Ministers/Others list in India

Finance Ministers:


Liaquat Khan - 1946-47
John Mathai - 1948-49
RK Shanmugam Chetty - 1949-51
Chinataman Rao Deshmukh - 1951-57
TT Krishnamachari - 57-58
Jawaharlal Nehru - 58-59
Morarji Desai - 59-64
TT Krishnamachari - 64-67
Morarji Desai - 67-70
Indira Gandhi - 70-71
Yashwanthrao Chavan - 71-75
C Subramaniam - 75-77
Morarji Desai - 77-79
Choudary Charan singh - 79-80
Ramaswamy venkatraman - 80-82
Pranab Mukherjee - 82-85
VP Singh - 85-87
SB Chavan - 87-90
Madhu Dandavate - 90-91
Dr Manmohan Singh - 91-96
P Chidambaram - 96-98
Yashwanth Sinha - 98-2002
Jaswanth Singh - 2002-2004
P Chidambaram - 2004-2009
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Prime Ministers:

Jawaharlal Nehru - 47-64 (Allahabad) - phulpur - allahabad
Gulzari lal nanda - 64-64 - bombay - maharashtra
Lal Bahadur shastri - 64-66 - allahabad - uttar pradesh
Gulzarilal Nanda - 66-66 - Bombay - maharashtra
Indira Gandhi - 66-77 - Rae Bareli - uttar pradesh, medak - andhra pradesh
Morarji desai - 77-79 - janata party - surat - gujarat
Choudary charan singh - 79-80 - janata party - baghpat - uttar pradesh
Indira gandhi - 80-84 - Rae bareli, medak
Rajiv gandhi - 84-89 - Amethi - uttar pradesh
VP Singh - 89-90 - janata dal - Fatehpur - uttar pradesh
Chandrasekhar - 90-91 - Ballia - uttar pradesh
PV Narasimha rao - 91-96 - Nandyal - andhra pradesh
AB Vajpayee - 96-96 - Lucknow, Uttar pradesh
HD Deve Gowda - 96-97 - kanakapura, hassan - karnataka - janata dal
Inder Kumar Gujaral - 97-98 - Jalandhar - Punjab - janata dal
AB Vajpayee - 98-2004 - Lucknow, Uttar pradesh
Dr Manmohan singh - 2004-2009 - State of assam in the upper house of rajya sabha
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Deputy PMs of India:
Sardar Patel - 47-50
Morarji Desai - 67-69
Choudary charan singh and jagjivan ram jointly - 1979
yashwanthrao chavan 79-80
chaudari devi lal - 89-90
chaudari devi lal - 90-91
LK Advani - 2002-2004
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Presidents of India:
Dr Rajendra prasad - 1950-62
Sarvepalli radhakrishnan - 62-67
zakir hussain - 67-69
VV Giri - 69
Muhammad Hidayatullah - 69
VV Giri - 69-74
Fakhruddin Ali Ahmad - 74-77
BD Jatti - 77
Neelam Sanjiva Reddy - 77-82
Zail singh - 82-87
ramaswamy venkataraman - 87-92
shankar dayal sharma - 92-97
KR Narayanan - 97-2002
APJ Abdul Kalam - 2002-2007
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Speakers of Indian Parliament:

GV Mavalankar
MA Ayyangar
Sardar Hukam singh
N Sajiva reddy
GS Dhillon
Bali ram bhagat
N Sanjiva reddy
KS Hedge
Balram jakhar
rabi ray
shivraj patil
PA Sangma
GMC Balayogi
Manohar joshi
Somnath Chatterjee
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Chief Election commissioners:

Sukumar Sen - 50-58
KVK Sundaram - 58-67
SP Sen Verma - 67-72
Dr Nagendra singh - 72-73
T Swaminathan - 73-77
SL Shakdhar - 77-82
RK Trivedi - 82-85
RVS Peri Sastri - 86-90
VS Ramadevi - 90
TN Seshan - 90-96
MS Gill - 96-2001
JM Lyngdoh - 2001-2004
TS Krishnamurthy - 2004-2005
BB Tandon - 2005-2006
N Gopalaswami - 2006 - present
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Cities - Rivers

Alexandria - Egypt - Nile
Amsterdam - Netherlands - Amstel
Baghdad - Iraq - Tigris
Bangkok - Thailand - Chao Phraya
Belgrade - Yugoslavia - Danube, Sava
Berlin - Germany - Spree, Havel
Bogota - Colombia - Bogota
Brazaville - Congo
Brussels - Belgium - Senne
Budapest - Hungary - Danube
Buenos Aires - Argentina - Rio De La Plata
Cairo - Egypt - Nile
Calcutta - India - Hugli
Damascus - Syria - Barada
Delhi - India - Yamuna
Dublin - Ireland - Liffey
Glasgow - Clyde
Ho Chi Min City - Vietnam - Saigon
Hong Kong - China -Pearl
Jakarta - Indonesia - Liwung
Kiev - Ukraine - Dnieper
Lisbon - Portugal - Tagus
Lima - Peru - Rimac
Limerick - Ireland - Shannon
London - UK - Thames
Madrid - Spain - Manzanares
Manaus - Amazon
Melborne - Australia - Yarra
Montreal - Canada - St. Lawrence
Moscow - Russia - Moskva
Paris - France - Seine
Perth - Swan
Pittsburg - USA -Ohio
Prague - Czech Republic - Moldau
Rome - Italy - Tiber
Rhodes - Elbe
Saint Petersburg - Russia - Neva
Santiago - Chile - Mapocho
Sao Paolo - Brazil -Tiete
Seoul - South Korea - Han
Shanghai - China - Huangpu
Tokyo - Japan - Sumida
Turin - Po
Vancouver - Canada - Fraser
Vienna - Austria - Danube, Donau
Warsaw - Poland - Vistula
Zagreb - Croatia - Sava
Zurich - Switzerland - Limmat, Sihl

Please add more river-city pairs to this!!! ...

Revolutions around the world

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Tulip Revolution:
This refers to the overthrow of the President Askar Akayev and his government in the Central Asian republic of Kyrgzstan after the parliamentary elections in 2005

In the early stages, this reolvution used to be called as Pink, Yellow, Lemon, Silk, Daffodil, Sandpaper revolutions and finally, it was called the Tulip revolution

though seems to be a non-violent revolution, there are instances of violence at many places

Supported by the youth resistence KelKel
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Bulldozer Revolution or the 5th october Revolution:
relates to the series of events that occured in 2000 in the Federal republic of Yugoslavia culminating with the downfall of Slobadan Milosevic - Serbia

one of the peaceful revolutions that happened - characteristic of the color revolutions
other characteristics - anti-communistic, more of student involvement, overthrowing an authoritative govt or president, almost every revolution has inspired the subsequent revolutions

Student organizations were a major part of these - like the Otpor
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Rose Revolution:
Happened in Georgia following the disputed 2003 elections led to the overthrow of Eduard Shevardnadze and his replacement by Mikhail Saakashvilii
supported by the civic resistence movement of Kmara
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Orange Revolution:
Occured in Ukraine in 2004 following the disputed second round of elections for the President and led to the annulment of the election results and leader of the opposition Viktor Yushchenko was declared the President

This revolution was supported by Pora
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Cedar Revolution:
In lebanon in 2005 - started after the assasination of the leader of opposition Rafik Hariri in 2005 but the primary goal of the revolution was the withdrawl of the Syrian troops
not a color revolution though and so doesnt have its characterstics
Cedar is the symbol of the country and hence the name of the revolution
White and Red colors are also used which are a part of the Lebanese Flag
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Purple Revolution:
Coming of democracy in Iraq - term first used by the United States of America following the 2005 Iraqi general elections
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Blue Revolution:
refer to demonstrations in Kuwait in support of Women's suffrage beginning in 2005 - named after the color of the signs the protestors have used. in 2007, the women suffrage was accepted and so this is a successful revolution
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Velvet Revolution:
refers to the non-violent revolution in Czechslovakia and saw the overthrow of the Lenin-Marxist government
Occured in 1989
General elections followed the revolution after 40 years with a non-communist government
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Other related movements in other countries:

Armenia - revolution from below! -but no color - 2005
Azerbaijan - Yox - a student movement - chose green as its color - 2005

Belarus - against President Alexander Lukanshenko with the student group Zubr - 2005
used White-Red as the color -also called Jeans Revolution or Denim Revolution

Moldovo - Grape revolution in 2005 by the opposition - does not materialize finally!
Mongolia - against the 2005 elections of the parliament

Russia - Oborona Youth movement
Uzbekistan - opposition to the president Islom Karimov - Farmer's Revolution
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The Carnation Revolution:
It was an almost bloodless, leftist, military-led, 1974 in Lisbon, Portugal, that effectively changed the Portuguese regime from an authoritarian dictatorship to a liberal democracy.

It was the end of the Estado Novo, the longest authoritarian regime in Western Europe (but not the last to end; Francisco Franco ruled Spain until his death in 1975).
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All other points at one place

All the questions that does not as of now come under any definite topic are populated here...

Article 48A, 21, 14, 51A(g) and Part IVA of the Indian Constitution gives importance to the ecology and environment rather than for economic and infrastructure development

Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala is the first district in India to ban beggary

Elysee Palace is the house of the French President

SM Sikri is the Chief Justice of the supreme court when the controversial Kesavanand Bharati case is discussed in 1973 - it is decided in this case that the basic structure of the constitution cannot be amemded reversing the previous verdict in the Golak Nath case in 1967

HR Khanna is the main figure who decided the fate of the case
AN Ray is the next chief justice in to force the next day after the kesavanand verdict

PN Bhagvati is the chief justice in 1980 when the minerva mills case is discussed

the new company of the merge of Air india and indian airlines will be called Air India with Maharaja as its mascot and will be called National Airline company limited
the logo is the centaur - the flying swan

Indian Army

Largest Branch of Armed Forces in India
Only persons to get Field Marshall in Indian Army, the highest honor - SHFJ Manekshah and KM Cariappa
Previously, the British Indian Army and after independence changed to Indian Army
Helped in
First war with Pakistan in 1948
Liberation of Hyderabad - 1948
Participation in UN Peace keeping forces
Goa, Daman and Diu operation against Portugal in 1961 - Operation Vijay
Indo china conflict - 1962
Indo-pakistan war of 1965 (against pak's Operation Gibraltar and Operation Grand Slam)
Bangladesh Liberation War 1971
Counter Insurgency Activities (Operation Bluestar and Operation Woodrose)
Kargil Operation 1999
Operation Parakram for countering the attack on the Indian Parliament
Operation Sanghe Shakti
Exercise Aswamedha - network centric warfare capabilities

Army HQ is at New Delhi
Southern Command - Pune
Central Command - Lucknow
Eastern Command - Kolkata
Western Command - Chandigarh
Northern Command - Udhampur
ARTRAC - Shimla
South Western Command - Jaipur

Rank Structure:

• Field Marshall
• General
• Lieutenant General
• Major- General (a Division is headed by him)
• Brigader (heads a Brigade)
• Colonel (heads a Batallion)
• Lieutenant Colonel
• Major (heads a company)
• Captain
• Lieutenant (heads a platoon)
• Second Lieutenant - now this is being discontinued

The Indian Army reports to the Ministry of Defence except for the below quasi army arms which report to the ministry of Home Affairs. These are headed by Director Generals

• Rashtriya Rifles
• National Security Gaurds - NSG
• National Cadet Corps - NCC
• Assam Rifles
• Border Roads Organization - BRO - again this reports to the ministry of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways

The Regiment of Artillery was first introduced by Babar in the first battle of panipat in 1526 (though there are some other evidences of earlier use)

All Indian Military firearm guns are manufactured under an umbrella administration of Ordanance Factory Board with principal Firearm Manufacturing units at Ishapore, Cossipore, Kanpur, Jabalpur and Tiruchhi

Ammunition is manufactured ar Kirkee (now Khadki) and at Bolangir

Combat Vehicles - Main Battle Tanks:

• Arjun MBT Mk1
• T-90 S MBT - Bhisma
• T-72 M1 - Ajeya
• Vijayanta and T-55

Artillery:

• Agni - medium range ballistic missile
• SS-150/Prithvi I and SS-250/Prithvi III short range ballistic Missile
• Brahmos - supersonic cruise missile with a range of 290 km
• Bofors - FH-77B
• Bhim and many more

Aircrafts:

• Aerospatiale Alouette III - by HAL - SA 316 B Chetak
• Aerospatiale Lama - built by HAL - SA 315 B cheetah
• DRDO Nishant - Unmanned air vehicle - UAV
• HAL Dhruv - Utility Helicopter
• Eurocopter Fennec - by EU - utility helicopter

Missiles:

• Agni - medium range ballistic missile
• Prithvi I and III - short range ballistic missile (Prithvi II is with the IAF)
• Brahmos - Supersonic Cruise missile
• Akash - surface to air missile
• Astra - Air to Air missile

Param Vir Chakra is the highest military decoration in the Indian Army - last given in 1999 to Rifleman Sanjay Kumar and Captain Vikram Batra

European Union

It is a supernational and Intergovernmental union of 27 states
Established in 1992 by the Treaty of EU - The Maastricht Treaty
It is the de facto successor of the six member European Economic Community founded in 1957 (The Treaty of Rome)
The Treaty of Paris - 1951 had the foundation for EU - European Coal and Steel Community of West Germany, Italy, Benelex and France - this changed to European Economic Comm and then to European Comm.

EU Institutions:

• European Parliament
• European Council
• Council of the European Union - the legislative branch apart from the EU parliament
• European Central Bank - 13 member states with Euro (estd in 1998 and HQ in Frankfurt)
• European Commission - acts as an executive
• The European Court of Justice - Luxembourg

The seat of the European Commission is in Brussels with the President - Jose Manuel Barroso

European Parliament Head - Hans Gert Pottering, and the seat is in Strasbourg

Council of the European Union, Head - Frank-Walter Steinmeier

Sectretariat of the European Parliament - Luxembourg

President of the European Council - Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany

High Representative of the CSFP - Javier Solana

Seat of the European council at present - Germany

Commissioner for Trade for the EU bloc in WTO - Peter Mendelson

Members of the EU:

• France
• Italy
• Germany
• Luxembourg
• Belgium
• Netherlands
• Denmark
• UK
• Ireland
• Greece
• Portugal
• Spain
• Austria
• Sweden
• Finland
• Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta Poland, Slovekia, Slovenia (all these added in 2004)
• Romania and Bulgaria (joined in 2007)

Enlargement Candidates:

• Turkey
• Croatia
• The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia

Pillars of the Treaty of Maastricht:

• European Communities
• The Common Foreign and Security Policy - CFSP (it acknowledges NATO responsible for the territorial defence and Peace keeping in Europe)
• Justice and Home Affairs

ERASMUS program for Higher Education

Bologna Process for Higher Education

Global Positioning System - Galileo - Global Navigation Satellite System - to be built by EU and launched by the European Space Agency (ESA is a non EU organization and so is the EFTA)

Indian Navy

Indian Navy is the fifth largest Navy in the world
It is a true Blue Water Navy with all the state-of the art capabilities
Motto: Shano Varuna
Total Strength - 55000 with 155 vessels
British Indian Navy - when India was under British Rule, and after Jan 26th 1950, this became Indian Navy and all the vessels were named after Indian Naval Ships - INS
First Involvement - Operation Vijay - in 1961 in the liberation of Goa from Portuguese troops
(INS Delhi took part actively in this)
Navy involved in the two wars with Pak in 1965 and 1971. Operation Trident (1971 war attack on Karachi Port) success was celebrated as Navy Day - Dec 4th
Operation Python - 1971 war in East Pakistan(INS Vikrant vs USS Enterprise)

Operation Cactus - in Maldives to stop the coup attempt by PLOTE in 1988
Operation Restore Hope - UN Peace Keeping force in Somalia from 1992
Operation Parakram and the Kargil War
Opeartion Enduring Freedom - supported US in the strait of Malacca

Tsumani operations:

• Operation Madath - Andhra and Tamil Nadu
• Operation Sea Waves - Andaman and Nicobar Islands
• Operation Castor - Maldives
• Operation Rainbow in Sri Lanka
• Operation Gambhir in Indonesia

Operation Sukoon - rescue operation of Indian citizens and others from the Isreali-Lebanon Conflict - 2006

Ranks in Indian Navy:

• Admiral of the Fleet
• Admiral (the rank held by the chief of the Naval Staff at present)
• Vice-Admiral
• Rear - Admiral
• Commodore
• Captain
• Commander
• Lieutenant Commander
• Lieutenant
• Sub Lieutenant

Chief of the Naval Staff: Admiral Suresh Mehta (previously, Admiral Arun Prakash)

Regional Commands -
HQ Eastern Command - Vishakapatnam
HQ Western Command - Mumbai
HQ Southern Command - Kochi
Strategic Area of Defence - a combined command of AirForce, Navy and Army in Andaman and Nicobar Islands setup in 2001

Lately, INS Kadamba was commissioned in Karwar area of Karnataka - this is the third operational Naval Base after Mumbai and Vishakapatnam and the first to be controlled completely by the Indian Navy - called Project Seabird
Planning to setup another base at Rambilli Mandal near Vishakapatnam
Also, setting up monitoring station in Madagascar and in the coast of Mozambique

Marine Commandos Force - MARCOS - special forces unit of the Indian Navy started in 1987
presently deployed in J&K to prevent infiltration through Jhelum and Wular Lake and protection in and arounf Dal Lake

Indian Navy's nuclear deterrence capabilities are based on Sukanya class ships with Dhanush Ballistic missiles with a range of 350 Km
this will be in commission till Advanced Technology Vessel starts in 2010 with Sagarika missile

Bridges of Friendship - 2001 International Fleet by the Indian Navy
MILAN - Fleet every two years in Andaman and Nicobar Islands

Navy Excersises:
VARUNA - with the French Navy
KONKAN - with the Royal British Navy
INDRA - with the Russian Navy
MALABAR - with the US Navy
SIMBLEX - with the Republic of Singapore Navy
TROPEX - Theatre level Readiness Operation Exercises - 2007 - to support Amry and Air Force

INS Tarangini - Indian Sailing Ship and Training Vessel - now on a Overseas voyage named Lokayan 07
Indian Navy explored to Mount Everest, North Pole (Arctic Circle - Indian Peak) and the Antarctic Circle) and the first military team to go to the south pole in skis

Sangraha - Electronic warfare joint program of DRDO and Indian Navy
Naval Institute of Computer Applications - NICA - Mumbai

Ships:
Destroyers - Delhi and Rajput class
Frigates - Talwar, Godavari, Leander and the Brahmaputra class. Shivalik Class(being devel.)
Aircraft Carrier - Kiev class Admiral Gorshkov - INS Vikramaditya - acqiured from abroad
INS Viraat (will be retired in 2012 after the induction of Vikrant class)
Submarines - Sorpene class - acquired from abroad, Kilo class with Brahmos Missile, amur class may also be inducted soon, INS Chakra - charlie class Nuclear powered!, Akula class
Corvette - INS Prahar was sunk!

US Trenton was purchased in 2006 from US - renamed INS Jalashva
INS Dunagiri, INS Magar and INS Trishul were involved in accidents in Sea
National Institute of Oceanography has made Autonomous Underwater Vehicle - AUV and Autonomous Surface Vehicle - ASV
Unmanned Underwater Vehicle - UUV - flagnamed as Flatfish - being developed
Maritime Patrol aircraft and P-8I aircraft are also being developed

4 aerobatic display team of the Indian Navy - Sagar Pawan - replaces the present Kiran Team

International Maritime Defene exhibition and Conference Asia 2007 held in Singapore in may 2007 and INS Sangram from India participated in it.

List of Nuclear Power/Research Plants/Reactors in India

Power Plants:
Total Installed capacity of Nuclear Power in India - 3900 Mwe
Capacity of Plants under construction total - 2800 MWe

All these Power Plants and the Nuclear Reactors are Operated by NPCIL - Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited

Kaiga - 1 - Karnataka - started in 2000 - PWHR, 220 MWe
Kaiga - 2 - Karnataka - started in 1999 - PWHR, 220 MWe
Kaiga - 3 - Karnataka - PWHR, 220 MWe (Under Construction)
Kaiga - 4 - Karnataka - PWHR, 220 MWe (Under Construction)

Rajasthan Atomic Power Station - Rawatbhata
Rajasthan - 1 - Rajasthan - started in 1972 - PWHR, 100 Mwe
Rajasthan - 2 - Rajasthan - started in 1980 - PWHR, 200 Mwe
Rajasthan - 3 - Rajasthan - started in 2000 - PWHR, 220 Mwe
Rajasthan - 4 - Rajasthan - started in 2000 - PWHR, 220 Mwe
Rajasthan - 5 - Rajasthan - PWHR, 220 Mwe (Under Construction)
Rajasthan - 6 - Rajasthan -PWHR, 220 Mwe (Under Construction)

Kakrapar Atomic Power Station - Kakrapar
Kakrapar - 1 - Gujarat - started in 1992 - PWHR, 220Mwe
Kakrapar - 2 - Gujarat - started in 1995 - PWHR, 220Mwe

Madras Atomic Power Station - MAPS - Kalpakkam
Kalpakkam - 1 - Tamil Nadu - started in 1983 - PWHR, 220 MWe
Kalpakkam - 2 - Tamil Nadu - started in 1985 - PWHR, 220 MWe

Narora Atomic Power Station - Narora
Narora - 1 - Uttar Pradesh - started in 1989 - PWHR, 220 MWe
Narora -2 - Uttar Pradesh - started in 1992 - PWHR, 220 MWe

Tarapur Atomic Power Station - TAPS - in Tarapur
Tarapur - 1 - Maharashtra - started in 1969 - BHR, 160 MWe
Tarapur - 2 - Maharashtra - started in 1969 - BHR, 160 MWe
Tarapur - 3 - Maharashtra - started in 2006 - PWHR, 540 MWe
Tarapur - 4 - Maharashtra - started in 2005 - PWHR, 540 MWe

Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant
Kudankulam - 1 - Tamil Nadu - VVER, 1000 MWe (Under Construction)
Kudankulam - 2 - Tamil Nadu - VVER, 1000 MWe (Under Construction)

Research Reactors:
IGCAR - Indira Gandhi Center for Atomic Research - Kalpakkam

• Fast Breed Test Reactor
• KAMINI Test Reactor
• 500 MWe Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (under construction)

Bhabha Atomic Research Center - BARC - Trombay

• CIRUS Reactor
• Dhruva Reactor
• Apsara Reactor

Ministries and Departments of the Govt of India

Ministry of Agriculture: (Sharad Pawar)

• Department of Agriculture and Co-operation
• Department of Agriculture research and education
• Department of Animal Husbandary and Dairying

Ministry of Agro and Rural Industries (Maha Vir Prasad)

Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers: (Ram Vilas Paswan)

• Department of Chemicals and Petro-chemicals
• Department of Fertilizers

Ministry of Civil Aviation ()

Ministry of Coal (Presently with the Prime Minister)

Ministry of Commerce and Industry (Kamal Nath)

• Department of Commerce
• Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion

Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (Dayanidhi Maran)

• Department of Posts
• Department of Telecommunications
• Department of Information and Technology

Ministry of Company Affairs (Prem Chand Gupta)

Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution (Sharad Pawar)

• Department of Consumer Affairs
• Department of Food and Public Distribution

Ministry of Defence (AK Anthony)

• Department of Defence Supplies and Production
• Department of Defence Research and Development
• Department of Defence

Ministry of Earth Sciences (Kapil Sibal)

Ministry of Environment and Forests (A Raja)

Ministry of External Affairs (Pranab Mukherjee)

Ministry of Finance (P Chidambaram)

• Department of Expenditure
• Department of Revenue
• Department of Disinvestment
• Department of Economic Affairs

Ministry of Food Processing Industries

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (Anbumani Ramdoss)

• Department of Health
• Department of Family Welfare
• Department of Ayurveda, Yoga-Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy

Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises (Santosh Mohan Dev)

• Department of Heavy Industries
• Department of Public Enterprises

Ministry of Home Affairs (ShivRaj Patil)

• Department of Internal Security
• Department of Official Languages
• Department of States
• Department of Jammu and Kashmir Affairs
• Department of Home

Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation

Ministry of Human Resources Development (Arjun Singh)

• Department of Elementary Education and Literacy
• Department of Secondary and Higher Education
• Department of Women and Child Development [I Think this is given a seperate ministry now under Renuka Chowdary]

Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (Priyaranjan Dasmuni)

Ministry and Labor and Employment

Ministry of Law and Justice (HR Bhardwaj)

• Department of Legal Affairs
• Department of Justice
• Legislative Department

Ministry of Mines (Sish Ram Ola)

Ministry of Non-conventional Energy Sources

Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (Vayalar Ravi)

Ministry of Panchayati Raj (Manishankar Aiyer)

Minisry of Parliamentary Affairs (Priyaranjan Dasmuni)

Ministry of Personnel, Pension and Public Grievances (With the Prime Minister)

• Department of Personnel and Training
• Department of Pensions and Pensioner's Welfare
• Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances

Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (Murali Deora)

Ministry of Planning (With the Prime Minister)

Ministry of Power (Sushil Kumar Shinde)

Ministry of Railways (Laloo Prasad Yadav)

Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways (TR Baalu)

Ministry of Rural Development (Raghuvansh Prasad Singh)

• Department of Drinking Water Supply
• Department of Rural Development
• Department of Land Resources

Ministry of Science and Technology (Kapil Sibal)

• Department of Science and Technology
• Department Scientific and Industrial Research
• Department of Bio Technology

Ministry of Small Scale Industries (Mahavir Prasad)

Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (Meira Kumar)

Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation

Ministry of Steel (Ram Vilas Paswan)

Ministry of Textiles (Shankar Singh Vaghela)

Ministry of Tourism and Culture (Ambika Soni)

Ministry of Tribal Affairs (PR Kyndiah)

Ministry of Urban Development (S Jaipal Reddy)

Ministry of Water Resources (Saif U-din Soz)

Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (Manishankar Aiyer)

Department of Atomic Energy (with the Prime Minister)

Department of Space (with the Prime Minister)

Cabinet Secretariat

President's Secretariat

Prime Minister's Office

Planning Commission

Department of Development of North Eastern Region (Manishankar Aiyer) [This is a ministry now i think! Please clarify on this...]

• Ministry of Minority Affairs (AR Antulay)
• Ministry of New and Renewable Energy [These two are new ministries i guess]

Botanical/Zoological Survey of India

Some points on both of these...

ZSI - HQ - Kolkata - established in 1916
ZSI has 16 regional and field stations:

Eastern - Shillong
Western - Pune
Northern - Dehradun
Southern - Chennai
Central - Jabalpur
Desert - Jodhpur
Gangetic Plains - Patna
Andaman and Nicobar - Port Blair

Marine Biology - Chennai
Fresh Water Biology - Hyderabad
Eastern Biology - Behrampur
Sunderabans - Cannings, West Bengal
Western Ghats - Kozhikode
Marine Acquarium and Research - Digha
Arunachal Pradesh - Itanagar
High Altitude Zoology - Solan

India - Antarctica program from 1989

BSI - formally constituted in 1890 and HQ at Kolkata
Central National Herbarium - Kolkata and started in 1793
The Indian Botanical Garden - Howrah
The Central Botanical Laboratory - Howrah
The Botanical Museum - Kolkata

Regional Circles:
Southern Circle - Coimbatore
Western Circle - Pune
Arid Zone Circle - Jodhpur
Northern Circle - Dehradun
Central Circle - Allahabad
Sikkim Himalayan Circle - Gangtok
Arunachal Pradesh Circle - Itanagar
Andaman and Nicobar Circle - Port Blair

National Orchidarium - Yercaud - Tamil Nadu
National Orchidarium - Shillong - Meghalaya
Mundhwa Botanical Garden - Pune
Dhanikari Arborateum - Port Blair
Sankai Wilderness Area - Itanagar
Gymnosperm Sanctuary - Pauri, Uttar Pradesh

Awards - India/International

• BP Paul Centenary Award to - MS Swaminathan
• Commander of Agriculture Award by France to - MS Swaminathan
• Rajiv Gandhi Outstanding Leadership Award 2006 - MS Swaminathan ?? (please anybody confirm)
• Saha Maitreyi award by Combodian Govt on Rice Research and Development to - MS Swaminathan
• MS Swaminathan award for leadership in Agriculture - GS Kush
• Jugde's Prize for Newspaper Category 2005 - P Sainath, Hindu Editor for Rural Affairs
  (Also called Harin Chappin Media Award)
• Prem Bhatia memorial award for excellence in political reporting to Pallavi ayyer - Hindu correspondent in china
• Mother Teresa International and Millennium Award 2005 - Shiekh Hasina
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International Gandhi Peace Prize : By the GOI from 1995
1995 - Julius Nyerere (First President of Tanzania)
1996 - AT Ariyaratne
1997 - Gerhard Fischer (Anti Leprosy Campaign, former Germany Ambassador to India)
1998 - Ramakrishna Mission
1999 - Baba Amte
2000 - Nelson Mandela and Grameen Bank
2001 - John Hume (Irish Politician)
2002 - Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan
2003 - Vaclav Havel
2004 - Corretta Scott King (Widow of Martin Luther King)
2005 - Desmond Tutu
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Legion D Honor to - Rajendre K Pachiru for his contributions in Environmental Sustenable Dev.
Hon. Doctorate Degree from Harward Univ - 2001 for her contribution to Under Privileged Children - Elaa Bhatt (SEWA) - Gujarat
Rajiv Gandhi National Sadbhavana Award - Nirmala Deshpande
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Ramon Magsasay Award -
Govt Service - CD Deshmukh, Kiran Bedi, TN Seshan, JM Lyngdoh
Public Service - Jayaprakash Narayan, MS Subbalakshmi, Manibhai Desai, Baba Amte, Lakshmi Chand Jain, Banoo Jehangir Coyaji, Mahesh Chander Mehta, V Shanta
Community Leadership - Vinoba Bhave, Veghese Kurien, Dara Khurodi, Tribhuvandas Patel, Kamaladevi Chattopadhyaya, MS Swaminathan, Ela Bhatt, Mabelle Arole, Rajikanth Arole, Pramod Karan Sethi, Chandi Prasad Bhatt, Pandurang Sastri Athavale, Aruna Roy, Rajendra Singh, Shanta Sinha
Journalism, Literature and Creative Arts - Amitabha Choudary, Satyajith Raj, Boobli George Verghese, Sombhu Mitra, Gour Kishore Ghosh, Arun Shourie, RK Laxman, KV Subbanna, Ravi Shankar, Mahaswetha Devi
Peace and International Understanding - Mother Teresa, Jockin Arputham, Laxminarayan Ramdas
Emergent Leadership - Sandeep Pandey, Arvind Kejriwal
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International Cosmos Prize - Dr Raman Sukumar for striving harmonious co-existence of nature and mankind

39th Gnanapith Award to - Marathi writer, Vinda Karadikar

Sangeet Ratna Award has been started in memoir of Ustad Bismillah Khan by the UP GOvt
Sangeet Kalanidhi by Music Academy - Madurai Seshagopalan, Carnatic Vocalist

Winner of Right Livelihood award for social upliftment - Swami Agnivesh (he started the Bharat Nav Nirman Maha Abhiyan)

Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration - Javed Akhtar for 2005
Central Leather Research Institute, Chennai - Shanti Swarup Bhatnakar Award

Indira Gandhi Raj Bhasha Award to - Atish Agarwal

Indira Gandhi Paryavarana award to - Malayala Manorama for 2004 for its work "Pala Thulli"
GMOD award for innovation in ST – kota hari narayanan – designing light commercial aircraft
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Nobel Prize:

According to the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895 and started in 1901 by the Nobel Foundation
The economics prize was started in 1968 by the Sweden central bank in memory of Alfred Nobel and is not a Nobel prize and called Sveriges Riskbank Prize in Economic sciences and the first prize was awarded in 1969
Award ceremony on dec 10th, the birth anniversary of Alfred Nobel at Stockholm Concert Hall by the King of Sweden
Only the peace prize ceremony is held at the norwegian nobel institute or the university of Oslo
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences - responsible for Physics, Chemistry, Economics
The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska University - for Medicine
The Swedish Academy - for Literature
The Norwegian Nobel committee - for Peace prize
Mahatma Gandhi was nominated five times for the award between 1937 and 1948 but never won it

Madam Curie - won twice in 1903 for discovery of Radioactivity in physics and in 1911 for isolation of pure radium in chemistry
Linus Pauling for hybridized orbital theory in 1954 in chemistry and in 1962 for peace for Nuclear test ban activism
John Bardeen - in 1956 in physics for the invention of transistor and in 1972 in physics for the theory of superconductivity
Frederick Sanger - in chemistry in 1958 for the structure of insulin molecule and in 1980 in chemistry for virus nucleotide sequencing

Otto Warburg was prevented by the Nazi government from accepting his second nobel prize for medicine in 1944

International Red Cross got the nobel prize for peace three times in 1917, 1944 and 1963

The curie family claims the most nobel prizes:
Madam Curie - 2
Pierre Curie - physics in 1903
and Joliot Curie , daughter of them - chemistry - 1935

William Lawrence Bragg is the youngest to get a nobel prize at the age of 25. he got it for physics in 1915

Nobel Prize for 2006:
Physics - John C Mather and Gerge Smoot
Chemistry - Roger D Kornberg
Medicine - Andrew Fire and Craig Mellow
Economics - Edmund S Phelps
Literature - Orhan Pamuk
Peace - Grameen Bank and Mohammud Yunus
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Man Booker Prize:

Started in 1968 as Booker Mc Conneel prize by the company Booker Mc Connel and in 2002, it was transferred to Man group and Booker Prize foundation and hence Man Booker prize

Booker of Booker prize award given in 1993 to Salman Rushdie for his work Midnight's children for the 25 yr of existence

Prize for fiction for best original full length novel written in english by a citizen of commonwealth of nations or the republic of ireland

1981 - Salman Rushdie - Midnight's children

1997 - Arundhati Roy - The God of small things

2006 - Kiran Desai - The Inheritence of Loss

1971 - VS Naipal - In a Free State - but not of India list though he is of Indian origin

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Heads around the World/International Orgs

Chief of Staff of the UN Secretary General – Vijay Nambiar
Chief Economist of IMF from India - Raghuram Rajan
Pakistan People's Party - Benazir Bhutto
Pak Muslim League - Nawaz Sharif
Deputy PMs of Russia - Sergei Ivanov and Dmiti Medvedev
13th Elected monarch of Malaysia - Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin of Terengganu - (13th Yang Di Pertuan Agong )
Secretary General of the Commonwealth - Don Mc Kinnon
International Policy on Climate Change - Rajendra K Pachuri
Foreign Minister of Pak - Riaz Ahmmed Khan
Deputy Secretary General of UN - Dr Asha-Rose Migiro (Tanzanian Foreign Minister)
Sec Gen of UN - Ban Ki Moon (previously he is Chief of Staff of President of the Gen Assembly, UN)
Under Sec Gen for Public Information and Comm. - Akasana from Japan (previously this post is under Shashi Tharoor)
Speaker, Commonwealth Parliamentary Committee - HA Halim
Hurriyat Conference - Syed Ali Geelani
PM of Algeria - Abdelaziz Belkhadem
Awami League of Bangladesh - Sheikh Hasina
Chief of CIA - M.Heyden
President of Turkemenisthan - Gurbanguly Berdimuhammdevow (previously it is Saparurat Niyazov - dictator and died recently)

Director General of WHO - Lee Jong Wook - Margaret Chan??
Secretary General of GUAM - President of Azerbaijan - Illham Aliyav

Chairman of the Inter Parliamentary Union - Agung Laksono
Secretart General of ITA - Monojit Das Gupta

President of the Asia Development Bank - Haruhiko Kuroda

Bio-Reserves and World Heritage Sites in India

Bio - reserves in India and World Heritage Sites

There are 14 bio-reserves in India out of which 4 are listed in the UNESCO World Bio-reserves List

The following are the 14 bio-reserves in India and the first four are those that are also on the UNESCO List

Bio-reserves:
1 1989 Gulf of Mannar Indian part of Gulf of Mannar between India and Sri Lanka Tamil Nadu Coasts 10500 (largest of all)
2 1989 Sunderbans Part of delta of Ganges and Barahamaputra river system West Bengal Gangetic Delta 9630
3 1988 Nanda Devi Parts of Chamoli District, Pithoragarh District & Almora District Uttranchal West Himalayas 5860
4 1986 Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve Silent Valley and Siruvani Hills Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka Western Ghats 5520 (Oldest of all)
5 1998 Dehang Debang Part of Siang and Debang valley Arunachal Pradesh East Himalayas 5112 6 1999 Pachmarhi Biosphere Reserve Parts of Betul District, Hoshangabad District and Chhindwara District Madhya Pradesh Semi-Arid 4926
7 1994 Simlipal Part of Mayurbhanj district Orissa Deccan Peninsula 4374
8 2005 Achanakamar - Amarkantak Part of Annupur, Dindori and Bilaspur districts Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh 3835
9 1989 Manas Part of Kokrajhar, Bongaigaon, Barpeta, Nalbari, Kamrup and Darang District Assam East Himalayas 2837
10 2000 Kanchanjunga Parts of Kanchanjunga Hills Sikkim East Himalayas 2620
11 2001 Agasthyamalai Biosphere Reserve Neyyar, Peppara and Shenduruny Wildlife Sanctuary and their adjoining areas Kerala Western ghats 1701
12 1989 Great Nicobar Biosphere Reserve Southern most islands of Andaman and Nicobar Islands Andaman and Nicobar Islands Islands 885
13 1988 Nokrek Part of Garo Hills Meghalaya East Himalayas 820
14 1997 Dibru- Part of Dibrugarh District and Tinsukia District Assam East Himalayas 765

As we can observe, 7 bio-reserves were selected before 1989 and the rest 7 are added till 2005

India has the following kinds of Protected areas, in the sense of the word designated by IUCN. As of May 2004, India has 156,700 km² of surface area designated as protected areas, roughly 4.95% of the total surface area

Protected Areas in India:
1. National Parks (IUCN Category II): India's first National Park was Hailey National Park, now Jim Corbett National Park, established in 1935. By 1970, India had 5 National Parks; today it has over 90
2. Animal Sanctuary (IUCN Category IV): India has over 500 animal sanctuaries, referred to as Wildlife Sanctuaries. Among these, the 28 Tiger Reserves are governed by Project Tiger, and are of special significance in the conservation of the tiger
3. Biosphere Reserve (UNESCO designation roughly corresponding to IUCN Category V
4. Reserved Forest and Protected Forest (IUCN Category IV or VI, depending on protection accorded
5. Conservation Reserve and Community Reserve (IUCN Category V and VI respectively)
6. Village Forest and Panchayat Forest (IUCN Category VI)
7. Private protected areas8. conversation areas
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Selected by UNESCO World Heritage Site Committee
Total - 28 in India

Madhya Pradesh - 3
Maharashtra - 4
Uttar Pradesh - 3
Karnataka - 3
Tamil Nadu - 3
Uttaranchal - 1
Bihar - 1
West Bengal - 1
Gujarat - 1
Goa - 1
Orissa - 1
Delhi - 3
Assam - 2
Rajasthan - 1

World Heritage Sites from India:
1. Agra Fort, Uttar Pradesh
2. Ajanta Caves, Maharashtra
3. Buddhist Monuments at Sanchi, Madhya Pradesh
4. Champaner-Pavagadh Archaeological Park, Gujarat
5. Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Maharashtra
6. Churches and Convents of Goa
7. Elephanta Caves, Maharashtra
8. Ellora Caves, Maharashtra
9. Fatehpur Sikri, Uttar Pradesh
10. Great Living Chola Temples, Tamil Nadu
11. Group of Monuments at Hampi, Karnataka
12. Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu
13. Group of Monuments at Pattadakal, Karnataka
14. Humayun's Tomb, Delhi
15. Kaziranga National Park, Assam
16. Keoladeo National Park, Rajasthan
17. Khajuraho Group of Monuments, Madhya Pradesh
18. Mahabodhi Temple Complex, Bihar
19. Manas Wildlife Sanctuary, Assam
20. Mountain Railways of India
21. Nanda Devi and Valley of Flowers National Park, Uttaranchal
22. Qutub Minar and its monuments, Delhi
23. Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka, Madhya Pradesh
24. Red Fort, New Delhi
25. Konark Sun Temple, Orissa
26. Sundarbans National Park, West Bengal
27. Taj Mahal, Uttar Pradesh
28. Mysore Palace, Karnataka

Several railways were built in the mountainous regions of India. Collectively they are known as the Mountain railways of India. Four of these railways are running in 2007:
1. Darjeeling Himalayan Railway
2. Nilgiri Mountain Railway
3. Kalka-Shimla Railway
4. Matheran Hill Railway

The collective designation refers to the current project by the Indian government to nominate a representative example of its historic railways to UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway was recognized in 1999, while the Nilgiri Mountain Railway was added as an extension to the site in 2005.

They were recognized for being outstanding examples of bold, ingenious engineering solutions for the problem of establishing an effective rail link through a rugged, mountainous terrain.

Both the Kalka-Shimla Railway and the Matheran Hill Railway are on the tentative nomination list for that site

Indian History - Modern India

This is the first on Indian History:

Governor Generals of India:

Warren Hastings - 1774-85
Marquess Cornwollis - 1786-93
John Shore - 1793-98
Wellesley - 1798-1805
Cornwollis - 1805-05
Lord Minto - 1807-13
Marquess Hastings - 1813-23
Amherst - 1823-28

Lord William Bentick - 1828-1835
Lord Metcalf - 1835-1836
Lord Auckland - 1836-1842
Lord Ellen - 1842-44
Lord Hardinge - 1844-48
Lord Dalhousie - 1848-56
Lord Canning - 1856-58

Viceroys of India

Lord Canning - 1858-62
Lord Elgin - 1862-63
Lord Lawrence - 1864-69
Lord Mayo - 1869-72
Lord North Brook - 1872-76
Lord Lytton - 1876-80
Lord Rippon - 1880-84
Lord Dufferin - 1884-88
Lord Lansdowne - 1889-94
Lord Elgin - 1894-99
Lord Curzon - 1899-1905
Lord Minto II - 1906-1910
Lord Hardinge - 1910-1916
Lord Chemsford - 1916-1921
Lord Reading - 1921-1926
Lord IRwin - 1926-31
Lord Wellingthon - 1931-36
Lord Linlithgao - 1936-44
Lord Wavell - 1944-47
Lord Mount Batten - 1947

Governor General of Independent India

Lord MountBatten - 1947-48
Chakravarthi Rajagopalachari - 1948-50