document_title: Constituent Assembly of India

question_text: who presided over the inaugural meeting of the constituent assembly if india

text: Constituent Assembly of India

text: Description [edit]

text: The Constituent Assembly, consisting of indirectly elected representatives, was established to draft a constitution for India (including the now-separate countries of Pakistan and Bangladesh). It existed for almost three years, the first parliament of India after independence in 1947. The Assembly was not elected on the basis of universal adult suffrage, and Muslims and Sikhs received special representation as minorities. The Muslim League boycotted the Assembly after failing to prevent its creation. Although a large part of the Constituent Assembly was drawn from the Congress Party in a one-party environment, the Congress Party included a wide diversity of opinions—from conservative industrialists and radical Marxists to Hindu revivalists—all of whom participated in the process.

text: The Assembly met for the first time in New Delhi on 9 December 1946, and its last session was held on 24 January 1950.[1] During this period (two years, eleven months and eighteen days) the Assembly held eleven sessions, sitting for a total of 166 days.[2] The hope of the Assembly was expressed by Jawaharlal Nehru:

text: The first task of this Assembly is to free India through a new constitution, to feed the starving people, and to clothe the naked masses, and to give every Indian the fullest opportunity to develop himself according to his capacity. This is certainly a great task. Look at India today. We, are sitting here and there in despair in many places, and unrest in many cities. The atmosphere is surcharged with these quarrels and feuds which are called communal disturbances, and unfortunately we sometimes cannot avoid them. But at present the greatest and most important question in India is how to solve the problem of the poor and the starving. Wherever we turn, we are confronted with this problem. If we cannot solve this problem soon, all our paper constitutions will become useless and purposeless. Keeping this aspect in view, who could suggest to us to postpone and wait?

text: Background and election[edit]

text: The Constituent Assembly was established while India was still under British rule, following negotiations between Indian leaders and members of the 1946 Cabinet Mission to India from the United Kingdom. Provincial assembly elections were held early in 1946. Constituent Assembly members were elected indirectly by members of the newly elected provincial assemblies, and initially included representatives for those provinces which formed part of Pakistan (some of which are now in Bangladesh). The Constituent Assembly had 299 representatives, including nine women.

text: The Interim Government of India was formed on 2 September 1946 from the newly elected Constituent Assembly. The Congress held a large majority in the Assembly (69 percent of the seats), and the Muslim League held nearly all the seats reserved in the Assembly for Muslims. There were also members of smaller parties, such as the Scheduled Caste Federation, the Communist Party of India and the Unionist Party.

text: In June 1947 delegations from Sindh, East Bengal, Baluchistan, West Punjab and the North West Frontier Province withdrew to form the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan, meeting in Karachi. On 15 August 1947 the Dominion of India and Dominion of Pakistan became independent nations, and members of the Constituent Assembly who had not withdrawn to Karachi became India's Parliament. Twenty-eight members of the Muslim League joined the Indian Assembly, and 93 members were later nominated from the princely states; the Congress Party secured a majority of 82 percent.

text: Constitution and elections[edit]

text: At 11 am on 9 December 1946 the Assembly began its first session, with 208 members attending. By early 1947, representatives of the Muslim League and princely states joined, and the Assembly approved the draft constitution on 26 November 1949. On 26 January 1950 the constitution took effect (commemorated as Republic Day), and the Constituent Assembly became the Provisional Parliament of India (continuing until after the first elections under the new constitution in 1952).

text: Organization[edit]

text: Dr. Sachchidananda Sinha was the first chairman (temporary) of Constituent Assembly. Later Dr. Rajendra Prasad was elected as the president and Its vice-president was Harendra Coomar Mookerjee, a Christian from Bengal and former vice-chancellor of Calcutta University. Also chairing the assembly's Minorities Committee, Mookerjee was appointed governor of West Bengal after India became a republic. Jurist B. N. Rau was appointed constitutional adviser to the assembly; Rau prepared the original draft of the constitution, and was later appointed a judge in the Permanent Court of International Justice in The Hague.

text: The assembly's work had five stages:

text:
Committees presented reports on issues.
B.N. Rau prepared an initial draft based on the reports and his research into the constitutions of other nations.
The drafting committee, chaired by B. R. Ambedkar, presented a detailed draft constitution which was published for public discussion.
The draft constitution was discussed, and amendments proposed and enacted.
The constitution was adopted, with a committee of experts led by the Congress Party (known as the Congress Assembly Party) played a pivotal role.[3]

text: Timeline[edit]

text:
9 December 1946: The first meeting of the Constituent Assembly was held in the constitution hall (now the Central Hall of Parliament House). Demanding a separate state, the Muslim League boycotted the meeting. Sachchidananda Sinha was elected temporary president of the assembly, in accordance with French practice.
11 December 1946: Rajendra Prasad was elected as president and H. C. Mukherjee was elected as vice-president of the constituent assembly. B. N. Rau was appointed as its constitutional adviser.
13 December 1946: An 'Objective Resolution' was moved by Jawaharlal Nehru in the assembly, laying down the underlying principles of the constitution. It finally became the Preamble of the constitution.
22 January 1947: Objective resolution unanimously adopted.
22 July 1947: National flag adopted.
15 August 1947: Indian independence achieved as the Dominion of India.
29 August 1947: Drafting Committee appointed with Dr. B. R. Ambedkar as the Chairman.
16 July 1948: Along with Harendra Coomar Mookerjee V. T. Krishnamachari was also elected as second vice-president of Constituent Assembly.
26 November 1949: Constitution passed and accepted by the assembly.
24 January 1950: "Jana Gana Mana" adopted as the national anthem, with the first two verses of "Vande Mataram" the national song. Rajendra Prasad elected the first president of India.

text: The assembly was chaired by Dr. Rajendra Prasad when it met as a constituent body, and by G. V. Mavlankar when it met as a legislative body. It completed the task of drafting a constitution in two years, eleven months and eighteen days, at a total expenditure of ₹6.4 million.

text: Committees of the Constituent Assembly[edit]

text: The Constituent Assembly appointed a total of 22 committees to deal with different tasks of constitution-making. Out of these, eight were major committees and the others were minor committees.

text: Major Committees

text:
Drafting Committee – Dr. B.R. Ambedkar
Union Powers Committee – Jawaharlal Nehru
Union Constitution Committee – Jawaharlal Nehru
Provincial Constitution Committee – Sardar Patel
Advisory Committee on Fundamental Rights, Minorities and Tribal and Excluded Areas – Sardar Patel. This committee had the following subcommittees:

Fundamental Rights Sub-Committee – J.B. Kripalani
Minorities Sub-Committee – Harendra Coomar Mookerjee,
North-East Frontier Tribal Areas and Assam Excluded & Partially Excluded Areas Sub-Committee – Gopinath Bardoloi
Excluded and Partially Excluded Areas (Other than those in Assam) Sub-Committee – A.V. Thakkar

Rules of Procedure Committee – Dr. Rajendra Prasad
States Committee (Committee for Negotiating with States) – Jawaharlal Nehru
Steering Committee – Dr. Rajendra Prasad

tag: ol

text: Prominent members[edit]

text:
B. R. Ambedkar, Minister for Law; Chairman of Drafting Committee
B. N. Rau, Constitutional Advisor
Jawaharlal Nehru, first Prime Minister of India
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, first Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Minister for Education
Rajendra Prasad, President of Constituent Assembly
C. Rajagopalachari, Governor-General of India
Sarat Chandra Bose, Barrister and Indian independence activist
Krishna Sinha, first Chief Minister, Bihar
Binodanand Jha, Minister, Bihar
Shyam Nandan Prasad Mishra
Anugrah Narayan Sinha, Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister, Bihar
Rafi Ahmed Kidwai
Asaf Ali
Syama Prasad Mookerjee, Industries Minister, President, Hindu Mahasabha
Moturi Satyanarayana, Freedom Fighter
Rajkumari Amrit Kaur, Health Minister
Hansa Mehta, President, All India Women's Conference
N. G. Ranga
Deep Narayan Singh, Minister, Bihar
Gopinath Bordoloi, Prime Minister of Assam[4]
Sir Syed Muhammad Saadulla, Assam
P. Subbarayan
Kailashnath Katju
N. Gopalaswami Ayyangar
T. T. Krishnamachari
Rameshwar Prasad Sinha
Durgabai Deshmukh
K. M. Munshi
Krishana Ballabh Sahay
Frank Anthony, Anglo-Indian representative
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
John Mathai,first railway minister of India
Pratap Singh Kairon
L. Krishnaswamy Bharati - Madras Province
Chidambaram Subramaniam
Jaipal Singh Munda, Former Indian Hockey captain, and Tribal leader

text: Members (by province/state)[edit]

text: Madras: Annie Mascarene, O. V. Alagesan, Mrs. Ammu Swaminathan, M. Ananthasayanam Ayyangar, Moturi Satyanarayana, Mrs. Dakshayani Velayudhan, Mrs. G. Durgabai, Kala Venkatarao, N. Gopalaswamy Ayyangar, D. Govinda Das, Revd. Jerome D'Souza, P. Kakkan, T.M. Kaliyannan Gounder, K. Kamaraj, V. C. Kesava Rao, T. T. Krishnamachari, Alladi Krishnaswamy Iyer L. Krishnaswami Bharathi, P. Kunhiraman, Mosalikanti Thirumala Rao, V. I. Munuswamy Pillai, M. A. Muthiah Chettiar, V. Nadimuthu Pillai, S. Nagappa, P. L. Narasimha Raju, B. Pattabhi Sitaramayya, C. Perumalswamy Reddy, T. Prakasam, S. H. Prater, Raja Swetachalapati Ramakrishna Renga Roa of Bobbili, R. K. Shanmukham Chetty, T. A. Ramalingam Chettiar, Ramnath Goenka, O. P. Ramaswamy Reddiar, N. G. Ranga, Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy, Sheik Galib Sahib, K. Santhanam, B. Shiva Rao, Kallur Subba Rao, U. Srinivasa Mallya, P. Subbarayan, C. Subramaniam, V Subramaniam, M. C. Veerabahu Pillai, P. M. Velayudapani, A. K. Menon, T. J. M. Wilson, Mohamed Ismail Sahib, K. T. M. Ahmed Ibrahim, Mahboob Ali Baig Sahib Bahadur, B. Pocker Sahib Bahadur, pattam Tanupillai

text: Bombay: Balchandra Maheshwar Gupte, Hansa Mehta, Hari Vinayak Pataskar, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, Joseph Alban D'Souza, Kanayalal Nanabhai Desai, Keshavrao Marutirao Jedhe, Khandubhai Kasanji Desai, Bal Gangadhar Kher, M.R. Masani, K.M. Munshi, Narahar Vishnu Gadgil, S. Nijalingappa, S. K. Patil, Ramchandra Manohar Nalavade, R. R. Diwakar, Shankarrao Deo, G. V. Mavalankar, Vallabhbhai Patel, Abdul Kadar Mohammad Shaikh, A. A. Khan

text: West Bengal: Monomohan Das, Arun Chandra Guha, Lakshmi Kanta Maitra, Mihir Lal Chattopadhyay, Satis Chandra Samanta, Suresh Chandra Majumdar, Upendranath Barman, Prabhudayal Himatsingka, Basanta Kumar Das, Renuka Ray, H. C. Mukherjee, Surendra Mohan Ghose, Syama Prasad Mookerjee, Ari Bahadur Gurung, R. E. Platel, K. C. Neogy, Raghib Ahsan, Somnath Lahiri, Jasimuddin Ahmad, Naziruddin Ahmad, Abdul Hamid, Abdul Halim Ghuznavi

text: United Provinces: Ajit Prasad Jain, Algu Rai Shastri, Balkrishna Sharma, Banshi Dhar Misra, Bhagwan Din, Damodar Swarup Seth, Dayal Das Bhagat, Dharam Prakash, A. Dharam Dass, R. V. Dhulekar, Feroz Gandhi, Gopal Narain, Krishna Chandra Sharma, Govind Ballabh Pant, Govind Malviya, Har Govind Pant, Harihar Nath Shastri, Hriday Nath Kunzru, Jaspat Roy Kapoor, Jagannath Baksh Singh, Jawaharlal Nehru, Jogendra Singh, Jugal Kishore, Jwala Prasad Srivastava, B. V. Keskar, Kamala Chaudhry, Kamalapati Tripathi, J. B. Kripalani, Mahavir Tyagi, Khurshed Lal, Masurya Din, Mohan Lal Saksena, Padampat Singhania, Phool Singh, Paragi Lal, Purnima Banerjee, Purushottam Das Tandon, Hira Vallabha Tripathi, Ram Chandra Gupta, Shibban Lal Saxena, Satish Chandra, John Matthai, Sucheta Kripalani, Sunder Lall, Venkatesh Narayan Tiwari, Mohanlal Gautam, Vishwambhar Dayal Tripathi, Vishnu Sharan Dublish, Begum Aizaz Rasul, Hyder Hussain, Hasrat Mohani, Abul Kalam Azad, Muhammad Ismail Khan, Rafi Ahmad Kidwai, Mohd. Hifzur Rahman, Z H Lari

text: East Punjab: Bakshi Tek Chand, Jairamdas Daulatram, Thakurdas Bhargava, Bikramlal Sondhi, Yashwant Rai, Ranbir Singh Hooda, Lala Achint Ram, Nand Lal, Baldev Singh, Giani Gurmukh Singh Musafir, Sardar Hukam Singh, Sardar Bhopinder Singh Mann, Sardar Rattan Singh Lohgarh Chaudhry Suraj Mal

text: Bihar: Nasif Arafat, Amiyo Kumar Ghosh, Anugrah Narayan Sinha, Banarsi Prasad Jhunjhunwala, Bhagwat Prasad, Boniface Lakra, Brajeshwar Prasad, Chandika Ram, K. T. Shah, Devendra Nath Samanta, Dip Narain Sinha, Guptanath Singh, Jadubans Sahay, Jagat Narain Lal, Jagjivan Ram, Jaipal Singh Munda, Kameshwar Singh of Darbhanga, Kamaleshwari Prasad Yadav, Mahesh Prasad Sinha, Krishna Ballabh Sahay, Raghunandan Prasad, Rajendra Prasad, Rameshwar Prasad Sinha, Ramnarayan Singh, Sachchidananda Sinha, Sarangdhar Sinha, Satyanarayan Sinha, Binodanand Jha, P. K. Sen, Sri Krishna Sinha, Sri Narayan Mahtha, Syamanandan Sahaya, Hussain Imam, Syed Jafar Imam, Latifur Rahman, Mohammad Tahir, Tajamul Hussain, Choudhry Abid Hussain. Hargovind Mishra

text: Central Provinces and Berar: Ambica Charan Shukla, Raghu Vira, Rajkumari Amrit Kaur, B.A. Mandloi, Brijlal Nandlal Biyani, Thakur Cheedilal, Seth Govind Das, Hari Singh Gour, Hari Vishnu Kamath, Hemchandra Jagobaji Khandekar, Ghanshyam Singh Gupta, Lakshman Shrawan Bhatkar, Panjabrao Shamrao Deshmukh, Ravi Shankar Shukla, R. K. Sidhva, Shankar Trimbak Dharmadhikari, Frank Anthony, Kazi Syed Karimuddin, Ganpatrao Dani

text: Assam: Nibaran Chandra Laskar, Dharanidhar Basu-Matari, Gopinath Bardoloi, J. J. M. Nichols-Roy, Kuladhar Chaliha, Rohini Kumar Chaudhury, Muhammad Saadulla, Abdur Rouf

text: Orissa: Biswanath Das, Krishna Chandra Gajapati Narayana Dev, Harekrushna Mahatab, Laxminarayan Sahu Lokanath Mishra, Nandkishore Das, Rajkrishna Bose, Santanu Kumar Das, Yudhishir Mishra

text: Delhi: Deshbhandhu Gupta

text: Ajmer-Merwara: Mukut Bihari Lal Bhargava

text: Coorg: C. M. Poonacha

text: Mysore: K.C. Reddy, T. Siddalingaiya, H. R. Guruv Reddy, S. V. Krishnamurthy Rao, K. Hanumanthaiya, H. Siddaveerappa, T. Channiah

text: Jammu and Kashmir: Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah, Motiram Baigra, Mirza Mohammad Afzal Beg, Maulana Mohammad Sayeed Masoodi

text: Travancore-Cochin: Pattom A. Thanu Pillai, R. Sankar, P. T. Chacko, Panampilly Govinda Menon, Annie Mascarene, P.S.Nataraja Pillai, K.A. Mohamed

text: Madhya Bharat: Vinayak Sitaram Sarwate, Brijraj Narain, Gopikrishna Vijayavargiya, Ram Sahai, Kusum Kant Jain, Radhavallabh Vijayavargiya, Sitaram S. Jajoo

text: Saurashtra: Balwant Rai Gopalji Mehta, Jaisukhlal Hathi, Amritlal Vithaldas Thakkar, Chimanlal Chakubhai Shah, Samaldas Laxmidas Gandhi

text: Rajasthan: V. T. Krishnamachari, Hiralal Shastri, Sardar Singhjhi of Khetri, Jaswant Singhji, Raj Bhadur, Manikya Lal Varma, Gokul Lal Asava, Ramchandra Upadhyaya, Balwant Sinha Mehta, Dalel Singh, Jainarain Vyas

text: Patiala and East Punjab States Union: Ranjit Singh, Sochet Singh, Bhagwant Roy

text: Bombay States: Vinayakrao Balshankar Vaidya, B. N. Munavalli, Gokulbhai Daulatram Bhatt, Jivraj Narayan Mehta, Gopaldas A. Desai, Paranlal Thakurlal Munshi, B. H. Khardekar, Ratnappa Bharamappa Kumbhar

text: Orissa States: Lal Mohan Pati, N. Madhava Rau, Raj Kunwar, Sarangadhar Das, Yudhishthir Mishra

text: Central Provinces States: R. L. Malaviya, Kishorimohan Tripathi, Ramprasad Potai

text: United Provinces States: B. H. Zaidi, Krishna Singh

text: Madras States: V. Ramaiah, Ramakrishna Ranga Rao

text: Vindhya Pradesh: Avdesh Pratap Singh, Shambu Nath Shukla, Ram Sahai Tiwari, Mannulalji Dwidedi

text: Cooch Behar: Himmat Singh K. Maheshwari

text: Tripura and Manipur: Girja Shankar Guha

text: Bhopal: Lal Singh

text: Kutch: Bhawani Arjun Khimji

text: Himachal Pradesh: Yashwant Singh Parmar

text: Members who later withdrew after partition[edit]

text: East Bengal: Abdullah al Mahmood, Maulana Mohd Abdullah el Baqui, Abdul Hamid, Abdul Kasem Khan, Mohammad Akram Khan, A. Hamid, Azizuddin Ahmad, Muhammad Habibullah Bahar, Prem Hari Barma, Raj Kumar Chakraverty, Sris Chandra Chattopadhyaya, Abdul Matin Chaudhary, Murtaza Raza Choudhry, Hamidul Haq Chowdhury, Akhay Kumar Das, Dhirendra Nath Datta, Bhupendra Kumar Datta, Ebrahim Khan, Fazlul Huq, Fazlur Rahman, Ghayasuddin Pathan, Begum Shaista Suhrawardy Ikramullah, Liaquat Ali Khan, Mafizuddin Ahmad, Mahmud Hussain, Jnanendra Chandra Majumdar, A. M. Malik, Birat Chandra Mandal, Jogendra Nath Mandal, Mohammed Ali, Khwaja Nazimuddin, M.A.B.L. Nur Ahmed, Nurul Amin, Ishtiaq Hussain Qureshi, Sri Dhananjoy M.A. B.L. Roy, Maudi Bhakesh Chanda, B.L. Serajul Islam, Maulana Shabbir Ahmad Osmani, Shahabudin Khwaja, H.S. Suhrawardy, Harendra Kumar Sur, Tamizuddin Khan, Kawivi Kerwar Datta, Ghulam Mohammed

text: West Punjab: Mian Mumtaz Mohammad Khan Daultana, Ganga Saran, Zafarullah Khan, Iftikhar Hussain Khan, Mian Muhammad Iftikharuddin, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Sheikh Karamat Ali, Nazir Ahmad Khan, Sardar Abdur Rab Nistar, Feroz Khan Noon, Omar Hayat Malik, Shah Nawaz Begum Jahan Ara, Sardar Shaukat Hyat Khan,

text: Northwest Frontier Province: Khan Abdul Ghafar Khan, Khan Sardar Bahadur Khan, Sardar Asad Ullah Jan Khan

text: Sindh: Abdus Sattar Abdur Rahman, Alhajj Muhammad Hashim Gazder, M.A. Khuhro

text: Balochistan: S. B. Nawab Mohammad Khan Jogezai

text: Gallery[edit]

text:
Jawaharlal Nehru and other members taking pledge during the midnight session of the Constituent Assembly of India held on 14 and 15 August 1947.

Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Chairman, Drafting Committee of the Indian Constitution with other members on Aug. 29, 1947.

Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, chairman of the Drafting Committee, presenting the final draft of the Indian Constitution to Dr. Rajendra Prasad on 25 November, 1949.

B. R. Ambedkar in Constituent Assembly of India.

Jawaharlal Nehru addressing the constituent assembly in 1946.


document_title: Poppy (given name)

question_text: what is the origin of the name poppy

question_tokens: what is the origin of the name poppy

root

text: Poppy (given name)

text:
Poppy

The name Poppy is derived the name of the flower.

Pronunciation
Po-pee

Gender
female

Origin

Word/name
English

Meaning
"poppy"

Region of origin
United Kingdom

tag: table

text: Poppy is a feminine given name derived from the name of the flower "poppy", derived from the Old English popæg and referring to various species of Papaver. The name is rising in popularity in the United Kingdom. It was the 13th most popular name given to baby girls in England and Wales in 2016 [1] and was the 43rd most popular name given to baby girls in Scotland.[2] The popularity of the name has been attributed to the naming of Poppy Honey, a daughter of British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver.[3] Australian actress Poppy Montgomery and her sisters were named for the Flower Fairies illustrations by Cicely Mary Barker.

tag: p

text: People named Poppy[edit]

text:
Poppy Adams, British television documentary director/producer and novelist
Poppy Cannon (1905–1975), food editor and cookbook writer
Poppy de Villeneuve (born 1979), English director and photographer
Poppy Delevingne (born 1986), British model and socialite
Poppy Jhakra (born 1984), English actress
Poppy King (born 1972), Australian entrepreneur
Poppy Miller (born 1969), English actress
Poppy Montgomery (born 1972), Australian actress
Poppy is the stage name of entertainer Moriah Pereira

tag: ul

text: Fictional characters[edit]

text:
Poppy Lifton, a character in Gossip Girl, 2008-2012
Poppy, the principal character in 2008 film Happy-Go-Lucky
Poppy, in the Kate Cann novel Leaving Poppy
Poppy, on Huge (TV series)
Poppy, a mouse in Avi's novels Poppy and Poppy and Rye
Poppy Burt-Jones, a character in the novel White Teeth by Zadie Smith
Poppy Carew, protagonist of the novel The Vacillations of Poppy Carew by Mary Wesley
Poppy Cat, the main character in a series of books created by Lara Jones
Poppy Champion, minor character in the sixth series of Skins (UK TV series) played by Holly Earl
Poppy Colfax, a character in the 2009 film Fired Up
Poppy Eyebright, a mouse in Jill Barklem's Brambly Hedge book series
Poppy Meadow, a character in EastEnders
Poppy Meldrum, on the television series You Rang, M'Lord?
Poppy Moore, the main character in Wild Child (2008 film)
Poppy, a bunny in the Beechwood Bunny Tales children's book series
Poppy North, the main character in the first book of the Night World series Secret Vampire
Poppy Pomfrey, Hogwarts staff member in the Harry Potter series
Poppy, a yellow cockatiel in Angry Birds Stella and The Angry Birds Movie
Poppy Shakespeare, the title character in a novel by Clare Allan
Poppy Thornapple, in the book The War of the Flowers
Poppy, a supporting character from the video game Dragon Quest: Shōnen Yangus to Fushigi no Dungeon
Poppy, the dog of Galford D. Weller from the Samurai Shodown series of fighting games
Poppy, Keeper of the Hammer, a playable champion character in the action real-time strategy video game League of Legends
Poppy, a cat puppet in BBC children's TV show Playdays
Poppy, a troll in the 2016 film Trolls
Poppy O'Hair, twin sister of Holly O'Hair and daughter of Rapunzel from Ever After High
Poppy Adams, a character from Kingsman: The Golden Circle

text: Notes[edit]

text:
Jump up ^ https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/sep/20/olivia-oliver-2016-top-baby-names-england-and-wales
Jump up ^ http://www.britishbabynames.com/blog/top-names-in-scotland/
Jump up ^ Behind the Name

text:
Name list
This page or section lists people that share the same given name. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change that link to point directly to the intended article.

text: Given namesFeminine given namesEnglish given namesEnglish feminine given names

text: Articles with short descriptionAll set index articles


document_title: Life in a... Metro

question_text: who sang alvida from life in a metro

question_tokens: who sang alvida from life in a metro

text: Life in a... Metro

text: Synopsis[edit]

text: Rahul (Sharman Joshi) is a young man with dreams, working as a call center executive in a BPO in Mumbai. He silently loves Neha (Kangana Ranaut), a smart young woman who has made it up the ranks in a very short time, due to her relationship with her boss, Ranjeet (Kay Kay Menon).

text: In his 30s, Ranjeet is married to Shikha (Shilpa Shetty) and has a six-year-old daughter. Shikha is well educated and a trained dancer. Ranjeet and Shikha decided that she should stay at home and take care of the house and their child. Their eight-year marriage has turned loveless and bitter.

text: Neglected by an indifferent husband and bogged down by family chores, Shikha is attracted to maverick Akash (Shiney Ahuja). Akash is a struggling theater artist who is separated from his wife. Akash and Shikha's relationship starts as friendship and almost blossoms romantically, until Shikha feels guilty and cannot cross the limits that she has fervently guarded for years.

text: Amol (Dharmendra) is a 70-year-old man who has returned to India after 40 years to spend his last few years with his first love, Shivani (Nafisa Ali), who is also Shikha's former dance teacher.

text: Shikha's sister and Neha's roommate Shruti (Konkona Sen Sharma) works in at Radio Mirchi as a producer. She is 28 and desperate to get married. She meets Monty (Irrfan Khan) through a matrimonial site, but she is unimpressed by the straightforward and socially inept Monty. While Monty likes her and is ready to marry her, she declines when she finds him ogling her. She is, however, dreamy-eyed about her RJ, Rishi K. Her boss hooks her up with Rishi K, and her relationship with him blossoms.

text: Rahul has a novel strategy to rise up the ladder of success. He provides his flat to his superiors at the office, where they can safely bring their mistresses, girlfriends or prostitutes, in return for recommendation for his promotion. Ranjeet uses the flat to meet Neha.

text: Amidst one of their escapades in Rahul's flat, Neha asks Ranjeet about their future, which leads to an argument. He insults her and leaves. Indignant, she attempts suicide. Rahul finds her lying unconscious and saves her. He brings her back to his house, which brings them closer.

text: Shruti is heartbroken when she discovers that Rishi K is gay. She leaves the job and gets a new one where she again meets Monty. Slowly, they become friends. Meanwhile, Shruti learns about Ranjeet and Neha. Ranjeet panics and confesses to Shikha of his two-year affair with Neha. An already guilt-stricken Shikha cannot hold it in any longer and tells him about her emotional relationship with Akash. Ranjeet is shocked and angry, and decides to leave his wife.

text: Shivani dies. Amol regrets the decision to leave Shivani 40 years back, stressing the importance of love to Shikha and Shruti. Shruti realizes that she loves Monty and tells him so just as he is about to go for his wedding. Meanwhile, Akash decides to leave the country and asks Shikha to join him. On the other hand, Rahul is disillusioned with the way the metro has treated him and decides to resign and leave the city. Neha realizes that Rahul really loves her and follows him to the station. Ranjeet returns to Shikha, who is just about to leave for the station to see Akash.

text: Neha chases Rahul. Monty chases Shruti. Shikha comes to the station but not to accompany Akash. She wishes him good luck, tells him that she will miss him.

text: While the credits roll, we are shown Akash still roaming the streets of Mumbai, Shikha and Ranjeet are in a happier marriage, and Rahul is living happily with Neha. Shruti and Monty are also happily married and have a kid.

text: Cast[edit]

text:
Dharmendra as Amol
Kay Kay Menon as Ranjeet
Irrfan Khan as Monty
Sharman Joshi as Rahul
Shiney Ahuja as Akash
Nafisa Ali as Shivani
Shilpa Shetty as Shikha
Konkona Sen Sharma as Shruti
Kangana Ranaut as Neha
Ashwin Mushran as Shruti's Boss
Sumit as director

text: Box office[edit]

text: Life in a... Metro was the 26th highest grossing Bollywood film of 2007, grossing ₹227.5 million (US$3.5 million) and became a semi-hit at the box office, despite taking a below average opening.[3]

text: Soundtrack[edit]

text:
Life in a... Metro

Soundtrack album by Pritam (Metro Band)

Released
18 July 2007

Genre
Feature film soundtrack

Length
39:22

Label
Sony BMG

text: The soundtrack was released on 21 August 2007. Life In A... Metro's music was composed by Pritam with lyrics by Sayeed Quadri, Amitabh Verma and Sandeep Srivastava. Bob Dylan's "I Want You" plays in the background when Shruti and Rishi are at a vending machine and Shruti mistakes Rishi to be gesturing and speaking with her. The song does not appear on the soundtrack. According to the Indian trade website Box Office India, with around 11,00,000 units sold, this film's soundtrack album was the year's twelfth highest-selling.[4]

text: Production[edit]

text: The song, "Alvida" was composed by Pritam back in 90's when he was still struggling.

text: Metro Band[edit]

text: Pritam formed the band Metro with Suhail Kaul and the Bangladeshi singer Fahruk Mahfuz Anam aka James that performed the songs in the movie.

text: In the film, this rock band led by Pritam plays at important junctures and takes the story forward. This is considered to be a first in Indian film. The music score in Life In A... Metro is heavily rock-oriented. The four-members were Pritam, Suhail Kaul, Soham Chakraborty and Bangladeshi singer James.

text: Track list[edit]

text:
Track Name
Lyrics
Singer
Band Metro
Remixed by

Alvida
Amitabh Verma
K.K.

N

Alvida (Reprise)
Amitabh Verma
Fahruk Mahfuz Anam (James)

Y

Baatein Kuch Ankahein Si
Sandeep Srivastava
Adnan Sami

N

Baatein Kuch Ankahein Si (Unplugged)
Sandeep Srivastava
Suhail Kaul

Y

Baatein Kuch Ankahein Si (Remix)
Sandeep Srivastava
Adnan Sami

N

DJ A-Myth

In Dino
Sayeed Quadri
Soham Chakraborty

Y

In Dino (Remix)
Sayeed Quadri
Soham Chakraborty

N

Bunty Rajput

Kar Salaam
Sayeed Quadri
Soham Chakraborty
Pritam Chakraborty
Suhail Kaul

Y

O Meri Jaan
Sandeep Srivastava
K.K.

N

O Meri Jaan (Reprise)
Sandeep Srivastava
Suhail Kaul & K.K.

Y

Rishtey
Sayeed Quadri
Fahruk Mahfuz Anam (James)

Y

Rishtey (Remix)
Sayeed Quadri
Fahruk Mahfuz Anam (James)

N

DJ Nikhil Chinappa
DJ Naved

text: Awards[edit]

text: 2008 Filmfare Awards

text: 2008 Zee Cine Award

text: Zee Cine Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Female – Shilpa Shetty

text: 2008 IIFA Awards

text:
Best Supporting Actress – Konkona Sen Sharma
Best Supporting Actor – Irrfan Khan
Best Screenplay – Anurag Basu (jointly with Jaideep Sahni for Chak De India)

text: Other awards

text:
2008 Star Screen Award for Best Comedian – Irrfan Khan
2008 Stardust Breakthrough Performance Award (Female) – Kangana Ranaut


document_title: To Know Him Is to Love Him

question_text: who sang to know her is to love her

question_tokens: who sang to know her is to love her

text: To Know Him Is to Love Him

text: Chart performance[edit]

text:
Chart (1958)
Peak
position

U.S. Billboard Hot 100
1

UK – New Musical Express
2

U.S. Billboard Hot R&B Sides[6]
10

text:
Preceded by
"Tom Dooley"
by The Kingston Trio
Billboard Hot 100 number-one single (Teddy Bears version)
December 1–21, 1958
Succeeded by
"The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)"
by David Seville and The Chipmunks

text: Nancy Sinatra version[edit]

text:
"To Know Him Is to Love Him"

Single by Nancy Sinatra

A-side
"Like I Do"

Released
1962

Format
7" vinyl

Recorded
1962

Genre
Pop

Length
2:13

Label
Reprise

Songwriter(s)
Phil Spector[2]

Producer(s)
Tutti Camarata

Nancy Sinatra singles chronology

"String Module Error: Match not found"
(String Module Error: Match not found)
"To Know Him Is to Love Him"
(1962)
"String Module Error: Match not found"
(String Module Error: Match not found)

"Cuff Links and a Tie Clip"
"To Know Him Is to Love Him"
"June, July, and August"

text: In 1962, Nancy Sinatra released her version of the song on Reprise Records, as the B-side of "Like I Do".[7]

text: Peter and Gordon version[edit]

text:
"To Know You Is to Love You"

Single by Peter and Gordon

B-side
"I Told You So"

Released
1965

Format

Vinyl
7"
45 RPM

Genre
Pop rock

Length
2:33

Label
Capitol

Songwriter(s)
Phil Spector

text: In 1965, Peter and Gordon released a version of the song, titled "To Know You Is to Love You". Peter and Gordon's version spent 10 weeks on the UK's Record Retailer chart, peaking at No. 5,[8] while also reaching No. 5 on Canada's "RPM Play Sheet".[9] In the United States, the song spent 7 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at No. 24.[10]

text: Charts[edit]

text:
Chart (1965)
Peak
position

UK – Record Retailer
5

Canada – RPM Play Sheet
5

US – Billboard Hot 100
24

text: Bobby Vinton version[edit]

text:
"To Know You Is to Love You"

Single by Bobby Vinton

from the album Vinton

B-side
"The Beat of My Heart"

Released
1969

Format

Vinyl
7"
45 RPM

Genre
Pop

Length
2:21

Label
Epic

Songwriter(s)
Phil Spector

Bobby Vinton singles chronology

"I Love How You Love Me"
(1968)
"To Know You Is to Love You"
(1969)
"The Days of Sand and Shovels"
(1969)

"I Love How You Love Me"
(1968)
"To Know You Is to Love You"
(1969)
"The Days of Sand and Shovels"
(1969)

text: In 1969, Bobby Vinton released a version of the song, titled "To Know You Is to Love You". Vinton's version spent 7 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at No. 34,[11] while reaching No. 8 on Billboard's Easy Listening chart,[12] No. 16 on Canada's RPM 100,[13] and No. 6 on RPM's Adult Contemporary chart.[14]

text: Charts[edit]

text:
Chart (1969)
Peak
position

US – Billboard Hot 100
34

US – Billboard Easy Listening
8

Canada – RPM 100
16

Canada – RPM Adult Contemporary
6

Canada – CHUM 30[15]
14

text: Jody Miller version[edit]

text: In 1972, Jody Miller took a version to No. 18 on the Billboard country charts.

text: Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris version[edit]

text:
"To Know Him Is to Love Him"

Single by Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris

from the album Trio

B-side
"Farther Along"

Released
January, 1987

Genre
Country

Length
3:48

Label
Warner Bros. Nashville

Songwriter(s)
Phil Spector

Producer(s)
George Massenburg

Dolly Parton singles chronology

"We Had It All"
(1986) We Had It All1986
"To Know Him Is to Love Him"
(1987) To Know Him Is to Love Him1987
"Telling Me Lies"
(1987) Telling Me Lies1987

Linda Ronstadt singles chronology

"I Knew You When"
(1983) I Knew You When1983
"To Know Him Is to Love Him"
(1987) To Know Him Is to Love Him1987
"Telling Me Lies"
(1987) Telling Me Lies1987

Emmylou Harris singles chronology

"Today I Started Loving You Again"
(1986) Today I Started Loving You Again1986
"To Know Him Is to Love Him"
(1987) To Know Him Is to Love Him1987
"Telling Me Lies"
(1987) Telling Me Lies1987

text: In 1987, Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris covered the song, including it on their Grammy Award-winning, multi-million selling Trio album, and releasing it as the album's first single. Their version hit #1 on the U. S. Hot Country Songs chart on May 16, 1987. The accompanying music video was played continuously on CMT and directed by White Copeman.[16]

text: Charts[edit]

text:
Chart (1987)
Peak
position

U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles[17]
1

Canadian RPM Country Tracks
1

text:
Preceded by
"The Moon Is Still Over Her Shoulder"
by Michael Johnson
Billboard Hot Country Singles
number-one single
May 16, 1987
Succeeded by
"Can't Stop My Heart from Loving You"
by The O'Kanes

Preceded by
"Don't Go to Strangers"
by T. Graham Brown
RPM Country Tracks
number-one single
May 16–23, 1987

text: The Beatles version[edit]

text:
"To Know Her Is to Love Her"

Song by The Beatles

from the album Live at the BBC

Released
30 November 1994

Recorded
16 July 1963

Length
2:51

Label
Apple

Songwriter(s)
Phil Spector

Producer(s)
Terry Henebery

text: The Beatles recorded two versions, both retitled "To Know Her Is to Love Her". One version was on their January 1962 audition tapes with Decca, not released during the band's existence. The second version was recorded on 16 July 1963 for the Pop Go The Beatles radio show and was not officially released until 1994, on their Live at the BBC compilation album. John Lennon recorded his own version of the song in 1973 ("To Know Her Is to Love Her"), but it would not see release until the 1986 posthumous compilation Menlove Ave.

text: Personnel (Live at the BBC)[edit]

text:
John Lennon – vocals, rhythm guitar
Paul McCartney – bass guitar, backing vocals
George Harrison – lead guitar, backing vocals
Ringo Starr – drums[18]

text: Other versions[edit]

text:
"To Know Him Is to Love Him"

Single by Amy Winehouse

from the album Back to Black (Deluxe Edition Bonus Disc)

Released
2007

Genre
Soul

Length
2:25

Label
Island

Songwriter(s)
Phil Spector

text: Evelyn Kingsley with The Towers recorded a version on a 1958 Capitol single (F4069).

text: Dodie Stevens recorded a version for her 1961 album Pink Shoelaces.

text: The Shirelles recorded a version which appeared on their 1964 compilation The Shirelles Sing the Golden Oldies .

text: British rock star Gary Glitter recorded a version on his second studio album Touch Me in 1973, which reached No. 2 in the UK charts.

text: Steeleye Span played a cover of the song on their 1974 album Now We Are Six, which features, as a guest, David Bowie on alto saxophone. The inclusion of a rock 'n' roll standard baffled many listeners who had come to expect Steeleye Span's interpretations of traditional fare; what is generally not known, however, is that the track does represent an aspect of Steeleye Span's live show at that time (1974). They were known for doing a rock 'n' roll encore during this period, influenced by the band Sha Na Na with whom they toured.

text: David Bromberg included a version on his album My Own House (Fantasy 9572, 1978). He recorded the acoustic guitar and vocal live, and then overdubbed a slide guitar part.

text: In 2007, Amy Winehouse recorded the song acoustically for a B-side of "You Know I'm No Good". A version by Winehouse also appeared on the 2007 compilation album The Saturday Sessions: The Dermot O'Leary Show. In the same year, the song was recorded as a duet by Jill Johnson and Lisa Miskovsky.[19]

text: On July 10, 2010 the song was performed by David Gilmour and Roger Waters when they played a concert in aid of the "Hoping Foundation"[20] – their first performance together since Pink Floyd's gig for Live 8 in July 2005 – as a tongue-in-cheek reference to their often-volatile creative relationship.

text: In 2011, Kikki Danielsson recorded the song on the album Första dagen på resten av mitt liv.[21]

text: Country singer Martina McBride also covered the song on her 2014 album Everlasting.


question_text: who was the first african american to serve in the united states house of representatives

text: History of black representation[edit]

text: Reconstruction and Redemption[edit]

text: The right of blacks to vote and to serve in the United States Congress was established after the Civil War by amendments to the Constitution. The Thirteenth Amendment (ratified December 6, 1865), abolished slavery. The Fourteenth Amendment (ratified July 9, 1868) made all people born or naturalized in the United States citizens. The Fifteenth Amendment (ratified February 3, 1870) forbade the denial or abridgment of the right to vote on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude, and gave Congress the power to enforce the law by appropriate legislation.

text: In 1866, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act and the four Reconstruction Acts, which dissolved all governments in the former Confederate states with the exception of Tennessee. It divided the South into five military districts, where the military through the Freedmen's Bureau helped protect the rights and safety of newly freed blacks. The act required that the former Confederate states ratify their constitutions conferring citizenship rights on blacks or forfeit their representation in Congress.

text: As a result of these measures, blacks acquired the right to vote across the Southern states. In several states (notably Mississippi and South Carolina), blacks were the majority of the population. By forming coalitions with pro-Union whites, Republicans took control of the state legislatures. At the time, state legislatures elected the members of the US Senate. During Reconstruction, only the state legislature of Mississippi elected any black senators. On February 25, 1870, Hiram Rhodes Revels was seated as the first black member of the Senate, while Blanche Bruce, also of Mississippi, seated in 1875, was the second. Revels was the first black member of the Congress overall.[1]

text: Blacks were a majority of the population in many congressional districts across the South. In 1870, Joseph Rainey of South Carolina was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, becoming the first directly elected black member of Congress to be seated.[2] Blacks were elected to national office also from Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina and Virginia.

text: All of these Reconstruction era black senators and representatives were members of the Republican Party. The Republicans represented the party of Abraham Lincoln and of emancipation. The Southern Democrats represented the party of planters, slavery and secession.

text: From 1868, southern elections were accompanied by increasing violence, especially in Louisiana, Mississippi and the Carolinas, in an effort by Democrats to suppress black voting and regain power. In the mid-1870s, paramilitary groups such as the White League and Red Shirts worked openly to turn Republicans out of office and intimidate blacks from voting. This followed the earlier years of secret vigilante action by the Ku Klux Klan against freedmen and allied whites.

text: After the disputed Presidential election of 1876 between Democratic Samuel J. Tilden, governor of New York, and Republican Rutherford B. Hayes, governor of Ohio, a national agreement between Democratic and Republican factions was negotiated, resulting in the Compromise of 1877. Under the compromise, Democrats conceded the election to Hayes and promised to acknowledge the political rights of blacks; Republicans agreed to withdraw federal troops from the South and promised to appropriate a portion of federal monies toward Southern projects.

text: Disfranchisement[edit]

text: With the Southern states "redeemed", Democrats gradually regained control of Southern legislatures. They proceeded to restrict the rights of the majority of blacks and many poor whites to vote by imposing new requirements for poll taxes, subjective literacy tests, more strict residency requirements and other elements difficult for laborers to satisfy.

text: By the 1880s, legislators increased restrictions on black voters through voter registration and election rules. In 1888 John Mercer Langston, president of Virginia State University at Petersburg, was elected to the U.S. Congress as the first African American from Virginia (and the last for nearly a century after the state passed a disenfranchising constitution at the turn of the century, excluding blacks from politics for decades.)[3]

text: Starting with the Florida Constitution of 1885, white Democrats passed new constitutions in ten Southern states with provisions that restricted voter registration and forced hundreds of thousands of people from registration rolls. These changes effectively prevented most blacks and many poor whites from voting. Many whites who were also illiterate were exempted from such requirements as literacy tests by such strategies as the grandfather clause, basing eligibility on an ancestor's voting status as of 1866, for instance.

text: Southern state and local legislatures also passed Jim Crow laws that segregated transportation, public facilities and daily life. Finally, racial violence in the form of lynchings and race riots increased in frequency, reaching a peak in the last decade of the 19th century.

text: The last black congressman elected from the South in the 19th century was George Henry White of North Carolina, elected in 1896 and re-elected in 1898. His term expired in 1901, the same year that William McKinley, who was the last president to have fought in the Civil War, died. No blacks served in Congress for the next 28 years, and none represented any Southern state for the next 72 years.

text: The modern era[edit]

text: From 1910 to 1940, the Great Migration of blacks from the rural south to northern cities such as New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Detroit, and Cleveland began to produce black-majority Congressional districts in the North. Blacks could exercise their right to vote. In the two waves of the Great Migration through 1970, more than six and a half million blacks moved north and west and became highly urbanized.

text: In 1928, Oscar De Priest won the 1st Congressional District of Illinois (the South Side of Chicago) as a Republican, becoming the first black Congressman of the modern era. DePriest was also the last black Republican elected to the House for 56 years.

text: The election of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932 led to a shift of black voting loyalties from Republican to Democrat, as Roosevelt's New Deal programs offered economic relief to people suffering from the Great Depression. From 1940 to 1970, nearly five million blacks moved north and also west, especially to California, in the second wave of the Great Migration. By the 1960s, virtually all black voters were Democrats, and most were voting in states outside the former Confederacy.

text: It was not until after passage by Congress of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the result of years of effort on the part of African Americans and allies in the Civil Rights Movement, that blacks within the Southern states recovered their ability to exercise their rights to vote and to live with full civil rights. Legal segregation ended. Accomplishing voter registration and redistricting to implement the sense of the law took more time.

text: The only Southern cities to have black majority districts were Atlanta, Houston, Memphis and New Orleans. By that time, the only Southern rural area to have a black majority district was the Mississippi Delta area in Mississippi.

text: Until 1992, most black House members were elected from inner-city districts in the North and West: New York City, Newark, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, St. Louis and Los Angeles all elected at least one black member. Following the 1990 census, Congressional districts needed to be redrawn due to the population shifts of the country. Various federal court decisions resulted in states' creating districts to provide for some where the majority of the population were African Americans, rather than gerrymandering to exclude black majorities.[citation needed]

text: Historically, both parties have used gerrymandering to gain political advantage, by drawing districts to favor their own party. In this case, some districts were created to link widely separated black communities. As a result, several black Democratic members of the House were elected from new districts in Alabama, Florida, rural Georgia, rural Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia for the first time since Reconstruction. Additional black-majority districts were also created in this way in California, Maryland and Texas, thus increasing the number of black-majority districts.[citation needed]

text: The creation of black-majority districts was a process supported by both parties. The Democrats saw it as a means of providing social justice, as well as connecting easily to black voters who had been voting Democratic for decades. The Republicans believed they gained by the change, as many of the Democratic voters were moved out of historically Republican-majority districts. By 2000, other demographic and cultural changes resulted in the Republicans' holding a majority of white-majority House districts.

text: Since the 1940s, when decades of the Great Migration resulted in millions of African Americans having migrated from the South, no state has had a majority of African-American residents. Eight African Americans have served in the Senate since the 1940s: Edward W. Brooke, a Republican from Massachusetts; Carol Moseley Braun, Barack Obama, and Roland Burris (appointed to fill a vacancy), all Democrats from Illinois; Tim Scott (initially appointed to fill a vacancy, but later elected), a Republican from South Carolina; Mo Cowan (appointed to fill a vacancy), a Democrat from Massachusetts; Cory Booker, a Democrat from New Jersey, and Kamala Harris, a Democrat from California.

text: In the last several decades, numerous African Americans have created similar multi-racial coalitions to be elected as mayors of cities (including those without a black majority). (See List of first African-American mayors.)

text: List of African Americans in the United States Congress[edit]

text: United States Senate[edit]

text: United States House of Representatives[edit]


document_title: Jallianwala Bagh massacre

question_text: who returned the knighthood conferred on him by british government after jalianwala bagh massacre

text: Jallianwala Bagh massacre

text: Background[edit]

text: Defence of India Act[edit]

text: During World War I, British India contributed to the British war effort by providing men and resources. Millions of Indian soldiers and labourers served in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, while both the Indian administration and the princes sent large supplies of food, money, and ammunition. However, Bengal and Punjab remained sources of anticolonial activities. Revolutionary attacks in Bengal, associated increasingly with disturbances in Punjab, were significant enough to nearly paralyse the regional administration.[16][17] Of these, a pan-Indian mutiny in the British Indian Army planned for February 1915 was the most prominent amongst a number of plots formulated between 1914 and 1917 by Indian nationalists in India, the United States and Germany. The planned February mutiny was ultimately thwarted when British intelligence infiltrated the Ghadarite movement, arresting key figures. Mutinies in smaller units and garrisons within India were also crushed. In the scenario of the British war effort and the threat from the militant movement in India, the Defence of India Act 1915 was passed limiting civil and political liberties. Michael O'Dwyer, then the Lieutenant Governor of Punjab, was one of the strongest proponents of the act, in no small part due to the Ghadarite threat in the province.[18]

text: Rowlatt act[edit]

text: The costs of the protracted war in money and manpower were great. High casualty rates in the war, increasing inflation after the end, compounded by heavy taxation, the deadly 1918 flu pandemic, and the disruption of trade during the war escalated human suffering in India. The pre-war Indian nationalist sentiment was revived as moderate and extremist groups of the Indian National Congress ended their differences to unify. In 1916, the Congress succeeded in establishing the Lucknow Pact, a temporary alliance with the All-India Muslim League. British political concessions and Whitehall's India Policy after World War I began to change, with the passage of Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms, which initiated the first round of political reform in the Indian subcontinent in 1917.[19][20][21] However, this was deemed insufficient in reforms by the Indian political movement. Mahatma Gandhi, recently returned to India, began emerging as an increasingly charismatic leader under whose leadership civil disobedience movements grew rapidly as an expression of political unrest. The recently crushed Ghadar conspiracy, the presence of Mahendra Pratap's Kabul mission in Afghanistan (with possible links to then nascent Bolshevik Russia), and a still-active revolutionary movement especially in Punjab and Bengal (as well as worsening civil unrest throughout India) led to the appointment of a Sedition committee in 1918 chaired by Sidney Rowlatt, an English judge. It was tasked to evaluate German and Bolshevik links to the militant movement in India, especially in Punjab and Bengal. On the recommendations of the committee, the Rowlatt Act, an extension of the Defence of India Act 1915, was enforced in India to limit civil liberties.[18][22][23][24][25]

text: The passage of the Rowlatt Act in 1919 precipitated large scale political unrest throughout India. Ominously, in 1919, the Third Anglo-Afghan War began in the wake of Amir Habibullah's assassination and institution of Amanullah in a system strongly influenced by the political figures courted by Kabul mission during the world war. As a reaction to Rowlatt act Muhammad Ali Jinnah resigned from his Bombay seat, writing to viceroy a letter, "I, therefor, as a protest against the passing of the Bill and the manner in which it was passed tender my resignation..................a government that passes or sanctions such a law in times of peace forfeits its claim to be called a civilized Government".[26] In India Gandhi's call for protest against the Rowlatt Act achieved an unprecedented response of furious unrest and protests. The situation especially in Punjab was deteriorating rapidly, with disruptions of rail, telegraph and communication systems. The movement was at its peak before the end of the first week of April, with some recording that "practically the whole of Lahore was on the streets, the immense crowd that passed through Anarkali was estimated to be around 20,000."[27] In Amritsar, over 5,000 people gathered at Jallianwala Bagh. This situation deteriorated perceptibly over the next few days. Michael O'Dwyer is said to have been of the firm belief that these were the early and ill-concealed signs of a conspiracy for a coordinated uprising around May, on the lines of the 1857 revolt, at a time when British troops would have withdrawn to the hills for the summer. The Amritsar massacre, as well as responses preceding and succeeding it, was the end result of a concerted plan of response from the Punjab administration to suppress such a conspiracy.[28]

text: Prelude to the massacre[edit]

text: Many officers in the Indian army believed revolt was possible, and they prepared for the worst. In Amritsar, more than 15,000 people gathered at Jallianwala Bagh. The British Lieutenant-Governor of Punjab, Michael O'Dwyer, is said to have believed that these were the early and ill-concealed signs of a conspiracy for a coordinated revolt around May, at a time when British troops would have withdrawn to the hills for the summer. The Amritsar massacre, as well as responses preceding and succeeding it, have been described by some historians as the end result of a concerted plan of response from the Punjab administration to suppress such a conspiracy.[28] James Houssemayne Du Boulay is said to have ascribed a direct relationship between the fear of a Ghadarite uprising in the midst of an increasingly tense situation in Punjab, and the British response that ended in the massacre.[29]

text: On 10 April 1919, there was a protest at the residence of the Deputy Commissioner of Amritsar, a city in Punjab, a large province in the northwestern part of India. The demonstration was to demand the release of two popular leaders of the Indian Independence Movement, Satya Pal and Saifuddin Kitchlew, who had been earlier arrested by the government and moved to a secret location. Both were proponents of the Satyagraha movement led by Gandhi. A military picket shot at the crowd, killing several protesters and setting off a series of violent events. Later the same day, several banks and other government buildings, including the Town Hall and the railway station, were attacked and set on fire. The violence continued to escalate, culminating in the deaths of at least five Europeans, including government employees and civilians. There was retaliatory shooting at crowds from the military several times during the day, and between eight and twenty people were killed.

text: On 11 April, Miss Marcella Sherwood, an English missionary, fearing for the safety of her pupils, was on her way to shut the schools and send the roughly 600 Indian children home.[12][30] While cycling through a narrow street called the Kucha Kurrichhan, she was caught by a mob, pulled to the ground by her hair, stripped naked, beaten, kicked, and left for dead. She was rescued by some local Indians, including the father of one of her pupils, who hid her from the mob and then smuggled her to the safety of Gobindgarh fort.[30][31] After visiting Sherwood on 19 April, the Raj's local commander, Colonel Dyer, issued an order requiring every Indian man using that street to crawl its length on his hands and knees.[12][32] Colonel Dyer later explained to a British inspector: "Some Indians crawl face downwards in front of their gods. I wanted them to know that a British woman is as sacred as a Hindu god and therefore they have to crawl in front of her, too."[33] He also authorised the indiscriminate, public whipping of locals who came within lathi length of British policemen. Miss Marcella Sherwood later defended Colonel Dyer, describing him "as the 'saviour' of the Punjab".[32]

text: For the next two days, the city of Amritsar was quiet, but violence continued in other parts of the Punjab. Railway lines were cut, telegraph posts destroyed, government buildings burnt, and three Europeans murdered. By 13 April, the British government had decided to put most of the Punjab under martial law. The legislation restricted a number of civil liberties, including freedom of assembly; gatherings of more than four people were banned.[34]

text: On the evening of 12 April, the leaders of the hartal in Amritsar held a meeting at the Hindu College - Dhab Khatikan. At the meeting, Hans Raj, an aide to Dr. Kitchlew, announced a public protest meeting would be held at 16:30 the following day in the Jallianwala Bagh, to be organised by a Dr. Muhammad Bashir and chaired by a senior and respected Congress Party leader, Lal Kanhyalal Bhatia. A series of resolutions protesting against the Rowlatt Act, the recent actions of the British authorities and the detention of Drs. Satyapal and Kitchlew was drawn up and approved, after which the meeting adjourned.[35]

text: The massacre[edit]

text: At 9:00 on the morning of 13 April, the traditional festival of Baisakhi, Colonel Reginald Dyer, the acting military commander for Amritsar and its environs, proceeded through the city with several city officials, announcing the implementation of a pass system to enter or leave Amritsar, a curfew beginning at 20:00 that night and a ban on all processions and public meetings of four or more persons. The proclamation was read and explained in English, Urdu, Hindi and Punjabi, but few paid it any heed or appear to have learned of it later.[36] Meanwhile, the local CID had received intelligence of the planned meeting in the Jallianwala Bagh through word of mouth and plainclothes detectives in the crowds. At 12:40, Dyer was informed of the meeting and returned to his base at around 13:30 to decide how to handle it.[37]

text: By mid-afternoon, thousands of Sikhs, Muslims and Hindus had gathered in the Jallianwala Bagh (garden) near the Harmandir Sahib in Amritsar. Many who were present had earlier worshipped at the Golden Temple, and were passing through the Bagh on their way home. The Bagh was (and is) an open area of six to seven acres, roughly 200 yards by 200 yards in size, and surrounded by walls roughly 10 feet in height. Balconies of houses three to four stories tall overlooked the Bagh, and five narrow entrances opened onto it, several with locked gates. During the rainy season, it was planted with crops, but served as a local meeting-area and playground for much of the year.[38] In the center of the Bagh was a samadhi (cremation site) and a large well partly filled with water and about 20 feet in diameter.[38]

text: Apart from pilgrims, Amritsar had filled up over the preceding days with farmers, traders and merchants attending the annual Baisakhi horse and cattle fair. The city police closed the fair at 14:00 that afternoon, resulting in a large number of people drifting into the Jallianwala Bagh. It was estimated that about 20,000 to 25,000 people had gathered in the Bagh by the time of the meeting. Dyer sent an aeroplane to overfly the Bagh and estimate the size of the crowd.[38] By this time, both Colonel Dyer and Deputy Commissioner Irving, the senior civil authority for Amritsar, were well aware of the meeting, but took no actions to prevent it or send police to peacefully disperse the crowds. This would later be a serious criticism levelled at both Dyer and Irving.

text: An hour after the meeting began as scheduled at 16:30, Colonel Dyer arrived at the Bagh with a group of ninety Sikh, Gurkha, Baluchi, Rajput from 2-9th Gurkhas, the 54th Sikhs and the 59th Sind Rifles soldiers.[8] Fifty of them were armed with .303 Lee–Enfield bolt-action rifles. It is not clear whether Dyer had specifically chosen troops from that ethnic group due to their proven loyalty to the British or that they were simply the Sikh and non-Sikh units most readily available. He had also brought two armored cars armed with machine guns; however, the vehicles were left outside, as they were unable to enter the Bagh through the narrow entrances. The Jallianwala Bagh was surrounded on all sides by houses and buildings and had few narrow entrances. Most of them were kept permanently locked. The main entrance was relatively wide, but was guarded heavily by the troops backed by the armoured vehicles.

text: Dyer—without warning the crowd to disperse—blocked the main exits. He 'explained' later that this act "was not to disperse the meeting but to punish the Indians for disobedience."[39] Dyer ordered his troops to begin shooting toward the densest sections of the crowd. Firing continued for approximately ten minutes. Cease-fire was ordered only when ammunition supplies were almost exhausted, after approximately 1,650 rounds were spent.[9]

text: Many people died in stampedes at the narrow gates or by jumping into the solitary well on the compound to escape the shooting. A plaque, placed at the site after independence states that 120 bodies were removed from the well. The wounded could not be moved from where they had fallen, as a curfew was declared, and many more died during the night.[citation needed]

text: The number of deaths caused by the shooting is disputed. While the 'official' figure given by the British inquiry into the massacre is 379 deaths, the method used by the inquiry was corrupt. In July 1919, three months after the massacre, officials were tasked with finding who had been killed by inviting inhabitants of the city to volunteer information about those who had died.[40] This information was incomplete due to fear that those who participated would be identified as having been present at the meeting, and some of the dead may not have had close relations in the area.[41] When interviewed by the members of the committee, a senior civil servant in Punjab admitted that the actual figure could be higher.[42]

text: Since the official figures were obviously flawed regarding the size of the crowd (15,000–20,000), the number of rounds fired and the period of shooting, the Indian National Congress instituted a separate inquiry of its own, with conclusions that differed considerably from the British Government's so-called inquiry. The casualty number quoted by the Congress was more than 1,500, with approximately 1,000 being killed.[43] The British Government tried to suppress information of the massacre, but news spread in India and widespread outrage ensued; details of the massacre did not become known in Britain until December 1919.

text: Aftermath[edit]

text: Colonel Dyer reported to his superiors that he had been "confronted by a revolutionary army", to which Major General William Beynon replied: "Your action correct and Lieutenant Governor approves."[44] O'Dwyer requested that martial law should be imposed upon Amritsar and other areas, and this was granted by Viceroy Lord Chelmsford.[45][46]

text: Both Secretary of State for War Winston Churchill and former Prime Minister H. H. Asquith however, openly condemned the attack, Churchill referring to it as "monstrous", while Asquith called it "one of the worst outrages in the whole of our history".[47] Winston Churchill, in the House of Commons debate of 8 July 1920, said, "The crowd was unarmed, except with bludgeons. It was not attacking anybody or anything… When fire had been opened upon it to disperse it, it tried to run away. Pinned up in a narrow place considerably smaller than Trafalgar Square, with hardly any exits, and packed together so that one bullet would drive through three or four bodies, the people ran madly this way and the other. When the fire was directed upon the centre, they ran to the sides. The fire was then directed to the sides. Many threw themselves down on the ground, the fire was then directed down on the ground. This was continued to 8 to 10 minutes, and it stopped only when the ammunition had reached the point of exhaustion."[48] After Churchill's speech in the House of Commons debate, MPs voted 247 to 37 against Dyer and in support of the Government.[49] Cloake reports that despite the official rebuke, many Britons "thought him a hero for saving the rule of British law in India."[50]

text: Rabindranath Tagore received the news of the massacre by 22 May 1919. He tried to arrange a protest meeting in Calcutta and finally decided to renounce his British knighthood as "a symbolic act of protest".[51] In the repudiation letter, dated 30 May 1919 and addressed to the Viceroy, Lord Chelmsford, he wrote "I ... wish to stand, shorn, of all special distinctions, by the side of those of my countrymen who, for their so called insignificance, are liable to suffer degradation not fit for human beings."[52]

text: Gupta describes the letter written by Tagore as "historic". He writes that Tagore "renounced his knighthood in protest against the inhuman cruelty of the British Government to the people of Punjab", and he quotes Tagore's letter to the Viceroy "The enormity of the measures taken by the Government in the Punjab for quelling some local disturbances has, with a rude shock, revealed to our minds the helplessness of our position as British subjects in India ... [T]he very least that I can do for my country is to take all consequences upon myself in giving voice to the protest of the millions of my countrymen, surprised into a dumb anguish of terror. The time has come when badges of honour make our shame glaring in the incongruous context of humiliation..."[53] English Writings of Rabindranath Tagore Miscellaneous Writings Vol# 8 carries a facsimile of this hand written letter.[54]

text: The Hunter Commission[edit]

text: On 14 October 1919, after orders issued by the Secretary of State for India, Edwin Montagu, the Government of India announced the formation of a committee of inquiry into the events in Punjab. Referred to as the Disorders Inquiry Committee, it was later more widely known as the Hunter Commission. It was named after the chairman, William, Lord Hunter, former Solicitor-General for Scotland and Senator of the College of Justice in Scotland. The stated purpose of the commission was to "investigate the recent disturbances in Bombay, Delhi and Punjab, about their causes, and the measures taken to cope with them".[55] The members of the commission were:

text:
Lord Hunter, Chairman of the Commission
Mr. Justice George C. Rankin of Calcutta
Sir Chimanlal Harilal Setalvad, Vice-Chancellor of Bombay University and advocate of the Bombay High Court
Mr W.F. Rice, member of the Home Department
Major-General Sir George Barrow, KCB, KCMG, GOC Peshawar Division
Pandit Jagat Narayan, lawyer and Member of the Legislative Council of the United Provinces
Mr. Thomas Smith, Member of the Legislative Council of the United Provinces
Sardar Sahibzada Sultan Ahmad Khan, lawyer from Gwalior State
Mr H.C. Stokes, Secretary of the Commission and member of the Home Department[55]

text: After meeting in New Delhi on 29 October, the Commission took statements from witnesses over the following weeks. Witnesses were called in Delhi, Ahmedabad, Bombay and Lahore. Although the Commission as such was not a formally constituted court of law, meaning witnesses were not subject to questioning under oath, its members managed to elicit detailed accounts and statements from witnesses by rigorous cross-questioning. In general, it was felt the Commission had been very thorough in its enquiries.[55] After reaching Lahore in November, the Commission wound up its initial inquiries by examining the principal witnesses to the events in Amritsar.

text: On 19 November, Dyer was called to appear before the Commission. Although his military superiors had suggested he be represented by legal counsel at the inquiry, Dyer refused this suggestion and appeared alone.[55] Initially questioned by Lord Hunter, Dyer stated he had come to know about the meeting at the Jallianwala Bagh at 12:40 hours that day but did not attempt to prevent it. He stated that he had gone to the Bagh with the deliberate intention of opening fire if he found a crowd assembled there. Patterson says Dyer explained his sense of honour to the Hunter Commission by saying, "I think it quite possible that I could have dispersed the crowd without firing but they would have come back again and laughed, and I would have made, what I consider, a fool of myself."[56] Dyer further reiterated his belief that the crowd in the Bagh was one of "rebels who were trying to isolate my forces and cut me off from other supplies. Therefore, I considered it my duty to fire on them and to fire well".[55]

text: After Mr. Justice Rankin had questioned Dyer, Sir Chimanlal Setalvad enquired:

text: Sir Chimanlal: Supposing the passage was sufficient to allow the armoured cars to go in, would you have opened fire with the machine guns?

text: Dyer: I think probably, yes.

text: Sir Chimanlal: In that case, the casualties would have been much higher?

text: Dyer: Yes.[55]

text: Dyer further stated that his intentions had been to strike terror throughout the Punjab and in doing so, reduce the moral stature of the "rebels". He said he did not stop the shooting when the crowd began to disperse because he thought it was his duty to keep shooting until the crowd dispersed, and that a little shooting would not do any good. In fact he continued the shooting until the ammunition was almost exhausted.[57] He stated that he did not make any effort to tend to the wounded after the shooting: "Certainly not. It was not my job. Hospitals were open and they could have gone there."[58]

text: Exhausted from the rigorous cross-examination questioning and ill, Dyer was then released. Over the next several months, while the Commission wrote its final report, the British press, as well as many MPs, turned hostile towards Dyer as the extent of the massacre and his statements at the inquiry became widely known.[55] Lord Chelmsford refused to comment until the Commission had been wound up. In the meanwhile, Dyer, seriously ill with jaundice and arteriosclerosis, was hospitalised.[55]

text: Although the members of the Commission had been divided by racial tensions following Dyer's statement, and though the Indian members had written a separate, minority report, the final report, comprising six volumes of evidence and released on 8 March 1920, unanimously condemned Dyer's actions.[55] In "continuing firing as long as he did, it appears to us that General Dyer committed a grave error."[59] Dissenting members argued that the martial law regime's use of force was wholly unjustified. "General Dyer thought he had crushed the rebellion and Sir Michael O'Dwyer was of the same view", they wrote, "(but) there was no rebellion which required to be crushed." The report concluded that:

text:
Lack of notice to disperse from the Bagh in the beginning was an error.
The length of firing showed a grave error.
Dyer's motive of producing a sufficient moral effect was to be condemned.
Dyer had overstepped the bounds of his authority.
There had been no conspiracy to overthrow British rule in the Punjab.

text: The minority report of the Indian members further added that:

text:
Proclamations banning public meetings were insufficiently distributed.
Innocent people were in the crowd, and there had been no violence in the Bagh beforehand.
Dyer should have either ordered his troops to help the wounded or instructed the civil authorities to do so.
Dyer's actions had been "inhuman and un-British" and had greatly injured the image of British rule in India.

text: The Hunter Commission did not impose any penal or disciplinary action because Dyer's actions were condoned by various superiors (later upheld by the Army Council).[60] The Legal and Home Members on the Viceroy's Council ultimately decided that, though Dyer had acted in a callous and brutal way, military or legal prosecution would not be possible due to political reasons. However, he was finally found guilty of a mistaken notion of duty and relieved of his command on 23 March. He had been recommended for a CBE as a result of his service in the Third Afghan War; this recommendation was cancelled on 29 March 1920.

text: Demonstration at Gujranwala[edit]

text: Two days later, on 15 April, demonstrations occurred in Gujranwala protesting the killings at Amritsar. Police and aircraft were used against the demonstrators, resulting in 12 deaths and 27 injuries. The Officer Commanding the Royal Air Force in India, Brigadier General N D K MacEwen stated later that:

text: I think we can fairly claim to have been of great use in the late riots, particularly at Gujranwala, where the crowd when looking at its nastiest was absolutely dispersed by a machine using bombs and Lewis guns.[61]

text: Assassination of Michael O'Dwyer[edit]

text: On 13 March 1940, at Caxton Hall in London, Udham Singh, an Indian independence activist from Sunam who had witnessed the events in Amritsar and had himself been wounded, shot and killed Michael O'Dwyer, the British Lieutenant-Governor of Punjab at the time of the massacre, who had approved Dyer's action and was believed to have been the main planner. Dyer himself had died in 1927.

text: Some, such as the nationalist newspaper Amrita Bazar Patrika, also made positive statements. The common people and revolutionaries glorified the action of Udham Singh. Much of the press worldwide recalled the story of Jallianwala Bagh and alleged Michael O'Dwyer to have been responsible for the massacre. Singh was termed a "fighter for freedom" and his action was referred to in The Times newspaper as "an expression of the pent-up fury of the down-trodden Indian People".[62] In Fascist countries, the incident was used for anti-British propaganda: Bergeret, published in large scale from Rome at that time, while commenting upon the Caxton Hall assassination, ascribed the greatest significance to the circumstance and praised the action of Udham Singh as courageous.[63] The Berliner Börsen Zeitung termed the event "The torch of Indian freedom". German radio reportedly broadcast: "The cry of tormented people spoke with shots."

text: At a public meeting in Kanpur, a spokesman had stated that "at last an insult and humiliation of the nation had been avenged". Similar sentiments were expressed in numerous other places across the country.[64] Fortnightly reports of the political situation in Bihar mentioned: "It is true that we had no love lost for Sir Michael. The indignities he heaped upon our countrymen in Punjab have not been forgotten." In its 18 March 1940 issue Amrita Bazar Patrika wrote: "O'Dwyer's name is connected with Punjab incidents which India will never forget." The New Statesman observed: "British conservativism has not discovered how to deal with Ireland after two centuries of rule. Similar comment may be made on British rule in India. Will the historians of the future have to record that it was not the Nazis but the British ruling class which destroyed the British Empire?" Singh had told the court at his trial:

text: I did it because I had a grudge against him. He deserved it. He was the real culprit. He wanted to crush the spirit of my people, so I have crushed him. For full 21 years, I have been trying to wreak vengeance. I am happy that I have done the job. I am not scared of death. I am dying for my country. I have seen my people starving in India under the British rule. I have protested against this, it was my duty. What a greater honour could be bestowed on me than death for the sake of my motherland?[65]

text: Singh was hanged for the murder on 31 July 1940. At that time, many, including Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi, condemned the action of Udham as senseless but courageous. In 1952, Nehru (by then Prime Minister) honoured Udham Singh with the following statement, which appeared in the daily Partap:

text: I salute Shaheed-i-Azam Udham Singh with reverence who had kissed the noose so that we may be free.

text: Soon after this recognition by the Prime Minister, Udham Singh received the title of Shaheed, a name given to someone who has attained martyrdom or done something heroic on behalf of their country or religion.[citation needed]

text: Monument and legacy[edit]

text: A trust was founded in 1920 to build a memorial at the site after a resolution was passed by the Indian National Congress. In 1923, the trust purchased land for the project. A memorial, designed by American architect Benjamin Polk, was built on the site and inaugurated by President of India Rajendra Prasad on 13 April 1961, in the presence of Jawaharlal Nehru and other leaders. A flame was later added to the site.

text: The bullet marks remain on the walls and adjoining buildings to this day. The well into which many people jumped and drowned attempting to save themselves from the bullets is also a protected monument inside the park.

text: Formation of the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee[edit]

text: Shortly following the massacre, the official Sikh clergy of the Harmandir Sahib(Golden Temple) in Amritsar conferred upon Colonel Dyer the Saropa(the mark of distinguished service to the Sikh faith or, in general, humanity), sending shock waves among the Sikh community.[66] On 12 October 1920, students and faculty of the Amritsar Khalsa College called a meeting to demand the immediate removal of the Gurudwaras from the control of Mahants. The result was the formation of the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabhandak Committee on 15 November 1920 to manage and to implement reforms in Sikh shrines.[67]

text: Regret[edit]

text: Although Queen Elizabeth II had not made any comments on the incident during her state visits in 1961 and 1983, she spoke about the events at a state banquet in India on 13 October 1997:[68]

text: It is no secret that there have been some difficult episodes in our past – Jallianwala Bagh, which I shall visit tomorrow, is a distressing example. But history cannot be rewritten, however much we might sometimes wish otherwise. It has its moments of sadness, as well as gladness. We must learn from the sadness and build on the gladness.[68]

text: On 14 October 1997, Queen Elizabeth II visited Jallianwala Bagh and paid her respects with a 30‑second moment of silence. During the visit, she wore a dress of a colour described as pink apricot or saffron, which was of religious significance to the Sikhs.[68] She removed her shoes while visiting the monument and laid a wreath at the monument.[68]

text: While some Indians welcomed the expression of regret and sadness in the Queen's statement, others criticised it for being less than an apology.[68] The then Prime Minister of India Inder Kumar Gujral defended the Queen, saying that the Queen herself had not even been born at the time of the events and should not be required to apologise.[68]

text: Winston Churchill, on 8 July 1920, urged the House of Commons to punish Colonel Dyer.[48] Churchill succeeded in persuading the House to forcibly retire Colonel Dyer, but Churchill would have preferred to see the colonel disciplined.[49]

text: In February 2013 David Cameron became the first serving British Prime Minister to visit the site, laid a wreath at the memorial, and described the Amritsar massacre as "a deeply shameful event in British history, one that Winston Churchill rightly described at that time as monstrous. We must never forget what happened here and we must ensure that the UK stands up for the right of peaceful protests". Cameron did not deliver an official apology.[69]

text: Artistic portrayals[edit]

text:
1977: A Hindi language motion picture called Jallian Wala Bagh was released. The film was written, produced and directed by Balraj Tah. Associate producer was Amarjit Singh Madan. The film is about the life of Udham Singh who assassinated Michael O'Dwyer in 1940. The film was partly filmed in the UK notably in Coventry and surrounding areas.[70]
1981: Salman Rushdie's novel Midnight's Children portrays the massacre from the perspective of a doctor in the crowd, saved from the gunfire by a well-timed sneeze.
1982: The massacre is depicted in Richard Attenborough's film Gandhi with the role of General Dyer played by Edward Fox. The film depicts most of the details of the massacre as well as the subsequent inquiry by the Montague commission.
1984: The story of the massacre also occurs in the 7th episode of Granada TV's 1984 series The Jewel in the Crown, recounted by the fictional widow of a British officer who is haunted by the inhumanity of it and who tells how she came to be reviled because she defied the honours to Dyer and instead donated money to the Indian victims.
2002: In the Hindi movie The Legend of Bhagat Singh directed by Rajkumar Santoshi, the massacre is reconstructed with the child Bhagat Singh as a witness, eventually inspiring him to become a revolutionary in the Indian independence movement.
2006: Portions of the Hindi movie Rang De Basanti nonlinearly depict the massacre and the influence it had on the freedom fighters.
2009: Bali Rai's novel, City of Ghosts, is partly set around the massacre, blending fact with fiction and magical realism. Dyer, Udham Singh and other real historical figures feature in the story.
2014: The British period drama Downton Abbey makes a reference to the massacre in the eighth episode of season 5. The characters of Lord Grantham, Isobel Crawley and Shrimpy express their disapproval of the massacre when Susan MacClare and Lord Sinderby support it.
2017: Hindi language movie Phillauri references the massacre as the reason the spirit of the primary character portrayed by Anushka Sharma cannot find peace as her lover lost his life in Amritsar and was unable to return to their village for their wedding.


document_title: Agriculture in Mesoamerica

question_text: one of the primary crops grown by the early inhabitants of the americas was

text: Agriculture in Mesoamerica

text: Early and Culturally Significant Domesticated Plants[edit]

text: Richard S. MacNeish completed an extensive archaeological survey of Mesoamerica, during which he found the maize cobs in caves in Tehuacan, Puebla. It was originally suspected that these cobs date back to circa 5000 BC, however after radiocarbon dating it was determined that these finds date to 3500 BC.[1] The earliest dated maize cob was discovered in Guilá Naquitz cave in Oaxaca and dates back to 4300 BC.[1] Maize arrived at this point through the catastrophic sexual transmutation of Teosinte,[2] the ancestor of maize. It became the single most important crop in all of Mesoamerica. Maize is storable for long periods of time, it can be ground into flour, and it easily turns into surplus for future use. Maize became vital to the survival of the people of Mesoamerica; this is reflected in their origin myths, artwork, and rituals. The Maize God is depicted throughout Mesoamerica in stone figurines, carvings on altars, and even on temples, further signifying the importance of maize to the Mesoamerican peoples.

text: Another important crop in Mesoamerican agriculture is squash. Bruce D. Smith discovered evidence of domesticated squash (Cucurbita pepo), in Guilá Naquitz cave in Oaxaca.[1] These finds date back to 8000 BC, the beginning of the Archaic period, and are related to today's pumpkin. Another important squash that was domesticated in the early Archaic period was the bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria).[1] The bottle gourd provided storage space for collecting seeds for grinding or planting as well as a means of carrying water. Squashes provided an excellent source of protein to the ancient Mesoamericans, as well as to people today.

text: Another major food source in Mesoamerica are beans. Maize, beans, and squash form a triad of products, commonly referred to as the "Three Sisters." Growing these three crops together helps to retain nutrients in the soil.

text: Rubber trees and cotton plants were useful for making culturally significant products such as rubber balls for Mesoamerican ball games and textiles, respectively. Evidence of these ball games is found throughout Mesoamerica, and the performance of these games is related to many origin myths of the Mesoamerican people. The game had a ritualistic significance and was often accompanied with human sacrifice. The domestication of cotton allowed for textiles of vibrant colors to be created. These textiles are evidence of the Mesoamerican peoples' fascination with adornment and the cultural value they placed on appearance.

text: Another culturally important plant was cacao (ancient Mesoamerican chocolate). Cacao was used in rituals (as a drink) and was also used as currency in trade.

text: The crops above are only a few of the domesticated plants important to the ancient peoples of Mesoamerica. Please see the section below for a more comprehensive list of ancient Mesoamerican domesticated plants.

text: Domesticated Plants[edit]

text: Main source: Pre-Columbian Foodways A list of Mesoamerican cultivars and staples:

text:
Agave* - also known as the Century plant
Anona – this fruit is also called the "Custard Apple"
Avocado* - large, green, egg-shaped berry with a single seed
Cacao* - the main ingredient in chocolate.
Cassava* - edible starchy root also known as manioc; also used to make tapioca
Chaya – large fast growing leafy shrub whose uses are similar to spinach
Cherimoya* (fruit)
Chicle* (Manilkara chicle) – sap made into chewing gum
Chili peppers* - many varieties
Copal – incense used by the Maya for religious practices [3]
Cotton* - a shrub that is used mainly to create textiles
Epazote (Dysphania ambrosioides) – aromatic herb
Guayaba* - guava fruit
Huautli* (Amaranthus cruentus, Amaranthus hypochondriacus) – grain
Jícama* (Pachyrhizus erosus)
Maize* - domesticated from teosinte grasses in southern Mexico)
Mamey sapote* (Pouteria sapota) – fruit, other parts of plants have noted uses
Mora (Rubus blackberry)
Nopales* - stem segments of Opuntia species, such as Opuntia ficus-indica
Papaya* (Carica papaya)
Pineapple – cultivated extensively
Pinto bean - "painted/speckled" bean; nitrogen-fixer traditionally planted in conjunction with the "two sisters", maize and squash, to help condition soil; runners grew on maize
Potato* - a starch of the Solanaceae family
Squash* (Cucurbita spp.) – pumpkins, zucchini, acorn squash, butternut squash, others
Strawberry (Fragaria spp.) – various cultivars
Sunflower seeds – under cultivation in Mexico and Peru for thousands of years, also source of essential oils
Tobacco* - a dried leaf used as a trade commodity and peace-making.
Tomato* - red berry-type fruit of the Solanaceae family
Tunas* - fruits of Opuntia species, also called the Prickly Pear
Vanilla – orchids grown for their culinary flavor

text: * Asterisk indicates a common English or Spanish word derived from an indigenous word

text: Cultivation Techniques[edit]

text: One of the greatest challenges in Mesoamerica for farmers is the lack of usable land, and the poor condition of the soil. The two main ways to combat poor soil quality, or lack of nutrients in the soil, are to leave fields fallow for a period of time in a milpa cycle, and to use slash-and-burn techniques.[3] In slash and burn agriculture, trees are cut down and left to dry for a period of time. The dry wood and grasses are then set on fire, and the resulting ash adds nutrients to the soil. These two techniques are often combined to retain as many nutrients as possible. However, in the jungle environment, no matter how careful a farmer is, nutrients are often hard to retain. To combat the lack of large tracts of usable land, farmers in Mesoamerica have found ways to create more land.

text: The first way to create land is to form terraces along the slopes of mountain valleys. Terraces allow farmers to use more land on the mountain slopes, and to move further up the mountain than they normally would be able to. Some terraces were made out of walls of stones, and others were created by cutting down large trees, and mounding soil around them. There is evidence that the Maya and the Aztecs used raised fields in some of the swampy areas, and onto the flood plains. However, the Aztecs also created floating plots of land called chinampas. These were plots of mud and soil, placed on top of layers of thick water vegetation. This farming style was imperative to the growth and survival of the city of Tenochtitlan, due to its location.[1]

text: Much of the Maya food supply was grown in orchard-gardens, known as pet kot.[4] The system takes its name from the low wall of stones (pet meaning circular and kot wall of loose stones) that characteristically surrounds the forest garden plot.[5] The earliest dated maize cobs was discovered in Guilá Naquitz cave in Oaxaca and dates back to 4300 BC. Maize arose through domestication of teosinte, which is considered to be the ancestor of maize. Maize can be stored for lengthy periods of time, it can be ground into flour, and it easily provides surplus for future use. Maize was vital to the survival of the Mesoamerican people. Its cultural significance is reflected in Mesoamerican origin myths, artwork, and rituals.

text: The Mesoamerican natives also used irrigation techniques not unlike other early agricultural societies in early Mesopotamia. However, unlike the arid plains of the Fertile Crescent, the Mesoamerican area has a rougher terrain, therefore making irrigation less effective than terraced farming and slash-and-burn techniques.[3]

text: Slash-and-burn techniques are a type of extensive farming, where the amount of labor is minimal in taking care of farmland. Extensive farming uses less labor but had a larger mark on the area around them. In opposition, intensive agriculture refers to agriculture that requires large amounts of labor however yields continuous results from the same land, thus making it better suited for a sedentary lifestyle.


document_title: The Nation (Nigeria)

question_text: the nation's newspaper of nigeria website is

question_tokens: the nation 's newspaper of nigeria website is

text: The Nation (Nigeria)

text:
The Nation
Type
Daily newspaperPublisher
Vintage Press LimitedEditor
Gbenga Omotoso[1]Founded
31 July 2006Language
EnglishHeadquarters
Mushin, Lagos State, NigeriaWebsite
www.thenationonlineng.net

text:
The Nation is a daily newspaper published in Lagos, Nigeria. According to a 2009 survey it was the second-most-read newspaper in Nigeria, and this result was repeated in a 2011 report by The Advertisers' Association of Nigeria (ADVANS).[2] The paper's website says it stands for freedom, justice and the market economy. Its target audience is the business and political elite, the affluent, the educated and the upwardly mobile.[3]
The Nation has printing plants in Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt.[4]
The newspaper covers business and economy, public policies, the democratic process and institutions of democracy, sports, arts and culture.[5]
The newspaper became the first of its kind to gain nationwide circulation across the 36 states of Nigeria within 2 years of operation. This was a result of its popular 8 pages pull out Thursday publication titled Campuslife, a medium specially dedicated to student journalists and writers across the tertiary institutions in Nigeria. The Campuslife pull-out with late Ngozi Agbo (née Nwozor) as pioneer editor helped the newspaper to become a household name across Nigeria, and several student journalists and correspondents whom the paper gave the opportunity to write for it as undergraduates are now renowned in their various professions.[6][7]

text: In April 2010, Edo Ugbagwu, a reporter who covered court cases for The Nation, was killed by gunmen. The reason was not known.[8]

text: Editors List[edit]

text: Managing Director/Editor-in-chief- Victor Ifijeh

text: Editor- Gbenga Omotoso

text: Chairman, Editorial Board- Sam Omatseye

text: Editor, Online- Lekan Otufodunrin

text: Managing Editor, Northern Operation- Yusuf Alli

text: Managing Editor- Waheed Odusile

text: Deputy Editor- Lawal Ogienagbon

text: Deputy Editor (News)- Adeniyi Adesina

text: Deputy Editor (Nation's Capital)- Yomi Odunuga