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Major Events of Modern Indian History Battle of Plassey, 23 June 1757: Victory for the British East India Company in the Battle of Plassey was the start of nearly two centuries of British rule in India. For an event with such momentous consequences, it was a surprisingly unimpressive military encounter, the defeat of the Nawab of Bengal owing much to betrayal. The First Anglo-Mysore War (1767–69): Hyder Ali enjoyed some measure of success against the British, almost capturing Madras. The war ended with the Treaty of Madras. The Second Anglo-Mysore War (1780–84): Witnessed bloodier battles with fortunes fluctuating between the contesting powers. This war saw the rise of Sir Eyre Coote, the British commander who defeated Hyder Ali at the Battle of Porto Novo and Arni. Tipu continued the war following his father's death. Finally, the war ended with the signing of a treaty on 11 March 1784, the Treaty of Mangalore, which restored the status quo ante bellum. The Third Anglo-Mysore War (...

The Sufi, Bhakti and Sikh Movement in India Sufism in India Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti introduced Sufism in India. He came to India from Afghanistan with the army of Shihab-ud-Din Ghuri in 1192 AD and started living permanently in Ajmer from 1195. The original sufis wore simple wool cloaks and in Arabic the word Sufi means "man of wool". Pir in the Sufi tradition means Guru. A khanqah or khangah, also known as ribat, is a building designed specifically for gatherings of a Sufi brotherhood and is a place for spiritual retreat and character reformation in Sufi tradition. The chief orders of Sufis in India are: The Chishti, The Suharwardi, The Firdausi, The Quadri and The Naqshbandi. The Chisti Order: The Chishti order was established by Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti of Ajmer. Other notable disciples were Bakhtiar Kaki (the person to whom the Qutb Minar, Delhi is dedicated), Nizamuddin Auliya, the historian Barani and the poet Amir Khusro. It was popular in Delhi and the Doab region. T...

RBI and the History of Banking in India Based on the report of the Hilton Young Commission, the Reserve Bank of India was established on 1 April 1935. In 1937 the headquarters of RBI was moved from Kolkata to Mumbai. RBI was nationalised in 1949. RBI continued to work as the Central Bank of: a) Burma (till 1948) b) Pakistan (till 1948) c) Kuwait (till 1959) Key Functions of RBI Issuer of Notes - The Reserve Bank of India has the sole right to issue currency notes of various denominations except one rupee notes and coins (which are issued by the Ministry of Finance). Banker to the Government - The second important function of the Reserve Bank is to act as the Banker, Agent and Adviser to the Government of India and states. It performs all the banking functions of the State and Central Government and it also tenders useful advice to the government on matters related to economic and monetary policy. It also manages the public debt of the government. The Banker's Bank - The RBI lend...

The Visvesvaraya Plan: The era of economic planning in India started with Visvesvaraya’s ten-year Plan. Sir M. Visvesvaraya published a book titled “Planned Economy in India” in 1934 wherein he presented a draft to double the national income in a decade. He proposed to shift the labour from the agrarian set up to the industries thereby advocating for democratic capitalism (similar to the USA) with emphasis on industrialization. The National Planning Committee: Rudimentary economic planning, deriving from the sovereign authority of the state, was first initiated in India in 1938 by Congress President Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, Atul Tiwari, Jawaharlal Nehru who had been persuaded by Meghnad Saha to set up a National Planning Committee. The Bombay Plan: “The Bombay Plan” is the nickname of a 15-year economic plan for India proposed by a group of industrialists and technocrats in January 1944. It was authored by top industrialists such as JRD Tata, GD Birla and Lal Shri Ram. The economis...

The Sunderban Biosphere Reserve The Sunderbans Biosphere Reserve is known for its rich biodiversity - flora and fauna. Locally known as Badabon is regarded as the richest biodiversity hotspot in India. A recent Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) states that Sunderbans is home to one-third of India’s bird species. Sunderban is known for coastal forest mainly made up of mangroves that serve as a biological buffer between the sea and land. The Sundarbans are the world's largest mangrove delta. The name Sundarbans is thought to be derived from Sundari (Heritiera fomes) , the name of the large mangrove trees that are most plentiful in the area. Mangroves are salt-tolerant trees, also called halophytes, and are adapted to live in harsh coastal conditions. The Sundarbans is of universal importance for globally endangered species including the Royal Bengal Tiger, Ganges and Irrawaddy dolphins, estuarine crocodiles and the critically endangered endemic river terrapin (Batagur baska) . It is...

Most Important Supreme Court Judgements A.K. Gopalan Case (1950): The Supreme Court ruled in A.K.Gopalan v. State of Madras that in Article 21, the expression “Procedure established by law” meant the procedure as laid down in the law as enacted by the Legislature and nothing more. A person could thus be deprived of his ‘life’ or ‘personal liberty’ in accordance with the procedure laid down in the relevant law. The ruling thus meant that a person can be deprived of his life and personal liberty. Shankari Prasad Case (1951): In the Shankari Prasad case (1951), the constitutional validity of the First Amendment Act (1951), which curtailed the right to property, was challenged. Champakam Dorairajan v. State of Madras Case (1951): Landmark decision of the Supreme Court of India. This judgement led to the First Amendment of the Constitution of India. It was the first major judgement regarding reservations in India. The government order had provided caste based reservation in government jobs ...

International Organisations of Importance The United Nations: It is an international organisation headquartered in New York City, USA and founded in 1945 after the Second World War by 51 countries committed to maintaining international peace and security, developing friendly relations among nations and promoting social progress, better living standards and human rights. The name 'United Nations' was coined by United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1942. There are six official languages of the UN. These are Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. The six organs of the United Nations are the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, the Trusteeship Council, the International Court of Justice, and the UN Secretariat. The permanent members of the United Nations Security Council are the five sovereign states to whom the UN Charter of 1945 grants a permanent seat: China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States....

Major Amendments of the Indian Constitution Amending the Constitution of India is the process of making changes to the nation's fundamental law or supreme law. The procedure of amendment in the constitution is laid down in Part XX (article 368) of the Constitution of India. In the Kesavanand Bharati case of 1973, the Supreme Court ruled that the Parliament could not change certain provisions which constitute the basic constitutional framework. 1st Amendment Act, 1951- Empowered the State to make special provisions to advance socially and economically backward classes. The ninth schedule was added by the first amendment of the Indian Constitution. The Schedule contains a list of central and state laws which cannot be challenged in courts. Currently, 284 such laws are shielded from judicial review. 7th Amendment Act, 1956- Implementing the State Reorganisation Committee recommendations, and implementing 1956, State Reorganisation Act. Linguistic reorganisation of States was implement...