chakravarthy

1896 : The first Olympic Games of the modern era, an initiative of French educator and historian Pierre de Coubertin, were held from 06th-15th April, 1896 in Athens, Greece. Despite women not being allowed to compete, one woman, Greece's Stamata Revithi, ran the marathon course. Revithi finished the marathon in about five hours and thirty minutes, and had to ask witnesses to sign their names and verify the starting and finishing times. 1900 : The second modern Olympic Games were held in Paris and it was the first time women competed in an Olympic event. Of a total of 997 athletes, 22 women competed in five sports: tennis, sailing, croquet, equestrianism and golf. Sailor Helene de Pourtales became the first female Olympic champion. 1904 : Cuba's Andarin Carvajal travelled to the United States to participate in the marathon event at the 1904 Olympics in Missouri. After losing all of his money in Lousiana, Carvajal was forced to hitchhike and walk the rest of the way. He arr...

Demonetisation of higher currency notes - which constituted 86 percent of India's cash in circulation - was intended to provide a 'total' solution for the serious malaise of domestic black money and was announced without advance notice for obvious reasons. Regardless of the debate on its timing, the fact is that it was aimed at neutralising unaccounted money and hitting at the roots of corruption. That it caused a serious dent on terror funding - whether in Kashmir or in the 'Red Corridor' - is an important dividend for national security accruing from this drastic step. Elimination of black money strengthens, directly or indirectly, the cause of national security. Illicit money facilitates entry of dubious elements into the power structure, makes it easier for enemy agents to use the lure of money for their purposes and directly aids the funding of terrorists and drug trade. It was in the 1993 Mumbai train blasts that the collusion of Dawood Ibrahim - the mafia do...

Queen Elizabeth II, who celebrated her 91st birthday in April, 2017, is Britain's oldest-ever monarch. Here is a look at some milestones: On 09th September, 2015, she became Britain's longest- reigning monarch, bypassing her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria. Queen Elizabeth has reigned for sixty-five years and seventy-five days. She is the world's longest-reigning living monarch since the death of Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej in 2016. Thirteen British Prime Ministers from Winston Churchill to Theresa May, have served during Elizabeth's reign. She has travelled more than 1.6 million kms. on official trips, visiting 106 countries. Twelve United States of America Presidents from Herbert Hoover to Barack Obama, have met the Queen. She is expected to host President Donald Trump later in 2017. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------  

Hyderabad was ruled by Muslim rulers - the Qutub Shahis and Asaf Jahis - for more than four hundred years starting from 1512 till 1948, but they patronised Telugu language without bias. Not only Dakhani and Urdu, theses rulers, especially the Qutub Shahi kings, encouraged Telugu language poets, a former Professor of Osmania University said. The Qutub Shahis gave Telugu the status of second official language. The rural administration at that time was conducted in Telugu and Royal Edicts were translated into the language. Even in the Courts, the Umra (elite) and Magrabans (those close to the rulers) were mainly Telugu speaking people. If the Courts had people like Hazrat Momin, Mustafa Khan Astrabadi and Ameerul Mulk, they also had Asi Rao, Sayaji, Dharma Rao and Bhale Rao, former Professor Ashraf Rafi, who retired from Osmania University in 1998, said. She continued research into the Telugu language under Muslim rule with help from Professors Dr. Vasumathi Reddy and Dr. Raj Lalitha,...

It was Thursday, the 28th of August, 1918. There was an air of celebration all over Hyderabad. A long cherished dream was about to come true. The princely state of Hyderabad was about to get its first institution of higher learning - Osmania University. A large number of people including a few distinguished guests had gathered at a building adjacent to the Nizam College on the Gun Foundry Road in what is now Basheerbagh. The University received sanction from the ruler, Mir Osman Ali Khan, a year earlier. The meeting was presided over by Moulvi Habibur Rahman Khan Shervani, Ecclesiastical minister who served as the Vice-Chancellor of Osmania University. The meeting heralded the formal birth of Osmania University. There was loud applause as the 'Firmaan' (Royal Decree) of the Nizam was read marking the formal launch of the University. Initially ninety students were enrolled and later fifty-two more admissions were made taking the total strength to 142. A few students dropped ...

In the age of social media, teacher-student relationship is no longer restricted to just class-rooms. Yes, we are talking about the all-access-giving social media. However, over the years there has been a big debate on the relevance of these virtual friendships to even safety factors involved with the blurring of the boundaries between the personal and professional. The debate heightened, especially in a US state when an education agency revealed that forty-four percent of the investigated cases of alleged misconduct start with text messages or through social media. So the pressing dilemma for teachers in the era of technology is - do we befriend students on social media? There is no easy answer to this, especially for college teachers - those who teach adult students. While some feel that social media connects and brings teachers and students closer, most teachers say that it becomes difficult to draw the line, with students often becoming too pally or sending inappropriate message...

Some arguments just don't die. Once again, we are hearing about the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation's (EPFO) plans to invest up to fifteen percent of its corpus in equity. We can also hear the alarm bells ringing about risking the hard-earned money of workers in stock markets. On the one hand we have an equity market in which international pension funds invest, so that their investors can get a better risk-adjusted return. And then we have our own retirement corpus of the working and salaried class that is steeped in ideas of the 1950s.  International managers take the risk of putting the retirement savings of ordinary folks in distant emerging markets like India. They are required by the law of their land to act in fiduciary capacity. The penalties for wrongdoing is high. The processes and procedures for deciding how the money will be managed is far more stringent than what we have in India. The investment advisers and managers are paid based on the performance ...

Patna  to me is always Pataliputra, the centre of the powerful Mauryan empire, ruled at the height of its glory by Chandragupta Maurya and later his grand-son Ashoka the Great. Megasthenes, Greek ambassador to the Court of Chandragupta Maurya, went into raptures describing Pataliputra, calling it "the greatest city on earth". Ashoka's conversion to Buddhism after the Battle of Kalinga around 261 B.C. is one of the world's most moving transformation stories - from war monger to peace emissary who spread the message of Buddha to the farthest reaches of his empire and beyond. This was the man whose violent youth was legendary. Agam Kuan is the 'unfathomable well' in Patna, where ashoka is said to have thrown in the bodies of ninety-nine of his half brothers in his ruthless ascent to the throne. It attracts a steady stream of visitors,w ho also step at the adjacent temple ofShitala Devi. On the way out, people are attracted by the pretty scarlet prints hanging i...

Heated bulk metallic objects turning red should be differentiated from some metals showing different colours when burnt either as vapours in a flame or as fine powder particles, wafers, shavings; example: magnesium fine powder tape used in sparklers generating lot of brilliant yellow flashes. The former is described by the process of incandescence while the latter can be described using several intra-atomic electronic transitions. Basically, incandescence is a process of generating glow-light associated with heating. The popular examples being burning of wood and a glow from a conventional tungsten lamp. In the lamp, electric current passing through the metallic tungsten filament encounters resistance for the flow of electrons which causes lot of Joule heating appearing as glow-light of the filament. A bulk metallic object when heated reaches high temperature and starts glowing. For any hot body, the colour of the glow can be used as a measure of its body temperature, known by the ...

If you have a limited budget, but still want to have a grand wedding, these ideas can help you cut corners without compromising on quality: Book the right venue : Instead of an upscale hotel within the city, choose a venue in the outskirts to save on costs. Open ground venues also have a lower tax component. Look for a venue where you don't have to mandatorily use their in-house vendors for decoration and catering services, as these tend to be more expensive. Opt for Indian cuisine : Food is one area where you save a lot. On average, hotels and banquets charge Rs. 1,200/- per plate for including international cuisine, whereas Indian cuisine costs only Rs. 800/- or each guest. Choose out-of-the-box decor : You can save by decorating your venue with lights and artificial flowers, instead of using fresh flowers and fabric. You can also enlist the help of local craftsmen or use upcycled objects to add a quirky touch to your wedding decor, and stay well under budget. Rent your ...

Mystery continues to shroud the 1,000-mohur gold coin of Emperor Aurangzeb. It is the largest gold coin ever minted in the world, and weighs 11,193 kgs. Emperor Aurangzeb presented this huge coin to Nawab Ghaziuddin Khan Siddiqui Bahadur, Feroz Jung I. whose son Nizam-ul-Mulk founded the Asaf Jah dynasty. For a little over two centuries, the coin passed from one generation to the next in the Nizam's family before coming into the possession of Mukkaram Jah, the titular Nizam VIII. According to city historian, the gold coin was put up for auction at Hapsberg Feldman in Geneva in 1987. The Indian government, which regards the coin as a treasure of Indian heritage, however failed to intervene in time to stop the auction. But the auction was not successful as the price quoted by interested parties was far below the expectation. This came as a saving grace for the Indian government. The coin was reportedly mortgaged with the Banque de Credit Suisse for an undisclosed sum. Its present...

"I would just sell out completely, give this whole establishment up and live on the income from my investments", Prince Mukkaram Jah told the New York Times (NYT) when its correspondent Joseph Lelyveld asked him what he would do if the Indian government went through with the proposal to abolish the Privy Purses of the former rulers. It was a few months after Prince Mukkaram Jah was coronated as the titular Nizam VIII of Hyderabad on 06th April, 1967. The NYT published the report on 17th August, 1967. Fifty years after his coronation Prince Mukkaram Jah continues to live outside Hyderabad. Heritage activists and admirers of the Nizam VIII celebrated the golden jubilee of his coronation recalling the grand event that held Hyderabad in awe. Film recordings of the coronation event will be screened and special prayers for the good health and longevity of the Nizam were offered. 06th April also happens to be the birthday of Prince Mukkaram Jah's grandfather, Nizam VII Mir Osm...

[ Based on article written by Uma Shashikant, Chairperson, Centre for Investment Education and Learning, published in Times of India dated 03rd April, 2017 (Monday), p. 15 ]. A group of students wanted to know if equity analysis was too tough a subject to pursue. They told me about the stock market games they played in college. While they found it fascinating, they knew it was not a dependable way to make money. They then participated in equity analysis competitions and found the cases being discussed at the forum to ver complex. Is there a simple approach to equity analysis? How should someone who is not a student of finance begin to learn it? Equity analysis does encompass a vast range of factors and requires processing of information with intensity. But the fundamental concepts are still simple and straightforward. Does the business hold an earning quality that will sustain over a long time? That is the central question. Every relevant factor of analysis should be able to answer...

Hyderabadis are aware of the 'Purdah Gate' of King Kothi Palace, the official residence of Nizam VII, Mir Osman Ali Khan. But, not many know that Osmania University, which he founded, had conducted classes in the first few deacdes of its launch, literally behind the veil. Classes were held separately for boys and girls. In case a class had to be held in a common hall during the guest lectures of eminent personalities or visiting faculty, a 'purdah' or curtain was hung between boys and girls in OU. Like many educational institutions in Hyderabad of those days, Osmania University too had observed a 'purdah' system. This continued for a few decades. Classes for girl students were held separately by women faculty. If a qualified woman teacher was not available for a particular subject, classes were conducted by male lecturers but under strict 'vigilance' of 'Ayahs' (female attendants) accompanying the girl students. A study of news archives conta...