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Iraq Mission
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Asistant Editor:
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Editorial NUCLEAR
Good Strategy is
Dr. Nageshwar Nath Mishra
Dr. Sachchidanand
Indispensable to LIABILITY
win the war
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Good Strategy is Indispensable to win the war
Now final war for IAS mains is approaching and you are very near to it.
Some candidates are fully prepared and some are confident but there are
also some candidates, who are loosing the confidence in themselves. But all
of you should keep in mind one thing very clearly that battle is open and
no one is victorious and loser without facing actual battle. So my advice is
that all of you must synchronize all ability, power, knowledge, time and
everything. All of you know that good strategy is indispensable to win the
war, so make your own strategy. I think all of you have made your strat-
egy. Now only one thing is needed to keep continue, without jumping over
the conclusion of either side. On this way “UPSC Portal Magazine” is with
you.
We are doing our best to provide you materials for mains in very
concise way. As Featured Article you will find America ended its Iraq mis-
sion, Nuclear Liability Bill and Commonwealth Games 2010 are included
as Articles. In the section of Hot Topics, Visit of Prime Minister of Poland
to India and Global competitiveness report are given. Also we have provided
for Civil Services Main Examination 2010 a Special Study Package on In-
dian History.
These are the topics, which may be asked in the main examination
2010. And besides all, Personality, Awards and Sports have been covered
under the regular column, Current Affairs.
My all best wishes to all of you to win the final war.
Ram Kumar Pandey and

UPSC Portal Team
2 WWW.UPSCPORTAL.COM Vol. - 18

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Featured Article
ENDED ITS
IRAQ MISSION
Withdrawal of
U.S. troops
from Iraq
P
By - R.K. Pandey
Resident Barack Obama for Iraq's future in the hands of because Iraqis cannot govern
officially declared on 02 Iraqi officials and ci4zens alike re- themselves, but because the
Sep, 2010 the end of the veal the glaring lack of poli4cal country needs the 4me required
U.S. combat mission in Iraq. For progress there. Five months a$er to build the ins4tu4ons of
Americans, this moment brings the country's parliamentary elec- democracy.
closure to a controversial war. 4ons, Iraq has yet to build a func-
In his speech, Obama focused on 4oning government, despite WITHDRAWAL OF U.S.
the success of the surge and on months of heated debate and po- TROOPS FROM IRAQ
handing over to Iraqis the respon- li4cal posturing.
sibility to manage their own secu- The U.S. administra4on's The withdrawal of American mil-
rity. He also spoke of what he desi-re to conclude this war and itary forces from Iraq has been a
ar3ully called the “caretaker ad- turn its a5en4on elsewhere is conten4ous issue within the
ministra4on” now in charge of under-standable, yet America United States since the beginning
Iraq and encouraged Iraq's lead- cannot afford to squander the of the Iraq War. As the war has
ers to move quickly to form a thousands of lives and billions of progressed from its ini4al 2003
func4oning, represe-nta4ve gov- dollars that have already been ex- invasion phase to a mul4-year oc-
ernment. acted to transform Iraq into a cupa4on, U.S. public opinion has
For Iraqis, the sad truth is democracy. turned in favor of troop with-
that it is difficult to know what to Obama spoke about the U.S. drawal. As of May 2007, 55 per-
celebrate. The campaign libera- commitment to Iraq's future as a cent of Americans believed that
ted Iraq from a dictator but le$ strong partner, but only once Iraq the Iraq war was a mistake, and
the country crippled by poli4cal has a func4oning government in 51 percent of registered voters
infigh4ng and without a clear fu- place. This is precisely the point favored troop withdrawal. In late
ture. where Iraq has foundered for April 2007, the U.S. Congress
President Obama's hasty ef- months and precisely where Iraq passed a supplementary spend-
forts to place the responsibility needs U.S. leadership. This is not ing bill for Iraq that sets a dead-
Vol. - 18 WWW.UPSCPORTAL.COM 3

Featured Article
line for troop withdrawal, but ever force they needed. In gen- for U.S. forces in Iraq to be "rede-
President Bush vetoed this bill eral, this is consistent with his ployed at the earliest prac4cable
soon a$erwards. In the wake of earlier remarks. When ques- date" to stand as a quick-reac4on
that veto, proponents of with- 4oned about troop strength, force in U.S. bases in neighboring
drawal appeared to be shi$ing Bush and then-Secretary of De- countries such as Kuwait. In re-
towards establishing benchmarks fense Donald Rumsfeld said that sponse, Republicans proposed a
that the Iraqi government will they were using the troops asked resolu4on that "the deployment
need to meet, a plan that may for by the general staff. of United States forces in Iraq be
have been more palatable to for- terminated immediately," with-
mer President Bush and his advis- out any provision for redeploy-
ers. The U.S. Marine Corps s4ll Congressional ment, which was voted down
has eight bases in Iraq. Proposals And Acts 403-3.
Immediately before and a$er On June 16, 2006, the House
the 2003 invasion, most polls On November 17, 2005, Represe- voted 256-153 in a non-binding
within the United States showed nta4ve John Murtha introduced resolu4on against establishing a
a substan4al majority suppor4ng H.J.Res. 73, a resolu4on calling deadline for the withdrawal of
war, though since December
2004 polls have consistently
shown that a majority now thinks
the invasion was a mistake. In the
spring of 2007, surveys generally
show a majority in favor of set-
4ng a 4metable for withdrawal.
However, in this area responses
can vary widely with the exact
wording of the ques4on. Surveys
find that most favor a gradual
withdrawal over 4me to an im-
mediate pullout.
2004 U.S. Presiden4al elec4on
The issue was one on which John
Kerry and George W. Bush dif-
fered in the 2004 U.S. presiden-
4al elec4on. Kerry said in August
2004 that he would make the
withdrawal of all U.S. forces from
Iraq a goal of his first presiden4al
term. However, he did not offer a
deadline or a 4metable, and pro-
posed an increase in deployment
size in the immediate future. In
the debate, he said that he reit-
erated that withdrawal was a
goal, if an ini4al troop increase
works.
In the debate, Bush did not
offer any 4metable or es4mate of
troops, either increasing or de-
creasing, but said only that the
commanders of the troops in Iraq
had the ability to ask for what-

Featured Article
troops from Iraq. Republican for the withdrawal of U.S. troops vide for the redeployment of
then-House Majority Leader John in Iraq by March 2008. However, United States Armed Forces and
Boehner, who argued against a President Bush vetoed the bill defense contractors from Iraq."
deadline, stated "achieving vic- and the House of Representa4ves The bill failed with a vote of 255
tory is our only op4on", and "we failed to override the veto. Con- to 171, thirteen of the Nays com-
must not shy away". On the other gress then passed H.R. 2206, ing from Democrats represen4ng
hand, Democra4c then-House which provided funding for the districts won by John Kerry in
Minority Leader and current Iraq War through September 30, 2004.
Speaker of the House Nancy 2007 and was signed into law by On July 12, 2007 the House
Pelosi argued that a deadline is President Bush on May 25, 2007. passed H.R. 2956 by a vote of 223
necessary, and stated "'stay the H.R. 2206 included eighteen to 201, for redeployment (or
course' is not a strategy, it's a slo- benchmarks for the Iraqi govern- withdrawal) of U.S. armed forces
gan", and "it's 4me to face the ment to meet. out of Iraq. The resolu4on re-
facts." On May 9, 2007, Representa- quires most troops to withdraw
On March 27, 2007, Congress 4ve Jim McGovern introduced from Iraq by April 1, 2008.
passed H.R. 1591, which called H.R. 2237 to the House: "To pro- On July 18, 2007, a$er an all-
night debate, the Senate blocked
the passage of a bill that would
have set a troop withdrawal
4metable with a vote of 52-47.
The withdrawal would have
started within 120 days, and
would have required that all
troops (except an unspecified
number could be le$ behind to
conduct a very narrow set of mis-
sions) be out of the country by
April 30, 2008.
McGovern-Polk Proposal
Former U.S. Senator George Mc-

Govern and William R. Polk, di-
rector of the University of
Chicago Center for Middle East-
ern Studies, published a detailed
proposal for U.S. withdrawal from
Iraq in their book, Out of Iraq: A
Prac4cal Plan for Withdrawal
Now. (Simon & Schuster, 2006.
ISBN 1-4165-3456-3) A sizable ex-
cerpt was published in the Octo-
ber 2006 edi4on of Harper's
magazine. Although their dead-
line for withdrawal has passed,
their plan may serve as a useful
blueprint for future withdrawal
plans. Some of the basic features
of their proposal include:

Featured Article
• The first soldiers to be sent 4ons again-st the invasion of Iraq U.S. imperialism in the Middle
home should be private secu- in 2003, United for Peace and Jus- East."
rity contractors. 4ce (UFPJ), Act Now to Stop War
• An interna4onal stabiliza4on and End Racism (ANSWER), and
force of 15,000 soldiers to be Not in Our Name (NION), have all Burner Plan
established. Troops will be called for the immediate with-
drawn from Morocco, drawal of all U.S. troops, "out The Burner Plan, formally en-
Tunisia, and Egypt, funded by now." The an4-war movement 4tled A Responsible Plan to End
the U.S. This force would re- has debated whether to support the War in Iraq, is a 36-page pol-
main for two years a$er the exis4ng proposals in Congress. icy paper presented March 17,
departure of U.S. troops. The UFPJ legisla4ve working 2008 by Darcy Burner and other
• Transport, communica4ons, group has endorsed Murtha's re- 2008 Democra4c congressional
and light arms equipment deployment proposal "because it candidates, in coopera4on with
currently used by U.S. forces is a powerful vehicle to begin the some re4red na4onal security of-
should be donated to the debate on the war," though the ficials. The plan outlined policy
new mul4na4onal force. organiza4on as a whole has not measures the candidates pledged
• In place of a new Iraqi army, a taken a posi-
na4onal reconstruc4on corps 4on. AN-
should be established, mod- SWER, on
eled on the U.S. Army Corps the other
of Engineers. hand, has
• The immediate cessa4on of stated that
work on U.S. military bases. "Murtha has
• U.S. withdrawal from the not adopted
Green Zone. an an4war
• Release of all prisoners of posi4on. He
war. wants to re-
deploy mili-
tarily to
ANSWER, NION, strengthen
UFPJ positions the hand of
The three largest coali-

4ons which or-
ganized
demon-
stra-

Featured Article
to support in the United States just a month a$er the deadline in vate military companies ac4ve in
presiden4al elec4on, 2008. the signed agreement between Iraq.
former President George W. Bush This plan falls almost into per-
and Prime Minister of Iraq Nouri fect alignment with the one
President Obama's speech al-Maliki where the majority of signed by President George W.
on February 27, 2009 troops will be withdrawn at one Bush and then prime-minister
point, and the en4rety of troops Nouri Al-Maliki, with the excep-
On February 27, 2009, at Marine to be out by December 31, 2011. 4on of being a month behind, as
Corps Base Camp Lejeune in The events of August 19, 2010 the majority of troops under that
North Carolina, President Barack On August 19, 2010, the last US plan were supposed to be with-
Obama announced a deadline for "combat brigade" withdrew from drawn by June 30, 2010 with all
the withdrawal of combat troops Iraq. However, about 50,000 US troops being withdrawn by De-
from Iraq. According to the pres- troops will remain in the country cember 31, 2011.
ident, by August 31, 2010, a$er in what the US calls "an advisory
nearly seven and a half years of capacity." According to the US,
United States military engage- they will help to train Iraqi forces Plans for the future
ment in Iraq, all but a "transi- in a new mission dubbed by the
4onal force" of 35,000 to 50,000 US as "Opera4on New Dawn," By October 2011, the US State
troops would be withdrawn from which will run un4l the end of Department will assume respon-
the Middle Eastern na4on. 2011. The mission that ended Au- sibility for training the Iraqi police
Obama defined the task of the gust 19, 2010 was dubbed by the and this task that will largely be
transi4onal force as "training, US as "Opera4on Iraqi Freedom," carried out by private contrac-
equipping, and advising Iraqi Se- and has cost more than $900 bil- tors. American diplomats in two
curity Forces as long as they re- lion and seen 4,415 US troops new $100 million outposts will
main non-sectarian; conduc4ng die. 100,000 Iraqi civilians were prevent poten4al confronta4ons
targeted counter-terrorism mis- es4mated to be killed, according between the Iraqi Army and Kur-
sions; and protec4ng our ongoing to the Iraq Body Count website. dish peshmerga forces.
civilian and military efforts within The U.S. Marine Corps s4ll The US State Department is
Iraq". Under this plan, the major- has seven bases in Iraq, and there reportedly planning to more than
ity of troops will be withdrawn are an unknown number of pri- double the number of its private

Featured Article
security guards, up to as many as Obama has declared George W. pre-emp4vely.
7,000. Defending five for4fied Bush's Opera4on Iraqi Freedom Iraq is s4ll being held back
compounds across the country, over and announced the begin- from full independence -- and not
the security contractors would ning of his own Opera4on New merely by the presence of 50,000
operate radars to warn of enemy Dawn, and Iraq's Prime Minister U.S. soldiers. The Status of Forces
rocket a5acks, search for road- Nouri al-Maliki has declared Iraq Agreement, which s4pulates that
side bombs, fly reconnaissance sovereign and independent. U.S. forces will be totally out by
drones and even staff quick reac- Iraq has had several declara- 2011, deprives Iraq of full sover-
4on forces to aid civilians in dis- 4ons of sovereignty since the first eignty. The U.N.'s Chapter 7 sanc-
tress. The State Department one in June 2004. As with earlier 4ons force Iraq to pay 5 percent
plans to acquire 60 mine-resis- milestones, it's not clear what ex- of its oil revenues in repara4ons,
tant, ambush-protected vehicles actly this one means. Since the mostly to the Kuwai4s, denying
(MRAPs) from the US military to Americans have declared the end Iraqis full sovereignty and isolat-
expand its inventory of armored of combat opera4ons, U.S. ing them from the interna4onal
cars to 1,320 and to create a Stryker and MRAP vehicles can be financial community. Saudi and
mini-air fleet by buying three seen conduc4ng patrols without Iranian interference, both poli4-
planes to add to its lone aircra$. Iraqi escorts in parts of the coun- cal and financial, has also limited
Its helicopter fleet, which will be try and the Americans con4nue Iraq's scope for democracy and
piloted by contractors, will grow to conduct unilateral military op- sovereignty. Throughout the oc-
to 29 from 17.
The startup cost of building
and sustaining two US embassy
branch offices in Kirkuk and
Mosul, of se6ng up two con-
sulates in Basra and Erbil and of
hiring security contractors and
buying new equipment is about
$1 billion. It will also cost about
$500 million to make the two
consulates permanent. The po-
lice training program will cost
about $800 million.
What America Left Be-

hind in Iraq
Hundreds of cars wai4ng in the era4ons in Mosul and elsewhere, cupa4on, major decisions con-
heat to slowly pass through one even if under the guise of "force cerning the shape of Iraq have
of the dozens of checkpoints and protec4on" or "countering im- been made by the Americans
searches they must endure every provised explosive devices." with no input or say by the Iraqis:
day. The constant roar of genera- American military officers in Iraq the economic system, the poli4-
tors. The smell of fuel, of sewage, told me they were irate with the cal regime, the army and its loy-
of kabobs. Automa4c weapons poli4cally driven announcement al4es, the control over airspace,
pointed at your head out of mili- from the White House that com- and the forma4on of all kinds of
tary vehicles, out of SUVs with bat troops had withdrawn. Those mili4as and tribal military groups.
4nted windows. Mountains of remaining s4ll consider them- The effects will linger for
garbage. Rumors of the latest as- selves combat troops, and com- decades, regardless of any future
sassina4on or explosion. Wel- manders say there is li5le change milestones the United States
come to the new Iraq, same as in their rules of engagement -- might want to announce.
the old Iraq -- even if Barack they will s4ll respond to threats The Americans, meanwhile,

Featured Article
worry about losing their leverage Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's Maliki's candidates came a close
at a 4me when concerns s4ll run Iraqiya party and Maliki's State of second to Iraqiya -- a surprise
high about a renewed insurgency, Law Coali4on. The elec4on a$er Allawi's dismal performance
Shiite mili4as, and the explosion nonetheless did represent a mile- in 2005.
of the Arab-Kurdish powder keg stone in the country's poli4cal On the Allawi side are Sunnis,
everybody's been talking about evolu4on. Regardless of the out- restless with perceived Iranian in-
for the last seven years. Many in come -- Maliki contested but fluence in the country. Opposi-
the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad could not overturn the vote 4on to Maliki o$en centers on his
wonder what Obama's vision for count -- the elec4ons will not pre- suspected 4es to Iran -- an allega-
Iraq is. By the summer of 2006, cipitate a return to civil war. The 4on that echoes the tenden4ous
Bush woke up every day and state is strong, and the security Sunni no4on that an Arab cannot
wanted to know what was hap- forces take their work seriously - have a strong Shiite iden4ty with-
pening in Iraq. Obama is much - perhaps too seriously. The sec- out being pro-Iranian. And
more detached. tarian mili4as have been beaten notwithstanding the Bush admin-
American diplomats also and marginalized, and the Sunnis istra4on's "80 percent" approach
worry that they will soon lose have accepted their loss in the -- focusing on the Shiites and
their ability to understand and in- civil war. Kurds and ignoring the Sunnis --
fluence the country. In addi4on But the controversies sur- the group's frustra4on could lead
to Baghdad, there will soon be rounding the s4ll-unresolved con- to destabiliza4on. Sunnis might
only four other posts. Much of test point to some serious not be able to overthrow the new
the south will be without any U.S. long-term poli4cal ri$s. The in- Shiite sectarian order, but they
presence: There will be no Amer- creased pace of the U.S. with- can s4ll mount a limited chal-
icans between Basra and Bagh- drawal coupled with the lenge to it. The Kurds, with only
dad, no Americans in Anbar or s4ll-unresolved state of the poli4- the mountains as their friends (to
Salahuddin provinces. cal map and meddling by the paraphrase a Kurdish proverb),
At best, unable to secure United States, the Saudis, Iran, were able to destabilize Iraq for
areas to visit by helicopter or and even Turkey, has lead to a vi- 80 years. Sunni Arabs are present
communicate with Iraqis navigat- cious zero-sum compe44on as in much more of the country and
ing the hassle of trying to get into Iraqi leaders jockey for power. have allies throughout the Arab
the Green Zone, the diplomats in Maliki was a popular candi- world who can supply them well
the four outposts will act as lis- date, supported by Iraqis for hav- enough to destabilize Iraq more
tening posts or trip wires. They ing crushed both Sunni and Shiite than the Kurds ever could.
hope to be viewed as the honest armed groups, and he came in In fact, Iraq's powerful neigh-
broker between Kurds and Arabs first as an individual poli4cian, bor has failed to achieve many of
in northern Iraq, where the with Allawi a distant second. But its goals in Iraq. Iran has pawns in
American focus has shi$ed as
part of the consolida4on of
"strategic gain."
But staffers complain that
they lack the funding to do their
job right, even though the four
posts outside Baghdad are going
to be very expensive. They say
the United States has spent hun-
dreds of billions of dollars on the
war in Iraq but is now pinching its
pennies over secretarial salaries.
One hope for change rested
on this year's na4onal elec4on,
held on March 7, which ended in
a virtual 4e between former

Featured Article
Iraq but not proxies. Even the maneuvering actually ma5ers all there are assassina4ons with si-
Iran-formed Shiite Islamic that much. Regardless of who be- lenced pistols and the small mag-
Supreme Council of Iraq actually comes prime minister or presi- ne4c car bombs known as s4cky
dislikes Iran. Its members, former dent, Iraq is about to become bombs. In neighboring countries,
Iraqi exiles who came together in increasingly authoritarian. Oil hundreds of thousands of
Tehran during Saddam's rule, re- revenues will not kick in for sev- refugees languish in exile, sectar-
member the humilia4on of being eral years, so services are not ianism is on the upswing, and
looked down upon by Iranians for going to improve. Even when rev- weapons, tac4cs, and veterans of
being Arabs. Shiite par4es have enues reach Iraqi coffers, infra- the Iraqi jihad are spreading.
their own power base as well, structure costs will eat them up Seven years a$er the disas-
and don't need Iranian support. for the near future. The lack of trous American invasion, the cru-
S4ll, the Iranian ambassador in services means the government elest irony in Iraq is that, in a
Baghdad remains very ac4ve, and will face street-level dissa4sfac- perverse way, the neoconserva-
the Americans refuse to meet 4on and become harsher and 4ve dream of crea4ng a moder-
with him -- a surprising change more dictatorial in response -- ate, democra4c U.S. ally in the
given the mee4ngs that took even if a democra4c façade per- region to counterbalance Iran
place under the Bush administra- sists. and Saudi Arabia has come to
4on. For Iraqis, then, there is no frui4on. But even if violence in
As for the Turks, they want to end in sight. Since the occupa4on Iraq con4nues to decline and the
turn the Kurdish regional govern- began in 2003, more than 70,000 government becomes a model of
ment in the north into a Turkish Iraqis have been killed. Many democracy, no one will look to
vassal state. They are also deeply more have been injured. There Iraq as a leader. People in the re-
involved in Baghdad. Ambassa- are millions of new widows and gion remember -- even if the
dor Jeffrey maintains that Turkey orphans. Millions have fled their West has forgo5en -- the seven
can live with a Maliki premier- homes. Tens of thousands of Iraqi years of chaos, violence, and ter-
ship, and this is true, although men have spent years in prisons. ror. To them, this is what Iraq
Turkey prefers Allawi; the Turkish The new Iraqi state is among the symbolizes. Thanks to the wars in
ambassador dislikes Maliki and most corrupt in the world. It is Iraq and Afghanistan and other
helped organize the Iraqiya list. only effec4ve at being brutal and failed U.S. policies in the broader
(Maliki took this personally and providing a minimum level of se- Middle East, the United States
temporarily stripped the Turkish curity. It fails to provide adequate has lost most of its influence on
ambassador of his access to the services to its people, millions of Arab people, even if it can s4ll
Green Zone.) whom are barely able to survive. exert pressure on some Arab
In a sad sense, none of this Iraqis are trauma4zed. Every day regimes.

NUCLEAR LIABILITY BILL
Featured Article
Parliament adopted with some amendments

• By Dr. Sachchidanand
E
nding months of wran- ments were
gling between treasury adopted by the
benches and the opposi- House including
4on, the Lok Sabha on Aug 25, the one the re-
2010 passed the civil nuclear lia- phrased clause
bility bill a$er government 17(b) which read
dropped the conten4o us provi- "the nuclear inci-
sion of "intent" in the case of ac- dent has resulted
cident adop4ng a BJP as a conse-
amendment, paving the way for quence of an act
nuclear commerce with the of supplier or his
world. employee, which
The Civil Liability for the Nu- includes supply
clear Damages Bill, 2010 was of equipment of
adopted by the House by a voice material with
vote a$er it rejected a CPM patent or latent
amendment that sought to fix the defects or sub-
liability cap on suppliers in case of standard serv- pliers' liability.
accidents at Rs.10,000 crore in- ices." Significantly, the language of
stead of the Rs.1,500 crore pro- The BJP's support, which was the official amendment to Clause
posed in the measure. ar4culated by senior member 17 (b) now matches the amend-
The House nod came not not Jaswant Singh, came a$er the of- ment moved by BJP leader
before Prime Minister Manmo- ficial amendment reflected the Jaswant Singh. Le$ leaders had
han Singh made a spirited inter- formula4on of the amendment also submi5ed amendments to
ven4on in the four-hour long proposed by him. the same clause but did not press
debate rejec4ng allega4ons that The bill, which was studied in them.
the bill was brought to advance depth by a Parliamentary Stand- The government dropped the
the interests of the United States ing Commi5ee, is necessary for word "intent" and rephrased
and its corpora4ons. full implementa4on of the civil Clause 17(b) a$er intense nego4-
He described the measure as nuclear deal signed with the US a4ons with the opposi4on includ-
a comple4on of journey to end in 2006. ing a couple of mee4ngs
apartheid against India in the The amended Clause 17(B) convened by Finance Minister
field of atomic power. now does not have the word "in- Pranab Mukherjee to break the
The CPM amendment was nega- tent" with regard to suppliers or deadlock.
4ved in a division pressed by its their employees in causing an ac- The original version of the
Parliamentary Party leader Ba- cident in a nuclear plant, a provi- amendment had come under
sudeb Acharia with 252 vo4ng sion that was strongly objected to sharp a5ack from the BJP and
against and 25 vo4ng for it. by BJP and Le$ par4es which felt Le$ par4es as it provided for
A total of 18 official amend- it was aimed at dilu4ng the sup- proving the "intent" of a supplier

Featured Article
of causing an accident if an oper- To facilitate nuclear com- directly let free the manufactur-
ator were to claim compensa4on. merce and a5ract U.S. private ers and the builders of the nu-
The par4es had contended that it companies involved in nuclear clear reactors from any financial
was impossible to prove an intent commerce, it is necessary to pass and legal liability.
on the part of suppliers or their the Civil Liability for Nuclear
employees in case of an accident. Damage Bill also known as Nu-
The controversial word "in- clear Liability Bill. Nuclear Liability Clause 6
tent" found its men4on in an ear- Bill will thus define the financial
lier government amendment, and legal liabili4es upon the in- According to the clause 6 of the
which was different from the one volved groups, manufacturers, nuclear liability bill, the maxi-
recommended by the Parliamen- operators and government in mum financial liability in case a
tary Commi5ee that examined case a nuclear accident occurs. In nuclear accident occurs in nu-
the bill. this case the suppliers and clear reactors has been set at the
builders will be the U.S. private rupee equivalent of 300 million
companies and the operator will special drawing rights (SDRs)
Nuclear Liability Bill 2010 be the Indian government con- which is equal to $458 million (Rs.
trolled Nuclear Power Corpora- 2,087 crore). The amount is con-
The Indo-U.S. Civilian Nuclear 4on of India Limited (NPCIL). sidered meagre in comparison to
Agreement was enacted success- The United Progressive Al- the destruc4on caused by a nu-
fully in October, 2008. The agree- liance (UPA) government has pre- clear accident. A same kind of law
ment was to facilitate civilian pared the bill which has been in U.S. has set the financial liabil-
nuclear partnership between approved by the ministerial cabi- ity for such accident at $10.5 bil-
United States and India along net on November 19, 2009. The lion.
with many other mutual benefits bill will be introduced in the In-
on the term that India will sepa- dian Parliament on March 15,
rate its civilian and military nu- 2010 by the government. Clause 7
clear facili4es and put civilian Debate Over Nuclear Liability Bill
facili4es under the Interna4onal 2010 Before amendments The clause 7 defines the share of
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in- The bill was certainly debatable financial liability for each of the
spec4on. as it had certain clauses which in- culpable groups. It states that the
operator will have to pay Rs. 500
crore and the remaining amount
will be paid by the Indian govern-
ment. This is considered as a
ridiculous point as the operator
will be the Nuclear Power Corpo-
ra4on of India Ltd. (NPCIL) which
in itself is a government owned
facility.
The operator can claim the li-
abili4es form the manufacturer
and supplier if it is men4oned in
the contract. But the maximum
amount payable by the foreign
companies will be a very li5le
sum of Rs. 500 crore. Ul4mately,
it is the Indian taxpayer who will
have to give the money even
when the accident has occurred
due to others mistakes.

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bill. clear energy and measures must
Clause 17 • The foreign made reactors be taken for its peaceful use.
will not be operated by the pri-
This clause deals with the legal vate companies but the operator
binding of the culpable groups in will be NPCIL only. Thus the elec- Why a nuclear liability bill
case of a nuclear accident. It does tricity produced will be state sub- is essential
allow only the operator (NPCIL) sidized which indirectly is the
to sue the manufacturers and taxpayer’s money. In case, private The Bhopal tragedy, which is
suppliers. The vic4ms won’t be sector is allowed to operate, the closer to Indian hearts, has en-
able to sue anyone. Prac4cally, no electricity rates would be low due gaged the Indian government and
one is considered legally liable to the compe44on between dif- courts for over 26 years and yet a
because the recourse taken by ferent operators. solu4on acceptable to vic4ms
the operator will yield only Rs. • Even finance ministry and en- and other stakeholders is proving
500 crore at maximum. vironment ministry has raised to be elusive.
ques4on on this bill keeping in Every step from the govern-
view the financial and environment and the courts has been
Clause 18 mental sustainability. A nuclear welcomed only with exasperated
mishap can cause nega4ve long cries of 'not enough', 'too li5le'
Clause 18 of the nuclear liability term health and environmental and 'too late'.
bill limits the 4me to make a effects. Many ques4ons remain
claim within 10 years. This is very • M V Ramana, an eminent nu- unanswered: who was liable to
less as compared to the long term clear scien4st said that the compensate the vic4ms of
damage that may be caused due Atomic Energy Regulatory Board Bhopal Gas Tragedy? What ought
to a nuclear accident. (AERB) will take care of the qual- to have been done to ensure im-
ity of the imported enriched Ura- mediate compensa4on to the vic-
nium nuclear reactors. But, the 4ms? Could a structured legal
Clause 35 board lacks exper4se in such re- regime have made the differ-
actors. ence? Should there have been a
Clause 35 extends the legal bind- • Since India has developed its liability regime in place before al-
ing that the responsible groups nuclear technology in using natu- lowing units of the likes of Bhopal
may have to face. The operator or ral Uranium and Thorium as a nu- to be set up? Did India pay for the
the responsible persons in case of clear fuel through indigenous absence of a liability regime in
a nuclear accident will undergo efforts, the import of enriched terms of human lives, livelihoods
the trial under Nuclear Damage Uranium reactors is considered to and irreversible environmental
Claims Commissions and no civil slow down the process of nuclear degrada4on?
court is given the authority. The research and development in The world saw the Bhopal
country will be divided into zones India. Gas Tragedy (1984) and the Cher-
with each zone having a Claims nobyl accident (1986) follow in
Commissioner. In the U.S. coun- quick succession to each other.
terpart – the Price Anderson Act, Peaceful Use of Nuclear Though both accidents had differ-
the lawsuits and criminal pro- Power ent backgrounds, they opened up
ceedings goes under the U.S. apprecia4on of the magnitude of
courts. The technological developments damage and loss such tragedies
in nuclear reactors have signifi- could cause, especially nuclear
cantly reduced the probability of tragedies which do not recognise
Other Aspects of the a serious nuclear catastrophe. any geographic or temporal
Nuclear Liability Bill Nuclear energy is considered as boundaries.
an environment friendly and sus- Damage caused by ionizing
Other than these clauses there tainable source of energy. But, it radia4on to human cells may re-
was some general ques4ons is s4ll necessary to keep in mind main latent for a long 4me before
which are being raised upon the the nega4ve aspects of the nu- manifes4ng itself. Even the best

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of safety standards cannot com- cheap and easily accessible fossil power genera4on capacity.
pletely exclude the possibili4es of fuels along with the conse- According to op4mis4c es4-
nuclear accidents and in this light, quences of green house gas emis- mates, nuclear power genera4on
the need to have a legal regime sions that result from the capacity in India is expected to in-
to compensate for damage and combus4on of fossil fuels. crease to about 35 GW by 2020
losses arising from nuclear acci- when the demand for power is
dents in India becomes evident. projected to stand at about 350-
Increasing energy availability in The Status of Nuclear 400 GW.
general and electricity availability Power Generation in India The waiver from the Nuclear
in par4cular is not merely an eco- Suppliers Group in September
nomic pursuit for India but a so- India currently has 19 opera4onal 2008 has facilitated the entry of
cial necessity. nuclear power plants with the India into interna4onal nuclear
Enriching the quality of life of total capacity of 4.5 GW. Four trade and India has already
millions of 'energy poor'. Indians more reactors under construc4on signed nuclear deals with several
while also facilita4ng the integra- would add another 2.7 GW. countries including France ,
4on of their livelihoods into the Russia has tradi4onally been the United States, United Kingdom,
formal economy is not possible major source of nuclear fuel to Canada, Namibia, Mongolia, Ar-
without the supply of electricity. India since the early 1990s. Dwin- gen4na and Kazakhstan.
Nuclear energy is par4cularly dling domes4c uranium reserves In February 2009, India also
a5rac4ve for electricity genera- and sanc4ons on supply of fuel signed a $700 million deal with
4on in India as India has entered following India's nuclear Russia for the supply of 2000
a resource intensive high eco- weapons tests restricted nuclear tonnes nuclear fuel. India now
nomic growth path just as the fuels availability and thus limited envisages increasing the contri-
world has begun to acknowledge power genera4on capacity to a bu4on of nuclear power to over-
natural limits in the supply of mere 3 percent of total installed all electricity genera4on capacity

Featured Article
from 3 percent to 9 percent in the sume roughly 3.1 million tonnes reactor.
next 25 years. of black coal each year while a Since 1950, there have been
nuclear power plant of the same 23 nuclear accidents in nuclear
capacity would consume only reactors around the globe with
The Case for Nuclear about 24 tonnes of enriched ura- the latest occurring in 2006. Out
Power nium. of these the biggest was the
In other words, ten trucks Chernobyl disaster which claimed
The world's popula4on is ex- filled with coal will be required to more than 4000 human lives.
pected to increase from the pres- make 380,000 trips to fuel the The long-term storage of ra-
ent 6 billion to about 8 billion power plant while just a single dioac4ve waste is yet another
over the next 25 years, and per- trip by ten trucks carrying ura- factor that adds to the risk of nu-
haps 10 billion later in the cen- nium will be sufficient if the clear power genera4on. Nuclear
tury. power generator was based on damage has such a wide range
Such a drama4c increase in nuclear fuel. that when nuclear installa4ons
popula4on will have a are built close to na-
drama4c impact on 4onal borders, the
energy demand. At fall out from a nu-
the very least, energy clear accident cannot
demand is expected be confined to na-
to double by 2050, 4onal borders.
even if developed Despite the mag-
countries adopt ef- nitude of risks that
fec4ve energy con- harnessing nuclear
serva4on policies energy entails, very
that reduce their few countries have
growth in energy de- the luxury of not in-
mand to zero. cluding nuclear
Global coal re- power as one of their
serves are es4mated key energy op4ons
to be abundant but for the future.
how much of it The geological
would be mined and limits to the availabil-
used for power gener- ity of fossil fuels such
a4on in the future is uncertain If the energy required by the as coal, oil and natural gas and
given that combus4on of coal is trucks is factored in, the net en- the risk of climate change make it
among the most important ergy gain or the return on energy necessary that energy poor coun-
sources for GHG emissions, the invested in a coal based power tries such as India invest in har-
most probable cause of 'climate plant reduces substan4ally. nessing nuclear energy.
change'. The merits of nuclear power
Coal accounts for only about cannot however mask the grave
25 percent of total global primary risks involved in harnessing that International Nuclear Lia-
energy supply but it contributes power. Both coal and uranium re- bility Regimes
over 42 percent of energy related quire intensive mining which in-
carbon emissions. variably use 'human energy' The nature and magnitude of lia-
The energy density of ura- which is not registered in any en- bility regimes varies widely across
nium compared to that of coal ergy balance sheet. na4ons. Before 1997, the interna-
and other fossil fuels also adds to This risk shrinks in signifi- 4onal liability regime was em-
the a5rac4veness of nuclear cance when compared to the risk bodied primarily in two
power. Assuming a thermal effi- of accidents in nuclear reactors instruments namely; the Interna-
ciency of about 33 percent, a 1 due to mishandling of nuclear 4onal Atomic Energy Agency's Vi-
GW power sta4on would con- material or a fault in the nuclear enna Conven4on on Civil Liability

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for Nuclear Damage of 1963 (en- • Non-discrimina4on of vic4ms expressions including 'nuclear
tered into force in 1977), and the on the grounds of na4onality, damage', 'nuclear incident', 'nu-
OECD's Paris Conven4on on Third domicile or residence. clear installa4on', 'nuclear mate-
Party Liability in the Field of Nu- States with a majority of the rial', 'nuclear reactor', 'operator',
clear Energy of 1960 which en- world's 440 nuclear power reac- etc.
tered into force in 1968 and was tors are not yet party to any inter- It proposes that the Atomic
bolstered by the Brussels Supple- na4onal nuclear liability Energy Regulatory Board, cons4-
mentary Conven4on in 1963. conven4on, and each State relies tuted under the Atomic Energy
These conven4ons were on its own arrangements. Act 1962, shall no4fy nuclear inci-
linked by the Joint Protocol Beyond the interna4onal dents within a period of 15 days
adopted in 1988 to bring to- conven4ons, most countries with from the date of its occurrence.
gether the geographical scope of commercial nuclear programmes It further provides that the maxi-
the two. They are based on the also have their own legisla4ve mum amount of liability in re-
concept of civil law and share the regimes for nuclear liability which spect of each nuclear incident
following main principles: vary from country to country. shall be the Rupee equivalent of
• Liability is channelled exclu- There are three categories of SDR 300 million (Rs 2000 crores).
sively to the operators of the countries in this regard: The bill provides for the liability
nuclear installa4ons; • Those that are party to one of the operator and Central gov-
• Liability of the operator is ab- or both of the interna4onal ernment in case of a nuclear
solute, i.e. the operator is conven4ons and have their damage. The liability of the oper-
held liable irrespec4ve of own legisla4on; ator, whether public or private, is
fault, except for 'acts of • Those that are not party to an capped at Rs 500 crores.
armed conflict, hos4li4es, interna4onal conven4on but The Central government can,
civil war or insurrec4on'; have their own legisla4on by no4fica4on, increase or de-
• Liability of the operator is (notably USA, Canada, Japan crease the liability of the opera-
limited in amount. Under the , South Korea); tor. The Central government shall
Vienna conven4on the upper • Those that are not party to a be liable for nuclear damage be-
ceiling is not fixed; but it may conven4on and are without yond Rs 500 crores subject to
be limited by legisla4on in their own legisla4on (notably maximum of Rupee equivalent of
each state. China). 300 million SDRs.
• Liability is limited in 4me. In its current form, the bill
Generally, compensa4on has been drawn flak for being a
rights are ex4nguished under The loopholes in the Nu- sell-out to foreign and domes4c
both conven4ons if an ac4on clear Liability Bill commercial interests that want to
is not brought within ten enter into the lucra4ve nuclear
years; The bill defines certain words and supplies market in India without
• The operator must maintain
insurance or other financial
security for an amount corre-
sponding to his liability or the
limit set by the installa4on
state, beyond this level the
installa4on state can provide
public funds and can also
have recourse to the opera-
tor;
• Jurisdic4on over ac4ons lies
exclusively with the courts of
the contrac4ng party in
whose territory the nuclear
incident occurred;

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maximum liability, sec4on 6(1)
will have to be adjusted accord-
ing to the level set in Sec4on 6(2),
keeping in mind that the maxi-
mum liability cannot be less than
that of the operator's liability.
The issue here is that making
the liability unlimited and seeking
insurance cover for the same
would make any project unviable
as the operator will never be able
to secure either the insurance or
the required finance for the proj-
ect.
There has to be a limit on lia-
bility but whether Rs 500 crore is
a sa4sfactory limit for the opera-
tor's liability is rightly being chal-
lenged by the Members of the
Parliament.
Simplis4c arguments that list
countries which have lower liabil-
ity limits only convey the mes-
sage that the liability limit was
taking on any responsibility for than interest in the nuclear indus- arbitrarily chosen. It is a welcome
safety and compensa4on issues try, it is necessary that the bill is development that the limit is
and also for accep4ng the princi- reworked me4culously to reflect likely to be increased threefold or
ple that the value of human lives economic channelling of liability more in the revised version of the
in India as well as property is not rather than mere legal chan- bill.
only different from but inferior to nelling of liability. An upward revision of the op-
the value ascribed in developed erator's liability will strike the
countries. right balance between making
The bill is inadequate even if Key Outstanding Issues : the legal and regulatory regime
it was dra$ed primarily to ad- Operator liability a5rac4ve enough for poten4al
dress the concerns of the 'opera- private investors in the nuclear
tor' of a nuclear power plant as In Sec4on 6 (2) of the bill, the lia- sector while also ensuring that
there are enough loop holes in bility of the operator has been human life in India is neither
the bill that can entrap the oper- limited to Rs 500 crore. The Vi- under-valued nor the cons4tu-
ator into unlimited liabili4es. enna Conven4on does not limit 4onal right to life compromised.
The bill essen4ally seeks to operator liability in any way. As Though the financial conse-
legally channel the liability for ac- far as the Paris Conven4on is con- quences of lost earnings are rela-
cidents to the operators, give op- cerned, it is restricted to mem- 4vely low in India as compared to
erators an extremely limited right bers of OECD. the industrialised world, the high
of recourse against suppliers in India is not bound by either density of popula4on in India and
the event of an accident and also conven4on as such to restrict op- the fact that the tort law in India
set aside ordinary tort law so as erator liability at any par4cular has not evolved to the extent it
to disallow fault-based claims by level. Therefore, Sec4on 6(2) can has in industrialised countries
vic4ms against operator or sup- be modified, in theory, to include make it necessary that the limits
plier. any level of liability or even un- to operator liability in the bill are
If the government wants to limited liability. revised upwards.
signal interest in the vic4m rather In order to determine the Compensa4on under tort law

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emanates out of judicial discre- The pooling mechanism for currences or series of occur-
4on and not necessarily codified risk sharing will entail risk inspec- rences having the same origin
in law. As the Indian society 4ons and sharing of exper4se by which causes nuclear damage but
evolves there will be greater real- other nuclear insurance pools. only with respect to preven4ve
isa4on that the precau4onary This will benefit the Indian nu- measures creates a grave and im-
principle and 'polluter pays' prin- clear industry which lacks experi- minent threat of causing such
ciple have to be implemented ence in Light Water Reactors damage.
with puni4ve costs. which may be imported in the fu- There is no specifica4on as to
Moreover given that infla4on ture. the point at which a person or a
has wiped out substan4al value It will bring best prac4ces in private operator may determine
out of the meagre compensa4on risk management into the indus- the likelihood of grave and immi-
awarded to the vic4ms of the try and serve to make our nuclear nent threat of nuclear damage.
Bhopal tragedy, a clause for link- facili4es safer to operate. The iden4fying signs for the
ing the maximum liability of the The bill provides only 'liabil- operator situated in the area to
operator to the infla4on index is ity' and not 'absolute liability' be- realise the likelihood of grave and
traying a built-in escape op4on imminent threat of nuclear dam-
provided for both the operator age are not specified.
and the government. The CSC Similarly, Sec4ons 2(l) defines
provides that the liability of the the 'operator'. The defini4on of
operator is absolute, i.e., the op- operator as in rela4on to a nu-
erator is held liable irrespec4ve clear installa4on means the per-
of fault. son designated by the Central
The exclusion of absolute lia- government as the operator of
bility creates ambiguity on what the installa4on.
the government's real objec4ve is The defini4on does not spec-
in promo4ng the bill. Absolute li- ify whether or not private en44es
ability cannot be calculated im- can be appointed as operators of
mediately a$er an accident but nuclear installa4on. There are no
the bill must ensure that absolute guidelines or methods specified
necessary. liability is provided for and the re- by the Central government to
Tradi4onal insurance solu- sponsibility jointly
4ons are absent in the nuclear in- shared between the op-
dustry as the catastrophic nature erator and the govern-
of the poten4al damages move it ment.
beyond the capacity of commer- The bill further ex-
cial insurers to cover it under cludes the liability of
their own capacity. operator for any nu-
Na4onal risk insurance pools clear damage:
have emerged in na4ons with nu- • Caused to a person
clear plants and these na4onal on account of his
pools in turn, reinsure other own negligence
pools in order to spread risk to • Caused to a nuclear
the extent possible. installa4on itself, on
If the idea of a nuclear risk in- the site where in-
surance pool was put forward at stalla4on is located
this stage, it would have con- or to any property
veyed the serious intent of the or any means or
Centre to have in place a compre- transport.
hensive mechanism to deal with Sec4on 2(h) of the
all the issues rela4ng to nuclear act defines nuclear inci-
damage. dent to mean any oc-

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designate an operator. not separable be joint and several cable for incidents that occur dur-
The role, duty and func4ons provided that the total liability of ing the construc4on, storage and
of the operator are not specified. such operator shall not exceed transporta4on stages?
The ambiguity in defining an op- the extent of liability specified Sec4on 18 of the bill specifies
erator may be deliberate so as to under sub-Sec4on (2) of Sec4on a period of 10 years for ex4nc4on
keep op4ons open for the entry 6. of the right to claim. Although in-
of the private sector but the un- In this regard, specifica4on as terna4onal conven4ons also pro-
restricted and absolute power of to whether this clause pertains to vide for a 10 year limita4on,
the Central government in this re- one nuclear installa4on is re- whether 10 years is prac4cal in
gard may leave scope for abuse of quired. the Indian context where legal
power. Sec4on 8 provides that the process move at glacial pace is
Sec4on 2(n) defines preven- operator must take an insurance rightly being challenged.
4ve measures which means any of Rs 500 crore covering his liabil- Though an increase from 10
reasonable measures taken by a ity. The lacuna lies in proviso to to 20 years would be a step in the
person a$er a nuclear incident Subsec4on (2) of Sec4on 4 which right direc4on the constraint
has occurred to prevent minimize states that, when nuclear dam- would be whether the an4ci-
damage referred to in sub- age is caused by more than one pated insurance mechanism too
clauses (i), (v), (vii) of Clause (f) operator the total liability of both can be extended beyond 10
subject to the approval of the the operators shall not exceed Rs years.
Central government. 500 crore.
The phrase 'reasonable Similarly, Sec4on 5 (l)(i)
measures' used in the defini4on states that an operator shall not Liability of the Central
is vague as to what is considered be liable for any nuclear damage Government
to be reasonable and what is not. where such damage is caused by
Sec4on 4(2) states that a nuclear incident directly due to Sec4on 7 of the bill states that
where more than one operator is (i) a grave natural disaster of an the Central government shall be
liable for nuclear damage the lia- excep4onal character. liable to pay only in the following
bility of the operators so involved The lacuna here is that the circumstances -- where the liabil-
shall be in so far as the damage said clause (i) of 5(i) is ambiguous ity exceeds the amount of liability
a5ributable to each operator is which may enable an operator to of an operator specified under
take this ground to es- sub-Sec4on (ii)(6), to the extent
cape a liability. such liability exceeds such liability
Other unaccept- of the operator, occurring in a nu-
able excep4ons to lia- clear installa4on owned by it oc-
bility include sec4on curring in account of causes
5(ii) which states that specified in clause (i) and (ii) of
the operator shall not sub-sec4on one.
be liable for on site nu- This clause creates a dis4nc-
clear damage caused to 4on between the operator and
the nuclear installa4on the government when both are
under construc4on or the same in the Indian context.
to any property in the Another ambiguity is
nuclear site or damage whether no liability arises on a
caused to any means of Public Sector operator and
transport. whether the Public Sector opera-
Precisely at what tor does not even have to opt for
stage of the plants life insurance cover as the govern-
the liability would the ment is liable for nuclear installa-
Bill become opera4onal 4ons it owns.
has not been made ex- Sec4on 5 states that the op-
plicit. Would it be appli- erator is not liable for nuclear

Featured Article
from the light surance agencies as well as third
of the fact party cer4fica4on agencies and
that the in- auditors which would be in the
digenous best interest of India's nuclear
competence power industry.
is primarily is The sugges4on to rework
with regard Sec4on 7 so as to ensure that
to Pres- suppliers can be held responsible
s u r i s e d by the operator for 'patent' or la-
Heavy Water tent' defects in the equipment
Reactors and must be pursued with diligence.
not Light If our legal history has taught
Water Reac- us anything, it is that the lack of
tors that are foresight over future disputes
likely to be and contradic4ons arising from
imported. ambigui4es and vagueness may
damage caused by armed con- If the reactor is intrinsically defeat the whole purpose of leg-
flict, hos4lity, civil war and terror- flawed in design, engineering, isla4on.
ism. If the state is not capable of construc4on, materials of con- The reason and intent behind
underwri4ng the physical secu- struc4on etc, then even the most the bill is not only to deter the
rity of a nuclear plant in the event well equipped and well trained operators from being negligent
of external threats, the ques4on operator cannot prevent an acci- with such perilous opera4ons but
arises as to whether the state dent. to ensure that jus4ce is delivered
should own and operate nuclear One of the key objec4ves of as swi$ly as possible in the event
plants in the first place? having a liability Bill is to fix the of an accident.
responsibility on a single en4ty,
whom in this case is the operator,
Supplier Liability so that the aggrieved has a single How the World Perceives
point for remedy. Nuclear Liability
Sec4on 17 of the bill provides the However this should not
operator of a nuclear installa4on mean that the overseas supplier The United States of America,
the right of resource when the has no liability. Vicarious liability which pioneered the concept of
right is expressly provided for in a of the supplier must be in the nuclear liability, has shied away
contract in wri4ng or when the form contractual liability be- from being a party to any interna-
incident has resulted from the tween the operator and the sup- 4onal nuclear liability conven-
wilful act or gross negligence on plier. 4on; yet it has had the world's
the part of the supplier or due to Beyond this contractual liabil- first comprehensive nuclear lia-
the commission or omission of a ity, statutory liability is also nec- bility law since 1957 -- the Price
person. essary as contractual Anderson Act which is central to
It is not clear whether the responsibili4es tend to be addressing the ques4on of liabil-
Atomic Energy Regulatory Board skewed in favour technology ity for any nuclear accident.
would review foreign supplier de- owners. It currently provides $10 bil-
signs or it will only review domes- Moreover contractual liabili- lion as cover without cost to the
4c designs? Again it is not clear 4es between two commercial en- public or government and with-
whether foreign suppliers will 44es cannot be mediated by the out fault needing to be proven. It
permit the AERB to review its de- government which holds the ul4- covers power reactors, research
signs and even if they do, mate responsibility to protect its reactors, and all other nuclear fa-
whether the AERB would have ci4zens. cili4es.
the necessary competence to Statutory liability for the sup- In the United Kingdom, the
carry out such a review. plier would necessarily mean the Energy Act 1983 brought legisla-
This becomes important involvement of interna4onal in- 4on into line with earlier revi-

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sions to the Paris/Brussels Con- Joint Protocol rela4ng to the Paris surance cover required for indi-
ven4ons and set a new limit of li- and Vienna conven4ons and in vidual licensees was increased to
ability for par4cular installa4ons. an4cipa4on of this coming into $650 million in the act's 2008 re-
In 1994 this limit was in- force has a Nuclear Liability Act, vision, though this has not yet
creased to £140 million for each 1972 amended in 2005 which re- been passed.
major installa4on, so that the op- quires operators to take at least Japan is not party to any in-
erator would be liable for claims 700 million insurance cover. terna4onal liability conven4on
up to this amount and needed to Sweden has also ra4fied the but its laws namely the Law on
insure accordingly. 2004 Joint Protocol rela4ng to Compensa4on for Nuclear Dam-
Beyond £140 million, the cur- Paris and Vienna conven4ons. age and Law on
rent Paris/Brussels system ap- The country's Nuclear Liability Contract for Liability Insur-
plies, with government Act requires operators to be in- ance for Nuclear Damage, con-
contribu4on of SDR 300 million sured for at least SEK 3300 million firm to the interna4onal
( 360 million). (EUR 345 million), beyond which conven4ons and are revised
Germany has unlimited oper- the state will cover up to SEK 6 about every ten years.
ator liability and requires 2.5 billion per incident. Plant operator liability is ex-
billion security which must be The Czech Republic is moving clusive and absolute, and power
provided by the operator for each towards ra4fying the amendment plant operators must provide a fi-
plant. This security is partly cov- to the Vienna Conven4on and in nancial security amount of 60 bil-
ered by insurance, up to 256 2009 increased the mandatory lion yen ($ 600 million). From
million. minimum insurance cover re- 2010, this doubles to 120 billion
France requires financial se- quired for each reactor to CZK 8 yen ($ 1.2 billion). Beyond that,
curity of 91 million per plant. billion ( 296 million). the government provides cover-
Switzerland (which has In Canada the Nuclear Liability age, and liability is unlimited.
signed but not yet ra4fied the in- and Compensa4on Act, 1976 is Russia is party to the Vienna
terna4onal conven4ons) requires also in line with interna4onal conven4on since 2005 and has a
operators to insure to 600 mil- conven4ons and establishes the domes4c nuclear insurance pool
lion. It is proposed to increase licensee's absolute and exclusive comprising 23 insurance compa-
this to 1.1 billion and ra4fy the liability for third party damage. nies covering liability of some
Paris and Brussels conven4ons. The limit of C$75 million per $350 million.
Finland has ra4fied the 2004 power plant set in 1976 as the in- Ukraine is a party to the Vi-
enna conven4on since
1996 and also became sig-
natory Joint Protocol and
the CSC; and domes4c lia-
bility law of 1995 has ac-
cordingly been revised.
Operator liability is
capped at 150 million
SDRs ( 180 million).
China is not party to any
interna4onal liability con-
ven4on but is an ac4ve
member of the interna-
4onal insurance pooling
system and its 1986 in-
terim domes4c law on nu-
clear liability corresponds
with interna4onal con-
ven4ons.

Commonwealth
Games
2010
Delhi 2010 set to
become largest
Commonwealth
Games in history
O
• By Dr. Divya
rganising Commi;ee Com- five athletes and officials. from Africa.
monwealth Games 2010 Many na:ons are sending their India’s neighbours Pakistan and
Delhi announced that largest con:n- Sri Lanka will send
around 7000 athletes and team gents to a Com- THESE INCLUDE con:ngents of around
officials from 71 na:ons and ter- m o n w e a l t h • Australia (550) 125 each. Australia,
ritories will make next month’s Games outside • England (525) Canada, England, New
Games the biggest in the history their home na- • Canada (400) Zealand, Scotland and
of the Commonwealth Games. :ons. • New Zealand (325) Wales will keep their
India will field the biggest con:n- With a 220- • Malaysia (325) record as the only na-
gent of more than 600 athletes strong con:ngent, • Scotland (300) :ons to par:cipate in
and team officials while Bostwana South Africa will • Wales (240) all edi:ons of the
will be the smallest with less than be biggest team Commonwealth

Article
Games when they compete in

Delhi 2010. Table showing par'cipa'on in recent Games
The exact number of athletes
Year Venue Disciplines No. of athletes & officials
will be known only when the Del-
ega:on Registra:on Mee:ngs 1978 Edmonton 10 1978
(DRM) are held between Septem-
ber 16 and October 2, 2010. Un:l 1982 Brisbane 10 2154
this process is complete, the Or- 1986 Edinburgh 10 2123
ganising Commi;ee is not al-
lowed by the Commonwealth 1990 Auckland 14 2826
Games Federa:on to reveal the 1994 Victoria 10 3671
names of the individual athletes.
1998 Kuala Lumpur 15 5065
Delhi 2010 Sports 2002 Manchester 17 3679*

2006 Melbourne 16 5766
XIX Commonwealth Games 2010
Delhi will feature following 17 Complex).
sport: Renova:on of the following
• Aqua:cs Competition Venues exis:ng venues will be completed
• Archery on schedule: Athle:cs (Jawahar-
• Athle:cs Construc:on of the following lal Nehru Stadium); Boxing (Talka-
• Badminton new venues is underway in full tora Indoor Stadium); Gymnas:cs
• Boxing swing and progressing sa:sfacto- (Indira Gandhi Stadium); Hockey
• Cycling rily: Badminton and Squash (Siri (Major Dhyan Chand Na:onal
• Gymnas:cs Fort Sports Complex); Netball Stadium); Swimming (Dr S.P.
• Hockey (Thyagaraj Sports Complex); Mukherjee Aqua:cs Complex);
• Lawn Bowls Rugby 7s (Delhi University); Table and Tennis (R.K. Khanna Tennis
• Netball Tennis (Yamuna Sports Complex); Stadium).
• Rugby Sevens Weightli'ing and Wrestling (In-
• Shoo:ng dira Gandhi Sports Complex); These are the following venues:
• Squash Shoo:ng (Dr Karni Singh Shoo:ng 1. Jawaharlal Nehru Sports
• Table Tennis Range);Archery Preliminaries (Ya- Complex
• Tennis muna Sports Complex); and Lawn 2. Thyagaraj Sports Complex
• Weightli'ing Bowls (Jawaharlal Nehru Sports 3. Indira Gandhi Sports Complex

Article
4. Dr. S.P. Mukherjee Swimming ernment of Na:onal Capital Ter- people coming together to fulfil
Stadium ritory of Delhi (GNCTD), IOA, and their true des:nies. India`s jour-
5. Talkatora Indoor Stadium CGF, the CGF has delegated the ney from tradi:on to modernity,
6. Major Dhyan Chand Na:onal organisa:on of the Games to the her economic transforma:on into
Stadium OC CWG Delhi 2010. a super power… reaching out to
7. Siri Fort Sports Complex The OC CWG Delhi 2010 has the world and leading the way,
8. Dr. Karni Singh Shoo:ng set itself the goal of conduc:ng even as she enthusias:cally em-
Range the best Commonwealth Games braces all the 71 CGA na:ons and
9. R.K. Khanna Tennis Complex to date, including the provision of territories of the Commonwealth
10. Yamuna Sports Complex impeccable standards of service to become one and host the best
11. Delhi University to athletes, officials and the gen- ever Commonwealth Games in
eral public, in close collabora:on Delhi.
with its partners. It hopes to set
About Delhi 2010 new benchmarks for other Host
na:ons with regards to urban Come Out and Play
The Organising Commi;ee Com- sustainable development by
monwealth Games 2010 Delhi showcasing excellent infrastruc- The logo tagline is in an invita:on
(OC CWG Delhi 2010) came into ture and facili:es which could be to every person across all divides
being on 10 February 2005, as a used by the society and the gen- – Indian and Commonwealth - to
registered society under the Soci- eral public for genera:ons to
e:es Registra:on Act 1860. It was come.
resolved by the Commonwealth
Games Federa:on (CGF) in the The Games 'look'
General Assembly held in Jamaica
on 13 November 2003 to entrust The logo of the XIX Common-
the organising and hos:ng of the wealth Games 2010 Delhi is in-
XIX Commonwealth Games to the spired by the Chakra, the na:onal
Indian Olympic Associa:on (IOA). symbol of freedom, unity and
As per Clause 2(C) of the Host power. Spiralling upwards, it de-
City Contract, signed by the Gov- picts the growth of India into a
ernment of India(GOI), the Gov- proud, vibrant na:on. Her billion
let go of themselves and par:ci-

pate in the Games to the best of
their abili:es, in the true sprit of
the Games. It is an exhorta:on to
them to set new records, to out-
perform, and to raise the bar by
scaling new peaks of achieve-
ment. It is also a call to the peo-
ple of India, especially Delhi, to
come out in support of the
Games and play the perfect hosts
at the XIX Commonwealth Games
2010 Delhi.
Colour Pale(e : The colour
pale;e for the Delhi 2010 look

Article
programme combines two of the hearted gentleman’ who loves mul:na:onal, mul:-sport event
dis:nc:ve colours of the Delhi making friends and enthusing which features compe::ons in-
2010 Emblem with the official people to ‘come out and play’. volving thousands of elite ath-
colours of the Commonwealth In Indian mythology, letes from members of
Games. the :ger is associated the Commonwealth
Green : The colour that signifies with Goddess of Na:ons. Organ-
life, energy and high spirits also Durga, the em- ised every four
represents the fact that Delhi bodiment of years, they are
2010 will be the firstever Green Shak: (or fe- the third-
Games. With a spring in your male power) largest
step, face every challenge and and the van- mul:-sport
overcome hurdles with radiance quisher of event in
and gusto. evil. She the world,
Purple : Combining the stable rides her a'er the
and calming aspects of blue with powerful Summer
the mys:cal quali:es of pink, this vehicle – Olympic
colour sa:sfies the need for reas- the :ger – Games and
surance, while adding a hint of into combat, the Asian
mystery and excitement. especially in Games.
Red, Yellow & Blue : Common- her epic and As well
wealth Games colours, represent- victorious ba;le as many
ing the ‘Trinity of Values’ that against Mahisha- Olympic sports,
symbolise the games; unifying sur, a dreaded the Games also in-
Humanity (Red) giving all athletes demon. clude some sports
a chance to realise their Des:ny Shera embodies values that are played mainly in
(Yellow) and promo:ng Equality that the na:on is proud of: Commonwealth countries, such
(Blue). majesty, power, charisma, intelli- as lawn bowls, rugby sevens and
Pink : This colour has also been gence and grace. His athle:c netball. The Games are overseen
introduced to the pale;e adding prowess, courage and speed on by the Commonwealth Games
an element of surprise and luxury the field are legendary. He is also Federa:on (CGF), which also con-
to the Games look programme. It a reminder of the fragile environ- trols the spor:ng programme
plays to the crowd and truly rement he lives in and our respon- and selects the host ci:es. The
flects India in all its resplendent sibility towards the protec:on of host city is selected from across
glory. his ecosystem. the Commonwealth, with eight-
een ci:es in seven countries hav-
ing hosted it.
Shera - The Mascot Commonwealth Games The event was first held in 1930
under the :tle of the Bri:sh Em-
Shera, mascot of the XIX Com- The Commonwealth Games is a pire Games in Hamilton, Ontario,
monwealth Games 2010 Delhi, is
the most visible face of the XIX
Commonwealth Games 2010
Delhi. His name comes from the
Hindi word Sher – meaning :ger.
Shera truly represents the mod-
ern Indian. He is an achiever with
a posi:ve a<tude, a global ci:-
zen but jus:fiably proud of his na-
:on’s ancient heritage, a fierce
compe:tor but with integrity and
honesty. Shera is also a ‘large-

Article
Canada. The event was renamed Games, and individual teams are in 2006 in Melbourne, Australia.
as the Bri:sh Empire and Com- also sent from the Bri:sh Crown The next edi:on will be held in
monwealth Games in 1954, the dependencies of Guernsey, Jer- 2010 in Delhi, India.
Bri:sh Commonwealth Games in sey and the Isle of Man (unlike at
1970, and gained its current :tle the Olympic Games, where the
in 1978. Only six teams have at- combined "Great Britain" team History
tended every Commonwealth represents all four home na:ons
Games: Australia, Canada, Eng- and the Crown dependencies). A spor:ng compe::on bringing
land, New Zealand, Scotland and Many of the Bri:sh overseas ter- together the members of the
Wales. Australia has been the ritories also send their own Bri:sh Empire was first proposed
highest achieving team for ten teams. The Australian external by the Reverend Astley Cooper in
games, England for seven and territory of Norfolk Island also 1891 when he wrote an ar:cle in
Canada for one. sends its own team, as do the The Times sugges:ng a "Pan-Bri-
There are currently 54 mem- Cook Islands and Niue, two states tannic-Pan-Anglican Contest and
bers of the Commonwealth of in free associa:on with New Fes:val every four years as a
Na:ons, and 71 teams par:cipate Zealand. It has been reported means of increasing the goodwill
and good under-
standing of the
Bri:sh Empire".
In 1911,
the Fes:val of
the Empire was
held in come
London to cele-
brate the coro-
na:on of King
George V. As
part of the fes:-
val an Inter-Em-
pire Champi✍
onships was
held in which
teams from Aus-
tralia, Canada,
South Africa and
the United King-
dom competed
in events such
as boxing,
wrestling, swim-
ming and athlet-
ics.
In 1928,
Melville Marks
Robinson of
Canada was
in the Games. The four Home Na- that Tokelau, another depend- asked to organise the first ever
:ons of the United Kingdom – ency of New Zealand will be Bri:sh Empire Games. These
England, Scotland, Wales and sending a team to the 2010 were held in Hamilton, Canada
Northern Ireland – send separate Games in Delhi, India. two years later.
teams to the Commonwealth The most recent games were The first Games were held in

Article
1930 in Hamilton, Ontario, alphabe:cal order in geo- Canada, were the first to be held
Canada. The name changed to graphical regions. under the :tle of the "Common-
Bri:sh Empire and Common- • Three na:onal flags fly from wealth Games". The Edmonton
wealth Games in 1954, to Bri:sh the stadium on the poles that event marked a new high as al-
Commonwealth Games in 1970 are used for medal cere- most 1500 athletes from 46
and assumed the current name monies: Previous host na:on, countries took part.
of the Commonwealth Games in Current host na:on, Next Par:cipa:on at the 1986 Games
1978. host na:on. was affected by a boyco; by
At the 1930 games, women • The military is more ac:ve in some African and Caribbean na-
competed in the swimming the Opening Ceremony than :ons in protest to the par:cipa-
events only. From 1934, women in the Olympic Games. This is :on of New Zealand, following
also competed in some athle:cs to honour the Bri:sh Military the All Blacks Rugby tour of
events. tradi:ons of the Old Empire Apartheid era South Africa in
The Empire Games flag was 1985, but the Games rebounded
donated in 1931 by the Bri:sh and con:nued to grow therea'er.
Empire Games Associa:on of Editions The 1998 Commonwealth Games
Canada. The year and loca:on of in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia saw
subsequent games were added The first edi:on of the event was the spor:ng programme grow
un:l the 1950 games. The name the 1930 Bri:sh Empire Games from 10 to 15 sports as team
of the event was changed to the and eleven na:ons took part. The sports were allowed for the first
Bri:sh Empire and Common- quadrennial schedule of the :me. Par:cipa:on also reached
wealth Games and the flag was games was interrupted by World new levels as over 3500 athletes
re:red as a result. War II and the 1942 Games (set represented 70 teams at the
Tradi:ons to be held in Montreal, Canada) event. At the most recent Games
were abandoned. (in Melbourne, Australia in 2006),
• From 1930 un:l 1950, the pa- The games were con:nued in over 4000 athletes took part in
rade of na:ons was led by a 1950 and underwent a name spor:ng compe::ons. The three
single flagbearer carrying the change four years later with the na:ons to have hosted the games
Union Flag. first Bri:sh Empire and Common- the most number of :mes are
• Since 1958, there has been a wealth Games in 1954. Over 1000 Australia (4), Canada (4), and
relay of athletes carrying a athletes par:cipated in the 1958 New Zealand (3). Furthermore,
baton from Buckingham Games as over thirty teams took five edi:ons have taken place in
Palace to the Opening Cere- part for the first :me. The event the countries within the United
mony. This baton has within was briefly known as the Bri:sh Kingdom. Two ci:es have held
it the Queen's message of Commonwealth Games for the the games on mul:ple occasions:
gree:ng to the athletes. The 1970 and 1974 edi:ons and the Auckland (1950 and 1990), and
baton's final bearer is usually 1978 Games, held in Edmonton, Edinburgh (1970 and 1986).
a famous spor:ng per-
sonage of the host na-
:on.
• All other na:ons march
in English alphabe:cal
order, except that the
first na:on marching in
the Parade of Athletes
is the host na:on of
the previous games,
and the host na:on of
the current games
marches last. In 2006
countries marched in

VISIT OF PRIME MINISTER OF
Hot Topics
POLAND TO INDIA
The Prime Minister of Poland,
Mr. Donald Tusk and his wife
Mrs. Malgorzata Tusk Visited
to India from September 6 to
O
8, 2010.
n the morning of 7th Sep-
tember, the Prime Minis-
ter of Poland was received
ceremonially by the Prime
Minister of India in the forecourt
of the Rashtrapa: Bhavan. Prime
Minister and the visi:ng dignitary
held delega:on level talks in
which they reviewed bilateral re- gramme for the years 2010-13 Na:onal Heritage of the Republic
la:ons including enhancement of was signed a'er the talks and is of Poland and Ministry of Culture
bilateral economic engagement. expected to give a further boost of the Republic of India for the
It was agreed that both sides to exchanges in this field. Year 2010-13
would endeavour to enhance The Prime Minister and his
trade and investments in both di- delega:on arrived in Bangalore.
rec:ons with the target of dou- A'er a mee:ng with the Gover- India-Poland Bilateral
bling the value of bilateral trade nor of Karnataka, Prime Minister Relations
by 2014. The Prime Minister and Tusk inaugurated the Polish-In-
his Polish counterpart also dis- dian Investment Forum, in which The historical perspec've
cussed global issues like reform of more than 100 par:cipants were A 1596 le;er from Goa by K.
the UN Security Council and cli- present. Pawlowski has the first reference
mate change. They agreed to ex- In his keynote remarks on the to India in Polish.
pand coopera:on in the field of occasion as well in his mee:ngs In 1820, Polish historian
clean coal technology. They also with Indian leaders, the Polish Joahim Lelewel completed his
exchanged views on regional is- Prime Minister recalled the inspi- “The Ancient History of India”.
sues of common concern, includ- ra:on that Poland’s Solidarity The Society of the Friends of
ing Afghanistan. movement had drawn from the India was founded in Warsaw in
Prime Minister Tusk reaf- non-violent struggle of India’s in- 1936, and soon a'er the Polish-
firmed the support of Poland for dependence movement. India Cultural Associa:on estab-
India’s candidature for the non- lished in Kolkata under the
permanent seat in the UN Secu- patronage of Rabindranath
rity Council for 2011-12 as well as Agreement Tagore.
for a permanent seat in an ex- Since the 15th century, a
panded Security Council. Coopera:on Programme be- number of Polish writers, soldiers
The Cultural Exchange Pro- tween the Ministry of Culture & and missionaries have visited

Hot Topics
India. India. During the 19th cen-
tury, several Sanskrit classics
were translated into Polish and a
"History of Ancient India" in Pol-
ish published in Europe. A Chair
of Sanskrit was set up at the
Jagiellonian University of Krakow
in 1891 and a strong tradi:on of
Indological studies and research
in Indian languages and literature
has developed at the Universi:es
of Krakow, Warsaw, Wroclaw and
Poznan. Indo-Polish rela:ons are key role in the region and in Eu-
At the beginning of the 20th longstanding and friendly, based rope's future.
century, the Polish painter Nor- on pragma:sm and coopera:on. Poland markets itself as an at-
blin was commissioned by the Poland supports India’s candida- trac:ve gateway to the EU and
Maharaja of Jodhpur to decorate ture for permanent membership CIS markets. It is already India's
the Umaid Bhavan Palace, where of the United Na:ons Security largest trading partner in Central
his pain:ngs can s:ll be seen. Fe- Council (UNSC). The Poles admire Europe.
liks Topolski’s early 1950s oil Indian culture, spirituality, tradi- There are Mahatma Gandhi,
pain:ng of Mahatma Gandhi's as- :ons. Thousands of Poles visit Rabindranath Tagore, Jawaharlal
sassina:on adorns Rashtrapathi India every year for a firsthand Nehru and Indira Gandhi streets
Bhawan. encounter with the world’s in Warsaw and Krakow. During
Two prominent Poles Mau- largest democracy. World War II, the then Jam Sahib
rice Frydman (Swami Bharata- Poland is the largest country (Ruler) of Nawanagar (now Jam-
nanda) and Wanda Dynowska in Central Europe, a member of nagar) sheltered some 6,000 Pol-
(Umadevi) were close to leaders NATO since 1999 and of the EU ish women and children
of our independence struggle since May 2004. With its transi- “released” from Siberia, They
(both became Hindus and passed :on to a democra:c polity and lived in India for six years in total
away in India). They started the market economy, high growth freedom and dignity, establishing
Indo-Polish Library, transla:ng In- over the last decade, its size and their own schools and busi-
dian classics into Polish, thus in- strategic loca:on and Poland’s nesses. This is the genesis of the
troducing a whole genera:on of deep sense of history and culture, World
Poles to the civiliza:on of India. Poland seems des:ned to play a Associa:on of Poles from

Hot Topics
India, with over 400 members in (vii) Agreement on Defence Co- ment with a popular 5-year post-
several countries. The Associa- opera:on (2003) graduate course in Indology. The
:on organizes a Congress bienni- viii) Extradi:on Treaty (2003) Indology Department of the Ori-
ally, the last in August 2010 in (ix) Agreement on Economic ental Ins:tute at the University of
Poznan. Coopera:on (2006) Warsaw, established in 1932, is
the biggest centre for Indian
Political Relations studies in Poland. The ICCR funds
Indian Investments two Indian professors teaching
With diploma:c rela:ons estab- in Poland Hindi and Tamil at Warsaw Uni-
lished in 1954, India opened its versity. Universi:es in Wroclaw
Embassy in 1957. Indian investments in Poland are and Poznan also offer Hindi. The
During the Communist era, over US$ 2 billion and include first Indology Conference for Cen-
bilateral rela:ons were close and Arcelor Mi;al, Videocon, Escorts, tral and East European Countries
cordial, with regular high level Strides Arcolab, Reliance Indus- was held in Warsaw in September
visits, planned trade and eco- tries, Ranbaxy, Essel Propack, 2005.
nomic interac:on through state KPIT Cummins, Zensar Technolo-
trading organisa:ons under- gies Ltd, Tata Consultancy Serv- Culture
pinned by the rupee clearing ices, HCL Technologies, Infosys
arrangements, inter-governmen- and Wipro, Jindal Stainless, The Embassy, in coopera:on with
tal coopera:on in defence and Berger Paints India, and Glen- the Indian Council for Cultural Re-
science and technology and cul- mark Pharmaceu:cals. Polish la:ons, regularly organises cul-
tural exchanges. companies that operate in India tural performances in Poland,
include Toruńskie Zakłady Mate- including a pain:ng exhibi:on
riałów Opatrunkow- ych (TZMO) ‘Women by Women’ in six ci:es
Foreign Policy Priorities in Dindigul (manufacturing hy- in Poland from October 2006 to
giene sanitary products) and Can- August 2007. Recent Indian cul-
A'er emerging from the Eastern Pack Poland in Aurangabad tural troupes include Adi: Man-
Block, Poland’s priori:es are (manufacturing metal packaging). galdas (Kathak), Santoor (Tarun
NATO and EU. Bha;acharjee), Music Ensemble
However, Polish officials reit- Group (Pt. Amarnath), Divya and
erate that they regard India as a Science and Technology Diksha Upre: (Kathak), Praga:
mature democracy and wish to Sood (Kathak), Mohinia;am (Dr.
deepen rela:ons with it. The Council of Scien:fic and In- Deep: Omcherry Bhalla), Bharat-
Important bilateral trea'es and dustrial Research (CSIR) and the natyam . (Rajyashree Ramesh),
agreements: Indian Na:onal Science Academy Kathak (Ms. Uma Sharma).
(i) Agreement on Promo:on (INSA) have ongoing scien:fic ex- Apart from regular gi's of books
and Protec:on of Invest- change programmes with the Pol- to Polish universi:es, India also
ments (1996) ish Academy of Sciences (PAN). offers several scholarships to Pol-
(ii) Agreement on Avoidance of ish na:onals under the Indian
Double Taxa:on (1981) Technical and Economic Cooper-
(iii) Protocol on Foreign Office Education a:on and other programmes.
Consulta:on (1996)
(iv) Agreement on Coopera:on There is a strong tradi:on of In- NRI/PIO
in Science and Technology dology studies in Poland. Polish
(1993) scholars There are some 2,000 Indians in
(v) Agreement on Cultural Co- translated Sanskrit classics into Poland, mainly in private busi-
opera:on (1957) Polish in the 19th Century, with ness. Others work in mul:na-
(vi) Agreement on Coopera:on the first Chair of Sanskrit estab- :onal companies and banks.
in Comba:ng Organised lished at Jagiellonian University About 100 persons of Indian ori-
Crime and Interna:onal Ter- (Krakow) in 1893. The University gin are Polish na:onals with Pol-
rorism (2003) has an ac:ve Indology Depart- ish spouses.

Global
Hot Topics
Competitiveness
Report
I
ndia has slipped by two places to Hanouz, senior economist and di- of social sector areas such as ed-
51st in the World Economic rector of the WEF, who is also the uca:on, health and infrastruc-
Forum's global compe::veness
rankings, while rival China has
managed to improve its standing
to 29th. As per the WEF's Global
Compe::veness Report 2010-11,
released on Sept 9, 2010 switzer-
land is No. 1 in the world in terms
of its ability to provide the most
compe::ve environment on sev-
eral fronts.
Sweden, another technology
powerhouse in Europe, ranks sec-
ond, followed by Singapore and
the United States, which both fell
by two posi:ons from their rank-
ing last year. The African na:on of
Chad figures at the bo;om of the
list of 139 countries.
The global compe::veness
rankings are viewed as a barome-
ter of the business climate in 139
countries and mirrors the assess-
ments of leading businessmen on
a range of poli:cal, social, and
economic parameters.
Though Switzerland has
"[state-supported] monopolies in
key sectors, it maintains overall co-author of the report. ture.
economic stability and largely India has been pushed down Though India has performed
open trade and investment poli- to 51st posi:on from 49th due to well in complex financial sector
cies," said Margareta Dryeniek its poor performance in a range areas, a;aining the 17th rank

Hot Topics
globally in terms of its financial deficits, high public debt and high in the western world, the WEF
markets, 44th in business sophis- infla:on. In contrast, China has has increasingly promoted "com-
:ca:on and 39th in innova:on, it over USD 2 trillion in forex re- passionate capitalism" as an eco-
has failed to improve the basic serves and a sound macro-economic model, analysts said.
drivers of compe::veness, the nomic environment.
report said. The WEF, which is a non-gov-
Life expectancy is 10 years ernmental organisa:on, is largely Global Competitiveness
shorter in India as compared to known for its annual Davos show Report
China and Brazil. Despite high of captains of industry and busi-
economic growth, India con:n- ness and poli:cal leaders. In the The Global Compe::veness Re-
ues to be plagued by budget face of a growing economic crisis port is a yearly report published

Hot Topics
how produc:vely a country uses
available resources. Therefore,
the Global Compe::veness Index
measures the set of ins:tu:ons,
policies, and factors that set the
sustainable current and medium-
term levels of economic prosper-
ity."
Description
Somewhat similar annual reports

are the Ease of Doing Business
Index and the Indices of Eco-
nomic Freedom. They also look at
factors that affect economic
growth, but not as many as the
Global Compe::veness Report.
One part of the report is the
Execu:ve Opinion Survey which
is a survey of a representa:ve
sample of business leaders in
their respec:ve countries. Re-
spondent numbers have in-
creased every year and is
currently just over 11,000 in 125
countries.
The report ranks the world's
na:ons according to the Global
Compe::veness Index. The re-
port states that it is based on the
latest theore:cal and empirical
research. It is made up of over 90
variables, of which two thirds
come from the Execu:ve Opinion
Survey, and one third comes from
publicly available sources such as
the United Na:ons. The variables
are organized into nine pillars,
by the World Economic Forum. States, which ranked first for sev- with each pillar represen:ng an
The first report was released in eral years, fell to fourth place due area considered as an important
1979. The 2009-2010 report cov- to the consequences of the finan- determinant of compe::veness.
ers 133 major and emerging cial crisis of 2007–2010 and its The report notes that as a na-
economies, down from 134 con- macroeconomic stability. China :on develops, wages tend to in-
sidered in the 2008-2009 report con:nue its rela:ve rise in the crease, and that in order to
as Moldova was excluded due to rankings reaching 27th. sustain this higher income, labor
lack of survey data. The report "assesses the abil- produc:vity must improve in
Switzerland leads the ranking ity of countries to provide high order for the na:on to be com-
as the most compe::ve econ- levels of prosperity to their ci:- pe::ve. In addi:on, what creates
omy in the world, as the United zens. This in turn depends on produc:vity in Sweden is neces-

Hot Topics
sarily different from what drives the efficiency-driven stage of de- :on of the GCI, pillars are given
it in Ghana. Thus, the GCI sepa- velopment, when they must different weights depending on
rates countries into three specific begin to develop more efficient the per capita income of the na-
stages: factor-driven, efficiency- produc:on processes and in- :on. The weights used are the
driven, and innova:on-driven, crease product quality. At this values that best explain growth in
recent years For example, the so-
phis:ca:on and innova:on fac-
tors contribute 10% to the final
score in factor and efficiency-dri-
ven economies, but 30% in inno-
va:on-driven economies.
Intermediate values are used for
economies in transi:on between
stages.
2010-2011 rankings
The following are the top 30

countries in the 2010-2011 Re-
port.
1. Switzerland 5.63
2. Sweden 5.56
3. Singapore 5.58
4. United States 5.43
5. Germany 5.39
6. Japan 5.37
7. Finland 5.37
each implying a growing degree point, compe::veness becomes 8. Netherlands 5.33
of complexity in the opera:on of increasingly driven by higher edu- 9. Denmark 5.32
the economy. ca:on and training (pillar 5), effi- 10. Canada 5.30
In the factor-driven stage cient markets (pillar 6), and the 11. Hong Kong SAR 5.27
countries compete based on their ability to harness the benefits of 12. United Kingdom 5.25
factor endowments, primarily un- exis:ng technologies (pillar 7). 13. Taiwan 5.21
skilled labor and natural re- Finally, as countries move 14. Norway 5.14
sources. Companies compete on into the innova:on-driven stage, 15. France 5.13
the basis of prices and sell basic they are only able to sustain 16. Australia 5.11
products or commodi:es, with higher wages and the associated 17. Qatar 5.10
their low produc:vity reflected in standard of living if their busi- 18. Austria 5.09
low wages. nesses are able to compete with 19. Belgium 5.07
To maintain compe::veness new and unique products. At this 20. Luxembourg 5.05
at this stage of development, stage, companies must compete 21. Saudi Arabia 4.95
compe::veness hinges mainly by producing new and different 22. South Korea 4.93
on well-func:oning public and goods using the most sophis:- 23. New Zealand 4.92
private ins:tu:ons (pillar 1), ap- cated produc:on processes (pillar 24. Israel 4.91
propriate infrastructure (pillar 2), 8) and through innova:on (pillar 25. United Arab Emirates 4.89
a stable macroeconomic frame- 9). Thus, the impact of each pil- 26. Malaysia 4.88
work (pillar 3), and good health lar on compe::veness varies 27. China 4.84
and primary educa:on (pillar 4). across countries, in func:on of 28. Brunei 4.75
As wages rise with advancing de- their stages of economic develop- 29. Ireland 4.74
velopment, countries move into ment. Therefore, in the calcula- 30. Chile 4.69

ECONOMY
Current Affairs
$220 m World Bank credit for

Bihar flood-affected areas
The Interna:onal Development Associ-
a:on (IDA), the World Bank's concessionary
lending arm, has approved a $220 million
credit to support rebuilding efforts in areas
affected by the 2008 Kosi floods in Bihar.
The Bihar Kosi Flood Recovery Project
will finance flood recovery efforts through
the reconstruc:on of about 100,000
houses, 90 bridges and 290 kilometres of
rural roads.
It also aims to reduce future oriented
risks by strengthening flood management
capacity, restoring livelihoods, and improv-
ing the emergency response capability of
the state of Bihar through a provision of
con:ngency funding.
The 2008 floods affected about 3.3 mil-
lion people in five districts of Bihar. About
one million people were evacuated,
460,000 people were provided temporary
shelter in 360 relief camps, and more than
500 people lost their lives.
The project has five key components:

• Owner Driven Housing Reconstruc:on,
which will reconstruct the damaged
houses of about 100,000 households
using an owner driven reconstruc:on
model.
• Reconstruc:on of Roads and Bridges to
help restore connec:vity by recon-
struc:on of damaged roads and
bridges. About 2.2 million people are

Current Affairs
money is being raised through 10,000 crore will be distributed to
cess on coal and compulsory af- the state government," he said.
foresta:on fund. Contribu:ons to the CAMPA
Besides, the finance ministry come from business establish-
has sanc:oned Rs 5,000 crore as ments taking up ac:vi:es in for-
recommended by 13th Finance est land.
Commission. Another fund of Rs 10,000
"Climate change is a crore would be generated by
reality...It is a serious issue. We 2015 from clean energy cess on
are going to be affected the most coal. The cess has become opera-
by climate change. But we are :onal and Rs 3,000 crore would
expected to be benefited taking steps to mi:gate it," he be available under it this fiscal.
through the construc:on of said. The funds (Rs 5,000 crore),
about 90 bridges and culverts The country is witnessing recommended by the 13th Fi-
on the State Highway and Monsoon extending to the last nance Commission would be re-
Major District Roads and re- week of August, "which is un- leased in the next five years to
construc:on of about 290 km usual". states according to their forest
of rural roads. About 220 scien:sts from 120 cover.
• Strengthening Flood Man- research ins:tu:ons are working Chha<sgarh, Orissa, Andhra
agement Capacity, which will on assessment of the impact of Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh will
focus on strengthening the climate change on agriculture, be the major beneficiaries under
overall flood forecas:ng and water, health and forest. The re- the scheme.
flood-erosion management search covers impact on the Hi-
capacity in Bihar. malayan glaciers, North Eastern
• Livelihood Restora:on and region, Western Ghat and coastal Global competitiveness
Enhancement, which will areas. Their report will be avail- ranking
help build social and financial able in the next two months,
capital, and restore and ex- Ramesh said. India has slipped by two places to
pand the livelihood opportu- Giving a break-up of the fund 51st in the World Economic
ni:es of the affected people. plan, he said Rs 10,000 crore is al- Forum's global compe::veness
• Improving Emergency Re- ready available under the Com- rankings, while rival China has
sponse Capacity, which will pensatory Afforesta:on and managed to improve its standing
provide con:ngency funding Management Planning Authority to 29th.
for works, goods and services (CAMPA). "The first tranche of Rs As per the WEF's Global Compe:-
required to respond in case
of future calami:es.
Rs 25,000 crore kitty for

tackling climate change
India is going to be affected

"the most" by climate change but
the government has made a pro-
vision for Rs 25,000 crore to mi:-
gate its impact, environment
minister Jairam Ramesh said.
Replying to a debate on a pri-
vate member's resolu:on for set-
:ng up a fund for dealing with
climate change, the minister said

Current Affairs
:veness Report
2010-11, released
sept 9, Switzer-
land is No. 1 in the
world in terms of
its ability to pro-
vide the most
compe::ve envi-
ronment on sev-
eral fronts.
Sweden, an-
other technology
powerhouse in
Europe, ranks sec-
ond, followed by
Singapore and the
United States,
which both fell by
two posi:ons
from their ranking
last year. The
African na:on of
Chad figures at
the bo;om of the
list of 139 coun-
tries.
The global
compe::veness
rankings are
viewed as a
barometer of the
business climate
in 139 countries and mirrors the Though India has performed climbed up to 27th posi:on from
assessments of leading business- well in complex financial sector 29th last year, for making a dent
men on a range of poli:cal, so- areas, a;aining the 17th rank in poverty and for improving
cial, and economic parameters. globally in terms of its financial overall access to educa:on and
Though Switzerland has markets, 44th in business sophis- health, sugges:ng that India is far
"[state-supported] monopolies in :ca:on and 39th in innova:on, it from making a no:ceable impact
key sectors, it maintains overall has failed to improve the basic in these two areas.
economic stability and largely drivers of compe::veness, the Consequently, life expectancy
open trade and investment poli- report said. is 10 years shorter in India as
cies," said Margareta Dryeniek There are two Indias," said compared to China and Brazil.
Hanouz, senior economist and di- Thierry Geiger, an associate direc- Despite high economic growth,
rector of the WEF, who is also the tor at WEF, who also authored India con:nues to be plagued by
co-author of the report. the report. "While there is wide- budget deficits, high public debt
India has been pushed down spread poverty, poor health and and high infla:on. In contrast,
to 51st posi:on from 49th due to educa:on facili:es and poor in- China has over USD 2 trillion in
its poor performance in a range frastructure in rural India, the forex reserves and a sound
of social sector areas such as ed- other India is experiencing rapid macro-economic environment.
uca:on, health and infrastruc- growth," he said. The WEF, which is a non-gov-
ture. He praised China, which ernmental organisa:on, is largely

Current Affairs
known for its annual Davos show deficit Kong, which swapped places
of captains of industry and busi- to reach
ness and poli:cal leaders. In the 6.8 per-
face of a growing economic crisis cent of
in the western world, the WEF GDP in
has increasingly promoted "com- FY10.
passionate capitalism" as an eco- Never-
nomic model, analysts said. the-
less,
a s
India ranks 77 in Forbes
best countries for
business
Despite the second highest

growth in the world among major
economies in 2009, India ranks
77 in Forbes Best Countries for
Business list even as the US
dropped from No. 2 to No. 9.
"India is developing into an
open-market economy, yet traces
of its past autarkic policies re-
main," noted the US business
magazine placing India ahead of
Sri Lanka (83), China (90) and Pak-
istan (92) in its fi'h annual rank-
ing of 128 economies.
"Economic liberalisa:on, in-
cluding reduced controls on for-
eign trade and investment, began
in the early 1990s and has served
to accelerate the country's
growth, which has averaged
more than 7 percent per year
since 1997," it said.
Capitalising on its large edu- shares of GDP, both
cated English-speaking popula- government spending and taxa- with the US, moving
:on, India has to become a major :on are among the lowest in the up to No. 2 from No. 9. It scored
exporter of informa:on technol- world," Forbes noted in the top three for taxes, investor
ogy services and so'ware work- With the US economy teeter- protec:on and both trade and
ers, Forbes noted. ing on the edge of a double-dip monetary freedom.
"An industrial slowdown early recession, business climate for One of the most business-
in 2008, followed by the global fi- entrepreneurs and investors in friendly environments can be
nancial crisis, led annual GDP the US is star:ng to lag behind found in New Zealand, ranked
growth to slow to 6.5 percent in other countries', Forbes said not- No. 3 (up from No. 5 last year),
2009, s:ll the second highest ing its fall from No. 2 to No. 9 in Forbes said. Among the worst
growth in the world among major its annual ranking. countries for business, Zimbabwe
economies," it said. Grabbing the top spot for a moved out of the bo;om of the
"The government abandoned third straight year is Denmark. A rankings this year thanks to
its deficit target and allowed the big mover up the rankings is Hong Venezuela.

Current Affairs
The ranking is based on 11 to tax in India. suant to the system audit/ap-
categories, including property proval by the exchange.
rights, technology, corrup:on, Only on fulfilment of the re-
red tape, investor protec:on and BSE guidelines for trading quirements men:oned in the
stock market performance. via mobile phones Sebi/BSE circulars, permission for
All payments made abroad commencing securi:es trading
not within ambit of withholding The Bombay Stock Exchange using wireless technology would
tax (BSE) has said it has issued guide- be granted, it said.
The Supreme Court rejected lines for securi:es trading using As per the approval requi-
the income-tax department’s
conten:on that companies based
in India were liable to deduct tax
when they make any payment
overseas, offering relief to do-
mes:c firms and mul:na:onal
companies based here that
would have had to cough up huge
amounts as tax on payments
made to overseas suppliers.
The apex court rejected the
sweeping interpreta:on of law
on withholding tax, or tax de-
ducted from overseas payments.
The judgement clears the air on
the conten:ous issue and re-
moves uncertain:es faced by
companies that have overseas
dealing. wireless technology. sites, BSE said in case of failure of
Taxa:on experts and compa- Last month, the Securi:es the wireless network, alterna:ve
nies welcomed the ruling. “The and Exchange Board of India means of communica:on for
ruling se;les the issue of with- (SEBI) had issued necessary placing orders should be available
holding tax on payments made to guidelines for providing "securi- to the clients. Members at their
non-residents.” :es trading using wireless tech- end are required to comply with
For GE, Samsung Electronics, nology" which includes devices the opera:onal specifica:ons
Hewle;-Packard, Sonata So'- such as mobile phone and lap- and risk management men:oned
ware and other firms, which had tops with data card. in the Sebi circular, besides fol-
approached the Supreme Court To avail of the facility, trading lowing the BSE-prescribed rules.
against a Karnataka High Court members will have to submit an
decision, the issue is far from applica:on that will be followed
over. They will have to approach by a system audit. The applica:on Govt to rent out
the high court to decide whether should also include vendor cer- computers in rural areas
they will have to pay tax on pay- :ficate and self-cer:fica:on by at Rs 15 a day
ments made for shrink-wrapped the member.
so'ware. As per the pre-approval req- A'er the slow pick-up of the $220
The judgement given by a uisites, the so'ware and the sys- One Laptop Per Child Project, and
bench comprising chief jus:ce of tem proposed for securi:es an uncertainty over the $35 lap-
India, jus:ce S H Kapadia, and jus- trading should be duly cer:fied top called Sakshat, the govern-
:ce K S Radhakrisnan, has made by the BSE-empanelled system ment is now experimen:ng with
it clear that withholding tax has auditor. Audit charges for the another model—to dole out com-
to be deducted only if the non- same will be debited to the mem- puters on rent to spread IT liter-
resident’s income was chargeable ber's se;lement account pur- acy in the country.

Current Affairs
Under a pilot program to be
launched by the ministry of IT &
communica:ons, computers spe-
cially built for rural areas will be
deployed in five loca:ons, and
then rented out to ci:zens. “The
cost may vary from 15-20 per day.
This model may remove the hin-
drance of affordability in buying
computers . We are talking to var-
ious companies like Intel, HCL In-
fosystems and One Laptop Per
Child Project.
The pilot program would cost
tops knows that its demand before it can work out

impossible to man- these models for rural areas.
ufacture a laptop
for $10,” says Sa:sh
Jha, OLPC India Mukesh Ambani to be rich-
president, whose est man in world in 2014
laptop costs about
$220 to manufac- With a net worth of USD 62 bil-
ture. Add about lion, Indian business tycoon
2,300 as du:es and Mukesh Ambani would be he
1,700 as shipment richest man on earth in 2014, ac-
the government about 45 lakh. cost, and the price shoots up to cording to a forecast issued by
“It will also remove the problem nearly the price of a netbook the pres:gious Forbes magazine.
of maintenance and repair which available in the market. But he "One of the predic:ons is
is a common problem in many defends his OLPC laptop saying that Reliance Industries' chief
areas. Besides the person can that none of the netbooks would Ambani, who currently has a net
rent it only for the :me power is ever have a shockproof body, worth of 29 billion dollars, pips
available.” solar charging capabili:es, and a the world's richest man Mexican
In another IT experiment, the host of 230 applica:ons. He businessman Carlos Slim to top
government last year had claims to have deployed about Forbes' rich list in 2014," it said.
claimed to have launched a $10 2,000 OLPC laptops in various Ambani's net worth swells to
computer which actually turned parts of India. USD 62 billion while Slim is "hit
out to be a $10 storage device. HCL in 2006 had launched a hard by Mexican poli:cal, finan-
This year the ministry of human Community PC with an innova- cial chaos," according to the pre-
resource & development :ve power management system dic:on by Forbes. 53-year-old
launched a $35 laptop called Sak- called RP2 that switches the com- Ambani currently ranks fourth on
shat. The MHRD plans to bring puter to a power ba;ery. The bat- Forbes' list of the world's billion-
the cost of this laptop down to tery can be charged by using aires.
$20 and then to $10 ul:mately. bicycle peddle power. But that Forbes has listed a number of
But many experts cast a scep- computer too failed to see events that could happen over
:cal eye to the Sakshat project. heightened demand in rural the next 10 years in the field of
“Any body in the industry having India. Clearly, the government poli:cs, energy, medicine, fi-
some knowledge of making lap- needs to create a u:lity-based nance, society and technology.

Current Affairs
13.8% as compared to the 7.2%
increased recorded in July 2009.
Industrial growth has also
bounced back during the month
as in June 2010, the growth rate
had decelerated to 7.1%. Cumu-
la:ve growth during the April-July
2010-11 has been 11.4% as com-
pared to mere 4.7% growth dur-
ing corresponding months of the
2009-10.
The Finance Minister said
since the overall growth of GDP in
the second quarter of this year is
expected to be slower than in the
first quarter because of a base ef-
fect a year ago, this news of extra
The publica:on asked its staff and comes the first 20-something buoyancy in the industrial sector
contributors to forecast some of who is worth USD 10 billion-plus. is indeed very heartening. He fur-
the "noteworthy events" :ll Then by 2020, Wal-mart em- ther said though the capital
2020. ploys five million people world-
"A vision of the coming wide and its sales pass the one
decade sketched from real data, trillion dollar mark. The company
projec:ons and facts whenever "cites successful India and Brazil
possible -- though we've injected expansions" for the landmark.
a dose of rigorous science fic:on In 2017, Harvard endowment
to fill the gaps," Forbes said doubles in seven years to USD 50
about its special 2020 report billion. It offers free tui:on to lure
called 'What Happens Next -- Our top students from China.
Look Ahead'. The US job scene finally im-
Another forecast in the field proves in 2018 as unemployment
of finance and economics is of drops below seven per cent and
fraudster Bernard Madoff's death worst of quadruple-dip recession
in his prison cell in 2011. The con- is likely over, Forbes predicts. goods produc:on has increased
victed Ponzi-scheme perpetrator by 63% yet, we must not over-in-
is found hanging in his cell and terpret this very high figure. He
"prison officials will not rule out Industrial Production said that we do know that there
foul play," according to the Doubled in July at 13.8% are fluctua:ons in this sector
Forbes forecast. from month to month.
"Futurism favours the bold. UNION FINANCE minister, Pranab The Finance Minister further
Look more than 30 years ahead... Mukherjee said that the es:- added that nevertheless, this fig-
and cri:cs will forgive your inac- mates of the Index of Industrial ure indicates long run op:mism
curacies. We've a;empted a Produc:on (IIP) for the month of on the part of Indian industry and
thought experiment with far July 2010 are extremely encour- this, once again, underlines my
tougher standards: predic:ng the aging. The Finance Minister was own op:mism concerning the
future that's just around the corresponding to the quick es:- growth of the Indian economy.
ner," Forbes said. mates of IIP released by Central The Finance Minister said that as
In 2012, social networking Sta:s:cal Organiza:on (CSO). with bad news, we must also
site Facebook debuts on NAS- As per CSO es:mates, the treat good news with cau:on. He
DAQ. Its IPOs value USD 40 billion overall growth in industrial sector said that we must not sit back
and founder Mark Zuckerberg be- during the month of July 2010 is and will have to con:nue with

Current Affairs
phone subscribers, both mobile the hardest hit by more than a
and landline, in the country in- decade of unfair trade agree-
creased to 688.38 million by the ments and the trickle-down eco-
end of Jul 2010 from 671.69 mil- nomic policies that promoted
lion in Jun 2010. offshoring jobs at the expense of
The growth in the wireless Ohioans who work for a living.
category was led by Bhar: Airtel We must do everything within
followed by Reliance Communi- our power to prevent outsourc-
ca:ons, Vodafone, Tata Teleser- ing jobs because it undermines
our efforts to take the Indian vices. our economic development ob-
economy robustly forward. However, wireline subscriber jec:ves, slows our recovery and
Earlier, the manufacturing sector, base declined from 36.18 million deprives Ohioans and other
which is a major source of em- in Jun 2010 to 35.96 million by Jul Americans of employment op-
ployment genera:on, has also 2010. portuni:es."
shown outstanding growth in As of now Tata Consultancy
July. Its growth rate of 15% for Services (TCS) is the only Indian
this month exceeds the average Ohio bans outsourcing company opera:ng in Ohio.
growth of the Q1. Consumer jobs, Indian ITs to be hit China is 5th largest global in-
durables growing at 22.1% in July, vestor
though less than the growth in A'er the US visa fees hike, the China has surged in both out-
the first quarter of this year, next come banning of outsourc- bound and inward investments
shows that long run consumer
confidence also con:nues to be
high.
Telephone users base to

touch 700 mn soon in
India
The total broadband users in

India have been expanded to 9.77
ing jobs in Ohio state that will af- and now ranks fi'h largest invest-
fect doubly the Indian ITs which ing na:on worldwide with out-
are opera:ng in the States also bound direct investment (ODI)
million in Jul, 2010, as the tele- bringing less compe::on in the totalling USD 56.5 billion.
com Regulatory Authority of markets. In 2008, it ranked 12th. In ad-
India, Trai showed in its report. Ohio Governor Ted Strickland di:on, foreign direct investment
Telecom operators added 17 mil- issued an execu:ve order on Aug (FDI) was set to "surpass USD 100
lion subscribers in Jul 2010, tak- 2010, prohibi:ng "the expendi- billion this year", compared to
ing the total number of mobile ture of public funds for services USD 90 billion last year.
users in the country to 652.42 provided offshore." Globally, foreign investment
million, showed the latest Trai re- "Outsourcing jobs does not decreased by 40 percent last year
port. reflect Ohio values," Strickland amid financial downturn and is
The total number of tele- said. "Ohioans have been among expected to show only marginal

Current Affairs
ni:es. different stages of development
Fan Chunyong, standing across the world.
deputy chief of the China Indus- The three Indian projects are:
trial Overseas Development and KG-D6, 4,000-MW Mundra Plant
Planning Associa:on, said: and the newly opened Indira
"China's ODI will go up to USD Gandhi Interna:onal Airport proj-
100 billion in 2013, and the Chi- ect in New Delhi.
nese accumula:ve overseas in-
vestment will reach USD 500
billion by then."
According to the ministry, by
the end of 2009, 13,000 Chinese
enterprises had invested in 177
na:ons and regions worldwide,
and the largest volume of funds
growth this year. went to the Asia-Pacific region.
The growth in both outbound Europe and Africa ranked second
and inbound investments reflects and third in absorbing Chinese in-
China's rising economic power as vestment.
well as an a;rac:ve des:na:on However, the European
for investments. Chamber of Commerce said in a
The ministry made the an- report Thursday that China had
nouncements in Xiamen. The made progress on improving its
mee:ng was called to brief on investment environment, but s:ll
the upcoming UN Conference on needed to do more, especially on
Trade and Development (UNC- market access and regulatory en-
TAD) and the 14th China Interna- vironment.
:onal Fair for Investment and While global FDI slumped by
Trade. almost 40 percent last year,
It said, China's ODI grew by China's FDI was down by a mere
1.1 percent from a year earlier to 2.6 percent, according to the
USD 56.53 billion, which includes UNCTAD. China remained the
investment of USD 47.8 billion in second largest recipient na:on of
non-financial sectors worldwide, FDI a'er the US.
up 14.2 percent year-on-year. During the first seven
Last year was the eighth con- months, China's FDI increased by India’s KG-D6 project not only
secu:ve year that the na:on's 20.7 percent to USD 58.35 billion, sets new standards in integrated
ODI had grown. In this period, the and FDI in July surged by 29 per- gas infrastructure projects but it
average annual growth rate stood cent. also launches an innovated ap-
at more than 50 percent. proach to the sale and trans-
In 2009, global ODI volume porta:on of energy, helping to
reached USD 1.1 trillion, and Three Indian projects accelerate India’s economic
China contributed about 5.1 per- among World’s top 100 growth. The 4,000 MW Mundra
cent of the total. Plant, one of the nine Ultra Mega
But "this is just a beginning". Global consultancy firm KPMG, in Power Projects, uses unfashion-
Although the figure is already its Infrastructure 100 Project Re- able coal, making it the most en-
"quite amazing", the volume is port, has included three Indian ergy-efficient plant. The IGI
"not large enough" considering projects in the list of 100 most in- Airport at New Delhi was up-
China's economic growth and teres:ng infrastructure projects. graded and modernised while
local companies' expanding de- The report showcases examples s:ll func:oning, delivering a
mand for interna:onal opportu- of great infrastructure projects at world-class facility, which has also

Current Affairs
been turned around in record the proposed rules would raise offer.
:me. the financing required for taking In the absence of any such
over a firm, but would encourage disclosure or when the response
investors taking strategic stakes in to the open offer is below the de-
Business takeover companies. lis:ng threshold, the acquirer
code re-written The panel, which also had would be required to either pro-
Tata Steel Ltd Chief Financial Offi- por:onately reduce both his ac-
The Takeover Regula:ons Advi- cer (CFO) Koushik Cha;erjee and quisi:ons under the agreement
sory Commi;ee under the chair- Larsen & Toubro Ltd CFO Y M. De- that triggered the open offer and
manship of C. Achuthan, in its osthalee as members, concluded the acquisi:ons under the open
that since a holding level of 25 offer or to bring down his holding
per cent permits the exercise of to comply with con:nuous lis:ng
de facto control over a company, requirements.
this could be fixed as the appro- The commi;ee has also rec-
priate open offer trigger thresh- ommended that a short public
old in the Indian context. announcement should be made
The commi;ee has also by the acquirer on the date of en-
tering in to an agreement fol-
lowed by a detailed public
statement within five business
days therea'er. The overall :me-
line for an open offer has been
brought down from 97 days to 57
business days.
The commi;ee, in its a;empt
to enable transparent consolida-
:on by persons already holding in
139-page report to the Securi:es noted that the 100 per cent open excess of 25 per cent, has recom-
and Exchange Board of India offer requirement could result in mended voluntary offers of a
(SEBI), has proposed sweeping an acquirer ending
changes on cri:cal issues, includ- in holding beyond
ing the open offer trigger, offer the maximum per-
size, indirect acquisi:ons, exemp- missible non-public
:ons from open offer obliga:ons, shareholding,
calcula:ng the offer price and which may require
compe:ng offers. This comes the acquirer to ei-
nearly 16 years a'er the guide- ther de-list or bring
lines were formally no:fied for down his holding
the first :me and a'er 23 amend- to meet the con:n-
ments to the last major review in uous lis:ng re-
1997. quirements. The
The takeover panel, formed panel has recom-
by SEBI in September 2009, has mended that the
recommended an increase in the acquirer may state
open offer trigger from 15 per upfront his inten-
cent to 25 per cent. Further, the :on to de-list if his
open offer has to be made for all holding in the tar-
the shares of the target company, get company were
instead of the current prac:ce of to cross the de-list-
an offer for acquiring an addi- ing threshold, pur-
:onal 20 per cent. Analysts said suant to the open

Current Affairs
minimum size of at least 10 per their recommenda:on on the tored in while calcula:ng the
cent and a maximum size of such open offer. Also, no appointment open offer price for the minority
number of shares that would not of representa:ves of the acquirer shareholders.
result in any kind of breach of the to the board of directors of the
maximum non-public sharehold- target company would be permit-
ing permi;ed under the lis:ng ted unless the acquirer places PM’s panel pegs exports
agreement. Under the exis:ng 100 per cent of the considera:on at $216 billion
regula:ons, an offer for a per- under the open offer in cash in an
centage lesser than minimum escrow account. India's exports are projected to
prescribed percentage can only Major changes have also grow by about 22 per cent to
be by shareholders holding more been proposed in the manner $216 billion in 2010-11, on the
than 55 per cent. minimum price payable is calcu- back of recovery in global trade,
The panel has also recom- lated. According to the commit- according the Prime Minister's
mended that creeping acquisi:on tee, the offer price would be the Economic Advisory Council.
be permi;ed only for acquirers highest of (i) market price to be With contrac:on in global
who hold more than 25 per cent based on 12 weeks volume merchandise demand, India's ex-
of the vo:ng capital, subject to weighted average of market ports declined by 4.7 per cent to
aggregate post-acquisi:on share- prices as against higher of weekly $176.6 billion in 2009-10. How-
holding not exceeding the maxi- averages of market prices for 26 ever, in the first two months of
mum permissible non-public weeks or 2 weeks; (ii) a qualita- 2010-11 exports grew by 35.7 per
shareholding. It has, however, le' :ve improvement and expansion cent.
the annual creeping acquisi:on in the look back provision; (iii) in The Interna:onal Monetary
limit unchanged at five per cent. the case of indirect acquisi:ons, Fund has projected that exports,
In another recommenda:on ascrip:on of value to the target at constant price, from emerging
that is expected to enhance the company under certain circum- and developing economies would
corporate governance norms, the stances. increase by 10.5 per cent in 2010.
commi;ee has made it manda- Also, any kind of non-com- Exports from the advanced
tory for the independent direc- pete fee or control premium paid economies are also expected to
tors of the target company to give to promoters will have to be fac- rise by 8.2 per cent.

Current Affairs
INDIA & WORLD

India, Russia to build mili- in a statement.
tary transport planes Russia is also in the race for a
12-billion-dollar contract to sell
India and its biggest military sup- 126 fighter jets to the Indian air
plier Russia announced a 600-mil- force and supply hundreds of
lion-dollar joint venture to combat helicopters to the coun-
manufacture military transport try's million-plus army. Russia
aircra' for the two countries. supplies more than 70 percent of
The 50:50 venture was signed India's military hardware.
by India's state-owned Hindustan ment, Commerce and Industry
Minister Anand Sharma said.
Aeronau:cs Ltd, Russian United India, Japan to ink com-
Aircra' Corp and the Russian Commerce Secretary (Rahul
prehensive eco coopera- Khullar) was back from Tokyo last
state-run arms exporter
Rosoboronexport. tion agreement night and would give a detailed
The "15-20 tonne payload ca- report to the Ministry, he said.
pacity aircra' would meet the re- India and Japan have just con- Indica:ng that the agreement
quirements of the Indian Air cluded the final round nego:a- is on the anvil, Sharma pointed
Force and the Russian Air Force," :ons on a comprehensive out that both India and Japan
the Indian defence ministry said economic coopera:on agree- have the "internal processes to
complete" before inking the pact.
He said his Ministry would be
making a presenta:on to Defence
Minister A K Antony and the serv-
ices on the need to raise FDI cap
in defence sector from the cur-
rent 26 per cent to 49 per cent.
India gives $72.55 million

line of credit to Laos
Giving a further boost to its rela-

:ons with ASEAN countries, India
on announced a line of credit
worth $72.55 million to Laos for
undertaking hyrdo-electric proj-

Current Affairs
ects, pushing its total invest- the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tu- the number of facility integrated
ments in this country to $162 mil- berculosis and Malaria (GFATM) ICTCs in Primary Health Centers
lion. signed a three year grant agree- from 1000 currently to 4755.
The two countries also rement for 128.4 million dollars to
newed a three-year cultural ex- support the con:nua:on of flag-
change programme from 2011-13 ship programmes of the Na:onal India-Iran sign six pacts
which will facilitate closer coop- AIDS Control Organisa:on
era:on in the field of educa:on, (NACO). In their first interac:on a'er the
health, culture and art, youth af- The agreement was signed UN imposed the fourth round of
fairs and sports, and mass media. during a mee:ng between K. sanc:ons on Tehran in June 2010
"Laos had requested on Feb- Chandramouli, Secretary and Di- over its controversial nuclear pro-
ruary 1, 2010 for a line of credit rector General, NACO and Dr. gramme, India and Iran, on July 8,
of $72.55 million for two hydro- Michel Kazatchkine, Execu:ve Di- 2010, signed six pacts, including
electric projects. The line of rector, GFATM. one on coopera:on in new and
credit is for 230 KV double circuit The programmes covered under renewable energy and another
transmission line from Nabong to the grant agreement include Inte- on increasing the number of
Thabok and sub-sta:ons worth grated Counseling and Tes:ng flights between the two coun-
$34.68 and 15 MW Nam Boun 2 services, Preven:on of Parent to tries. The MOUs were signed at
hydro project worth $37.86 mil- Child Transmission (PPTCT) serv- the end of the two-day mee:ng
lion. ices aimed at preven:ng new of the India-Iran joint commis-
Laos has requested for an- born infants from contrac:ng HIV sion.
other line of credit worth $30 mil- from their mothers and HIV-TB
lion for development of irriga:on collabora:ve services. The other four accords were:
projects in four provinces and this The overall goal of the grant agreement on transfer of sen-
is under process. will be to reach and diagnose an tenced prisoners; MOU on coop-
India at present extends 94 es:mated 65 percent of the HIV era:on in small-scale industry
per cent duty-free tariff to Lao infected people in India and link between the Na:onal Small In-
and plans to make it 100 per cent them to care, support and treat- dustries Corpora:on (NSIC) and
in the near future. ment services. the Iranian Small Industries and
In order to achieve this, NACO Industrial Parks Organisa:on
NACO, global fund through this grant aims to coun- (ISIPO); programme of coopera-
agreement to scale up sel and test 1.82 crore clients an- :on on science and technology;
nually in as many as 10,700 and MOU on coopera:on be-
HIV/AIDS related services Integrated Counseling and Test- tween the Central Pulp and Paper
in India ing Centers (ICTCs) by the end of Research Ins:tute (CPPRI) of
the project (2012). India and the Gorgan University
The Government of India and A special focus will be given of Agricultural Science and Natu-
to antenatal women, ral Resources (GUASNR).
high risk groups such as The signing of the agree-
female sex workers, ments clearly reflected New
men who have sex with Delhi’s inten:on that it would
men, intravenous drug pursue an independent policy on
users as well as people Iran, notwithstanding the Ameri-
with sexually transmit- can pressure on it not to enlarge
ted infec:ons and tu- the area of its engagement with
berculosis. Tehran.
NACO also in- Although it is commi;ed to
tends to work in collab- abide by the UN sanc:ons on
ora:on with the Tehran, New Delhi maintains that
na:onal rural health the Iranian nuclear issue must be
mission and increase resolved through nego:a:ons

Current Affairs
since the sanc:ons would only surgents opera:ng along the
hurt the common Iranian people. India-Myanmar border.
While recognising Iran’s right to The two countries signed five
develop nuclear energy for accords a'er talks between
peaceful purposes, it has also ad- Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
vised Iran to strictly abide by the and the 77-year-old leader of the
IAEA guidelines while pursuing its military ‘junta’. Simultaneously,
nuclear programme. the EXIM Bank of India extended
The two sides also discussed a line of credit of $60 million to
the situa:on in Afghanistan at the Myanmar Foreign Trade
length with both of them ex- Bank.
pressing their common stakes in The treaty on mutual legal as-
the stability of the violence-torn sistance in criminal ma;ers is ex-
country. New Delhi is believed to pected to help the two countries
have pressed for structured and combat transna:onal organised
regular consulta:ons with Tehran crimes, terrorism, drug traffick-
on defea:ng terrorists in ing, money laundering and smug-
Afghanistan and in the gling of arms and explosives. The fec:ng the region, he said that
MoU on Indian grant assistance Pakistan could not be allowed to
for implementa:on of small de- harbour militants and promote
Visit of Myanmar’s velopment projects is aimed at terror against India, Afghanistan
military ruler boos:ng Indian investments in and the rest of the world. On his
energy, transport and infrastruc- first visit to India a'er becoming
Ignoring worldwide concerns ture sectors. Prime Minister in May 2010, he
over human rights viola:ons in Strategic observers say the laid out the basis for a new “en-
Myanmar, New Delhi rolled out a change in India’s policy towards hanced rela:onship” with India.
red carpet welcome for Myanmar Myanmar was prompted by Apart from Cameron’s own tough
military ruler General Than Shwe China wooing the military ‘junta’ talk on terrorism, his business
on July 27, 2010. Top Indian lead- to make deep inroads into virtu- minister Vince Cable announced
ers held wide-ranging talks with ally every sphere of Myanmar’s the UK was prepared to export
him on a plethora of issues, in- economic ac:vity. Though China civil nuclear technology to India,
cluding bilateral :es as well as in- has its own strategic interests in bringing Britain in line with the
terna:onal developments. engaging the ‘junta’ in Myanmar, stance taken by the United
The increasing Chinese influ- the military rulers are worried States, Russia and France.
ence in the South East Asian na- that their image outside the Travelling to Bangalore and
:on is apparently weighing country is sullied because of its then to Delhi, Cameron signed a
heavily in the mind of the Indian poor record in protec:ng human Rs 5,082 crore agreement for the
leadership as it seeks to increase rights. Indian Air Force and Navy to buy
its engagement with Myanmar, The military ruler wants to an addi:onal 57 Hawk Advanced
par:cularly in the vital energy correct this image by introducing Jet Trainer aircra' from Bri:sh
sector and in figh:ng Indian in- some kind of democracy. His visit Aerospace Systems. India and the
to India was also aimed at gaining UK also made announcements in
global respectability. the field of immigra:on, educa-
:on and signed an agreement on
cultural coopera:on.
Visit of British Cameron welcomed India’s
Prime Minister support to Afghanistan, Nepal
and Bhutan, its “intellectual lead-
Bri:sh Prime Minister David ership” at the G20, and said the
Cameron came visi:ng India in :me was ripe for India to find a
July 2010. Talking on terrorism af- place in the UN Security Council.

Current Affairs
NATIONAL NEWS
US Visa Hike Row on client sites. Speaking about versial bill, Napolitano said that
the issue, US Homeland Security India and United States share a
The $600 million amount which is Secretary, Janet Napolitano told robust and vital rela:onship and
required to secure the US-Mexico reporters on Friday that she nothing in the bill should inter-
border will be, most likely, cov- thinks that the US administra:on fere with that.
ered by hiking the H-1B and L visa has a very close rela:onship with The $600 million amount
fees by $2,000. The supporters of India and they hope to sustain it which is required to secure the
the bill said that it will help in as such and fee hike in the visa US-Mexico border will be, most
keeping a check on misuse of US applica:ons will not affect the likely, covered by hiking the H-1B
visa programme. above men:oned sectors. and L visa fees by $2,000. The
WHILE THE move to increase The reply came when she was supporters of the bill said that it
the Visa Fee for H1B and L Visa asked to comment on the warn- will help in keeping a check on
has not gone down well with the ing issued by the US-India Busi- the foreign organisa:ons that
Indian companies, the US admin- ness Council represen:ng the top “exploit” US visa programme to
istra:on an:cipates that this 300 US companies. The Council import foreign workforce into the
move will not effect its "close, ro- said that the “discriminatory” law United States.
bust and vital rela:onship" with would pose to be a hindrance and A summarised version of this
India. will impact the burgeoning India- bill also quoted Indian tech giants
The visa row largely affects US economic :es. such as Wipro, Tata, Infosys and
the Indian IT and outsourcing Speaking at the White Satyam, which send countless
companies, who send thousands House, a li;le while a'er US Pres- number of employees to the
of employees to US for working ident Obama signed the contro- Unites States to work at their
client loca:ons as technicians
and engineers.
Seventh Wimax India 2010

Conference
CURRENT DEVELOPMENTS in the

WiMax technology speace are of-
fering mobile personal broad-

Current Affairs
band users to create whatever nec:ng all the six hundred thou- band this financial year and 7800
they want on a variety of devices sand villages in a bid to reach out next year. Broadband connec-
from the laptop to cell phones to rural people. :ons by BSNL would increasingly
making a huge difference to user Over two and a half lakh pan- over 11 million next year.
experience. Revealing this at the chayats would have broadband Household broadband was
WiMax India 2010 conference or- connec:vity and wireless broad- now covering 33.2 per cent of the
ganized by Bharat Exhibi:ons, Dr. band access would be the most market in Malaysia revealed that
Hung Song, vice-president of effec:ve and efficient means of country’s leading WiMax opera-
global electronics major Sam- achieving this. “The mobile revo- tor Packet One Interna:onal’s
sung displayed several :ny lu:on is now rolling and WiMax managing director Dr. P. S. Tang.
modems that could transform will accelerate it, he said. Malaysia was having a 100 per
laptops, cell phones and other With prices of both equip- cent coverage with GSM. Drawing
knowledge devices to wireless ment and devices falling day by from his business experience in
mode connec:ng to Internet day the access would become af- Malaysia, Dr. Tang said WiMAX
through WiMax points. fordable to the rural people. would take mobile broadband
Song said that operators in However, he cau:oned vendors beyond voice to images and data
India are planning a rapid roll out and operators seeking to set up and be compe::ve with other
to gain early mover advantage in shop in India to be aware that mobile technologies.
a market said to be all wai:ng for “doing business in India is differ- Malaysia has given 15 MHz of
this wireless broad band access ent from that in any other coun- spectrum for each of the four
technology. He explained how try. Even the public sector BSNL wireless broadband mobile oper-
the smart phones from the South has learnt it the hard way”, ators which was three :mes
Korean company were offering a Thomas recalled. more than what India has of-
whole range of crea:ve poten:al Public sector BSNL is provid- fered. From mobile man to man
to the users doubling up as many ing 60 per cent of the 12 million connec:vity his company was
devices in one. broadband connec:ons that have moving to man to machine and
Department of Telecom, Sec- been achieved in India, according machine to machine connec:vity.
retary and Telecom Commission, to R. K. Agarwal, director, con- WiMAX VOIP phone that now
chairman P. J. Thomas inaugurat- sumer mobility, of the company. cost $50 would be soon cos:ng
ing the conference referred to the He expected 6000 blocks to be only $35 however Dr. Tang was
government programme of con- connected with wireless broad- looking forward to the price cost-

Current Affairs
ing down to $20. Indian Ins:tute of Management,
Laying down a road map for Kozhikode.
roll out of the service in India, He became the Kerala Chief
WiMAX Forum President and Secretary in 2007 and moved to
Chairman Ron Resnick advised the Central government as Secre-
operators to adopt a flexible ar- tary in the Ministry of Parliamen-
chitecture, reduce :me to market tary Affairs in January, 2009. Later
and grab the opportunity create he went on to become the Tele-
millions of jobs. For the Govern- com Secretary.
ment it was “:me for decisions’ Mr. Thomas succeeded
having done with the spectrum Pratyush Sinha, a 1969-batch IAS
auc:ons. Mr. Resnick recalled officer of Bihar cadre, who demit-
how he has been advoca:ng the ted office on Monday a'er a four-
WiMAX opportunity in India since sembly. year tenure as the CVC.
2002. There were already large The BJP had withdrawn sup- His name was cleared by a
number of equipment, devices port to the Shibu Soren govern- three-member commi;ee,
and manufacturers and the opment in May and the Jharkhand headed by Dr. Singh and included
portunity “is vast”. Muk: Morcha (JMM) chief was Mr. Chidambaram and Ms.
Describing the low cost high forced to resign on May 30, which Swaraj. However the BJP leader
bandwidth technology that led to the President's rule on opposed his appointment.
WiMAX offered as a “social re- June.
sponsibility” that “we must pro-
vide”, Motorola country head for India’s first sports law
home and networks mobility, P.J. Thomas sworn in CVC conference
Subhendu Mohanty hoped that
the Government target of 100 President Pra:bha Pa:l adminis- The Society of Indian Law Firms
million broadband customers tered the oath of office to the for- (SILF) organised the first ever
would soon be reached. Internet mer Telecom Secretary, P.J. ‘Sports Law Conference’ in New
usage was growing but the con- Thomas, as the 14th Central Vigi- Delhi, on July 24-25, 2010, to de-
cern was on how to push the lance Commissioner (CVC) at a liberate on various issues related
growth to rural areas. func:on held in the Rashtrapa: to sports and law in India. Among
An interes:ng event at the Bhavan. other things, the conference dis-
exhibi:on along with the confer- cussed the ‘Right to Informa:on’
ence was golf play and training (RTI) and accountability of sports
for golf that ZTE, a Chinese infra- federa:ons, and legali:es in-
structure provider company put volved in staging major sports
up using digital technology. events like the Olympics, Asian
Games, Commonwealth Games.
It also discussed gender discrimi-
Arjun Munda sworn in as na:on in sports, intellectual
Jharkhand chief minister property rights, importance of
transparency in corporate struc-
Bhara:ya Janata Party leader ture of professional sports
Arjun Munda was on sept 11 A 1973-batch IAS officer of leagues, future of IPL, besides
sworn in as Chief Minister of Kerala cadre, Mr. Thomas has public rela:on opportuni:es and
Jharkhand for the third :me at held important assignments in challenges which are concomi-
the Raj Bhavan while Hemant Kerala as Secretary in Finance, In- tant with it, issues rela:ng to in-
Soren and Sudesh Mahto were dustry, Agriculture, Law and Jus- frastructure in developing and
sworn in as Deputy Chief Minis- :ce and Human Resource maintaining stadiums, training fa-
ters. Mr. Munda has the support Development Departments. He cili:es etc.
of 45 MLAs in the 81-member As- was the founder director of the

Current Affairs
ken new ground in the field of The Centre has also told the
Quraishi, Dr S.Y. Development Communica:on. States that the Member-Secre-
tary of the Planning Commission
He has been appointed as the will work to modify exis:ng
17th Chief Elec:on Commissioner Unified Command norms and guidelines to ensure
of India. He is the first Muslim to to battle Naxals rapid development in the tar-
hold the post. Dr. Quraishi earlier geted 34 districts: Rs 800 crore
held the posi:on of Elec:on In what is a first step at forming a will be spent on strengthening
Commissioner. common strategy for States hit by police sta:ons and another Rs
Naxal violence, the Centre an- 950 crore on road connec:vity in
nounced, on July 13, 2010, set- these districts. The government
:ng up of a Unified Command in will fund the establishment and
Chha<sgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa strengthening of 400 police sta-
and West Bengal. Realising that :ons in affected districts at the
development and ac:on in rate of Rs 2 crore a police sta:on
Maoist areas should be together, on 80:20 basis over a period of
the Centre also announced that two years.
over Rs 1,750 crore would be The Planning Commission is
In the management of elec- spent on developmental projects also considering a special devel-
:ons, Dr. Quraishi has brought a in the four States. opment plan for the affected dis-
special focus on people’s par:ci- The Chief Secretary of each tricts and States with emphasis
pa:on, voters’ educa:on and
youth involvement in the elec-
toral process through scien:fic
research and interven:ons. He
has been an ardent proponent for
lending strength to the grassroots
level elec:on func:onaries.
Born on 11 June 1947, Dr
Quraishi completed his Masters
degrees from St. Stephen’s Col-
lege in Delhi before joining the In-
dian Administra:ve Service in
1971. He received a Ph.D for his
thesis on “Role of Communica-
:on and Social Marke:ng in De-
velopment of Women and
Children”. State will head the Unified Com- on road connec:vity, primary ed-
Dr Quraishi is known for his mand, which will have a re:red uca:on, primary healthcare and
special contribu:ons in social Major-General as its member. drinking water.
sector reforms covering health, The CRPF will depute an IG-level Already in force in militancy-
educa:on, popula:on, drug officer for ‘opera:ons’ while an hit Jammu and Kashmir and
abuse, and civil society ac:on. He equal rank officer from the State Assam, the Unified Command
also has a number of books, ar:- police force will coordinate the structure includes Army, paramil-
cles and talks to his credit on is- en:re effort. itary and State police, who work
sues related to democracy, The Home Minister said that in coordina:on. The Army would
elec:ons, HIV AIDS and Family there was need for a Unified not be involved in an:-naxal op-
Planning, social marke:ng, Command only in these four era:ons for now. However, IAF
women and child development states and Andhra Pradesh, Ma- helicopters would be used for
and Youth. His book ‘Social Mar- harashtra and Bihar had been supplies and evacua:on.
ke:ng for Social Change’ has bro- omi;ed for the :me being.

INTERNATIONAL
Current Affairs
NEWS
Julia Gillard to lead A'er two Independents - :onal broadband project as the
minority government Tony Windsor and Rob Oakesho; key factor that shaped his deci-
- announced support for her, Ms. sion, Mr. Oakesho; assigned the
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard declared, during a tele- pride of place to Ms. Gillard's will-
Gillard won a 17-day poli:cal vised press conference in Can- ingness to chart out a new path
marathon to lead a minority gov- berra, that Labour would now in governance.
ernment in a hung parliament. govern with 76 seats in a House She said Mr. Oakesho; was
Ms. Gillard stays at the helm of 150 members. She promised being offered a place in her new
with support from three Inde- “a stable and effec:ve govern- government. This would be “an
pendents and a first-ever Greens ment” for the full three-year unusual arrangement” in which
member in the House of Repre- term of the new House. he could “help drive reforms for
senta:ves, being formed a'er Alluding to her wafer-thin regional Australia.”
the August 21 snap general elec- majority in the country's first
:on. She had called the elec:on hung parliament in nearly seven
shortly a'er toppling Kevin Rudd decades, Tony Abbo;, Leader of India, Poland agreement
as Prime Minister in a poli:cal the Opposi:on Liberal-Na:onal on cultural exchange
coup within the ruling Australian Coali:on, said he would “fero- programme
Labour Party. ciously” hold the new govern-
ment to India and Poland signed an agree-
account. The ment on cultural exchange pro-
Opposi:on, with gramme during the delega:on
its tally of 74 level talks to be held between the
seats, would in two sides on sept 7 in the na-
fact func:on as :onal capital.
“a credible alter- The Polish Prime Minister
na:ve govern- Donald Tusk arrived in Bangalore
ment,” said Mr. on a three-day State visit.
Abbo;. During this visit, Prime Minis-
While ter Tusk and Indian Prime Minis-
Mr. Windsor ter Dr. Manmohan Singh with
now cited their delega:ons held in-depth
Labour's na- exchange of views on robust bi-

Current Affairs
About one million children are which was concluded in 2008.
expected to be benefited from Cluster bombs are both air
the ini:a:ve. dropped and used by ar:llery
Director general of General guns, and the shells open before
Women Union Noura Al-Suwaidi impact and sca;er hundreds of
said Sheikha Fa:ma is very sup- shrapnel, causing widespread ca-
por:ve of the ini:a:ve which will sual:es over a wide area. Many
complement local and global ef- of such ammuni:on fail to ex-
forts to alleviate suffering of chil- plode and lie dormant for years
lateral rela:ons and also dis- dren. killing or maiming hundreds of
cussed bilateral and mul:lateral Sheikha Fa:ma has donated civilians, long a'er the conflicts
issues of mutual interest. 10 million dirhams (about 2.7 mil- have ended.
Poland has also commi;ed lion) for a humanitarian cam- From Asia only five coun-
support for India's candidature of paign announced in May by the tries—Afghanistan, Indonesia,
the permanent membership of UAE to treat one million children Japan, Laos and Philippines—are
the United Na:ons Security in the UAE and around the world. the signatories.
Council (UNSC). Global community commits
to peace ini:a:ve in Afghanistan
Cluster ammunition treaty An interna:onal conference on
UAE launches first global comes into force Afghanistan was held on July 20,
mobile children's hospital 2010 in Kabul, Afghanistan. The
A landmark UN-sponsored treaty interna:onal community reiter-
The UAE has launched the banning cluster muni:ons came
world's first mobile children's into force from August 1, 2010,
hospital as part of its Giving Cam- but all major powers, the US,
paign to provide free health care China, Russia, Israel and India
to children across the globe, it have shunned it. The new instru-
was announced on Sept 6. ment is expected to be a major
The project is funded by a grant advance for global disarmament
from Sheikha Fa:ma bint and humanitarian agenda.
Mubarak, chairwoman of the The conven:on has been
General Women's Union and signed by 107 States and entered
supreme president of Family De- into force six months a'er 37
velopment Founda:on (FDA). countries ra:fied the treaty, ated its commitment to con:nue
to support peace and reintegra-
:on and said it looked forward to
the local peace jirgas that in-
cluded men and women at dis-
trict and provincial level to
discuss elements of an enduring
peace.
The government of
Afghanistan is to engage with the
UN Security Council and the in-
terna:onal community for de-
lis:ng Taliban elements from the
sanc:ons list in accordance with
agreed procedures and common
Afghan and interna:onal respon-
sibility.
The interna:onal community

Current Affairs
expressed its support for Karzai’s
objec:ve that the Afghan na-
:onal security forces should lead Pakistan, China ink six
and conduct military opera:ons pacts
in all the provinces by the end of
2014. On the issue of security, the Pakistan and China reiterated
mee:ng recognised that civilian their resolve to further
casualty and protec:on of civil- strengthen strategic rela:onship
ians are of great concern and between the two countries, in-
noted that most civilian casual- 2010. crease the level of economic co-
:es are caused by insurgent at- In line with the new cons:tu- opera:on and take concrete
tacks. They also reiterated that :on, the 120-strong Kyrgyz Parlia- measures to further bring their
the interna:onal military forces ment, a'er October 2010 people closer, during the visit of
remain commi;ed to the objec- elec:ons, will appoint the Prime Pakistan’s President Asif Ali
:ve of a steady reduc:on in the Minister and the government. Zardari to China in July 2010. The
rate of civilian casual:es. The referendum, the first step two countries pledged to make
towards legi:macy of the present joint efforts to fight terrorism,
regime, took place in the midst of and signed six deals of coopera-
Kyrgyzstan vote for parlia- inter-ethnic violence in the south- :on in the areas of agriculture,
mentary democracy ern regions of Osh and Jalalabad healthcare, jus:ce, media, econ-
and exodus of hundreds of thou- omy and technology.
In a development that could have sand refugees to neighbouring
far reaching poli:cal impact in Uzbekistan. US slaps toughest sanc-
the region, Kyrgyzstan is all set to tions on Iran
become Central Asia’s first parlia-
mentary democracy, with an Fresh US sanctions on On July 1, 2010, even as he
North Korea signed into law the toughest
sanc:ons against ever passed by
US Secretary of State Hillary Clin- the US Congress at the White
ton announced on july 21, 2010 House, US President Barack
that Washington would impose Obama said the doors of diplo-
new sanc:ons on communist macy are s:ll open for the regime
North Korea in a bid to stem the in Tehran.
regime's illicit atomic ambi:ons. The Iran Sanc:ons Act affects
The UN Security Council has the gasoline, financial, insurance
overwhelming 90.55 per cent imposed s:ff sanc:ons on North and shipping sectors, among oth-
voters backing a new cons:tu:on Korea in recent years to punish ers, as it seeks to impose a heavy
which strips the President’s wide the regime for defying the world economic cost on Iran for con:n-
ranging powers. body by tes:ng nuclear weapons uing with its nuclear programme.
A'er publishing the official and long-range missiles, and ille- The sanc:ons bar foreign
results of the June 27 referen- gally selling arms and weapons. countries from expor:ng refined
dum, the Kyrgyz Central Elec:on With few allies and diminish- petroleum to Iran, as well as re-
Commission (CEC), on July 1, ing sources of aid, the impover- strict access to US financial ins:-
2010, declared Roza Otunbayeva ished North Korea is believed to tu:ons for any en::es that help
as the transi:onal President :ll be turning to illicit ventures to Iran’s Revolu:onary Guard Corps.
December 31, 2011. raise the much-needed cash. Py- Also, it prevents investment,
It also formally dissolved the ongyang also walked away in transfer of technology and devel-
Presiden:al parliament, which 2009 from a disarmament-for-aid opment of Iran’s energy sector,
was in jeopardy in the wake of vi- pact with five other na:ons that and makes it easier for States and
olent ouster of President Kur- had provided the country with locali:es to divest from compa-
manbek Bakiyev’s regime in April fuel oil and other concessions. nies that do business with Iran.

Current Affairs
SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY &

ENVIRONMENT
Solar Plane Takes Off carry out its first circum-naviga-
:on of the globe from 2012. India’s first scientific ex-
On July 7, 2010, giant glider-like Bertrand Piccard, the Swiss pedition to South Pole
aircra' completed the first night president of the project, best
flight propelled only by solar en- known for comple:ng the first To commemorate the centenary
of Norwegian explorer Ronald
Amundsen’s December 14, 1911
feat, India will launch its first sci-
en:fic expedi:on to the South
Pole in November 2010.
An eight-member team of sci-
en:sts would undertake the
3,000-km long treacherous ter-
rain from India’s research sta:on
Maitri in the Antarc:c region to
the South Pole. The route to be
taken is a fairly new one and had
been charted with the aim to un-
derstand climate change over the
past years. These studies are ex-
ergy. round-the-world flight in a hot air pected to add to the knowledge
Solar Impulse, whose balloon in 1999, said the success of how the ancient landmass,
wingspan is the same as an Air- of the flight showed the poten:al once fused with other con:nents
bus A340, flew 26 hours and 9 of renewable energies and clean in a super-con:nent before being
minutes, powered only by solar technology. separated 200 million years ago,
energy stored during the day. It The carbon-fibre aircra' has evolved.
was also the longest and highest reached a maximum speed of 68 The challenging effort will be
flight in the history of solar avia- knots (ground speed), an average simplified to some extend with
:on. The plane, which has 12,000 speed of 23 knots and a maxi- the help of naviga:onal equip-
solar cells built into its 64.3- mum al:tude of 8,564 metres ment and four modern ice-tra-
metre wings, is a prototype for an above sea level. versing vehicles that the Union
aircra' that its creators hope will government is planning to ac-

Current Affairs
quire for the trip. He can use video cameras to The scien:sts hope that,
work out how close a person within five years, they will be able
comes and sensors to detect how
First robot with emotions tac:le they are.
Nao can also work out where
A robot that is capable of devel- his human companions are look-
oping and showing emo:ons has ing, follow their gaze and memo-
finally been unveiled. When rise different people's faces.
Nao—developed by a European Using a neural network brain, he
research team—is sad, he can remember interac:ons with
different people.
This understand-
ing, plus some basic
rules of what is good to offer robo:c devices to pa-
and bad for him, :ents with damaged spinal cords
learned from explor- that will enable them to move
ing his environment, their arms or legs at will. A more
allows Nao to indi- ambi:ous idea is not to use ro-
cate whether he is bo:c devices but to replace the
happy, sad or fright- broken connec:on to the limb
ened with what is with an ar:ficial link. The brain
going on around him. chip would then send signals to
The display ac:ons an implanted s:mulator in the
for each emo:on are spinal cord. This would generate
pre-programmed but electrical impulses to make mus-
Nao decides by him- cles contract and move paralysed
self when to display limbs.
each emo:on or
combina:on of emo-
:ons. PSLV launches five
Nao's program- satellites
ming was developed
as part of a project On July 12, 2010, five satellites—
hunches his shoulders forward called Feelix Growing, funded by CARTOSAT, STUDSAT and three
and looks down. When he's the European commission. It was foreign satellites—were launched
happy, he raises his arms, angling a collabora:on of eight universi- by the ISRO-built Polar Satellite
for a hug. When frightened, Nao :es and robo:cs companies Launch Vehicle (PSLV). The three
cowers, and he stays like that across the UK, France, Switzer- foreign satellites—Algerian,
un:l he is soothed with some land, Greece and Denmark. Canadian and Swiss—were
gentle strokes on his head. launched as part of a commercial
opera:on.
Nothing out of the ordinary, per- Brain chip may give mobil- Studsat weighs one kg and
haps, except that Nao is a robot— ity to paralysed patients has been built by 35 students of
the world's first that can develop seven engineering colleges of
and display emo:ons. He can Scien:sts have developed a brain Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. It
form bonds with the people he chip that will help paralysed pa- has a camera that produces high-
meets, depending on how he is :ents operate their bionic limbs. resolu:on data.
treated. The more he interacts The technology employs :ny mi- Built at Rs 175 crore and
with someone, the more Nao crochips to sense nerve mes- weighing 694 kg, CARTOSAT-2B is
learns a person's moods and the sages, decode the signals, and an earth observa:on satellite in a
stronger the bonds become. turn thought into movement. sun-synchronous orbit. Its appli-

Current Affairs
process called recombina:on - a gree cen:grade.
fundamental engine driving di- While BHEL will manufacture
versity," Nature quoted Alec as the boiler and other equipment
saying. needed for power genera:on and
"Our new study has focused NTPC will operate the plant.
on a gene called PRDM9 that The whole project, star:ng
makes a protein which binds to from design, development, man-
DNA and triggers hotspot ac:vity. ufacturing, plant construc:on
"The exci:ng finding is that peo- and commissioning, will involve
ple with different versions of an outlay of around Rs.10,000
PRDM9 show profoundly differ- crore. Construc:on of the plant is
ent recombina:on behaviours, expected to start by 2018.
not only in hotspots but also in 40 percent of the projected
chromosomal rearrangements 800,000 MW power genera:on
that cause some gene:c disor- capacity by 2031 will comprise of
ders," he said. coal- based power plants, which,
ca:on will be towards cartogra- Ironically, the varia:on in in turn, means a huge investment
phy in India. It will generate pic- PRDM9 is due to a minisatellite on thermal power plants.
tures and data relevant for within the gene itself. The find- Most of the power project
agriculture and rural develop- ings were published in Nature promoters have opted for im-
ment. Gene:cs. ported super cri:cal boilers (op-
era:ng at 250 bar and 600 degree
cen:grade) paying fancy prices.
Genetic catalyst behind IGCAR to develop ad- According to equipment mak-
human diversity vanced boiler for coal- ers, foreign companies are selling
discovered fired power plants super cri:cal boilers at Rs.1.80
crore per MW which includes a
In a new research scien:sts have The Indira Gandhi Centre for premium for technology and
explained the gene:c catalyst re- Atomic Re-
sponsible for the diversity pres- search (IGCAR)
ent between different in Kalpakkam
genera:ons of people. has decided to
Sir Alec Jeffreys, who discov- design and de-
ered DNA fingerprin:ng, and his velop a 800 MW
team in the Department of Ge- advanced, ultra
ne:cs at the University of Leices- s u p e r- c r i : ca l
ter have demonstrated the boiler for use in
remarkable influence of a par:c- coal-fired power
ular gene on the development of plants.
diversity in humans. IGCAR has
"In each genera:on our ge- signed a Memo-
ne:c make-up gets 'reshuffled', randum of Understanding (MoU) branding.
like a gene:c pack of cards, by a with power equipment manufac- Indigenous development of
turer BHEL and power genera:ng advanced technology will help
company NTPC. India to contain the equipment
As per plans, IGCAR will de- costs.
sign and develop the advanced, The other advantage of such
ultra super-cri:cal boiler that can boiler is that it would improve
operate at a pressure of 350 bar fuel-efficiency and reduce the
(a measure of steam pressure) carbon emissions. The proposed
and at a temperature of 700 de- project or mission would need

Current Affairs
about 100 persons and will be
drawn from the three organisa-
:ons. Google to launch Google
BHEL has claimed that it has TV by next year
mastered the super cri:cal boiler
technology. The company makes IN YET another path breaking
sub-cri:cal boilers opera:ng at technological advancement
170 bar and about 500 degree Google on Tuesday said that it
cen:grade. had plans of launching its very
IGCAR has successfully de- own Google TV on a global plat-
signed and developed India's first form by next year. The move is
500 MW prototype fast breeder being looked as a technological
reactor (PFBR) which is now advancement to bring technology
under construc:on at Kalpakkam, inside the living rooms and bridge
around 80 KM from here. the gap between TV and internet.
The move to develop the Google had conducted a
technology for coal-fired power demonstra:on of its Google TV
plants, however, does not mean pla9orm during the IFA Technol-
IGCAR's original mandate of de- ogy trade fair in Berlin. The serv-
veloping fast breeder reactors ice projects a search bar onto the
has come to an end. top of TV screen and allows users
A fast breeder reactor is one oped by ISRO. L110 stage had two to browse and search Internet
which breeds more material for a high pressure Vikas engines in a while watching TV lis:ngs. The
nuclear fission reac:on than it clustered configura:on. Nearly product is expected to get
consumes and key to India's 500 health parameters were launched in the United States this
three stage nuclear power pro- monitored during the test and fall.
gramme. the ini:al data acquired indicates
its normal performance.
ISRO successfully con- This successful test of L110
for its full flight dura:on of 200
ducts static testing of seconds, is a major milestone in
new age rocket the earth storable liquid rocket
programme of ISRO and a signifi-
GSLV-Mk III, which is currently cant step forward in the develop-
under advanced stage of devel- ment of GSLV-Mk III launch
opment, uses two solid strap-on vehicle. The company also said that it
boosters (S200), L110 liquid stage ISRO conducted the test for is working with various content
and a cryogenic upper stage C-25 150 seconds at LPSC test facility and technology providers to rope
Six months a'er a failed test, the on March 5 this year. While the in entertainment op:ons in
Indian Space Research Organisa- test was originally targeted for Google TV and it also plans to
:on (ISRO) successfully con- 200 seconds it was stopped at launch support for Android mo-
ducted the second sta:c tes:ng 150 seconds since a devia:on in bile applica:ons in the same lines
of its liquid core stage (L110) of one of the parameters - minor by next year. This applica:on will
Geosynchronous Satellite Launch leakage in the command system - make surfing lot more easier for
Vehicle Mark III (GSLV Mk -III). was observed. the users as they will be now en-
The test lasted 200 seconds at It may be recalled that GSLV- abled to change the channels
ISRO's Liquid Propulsion Systems Mk III, which is currently under using their voice through Google
Centre (LPSC) test facility at Ma- advanced stage of development, speech recogni:on technology.
hendragiri on September 8, 2010. uses two solid strap-on boosters While delivering a key note at
L110 is one of the heaviest earth (S200), L110 liquid stage and a the technology summit, Google
storable liquid stages ever devel- cryogenic upper stage C-25. Chief Execu:ve Eric Schmidt said

Current Affairs
that the Internet is crea:ng a Philippines from November 5th - a:ons with enormous risk," said
great disrup:on, which is chang- 7th 2010. Svetlana Jevrejeva of the UK's Na-
ing so many things. He also added :onal Oceanography Centre, a
that the company will work with co-author of the study.
content providers, but it is very Sea level likely to rise up Jevrejeva and colleagues
unlikely that it will get into actual to 70 cm by 2100 : Study from China, Finland and Denmark
content produc:on. wanted to see how five geoengi-
Ocean levels could significantly neering solu:ons will affect sea
rise up to 70 cm by 2100 due to levels.
India Robot Olympiad climate change and even the Geoengineering falls into two
2010 most extreme geoengineering main types: limi:ng the effect of
approaches would not be able to the sun's rays, or changing the
TECHTRONICS EDUCATION (India) stop sea levels from rising, ac- carbon cycle in some way. The
Limited organized the fi'h edi- cording to a new study. former doesn't change atmos-
:on of Indian Robot Olympiad The study published in the pheric CO2 levels in any way,
(IRO) 2010, the annual na:onal journal Proceedings of the Na- whereas the la;er does.
:onal Academy of Sci- The team used a well-estab-
ences (PNAS) propo- lished model to look at the effect
ses that as many as of firing a large amount of sul-
150 million people phur dioxide into the atmos-
could be affected as phere, pu<ng mirrors in space,
ocean levels could rise plan:ng huge numbers of trees,
by 30 cm to 70 cm. biochar (turning plants into a
Scien:sts led by type of charcoal in soil where
John Moore from Bei- they boost crop produc:vity) and
jing Normal University, switching to bio-energy.
China, said that to They inves:gated how these
combat global warm- methods would affect climate
level robo:cs championship in as- ing, people need to concentrate change under different CO2 emis-
socia:on with LEGO, world’s pre- on sharply curbing greenhouse sions scenarios.
mier manufacturer of play and gas emissions and not rely too They found that using bio-en-
educa:on materials. much on proposed geoengineer- ergy for power while capturing
The Olympiad was organized ing methods. the emi;ed CO2 and storing it
at Genesis Global School, Noida "Subs:tu:ng geoengineering deep underground is likely to be
with par:cipa:on from over 100 for greenhouse emission control the least risky and the most pub-
schools. The Olympiad is would be to burden future gener- licly acceptable solu:on to tackle
amongst many ini:a:ves taken climate change.
by Techtronics Educa:on to pro- This would also
mote the basic mantra of learn- lead to fewer
ing by doing in the Indian fossil fuels
educa:on system. being burnt for
The Indian Robot Olympiad is energy. But this
held in three categories - primary solu:on would-
school, junior high and senior n't be as effec-
high. In this showcase of talent :ve as using
and intellect, teams from over aerosols or
100 different schools across India giant mirrors in
par:cipated and the two winning space at slow-
teams from each category will get ing sea level
to represent India in the World rise.
Robot Olympiad to be held in

Sports World
TENNIS
by Her Majesty the Queen for 33
years, was also a record-breaking
occasion in many ways, most no-
tably in that unforge7able first
Wimbledon round men's singles between
Championship, 2010 John Isner of the United States
and France's Nicolas Mahut,
The 124th Championships, a which smashed every exis6ng
Royal tournament thanks to the record in the sport.
first visit to the All England Club The Isner-Mahut first round
marathon, which stretched over
three days, lasted 11 hours five
minutes and totalled 183 games
before Isner staggered away the
winner 6-4, 3-6, 6-7, 7-6, 70-68.
The final set alone lasted just
over eight hours. Both men shat- Rafael Nadal beat Tomas Berdych
tered the record for aces in one 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 to win the 6tle. This
match, previously held by Ivo was the second Wimbledon 6tle
Karlovic at 78. Isner delivered 112 for the Spaniard. Berdych be-
and Mahut also cracked the cen- came the first Czech since Ivan
tury with 103. An exhausted Isner Lendl in 1987 to reach the Wim-
crashed out to Thiemo De Bakker bledon final.
of Holland in the next round, col- The women’s singles 6tle was
lec6ng just five games. won by defending champion Ser-
In the men’s singles final ena Williams who beat Russia’s

Sports
secu6ve year in the 57th Senior Raina became the 12th Indian to
Men’s Na6onal Boxing Champi- score a Test century on debut.
onships, held in New Delhi. The
RSPB swept the overall tally with
four gold, two silver and three Pakistan-Australia Test
bronze medals. Series
Haryana finished a distant
second with two gold and three Australia completed a record 13th
bronze medals. The Services consecu6ve victory win over Pak-
Sports Control Board (SSCB) was istan when they beat them by 150
third in the overall list with two runs in the first Test at Lords.
gold, two silver and an equal Pakistan beat Australia in a
number of bronze medals. Test for the first 6me since 1995
SSCB’s Manpreet Singh a'er winning by three wickets in
(91kg), the defending champion the second Test, played at Leeds,
Vera Zvonareva 6-3, 6-2. The vic- who signed off with a bronze, was to level the two-match series 1-1.
tory took her to 13 Grand Slam adjudged the ‘Best Loser’ of the The series was played in England
singles 6tles, past Billie Jean King, event. as Pakistan is s6ll not considered
and sixth in the all-6me list. safe place for visi6ng teams.
CRICKET
In the doubles, the men's 6tle
went to an unseeded pair, Aus-
tria's Jurgen Melzer and Ger- England-Bangladesh
many's Philipp Petzschner, playing One-Day series
only their seventh tournament as Sri Lanka-India Test Series
a team. The women's doubles England defeated Bangladesh by
was won by an American-Kazakh Sri Lanka defeated India by ten 144 runs in the third match,
combina6on, Vania King and wickets in the first Test to take played at Birmingham, to clinch
Yaroslava Shvedova. Also un- the series 2-1.
seeded, they overcame the Rus-
sians, Elena Vesnina and
Zvonareva, 7-6, 6-2. The mixed Muralitharan becomes first
double's championship fell to a bowler to take 800 wickets
seeded combina6on, Leander
Paes and Cara Black, the second On July 22, 2010, Sri Lankan off-
seeds, who beat Wesley Moodie spinner Mu8ah Muralitharan be-
of South Africa and Lisa Raymond came the first bowler to take 800
(United States) 6-4. 7-6.
lead in the three-Test series. This
BOXING
Test will be known in cricket his-
tory as one in which Sri Lankan
off-spinner Mu8ah Muralitharan
became the first bowler in the
Senior National world to take 800 wickets. This
Championship Test was also the last Test match
of Murali’s career.
World Youth champion Vikas Kris- The second Test meandered
han stole the show with his to a tame, high-scoring draw with
maiden gold medal and the ‘Best a staggering 1,478 runs ge8ng
Boxer’ trophy, but the Railways scored over five days. India scored
Sports Promo6on Board clinched 707 all out in the first innings, its
the overall 6tle for the fourth con- second highest total ever. Suresh

Sports
Test wickets, reaching the mile- Cup (4), while Uruguay holds the from “ZA” (the interna6onal ab-
stone in the last Test of his illus- record for most fourth place fin- brevia6on for South Africa) and
trious cricket career. The 38-year- ishes (3). the term kumi, which means
old spin wizard got Indian tail- The 2010 FIFA World Cup was “ten” in various African lan-
ender Pragyan Ojha caught at slip the 19th FIFA World Cup. It took guages. The mascot's colours re-
by Mahela Jayawardene to reach place in South Africa from June flected those of the host na6on's
the magical figure, which puts 11 to July 11, 2010. In 2004, the playing strip–yellow and green.
him several pedestals above his interna6onal football federa6on, The official song of the 2010
contemporaries. FIFA, had selected South Africa to World Cup, "Waka Waka", was
become the first African na6on to performed by the Colombian
host the tournament. singer Shakira and the band
FOOTBALL
The matches were played in Freshlyground from South Africa.
ten stadiums in nine host ci6es The song was sung in both Eng-
around the country, with the final lish and Spanish. The song is
played at the Soccer City stadium based on a tradi6onal African sol-
World Cup, 2010 in South Africa’s largest city, Jo- diers’ song, Zangalewa. Shakira
hannesburg. Thirty-two teams and Freshlyground performed
Spain, the European champions, were selected for par6cipa6on the song at the opening cere-
defeated third-6me finalists the via a worldwide qualifica6on mony and at the closing cere-
Netherlands 1–0 a'er extra 6me, tournament that began in August mony.
with Andrés Iniesta's goal in the 2007.
HOCKEY
116th minute giving Spain their Golden Ball : Diego Forlán
first world 6tle, the first 6me that (Uruguay)
a European na6on has won the Golden Boot : Thomas Müller
tournament outside its home (Germany)
con6nent. Host na6on South Golden Glove : Iker Casillas Asian Champions Trophy
Africa, 2006 world champions (Spain) (Women)
Italy and 2006 runners-up France Best Young Player : Thomas
were eliminated in the first round Müller (Germany) Korea beat Japan 2-1 to win the
of the tournament. inaugural Asian Women's Hockey
In the semi-finals, Spain de- FIFA Fair Play Trophy : Championship, held at Busan
feated Germany by 1-0 while Spain South Korea.
Netherlands had defeated The first Asian Women Cham-
Uruguay. The official mascot for the 2010 pions Trophy drew the four high-
Germany defeated Uruguay World Cup was Zakumi, an an- est-ranking teams in the
3–2 to secure third place. Ger- thropomorphised leopard with region-South Korea, China, Japan
many holds the record for most green hair, presented on 22 Sep- and India-which will also com-
third place finishes in the World tember 2008. His name came pete for the gold medal in the
Asian Games to be held in
Guangzhou, China, in November
2010.
India beat higher-ranked
China 2-1 to win the bronze
medal.
Rangaswamy Cup, 63rd
Mumbai overcame Haryana 3-2

to regain the senior na6onal
men’s hockey championship. The
tournament was held in Bhopal.

Word of
AWARDS
has been awarded Frame CSR war on 13th August 2010.
Frame CSR and Think and Think Odisha Leadership The award is a reorganiza6on
Odisha Leadership Award Award 2010 for "Best Community for Vedanta’s consistent effort for
2010 Development Programme”, on improving the quality of lives of
the occasion of Interface Asia CSR the community around its opera-
VEDANTA ALIMUNIUM Limited Forum 2010, held at Bhubanesh- 6ons. As a responsible corporate

Awards
ci6zen, Vedanta Aluminium Lim- ing), Rehan Jehangir Poncha scroll of honour and a cash com-
ited has been taking up several (Swimming), Kapil Dev K.J. (Vol- ponent of Rs. 500,000. The award
community development ini6a- leyball), Rajeev Tomar was ins6tuted in the year 1991-
6ves in the areas of Health, Edu- (Wrestling), Rajesh Chaudhary 92 to supply the lack of a
ca6on, Livelihood and (Yach6ng), Jagseer Singh (Para- supreme na6onal accolade in the
infrastructure for people around lympic (Athle6cs)). field of sports.
its Refinery at Lanjigarh and Awardees will receive stat-
Smelter at Jharsuguda. The ini6a- ue7es, cita6ons and cash prize of
6ves has significantly impacted Rs.5 lakh each. Dronacharya Awards,
the lives of the people in its pe- 2009
riphery area and contributed for
their socio-economic empower- Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna This award is given by the govern-
ment. Award, 2009 ment of India for excellence in
sports coaching. The award com-
Arjuna Awards, 2009 India's ace shu7ler Saina Nehwal prises a bronze statue7e of
has been selected for the pres6- Dronacharya, a scroll of honour
Indian women’s cricket team cap- gious award, for her outstanding and a cash component of Rs.
tain, Jhulan Goswami, who won achievements on the badminton 500,000 each. The award was in-
the ICC Women's Player of The s6tuted in 1985. As
Year Award in 2007, is among the best sports-per-
those named for the Arjuna son award is named
Award for the year 2009 by the Arjuna Award, it is
commi7ee headed by former appropriate that the
track queen P.T. Usha. coaching award is
Other winners are: Joseph Abra- named a'er
ham (Athle6cs), Krishna Poonia Dronacharya, as he
(Athle6cs), Dinesh Kumar(Box- was the Guru ofA
ing), Parimrajan Negi (Chess), rjuna.
Deepak Kumar Mandal (Football), Among the win-
Sandeep Singh (Hockey (Men)), court. The Rajiv Gandhi Khel ners of 2009 award were : Sub-
Jasjeet Kaur Handa (Hockey Ratna is India’s highest honour hash B. Aggarwal (Billiards &
(Women)), Dinesh Kumar given for achievement in sports. Snooker), L. Ibomcha Singh (Box-
(Kabaddi), Sanjeev Rajput (Shoot- The award carries a medal, a ing) and Ajay Kumar Bansal
(Hockey). Captain Roop Chand
(Wrestling) and A.K. Ku7y (Athlet-
ics) were awarded for life6me
achievement.
Dhyan Chand Award, 2009
Anita Chanu (Weightli'ing),

Sa6sh Pal (Athle6cs) and Kuldeep
Singh (Wrestling) have been cho-
sen for the award which is India's
highest award for life6me
achievement in sports and
games. The award is named a'er
the legendary Indian hockey
player Dhyan Chand.

Special
Civil Services Main Examina8on 2010

SPECIAL STUDY PACKAGE
Alexander crossed the Indus and
Indian History Aryan and Greek Invasions defeated an Indian king, he
turned back without extending
India is home to one of the rich- The country was influenced by his power into India.
est and the most ancient civiliza- many invasions, the Arya or
8ons in the world, which existed Aryans (1500BC) as they are
over 5,000 years ago. This civiliza- known today, are the first in- Maurya and Gupta Periods
8on originated in the Indus River vaders. Aryans were a group of
Valley, hence the name given to it nomadic tribes who had origi- The receding 8de of Greek power
was Indus Valley civiliza8on. It nally inhabited the steppes of led to a period of confusion and
was the origin of many of the Central Asia, in par8cular the re- uncertainty in northern India as
ideas, philosophies and move- gion between the Caspian Sea various rulers tried to make capi-
ments which have shaped the and the Black Sea. Tall, fair tal of the vacuum that Alexander
des8ny of mankind. Its people haired, with clear cut features, had le( behind. These circum-
are thought to be Dravidians, they spoke a group of languages stances saw the rise of Mauryas,
whose descendants s8ll inhabit which have become known as India's first imperial dynasty,
the far south of India. Indo-European. They se9led in founded by Chandragupta Mau-
the region to the north west of rya. Maurya dynasty reached its
India, known as the Punjab. They peak around 260 BC under the
History of India brought with them new ideas, Emperor Ashoka, the most fa-
new technology and new gods, mous figures in Indian History. He
India is home to one of the rich- this is one of the most important le( a series of inscrip8ons on pil-
est and the most ancient civiliza- epochs in Indian history. With lars and rocks across the sub-con-
8ons in the world, which existed 8me, the Aryans were engaged in 8nent. But a(er his death, the
over 5,000 years ago. This civiliza- struggle with the dark skinned Mauryan empire gradually fell
8on originated in the Indus River people or Dasyus. The Dasyus apart because his descendants
Valley, hence the name given to it were the Dravidians. The superi- were not as strong rulers as he
was Indus Valley civiliza8on. It is ority of the Aryans resulted in the was.
the origin of many of the ideas, Dravidian submission. At the beginning of the
philosophies and movements The second great invasion fourth century AD, India was frag-
which have shaped the des8ny of into India occurred around 500 mented into a lot of small king-
mankind. The civiliza8on with its BC, when the Persian kings Cyrus doms. They were o(en invaded
main ci8es Mohenjadaro and and Darius, pushing their empire by stronger neighbors like
Harappa flourished for over eight eastward, conquered the prized Greeks. They conquered Indus
centuries. Its people thought to Indus Valley. A(er centuries of Valley again but they didn't stay
be Dravidians, whose descen- obscurity, doubt and conjecture, for long. Out of this seeming
dants s8ll inhabit the far south of India came into the full light of Chaos, King Chandragupta II
India. recorded history with the inva- united all of northern India into a
sion of Alexander the Great of great empire again.
Macedonia in 327 BC. Although The Gupta period has been

Special
described as the golden age of In- Persian and Central Asian influ- of the three successive Carna8c
dian history and under their rule ences manifested in an impres- wars between them, from 1746-
of northern India, arts, including sive legacy of magnificent 48, 1748-54 and 1758-63 more-
poetry and literature, flourished. palaces, forts, tombs and land- over sealed the fate of the French
The exquisite Ajanta and Ellora scaped gardens-including India's possessions in India
caves were excavated in this pe- magnificent edifice, the Taj In 1757, at the Ba9le of
riod. Gupta period extended from Mahal. The golden era of the Plassey, Robert Clive, an em-
320AD to 480AD. But in 455 AD Mughal period was under the ployee of the Bri8sh East India
the Huns invaded India from the rule of Akbar the great. Company, defeated the Nawab of
north and destroyed the Guptan Bengal, Siraj-ud-Daulah and es-
Empire. Again India was split into tablished their poli8cal sover-
small kingdoms un8l the Muslim European Invasions eignty in India. It was an
invasions around 1000 AD. important step towards the even-
In South India, great empires The country’s riches in different tual Bri8sh dominance of the
rose, en8rely independently from cultures, wealth in spices and country. The First War of Inde-
those of the north. These in- minerals - made it a target for in- pendence (Sepoy Mu8ny) or the
cluded the Kalachuris, Chalukyas, vasion and colonisa8on by Euro- first major Indian rebellion
Rashtrakutas, Yadhavas, pean powers from the fi(eenth against the Bri8sh a(er the ba9le
Hoysalas, Pallavas, Cholas, century onwards. of Plassey took place in 1857. Al-
Pandyas, Cheras and the Vi- The Portuguese were the first though the rebels succeeded in
jayanagar kingdom. Europeans to se9le in India, in capturing territories in the
Goa, in the fi(eenth century Gange8c plain, it was recaptured
(1498). The Europeans arrived by the Bri8sh and the rebellion
Muslim Invasions even before the Mughals. The was completely crushed by mid
Dutch East India company was 1858. The Bri8sh government
The Medieval Period in Indian his- chartered in 1602 and they estab- took over control of India from
tory began with the Muslim Inva- lished spice trade and factories in the East India Company. Britain
sions. While the Hindu kingdoms Cochin, Nagapa8nam and Agra. then ruled India with local rulers
ruled in the south and Buddhism They did not have any military for over three hundred years.
was fading in the north, Muslim ambi8ons for India. In 1613, the
invasions from the Middle East Bri8sh East India Company, a Indian Independence
began, towards the end of the trading company, started its first
12th century. The Muslim period trading post in Gujarat. Later in Eventually demand grew for In-
in India began with the Turkish the century, the East India Com- dian independence. The socio-
conquests under Mahmud of pany opened permanent trading religious movements brought
Ghazni and Muhammad Ghori. sta8ons at Madras, Bombay, and forth by various social reformers
Many famous dynas8es such as Calcu9a, each under the protec- all over the country inspired na-
the the Slave Dynasty, Khilji Dy- 8on of na8ve rulers. 8onal consciousness to improve
nasty, Tughlaq Dynasty, Saiyyid Meanwhile around 1644, the their social condi8on and invoked
and Lodhi, Bahmani Dynasty, and French established trade with the spirit of patrio8sm among the
Others followed. In the16th cen- India. Pondicherry was the hub of Indian masses. A na8onal move-
tury, Babur from Fergana (Uzbek- French se9lements. Other French ment for independence was cre-
istan), a descendant of Genghis factories and se9lements were at ated. Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad,
Khan swept across the Khyber Surat, their first trading post in Subhash Chandra Bosh, Bhagat
Pass, defeated Ibrahim Lodi the 1666, then Masulipatanam, Singh, Rajguru, Mahamana, Sar-
last ruler of the Delhi Sultanate at Karikal, Chandernagore in Bengal dar Ballabh Bhai Patel, Sarojini
the ba9le of Panipat and estab- and Mahe at the Malabar coast. Naidu, Chander Shekhar Azad
lished the Great Mughal Dynasty The struggle for establishing su- were the notable people of the
which lasted for 200 years. premacy in trade resulted in wars movement. But the most rele-
The Mughal (Mogul) period between the English and the vantverent leader of the move-
saw a remarkable blend of Indian, French in the Deccan. The la9er ment was Mohandas

Special
Karamchand Gandhi, a lawyer ins8tu8ons of jus8ce, media and about the boundaries of king-
who believed in non violent bureaucracy. doms and empire.
protest (civil disobedience).
Gandhi worked with Jawaharlal 2. Numisma%cs
Nehru, the secretary of the Indian Sources of Indian History Numisma8cs is the study of coins.
Na8onal Congress and trans- Coins yield informa8on on the
formed the Indian Na8onal Con- The sources of Indian history can condi8on of country. The coins
gress poli8cal party into a mass be classified under the following made of gold, silver and copper
movement to campaign against heads: speak of the economic situa8on
the Bri8sh colonial rule. A(er 1. Inscrip8ons of that place in the period. Coins
several years of struggle, Britain 2. Numisma8cs gives us chronological informa-
decided to quit India. 3. Archaeology 8on. It also gives us knowledge
But a major problem had 4. Literature about the extent of influence of
arisen. A large Muslim minority 5. Foreign Sources that a par8cular ruler or kingdom
doubted that an independent 6. Tradi8ons and its rela8on with the distant
India would also mean a Hindu- areas. Roman coins discovered in
dominated India. The Muslim 1. Inscrip%ons India gives us an idea about the
League, led by Muhammad Ali Epigraphy is the study of in- existence of contacts with the
Jinnah began to call for an inde- scrip8ons. Epigraphic evidences Roman empire. Coins are the only
pendent Muslim region- Pakistan. form the most reliable source of source of idea knowledge of the
On 15th of August, 1947, India ancient history. They are en- Bactarian; Indo-Greeks and Indo-
became completely independent graved on stone tablets, metal Parthian dynasty. The coins of
from colonial rule, ending nearly plates, pillars, walls of caves, etc. this period brings to light an im-
350 years of Bri8sh presence in The inscrip8ons represent vari- provement in the coin ar8stry of
India. Nehru became the first ous languages at different places India. Portraits and figures, Hel-
Prime Minister of independent and period of 8me. Some inscrip- lenis8c art and dates on the
India. 8ons give details about the poli8- coins of the western straps of
Following independence cal and religious ac8vi8es of that Saurashtra are remarkable
India was divided, to create Pak- 8me. Others are official, com- sources for reconstruc8ng this
istan, which ini8ally also included memora8ve and historical. period. The Puranic accounts of
present-day Bangladesh where The edicts of Ashoka, the pillars the Satavahanas is ascertained
there were Muslim majori8es. of Samudragupta and from the Jogalthambi hoard of
The separa8on escalated the Rudradaman I are religious and coins.
brewing violence into a blood- administra8ve inscrip8ons. San- The circula8on of coins in
bath. It is es8mated that over one skrit plays at Dhar and Ajmer and gold and silver during the Gupta
million people were killed in sec- musical rules found in the empire imparts an idea of the
tarian violence as up to six million Puduko9ai, trea8es on architec- healthy economic condi8on dur-
Muslims moved towards Pakistan ture inscribed on a tower at Chit- ing the rule of the Guptas.
and up to five million Hindus and tor are examples of inscrip8ons.
Sikhs moved towards India. Ma- Inscrip8ons on metal plates also 3. Archaeology
hatma Gandhi opposed par88on cast light on the period during Archaeology is the scien8fic study
and in 30th January 1948 he him- the Mauryans. The Mandasor of the remains of the past. They
self was gunned down by a copper plates, the Sohgaura plate include buildings monuments
Hindu fundamentalist, enraged from Gorakpur district, the Aihole and other material relics that the
by his support for the Muslims. inscrip8on of Mahendra-Varman, inhabitants of that period were
On January 26, 1950 India the U:ramerur inscrip8ons of associated with. The Department
became a republic. The country Parantaka Chola I cast light on of Archaeology was set up by
adopted a new cons8tu8on trade, taxes, currency. Some of Lord Curzon under the Director
based on the Bri8sh parliamen- these are dated in the Saka and Generalship of Dr Marshal.
tary model. Newly independent, Vikrama era reflects the condi- Excava8ons conducted at
India worked to establish strong 8on of India. It gives knowledge various sites in the valley of the

Special
river Indus, Lothal in Gujarat, music, dance, pain8ng architec- of Tibet is an insight into the reli-
Kalibangan in Rajasthan, at Sind ture and administra8on of vari- gion and history of the India in
and Punjab gives us knowledge of ous kings. that period.
the civiliza8on during about 2700 Kau8lya`s Arthashastra is a
BC. remarkable work on the system 5. Foreign sources
Excava8ons at Taxila gives an of administra8on. The existence of details in the lit-
idea about the Kushanas. The Sangam literature in erature of the Greeks, Chinese,
Similarity in monuments ex- south is an elaborate record of Persians, Romans and Euro-
cavated in India and abroad es- life in South India. peans gives an account of the
tablish a rela8ons between Though these literature lacks condi8on of the country then. It
various areas of the globe, be- historical sense yet they are the also speaks the truth about the
sides this it express the Indian mi- main sources to venture into the condi8ons under which they
gra8on beyond India. The fine facts of Indian history. came in contact India. The pres-
example of this is the temple of (b) Foreign Literature ence of various ar8facts and ma-
Angkor vat in Cambodia. The loop holes in the indige- terials of Indian origin has added
Excava8ons at south Indian nous literature is supported by to the study of Indian history.
sites such as Adichana llur, Chan- the numerous account by for- The histories of the Chinese
dravalli, Brahmagiri highlights the eigners who were either pilgrims, from 120BC to 400AD and
prehistoric periods. travellers, traders or ambassa- 700AD, the accounts of Abul-Fazl
The rock cut temples of dors in the court of various kings. in his 'Ain - i - Akbari' are a few ex-
Ajanta and Ellora with its sculp- The wri8ngs of Herodotus amples of the foreign sources to
tures and pain8ngs express the helped in sca9ering the knowl- know about the Indian history.
ar8s8c finery of that period edge of India to Europe before In many cases where there was a
Besides all these pots, pot- the invasion by Alexander. He need to fill in the vagueness
tery, seals, skeletal remains all are highlights the features of the caused by the lack of evidence in
inseparable parts of the recon- Indo-Persian rela8ons. the study of Indian history these
struc8ng history. Megasthanes the Greek am- foreign sources have proved
bassador in the court of Chan- handy.
4. Literature dragupta gives us an idea about
This can be classified into India in his book 'Indica'. 6. Tradi%ons
• Indigenous literature Accounts of Fa-Hien and Tradi8ons have modulated and
• Foreign literature Hieun-Tsang who toured India as synthesized the Indian life. These
Literature in the ancient pe- a pilgrim during the rule of Har- were prac8ced from the dome of
riod was not fuelled by the urge shavardhana and the Guptas civiliza8ons and prac8ced throu-
to preserve history but was a gives us a detailed idea about the gh genera8ons. Songs, dramas,
complica8on of experiences and country. fairs and fes8vals besides rituals
rules of worship. Most of the lit- Accounts by Muslims person- are an inalienable part of the so-
erature of this period was reli- ali8es also add a great insight into ciety. These are living sources of
gious. the history of India. history.
(a) The Indigenous literature 'Tarikh - e - Hind' ( 'an enquiry
includes the Vedas, the Brah- into India') by Alberuni a learned
manas, the Aryankas, the Upan- mathema8cian and astronomer Indus Valley Civilization
ishads, the Epics Ramayana and is a remarkable document about
Mahabharatha, the Brahmashas- the country. The composi8on of Human inhabita8on in the Indian
tras, the Puranas. Firishta, the Ceylonese chronicle subcon8nent is traced to the Pa-
The Buddhist and Jain litera- Deepavamsa of Mahavamsa of leolithic and Neolithic period.
ture gives knowledge of the tra- Ceylon portrays the life in the an- Dated from about 2500 to 1500
di8ons prevalent in those cient period. Accounts of Pliny in BC. This civiliza8on is considered
periods. The literature of this pe- the first century AD, accounts of to be at par with the other civi-
riod are in Sanskrit Pali Prakrit. It Ptolemy in the second century liza8ons of the world .
gives us a knowledge about AD and the Accounts of Taranath Sir John Marshal, the director

Special
general of archaeology with his spread the remaining part of the made of shell, beads, gold and sil-
team excavated sites at Sind and city where the common people ver and copper. Razors, bronze
Punjab. The ruins at Mohenjo- dwelt and pursued their profes- mirrors and combs made of ivory
daro in the Larkana district of sion. Houses were well planned speaks of the people interest in
Sind in the lower Indus and at and was built on both sides of the personal upkeep. Toys like the
Harappa on the banks of the Ravi street. it had flat roofs and were whistle and carts besides pup-
has brought to light the existence connected by stairs to the upper pets, ra9les and dolls made of
of the Indus valley civiliza8on. storeys. They had thick walls and terraco9a speaks greatly about
These excava8ons were further windows were few. Every house the a:tude of the people in child
supported by the discovery in had a kitchen with a fireplace and care. People enjoyed playing in
1931 at Chanhudaro near Mo- large jars for storing grains or dice and marble. Gambling was a
henjodaro. Traces of the Indus keeping other ar8cles of use. The favourite past 8me of the elder
valley civiliza8on was discovered roofs of houses were flat. each members in the society.
at Rupar in Ambala district and house had bathrooms with a sys-
Rangpur, and Lothal in Saurash- tem of covered drains connected (c) Occupa%on
tra, Bharatpur in Rajasthan, to the main drain of the street. A The discovery of various
Kalibangan in the Burdwan dis- courtyard and a well were the equipments such as axes, knives,
trict of West Bengal are a proof of special. features that brings to spears and daggers made of
the existence of the Indus valley light the system of planning exist- bronze and copper suggest metal
civiliza8on. Harappa being the ing then. work as a major profession com-
main source of knowledge about monly pursued in the towns. Cop-
the civiliza8on historians also call (b) Society per was used for making
this civiliza8on as the Harappan Society in the Indus valley weapons and utensils besides or-
culture. civiliza8on is said to have com- naments. Spinning, weaving and
prised of three dis8nct social po9ery also formed important
groups. One group ruled and ad- occupa8on. Po9ery in red with
Features of the Indus Val- ministered the city, the other designs painted in black resem-
ley Civilization group included the merchants bling shapes such as interes8ng
who were associated with trade circles, pipal, leaves, peacocks
a) Town Planning and other business ac8vi8es in were on it. The discovery of nu-
The ruins of Mohenjodaro the city. The third group were the merous seals made of clay with
provides evidence to confirm the labourers who worked in the city. figures of animals like the 8ger,
existence of a system of planning They also included the farmers rhinoceros, elephant and croco-
in the city. The streets were who cul8vated wheat and barley dile gives us more informa8on of
broad and straight cu:ng each as their main crops. Animals like the significance of these animals
other at right angles. The drains the buffaloes, sheeps and pigs in the Harappan society. These
were lined with bricks and man- and the humped bull were bred. seals also have inscrip8ons in pic-
holes to facilitate regular clean- Fish, mu9on, beef, poultry and tographic script.
ing. This speaks highly of the pork consisted the food they ate. Agriculture with domes8cat-
civiliza8on's advanced nature. Animals like the elephant, camels ing animals was a major occupa-
The citadel was the main part and dogs were also domes8- 8on. The loca8on of granaries
of the city built on a raised plat- cated. The discovery of a large near river, where the civiliza8on
form. It consisted of public build- number of clay spindles suggest itself flourished was an important
ings, a bath, granaries and the use of co9on besides woolen feature. The ornaments of these
quarters for providing shelter to and linen fabrics. period worn by both men and
the persons propaga8ng religion. Men also seemed to have women reflects the skilled cra(s-
The planning of the city brings to worn ornaments like fillets, neck- manship of the people in the
light the existence of an ac8ve laces, finger rings and armlets. Harappan culture.
and efficient bureaucracy to ad- Women were fond of ornaments
minister the ac8vi8es of the city. like earrings, bangles, bracelets, (d) Trade
Around the citadel was necklaces, girdles and anklets The Indus valley people

Special
maintained commercial contacts the discovery of the Indus valley The Indus valley civiliza8on
with Egypt and Crete, clay seals, po9ery there. This sug- has put India at par with the
Mesopotamia and the towns in gests that the civiliza8on flour- other civiliza8on of the world,
the Persian Gulf. Excava8ons at ished from about 3000 BC to which is said to be the founda-
Lothal reveals the existence of a 1500 BC. 8on on which the present cul-
dock suppor8ng the ac8vi8es of tures of na8ons are built.
trade in that period. Trade also Anthropological inves8ga8on and
existed with Northern examina8on of the human re-
Afghanistan from where the mains shows that four racial Period Under the Aryans
Harappans bought the famous types existed in this civiliza8on.
blue gemstones,' Lapiz Lazuli'. They were the proto - Australiod, Origin of the Aryans
Mediterranean, Alpine and the Opinions Areas under Aryan influ-
(e) Religion Mongoloid. Archaeological exca- encediffer regarding the original
The clay seals discovered during va8on reveal the existence of var- home of the Aryans. The most ac-
excava8on reveals the presence ious racial types. Of all these the cepted view is that the region be-
of a male god. The figure of a fe- existence of the Dravidian race tween Poland to the Central Asia
male god also suggest their be- holds its relevance owing to its might have been of the Aryans.
liefs on the female was source of wide spread acceptance. They were said to be semi- no-
crea8on. The seal with a male madic people, who started mov-
god wearing a head dress sur- ing from their original home
rounded by various animals ex-
Decline of the Indus towards the west, south and east.
horts the belief in the male Valley Civilization The branch which went to Europe
symbol of strength. The Indus val- were the ancestors of the Greeks,
ley people cremated their death. The Indus valley culture though Romans, Celts and Teutons. An-
This idea has been established existed in its modern form else other branch went to Anatolia.
owing to the discovery of many where it had to submit to the ul- The great empire of the Hi:es
urns containing human bones 8mate ravages of 8me which is evolved from the mixture of
and ashes. In general it can be de- the universal law. The physical ex- these immigrants with the origi-
rived that worship of the forces of istence of the civiliza8on ended nal people. The branch which re-
nature in its lively forms such as due to various factors. mained were the ancestors of the
stones, strong animals was the (a) Changes in the climate lead- Slavonic people. The group which
religion they followed. This must ing to the decline of land and moved south came to conflict
have been the principles upon agriculture, thereby enforcing with the west Asian civiliza8on. In
which the present day Hinduism the need to evacuate to other course of their journey towards
has prescribed as its principles. area might have been the rea- the east or south a group of
Age, Origin and Decline of son for the disserta8on of the Aryans had se9led in Iran. They
the Indus Valley Civiliza8on Indus valley. crossed the Hindukush and en-
The Indus valley civiliza8on is (b) Increase in popula8on, exces- tered India through Afghanistan
believed to belong to the copper sive deforesta8on decline in and captured the greater part of
stone age as the presence of iron agriculture etc might have the northern India. They came to
tools and implements has not yet created economic problems be known as Indo-Aryans to dis-
been established at any part of leading to the gradual decay 8nguish them from the others
this civiliza8on. of the culture. who spoke a language different
Archaeological excava8on in- (c) Frequent floods may have led from those who se9led in west-
dicates that the Indus valley civi- to the devasta8on of the city ern Asia and Europe.
liza8on could have flourished in (d) The invasion of the Aryans is The Indo-Aryans entered
about 300 BC much before the the other view that is said to Punjab and the other north-west-
existence of other West Asian civ- be another reason which ern part of India. They moved to-
iliza8on. Contacts with the civi- might have also led to the ex- wards south-east and eastwards
liza8on of Mesopotamia, Elam 8nc8on of the life in the Indus into the Ganga Valley. The Aryans
and Babylon can be deduced by valley. were pastoral Nomads. They set-

Special
tled in villages. The region which subjects, property, defence and and barley was the common food
the Aryans occupied was known maintenance of peace. The king grains. Drinks included the Soma
as Sapta Sindhu. Moving further was not an autocrat he was con- and Sura which were intoxica8ng
eastwards they se9led along the trolled by two popular assemblies and was drunk during fes8vals.
Ganga and Jamuna. In due course Sabha and Sami8. These assem- The dress consisted of two or
of 8me the whole of northern blies brought forth the people's three garments- an under gar-
India were under the Aryans and view on various issues. The Sab- ment, garment and a cloak.
it was called Aryavarta or the has also discharged legal du8es These were made of wool or skin
land of the Aryans. The period of like providing jus8ce. Individual and colored yellow and red. Gold
Aryan se9lement was between ownership of property was recog- ornaments such as necklaces,
2500 and 1500BC. The early nized. The land was a property earrings, anklets, and bracelets
Aryans were divided into many owned by the family. The prop- were common and was worn by
tribes. A few among them are erty passed on in a hereditary both men and women. Women
Anus, Druhyus, Yadus, Turvasas manner from father to son. enjoyed equal status and re-
and Purus. They se9led on either ceived educa8on with the men.
side of the river Saraswa8. They They also freely par8cipated in
were involved in figh8ng among Economic Condition public life.
themselves. Besides these tribal
warfare the Aryans were engaged The Aryans who were semi-no-
in struggles with the dark skinned madic people also domes8cated Religion
people or Dasyus. The Dasyus animals which helped them in
were the Dravidians who occu- the ac8vi8es of agriculture and The Aryans worshipped many
pied the regions of the Indus val- other pastoral and hun8ng acts. gods and goddess. Most of the
ley civiliza8on. The superiority of Agriculture consisted the major objects they worshipped were
the Aryans resulted in the Dravid- share of their economy. Canals to the personifica8on of the forces
ian submission and re8rement to provide irriga8on was a signifi- of nature. The religious beliefs of
the south. cant feature of this occupa8on. the Aryans and its essen8al ele-
Coins were unknown and trade ments were contained in the Rig
was through the Barter system. Veda. It was based on the beliefs
Political Organization Cra( was not a popular profes- that
sion. The lack of good roads The numerous gods and god-
Family served as the basis of the might have hampered trade, but dess were personifica8ons of
both social and poli8cal organiza- river naviga8on was exis8ng. Spe- whatever that was noble splendid
8on. Families together formed cializa8on in areas such as car- and striking in nature . The com-
the grama. Villages together pentry, smithy, weaving, po9ery, mon people sought refugee
formed is and they turn formed etc had been taking place. under these powers who did
the janas. The community was good answer as evil. To get the
patriarchical and each tribe was good offerings as food and drinks
under the chief whose posi8on Aryan Society has to be made.
was hereditary. The rastra was Fire was the means of mes-
ruled by the king which was nor- Family being the basis of the sengers who carried the offerings
mally hereditary. The king led the Aryan social life needed to be a to the gods . This was done
tribe in ba9le, and protected the healthy bond. Monogamy was amidst the chan8ng of hymns of
people. The Purohita was one of the usual rule but polygamy was praise .
the important signatory. He was also prac8ced. Women played an There were numerous
the sole associate of the king his important role in the family. They dei8es, classified under terres-
friend, philosopher and guide. also excelled in educa8on. Apata trial, atmospheric, and celes8al
The Senani the leader of the Visvara and Ghosa were a few group. Agni, Indra and varuna
army, and Gramani the head of who even composed mantras. were the chief dei8es. They also
the village. The main duty of the Both vegetarian and non-vegetar- included Agni, vayu, surya,
king was the protec8on of his ian food were common. Wheat prithivi,etc. Gods and goddess

Special
were worshipped with simple and Sama veda. This period indi-
ceremonials known as Yajna or cated changes in the poli8cal, so- Social Condition
sacrifices. cial economic and religious
condi8ons of the life of the The need to perform the ceremo-
Extent of Aryans in India Aryans. These changes were dif- nial yajnas required the services
ferent from those in the early of a highly trained priests who
The Aryans were said to have vedic period during the composi- were skilled in the religious mat-
been spread into four divisions of 8on of the Rig Veda. ters. This group came to assume
the country as portrayed by the 8tle of the Brahmanas. They
Manu occupied a high status and were
• Brahmavarta Political Condition respected and honoured by the
• Braharishi Desha king.
• Madhya Desha The Rig vedic Aryans were di- The constant inter tribal
• Aryavarta vided into several tribes. Their figh8ng for establishing su-
(a) The Brahmavarta or the land was frequent internal strife premacy, and struggle with the
of Gods was the region lying among them. The weaker tribes original inhabitants gave birth for
between the rivers Saraswa8 were absorbed into the stronger the need of persons skilled in the
and Drishadwa8 It also in- ones and thus the kingdoms and warfare. Thus arose the new class
cluded parts of Kurukshetra larger areas of residence of the Kshatriyas. Remaining peo-
as men8oned in the Mahab- emerged. The poli8cal influence ple in the Aryan society were
haratha. of the Aryans extended towards called Vaisyas. The group who
(b) The Braharishi Desha or the the east and south. The Aryan were not Aryans were called Su-
country of the holy sages. now established a powerful king- dras. These separa8on in the so-
Comprised the territories of dom in the Deccan, to the north ciety was on the basis of the
the Kurus, Matsya, Panchalas of the river Godavari. The mode profession they pursued. Gradu-
and Swsenas. Today they are of succession con8nued to be ally the Aryans were divided into
known as Thaneshwar, East- hereditary. The expansion of the the four varnas, succession to
ern Rajputana, the Doab and territory also resulted in the in- these in course of 8me became
Mathura district. creased domina8on of the king hereditary. The caste system be-
(c) The Madhya Desa or the mid- assisted by a hierarchy of nobility. came rigid, Educa8on was con-
dle country occupied the re- These nobles were assigned offi- fined to the upper classes. An
gion lying between the cial du8es. Thus an administra- Aryan's life was divided into
Himalayas and Vindhyas. 8ve machinery developed. The stages which began with Up-
(d) The Aryavarta occupied the king now had a council of advis- anayana, which was the incep8on
region between the Hi- ers which included the kings rela- of the pupil to educa8on. A(er a
malayas and the Vindhyas 8ves, his cour8ers, heads of period of 12 years study of the
from the east to west. various departments. The puro- Vedas, Brahmanas, Upanishads,
Though a physical terrain hita (the priest ), the senani (the Ithihasa, Puranas, Grammer,
segregated North and South India commander), the suta (the chari- Ethics etc. the individual could
and resulted in the development oteer), the Samgrahitr (the treas- chose one of the four ashramas
of a Dravidian culture, yet the urer ), tax collector, etc. were the i.e. Brahmacharya, Grihastha,
Aryans influenced the religious individuals which assisted in the Sanyasa, Vanaprastha.
thoughts of the Dravidians. kings ac8vi8es. The role of the
popular assemblies was impor-
tant. A notable feature of this pe- Religious Condition
Later Aryan Period (Vedic riod was the ex8nc8on of the
Period) Sami8. The sabha transformed Religion and philosophy in the
from being a popular village as- later Vedic period became more
The later vedic period is said to sembly, con8nued as a court or confirmed with elaborate sacri-
have begun a(er the composing judicial assembly. fices. The doctrines of Karma,
of the Atharva Veda, Yajur veda Maya, soul, Muk8 were estab-

Special
lished. Brahma, Vishnu and Mah- (Ayurveda), Dhanurveda (war), contains about 100,000 verses.
eswara became the important Gandharvaveda, (music) etc. This is an encyclopedia of history,
gods who were worshipped. morals and religion.
The Vedanta
Literature in the
Vedic Period It is the philosophy taught in Puranas
most of the Upanishads.
These are legends connected
The Vedas with epics and law books. They
The Upanishads are 18 in number and are mostly
The vedas were the sources of re- recognized in North India . The
construc8ng the vedic period. This contains the main idea that Vishnu Purana, for example,
The oldest being the Rigveda, The cons8tute the intellectual aspect should treat of five subjects
Samaveda, Yajurveda and Adhar- of the Hindu philosophy. They do namely primary crea8on, sec-
vaveda had their own signifi- not lay emphasis to rites, cere- ondary crea8ons, Genealogies of
cance. The sama veda contains monies and austeri8es. The Up- gods and patriachs reigns of vari-
the verses from the Rigveda. The anishads are dated between 800 ous Manus and history of ancient
hymns in it were relevant to the BC and 500 BC. The Upanishads dynas8es. The Vayupurana is one
soma sacrifice . are about 100 in number. The of the oldest the Puranas. It was
The Yajurveda also consist of Brahadaranyaka Upanishads, edited during the age of Guptas
hymns from the Rig Veda, more Chandogva Upanishad, Aitreya when there was a great revival of
than half of this is in prose to fa- Upanishad are a few. The Upan- the Sanskrit language. The other
cilitate the performance of sacri- ishads reflects the richness and Puranas include Matsya and
fices. It depicts the social and universality of the Indian Culture. Brahmanda which gives us ac-
religious condi8on of this period. They are said to be the thinking count of the kings up to the im-
The Atharva Veda contains philo- power of the Brahmana and the perial Gupta dynasty with other
sophic specula8ons, popular cults Kshatriyas. contemporaries.
and supers88ons.
Literature in the Later Laws of Manu

The Brahmanas Vedic Period
Also known as Manav
They are prose of the sacrificial The Epics Dhramshastra in Sanskrit, it com-
ceremonies. These explanatory They are the Ramayana and the prises of 2684 couplets arranged
trea8ses lay emphasis on ritual- Mahabharatha. They introduce in twelve chapters. It is the earli-
ism. They mark the transi8on us to a period of transforma8on est of law books. The laws of
from Vedic to classical Sanskrit. It in the social and religious ins8tu- Manu forms the founda8on of
also marks the period which 8ons of the Vedic age the court of law in India under
marks the advance of the Aryans The Ramayana wri9en by the name of Hindu law. The book
from the Panchala country to the Valmiki is said a poe8c legend makes a dis8nc8on between
Vidha (North Bihar). based on mythology. It portrays varna and ja8s. The varnas were
the ideal man- god Rama and the in the order of the occupa8ons
ideal woman Sita. The sacrifices pursued by the people. This was
The Vedangas and the made by the characters for the given as below,
Upavedas preserva8on of truth appealed to • the learned, literate and
the people.This was edited by the priestly order
These are said to be supplemen- Brahmanas in course of 8me to • the figh8ng or the governing
tary sec8ons of the Vedic litera- convert it a book of devo8on. class
ture. These gives us idea about The Mahabharatha which • the trading and agricultural
Jo8sh (Astronomy), Medicine consist of 18 parvas (sec8ons) group

Special
• the common folk, labourers strongest power with an able line of the Indian subcon8nent were
The composi8on of this may of rulers. previously divided into Jana-
be between 200BC and 200AD by While Magadha was estab- padas, this was a clear demarca-
a sage named Bhrigu. lishing their way over northern 8on by boundaries. Many
India, the regions of west, Pun- Janapadas by 600 BCE further de-
jab, Sind and Afganistan were di- veloped into bigger poli8cal bod-
Pre Mauryan Period vided into many states. Kamboja ies. These kingdoms came to be
and Gandhara are two of the six- known as Mahajanapadas in the
Indian history before the seventh teen Mahajanapadas men8oned Buddhist tradi8ons.
century was not dated. The lack in the Buddhist scriptures. Sixteen great kingdoms as
of wri9en records and other ma- they are referrd to by buddhist
terial certainly breaks the con8- and other texts. The sixteen ma-
nuity at several points yet the Magadha hajanapadas include Kasi, Kosala,
prac8ces of the ancient and the anga, Magadha, Vajji, Malla,
Vedic periods exists 8ll today as The history of the Magadha king- Chedi, Vatsa, Kuru,
tradi8ons. The first recorded date dom was unleashed in south Panchala,Machcha, Surasena, As-
is considered as 326BC, the year Bihar in the 4th century BC and saka, Avan8, Gandhara and Kam-
of Alexander's invasion. The Mau- the drama commenced in the boja.
ryan period dates slightly later Saisungha dynasty by a chie(ain
and historical tradi8ons recorded named Sisunga in about 642BC. Kasi
in literature gives us some infor- Bimbisara was the fi(h king of
ma8on of the kingdoms of North- this kingdom. He contributed ex- The name Kasi is the tribe
ern India in the seventh century tending his dominions by the who se9led in the region around
BC. conquest of Anga the modern Varanasi where itself the capital
Vast territories in the north- Bhagalpur and Monghyr district. was located. There is a belief that
ern part of India were covered by He is said to reigned for twenty Varanasi got its name from the
forest and inhabited by tribes. eight years, according to the pu- rivers that surround the city,
Civilized se9lements existed in ranas. He is regarded as the per- namely Varuna and Asi. Kasi oc-
the plains of the Indus and the son who laid the founda8on of cupied a predominant posi8on
Ganga. Four important kingdoms Magadhan greatness. His policy among the sixteen Mahajana-
of this period were the Magadha, of diplomacy and war, and able padas, before the rise of Buddha.
the Avadh, the Vatsa and the administra8on made Magadha a We come to know a lot about
Malwa. The other small kingdoms great empire. Kasi from the Jatakas which were
were Kasi, Matsya, Kuru and Pan- a voluminous body of myths and
chala. Besides these kingdoms folklore revolving about prvious
there were many non - monar- Sixteen Mahajanapadas births of the buddha. This su-
chial clans. The most important premacy called for a long drawn
was the Virji confedera8on of The literal meaning of Mahajana- conflict for mastery between
eight clans, of which the Liccha- padas is great kingdoms. They other ci8es, like Kosala, Anga and
vis, who ruled from Vaisali as flourished in the north/north Magadha with Kasi. Kasi was no
their capital was prominent. The western parts of India before the doubt influencial that is the rea-
others were Sakyas of Kapilavastu rise of Buddhism. Aryans have son why we get a men8on of Kasi
and the Mallas. These clans had migrated into India long 8me in the Vedic texts. Matsya Purana
no hereditary rules. An assembly back and there were regular fric- and Alberuni are the texts where
was in charge of administra8on 8on between them and the non we read Kasi as Kausika and
helped by a council and an aryan tribes concerning, ca9le, Kaushika, others read it as Kasi.
elected chief. The four kingdoms fodder, land etc. These tribes of
maintained matrimonial rela8on, Aryans were called as Janas by
though figh8ng among them- many Vedic texts. Later on there Kosala
selves for supremacy was com- was a merger of the Vedic Janas
mon. Magadha emerged as the into Janapadas. Different regions Among the sixteen Maha-

Special
janapadas, Kosala is one, which Bimbisara, this Mahajanapada lages), gosthas (groups). The em-
comprised of Shravas8, Kusha- was usurped and taken over by inent people were chosen from
va8, Saket and Ayodhya. Kosala Magadha. Champa was also a each khandas (districts) to repre-
cons8tuted of the territories of major seat for the spread of Jain- sent on their behalf in Vajji gana
modern Oudh or Awadh which is ism and Buddhism. parishad (people`s council of
located in U9ar pradesh. The Vajji). The chairman of the council
state capital of Kosala was Ayod- was called Ganapramukh (head
hya which was under the com- Magadha of the democracy), but o(en he
mand of Prosenjit the Kosala was addressed as the king.The
King, a contemporary of Gautama Magadha emerged as a pow- other execu8ves were Mahabal-
Buddha. The southern side it was erful kingdom in the reign of Bim- adhrikrit (equivalent to the min-
bordered by the Ganges, the east bisara and his son Ajatshatru. The ister of internal security),
had river Gandhak encircling it. earliest ruling dynasty according binishchayamatya (chief jus8ce),
Magadha was a neighbouring to Mahabharata and Puranas dandadhikrit (other jus8ces) etc.
state to Kosala, and there were seems to be founded by king Bri- Vajji had its capital at Vaishali.
conflicts between them. Ajatsha- hadratha. The Vedas have a men-
tru who was the king of Magadha 8on of the Magadhas as semi
and Prasenjit were in con8nuous `brahmanised` and this was a rea- Malla
struggle for power which finally son for the not so good impres-
came to an end with the align- sion of the people. Kikata was a Malla was an ancient dynasty
ment of the confedera8on of non Aryan country according to in India and is one of the sixteen
Lichchavis with Magadha. A(er Yasaka and the king Pramaganda mahajanapadas. Epics like Ma-
Prasenjit, Vidudabha rose into is said to be the ruler of Kikata. habharata men8ons that the
power and Kosala ul8mately Kikata on the other hand was Mallas were considered along
amalgamated into Magadha. considered a synonym for Maga- with the tribes of the Angas, Van-
dha in later Vedic literature. gas and Kalingas. Buddhist and
The city was known by many Jain works have the men8on of
Anga other names like Magadhapura, the Mallas who existed in a re-
Brihadrathapura, Vasuma8, public that consisted of nine teri-
India`s earliest empire was Kushagrapura and Bimbisarapuri. tories. In a more original context
evolving around the Gange8c Buddhism and Jainism were in it is evident that they actually had
plains, which included the Maha- vogue in the religious scenario a monarchical form of govern-
janapadas. Anga was one of during that 8me, and Magadha ment in the beginning but later
these evolving states, which is became a dynamic center of Jain- they transformed into the repub-
one of the sixteen Mahajana- ism along with the first Budhist lic form{Samgha). The Mallas
padas that prospered during that Council being held in Rajagriha in were very warlike and brave peo-
period. Malini, Champapuri, the Vaibhara Hills. ple and have been men8oned
champa Malini, Kala Malini etc and referred as Vrtaya Kshatriyas
were the different names by by Manusmri8, as Vasishthas in
which this sate was called. The Vajji or Vriji the Mahapparnibbana Su9anta.
Angas were first referred to in the Mallas have also suffered domi-
Atharva Veda as the detested Sixteen Mahajanapadas of na8on by the Magadha empire
people. Atharva Veda considers ancient Inida includes Vajji as one a(er Buddha`s death.
Anga an unholy place and some of them. The Vajji was a confed-
even condemned it as a place era8on a many clans of which the
where wives and children were Licchhavis, the Vedehans, Jna- Chedi or Cheti
sold. Mahabharata, tes8fies the trikas and the Vajjis were the
people of Anga to be of noble most important. It was actually The Chedis were group of an-
birth or `Suja8` proclaiming the known as the Vajji Sangha or the cient people of India living on the
sanc8ty of the place Champa as a union of Vajji, which comprised of south of the river Yamuna. They
pilgrimage. During the reign of many janapadas, gramas (vil- are men8oned in the Rigveda,

Special
and city called Suk8ma8 is men- living in the Kurukshetra and ac- were once ruled by the same king
8oned as the capital of Chedi. cording to the Buddhist text Sujata, and Matsya was a part of
Chedi kingdom was one of the Sumangavilasini, the kurus came the kingdom ofn Chedi.
sixteen Mahajanapadas, and was from the U9arakuru. Tes8fied by
ruled by Sisupala, an ally of the Vayu Purana, the founder of
Jarasandha of Magadha and Kurukshetra or kuru janapada Surasena
Duryodhana of Kuru. Prominent was Kuru who was the son of
Chedis during Kurukshetra War Samvarsana of the Puru lineage. The kingdom of Surasena,
included Damaghosha, Shishu- During sixth/fi(h century BCE, underwent a lot metamorphosis
pala, Dhrishtaketu, Suketu, the Kurus are believed to have in terms of religion. The capital
Sarabha, Bhima`s wife and so on. shi(ed to republic form of gov- which was Mathura, was the cen-
Chedi was the place that was ernment. tre of Krishna worship at the 8me
chosen for spending the 13th of Megasthenes. Whereas Avan-
year of exile by the Pandavas. 8pura who was the king of
Panchala Surasena was one of the first de-
sciples of Buddha, and it gained
Vamsa Panchala was divided into U9ara- prominence evr since then in
Panchala and Dakshina-Panchala. Mathura. The geographical locat-
The Vamsa or the Vatsa was Counted among the sixteen Ma- 8on of this kingdom among the
the kingdom that followed the hajanapadas, the northen Pan- sixteen mahajanapadas was
monarchical form of government. chala had Chhatrava8 as its south west of Matsya and west of
This kingdom is one of the sixteen capital and the south had its cap- the river Yamuna. There were
Mahajanapadas, and the capital ital at Kampilya. In Panchala is sit- various tribe that in habited the
of this was located at Kausambi. uated the renouned city of region and they were headed by
One very important aspect of this Kanyakubja. Like many other a chief.
city was that it formed the hub of kingdoms it was seen that the
all economic ac8vi8oes and had Panchals tooo had shi(ed to a re-
a prosperous trade and business publican form of government in Assaka or Ashmaka
rela8ons. 6th century Bc has the sixth and fi(h century BCE from
account of Udyana to be the ruler being a monarchy. Kingdom of Assaka or Ash-
of the, kingdom at the 8me of maka was situated in the south-
Buddha. About Udayana it is said ern part of India and one of the
that earlier there were resent- Machcha or Matsya sixteen mahajanapadas. The Ash-
ments on his side regarding Bud- maka had its capital located at
hism as he was very warlike and The Kingdom of Matsya was Potana or Potali which have re-
aggressive but in the later years again an important part of the semblences of Paudanya of Ma-
became more tolerant and sixten mahajanapadas. This lay habharatha. The Assakas are
finnaly a folower of Buddha. So south of the Kurus and west of placed in the north-west in the
much he was affected by his the Yamuna which separated Markendeya Purana and the
teachings that he made bud- them from the Panchalas. The Brhat Samhita. There are numer-
dhism his state religion. Machcha tribe inhabited this re- ous associa8ons regarding the
gion which had its capital at Vi- iden8fica8on of assakas. That is
ratanagara. The Matsyas are why we have different views on
Kuru generally linked up with the this. Like the commentator of
Surasenas in Pali literature. The Aku8lya`s Arthashahstra iden8-
The kuru janapada is one of Matsya tribe in comparison to the fies it with Maharashtra.
the sixteen mahajanapadas. Re- other janapadas were of not
garding the origin of the Kurus it much pooli8cal emminence dur-
has been said that they belong to ing the age of Buddha. Matsyas Avanti
the Puru-Bharata family. Kurus and the chhedis have a connec-
were the specific origin of people 8on here when we see that they Avan8 was an important

Special
kingdom of the sixteen maha- were o the either side of the Hin- ship with Alexander and helped
janapadas, and it lay in the west- dukush. Whereas originally they him in his invasion for India.
ern part of India. Buddhism rose were located somewhre else. The When Alexander was at Nakai,
to its prominence in this kingdom Kamboja Mahajanapada of the Ambhi, the king of Taxila sent
and and this was one of the other Buddhist tradi8ons refers to the many costly presents and ele-
kingdoms which ini8ated Bud- `cis-Hindukush branch` of ancient phants to Alexander as gi(s and
dhism in a larger manner. The Kambojas. The kamboja being accepted his sovereignty. Ambhi
kingdom was divided as north one of the sixteen mahajana- was the first traitor in the history
and south Avan8 and the north padas were a republic since ages. of India who for his own self-in-
had its capital at Ujjaini. There are many evidence from terest sent an invita8on to
Mahissa8 was the capital of the Mahabharata, Kau8liya`s Alexander to visit India. Certain
Avan8 in the beginning which Arthashastra and Ashoka`s Edict other kings of fron8er kingdoms
was integrated into Ujjaini during No. XIII which affirms that the followed Ambhi and accepted the
the period of Mahavira and Bud- Kambojas were a republic people. sovereignty of Alexander.
dha. Avan8 in the later stages of Magadha emerged as a very pow-
historu was amalgamated into erful mahajanapada with 8me
the Magadha empire under the and this marked the annexa8on Alexander`s Fight with
reign of Shishunaga. of sevaral janapadas of the `Ma- hill tribes
jjhimadesa`. The Kasis, Kurus,
Panchalas, Vatsyas etc were cer- Alexander had to face many races
Gandhara tainly among the exterminated living on hills. They were very
clans which had no trace in the brave and freedom loving. A(er
The Gandhara kingdom com- folklore, poetry and so on. The terrible fight with them Alexan-
prised of the Gandharas who sixteen Mahajanapadas were in- der first conquered the Aspasians
were highly trained in the art of fact dis8nguished as the ones be- and the Guraeans. A(er the fight
war and they have a men8on in longing to the Majjhimadesa or Alexander captured 40,000 pris-
the Atharva Veda as well . though mid India, or U9arpatha or the oners and 2,30,000 oxen. A(er
in the Vedas they are men8oned north-west region. this Alexander a9acked Nysa.
as the despised people along A(er li9le opposi8on, the
with some others due to their al- Nysaens submi9ed to Alexander.
legiance to non Aryan group. Pu-
Alexander`s Invasion Being encouraged with these suc-
ranic and Buuddhis8c tradi8on of India cesses Alexander a9acked the As-
included Gandharas in U9arap- sakenoi state. The people of this
atha. The Gandhara kingdom of As remarked by V. A. Smith, state fought with an army of
the sixteen mahajanapadas was "Alexander the great having com- 20,000 cavalry, 30,000 infantry
founded by Gandhara, son of pleted the subjuga8ons of Bac- and thirty elephants. The fort
Aruddha who was the son of Yay- tria, resolved to execute the Massaga was regarded impreg-
a8. It was alos believed once ac- cherished purpose of emula8ng nable. Because of this reason
cording to Gandhara Jatakas that and surpassing the mythical ex- Alexander became a li9le disap-
they they were a part of Kashmir. ploits of Dionysos, Herokles, and pointed but it so happened that a
Gandhara was an important seat Semiram is by effec8ng the con- chance arrow killed the chief of
of interna8onal commercial ac8v- quest of India." By that 8me on Assakenoi. This created chaos
i8es, and provided communica- the eve of Alexander`s invasion and confusion among the people
8on with other countries like Iran India was divided into small king- and they ul8mately surrendered
and Central Asia. doms, which fought among to Alexander. There were 7,000
themselves. During Alexander`s mercenary soldiers in the garri-
fight with the Persians, Shashi son of Massaga who were guar-
Kamboja Gupta, a Hindu king helped Per- anteed safe passage by Alexander
sians against Alexander. When but as and when they retreated
Kamboja was believed to Alexander defeated the Persians, to a distance, Alexander got all of
have composed of parts that Shashi Gupta entered into friend- them slaughtered through

Special
treachery. Diodoros and Plutarch enemy had crossed the river, he not only returned the territory of
condemn Alexander for this sent his son with 2,000 horses Puru but also gave him certain
breach of trust. A(er the con- and 120 chariots. Alexander eas- conquered states. To commemo-
quest of Massaga in which a large ily routed this army and Purus`s rate his victory Alexander
number of persons were massa- son along with 400 Indian sol- founded two ci8es of
cred, Alexander captured the free diers was killed in this ba9le. `Bonkephala` and `Nikaia`
ci8es of Aorons Bazira, Ora or Hearing the news of the rout,
Dyrta. Puru moved with 203 elephants
and a huge army. Puru mainly re- Other conquests of
lied upon the elephants. Indians Alexander
War with Puru fought with great courage. Indi-
ans obs8nately maintained their A(er having defeated Puru,
A(er Taxila, Alexander advanced ground 8ll the eight hour of the Alexander marched into the ter-
towards Jhelum and sent a mes- day, but eventually the luck did ritory of Gausai and conquered
senger to Puru to accept his over not favour them. The main 37 ci8es there. Therea(er he
lordship. Puru sent the reply that strength of Puru lay in the chari- crossed river Chenab and de-
he would see him in the ba9le- ots that became useless due to feated Kanishka or Chhota Poras
field. The armies of Alexander u9er rains. The rain and storms and included his kingdom in that
and Poras faced each other on ei- had made the ground slippery of the Puru`s. Towards the end of
ther banks of the river of Jhelum. and unfit for horses to ride over, 326 B.C. Alexander crossed river
Puru had a very big army consist- while chariots kept s8cking in the Ravi and captured the fort of Pi-
ing of 50,000 infantry, 3,000 cav- muddy sloughts formed by the marama. A(er this , Alexander
alry, 1,000 chariots and 130 rains and proved almost immov- captured San-goala, which was
elephants. The armies of Alexan- able from their great weight." the stronghold of Kathas, the
der consisted of different races Moreover due to slippery ground, Kathas fought with great bravery
and there were also some merce- the Indian archers proved to be and made the cavalry of Alexan-
nary soldiers. Alexander was a ineffec8ve. In the beginning the der ineffec8ve. Ul8mately Poras
great diplomat and knew before elephants of Puru terrorized the came to the help of Alexander
hand the strength of Puru. He enemy but due to narrow space with 5,00 Indian soldiers and with
knew that it would be difficult to and being injured by the arrows his help Alexander conquered the
cross the river, which was in they turned back and trampled Kathas.
spate, in front of the army of their own soldiers.
Puru. As pointed out by Arrian, As observed by Arrian, "The
Alexander made up his mind to elephants being now cooped up Departure of Alexander
steal passage. He took 11,000 sol- within a narrow space did no less to the homeland
diers 16 miles up the river from damage to their friends than to
his camp and crossed the river. their foes, trampling them under A(er conquering the Katha, the
Puru was under the impression their feet as they wheeled and soldiers of Alexander refused to
that Alexander would not cross pushed about" Thus ul8mately all proceed further. Alexander
the river in the night and hence the chariots were destroyed, ele- wanted to conquer the Nanda
he did not take any precau8ons. phants were either killed or cap- Empire about which he had
All this prevented Puru from rest- tured and himself was taken a heard but despite his persuasion,
ing and concentra8ng his prepa- prisoner in fain8ng condi8on, encouragement and even com-
ra8ons at any one point selected However, Alexander was mand his army refused to pro-
in preference to any other as the pleased with the bravery and val- ceed further. When Alexander
best for defending the passage. our of Puru. On being asked as to failed to convince his army and
how be wished to be treated, the soldiers who had not the
Puru replied, "Treat me, O courage to speak openly to
The battle of Jhelum Alexander as befits a king." Alexander, Koinos came up with
Alexander was very much im- the courage and said, "Seek not
As soon as Puru knew that the pressed with this answers and he to lead them against their inclina-

Special
8on, for you will not find them several independent and ma- Kshudrakas were at daggers
the same men in the face of dan- terial races living in the east drawn but forgot their differ-
gers, if they enter without heart of Vyas. Moreover, in the ences and combined to give a
into their contests with the middle of India there was the strong resistance to the Greek
enemy." These words of Koinos mighty empire of the Nandas. soldiers. Their combined army
had the full support of the army. Already depressed by the consisted of 90,000 infantry
heroism of Poras and the skill 10,000 cavalry and 900 war char-
of Indian soldiers, they had iots. Greek soldiers were fed up
Reason for the refusal of "No stomach for further toils with wars and began to reproach
army to proceed further in India." the king. Alexander appealed to
In view of the reasons men- his soldiers to permit him to re-
There were some specific reasons 8oned above, all the appeals turn from India with known and
for which the army of Alexander made by Alexander proved to be not to escape from it like a fugi-
refused to proceed further and ineffec8ve and ul8mately he had 8ve. Greek soldiers responded to
these reasons are to order the retreat. the appeal of Alexander and at-
• It was a long 8me since Greek tacked the enemy and killed a
soldiers were away from large number of enemy troops
home and they wanted to go Retreat and men and women mercilessly
back to their homes. As at Malloi. As pointed out by Dr. R.
pointed out by Plutarch, "It is Though quite reluctantly, Alexan- S. Tripathi, "The indiscriminate
true that the Greek soldiers der divided his army into three slaughter of women and children
were war worn and home- parts and ordered the retreat. He was undoubtedly an act of wan-
sick, disease stricken and des- made Puru the master of 15 re- ton cruelty which casts a slur on
8tute. They had lost many of publics consis8ng of 5,000 ci8es. the war codes of the Greeks in
their friends and rela8ons in He gave northwestern provinces India." A(er appoin8ng Philippos
the ba9le and needed a well- Jhelum to Ambhi and Kashmir as governor over them, Alexan-
earned rest as well. and Uarsha to Abhisara. der reached the junc8on of
• Another reason, which dis- Chenab and Sind and waited for
couraged the Greek soldiers Peridikkasas who had gone to
from proceeding, further was conquer and subjugate the Abas-
the bravery and figh8ng ca- Alexander`s Difficulties taroi.
pacity of the Indians. It can in the way back Conquest of lower Sindh:
be understood as remarked The ruler of the Brahinans,
by Plutarch, "The ba9le with During the retreat Alexander had Musecanons submi9ed to the
Poras depressed the spirits of too many difficul8es, which can Alexander. Alexander also con-
the Macedonians and made be briefly described as below quered Patalre.
them very unwilling to ad-
vance further into India." Re- The Siboi and Agalassians : Other difficul%es:
garding the heroism and skill At the confluence of Ravi and As regards other difficul8es
of Indian soldiers Arrian also Chenab, Alexander had to face which Alexander had to en-
observes that, "In the art of the Siboi and Agalassians who counter, Arrian writes, "The blaz-
war they were far superior to had gathered 40,000 infantry and ing heat and the want of water
the other na8ons by which 3,000 cavalry. They fought destroyed a great part of the
Asia was at that 8me inhab- bravely but were defeated by army and specially the beasts of
ited." Alexander. burden, which perished from the
• Yet another reason, which great depth of sand and the heat
depressed the spirits of the The Malavas and Kshudrakas : which scorched like fire while
Greek soldiers was that, the The next encounter that Alexan- many of them died of thirst."
state conquered by them der had to face was against the
raised their head in revolt. warlike tribes of Malavas and
• Greek soldiers had heard of Kshudrakas. The Malavas and the

Special
• Lack of able leadership, yond modern Pakistan, annexing
Death of Alexander • Lack of organiza8on, and of Balochistan and much of what is
course now Afghanistan, including the
Alexander le( India in 325 B.C. He • The personality of Alexander. modern Herat and Kandahar
divided his army into two parts. Besides this, Greek soldiers provinces. The Empire was ex-
One part of the army, led by Ni- were more skillful in modern war- panded into India's central and
parkas went through water fare. V. A. Smith remarks, "The tri- southern regions by the emper-
whereas the other part led by umphant progress of Alexander ors Chandragupta and Bindusara,
Alexander marched from Baluch- from the Himalayas to the sea but it excluded a small por8on of
istan. In 323 B.C Alexander fell ill demonstrated the weakness of unexplored tribal and forested re-
at Babylonia and expired. As re- the greatest Asia8c armies when gions near Kalinga (modern
marked by a scholar, "Into thir- confronted with European skill Orissa). Its decline began 60 years
teen years he had compressed and discipline." a(er Ashoka's rule ended, and it
the energies of many life and dissolved in 185 BC with the
8mes." founda8on of the Sunga Dynasty
Maurya Empire in Magadha.
Under Chandragupta, the
After Alexander`s Death The Maurya Empire was a geo- Mauryan Empire conquered the
graphically extensive and power- trans-Indus region, which was
Just a(er the retreat of Alexan- ful empire in ancient India, ruled under Macedonian rule. Chan-
der, the conquered states raised by the Mauryan dynasty from dragupta then defeated the inva-
their heads in revolt. The Greek 321 to 185 BC. Origina8ng from sion led by Seleucus I, a Greek
satrap, commandant Philippos the kingdom of Magadha in the general from Alexander's army.
was murdered. The king of Taxila Indo-Gange8c plains (modern Under Chandragupta and his suc-
extended his empire from Kabul Bihar, eastern U9ar Pradesh and cessors, both internal and exter-
valley to Hindukush. Eudamus re- Bengal) in the eastern side of the nal trade, and agriculture and
mained the sole Greek represen- Indian subcon8nent, the empire economic ac8vi8es, all thrived
ta8ve in India. In 323 B.C. a(er had its capital city at Pataliputra and expanded across India thanks
the death of Alexander, there en- (modern Patna). The Empire was to the crea8on of a single and ef-
sued a lot of contusion and his founded in 322 BC by Chan- ficient system of finance, admin-
generals par88oned the empire dragupta Maurya, who had over- istra8on and security. A(er the
among themselves. In 321 B.C. thrown the Nanda Dynasty and Kalinga War, the Empire experi-
The empire was again par8- rapidly expanded his power west- enced half a century of peace and
8oned. Eudamus was totally ig- wards across central and western security under Ashoka. Mauryan
nored and in 317 B.C. he returned India taking advantage of the dis- India also enjoyed an era of social
to his home country where he rup8ons of local powers in the harmony, religious transforma-
died. Peithon also returned to his wake of the withdrawal westward 8on, and expansion of the sci-
home country. Ul8mately Chan- by Alexander the Great's Greek ences and of knowledge.
dra Gupta Maurya drove away all and Persian armies. By 320 BC Chandragupta Maurya's embrace
the Greeks from India. the empire had fully occupied of Jainism increased social and
Northwestern India, defea8ng religious renewal and reform
and conquering the satraps le( across his society, while Ashoka's
Causes of defeat of by Alexander. embrace of Buddhism has been
Indians It was one of the world's said to have been the founda8on
largest empires in its 8me. At its of the reign of social and poli8cal
There were many causes of de- greatest extent, the empire peace and non-violence across all
feat of Indians but the main stretched to the north along the of India. Ashoka sponsored the
causes can be men8oned as fol- natural boundaries of the Hi- spreading of Buddhist ideals into
lows malayas, and to the east stretch- Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia, West
• Differences and dissension of ing into what is now Assam. To Asia and Mediterranean Europe.
Indians, the west, it probably reached be- Chandragupta's minister

Special
Chanakya wrote the Arthashas- Shudra mother, others that he crossing the river Ganges also,
tra, one of the greatest trea8ses was born of a union of a barber the width of which, as they
on economics, poli8cs, foreign af- with a courtesan. Nandas were learned, was thirty-two furlongs,
fairs, administra8on, military arts, the first of a number of dynas8es its depth a hundred fathoms,
war, and religion ever produced of northern India who were of while its banks on the further
in India. Archaeologically, the pe- non-Kshatriya origin. side were covered with mul8-
riod of Mauryan rule in South tudes of men-at-arms and horse-
Asia falls into the era of Northern men and elephants. For they
Black Polished Ware (NBPW). The Nanda Rule were told that the kings of the
Arthashastra and the Edicts of Ganderites and Praesii were
Ashoka are the primary sources The Nandas are some8mes de- awai8ng them with eighty thou-
of wri9en records of the Mau- scribed as the first empire sand horsemen, two hundred
ryan 8mes. The Lion Capital of builders in the recorded history thousand footmen, eight thou-
Asoka at Sarnath, is the na8onal of India. They inherited the large sand chariots, and six thousand
emblem of India. kingdom of Magadha and wished figh8ng elephants.".
to extend it to yet more distant The Nandas made the me-
fron8ers. To this purpose they thodical collec8on of taxes by
Nanda Dynasty built up a vast army consis8ng of regularly appointed officials a
200,000 infantry, 20,000 cavalry, part of their administra8ve sys-
The Nanda Empire originated 2,000 war chariots and 3,000 war tem. The treasury was con8nually
from the kingdom of Magadha in elephants (at the lowest es8- replenished, the wealth of the
Ancient India during the 5th and mates). According to Plutarch Nandas being well-known. The
4th centuries BC. At its greatest however, the size of the Nanda Nandas also built canals and car-
extent, the Nandas extended army was even larger, numbering ried out irriga8on projects. The
from Bengal in the east, Punjab in 200,000 infantry, 80,000 cavalry, possibility of an imperial struc-
the west and as far south as the 8,000 war chariots, and 6,000 ture based on an essen8ally
Vindhya Range. The Nanda Em- war elephants. However, the agrarian economy began to ger-
pire was later conquered by Nandas never had the opportu- minate in the Indian mind.
Chandragupta Maurya, who nity to see their army up against
founded the Maurya Empire. Alexander, who invaded India at The Fall
the 8me of Dhana Nanda, since
Alexander had to confine his The last of the Nandas was Dhana
Establishment of campaign to the plains of Punjab, Nanda (called Xandrames or Ag-
the dynasty for his forces, frightened by the grammes in ancient Greek and
prospect of facing a formidable La8n sources). Dhana Nanda was
Mahapadma Nanda has been de- foe, mu8nied at the Hyphasis dethroned a(er he was defeated
scribed as the destroyer of all the River (the modern Beas River) re- by Chandragupta Maurya, a
Kshatriyas. He defeated the Pan- fusing to march any further. This young adventurer born of a
chalas, Kasis, Haihayas, Kalingas, river thus marks the eastern- Nanda prince and a maid named
Asmakas, Kurus, Maithilas, most extent of Alexander's con- "Mura". He had a great poten8al
Surasenas, Vi8hotras, etc. He ex- quests: to rule. Dhana Nanda was mur-
panded his territory 8ll south of "As for the Macedonians, dered which finally signaled the
Deccan. Mahapadma Nanda died however, their struggle with advent of the Maurya Empire in
at the age of 88 and, therefore, Porus blunted their courage and 321 BC.
he ruled the bulk of the period of stayed their further advance into Plutarch records that Chan-
this dynasty, which lasted 100 India. For having had all they dragupta Maurya had stated that
years. The Nandas who usurped could do to repulse an enemy he was able to overthrow Dhana
the throne of the Shishunaga dy- who mustered only twenty thou- Nanda since he was hated and
nasty were of low origin. Some sand infantry and two thousand despised by his subjects on ac-
sources state that the founder, horse, they violently opposed count of the wickedness of his
Mahapadma, was the son of a Alexander when he insisted on disposi8on:

Special
List of Nanda rulers generally referred to as Kau8lya Of these well-known 455 sutras,
• Mahapadma Nanda (c. 424 derived from his gotra's name about 216 refer to raaja-nee8
BC – ?) "Ko8l" (Kau8lya means "of (the do's and don'ts of running a
• Pandhuka Ko8l"). He was the master of kingdom). Apparently, Chanakya
• Panghupa8 shrewd act of diplomacy. He be- used these sutras to groom Chan-
• Bhutapala lieved in four ways, namely, Treat- dragupt and other selected disci-
• Rashtrapala ing with Equality, En8cement, ples in the art of ruling a
• Govishanaka Punishment or War and Sowing kingdom.
• Dashasidkhaka Dissension. The Arthaśhāstra
• Kaivarta iden8fies its author by the name
• Mahendra Kau8lya, except for one verse Legend
• Dhana Nanda (Argames) (? – which refers to him by the name
c. 321 BC) Vishnugupta. One of the earliest Thomas R. Trautmann lists the
Sanskrit literatures to explicitly following elements as common
iden8fy Chanakya with Vish- to different forms of the
Chanakya nugupta was Vishnu Sarma's Pan- Chanakya legend:
chatantra in the 3rd century BC. * Chanakya was born with a
Chānakya (c. 350–283 BCE) was K.C. Ojha puts forward the complete set of teeth, a sign that
an adviser to the first Maurya view that the tradi8onal iden8fi- he would become king, which is
Emperor Chandragupt (c. 340- ca8on of Vishnugupta with Kau- inappropriate for a Brahmin like
293 BCE), and was the chief archi- 8lya was caused by a confusion of Chanakya. Chā akya's teeth were
tect of his rise to power. Kau8lya editor and originator and sug- therefore broken and it was
and Vishnugupta, the names by gests that Vishnugupta was a prophesied that he will rule
which the ancient Indian poli8cal redactor of the original work of through another.
trea8se called the Arthaśāstra Kau8lya. Thomas Burrow goes * The Nanda King throws
iden8fies its author, are tradi8on- even further and suggests that Chānakya out of his court,
ally iden8fied with Chanakya. Chanakya and Kau8lya may have promp8ng Chānakya to swear re-
Chanakya has been considered as been two different people. venge.
the pioneer of the field of eco- Kau8lya's role in the forma- * Chānakya searches for one
nomics and poli8cal science. In 8on of the Mauryan Empire is the worthy for him to rule through.
the Western world, he has been essence of a historical/spiritual Chānakya encounters a young
referred to as The Indian Machi- novel The Courtesan and the Chandragupt Maurya who is a
avelli, although Chanakya's works Sadhu by Dr. Mysore N. Prakash. born leader even as a child.
predate Machiavelli's by about * Chānakya's ini8al a9empt
1,800 years. Chanakya was a to overthrow Nanda fails, where-
teacher in Tak aśila, an ancient Works upon he comes across a mother
centre of learning, and was re- scolding her child for burning
sponsible for the crea8on of Two books are a9ributed to himself by ea8ng from the middle
Mauryan empire, the first of its Chanakya: Arthashastra and of a bun or bowl of porridge
kind on the Indian subcon8nent. Nee8shastra which is also known rather than the cooler edge.
His works were lost near the end as Chanakya Ni8. The Arthashas- Chā akya realizes his ini8al
of the Gupta dynasty and not re- tra discusses monetary and fiscal strategic error and, instead of at-
discovered un8l 1915. policies, welfare, interna8onal re- tacking the heart of Nanda terri-
la8ons, and war strategies in de- tory, slowly chips away at its
tail. Nee8shastra is a trea8se on edges.
Identity the ideal way of life, and shows * Chānakya changed his al-
Chanakya's in-depth study of the liance with the mountain king
He is generally called Chanakya Indian way of life. Chanakya also Parvata due to his obs8nacy and
(derived from his father's name developed Nee8-Sutras (apho- non-adherence to the principles
"Chanak") but, in his capacity as risms - pithy sentences) that tell of the treaty as agreed.
author of the Arthaśhāstra, is people how they should behave. * Chānakya enlists the serv-

Special
ices of a fana8cal weaver to rid Empire and was instrumental in He donated all his wealth to the
the kingdom of rebels. backing Ashoka to the throne. poor, widows and orphans and
* Chānakya adds poison to According to a Jaina tradi8on, sat on a dung heap, prepared to
the food eaten by Chandragupt while Chanakya served as the die by total abs8nence from food
Maurya, now king, in order to chief administrator of Chan- and drink. Bindusara meanwhile
make him immune. Unaware, dragupt Maurya, he started heard the full story of his birth
Chandragupta feeds some of his adding small amounts of poison from the nurses and rushed to
food to his queen, who is in her in Chandragupta's food so that he beg forgiveness of Chanakya. But
ninth month of pregnancy. In would get used to it. The aim of Chanakya would not change his
order to save the heir to the this was to prevent the Emperor mind. Bindusara went back and
throne, Chānakya cuts the queen from being poisoned by enemies. vented his fury on Subandhu, and
open and extracts the fetus, who One day the queen, Durdha, killed him.
is named Bindusara because he shared the food with the Em- Chanakya a(er this incident,
was touched by a drop (bindu) of peror while she was pregnant. renounced food and shortly died
blood having poison. Since she was not used to ea8ng therea(er. Bindusara revered
* Chānakya's poli8cal rivalry poisoned food, she died. Chanakya and the loss of his advi-
with Subandhu leads to his Chanakya decided that the baby sor was a considerable blow to
death. should not die; hence he cut him.
Chanakya was an astute open the belly of the queen and
brahmin and shrewd observer of took out the baby. A drop (bindu
nature. Once, it is said that Mau- in Sanskrit) of poison had passed Pali Version
ryan forces had to hide in a cave. to the baby's head, and hence
There was no food, and the sol- Chanakya named him Bindusara. Chanakya is a Brahmin from
diers were starving.They could Bindusara would go on to be- Takshila.
not come out of the cave either, come a great king and to father
as there was a threat to their the greatest Mauryan Emperor
lives. Chanakya saw an ant taking since Chandragupt - Asoka. Other Versions
a grain of rice, whereas, there When Bindusara became a
was no sign of food or grain any- youth, Chandragupta gave up the The classical Sanskrit play by
where. Moreover, the rice grain throne and followed the Jain Vishakhada9a, Mudrarakshasa, is
was cooked. He ordered the sol- saint Bhadrabahu to present day one popular source of Chankya
diers to search and they found Karnataka and se9led in a place lore. (The play has been dated
that their enemies had been din- known as Shravana Belagola. He between 4th and 9th century CE).
ing under the cave. Indeed, they lived as an asce8c for some years According to one tradi8on, Chan-
were ea8ng at the ground floor. and died of voluntary starva8on akya was a na8ve of Dravida. One
As soon as they saw this, they es- according to Jain tradi8on. of Chanakya's various names was
caped and were thus saved. Chanakya meanwhile stayed Dramila, the Sanskrit form of
as the administrator of Bindus- "Tamilian". ("Dramila" is believed
ara. Bindusara also had a minister to be the root of the word
Death named Subandhu who did not "Dravida" by some scholars).
like Chanakya. One day he told Chozhiars, a sub-sect of Iyers,
According to the Jain texts, Bindusara that Chanakya was re- hold that Chanakya was one of
Chanakya lived to a ripe old age sponsible for the murder of his them.
and died around 275 BC and was mother. Bindusara asked the There is also a claim that
cremated by his disciple Radh- nurses who confirmed this story Chanakya belonged to the Brah-
agupta who succeeded Rakshasa and he became very angry with min group from the present day
Katyayan (great-grand son of Chanakya. Kerala and believed to be resi-
Prabuddha Katyayan, who at- It is said that Chanakya, on dent of present day Ernakulam. In
tained Nirvana during the same hearing that the Emperor was true Hindu tradi8on he is said to
period as Gautam Budhha) as angry with him, thought that any- have persuaded King Chan-
Prime Minister of the Maurya way he was at the end of his life. dragupt Maurya to forsake his

Special
throne and to join him in moving with the ruler, being a blunt per- donian satrapies in the northwest
to the last phase of one's life viz. son he was soon disliked by and conquering the Nanda Em-
Vanaprastha. Accordingly, he Dhanananda. This ended with pire by the 8me he was only
took the King along with him to Chanakya being removed from an about 20 years old, to achieving
South India where both of them official posi8on he enjoyed. an alliance with Seleucus I Nica-
carried prolonged medita8on and tor and establishing centralized
finally achieved Moksha. According to the Kashmiri rule throughout South Asia, re-
Kau8lya was educated at Tax- version of his legend, Chā akya a main some of the most cele-
ila or Takshashila, in present day thorn had pricked his foot. He up- brated in the history of India.
Pakistan. The new states (in pres- rooted the tree and poured but- Over two thousand years later,
ent-day Bihar and U9ar Pradesh) termilk in the roots. the accomplishments of Chan-
by the northern high road of dragupta and his successors, in-
commerce along the base of the cluding Ashoka the Great, are
Himalayas maintained contact Chandragupta Maurya objects of great study in the an-
with Takshasilâ and at the eastern nals of South Asian and world his-
end of the northern high road Chandragupta Maurya, (born c. tory.
(u9arapatha) was the kingdom of 340BCE, ruled c. 320, – 298 BCE
Magadha with its capital city, died about 298 BCE) was the
Pataliputra, now known as Patna. founder of the Maurya Empire. Origins
Chanakya's life was connected to Chandragupta succeeded in con-
these two ci8es, Pataliputra and quering most of the Indian sub- While many Indian historians
Taxila. con8nent. Chandragupta, the held the view that Chandragupta
In his early years he was tu- first Mauryan king, claimed de- was an illegi8mate child of the
tored extensively in the Vedas - scent from Shakya clan of the Nanda Dynasty of Magadha in
Chanakya memorized them com- Kshatriya varna. Having defeated eastern India, born to a Nanda
pletely at a very early age. He was the Greek satrap in the Khyber prince and a maid named
also taught mathema8cs, geogra- mountains around 303 BC, Chan- "Mura", later literary tradi8ons
phy and science along with reli- dragupta was crowned King at imply that Chandragupta may
gion. Later he travelled to Taksh- Taxila. As a result, Chandragupta have been raised by peacock-
ashila, where he became a is considered the first unifier of tamers (Sanskrit: Mayura-
teacher of poli8cs. Chanakya India and its first genuine em- Poshaka), which earned him the
taught subjects using the best of peror. In foreign Greek and La8n Maurya epithet. Both the Bud-
prac8cal knowledge acquired by accounts, Chandragupta is known dhist as well as Jain tradi8ons tes-
the teachers. The age of entering as Sandrokyptos, Sandroko9os or 8fy to the supposed connec8on
the University was sixteen. The Androco9us. between the Moriya (Maurya)
branches of study most sought Prior to Chandragupta's con- and Mora or Mayura (Peacock).
a(er around India at that 8me solida8on of power, small re- Yet there are other literary tradi-
ranged from law, medicine, war- gional kingdoms dominated the 8ons according to which Chan-
fare and other disciplines. Two of northwestern subcon8nent, dragupta belonged to Moriyas, a
his more famous students were while the Nanda Dynasty domi- Kshatriya clan of a li9le ancient
Bhadrabha9a and Purushdu9a. nated the middle and lower basin republic of Pippalivana located
Poli8cal turmoil in Western of the Ganges. A(er Chan- between Rummindei in the
India at that 8me caused by dragupta's conquests, the Mau- Nepali Terai and Kasia in the
Greek invasion forced Chanakya rya Empire extended from Bengal Gorakhpur district of U9ar
to leave the University environ- and Assam in the east, to Pradesh. A kshatriya people
ment for the city of Pataliputra Afghanistan and Balochistan in known as the "Mauryas" who
(presently known as Patna, in the the west, to Kashmir and Nepal in had received the relics of the
state of Bihar, India), which was the north, and to the Deccan Gautama Buddha are also men-
ruled by the Nanda king Plateau in the south. 8oned in the Mahaparinibbana
Dhanananda. Although Chanakya His achievements, which Su9a of the Digha Nikaya: "Then
ini8ally prospered in his rela8ons ranged from conquering Mace- the Moriyas of Pipphalivana

Special
came to know that at Kusinara
the Blessed One had died. And Early life Foundation of the
they sent a message to the Mallas Maurya Empire
of Kusinara, saying: "The Blessed Very li9le is known about Chan-
One was of the warrior caste, and dragupta's youth. Much of what Chandragupta Maurya with the
we are too. We are worthy to re- is known about his youth is gath- help of Chanakya defeated the
ceive a por8on of the relics of the ered from later classical Sanskrit Magadha kings and the bulk army
Blessed One. We will erect a literature, as well as classical of Chandravanshi clan and de-
stupa over the relics of the Greek and La8n sources which feated generals of Alexander set-
Blessed One and hold a fes8val in refer to Chandragupta by the tled in Gandhara (Kamboja
their honor. names "Sandraco9os" or "Andra- kingdom of Aryan Mahajanpad)
Others claim that the Mau- co9us". He was paragon for later which is called as Afghanistan
ryas were the Muras or rather rulers. now. At the 8me of Alexander's
Mors. Jat authors such as B. S. According to tradi8onal ac- invasion, Chanakya was a teacher
Dahiya also propose an Indo- counts, Chanakya, a teacher at at Takshasila University. The king
Scythian lineage common to the Takshasila University at the 8me of Takshasila and Gandhara,
Mauryas and the Jats. Another of Alexander's invasion, found Ambhi (also known as Taxiles),
school of thought, including the boy Chandragupta from the made a treaty with Alexander
scholars such as B. M. Barua, J. W. Magadha kingdom in eastern and did not fight against him.
McCrindle, D. B. Spooner, H. C. India. As the story goes, Chan- Chanakya saw the foreign inva-
Seth, Hari Ram Gupta, Ranajit Pal, dragupta was playing as a king sion against the Indian culture
Gur Ra9an Pal Singh and Kirpal with his friends and was giving and sought help from other kings
Singh have connected Chan- jus8ce to another boy playing to unite and fight Alexander.
dragupta to Gandhara (or Kam- criminal. He also saw the kind- Porus (Parvateshwar), a king of
boja) in modern day Pakistan. ness inside him to help others. Punjab, was the only local king
Based on interpreta8ons of Chanakya saw this and was im- who was able to challenge
Plutarch and Appian's wri8ngs, pressed with Chandragupta's Alexander at the Ba9le of the Hy-
these scholars assert that Chan- sense of jus8ce. Chanakya asked daspes River, but was defeated.
dragupta Maurya may have be- his mother about him. His mot- Chanakya then went to Mag-
longed to the north-west fron8er her told him that his father used adha further east to seek the help
region, possibly to the Assakenoi to work as a servant of the Nanda of Dhana Nanda, who ruled a vast
or Ashvaka (q.v.) Kshatriya clan of king who ruled over the kingdom Nanda Empire which extended
Swat/Kunar valley (modern Koh- of Maghada and due to some from Bihar and Bengal in the east
I-Mor or Mer-coh — the Meros of fault he was sent into the prison. to eastern Punjab in the west, but
the classical wri8ngs; probably Chanakya told her to take him to he denied any such help. A(er
Meru of Sanskrit texts and Mor the king and ask him to give some this incident, Chanakya began
and Mer in Prakri8c). It has been educa8on to Chandragupta. Then sowing the seeds of building an
claimed by several scholars that she went to his court. There empire that could protect Indian
Chandragupta belonged to the Chandragupta solv-ed a problem territories from foreign invasion
Ashvaka tribe of this region for the king. The king was im- into his disciple Chandragupta.
(known as Mor), and thus, the dy- pressed and told his minister to Chandragupta later adopted
nasty founded by him was called join him in the best university at Jainism. It is said he died fas8ng
Moriya or Maurya. The Ashvakas that 8me, The Vishvavidhyalay of which was according to Jainism a
were a sec8on of the Kambojas, Takshasila [o(-en known as the holy way of sacrificing mortal life.
who were exclusively engaged in Takshasila University] Kau8lya's role in the forma-
horse-culture and were noted for Plutarch reports that he met 8on of the Mauryan Empire is the
providing mercenary cavalry. H.C. with Alexander the Great, proba- essence of a historical/spiritual
Raychaudhuri noted that the bly around Takshasila in the novel The Courtesan and the
name Priyadarshi was adopted northwest, and that he viewed Sadhu by Dr. Mysore N. Prakash.
also by Chandragupta as also the ruling Nanda Empire in a neg-
noted by W. W. Tarn. a8ve light:

Special
army of his own. the northwest, Chandragupta
pushed east towards the Nanda
Nanda Army Conquest of Macedonian Empire.
Territories in India
According to Plutarch, at the 8me
of Alexander's Ba9le of the Hy- A(er Alexander's death in 323 Conquest of the Nanda
daspes River, the size of the BC, Chandragupta, turned his at- Empire
Nanda Empire's army further east ten8on to Northwestern India
numbered 200,000 infantry, (modern Pakistan), where he de- Chanakya had trained Chan-
80,000 cavalry, 8,000 chariots, feated the satrapies (described as dragupta under his guidance and
and 6,000 war elephants, which "prefects" in classical Western together they planned the de-
was discouraging for Alexander's sources) le( in place by Alexan- struc8on of Dhana Nanda. The
men and stayed their further der (according to Jus8n), and may Mudrarakshasa of Visakhadu9a
progress into India: have assassinated two of his gov- as well as the Jaina work Parisish-
"As for the Macedonians, ernors, Nicanor and Philip. The taparvan talk of Chandragupta's
however, their struggle with satrapies he fought may have in- alliance with the Himalayan king
Porus blunted their courage and cluded Eudemus, ruler in western Parvatka, some8mes iden8fied
stayed their further advance into Punjab un8l his departure in 317 with Porus.
India. For having had all they BC; and Peithon, son of Agenor, It is noted in the Chandragup-
could do to repulse an enemy ruler of the Greek colonies along takatha that the protagonist and
who mustered only twenty thou- the Indus un8l his departure for Chanakya were ini8ally rebuffed
sand infantry and two thousand Babylon in 316 BC. The Roman by the Nanda forces. Regardless,
horse, they violently opposed historian Jus8n described how in the ensuing war, Chandragupta
Alexander when he insisted on Sandroco9us (Greek version of faced off against Bhadrasala –
crossing the river Ganges also, Chandragupta's name) con- commander of Dhana Nanda's
the width of which, as they quered the northwest: “" S o m e armies. He was eventually able to
learned, was • thirty-two fur- 8me a(er, as he was going to war defeat Bhadrasala and Dhana
longs, its depth • a hundred fath- with the generals of Alexander, a Nanda in a series of ba9les, end-
oms, while its banks on the wild elephant of great bulk pre- ing with the siege of the capital
further side were covered with sented itself before him of its city Kusumapura and the con-
mul8tudes of men-at arms and own accord, and, as if tamed quest of the Nanda Empire
horsemen and elephants. For down to gentleness, took him on around 321 BC, thus founding the
they were told that the kings of its back, and became his guide in powerful Maurya Empire in
the Ganderites and Praesii were the war, and conspicuous in fields Northern India by the 8me he
awai8ng them with eighty thou- of ba9le. Sandroco9us, having was about 20 years old.
sand horsemen, two hundred thus acquired a throne, was in
thousand footmen, eight thou- possession of India, when Seleu-
sand chariots, and six thousand cus was laying the founda8ons of Expansion
figh8ng elephants. And there was his future greatness; who, a(er
no boas8ng in these reports. For making a league with him, and By the 8me he was only about 20
Androco9us, who reigned there se9ling his affairs in the east, pro- years old, Chandragupta, who
not long a(erwards, made a pres- ceeded to join in the war against had succeeded in defea8ng the
ent to Seleucus of five hundred An8gonus. As soon as the forces, Macedonian satrapies in India
elephants, and with an army of therefore, of all the confederates and conquering the Nanda Em-
six hundred thousand men over- were united, a ba9le was fought, pire, had founded a vast empire
ran and subdued all India. in which An8gonus was slain, and that extended from the Bay of
"Plutarch, Parallel Lives, "Life his son Demetrius put to flight. Bengal in the east, to the Indus
of Alexander" 62.1-4 —Junianus Jus8nus, Histori- River in the west, which he would
In order to defeat the power- arum Philippicarum libri XLIV, further expand in later years.
ful Nanda army, Chandragupta XV.4.19
needed to raise a formidable Having consolidated power in

Special
Paropamisadae, and Aria. that some contrivances are of
Mainstream scholarship as- wondrous efficacy in such mat-
Conquest of Seleucus' serts that Chandragupta received ters. And Phylarchus confirms
eastern territories vast territory west of the Indus, him, by reference to some of the
including the Hindu Kush, mod- presents which Sandrako9us, the
Seleucus I Nicator, a Macedonian ern day Afghanistan, and the king of the Indians, sent to Seleu-
satrap of Alexander, reconquered Balochistan province of Pakistan. cus; which were to act like
most of Alexander's former em- Archaeologically, concrete indica- charms in producing a wonderful
pire and put under his own au- 8ons of Mauryan rule, such as degree of affec8on, while some,
thority eastern territories as far the inscrip8ons of the Edicts of on the contrary, were to banish
as Bactria and the Indus (Appian, Ashoka, are known as far as love." ”
History of Rome, The Syrian Wars Kandhahar in southern Afghani- —Athenaeus of Naucra8s
55), un8l in 305 BC he entered in stan.
a confronta8on with Chan- “ "A(er having made a treaty
dragupta: with him (Sandrakotos) and put Southern Conquests
“ "Always lying in wait for the in order the Orient situa8on, Se-
neighboring na8ons, strong in leucos went to war against A(er annexing Seleucus' eastern
arms and persuasive in council, An8gonus." ” Persian provinces, Chandragupta
he acquired Mesopotamia, Arme- —Junianus Jus8nus, Histori- had a vast empire extending
nia, 'Seleucid' Cappadocia, Persis, arum Philippicarum libri XLIV, across the northern parts of In-
Parthia, Bactria, Arabia, Tapouria, XV.4.15 dian Sub-con8nent, from the Bay
Sogdia, Arachosia, Hyrcania, and It is generally thought that of Bengal to the Arabian Sea.
other adjacent peoples that had Chandragupta married Seleucus's Chandragupta then began ex-
been subdued by Alexander, as daughter, or a Greek Macedonian panding his empire further south
far as the river Indus, so that the princess, a gi( from Seleucus to beyond the barrier of the Vind-
boundaries of his empire were formalize an alliance. In a return hya Range and into the Deccan
the most extensive in Asia a(er gesture, Chandragupta sent 500 Plateau. By the 8me his con-
that of Alexander. The whole re- war-elephants, a military asset quests were complete, Chan-
gion from Phrygia to the Indus which would play a decisive role dragupta succeeded in unifying
was subject to Seleucus. He at the Ba9le of Ipsus in 302 BC. In most of Southern Asia. Megas-
crossed the Indus and waged war addi8on to this treaty, Seleucus thenes later recorded the size of
with Sandroco9us [Maurya], king dispatched an ambassador, Chandragupta's acquired army as
of the Indians, who dwelt on the Megasthenes, to Chandragupta, 400,000 soldiers, according to
banks of that stream, un8l they and later Deimakos to his son Strabo:
came to an understanding with Bindusara, at the Mauryan court “ "Megasthenes was in the
each other and contracted a mar- at Pataliputra (modern Patna in camp of Sandroco9us, which
riage rela8onship. Some of these Bihar state). Later Ptolemy II consisted of 400,000 men"
exploits were performed before Philadelphus, the ruler of Ptole- ”— Strabo, Geographica, 15.1.53
the death of An8gonus and some maic Egypt and contemporary of On the other hand, Pliny,
a(erward." Ashoka the Great, is also who also drew from Megas-
—Appian, History of Rome, The recorded by Pliny the Elder as thenes' work, gives even larger
Syrian Wars 55 having sent an ambassador numbers of 600,000 infantry,
The exact details of engage- named Dionysius to the Mauryan 30,000 cavalry, and 9,000 war
ment are not known. As noted by court. elephants:
scholars such as R. C. Majumdar Classical sources have also “ "But the Prasii surpass in
and D. D. Kosambi, Seleucus ap- recorded that following their power and glory every other peo-
pears to have fared poorly, having treaty, Chandragupta and Seleu- ple, not only in this quarter, but
ceded large territories west of cus exchanged presents, such as one may say in all India, their cap-
the Indus to Chandragupta. Due when Chandragupta sent various ital Palibothra, a very large and
to his defeat, Seleucus surren- aphrodisiacs to Seleucus: wealthy city, a(er which some
dered Arachosia, Gedrosia, “ "And Theophrastus says call the people itself the Pali-

Special
bothri,--nay even the whole tract two sons, Susima and Ashoka, ma, his eldest son. The reason for
along the Ganges. Their king has who were the viceroys of Taxila the second revolt is unknown,
in his pay a standing army of and Ujjain. The Greeks called him but it could not be suppressed by
600,000-foot-soldiers, 30,000 Amitrochates or Allitrochades - Bindusara due to his death; it was
cavalry, and 9,000 elephants: the Greek translitera8on for the later crushed by Ashoka.
whence may be formed some Sanskrit word 'Amitraghata' Ambassadors from Seleucid
conjecture as to the vastness of (Slayer of enemies). He was also Empire (such as Deimachus) and
his resources." ” called 'Ajatashatru' (Man with no Egypt visited his courts. He main-
—Pliny, Natural History VI, enemies) in Sanskrit. tained good rela8ons with the
22.4 Hellenic World. Unlike his father
Chandragupta (who was a Jain),
Life he believed in the Ajivika (an an-
Jainism cient Indian sect that preached
The son of Chandragupta the equality for all people).
Chandragupta gave up his throne Great, by a woman named Durd- Bindusara died in 272 BC
towards the end of his life and hara, Bindusara inherited a large (some records say 268 BC) and
became an asce8c under the Jain empire that consisted of what is was succeeded by his son Ashoka
saint Bhadrabahu, migra8ng now, Northern, Central and East- the Great. Bindusara is known as
south with them and ending his ern parts of India along with parts "Born out of Blood drops", rea-
days in sallekhana at Shravan- of Afghanistan and Baluchistan. son being Chanakya had to cut
abelagola, in present day Kar- Bindusara extended this empire Chandragupta's wife Durdhara's
nataka; though fi(h-century to the southern part of India, as stomach who was in death bed.
inscrip8ons in the area support far as what is now known as Kar-
the concept of a larger southern nataka. He brought sixteen states
migra8on around that 8me. A under the Mauryan Empire and Bindusara's Empire
small temple marks the cave thus conquered almost all of the
(Bhadrabahu Cave) where he is Indian peninsula (he is said to Bindusara extended his em-
said to have died by fas8ng. have conquered the 'land be- pire further as far as south
tween the two seas' - the penin- Mysore. He conquered sixteen
sular region between the Bay of states and extended the empire
Successors Bengal and the Arabian Sea). from sea to sea. The empire in-
Bindusara didn't conquer the cluded the whole of India except
Chandragupta Maurya re- friendly Dravidian kingdoms of the region of Kalinga (modern
nounced his throne to his son, the Cholas, Pandyas, and Cheras. Orissa) and the Dravidian king-
Bindusara, who became the new Apart from these southern states, doms of the south. Kalinga was
Mauryan Emperor. Bindusara Kalinga (the modern Orissa) was conquered by Bindusara's son
later became the father of the only kingdom in India that Ashoka.
Ashoka the Great, who was one didn't form the part of Bindus- Early Tamil poets speak of
of the most influen8al kings in ara's empire. It was later con- Mauryan chariots thundering
history due to his important role quered by his son Ashoka, who across the land, their white pen-
in the history of Buddhism. served as the viceroy of Ujjaini nants brilliant in the sunshine.
during his father's reign. Bindusara campaigned in the
Bindusara's life has not been Deccan, extending the Mauryan
Bindusara documented as well as that of his empire in the peninsula to as far
father Chandragupta or of his son as Mysore. He is said to have con-
Bindusara was the second Mau- Ashoka. The philosopher Chana- quered 'the land between the
ryan emperor (Born c. 320 BC, kya served as prime minister dur- two seas', presumably the Ara-
ruled: 298 - c.272 BC) a(er Chan- ing his reign. During his rule, the bian sea and the Bay of Bengal.
dragupta Maurya the Great. Dur- ci8zens of Taxila revolted twice.
ing his reign, the empire The reason for the first revolt was
expanded southwards. He had the maladministra8on of Susee-

Special
India a(er a number of military alted majes8es' and so on. They
conquests. His empire stretched shone for a brief moment, and as
Administration during from present-day Pakistan, Afgh- quickly disappeared. But Ashoka
Bindusara's Reign anistan in the west, to the pres- shines and shines brightly like a
ent-day Bangladesh and the bright star, even unto this day.
Bindusara maintained good Indian state of Assam in the east, Along with the Edicts of
rela8ons with Seleucus Nicator and as far south as northern Ker- Ashoka, his legend is related in
and the emperors regularly ex- ala and Andhra. He conquered the later 2nd century Aśokā-
changed ambassadors and pres- the kingdom named Kalinga, vadāna ("Narra8ve of Asoka")
ents. He also maintained the which no one in his dynasty had and Divyāvadāna ("Divine narra-
friendly rela8ons with the Hel- conquered star8ng from Chan- 8ve"), and in the Sinhalese text
lenic West established by his fa- dragupta Maurya. His reign was Mahavamsa ("Great Chronicle").
ther. Ambassadors from Syria and headquartered in Magadha (pre- A(er two thousand years,
Egypt lived at Bindusara's court. sent-day Bihar, India). He em- the influence of Ashoka is seen in
He preferred the Ajivika philoso- braced Buddhism from the Asia and especially the Indian
phy rather than Jainism. prevalent Vedic tradi8on a(er subcon8nent. An emblem exca-
Apparently he was a man of witnessing the mass deaths of vated from his empire is today
wide interest and taste, since tra- the war of Kalinga, which he him- the na8onal Emblem of India. In
di8on had it that he asked An8- self had waged out of a desire for the History of Buddhism Ashoka
ochus I to send him some sweet conquest. He was later dedicated is considered just a(er Gautama
wine, dried figs and a sophist: to the propaga8on of Buddhism Buddha.
“ But dried figs were so across Asia and established mon-
very much sought a(er by all uments marking several signifi-
men (for really, as Aristophanes cant sites in the life of Gautama Biography
says, There's really nothing nicer Buddha. Ashoka was a devotee of
than dried figs), that even ahimsa (nonviolence), love, truth, Early life
Amitrochates, the king of the In- tolerance and vegetarianism. Ashoka was born to the Mau-
dians, wrote to An8ochus, en- Ashoka is remembered in history ryan emperor Bindusara and his
trea8ng him (it is Hegesander as a philanthropic administrator. Queen 'Dharma' (although she
from Delphi who tells this story) In the history of India Ashoka is was a Brahmin or Shubhadrangi,
to buy and send him some sweet referred to as Samraat Chakr- she was undervalued as she was-
wine, and some dried figs, and a avar8n Ashoka- the Emperor of n't of royal blood). Ashoka had
sophist; and that An8ochus Emperors Ashoka. several elder siblings (all half-
wrote to him in answer, The dry His name "aśoka" means brothers from other wives of
figs and the sweet wine we will "without sorrow" in Sanskrit. In Bindusara). He had just one
send you; but it is not lawful for a his edicts, he is referred to as De- younger sibling, Vi9hashoka (a
sophist to be sold in Greece vānāmpriya and Priyadarśin or much loved brother from the
Athenaeus, "Deipnosophistae" "He who regards everyone with same mother). Because of his ex-
XIV.67 affec8on". Another 8tle of his is emplary intellect and warrior
Dhamma, "Lawful, Religious, skills, he was said to have been
Righteous". the favorite of his grandfather
Ashoka Renowned Bri8sh author and Chandragupta Maurya. As the
social cri8c H. G. Wells in his best- legend goes, when Chandragupta
Ashoka (304–232 BC), popularly selling two-volume work, The Maurya le( his empire for a Jain
known as Ashoka the Great, was Outline of History (1920), wrote living, he threw his sword away.
an Indian emperor of the Maurya of emperor Ashoka: Ashoka found the sword and kept
Dynasty who ruled almost all of In the history of the world it, in spite of his grandfather's
the Indian subcon8nent from there have been thousands of warning. Ashoka, in his adoles-
269 BC to 232 BC. One of India's kings and emperors who called cence, was rude and naughty. He
greatest emperors, Ashoka themselves 'their highnesses,' was a fearsome hunter. He was a
reigned over most of present-day 'their majes8es,' and 'their ex- kshatriya and was given all royal

Special
military trainings and other Vedic nito. There he met a fisher rude, Chandi-devi being associ-
knowledge. According to a leg- woman named Kaurwaki, with ated with Kali.
end, he killed a Lion with just a whom he fell in love. Recently Ascending the throne,
wooden rod. Ashoka was very found inscrip8ons indicate that Ashoka expanded his empire over
well known for his sword figh8ng. she would later become either the next eight years, from the
He was very adventurous and this his second or third queen. present-day boundaries and re-
made him a terrific fighter. Meanwhile, there was again gions of Burma–Bangladesh and
Ashoka was a frightening warrior a violent uprising in Ujjain. Em- the state of Assam in India in the
and a heartless general. Because peror Bindusara summoned east to the territory of present-
of this quality he was sent to de- Ashoka out of exile a(er two day Iran / Persia and Afghanistan
stroy the riot of Avan8. years. Ashoka went into Ujjain in the west; from the Pamir Knots
Rise to Power Developing and in the ensuing ba9le was in- in the north almost to the penin-
into an impeccable warrior gen- jured, but his generals quelled sular of southern India (i.e. Tamil-
eral and a shrewd statesman, the uprising. Ashoka was treated nadu / Andhra pradesh).
Ashoka went on to command in hiding so that loyalists of the
several regiments of the Mauryan Susima group could not harm
army. His growing popularity him. He was treated by Buddhist Conquest of Kalinga
across the empire made his elder monks and nuns. This is where he
brothers wary of his chances of first learned the teachings of the While the early part of
being favored by Bindusara to be- Buddha, and it is also where he Ashoka's reign was apparently
come the next emperor. The eld- met Devi, who was his personal quite bloodthirsty, he became a
est of them, Susima, the nurse and the daughter of a mer- follower of the Buddha's teaching
tradi8onal heir to the throne, chant from adjacent Vidisha. a(er his conquest of Kalinga on
persuaded Bindusara to send A(er recovering, he married her. the east coast of India in the pres-
Ashoka to quell an uprising in It was quite unacceptable to ent-day state of Orissa. Kalinga
Taxshila, a city in the north-west Bindusara that one of his sons was a state that prided itself on
District of Pakistani Punjab re- should marry a Buddhist, so he its sovereignty and democracy.
gion, for which Prince Susima was did not allow Ashoka to stay in With its monarchical parliamen-
the Governor. Taxshila was a Pataliputra but instead sent him tary democracy it was quite an
highly vola8le place because of back to Ujjain and made him the excep8on in ancient Bharata
the war-like Indo-Greek popula- governor of Ujjain. where there existed the concept
8on and mismanagement by The following year passed of Rajdharma. Rajdharma means
Susima himself. This had led to quite peacefully for him, and Devi the duty of the rulers, which was
the forma8on of different mili8as was about to deliver his first intrinsically entwined with the
causing unrest. Ashoka complied child. In the meanwhile, Emperor concept of bravery and Kshatriya
and le( for the troubled area. As Bindusara died. As the news of dharma.
news of Ashoka's visit with his the unborn heir to the throne The pretext for the start of
army trickled in, he was wel- spread, Prince Susima planned the Kalinga War (265 BC or 263
comed by the revol8ng mili8as the execu8on of the unborn BC) is uncertain. One of Susima's
and the uprising ended without a child; however, the assassin who brothers might have fled to
conflict. (The province revolted came to kill Devi and her child Kalinga and found official refuge
once more during the rule of killed his mother instead. Ashoka there. This enraged Ashoka im-
Ashoka, but this 8me the uprising beheads his elder brother to as- mensely. He was advised by his
was crushed with an iron fist) cend the throne. In this phase of ministers to a9ack Kalinga for this
Ashoka's success made his step- his life, Ashoka was known for his act of treachery. Ashoka then
brothers more wary of his inten- unquenched thirst for wars and asked Kalinga's royalty to submit
8ons of becoming the emperor campaigns launched to conquer before his supremacy. When they
and more incitements from the lands of other rulers and be- defied this diktat, Ashoka sent
Susima led Bindusara to send came known as Chandashok (ter- one of his generals to Kalinga to
Ashoka into exile. He went into rible Ashoka), the Sanskrit word make them submit.
Kalinga and stayed there incog- chanda meaning cruel, fierce, or The general and his forces

Special
were, however, completely his state religion around 260 BC, Dhammashoka (Sanskrit), mean-
routed through the skilled tact of and propagated it and preached ing Ashoka, the follower of
Kalinga's commander-in-chief. it within his domain and world- Dharma. Ashoka defined the
Ashoka, baffled at this defeat, at- wide from about 250 BC. Em- main principles of dharma
tacked with the greatest invasion peror Ashoka undoubtedly has to (dhamma) as nonviolence, toler-
ever recorded in Indian history be credited with the first serious ance of all sects and opinions,
un8l then. Kalinga put up a s8ff a9empt to develop a Buddhis8c obedience to parents, respect for
resistance, but they were no policy. the Brahmans and other religious
match for Ashoka's brutal Prominent in this cause were teachers and priests, liberality to-
strength. The whole of Kalinga his son Venerable Mahindra and wards friends, humane treatment
was plundered and destroyed. daughter Sanghamitra (whose of servants, and generosity to-
Ashoka's later edicts state that name means "friend of the wards all. These principles sug-
about 100,000 people were killed Sangha"), who established Bud- gest a general ethic of behaviour
on the Kalinga side and 10,000o hism in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). to which no religious or social
from Ashoka's army. Thousands He built thousands of Stupas and group could object.
of men and women were de- Viharas for Buddhist followers. Some cri8cs say that Ashoka
ported. The Stupas of Sanchi are world fa- was afraid of more wars, but
mous and the stupa named among his neighbors, including
Sanchi Stupa was built by Em- the Seleucid Empire and the
Buddhist Conversion peror Ashoka. During the remain- Greco-Bactrian kingdom estab-
ing por8on of Ashoka's reign, he lished by Diodotus I, none could
As the legend goes, one day a(er pursued an official policy of non- match his strength. He was a con-
the war was over, Ashoka ven- violence (ahinsa). Even the un- temporary of both An8ochus I
tured out to roam the city and all necessary slaughter or mu8la8on Soter and his successor An8ochus
he could see were burnt houses of people was immediately abol- II Theos of the Seleucid dynasty
and sca9ered corpses. This sight ished. Everyone became pro- as well as Diodotus I and his son
made him sick and he cried the tected by the king's law against Diodotus II of the Greco-Bactrian
famous monologue: sport hun8ng and branding. Lim- kingdom. If his inscrip8ons and
What have I done? If this is a ited hun8ng was permi9ed for edicts are well studied one finds
victory, what's a defeat then? Is consump8on reasons but Ashoka that he was familiar with the Hel-
this a victory or a defeat? Is this also promoted the concept of lenic world but never in awe of it.
jus8ce or injus8ce? Is it gallantry vegetarianism. Ashoka also His edicts, which talk of friendly
or a rout? Is it valor to kill inno- showed mercy to those impris- rela8ons, give the names of both
cent children and women? Do I oned, allowing them leave for the An8ochus of the Seleucid empire
do it to widen the empire and for outside a day of the year. He at- and Ptolemy III of Egypt. The
prosperity or to destroy the tempted to raise the professional fame of the Mauryan empire was
other's kingdom and splendor? ambi8on of the common man by widespread from the 8me that
One has lost her husband, some- building universi8es for study, Ashoka's grandfather Chan-
one else a father, someone a and water transit and irriga8on dragupta Maurya defeated Seleu-
child, someone an unborn in- systems for trade and agriculture. cus Nicator, the founder of the
fant.... What's this debris of the He treated his subjects as equals Seleucid Dynasty.
corpses? Are these marks of vic- regardless of their religion, poli- The source of much of our
tory or defeat? Are these vul- 8cs and caste. The kingdoms sur- knowledge of Ashoka is the many
tures, crows, eagles the messen- rounding his, so easily overth- inscrip8ons he had carved on pil-
gers of death or evil? rown, were instead made to be lars and rocks throughout the
The brutality of the conquest well-respected allies. empire. Emperor Ashoka is
led him to adopt Buddhism and He is acclaimed for construct- known as Piyadasi (in Pali) or
he used his posi8on to propagate ing hospitals for animals and ren- Priyadarshi (in Sanskrit) meaning
the rela8vely new religion to new ova8ng major roads throughout "good looking" or "favored by the
heights, as far as ancient Rome India. A(er this transforma8on, gods with good blessing". All his
and Egypt. He made Buddhism Ashoka came to be known as inscrip8ons have the imperial

Special
touch and show compassionate men8ons Hellenis8c kings of the dhism, as some of the emissaries
loving. He addressed his people period as converts to Buddhism, of Ashoka, such as Dharmarak-
as his "children". These inscrip- although no Hellenic historical sita, are described in Pali sources
8ons promoted Buddhist moral- record of this event remain: as leading Greek (Yona) Buddhist
ity and encouraged nonviolence The conquest by Dharma has monks, ac8ve in spreading Bud-
and adherence to Dharma (duty been won here, on the borders, dhism (the Mahavansa, XII).
or proper behavior), and they talk and even six hundred yojanas
of his fame and conquered lands (5,400–9,600 km) away, where
as well as the neighboring king- the Greek king An8ochos rules, Death and Legacy
doms holding up his might. One beyond there where the four
also gets some primary informa- kings named Ptolemy, An8gonos, Ashoka ruled for an es8mated
8on about the Kalinga War and Magas and Alexander rule, like- forty years. A(er his death, the
Ashoka's allies plus some useful wise in the south among the Mauryan dynasty lasted just fi(y
knowledge on the civil adminis- Cholas, the Pandyas, and as far as more years. Ashoka had many
tra8on. The Ashoka Pillar at Sar- Tamraparni (Sri Lanka). wives and children, but many of
nath is the most popular of the —Edicts of Ashoka, Rock Edict their names are lost to 8me.
relics le( by Ashoka. Made of 13 (S. Dhammika) Mahindra and Sanghamitra were
sandstone, this pillar records the Ashoka also claims that he twins born by his first wife, Devi,
visit of the emperor to Sarnath, in encouraged the development of in the city of Ujjain. He had en-
the 3rd century BC. It has a four- herbal medicine, for human and trusted to them the job of making
lion capital (four lions standing nonhuman animals, in their terri- his state religion, Buddhism,
back to back) which was adopted tories: more popular across the known
as the emblem of the modern In- Everywhere within Beloved- and the unknown world. Mahin-
dian republic. The lion symbolizes of-the-Gods, King Piyadasi's dra and Sanghamitra went into
both Ashoka's imperial rule and [Ashoka's] domain, and among Sri Lanka and converted the King,
the kingship of the Buddha. In the people beyond the borders, the Queen and their people to
transla8ng these monuments, the Cholas, the Pandyas, the Buddhism. They were naturally
historians learn the bulk of what Sa8yaputras, the Keralaputras, as not handling state affairs a(er
is assumed to have been true fact far as Tamraparni and where the him.
of the Mauryan Empire. It is diffi- Greek king An8ochos rules, and In his old age, he seems to
cult to determine whether or not among the kings who are neigh- have come under the spell of his
some actual events ever hap- bors of An8ochos, everywhere youngest wife Tishyaraksha. It is
pened, but the stone etchings has Beloved-of-the-Gods, King said that she had got his son Ku-
clearly depict how Ashoka Piyadasi, made provision for two nala, the regent in Takshashila,
wanted to be thought of and re- types of medical treatment: med- blinded by a wily stratagem. The
membered. ical treatment for humans and official execu8oners spared Ku-
Ashoka's own words as medical treatment for animals. nala and he became a wandering
known from his Edicts are: "All Wherever medical herbs suitable singer accompanied by his
men are my children. I am like a for humans or animals are not favourite wife Kanchanmala. In
father to them. As every father available, I have had them im- Pataliputra, Ashoka hears Ku-
desires the good and the happi- ported and grown. Wherever nala's song, and realizes that Ku-
ness of his children, I wish that all medical roots or fruits are not nala's misfortune may have been
men should be happy always." available I have had them im- a punishment for some past sin
Edward D'Cruz interprets the ported and grown. Along roads I of the emperor himself and con-
Ashokan dharma as a "religion to have had wells dug and trees demns Tishyaraksha to death,
be used as a symbol of a new implanted for the benefit of humans restoring Kunala to the court. Ku-
perial unity and a cemen8ng and animals. nala was succeeded by his son,
force to weld the diverse and het- —Edicts of Ashoka, Rock Edict 2 Sampra8, but his rule did not last
erogeneous elements of the em- The Greeks in India even long a(er Ashoka's death.
pire". seem to have played an ac8ve The reign of Ashoka Maurya
Also, in the Edicts, Ashoka role in the propaga8on of Bud- could easily have disappeared

Special
into history as the ages passed by, "Amidst the tens of thousands of
and would have had he not le( names of monarchs that crowd
behind a record of his trials. The the columns of history ... the Historical Sources
tes8mony of this wise king was name of Asoka shines, and shines
discovered in the form of magnif- almost alone, a star." Western sources – Ashoka was al-
icently sculpted pillars and boul- most forgo9en by the historians
ders with a variety of ac8ons and of the early Bri8sh India but
teachings he wished to be pub- Buddhist Kingship James Prinsep contributed in the
lished etched into the stone. revela8on of historical sources.
What Ashoka le( behind was the One of the more enduring lega- Other important historian was
first wri9en language in India cies of Ashoka Maurya was the Bri8sh archaeologist Sir John Hu-
since the ancient city of Harappa. model that he provided for the bert Marshall who was director-
The language used for inscrip8on rela8onship between Buddhism General of the Archaeological
was the then current spoken and the state. Throughout Ther- Survey of India. His main interests
form called Prakrit. avada Southeastern Asia, the were Sanchi and Sarnath besides
In the year 185 BC, about fi(y model of ruler ship embodied by Harappa and Mohenjodaro. Sir
years a(er Ashoka's death, the Ashoka replaced the no8on of di- Alexander Cunningham, a Bri8sh
last Maurya ruler, Brhadrata, was vine kingship that had previously archaeologist and army engineer
assassinated by the commander- dominated (in the Angkor king- and o(en known as the father of
in-chief of the Mauryan armed dom, for instance). Under this the Archaeological Survey of
forces, Pusyamitra Sunga, while model of 'Buddhist kingship', the India, unveiled heritage sites like
he was taking the Guard of Honor king sought to legi8mize his rule the Bharhut Stupa, Sarnath,
of his forces. Pusyamitra Sunga not through descent from a di- Sanchi, and the Mahabodhi Tem-
founded the Sunga dynasty (185 vine source, but by suppor8ng ple; thus, his contribu8on is rec-
BC-78 BC) and ruled just a frag- and earning the approval of the ognizable in realms of historical
mented part of the Mauryan Em- Buddhist sangha. Following sources. Sir Mor8mer Wheeler
pire. Many of the northwestern Ashoka's example, kings estab- who was a Bri8sh archaeologist
territories of the Mauryan Empire lished monasteries, funded the also exposed Ashokan historical
(modern-day Iran, Afghanistan construc8on of stupas, and sup- sources, especially the Taxila.
and Pakistan) became the Indo- ported the ordina8on of monks in
Greek Kingdom. their kingdom. Many rulers also Eastern Sources :
When India gained independ- took an ac8ve role in resolving Informa8on about the life
ence from the Bri8sh Empire it disputes over the status and reg- and reign of Ashoka primarily
adopted Ashoka's emblem for its ula8on of the sangha, as Ashoka comes from a rela8vely small
own, placing the Dharmachakra had in calling a conclave to se9le number of Buddhist sources. In
(The Wheel of Righteous Duty) a number of conten8ous issues par8cular, the Sanskrit Ashoka-
that crowned his many columns during his reign. This develop- vadana ('Story of Ashoka'), writ-
on the flag of the newly inde- ment ul8mately lead to a close ten in the 2nd century, and the
pendent state. In 1992, Ashoka associa8on in many Southeast two Pāli chronicles of Sri Lanka
was ranked #53 on Michael H. Asian countries between the (the Dipavamsa and Mahavamsa)
Hart's list of the most influen8al monarchy and the religious hier- provide most of the currently
figures in history. In 2001, a semi- archy, an associa8on that can s8ll known informa8on about Asho-
fic8onalized portrayal of Ashoka's be seen today in the state-sup- ka. Addi8onal informa8on is con-
life was produced as a mo8on ported Buddhism of Thailand and tributed by the Edicts of Asoka,
picture under the 8tle Asoka. the tradi8onal role of the Thai whose authorship was finally at-
King Ashoka, the third monarch king as both a religious and secu- tributed to the Ashoka of Bud-
of the Indian Mauryan dynasty, lar leader. Ashoka also said that dhist legend a(er the discovery
has come to be regarded as one all his cour8ers were true to their of dynas8c lists that gave the
of the most exemplary rulers in self and governed the people in a name used in the edicts
world history. The Bri8sh histo- moral manner. (Priyadarsi – 'favored by the
rian H.G. Wells has wri9en: Gods') as a 8tle or addi8onal

Special
name of Ashoka Mauriya. Archi- da8ng the consecra8on of the Vedic animal sacrifices; these
tectural remains of his period Maurya emperor Ashoka. strongly suggest that he at least
have been found at Kumhrar, did not look to the Vedic tradi8on
Patna, which include an 80-pillar Dipavamsa : for guidance. Furthermore, there
hypostyle hall. The Dipavamsa, or "Deep- are many edicts expressed to
avamsa", (i.e., Chronicle of the Is- Buddhists alone; in one, Ashoka
Edicts of Ashoka : land, in Pali) is the oldest declares himself to be an "up-
The Edicts of Ashoka are a historical record of Sri Lanka. The asaka", and in another he
collec8on of 33 inscrip8ons on chronicle is believe to be com- demonstrates a close familiarity
the Pillars of Ashoka, as well as piled from A9hakatha and other with Buddhist texts. He erected
boulders and cave walls, made by sources around the 3–4th cen- rock pillars at Buddhist holy sites,
the Emperor Ashoka of the Mau- tury, King Dhatusena (4th century but did not so for the sites of
ryan dynasty during his reign CE) had orderd that the Di- other religions. He also used the
from 272 to 231 BC. These in- pavamsa be recited at the word "dhamma" to refer to qual-
scrip8ons are dispersed through- Mahinda (son to Ashoka )fes8val i8es of the heart that underlie
out the areas of modern-day held annually in Anuradhapura. moral ac8on; this was an exclu-
Pakistan and India, and represent The use of Buddhist sources sively Buddhist use of the word.
the first tangible evidence of Bud- in reconstruc8ng the life of Finally, the ideals he promotes
dhism. The edicts describe in de- Ashoka has had a strong influ- correspond to the first three
tail the first wide expansion of ence on percep8ons of Ashoka, steps of the Buddha's graduated
Buddhism through the sponsor- as well as the interpreta8ons of discourse.
ship of one of the most powerful his edicts. Building on tradi8onal
kings of Indian history.It give accounts, early scholars regarded Important years in the life of
more informa8on about Ashoka's Ashoka as a primarily Buddhist Ashoka
prosely8sm, Moral precepts, Reli- monarch who underwent a con-
gious precepts, Social and animal version to Buddhism and was ac- Birth – 304 BC
welfare . 8vely engaged in sponsoring and Marriage with – 286 BC
suppor8ng the Buddhist monas- Maharani devi
Ashokavadana : 8c ins8tu8on. Some scholars Mahindra's birth – 284 BC
The Ashokavadana is a 2nd have tended to ques8on this as- Sanghami9a's – 281 BC
century CE text related to the leg- sessment. The only source of in- birth
end of the Maurya Emperor forma8on not a9ributable to Reign BC to his – 272/273
Ashoka. The legend was trans- Buddhist sources are the Nirvana / Death (232 BC)
lated into Chinese by Fa Hien in Ashokan edicts, and these do not Rajyabhisheka – 270 BC
300 CE. explicitly state that Ashoka was a Tending to – 266 BC
Buddhist. In his edicts, Ashoka ex- Buddhism
Mahavamsa : presses support for all the major Building Chaityas – 266/263 BC
The Mahavamsa ("Great religions of his 8me: Buddhism, Mahindra and – 264 BC
Chronicle") is a historical poem Brahmanism, Jainism, and
wri9en in the Pali language, of Ajivikaism, and his edicts ad- Sanghamitta Become
the kings of Sri Lanka. It covers dressed to the popula8on at large Buddhist
the period from the coming of (there are some addressed
King Vijaya of Kalinga (ancient specifically to Buddhists; this is Kalinga Vijaya – 262/263 BC
Orissa) in 543 BC to the reign of not the case for the other reli- Converted to – 263 BC
King Mahasena (334–361).As it gions) generally focus on moral buddhism
o(en refers to the royal dynas8es themes members of all the reli- Dharmayatra – 263–250 BC
of India, the Mahavamsa is also gions would accept. Third Buddhist – 250–253 BC
valuable for historians who wish However, there is strong evi- council
to date and relate contemporary dence in the edicts alone that he Mahindra's – 252 BC
royal dynas8es in the Indian sub- was a Buddhist. In one edict he Sri Lanka Yatra
con8nent. It is very important in beli9les rituals, and he banned Buddhist – 250 to his De-

Special
Prosely8sm ath/Nirvana (old name Mahara9hha); Ma- tries. In his neighboring countries
Edicts – 243/242 BC harakhhit Sthavira and Yavand- Ashoka helped humans as well as
Death / Nirvana hammarakhhita Sthavira to South animals. Ashoka also planted
of Sanghami9a – 240 BC India. Ashoka also invited Bud- trees in his empire and his neigh-
Rani Tishyaraksha dhists and non-Buddhists for reli- boring countries. Ashoka was
becomes Pa9arani – 236 BC gious conferences. Ashoka perhaps the first emperor in
Prince Kunal inspired the Buddhist monks to human history to ban slavery,
becomes Upraja – 233 bc compose the sacred religious hun8ng, fishing and deforesta-
Ashoka's Death / texts, and also gave all types of 8on. Ashoka also banned the
Nirvana – 232 BC help to that end. Ashoka also death sentence and asked the
(Note – There are some histori- helped to develop viharas (intel- same for the neighboring coun-
ans according to whom Ashoka lectual hubs) such as Nalanda and tries. Ashoka commanded his
embraced Buddhism in 266 BC Taxila. Ashoka helped to con- people to serve the orders of
but became a true follower of struct Sanchi and Mahabodhi their elders parents) and religious
Buddhism a(er the Conquest of Temple. Ashoka never tried to monks (shramana and Brahmin).
Kalinga 262 BC or 263 BC) harm or to destroy non-Buddhist Ashoka also recommended his
religions, and indeed gave dona- people study all religions and re-
8ons to non-Buddhists. As his spect all religions. According to
CONTRIBUTIONS reign con8nued his even-handed- Ashoka, to harm another's reli-
ness was replaced with special in- gion is a harm to someone's owns
clina8on towards Buddhism. religion. Ashoka asserted his peo-
Global Spread of Ashoka helped and respected ple to live with Dharmmacha-
Buddhism both Sramans (Buddhists monks) rana. Ashoka asked people to live
and Brahmins (Vedic monks). with harmony, peace, love and
Ashoka, now a Buddhist emperor, Ashoka also helped to organize tolerance. Ashoka called his peo-
believed that Buddhism is bene- the Third Buddhist council (c. 250 ple as his children, and they could
ficial for all human beings as well BC) at Pataliputra (today's Patna). call him when they need him. He
as animals and plants, so he built It was conducted by the monk also asked people to save money
84,000 stupas, Sangharama, viha- Moggalipu9a-Tissa who was the and not to spend for immoral
ras, Chaitya, and residences for spiritual teacher of the Mauryan causes. Ashoka also believed in
Buddhist monks all over South Emperor Ashoka. dharmacharana (dhammacha-
Asia and Central Asia. He gave do- rana) and dharmavijaya (dham-
na8ons to viharas and mathas. mavijaya). According to many
He sent his only daughter Sang- As an Administrator European and Asian historians
hami9a and son Mahindra to the age of Ashoka was the age of
spread Buddhism in Sri Lanka (an- Ashoka's military power was so light and delightment. He was the
cient name Tamraparni). Ashoka strong that he was able to crush first emperor in human history
also sent many prominent Bud- those empires that went to war who has taught the lesson of
dhist monks (bhikshus) Sthaviras against him s8ll, he was on unity, peace, equality and love.
like Madhyamik Sthavira to mod- friendly terms with kingdoms in Ashoka's aim was not to expand
ern Kashmir and Afganistan; Ma- the South like Cholas, Pandya, the territories but the welfare of
haraskshit sthavira to Syria, Persia Keralputra, the post Alexandrian all of his subjects (sarvajan-
/ Iran, Egypt, Greece, Italy and empire, Tamraparni, and Suvarn- sukhay).
Turkey; Massim Sthavira to abhumi who were strong enough
Nepal, Bhutan, China and Mon- to remain outside his empire and
golia; Sohn U9ar Sthavira to mod- con8nued to profess Hinduism.
ern Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar According to his edicts we know
(old name Suvarnabhumi for that he provided humanitarian
Burma and Thailand), Thailand help including doctors, hospitals,
and Vietnam; Mahadhhama- inns, wells, medical herbs and en-
rakhhita stahvira to Maharashtra gineers to his neighboring coun-

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