Renowned Sanskrit scholar Ved Kumari Ghai passed away recently. Ghai was awarded the Padma Shri, the fourth-highest civilian award in India, in 2001 for her contributions to Sanskrit literature. She was also a recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award, the highest literary award in India, in 1991 for her book “The Sanskrit Language”.Read More

Marking the 298th birth anniversary of Maratha queen Ahilyabai Holkar on May 31ST, Maharashtra CM announced that Ahmednagar city would be renamed ‘Ahilyanagar’ after her. History of city In 1486, Malik Ahmad Nizam Shah assumed the position of the Bahmani Sultanate’s prime minister. He successfully defeated the king of the Bahmani kingdom in 1490. Later, he laid the foundation of a city close to where he had defeated the army, on the left bank of Sina river. This city was named after him: Ahmednagar. ABOUT AHILYABAI HOLKAR (1725 – 1795) Ahilyabai was born in Chondi village of Ahmednagar to the....Read More

The Academic Council of Delhi University recently passed a motion to remove a chapter on Pakistan's national poet Muhammad Iqbal, also known as Allama Iqbal, from the political science syllabus. Born in 1877 in Sialkot in undivided India, Iqbal wrote the famous song 'Saare jahan se achha'. He is also known for giving birth to the 'idea of Pakistan'. He was knighted by King George V who gave him the title of “Sir” in 1922. His first book, Asrár-I Khudí (The Secrets of the Self), was published in 1915. It was followed by Ramuz-e-Bekhudi (The Mysteries of Selflessness) in 1918.Read More

Veteran actor Sarath Babu has passed away recently aged 71. Born as Sathyam Babu Dixithulu on July 31, 1951, in Amudalavalasa in AP, he adopted Sarath Babu for the screen. He started his career in films in 1973 with Rama Rajyam in Telugu. He got a big break with K Balachander for the film Nizhal Nijamagiradu in 1978 which was remade into Idi kadha kaadu in Telugu  Read More

Chicago University economist and Nobel laureate Robert E Lucas, 85, passed away recently. He won the Nobel Prize in 1995 for his work on rational expectations and efficacy of government intervention in economy. He argued that if people are rational, which is assumed in microeconomics, then government intervention will only have an impact on prices and inflation if it is unexpected or unpredictable. Otherwise, people adjust their expectations for future inflation as soon as policy is announced and it then has no impact on prices as well as the inflation. His research was seen as a direct confrontation with Keynesian....Read More

Prime Minister recently paid tributes to Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore on his birth anniversary. About Rabindranath Tagore He was a world-renowned poet, litterateur, philosopher and Asia’s first Nobel laureate. He was born in Kolkata on May 7th, 1861 and was also referred to as ‘Kabiguru’, and ‘Biswakabi’. He was popularly known as Bard of Bengal, and people used to call him Gurudev. In 1913 he became the first non-European to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature. He was also an influential artist and musician. He wrote around 2230 songs and painted 3000 paintings. His songs are known as Rabindra Sangeet.....Read More

Many artists and craftsmen specialising in Chamba “rumal”, “thal”, “chappal”, miniature painting, sculpture, wood and stone art continue to earn their livelihood through traditional crafts, thereby preserving the glorious traditions of the region. To preserve and promote the rich art and culture of Chamba, the district administration has started the “Chambyal” project. Art and craft societies have been registered to give practical shape to the project. Famous art products of the district like Chamba “rumal” and Chamba “chappal” have received the Geographical Indication (GI) tag under the GI Act, 1999. On the initiative of the district administration, the Himachal Pradesh....Read More

Legendary mridangam artist Karaikudi R Rani passed away recently. Born on September 11, 1945, in Karaikudi in Tamil Nadu, he shifted from vocal training initially to learning mridangam. He was greatly inspired by mridangam vidwan Palghat Mani Iyer. He received his first national award at a young age of 18 from the then President S Radhakrishnan. He was considered as one among the all-time greatest mridangam vidwans and had played alongside Carnatic giants like M S Subbulakshmi and D K Pattammal. About Mridangam Mridangam is a popular bifacial drum of Carnatic music and is used as an accompaniment in South....Read More

Noted historian Ranajit Guha has passed away. He was 100 years old, died at his residence in Austria. Born on May 23, 1923 at Barisal in present-day Bangladesh, Guha’s family later shifted to Kolkata. He had studied in a school in the city and completed his post-graduation in History from Calcutta University. One of his well-known books is ‘Elementary Aspects of Peasant Insurgency in Colonial India’Read More

Raja Ravi Varma’s unfinished works will be unveiled at Kilimanoor Palace in Kerala on 175th birth anniversary. About Raja Ravi Varma He was born on April 29, 1848, in Kilimanoor. He was an Indian painter, born in Kerala, best known for uniting Hindu mythological subject matter with European realist historicist painting style. He created over 7000 paintings in his lifetime. He was the first Indian artist to use oil paints, which were brought to India by the Britishers. His painting ‘Hamsa Damayanti’, which depicts the story of King Nala and Damayanti from Mahabharata won the first prize at Vienna Exhibition....Read More