetic letters (such as in Rome). Although today, we take our decimal system for granted, not all ancient civilizations based their numbers on a ten-base system. In ancient Babylon, a sexagesimal (base 60) system was in use. The Decimal System in Harappa In India a decimal system was already in place during the Harappan period, as indicated by an analysis of Harappan weights and measures. Weights corresponding to ratios of 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, and 500 have been identified, as have scales with decimal divisions. A particularly notable characteristic of Harappan weights and measures is their remarkable accuracy. A bronze rod marked in units of 0.367 inches points to the degree of precision demanded in those times. Such scales were particularly important in ensuring proper implementation of town planning rules that required roads of fixed widths to run at right angles to each other, for drains to be constructed of precise measurements, and for homes to be constructed according to specified guidelines. The existence of a gradated system of accurately marked weights points to the development of trade and commerce in Harappan society. Mathematical Activity in the Vedic Period In the Vedic period, records of mathematical activity are mostly to be found in Vedic texts associated with ritual activities. However, as in many other early agricultural civilizations, the study of arithmetic and geometry was also impelled by secular considerations. Thus, to some extent early mathematical developments in India mirrored the developments in Egypt, Babylon and China . The system of land grants and agricultural tax assessments required accurate measurement of cultivated areas. As land was redistributed or consolidated, problems of mensuration came up that required solutions. In order to ensure that all cultivators had equivalent amounts of irrigated and non-irrigated lands and tracts of equivalent fertility - individual farmers in a village often had their holdings broken up in several parcels to ensure fairness. Since plots could not all be of the same shape - local administrators were required to convert rectangular plots or triangular plots to squares of equivalent sizes and so on. Tax assessments were based on fixed proportions of annual or seasonal crop incomes, but could be adjusted upwards or downwards based on a variety of factors. This meant that an understanding of geometry and arithmetic was virtually essential for revenue administrators. Mathematics was thus brought into the service of both the secular and the ritual domains. Arithmetic operations (Ganit) such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, fractions, squares, cubes and roots are enumerated in the Narad Vishnu Purana attributed to Ved Vyas (pre-1000 BC). Examples of geometric knowledge (rekha-ganit) are to be found in the Sulva-Sutras of Baudhayana (800 BC) and Apasthmaba (600 BC) which describe techniques for the construction of ritual altars in use during the Vedic era. It is likely that these texts tapped geometric knowledge that may have been acquired much earlier, possibly in the Harappan period. Baudhayana's Sutra displays an understanding of basic geometric shapes and techniques of converting one geometric shape (such as a rectangle) to another of equivalent (or multiple, or fractional) area (such as a square). While some of the formulations are approximations, others are accurate and reveal a certain degree of practical ingenuity as well as some theoretical understanding of basic geometric principles. Modern methods of multiplication and addition probably emerged from the techniques described in the Sulva-Sutras. Pythagoras - the Greek mathematician and philosopher who lived in the 6th C B.C was familiar with the Upanishads and learnt his basic geometry from the Sulva Sutras. An early statement of what is commonly known as the Pythagoras theorem is to be found in Baudhayana's Sutra: The chord which is stretched across the diagonal of a square produces an area of double the size. A similar observation pertaining to oblongs is also noted. His Sutra also contains geometric solutions of a linear equation in a single unknown. Examples of quadratic equations also appear. Apasthamba's sutra (an expansion of Baudhayana's with several original contributions) provides a value for the square root of 2 that is accurate to the fifth decimal place. Apasthamba also looked at the problems of squaring a circle, dividing a segment into seven equal parts, and a solution to the general linear equation. Jain texts from the 6th C BC such as the Surya Pragyapti describe ellipses. Modern-day commentators are divided on how some of the results were generated. Some believe that these results came about through hit and trial - as rules of thumb, or as generalizations of observed examples. Others believe that once the scientific method came to be formalized in the Nyaya-Sutras - proofs for such results must have been provided, but these have either been lost or destroyed, or else were transmitted orally through the Gurukul system, and only the final results were tabulated in the texts. In any case, the study of Ganit i.e mathematics was given considerable importance in the Vedic period. The Vedang Jyotish (1000 BC) includes the statement: "Just as the feathers of a peacock and the jewel-stone of a snake are placed at the highest point of the body (at the forehead), similarly, the position of Ganit is the highest amongst all branches of the Vedas and the Shastras." (Many centuries later, Jain mathematician from Mysore, Mahaviracharya further emphasized the importance of mathematics: "Whatever object exists in this moving and non-moving world, cannot be understood without the base of Ganit (i.e. mathematics)".) Panini and Formal Scientific Notation A particularly important development in the history of Indian science that was to have a profound impact on all mathematical treatises that followed was the pioneering work by Panini (6th C BC) in the field of Sanskrit grammar and linguistics. Besides expounding a comprehensive and scientific theory of phonetics, phonology and morphology, Panini provided formal production rules and definitions describing Sanskrit grammar in his treatise called Asthadhyayi. Basic elements such as vowels and consonants, parts of speech such as nouns and verbs were placed in classes. The construction of compound words and sentences was elaborated through ordered rules operating on underlying structures in a manner similar to formal language theory. Today, Panini's constructions can also be seen as comparable to modern definitions of a mathematical function. G G Joseph, in The crest of the peacock argues that the algebraic nature of Indian mathematics arises as a consequence of the structure of the Sanskrit language. Ingerman in his paper titled Panini-Backus form finds Panini's notation to be equivalent in its power to that of Backus - inventor of the Backus Normal Form used to describe the syntax of modern computer languages. Thus Panini's work provided an example of a scientific notational model that could have propelled later mathematicians to use abstract notations in characterizing algebraic equations and presenting algebraic theorems and results in a scientific format. Philosophy and Mathematics Philosophical doctrines also had a profound influence on the development of mathematical concepts and formulations. Like the Upanishadic world view, space and time were considered limitless in Jain cosmology. This led to a deep interest in very large numbers and definitions of infinite numbers. Infinite numbers were created through recursive formulae, as in the Anuyoga Dwara Sutra. Jain mathematicians recognized five different types of infinities: infinite in one direction, in two directions, in area, infinite everywhere and perpetually infinite. Permutations and combinations are listed in the Bhagvati Sutras (3rd C BC) and Sathananga Sutra (2nd C BC). Jain set theory probably arose in parallel with the Syadvada system of Jain epistemology in which reality was described in terms of pairs of truth conditions and state changes. The Anuyoga Dwara Sutra demonstrates an understanding of the law of indeces and uses it to develop the notion of logarithms. Terms like Ardh Aached , Trik Aached, and Chatur Aached are used to denote log base 2, log base 3 and log base 4 respectively. In Satkhandagama various sets are operated upon by logarithmic functions to base two, by squaring and extracting square roots, and by raising to finite or infinite powers. The operations are repeated to produce new sets. In other works the relation of the number of combinations to the coefficients occurring in the binomial expansion is noted. Since Jain epistemology allowed for a degree of indeterminacy in describing reality, it probably helped in grappling with indeterminate equations and finding numerical approximations to irrational numbers. Buddhist literature also demonstrates an awareness of indeterminate and infinite numbers. Buddhist mathematics was classified either as Garna (Simple Mathematics) or Sankhyan (Higher Mathematics). Numbers were deemed to be of three types: Sankheya (countable), Asankheya (uncountable) and Anant (infinite). Philosophical formulations concerning Shunya - i.e. emptiness or the void may have facilitated in the introduction of the concept of zero. While the zero (bindu) as an empty place holder in the place-value numeral system appears much earlier, algebraic definitions of the zero and it's relationship to mathematical functions appear in the mathematical treatises of Brahmagupta in the 7th C AD. Although scholars are divided about how early the symbol for zero came to be used in numeric notation in India, (Ifrah arguing that the use of zero is already implied in Aryabhatta) tangible evidence for the use of the zero begins to proliferate towards the end of the Gupta period. Between the 7th C and the 11th C, Indian numerals developed into their modern form, and along with the symbols denoting various mathematical functions (such as plus, minus, square root etc) eventually became the foundation stones of modern mathematical notation. The Indian Numeral System Although the Chinese were also using a decimal based counting system, the Chinese lacked a formal notational system that had the abstraction and elegance of the Indian notational system, and it was the Indian notational system that reached the Western world through the Arabs and has now been accepted as universal. Several factors contributed to this development whose significance is perhaps best stated by French mathematician, Laplace: "The ingenious method of expressing every possible number using a set of ten symbols (each symbol having a place value and an absolute value) emerged in India. The idea seems so simple nowadays that its significance and profound importance is no longer appreciated. It's simplicity lies in the way it facilitated calculation and placed arithmetic foremost amongst useful inventions." Brilliant as it was, this invention was no accident. In the Western world, the cumbersome roman numeral system posed as a major obstacle, and in China the pictorial script posed as a hindrance. But in India, almost everything was in place to favor such a development. There was already a long and established history in the use of decimal numbers, and philosophical and cosmological constructs encouraged a creative and expansive approach to number theory. Panini's studies in linguistic theory and formal language and the powerful role of symbolism and representational abstraction in art and architecture may have also provided an impetus, as might have the rationalist doctrines and the exacting epistemology of the Nyaya Sutras, and the innovative abstractions of the Syadavada and Buddhist schools of learning. Influence of Trade and Commerce, Importance of Astronomy The growth of trade and commerce, particularly lending and borrowing demanded an understanding of both simple and compound interest which probably stimulated the interest in arithmetic and geometric series. Brahmagupta's description of negative numbers as debts and positive numbers as fortunes points to a link between trade and mathematical study. Knowledge of astronomy - particularly knowledge of the tides and the stars was of great import to trading communities who crossed oceans or deserts at night. This is borne out by numerous references in the Jataka tales and several other folk-tales. The young person who wished to embark on a commercial venture was inevitably required to first gain some grounding in astronomy. This led to a proliferation of teachers of astronomy, who in turn received training at universities such as at Kusumpura (Bihar) or Ujjain (Central India) or at smaller local colleges or Gurukuls. This also led to the exchange of texts on astronomy and mathematics amongst scholars and the transmission of knowledge from one part of India to another. Virtually every Indian state produced great mathematicians who wrote commentaries on the works of other mathematicians (who may have lived and worked in a different part of India many centuries earlier). Sanskrit served as the common medium of scientific communication. The science of astronomy was also spurred by the need to have accurate calendars and a better understanding of climate and rainfall patterns for timely sowing and choice of crops. At the same time, religion and astrology also played a role in creating an interest in astronomy and a negative fallout of this irrational influence was the rejection of scientific theories that were far ahead of their time. One of the greatest scientists of the Gupta period - Aryabhatta (born in 476 AD, Kusumpura, Bihar) provided a systematic treatment of the position of the planets in space. He correctly posited the axial rotation of the earth, and inferred correctly that the orbits of the planets were ellipses. He also correctly deduced that the moon and the planets shined by reflected sunlight and provided a valid explanation for the solar and lunar eclipses rejecting the superstitions and mythical belief systems surrounding the phenomenon. Although Bhaskar I (born Saurashtra, 6th C, and follower of the Asmaka school of science, Nizamabad, Andhra ) recognized his genius and the tremendous value of his scientific contributions, some later astronomers continued to believe in a static earth and rejected his rational explanations of the eclipses. But in spite of such setbacks, Aryabhatta had a profound influence on the astronomers and mathematicians who followed him, particularly on those from the Asmaka school. Mathematics played a vital role in Aryabhatta's revolutionary understanding of the solar system. His calculations on pi, the circumferance of the earth (62832 miles) and the length of the solar year (within about 13 minutes of the modern calculation) were remarkably close approximations. In making such calculations, Aryabhatta had to solve several mathematical problems that had not been addressed before including problems in algebra (beej-ganit) and trigonometry (trikonmiti). Bhaskar I continued where Aryabhatta left off, and discussed in further detail topics such as the longitudes of the planets; conjunctions of the planets with each other and with bright stars; risings and settings of the planets; and the lunar crescent. Again, these studies required still more advanced mathematics and Bhaskar I expanded on the trigonometric equations provided by Aryabhatta, and like Aryabhatta correctly assessed pi to be an irrational number. Amongst his most important contributions was his formula for calculating the sine function which was 99% accurate. He also did pioneering work on indeterminate equations and considered for the first time quadrilaterals with all the four sides unequal and none of the opposite sides parallel. Another important astronomer/mathematician was Varahamira (6th C, Ujjain) who compiled previously written texts on astronomy and made important additions to Aryabhatta's trigonometric formulas. His works on permutations and combinations complemented what had been previously achieved by Jain mathematicians and provided a method of calculation of nCr that closely resembles the much more recent Pascal's Triangle. In the 7th century, Brahmagupta did important work in enumerating the basic principles of algebra. In addition to listing the algebraic properties of zero, he also listed the algebraic properties of negative numbers. His work on solutions to quadratic indeterminate equations anticipated the work of Euler and Lagrange. Emergence of Calculus In the course of developing a precise mapping of the lunar eclipse, Aryabhatta was obliged to introduce the concept of infinitesimals - i.e. tatkalika gati to designate the infinitesimal, or near instantaneous motion of the moon, and express it in the form of a basic differential equation. Aryabhatta's equations were elaborated on by Manjula (10th C) and Bhaskaracharya (12th C) who derived the differential of the sine function. Later mathematicians used their intuitive understanding of integration in deriving the areas of curved surfaces and the volumes enclosed by them. Applied Mathematics, Solutions to Practical Problems Developments also took place in applied mathematics such as in creation of trigonometric tables and measurement units. Yativrsabha's work Tiloyapannatti (6th C) gives various units for measuring distances and time and also describes the system of infinite time measures. In the 9th C, Mahaviracharya ( Mysore) wrote Ganit Saar Sangraha where he described the currently used method of calculating the Least Common Multiple (LCM) of given numbers. He also derived formulae to calculate the area of an ellipse and a quadrilateral inscribed within a circle (something that had also been looked at by Brahmagupta) The solution of indeterminate equations also drew considerable interest in the 9th century, and several mathematicians contributed approximations and solutions to different types of indeterminate equations. In the late 9th C, Sridhara (probably Bengal) provided mathematical formulae for a variety of practical problems involving ratios, barter, simple interest, mixtures, purchase and sale, rates of travel, wages, and filling of cisterns. Some of these examples involved fairly complicated solutions and his Patiganita is considered an advanced mathematical work. Sections of the book were also devoted to arithmetic and geometric progressions, including progressions with fractional numbers or terms, and formulas for the sum of certain finite series are provided. Mathematical investigation continued into the 10th C. Vijayanandi (of Benares, whose Karanatilaka was translated by Al-Beruni into Arabic) and Sripati of Maharashtra are amongst the prominent mathematicians of the century. The leading light of 12th C Indian mathematics was Bhaskaracharya who came from a long-line of mathematicians and was head of the astronomical observatory at Ujjain. He left several important mathematical texts including the Lilavati and Bijaganita and the Siddhanta Shiromani, an astronomical text. He was the first to recognize that certain types of quadratic equations could have two solutions. His Chakrawaat method of solving indeterminate solutions preceded European solutions by several centuries, and in his Siddhanta Shiromani he postulated that the earth had a gravitational force, and broached the fields of infinitesimal calculation and integration. In the second part of this treatise, there are several chapters relating to the study of the sphere and it's properties and applications to geography, planetary mean motion, eccentric epicyclical model of the planets, first visibilities of the planets, the seasons, the lunar crescent etc. He also discussed astronomical instruments and spherical trigonometry. Of particular interest are his trigonometric equations: sin(a + b) = sin a cos b + cos a sin b; sin(a - b) = sin a cos b - cos a sin b; The Spread of Indian Mathematics The study of mathematics appears to slow down after the onslaught of the Islamic invasions and the conversion of colleges and universities to madrasahs. But this was also the time when Indian mathematical texts were increasingly being translated into Arabic and Persian. Although Arab scholars relied on a variety of sources including Babylonian, Syriac, Greek and some Chinese texts, Indian mathematical texts played a particularly important role. Scholars such as Ibn Tariq and Al-Fazari (8th C, Baghdad), Al-Kindi (9th C, Basra), Al-Khwarizmi (9th C. Khiva), Al-Qayarawani (9th C, Maghreb, author of Kitab fi al-hisab al-hindi), Al-Uqlidisi (10th C, Damascus, author of The book of Chapters in Indian Arithmetic), Ibn-Sina (Avicenna), Ibn al-Samh (Granada, 11th C, Spain), Al-Nasawi (Khurasan, 11th C, Persia), Al-Beruni (11th C, born Khiva, died Afghanistan), Al-Razi (Teheran), and Ibn-Al-Saffar (11th C, Cordoba) were amongst the many who based their own scientific texts on translations of Indian treatises. Records of the Indian origin of many proofs, concepts and formulations were obscured in the later centuries, but the enormous contributions of Indian mathematics was generously acknowledged by several important Arabic and Persian scholars, especially in Spain. Abbasid scholar Al-Gaheth wrote: "India is the source of knowledge, thought and insight." Al-Maoudi (956 AD) who travelled in Western India also wrote about the greatness of Indian science. Said Al-Andalusi, an 11th C Spanish scholar and court historian was amongst the most enthusiastic in his praise of Indian civilization, and specially remarked on Indian achievements in the sciences and in mathematics. Of course, eventually, Indian algebra and trigonometry reached Europe through a cycle of translations, traveling from the Arab world to Spain and Sicily, and eventually penetrating all of Europe. At the same time, Arabic and Persian translations of Greek and Egyptian scientific texts become more readily available in India. The Kerala School Although it appears that original work in mathematics ceased in much of Northern India after the Islamic conquests, Benaras survived as a center for mathematical study, and an important school of mathematics blossomed in Kerala. Madhava (14th C, Kochi) made important mathematical discoveries that would not be identified by European mathematicians till at least two centuries later. His series expansion of the cos and sine functions anticipated Newton by almost three centuries. Historians of mathematics, Rajagopal, Rangachari and Joseph considered his contributions instrumental in taking mathematics to the next stage, that of modern classical analysis. Nilkantha (15th C, Tirur, Kerala) extended and elaborated upon the results of Madhava while Jyesthadeva (16th C, Kerala) provided detailed proofs of the theorems and derivations of the rules contained in the works of Madhava and Nilkantha. It is also notable that Jyesthadeva's Yuktibhasa which contained commentaries on Nilkantha's Tantrasamgraha included elaborations on planetary theory later adopted by Tycho Brahe, and mathematics that anticipated work by later Europeans. Chitrabhanu (16th C, Kerala) gave integer solutions to twenty-one types of systems of two algebraic equations, using both algebraic and geometric methods in developing his results. Important discoveries by the Kerala mathematicians included the Newton-Gauss interpolation formula, the formula for the sum of an infinite series, and a series notation for pi. Charles Whish (1835, published in the Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland) was one of the first Westerners to recognize that the Kerala school had anticipated by almost 300 years many European developments in the field. Yet, few modern compendiums on the history of mathematics have paid adequate attention to the often pioneering and revolutionary contributions of Indian mathematicians. A significant body of mathematical works were produced in the Indian subcontinent. The science of mathematics played a pivotal role not only in the industrial revolution but in the scientific developments that have occurred since. No other branch of science is complete without mathematics. Not only did India provide the financial capital for the industrial revolution India also provided vital elements of the scientific foundation without which humanity could not have entered this modern age of science and high technology. Facts: Mathematics and Music: Pingala (3rd C AD), author of Chandasutra explored the relationship between combinatorics and musical theory anticipating Mersenne (1588-1648) author of a classic on musical theory. Mathematics and Architecture: Interest in arithmetic and geometric series may have also been stimulated by (and influenced) Indian architectural designs - (as in temple shikaras, gopurams and corbelled temple ceilings). Of course, the relationship between geometry and architectural decoration was developed to it's greatest heights by Central Asian, Persian, Turkish, Arab and Indian architects in a variety of monuments commissioned by the Islamic rulers. Transmission of the Indian Numeral System: Evidence for the transmission of the Indian Numeral System to the West is provided by Joseph (Crest of the Peacock):- Quotes Severus Sebokht (662) in a Syriac text describing the "subtle discoveries" of Indian astronomers as being "more ingenious than those of the Greeks and the Babylonians" and "their valuable methods of computation which surpass description" and then goes on to mention the use of nine numerals. Quotes from Liber abaci (Book of the Abacus) by Fibonacci (1170-1250): The nine Indian numerals are ...with these nine and with the sign 0 which in Arabic is sifr, any desired number can be written. (Fibonaci learnt about Indian numerals from his Arab teachers in North Africa) Influence of the Kerala School: Joseph (Crest of the Peacock) suggests that Indian mathematical manuscripts may have been brought to Europe by Jesuit priests such as Matteo Ricci who spent two years in Kochi (Cochin) after being ordained in Goa in 1580. Kochi is only 70km from Thrissur (Trichur) which was then the largest repository of astronomical documents. Whish and Hyne - two European mathematicians obtained their copies of works by the Kerala mathematicians from Thrissur, and it is not inconceivable that Jesuit monks may have also taken copies to Pisa (where Galileo, Cavalieri and Wallis spent time), or Padau (where James Gregory studied) or Paris (where Mersenne who was in touch with Fermat and Pascal, acted as an agent for the transmission of mathematical ideas). Upanishadic philosophy: preparing the ground for rationalism Although the Upanishadic texts (like some of the earlier Vedic texts) are primarily concerned with acquiring knowledge of the "soul", "spirit" and "god" - there are aspects of Vedic and Upanishadic literature that also point to an intuitive understanding of nature and natural processes. In addition, many of the ideas are presented in a philosophical and exploratory manner - rather than as strict definitions of inviolable truth. Although the Upanishadic texts goaded the Upanishadic student to concentrate on comprehending the inner spirit, rational investigation of the world by other scholars was not entirely squelched, and eventually, the Upanishadic period gave way to an era which was not inimical to the development of rational ideas, even encouraging scientific observation and advanced study in the fields of logic, mathematics and the physical sciences. Following an era when rituals and superstitions had begun to proliferate, in some ways the Upanishadic texts helped to clear the ground for greater rationalism in society. Brahmin orthodoxy and ideas of ritual purity were superseded by a spiritual perspective that eschewed sectarianism and could be practised universally, unfettered by an individual's social standing. Much of the emphasis was on discovering "spiritual truths" for oneself as opposed to mechanically accepting the testimony of established religious leaders. Although there is a thematic commonality to the Upanishadic discourses, different commentators offered subtly varying perspectives and insights. The concept of god in Upanishadic (and even earlier Vedic) thinking was quite different from the more common definition of god as creator and dispenser of reward and punishment. The Upanishadic concept of god was more abstract and philosophical. Different texts postulated the doctrine of a universal soul that embraced all physical beings. All life emanated from this universal soul and death simply caused individual manifestations of the soul to merge or mingle back with the universal soul. The concept of a universal soul was illustrated through analogies from natural phenomenon. "As the bees make honey by collecting the juices of distant trees, and reduce the juice into one form. And as these juices have no discrimination, so that they might say, I am the juice of this tree or that, in the same manner, all these creatures, when they have become merged in the True, know not that they are merged in the True. . . ." "These rivers run, the eastern (like the Ganges) towards the east, the western (like the Indus) towards the west. They go from sea to sea (i.e., the clouds lift up the water from the sea to the sky and send it back as rain to the sea). They become indeed sea. And as those rivers, when they are in the sea, do not know, I am this or that river, in the same manner, all these creatures, proceeding from the True, know not that they have proceeded from the True. . . ." In another story, the "wise" father, expounder of the Upanishadic concept of god, asks his son to dissolve salt in water, and asked him to taste it from the surface, from the middle and from the bottom. In each case, the son finds the taste to be salty. To this his father replies that the 'universal being' though invisible resides in all of us, just as the salt, though invisible is completely dissolved in the water. (Chanddogya, VI) As a corollary to this theory emerged the notion that even as individual beings might refer to this universal soul - i.e. god in varied ways - by using different names and different methods of worship - all living beings were nevertheless related to each other and to the universal god, and capable of merging with the universal god. This approach thus laid the foundation for egalitarian and non-discriminatory philosophies such as Buddhism and Jainism (as well as non-sectarian streams of Hinduism) that followed the Upanishadic period. As is evident, such an approach was not incompatible with secular society, and permitted different faiths and sub-faiths to coexist in relative peace and harmony. In the course of defining their philosophy, the scholars of the Upanishad period raised several questions that challenged mechanical theism (as was also done in some hymns from the Rig Veda and Atharva Veda). If god existed as the unique creator of the world, they wondered who created this unique creator. The logical pursuit of such a line of questioning could either lead to an infinite series of creators, or to the rejection or abandonment of this line of questioning. The common theist solution to this philosophical dilemma was to simply reject logic and demand unquestioning faith on the part of the believer. A few theists attempted to use this contradiction to their own advantage by positing that god existed precisely because "He" was indescribable by mere mortals. But, by and large, this contradiction was taken very seriously by the philosophers of the Upanishadic period. The Upanishadic philosophers attempted to resolve this contradiction by defining god as an entity that extended infinitely in all dimensions covering both space and time. This was a philosophical advance in that it attempted to come to terms with at least the most obvious challenges to the notion of god as a human-like creator and did not require the complete rejection of logic. Another philosophical advance of the Upanishadic period was that religion was transformed from the realm of bookish parroting of scriptures to the realm of advanced intellectual debate and polemics. The Upanishadic philosophers did not lay down their conclusions as rigid doctrines or inviolable laws but as seductive parables - sometimes displaying remarkable worldly insight and analytical skill. By attempting to win over their followers through analogies from nature, and by employing the methods of abstract reasoning and debate, they created an environment where dialectical thinking and intellectual exchanges could later flourish. In the very process of their questioning, (and albeit speculative reasoning about god), they had opened the door for rationalists and even outright atheists who took their tentative questioning about the role and the character of god as "creator" to conclusions that rejected theism entirely. But in either case, many rationalist and/or naturalist philosophical streams emerged from this initial foundation. Some were nominally theistic (but in the abstract Upanishadic vein), others were agnostic (as the early Jains), while the early Buddhists and the Lokayatas were atheists. Thus even though the Upanishads contained much that should rightly be dismissed as abstruse intellectual jugglery and philosophical mumbo-jumbo, the Upanishadic philosophers had levelled the ground for the seeds of rationalism to flourish in Indian soil. The Vaisheshika School The Vaisheshika school (considered to be founded by Kanada, author of the Vaisesika Sutra) was an early realistic school whose main achievement lay in it's attempt at classifying nature into like and unlike groups. It also posited that all matter was made up of tiny and indestructible particles - i.e. atoms that aggregated in different ways to form new compounds that formed the variety of matter that existed on the earth. Their philosophy was described through the enumeration of the following concepts:Dravya (Substance), Guna (Quality), Karma (Action), Samanya (Generality),Visesa (Particularity), Samavaya (Inherence) and abhava (non-existence). Dravya (or substance) was understood as the specific result of a particular aggregate effect - i.e. the combination of atoms in a unique way. Substances were repositories for qualities and actions. Guna or quality was that which resided in a dravya. Qualities did not however contain qualities themselves. 24 qualities were enumerated, such as - color, form, smell, touch, sound, number, magnitude, distinctions, conjunction, disjunction, nearness, remoteness, heaviness, fluidity and viscosity. (As was typical of the times, psychological attributes such as pleasure, pain, desire, aversion, effort, tendency, cognition, impression, and ethical attributes such as merit and demerit were also included in the list, i.e. - qualities that were inapplicable to inanimate objects were not treated separately) Action or Karma represented physical movement. Unlike quality which was passive,Karma was dynamic. Action was the determinant of conjuction and disjunction. Five types of action were noted: throwing upwards or downwards, contraction, expansion and locomotion. Satta or physical existence was viewed as being the common attribute of substance, quality and action - i.e. only existing (as opposed to imaginary) entities could have substance, qualities and be capable of action. Samanyata or 'generality' was seen as a mental construct to create common classes of substances, qualities or actions while Visesata (particularity) was used to identify and separate individual items from their general classes. Samavaya or inherence was a relation that existed in those things that could not be separated without destroying them. Four categories of Abhava as negation or non-existance were listed: pragabhava or prior non-existance, referring to the absence of an object before it's creation;dhvamsabhava or posterior negation, as the absence of an object after it had been destroyed; anyonyabhava or mutual non-existance, refering to an object being distinct and different from the other; atyantabhava or absolute non-existence, indicating non-existence in the past, present and future, citing the example of air as permanently lacking in smell - (which was presumably true in a period where air pollution must have been uncommon!). An important contribution of the Vaisheshika school was a careful study of the time-relation in a chain of causes and effects. In a very rudimentary way, the school (along with other such schools) anticipated the theory of time calculus which could also be extended to space calculus. The Vaisheshika school thus served as an important step in the study of science by enumerating concepts that could further the study of physics and chemistry. In addition, the the study of medical science (including veterinary science) received considerable impetus from such attempts at methodical observation and classification. The Nyaya and related schools The Nyaya schools complemented and built on the Vaisheshika school by elaborating on the process of accumulating valid scientific knowledge through accurate perception and generating valid inferences. The school articulated four means of acquiring valid knowledge: pratyaksha or perception through one of the senses; anumana or inference; upamana or comparison with a well-known object; or shabda - verbal testimony. The conditions of perception, and it's range and limits were carefully studied.Trasarenu - the minima sensibile (i.e. the minimum visible), anubhuta-rupa - the infra-sensible, abhibhuta - the obscured perception , and anubhuta-vriti - potential perception, were recognized as different types of perception. A general methodology of ascertaining the truth (tattva) was described which consisted of describing a proposition (uddesa), the ascertainment of essential facts obtained through perception, inference or induction (laksan or uppa-laksana), and finally examination and verification (pariksa and nirnaya). This process could involve examples (drishtanta), logical arguments (avayava), reasoning (tarka) anddiscussion (vada) - , intellectual exchange, or interplay of two opposing sides in the process of arriving at a decisive conclusion. A successful application of this method could result in a siddhanta - i.e. established principle - (or in the case of mathematics - a theorem or theory) elucidated through proofs (pramana). Alternatively, it could lead to a rejection of the initial proposition. The Nyaya school identified various types of arguments that hindered or obstructed the path of genuine scientific pursuit, suggesting perhaps, that there may have been considerable practical resistance to their unstinting devotion to truth-seeking and scientific accuracy. They list the term jalpa - an argument not for the sake of arriving at the truth but for the sake of seeking victory (this term was coined perhaps to distinguish exaggerated and rhetorical arguments, or hyperbole from genuine arguments); vitanda (or cavil) to identify arguments that were specious or frivolous, or intended to divert attention from the substance of the debate, that were put-downs intended to lower the dignity or credibility of the opponent; and chal - equivocation or ruse to confuse the argument. Three types of chal are listed: vakchala - or verbal equivocation where the words of the opponent are deliberately misused to mean or suggest something different than what was intended; samanyachala or false generalization, where the opponents arguments are deliberately and incorrectly generalized in a way to suggest that the original arguments were ridiculous or absurd;uparachala - misinterpreting a word which is used figuratively by taking it literally. Also mentioned is jati, a type of fallacious argument where an inapplicable similiarity is cited to reject an argument, or conversely an irrelevant dissimiliarity is cited to reject an argument. The Nyaya school also recognized that intelligent and meaningful debates were not possible if certain fundamental principles and basic definitions and concepts were not mutually accepted. Nigrahasthana was the term used to identify disagreements based on absence of mutually acceptable first principles. An example might be a debate between a theist who rejected logic, and a non-theist who rejected faith. The Nyaya school also listed five classes of logical fallacies (hetvabhasa) :savyabhichara or the inconclusive type which employed reasoning from which more than one conclusion could be drawn but was used to insist on a single specific conclusion; viruddha or contradictory, where the reasoning used actually contradicted the proposition to be established; kalatita - where the elapse of time had made the argument invalid; sadhyasama, the unproven type, where the reasoning employed rested on arguments or principles that had not been proven and require proofs themselves - i.e. this was the type of fallacy where one unproven result was merely converted into another unproven result.; and finally prakaranasama - where the reasoning employed provoked the very question it was designed to answer - i.e. a recursive fallacy. In this manner, the Nyaya school defined a very sophisticated school of rational philosophy where the process of scientific epistemology was analyzed threadbare and all the dangers of unscientific reasoning and propaganda ploys were skillfully exposed. Causality Buddhist and Jain scholars, as well as later Hindu scholars offered their own approaches to scientific reasoning. Virtually all the rational schools were concerned with describing causality and causal relationships, and recognized that effects may not have single causes but may require a group or conjunction of causes to occur. Buddhist scholars emphasized that cause and effect need not have a linear effect but that desired effects may also require the right conditions for their fruition. (That is to say that for a plant to grow successfully, it would not only need the right seed, but that it would also need the right type of soil, fertilization, sunlight and water.) Both the Jains and the Buddhists correctly speculated that a potential for the desired effect must also be present in the cause or causal agent. (For instance, only a mango seed could produce a mango tree because only the mango seed incorporated the potential of developing into a mango tree.) As another example, one could note that something with brittle properties such as glass might break upon impact whereas something strong such as steel would survive. Thus a physical impact on substances of different properties would have different results. The Nyaya school also recognized co-effects - i.e a series of antecedants could cause a series of effects - either successive and staggered in time, or near simultaneous. Nyaya texts on causality indicate that there was an awareness that light travelled at a very high speed but the transmission of light was not instantaneous. Buddhist and Jain Atomic Theories The Buddhist and Jain philosophers also proposed their own variations of the atomic theory. Like the Vaisheshikas, atoms were perceived as infinitely small by the Jainas. But the Jainas went a step further by positing that the union of atoms required opposite qualities in the combining atoms - as is true in the case of electrovalent bonding. However, they erred in thinking that covalent bonding (which does not require opposite polarities in the combining atoms) could not occur. But their intuition that opposite polarities created mutual attraction and facilitated chemical reactions was correct. In the Buddhist view, matter was in fact an aggregate of rapidly recurring forces or energy waves. Their theory was illustrated with examples drawn from natural phenomenon involved with light emission. An atom was perceived as a momentary flash of light combining and separating from other atoms according to strict and definite laws of causality. Physical matter was thus seen as a denser and more concentrated form of light. Although at odds with other atomic theories of the time, their approach fit in with their general view that all things in nature were temporal, that there was constant change in nature - that degradation and renewal were continuous processes. The Syadvada system of Jain Logic Jain philosophers also made certain important contributions to the science of epistemology by proposing that the truth of a concept or observation could not only be true or false but indeterminate - and combinations of the above - such as true under some conditions (or true at a particular time or place - or true based on the validity of certain inferences) and false under other conditions, or true under some conditions but indeterminate under others, and so on. This led to a matrix of seven possible states of the truth (true, false, true or false, indeterminate, true or indeterminate, false or indeterminate, true or false or indeterminate). Jaina rationalists also studied the relationship between the universal and the particular and made important points concerning generalities and individual peculiarities. They also noted that objects in the real world exist in a network of relationships with each other - and have specific attributes that mark them temporally and spatially: "Every real is thus hedged round by a network of relations and attributes, which we propose to call its system or context or universe of discourse, which demarcates it from others." Jaina philosophers also successfully synthesized earlier debates on change and permanence by positing that all objects (or parts of objects) passed through phases of "existence, persistence, and cessation" and that reality was therefore a complex combination of things relatively permanent yet also relatively changing. These ideas thus formed the foundations of Indian science and contributed to the gradual elaboration of mathematics and astronomy, as well as agricultural and meteorological sciences. Developments in metallurgy and civil engineering also followed. Medicine and surgery perhaps received the greatest and the earliest impetus from these developments. Developments in philosophy also led to concomitant developments in the realm of art and culture. Yet. to a considerable extent, knowledge about the progress of science and reason in Indian history is often scarce. These (and other such) historical contributions were either denied or demeaned during the process of colonization, and are only now beginning to be re-acknowledged within India and abroad. But in A. D 1068, Indian contributions to the mainstream of science were held in great esteem and readily acknowledged in some parts of the world: Here is what Said Al-Andalusi, an 11th C Spanish scholar, court historian and chronicler wrote then: "Among the nations, during the course of centuries and throughout the passage of time, India was known as the mine of wisdom and the fountainhead of justice and good government and the Indians were credited with excellent intellects, exalted ideas, universal maxims, rare inventions and wonderful talents ... They have studied arithmetic and geometry. They have also acquired copious and abundant knowledge of the movements of the stars, the secrets of the celestial sphere and all other kinds of mathematical sciences. Moreover, of all the peoples they are the most learned in the science of medicine and thoroughly informed about the properties of drugs, the nature of composite elements and peculiarities of the existing things."

General Knowledge of Indian History in Hindi ,World GK Question .

2013-01-29T03:42:00.006-08:00

पुराने किले, मौत, हादसों, अतीत और रूहों का अपना एक अलग ही सबंध और संयोग होता है। ऐसी कोई जगह जहां मौत का साया बनकर रूहें घुमती हो उन जगहों पर इंसान अपने डर पर काबू नहीं कर पाता है और एक अजीब दुनिया के सामने जिसके बारें में उसे कोई अंदाजा नहीं होता है, अपने घुटने टेक देता है। दुनिया भर में कई ऐसे पुराने किले है जिनका अपना एक अलग ही काला अतीत है और वहां आज भी रूहों का वास है। दुनिया में ऐसी जगहों के बारें में लोग जानते है, लेकिन बहुत कम ही लोग होते हैं, जो इनसे रूबरू होने की हिम्‍मत रखतें है। जैसे हम दुनिया में अपने होने या ना होने की बात पर विश्‍वास करतें हैं वैसे ही हमारे दिमाग
के एक कोने में इन रूहों की दुनिया के होने का भी आभास होता है। ये दीगर बात है कि कई लोग दुनिया के सामने इस मानने से इनकार करते हों, लेकिन अपने तर्कों से आप सिर्फ अपने दिल को तसल्‍ली दे सकते हैं, दुनिया की हकीकत को नहीं बदल सकते है। कुछ ऐसा ही एक किलें के बारे में आपको बताउंगा जो क‍ि अपने सीने में एक शानदार बनावट के साथ-साथ एक बेहतरीन अतीत भी छुपाए हुए है। अभी तक आपने इस सीरीज के लेखों में केवल विदेश के भयानक और डरावनी जगहों के बारें में पढ़ा है, लेकिन आज आपको अपने ही देश यानी की भारत के एक ऐसे डरावने किले के बारे में बताया जायेगा, जहां सूरज डूबते ही रूहों का कब्‍जा हो जाता है और शुरू हो जाता है मौत का तांडव। राजस्‍थान के दिल जयपुर में स्थित इस किले को भानगड़ के किले के नाम से जाना जाता है। तो आइये इस लेख के माध्‍यम से भानगड़ किले की रोमांचकारी सैर पर निकलते हैं। भानगड़ किला एक शानदार अतीत के आगोश में भानगड़ किला सत्रहवीं शताब्‍दी में बनवाया गया था। इस किले का निर्माण मान सिंह के छोटे भाई राजा माधो सिंह ने करावाया था। राजा माधो सिंह उस समय अकबर के सेना में जनरल के पद पर तैनात थे। उस समय भानगड़ की जनसंख्‍या तकरीबन 10,000 थी। भानगढ़ अल्‍वार जिले में स्थित एक शानदार किला है जो कि बहुत ही विशाल आकार में तैयार किया गया है। चारो तरफ से पहाड़ों से घिरे इस किले में बेहतरीन शिल्‍पकलाओ का प्रयोग किया गया है। इसके अलावा इस किले में भगवान शिव, हनुमान आदी के बेहतरीन और अति प्राचिन मंदिर विध्‍यमान है। इस किले में कुल पांच द्वार हैं और साथ साथ एक मुख्‍य दीवार है। इस किले में दृण और मजबूत पत्‍थरों का प्रयोग किया गया है जो अति प्राचिन काल से अपने यथा स्थिती में पड़े हुये है। भानगड किले पर कालें जादूगर सिंघिया का शाप भानगड़ किला जो देखने में जितना शानदार है उसका अतीत उतना ही भयानक है। आपको बता दें कि भानगड़ किले के बारें में प्रसिद्व एक कहानी के अनुसार भागगड़ की राजकुमारी रत्‍नावती जो कि नाम के ही अनुरूप बेहद खुबसुरत थी। उस समय उनके रूप की चर्चा पूरे राज्‍य में थी और साथ देश कोने कोने के राजकुमार उनसे विवाह करने के इच्‍छुक थे। उस समय उनकी उम्र महज 18 वर्ष ही थी और उनका यौवन उनके रूप में और निखार ला चुका था। उस समय कई राज्‍यो से उनके लिए विवाह के प्रस्‍ताव आ रहे थे। उसी दौरान वो एक बार किले से अपनी सखियों के साथ बाजार में निकती थीं। राजकुमारी रत्‍नावती एक इत्र की दुकान पर पहुंची और वो इत्रों को हाथों में लेकर उसकी खुशबू ले रही थी। उसी समय उस दुकान से कुछ ही दूरी एक सिंघीया नाम व्‍यक्ति खड़ा होकर उन्‍हे बहुत ही गौर से देख रहा था। सिंघीया उसी राज्‍य में रहता था और वो काले जादू का महारथी था। ऐसा बताया जाता है कि वो राजकुमारी के रूप का दिवाना था और उनसे प्रगाण प्रेम करता था। वो किसी भी तरह राजकुमारी को हासिल करना चाहता था। इसलिए उसने उस दुकान के पास आकर एक इत्र के बोतल जिसे रानी पसंद कर रही थी उसने उस बोतल पर काला जादू कर दिया जो राजकुमारी के वशीकरण के लिए किया था। तस्‍वीरों में देखें: ऑटो शो में हॉट बेब्‍स के जलवे राजकुमारी रत्‍नावती ने उस इत्र के बोतल को उठाया, लेकिन उसे वही पास के एक पत्‍थर पर पटक दिया। पत्‍थर पर पटकते ही वो बोतल टूट गया और सारा इत्र उस पत्‍थर पर बिखर गया। इसके बाद से ही वो पत्‍थर फिसलते हुए उस तांत्रिक सिंघीया के पीछे चल पड़ा और तांत्रिक को कुलद दिया, जिससे उसकी मौके पर ही मौत हो गयी। मरने से पहले तांत्रिक ने शाप दिया कि इस किले में रहने वालें सभी लोग जल्‍द ही मर जायेंगे और वो दोबारा जन्‍म नहीं ले सकेंगे और ताउम्र उनकी आत्‍माएं इस किले में भटकती रहेंगी। उस तांत्रिक के मौत के कुछ दिनों के बाद ही भानगडं और अजबगढ़ के बीच युद्व हुआ जिसमें किले में रहने वाले सारे लोग मारे गये। यहां तक की राजकुमारी रत्‍नावती भी उस शाप से नहीं बच सकी और उनकी भी मौत हो गयी। एक ही किले में एक साथ इतने बड़े कत्‍लेआम के बाद वहां मौत की चींखें गूंज गयी और आज भी उस किले में उनकी रू‍हें घुमती हैं। किलें में सूर्यास्‍त के बाद प्रवेश निषेध फिलहाल इस किले की देख रेख भारत सरकार द्वारा की जाती है। किले के चारों तरफ आर्कियोंलाजिकल सर्वे आफ इंडिया (एएसआई) की टीम मौजूद रहती हैं। एएसआई ने सख्‍त हिदायत दे रखा है कि सूर्यास्‍त के बाद इस इलाके किसी भी व्‍यक्ति के रूकने के लिए मनाही है। इस किले में जो भी सूर्यास्‍त के बाद गया वो कभी भी वापस नहीं आया है। कई बार लोगों को रूहों ने परेशान किया है और कुछ लोगों को अपने जान से हाथ धोना पड़ा है। किलें में रूहों का कब्‍जा इस किले में कत्‍लेआम किये गये लोगों की रूहें आज भी भटकती हैं। कई बार इस समस्‍या से रूबरू हुआ गया है। एक बार भारतीय सरकार ने अर्धसैनिक बलों की एक टुकड़ी यहां लगायी थी ताकि इस बात की सच्‍चाई को जाना जा सकें, लेकिन वो भी असफल रही कई सैनिकों ने रूहों के इस इलाके में होने की पुष्ठि की थी। इस किले में आज भी जब आप अकेलें होंगे तो तलवारों की टनकार और लोगों की चींख को महसूस कर सकतें है। इसके अलांवा इस किले भीतर कमरों में महिलाओं के रोने या फिर चुडि़यों के खनकने की भी आवाजें साफ सुनी जा सकती है। किले के पिछले हिस्‍सें में जहां एक छोटा सा दरवाजा है उस दरवाजें के पास बहुत ही अंधेरा रहता है कई बार वहां किसी के बात करने या एक विशेष प्रकार के गंध को महसूस किया गया है। वहीं किले में शाम के वक्‍त बहुत ही सन्‍नाटा रहता है और अचानक ही किसी के चिखने की भयानक आवाज इस किलें में गुंज जाती है। आपको यह आर्टिकल कैसा लगा कमेंट बॉक्‍स में अपने विचार जरूर दें। पढ़ें दुनिया की और भी डरावनी जगहों के बारें में। जरूर देखें: मर्सडीज बेंज का हॉट टीवी विज्ञापन

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