Coordinates	67°30′″N64°02′″N
Party name	Bharatiya Janata Party
Logo
Colorcode
Chairman	Nitin Gadkari
Loksabha leader	Sushma Swaraj
Rajyasabha leader	Arun Jaitley
Foundation	1980
Predecessor	Bharatiya Jana Sangh
Headquarters	11 Ashoka Road, New Delhi, 110001
Publication	''Kamal Sandesh''
Students	Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad
Youth	Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha
Women	BJP Mahila Morcha
Labour	Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh
Peasants	Bharatiya Kisan Sangh
Ideology	Indian Nationalism (''Hindu Nationalism'')Integral humanismEconomic liberalismGandhian SocialismConservatismSocial conservatism
International	''None''
Colours	Orange
Position	Centre-right
Eci	National Party
Alliance	National Democratic Alliance (NDA)
Loksabha seats
Rajyasabha seats
Symbol
Website
Country	India }}

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP,; translation: ''Indian People's Party'') is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Indian National Congress. Established in 1980, it is India's second largest political party in terms of representation in the parliament. The Bharatiya Janata Party traditionally has supported Indian Nationalism and strongly advocates conservative social policies, self-reliance, free market capitalistic policy, foreign policy driven by a nationalist agenda, and strong national defense. The party's platform is generally considered right of center in the Indian political spectrum.

The BJP, in alliance with several other parties, was in power from 1998 to 2004, with Atal Bihari Vajpayee as the Prime Minister and Lal Krishna Advani as his deputy. It is the biggest constituent of the National Democratic Alliance which is currently in the opposition in the parliament.

History

The BJP is the current form of the erstwhile Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS, ''Indian People's Union''), which was founded in October 21, 1951 by Syama Prasad Mookerjee as the political wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. The fortunes of the young party took a dip in 1953, when Mookherjee was jailed in Kashmir by then Indian Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. After Mookerjee's death in prison, the entire burden of nurturing the orphaned organisation and building it up as a nation-wide movement fell on the young shoulders of Deendayal Upadhyaya. For 15 years, he remained the outfit's general secretary and built it up. He raised a band of dedicated workers imbued with idealism and provided the entire ideological framework of the outfit, but never seriously challenged the power of Indian National Congress. It did however groom future political leaders like Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani, who were in the party when it was a constituent of the Janata Partygovernment in 1977.

The Janata government did not last long. Morarji Desai resigned as Prime Minister, and the Janata party was dissolved soon after. The BJS had devoted political organization to sustain the coalition and was left exhausted by the internecine wars within the Janata Party.

In 1980 Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Lal Krishna Advani and Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, founded the Bharatiya Janata Party with Vajpayee as its first President. The BJP was a strong critic of the Congress government that followed the Janata rule, and while it opposed the Sikh militancy that was rising in the state of Punjab, it also blamed Indira Gandhi for divisive and corrupt politics that fostered the militancy at national expense. Leader Darasingh opines that Vajpayee thus "brought in Hindu-Sikh harmony."

However, the BJP never supported Operation Bluestar, the BJP strongly protested violence against Sikhs in Delhi that broke out in 1984 following the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by one of her Sikh bodyguards. The BJP was left with only two parliamentary seats in the 1984 elections; the party, however, had established itself in the mainstream of Indian politics, and soon began expanding its organization to attract young Indians throughout the country. During this period, Vajpayee remained center-stage as party President and Leader of the Opposition in Parliament, but increasingly hard-line Hindu nationalists began to rise within the party and define its politics.

The BJP became the political voice of the Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir Movement, which was led by activists of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the RSS, and was seeking to build a temple dedicated to Lord Rama in place of the Babri mosque in Ayodhya. Hindu activists believed the site was the birthplace of the Lord, and thus qualified as one of the most sacred sites of Hinduism.

On December 6, 1992, hundreds of VHP and BJP activists broke down an organized protest into a frenzied attack, and razed the mosque. Over the following weeks, waves of violence between Hindus and Muslims erupted in various parts of the country, killing over 1000 people. The VHP was banned by the government, and many BJP leaders including Lal Krishna Advani were arrested briefly for provoking the destruction. Although widely condemned by many across the country for playing politics with sensitive issues, the BJP won the support of millions of conservative Hindus, as well as national prominence.

With victory in assembly elections of Gujarat and Maharashtra in March 1995, and a good performance in the elections to the Karnataka assembly in December 1994 propelled the BJP to the centerstage. During the BJP session at Mumbai in November 1995, BJP President L.K.Advani declared that Vajpayee would be the Prime Minister of India if the BJP won next parliamentary elections held in May 1996.

In the Lok Sabha elections held in 1998 the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) obtained a simple majority. This time, the BJP (NDA) had allied with the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and the Biju Janata Dal besides its existing allies, the Samata Party, the Shiromani Akali Dal and Shiv Sena. Outside support was provided by the Telugu Desam Party. The NDA had a slim majority, and Vajpayee returned as Prime Minister after a 13-day stint in 1996. But the coalition ruptured in May 1999 when the leader of AIADMK, Jayalalitha, withdrew her support, and fresh elections were again called.

On 13 October 1999, the BJP-led NDA won 303 seats. The BJP alone had its highest ever tally of 183. Vajpayee became Prime Minister for the third time, and Advani became the Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister. This NDA Government lasted its term of five years. Vajpayee and his economic team, led by Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha, continuing the policies initiated by the previous Congress Government under P. V. Narasimha Rao and Manmohan Singh, pushed through major privatizations of big government corporations, the liberalization of trade under World Trade Organization guidelines, airline deregulation, foreign investment and ownership and allowed private companies such as Mahindra World City and Reliance to build Special Economic Zones where property developers could build new cities with world-class infrastructure for factories that export products.

The BJP and the NDA suffered an unexpected defeat in the general elections in 2004, and failed to muster a parliamentary majority. Manmohan Singh of the Congress Party and United Progressive Alliance succeeded Vajpayee as Prime Minister.

In the 2009 general elections, BJP again faced defeat and its strength in Lok Sabha reduced to 159 with a loss of about 17 seats. The unexpected defeat of BJP is attributed to bad performance of the party in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand and Andhra Pradesh.

Organisation

The highest authority in the party is the President. Officially, the BJP constitution provides for a three-year term for the President. Recently, both Venkaiah Naidu and LK Advani resigned ahead of schedule due to factionalism and controversies. Rajnath Singh held this post from 2006 to 2009, he was succeeded by Nitin Gadkari. Beyond this, there are several Vice-Presidents, General-Secretaries, Treasurers and Secretaries. The National Executive consists of an undetermined number of senior party leaders from across the nation who are the highest decision-making body in the party. At the state level, a similar structure is in place, with every state unit being led by the respective President, who also officially serves a three-year term.

The rank-and-file leadership of BJP largely derives from the cadre of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which has millions of affiliates. It also maintains close links to other Sangh Parivar organisations, such as Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Swadeshi Jagaran Manch (an organisation promoting economic protectionism).

Other organizations directly affiliated to the BJP include the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad which is the students' wing of the party, the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, which is the youth wing; Bharatiya Kisan Sangh, the peasants' union; the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, which is the labour union. BJP is also associated with the BJP Mahila Morcha and the BJP Minority Morcha, which are the women's front and Minority front respectively.

Ideology and political positions

The concept of Integral Humanism has a special place in its ideology, the BJP's right-wing politics include modern, conservatism, social conservatism, progressivism and enlightened nation which draws inspiration from India's ancient Indian culture and values. The BJP emphasize the role of free markets and individual achievement as the primary factors behind economic prosperity. To this end, they favor laissez-faire economics, fiscal conservatism, and the promotion of personal responsibility over welfare programs. As per the party's constitution the objectives of the party are explained thus:

"The party is pledged to build up India as a strong and prosperous nation, which is modern, progressive and enlightened in outlook and which proudly draws inspiration from India's ancient culture and values and thus is able to emerge as a great world power playing an effective role in the comity of Nations for the establishment of world peace and a just international order. The Party aims at establishing a democratic state which guarantees to all citizens irrespective of caste, creed or sex, political, social and economic justice, equality of opportunity and liberty of faith and expression. The Party shall bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India as by law established and to the principles of socialism, secularism and democracy and would uphold the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India."

The BJP stands for strong national defence, small government, and Quasi-market economic policies, but Integral Humanism has been its core philosophy and identity ever since its inception. The BJP stand on economic policies saw a sudden volte face in the mid nineties from a support of swadeshi products to the embracing of free market ideas. Another important factor is the ongoing territorial dispute over Jammu and Kashmir and the wars of 1947-48, 1962, 1965, and 1971, and recently the 1999 Kargil War. The party strongly advocates the view that Kashmir should remain an integral part of the country.

Economic policy under BJP-led governments at the state and center has been heavily focused on infrastructure building and pro-reform, which is congenial to Indian interests and to necessary conforming to international regulations (like environment laws) market-oriented economic growth without making subtle changes to the existing policies.

BJP in various states

BJP is currently in power in five states (Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh and Himachal Pradesh) where the party enjoys a majority of its own. In five other states — Punjab, Jharkhand, Nagaland, Uttarakhand and Bihar — it shares power with other political parties.

List of current BJP Chief Ministers

Raman Singh - Chhattisgarh

Narendra Modi - Gujarat

Prem Kumar Dhumal - Himachal Pradesh

D. V. Sadananda Gowda - Karnataka

Shivraj Singh Chauhan - Madhya Pradesh

Ramesh Pokhriyal - Uttarakhand

Arjun Munda - Jharkhand

List of current BJP Deputy Chief Ministers

Sushil Kumar Modi - Bihar

List of current BJP Floor Leaders of Vidhan Sabha

G. Kishan Reddy - Andhra Pradesh

Timoga Taga - Arunachal Pradesh

V.K.Malhotra - National Capital Territory of Delhi

Manohar Parrikar - Goa

Controversies and criticism

2002 Gujarat religion communal violence

In 2002, communal religion riots took place in Gujarat under BJP rule between Hindus and Muslims. The National Human Rights Commission criticized the government, pointing to "a comprehensive failure on the part of the State Government of Gujarat to control persistent violations of rights. A judicial commission headed by G.T. Nanavati, a former chief justice of the Indian Supreme Court, constituted to examine allegations of Gujarat state administration's involvement in the riots of 2002 said that there was no evidence to implicate either Modi or his administration in the riots.in april 2011.

Babri Masjid Demolition

In a 2005 book former Intelligence Bureau (IB) Joint Director Maloy Krishna Dhar claimed that Babri Masjid demolition was planned 10 months in advance by top leaders of RSS, BJP and VHP and raised questions over the way the then Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao, had handled the issue. Dhar claimed that he was directed to arrange the coverage of a key meeting of the BJP/Sangh Parivar and that the meeting "proved beyond doubt that they (RSS, BJP, VHP) had drawn up the blueprint of the Hindutva assault in the coming months and choreographed the ‘pralaya nritya’ (dance of destruction) at Ayodhya in December 1992... The RSS, BJP, VHP and the Bajrang Dal leaders present in the meeting amply agreed to work in a well-orchestrated manner." Claiming that the tapes of the meeting were personally handed over by him to his boss, he asserts that he has no doubts that his boss had shared the contents with the Prime Minister (Rao) and the Home Minister (S B Chavan). The author claimed that there was silent agreement that Ayodhya offered "a unique opportunity to take the Hindutva wave to the peak for deriving political benefit."

Liberhan Commission findings

A 2009 report, authored by Justice Manmohan Singh Liberhan, blamed 68 people for the demolition of the mosque - mostly leaders from the BJP and a few bureaucrats. Among those named in the report were AB Vajpayee, the former BJP prime minister, and LK Advani, the party's then (2009) leader in parliament. Kalyan Singh, who was the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh during the mosque’s demolition, has also come in for harsh criticism in the report. He is accused of posting bureaucrats and police officers who would stay silent during the mosque’s demolition in Ayodhya. Former Education Minister in NDA Government Mr. Murli Manohar Joshi have also been found culpable in the demolition in the Liberhan Commissions' Report. Anju Gupta, an Indian police officer appeared as a prosecution witness. She was in charge of Advani's security on the day of the demolition and she revealed that Advani and Murali Manohar Joshi made inflammatory speeches.

Alleged hate speech

During his campaign on a BJP ticket for the 2009 General elections in Pilibhit, Varun Gandhi is alleged to have said that he "would chop the hands of anyone who dared to raise a finger on Hindus". This supposed hate speech drew widespread criticism. Gandhi, however, has strongly denied making the speech, and claims that tapes showing the same were doctored by political rivals.

List of presidents of the party

! Year	Name				! Rationale
1980–1986		Atal Bihari Vajpayee
1986–1991		Lal Krishna Advani	First Term
1991–1993		Murli Manohar Joshi
1993–1998		Lal Krishna Advani	Second Term
1998–2000		Kushabhau Thakre
2000–2001		Bangaru Laxman
2001–2002		Jana Krishnamurthi
2002–2004		Venkaiah Naidu
2004–2006		Lal Krishna Advani	Third Term
2006–2009		Rajnath Singh	First Term (He was re-elected for second term in Dec 2006)
2009-		Nitin Gadkari

References

External links

Bharatiya Janata Party — Official website

Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad

Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha

Category:Political parties in India Category:Nationalist parties Category:Political parties established in 1980 Category:Hindutva

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Coordinates	67°30′″N64°02′″N
name	Ravi Shankar Prasad
birth date	August 30, 1954
birth place	Patna in Bihar
party	Bharatiya Janata Party
religion	Hindu }}

Ravi Shankar Prasad (, b. August 30, 1954) is an Indian politician belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He is presently a Member of the Parliament of India representing Bihar in the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian Parliament. He was the Minister of State in the Ministry of Coal and Mines, Ministry of Law and Justice and Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of India in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government.

Early life

Ravi Shankar Prasad was born in an eminent Kayastha family of Patna, Bihar. He earned BA Hons, MA (Pol Science) and LLB degrees from Patna University. His father, Thakur Prasad, was a distinguished Senior Lawyer at Patna High Court, and one of the founders of the Jan Sangh, which is now the BJP. He married Maya Shankar on February 3, 1982. Maya is a Professor of History at Patna University.

He began his political career as a student leader in the 1970s, organizing protests against Indira Gandhi's government. He led the student movement in Bihar under the leadership of Jayaprakash Narayan and was imprisoned during the Emergency. He was associated with Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad for many years and held various posts in the organization; during college days, was Assistant General Secretary of the Patna University Students Union and member of the Senate, Finance Committee, Arts and Law Faculties of the University.

Advocacy

Ravi Shankar Prasad is a practising Senior Advocate at the Supreme Court of India. He was the main lawyer who argued the Public Interest Litigation against former Bihar Chief Minister and Railway Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav in the Fodder scam and Bitumen Scam cases leading to his arrest. He was lawyer for Shri L.K. Advani, former Deputy Prime Minister in various proceedings in the Patna High Court; attended International Congress on Law and Medicine and on Patent Laws; has argued a large number of cases of public, private and corporate bodies; has been handling cases of major organisations including Railways, Bennett & Coleman, Dabur Company, etc.; was Senior Counsel, Bihar Banking Service Recruitment Board; Some of his cases were the Landmark Narmada Bachao Andolan Case, T.N. Thirumpalad v. Union of India, Rameshwar Prasad v. Union of India (Bihar Assembly Dissolution Case)and Prof. Yashpal's case on Medical Education in India. He started practicing before the Hon'ble Patna High Court since 1980. Prasad was designated Senior Advocate in 1999 by the Full Court of the Patna High Court. He was enrolled in Supreme Court in 2000. In 2010, Prasad was one of the three advocates in the long lasting Ayodhya title suit. As such he continues to argue matters based on all types of laws in the Supreme Court and various other High Courts all over the country.

Politician

He has held national level assignments in the youth wing and the main party organisation of the BJP over the years. He became a Member of Parliament in 2000 and became the Minister of State (Coal & Mines) in 2001, under A.B. Vajpayee as Prime Minister. Soon after taking over, Prasad accelerated the reforms process in the mining and coal sectors. He is currently the head spokesperson of the BJP.

Prasad was given the additional charge of the Minister of State in the Ministry of Law & Justice in July 2002. Within a fortnight of his joining, he prepared a bill for amending the Representation of People Act. He speeded up the process of fast track Courts.

As Minister of Information & Broadcasting he initiated reforms in the radio, television and animation sector and the establishment of Goa as the centre for the International Film Festival of India (IFFI).

In April 2002, he was sent as the leader of Indian Delegation in the Non Aligned Ministerial meet in Durban (South Africa). Thereafter, he was sent as the Indian representative to meet Late Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian Leader at Ramallah as a member of Non-Aligned Movement Ministerial delegation to express solidarity with him. He was sent as the leader of Indian Delegation in the Commonwealth Law Minister Summit in St. Vincent (West Indies). He led the Indian delegation to Film festivals in Cannes, Venice and London.

As spokesperson of the BJP

He became National Spokesperson of BJP in 2006 and was elected to Rajya Sabha, the Upper House of the Indian Parliament from Bihar state in the same year. He was appointed as the Chief national spokesperson of BJP in 2007. He is also a member of BJP National Executive, the top policy making body of the party for last 10 years. He has also been a member of several parliamentary committees. Recently, he was in-charge of the party for Uttarakhand Assembly Elections.

He often presents the official views of BJP on various forums.

Positions held

1991-95 National Vice President, Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, the Youth Wing of BJP for two terms

1995 onwards Member, National Executive, Bharatiya Janata Party

April 2000 Elected to Rajya Sabha

May 2000-2001 Member, Committee on Petroleum and Chemicals Member, Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Finance

1 Sept. 2001-29 Jan. 2003 Minister of State in the Ministry of Coal and Mines

1 July 2002-29 Jan. 2003 Minister of State in the Ministry of Law and Justice (Additional charge)

29 Jan. 2003-May 2004 Minister of State (Independent charge) of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting

May 2000 - Aug. 2001 and Member, Committee on Rules

July 2004 - Aug. 2006Aug. 2004 - 2006 Member, Committee on Human Resource Development

Sept. 2004 - April 2006 Member, Committee on Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (Rajya Sabha)

Oct. 2004 -2006 Member, Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Finance

Nov. 2004 onwards Member, Sub-Committee on University and Higher Education of the Committee on Human Resource Development

March 2006 onwards National Spokesperson, BJP

April 2006 Re-elected to Rajya SabhaAug.

2006 onwards Member, Committee on Information Technology

Sept. 2006 onwards Member, Committee of Privileges

References

External links

Ravi Shankar Prasad admitted to AIIMS

Category:Indian politicians Category:People from Bihar Category:1954 births Category:Living people Category:Patna University alumni

hi:रवि शंकर प्रसाद kn:ರವಿ ಶಂಕರ್‌ ಪ್ರಸಾದ್‌ te:రవి శంకర్ ప్రసాద్

Coordinates	67°30′″N64°02′″N
name	Ravi Shankar
alt	An old man sits on a platform and holds a long-necked lute while looking to the side.
background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
birth name	Robindro Shaunkor Chowdhury
born	April 07, 1920Varanasi, United Provinces, Indian Empire
instrument	''sitar''
genre	Hindustani classical music
occupation	composer, musician
years active	1939–present
website	RaviShankar.org
associated acts	Uday Shankar, Allauddin Khan, Ali Akbar Khan, Lakshmi Shankar, Yehudi Menuhin, Chatur Lal, Alla Rakha, George Harrison, Anoushka Shankar }}

Ravi Shankar ( ''Robi Shongkor'' ; born Robindro Shaunkor Chowdhury on 7 April 1920), often referred to by the title Pandit, is an Indian musician and composer who plays the plucked string instrument ''sitar''. He has been described as the best known contemporary Indian musician by Hans Neuhoff in ''Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart''.

Shankar was born in Varanasi and spent his youth touring Europe and India with the dance group of his brother Uday Shankar. He gave up dancing in 1938 to study ''sitar'' playing under court musician Allauddin Khan. After finishing his studies in 1944, Shankar worked as a composer, creating the music for the ''Apu Trilogy'' by Satyajit Ray, and was music director of All India Radio, New Delhi, from 1949 to 1956.

In 1956, he began to tour Europe and America playing Indian classical music and increased its popularity there in the 1960s through teaching, performance, and his association with violinist Yehudi Menuhin and George Harrison of The Beatles. Shankar engaged Western music by writing concerti for ''sitar'' and orchestra and toured the world in the 1970s and 1980s. From 1986 to 1992 he served as a nominated member of the upper chamber of the Parliament of India. Shankar was awarded India's highest civilian honor, the Bharat Ratna, in 1999, and received three Grammy Awards. He continues to perform in the 2000s, often with his daughter Anoushka.

Early life

Shankar was born 7 April 1920 in Varanasi to a Brahmin family of Bengalis as the youngest of seven brothers. Shankar's Bengali birth name was Robindro Shaunkor Chowdhury. His father, Shyam Shankar, an administrator for the Maharaja of Jhalawar, used the Sanskrit spelling of the family name and removed its last part. Shyam was married to Shankar's mother Hemangini Devi, but later worked as a lawyer in London. There he married a second time while Devi raised Shankar in Varanasi, and did not meet his son until he was eight years old. Shankar shortened the Sanskrit version of his first name, Ravindra, to Ravi, for "sun".

At the age of ten, after spending his first decade in Varanasi, Shankar went to Paris with the dance group of his brother, choreographer Uday Shankar. By the age of 13 he had become a member of the group, accompanied its members on tour and learned to dance and play various Indian instruments. Uday's dance group toured Europe and America in the early to mid-1930s and Shankar learned French, discovered Western classical music, jazz, and cinema, and became acquainted with Western customs. Shankar heard the lead musician for the Maihar court, Allauddin Khan, in December 1934 at a music conference in Kolkata and Uday convinced the Maharaja of Maihar in 1935 to allow Khan to become his group's soloist for a tour of Europe. Shankar was sporadically trained by Khan on tour, and Khan offered Shankar training to become a serious musician under the condition that he abandon touring and come to Maihar.

Career

Training and work in India

Shankar's parents had died by the time he returned from the European tour, and touring the West had become difficult due to political conflicts that would lead to World War II. Shankar gave up his dancing career in 1938 to go to Maihar and study Indian classical music as Khan's pupil, living with his family in the traditional ''gurukul'' system. Khan was a rigorous teacher and Shankar had training on ''sitar'' and ''surbahar'', learned ''ragas'' and the musical styles ''dhrupad'', ''dhamar'', and ''khyal'', and was taught the techniques of the instruments ''rudra veena'', ''rubab'', and ''sursingar''. He often studied with Khan's children Ali Akbar Khan and Annapurna Devi. Shankar began to perform publicly on ''sitar'' in December 1939 and his debut performance was a ''jugalbandi'' (duet) with Ali Akbar Khan, who played the string instrument ''sarod''.

Shankar completed his training in 1944. Following his training, he moved to Mumbai and joined the Indian People's Theatre Association, for whom he composed music for ballets in 1945 and 1946. Shankar recomposed the music for the popular song "Sare Jahan Se Achcha" at the age of 25. He began to record music for HMV India and worked as a music director for All India Radio (AIR), New Delhi, from February 1949 to January 1956. Shankar founded the Indian National Orchestra at AIR and composed for it; his compositions experimented with a combination of Western instruments and classical Indian instrumentation. Beginning in the mid-1950s he composed the music for the ''Apu Trilogy'' by Satyajit Ray, which became internationally acclaimed.

International career 1956–1969

V. K. Narayana Menon, director of AIR Delhi, introduced the Western violinist Yehudi Menuhin to Shankar during Menuhin's first visit to India in 1952. Shankar had performed as part of a cultural delegation in the Soviet Union in 1954 and Menuhin invited Shankar in 1955 to perform in New York City for a demonstration of Indian classical music, sponsored by the Ford Foundation. Shankar declined to attend due to problems in his marriage, but recommended Ali Akbar Khan to play instead. Khan reluctantly accepted and performed with ''tabla'' (percussion) player Chatur Lal in the Museum of Modern Art, and he later became the first Indian classical musician to perform on American television and record a full ''raga'' performance, for Angel Records.

Shankar heard about the positive response Khan received and resigned from AIR in 1956 to tour the United Kingdom, Germany, and the United States. He played for smaller audiences and educated them about Indian music, incorporating ''ragas'' from the South Indian Carnatic music in his performances, and recorded his first LP album ''Three Ragas'' in London, released in 1956. In 1958, Shankar participated in the celebrations of the tenth anniversary of the United Nations and UNESCO music festival in Paris. Since 1961, he toured Europe, the United States, and Australia, and became the first Indian to compose music for non-Indian films. Chatur Lal accompanied Shankar on ''tabla'' until 1962, when Alla Rakha assumed the role. Shankar founded the Kinnara School of Music in Mumbai in 1962.

Shankar befriended Richard Bock, founder of World Pacific Records, on his first American tour and recorded most of his albums in the 1950s and 1960s for Bock's label. The Byrds recorded at the same studio and heard Shankar's music, which led them to incorporate some of its elements in theirs, introducing the genre to their friend George Harrison of The Beatles. Harrison became interested in Indian classical music, bought a ''sitar'' and used it to record the song "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)". This led to Indian music being used by other musicians and created the raga rock trend.

Harrison met Shankar in London in 1966 and visited India for six weeks to study ''sitar'' under Shankar in Srinagar. During the visit, a documentary film about Shankar named ''Raga'' was shot by Howard Worth, and released in 1971. Shankar's association with Harrison greatly increased Shankar's popularity and Ken Hunt of Allmusic would state that Shankar had become "the most famous Indian musician on the planet" by 1966. In 1967, he performed at the Monterey Pop Festival and won a Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance for ''West Meets East'', a collaboration with Yehudi Menuhin. The same year, the Beatles won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year for ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'' which included "Within You Without You" by Harrison, a song that was influenced by Indian classical music. Shankar opened a Western branch of the Kinnara School of Music in Los Angeles, California, in May 1967, and published an autobiography, ''My Music, My Life'', in 1968. He performed at the Woodstock Festival in August 1969, and found he disliked the venue. In the 1970s Shankar distanced himself from the hippie movement.

International career 1970–present

In October 1970 Shankar became chair of the department of Indian music of the California Institute of the Arts after previously teaching at the City College of New York, the University of California, Los Angeles, and being guest lecturer at other colleges and universities, including the Ali Akbar College of Music. In late 1970, the London Symphony Orchestra invited Shankar to compose a concerto with ''sitar''; ''Concerto for Sitar and Orchestra'' was performed with André Previn as conductor and Shankar playing the ''sitar''. Hans Neuhoff of ''Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'' has criticized the usage of the orchestra in this concert as "amateurish". George Harrison organized the charity Concert for Bangladesh in August 1971, in which Shankar participated. Interest in Indian music had decreased in the early 1970s, but the concert album became one of the best-selling recordings featuring it and won Shankar a second Grammy Award.

During the 1970s, Shankar and Harrison worked together again, recording ''Shankar Family and Friends'' in 1974 and touring North America to a mixed response after Shankar had toured Europe. The demanding North America tour weakened Shankar, and he suffered a heart attack in Chicago in September 1974, causing him to cancel a portion of the tour. In his absence, Shankar's sister-in-law, singer Lakshmi Shankar, conducted the touring orchestra. The touring band visited the White House on invitation of John Gardner Ford, son of U.S. President Gerald Ford. Shankar toured and taught for the remainder of the 1970s and the 1980s and released his second concerto, ''Raga Mala'', conducted by Zubin Mehta, in 1981. Shankar was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Music Score for his work on the 1982 movie ''Gandhi'', but lost to John Williams' ''E.T.'' He served as a member of the Rajya Sabha, the upper chamber of the Parliament of India, from 12 May 1986 to 11 May 1992, after being nominated by Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Shankar composed the dance drama ''Ghanashyam'' in 1989. His liberal views on musical cooperation led him to collaboration with contemporary composer Philip Glass, with whom he released an album, ''Passages'', in 1990.

Shankar underwent an angioplasty in 1992 due to heart problems, after which George Harrison involved himself in several of Shankar's projects. Because of the positive response to Shankar's 1996 career compilation ''In Celebration'', Shankar wrote a second autobiography, ''Raga Mala'', with Harrison as editor. He performed in between 25 and 40 concerts every year during the late 1990s. Shankar taught his daughter Anoushka Shankar to play ''sitar'' and in 1997 became a Regent's Lecturer at University of California, San Diego. In the 2000s, he won a Grammy Award for Best World Music Album for ''Full Circle: Carnegie Hall 2000'' and toured with Anoushka, who released a book about her father, ''Bapi: Love of My Life'', in 2002. Anoushka performed a composition by Shankar for the 2002 Harrison memorial Concert for George and Shankar wrote a third concerto for ''sitar'' and orchestra for Anoushka and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. In June 2008, Shankar played what was billed as his last European concert, but his 2011 tour includes dates in the United Kingdom.

Style and contributions

Shankar developed a style distinct from that of his contemporaries and incorporated influences from rhythm practices of Carnatic music. His performances begin with solo ''alap'', ''jor'', and ''jhala'' (introduction and performances with pulse and rapid pulse) influenced by the slow and serious ''dhrupad'' genre, followed by a section with ''tabla'' accompaniment featuring compositions associated with the prevalent ''khyal'' style. Shankar often closes his performances with a piece inspired by the light-classical ''thumri'' genre.

Shankar has been considered one of the top ''sitar'' players of the second half of the 20th century. He popularized performing on the bass octave of the ''sitar'' for the ''alap'' section and became known for a distinctive playing style in the middle and high registers that uses quick and short deviations of the playing string and his sound creation through stops and strikes on the main playing string. Narayana Menon of ''The New Grove Dictionary'' noted Shankar's liking for rhythmic novelties, among them the use of unconventional rhythmic cycles. Hans Neuhoff of ''Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'' has argued that Shankar's playing style was not widely adopted and that he was surpassed by other ''sitar'' players in the performance of melodic passages. Shankar's interplay with Alla Rakha improved appreciation for ''tabla'' playing in Hindustani classical music. Shankar promoted the ''jugalbandi'' duet concert style and introduced new ''ragas'', including ''Tilak Shyam'', ''Nat Bhairav'' and ''Bairagi''.

Recognition

Shankar won the Silver Bear Extraordinary Prize of the Jury at the 1957 Berlin International Film Festival for composing the music for the movie ''Kabuliwala''. He was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for 1962, and was named a Fellow of the academy for 1975. Shankar was awarded the three highest national civil honors of India: Padma Bhushan, in 1967, Padma Vibhushan, in 1981, and Bharat Ratna, in 1999. He received the music award of the UNESCO International Music Council in 1975, three Grammy Awards, and was nominated for an Academy Award. Shankar was awarded honorary degrees from universities in India and the United States. He received the Kalidas Samman from the Government of Madhya Pradesh for 1987–88, the Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize in 1991, the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1992, and the Polar Music Prize in 1998. Shankar is an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and in 1997 received the Praemium Imperiale for music from the Japan Art Association. The American jazz saxophonist John Coltrane named his son Ravi Coltrane after Shankar.

Personal life and family

Shankar married Allauddin Khan's daughter Annapurna Devi in 1941 and a son, Shubhendra Shankar, was born in 1942. Shankar separated from Annapurna in the 1940s and had a relationship with Kamala Shastri, a dancer, beginning in the late 1940s. An affair with Sue Jones, a New York concert producer, led to the birth of Norah Jones in 1979. In 1981, Anoushka Shankar was born to Shankar and Sukanya Rajan, whom Shankar had known since the 1970s. After separating from Kamala Shastri in 1981 Shankar lived with Sue Jones until 1986 and married Sukanya Rajan in 1989.

Shubhendra "Shubho" Shankar often accompanied his father on tours. He could play the ''sitar'' and ''surbahar'', but elected not to pursue a solo career and died in 1992. Norah Jones became a successful musician in the 2000s, winning eight Grammy Awards in 2003. Anoushka Shankar was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best World Music Album in 2003.

Shankar is a Hindu and a vegetarian. He lives with Sukanya in Encinitas, California.

Discography

Bibliography

Notes

References

External links

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Coordinates	67°30′″N64°02′″N
Name	Tarun Vijay
Occupation	Journalism, author, social worker
Website	http://tarunvijay.org }}

Tarun Vijay (born in 1961) is an Indian author, social worker, famous freelance journalist, and parliamentarian. He was the editor of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) weekly in Hindi, ''Panchajanya'', from 1986 to February 2008, and is a columnist of the newspaper ''The Times of India''. He also writes for the ''Daily Pioneer''. He is currently working as the director of the [Dr. Syamaprasad Mookerjee Research Foundation (DSMRF). He has been recently elected as member of Rajya Sabha, the upper house of Indian Parliament.

Career

Tarun Vijay joined Panchajanya in 1986 as executive editor, after a decade of freelance journalism and work among tribals in Dadra and Nagar Haveli as a pracharak of Bharatiya Vanavasi Kalyan Ashram. This last-mentioned sojourn, in fact, had attracted him the attention of noted film-makers Basu Bhattacharya and William Greaves, who featured him in a documentary.

Tarun Vijay was appointed director of the BJP's newly created think-tank the Dr Shyama Prasad Mookerjee Research foundation. In 1995, the Audit Bureau of Circulation credited the magazine with a circulation of 85,000, a figure which Vijay claims has crossed the 1 lakh mark today.

Vijay, who is also a columnist with ''The Times of India'', joined ''Panchjanya'' in 1979. He has been Chief Editor for 20 years. The first editor of the 60-year-old ''Panchjanya'' was former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Vijay has also been inducted as a special invitee to the BJP national executive. He has been asked by the RSS top brass to form the think-tank on the ideological lines of nationalism "uncompromising and unapologetic".

A journalist since 1976, he began his career with ''Russi Karanjia'' at the Mumbai-based tabloid Blitz and then as a freelance journalist for major dailies and magazines before spending five years as an RSS activist in the country's tribal areas. He was the youngest member of the then home minister's Hindi Language advisory committee during Indira Gandhi's government before joining Panchjanya.

An avid photographer he has covered the Himalayan region extensively and his pictorial book An Odyssey in Tibet has been well received. His photographs on the river Indus had been exhibited in Bangalore, Chennai, New Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai. He also led the first Indus expedition from Demchok to Batalik.

In the years as editor of Panchajanya, he has visited various parts of the country, and various countries.

He has authored two books. Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee released a book of Shri Tarun Vijay titled ''An Odyssey in Tibet: Pilgrimage of Kailash Mansarovar'' in New Delhi

His name was brought up in connection to murder of RTI Activist Shehla Masood since as per the reports Vijay had talked on phone with Shehla on August 16, 2011, hours before she was shot dead by unknown assailant outside her Koh-e-Fiza residence.

Books

''An Odyssey in Tibet: Pilgrimage of Kailash Mansarovar, Ritwik Prakashan, Jan 2001, ISBN 81-900571-2-X

''Saffron Surge, India's Re-emergence on the Global Scene and Hindu Ethos, Har Anand, Nov 2008, ISBN 978-81-241-1338-7

References

External links

Tarun Vijay's website

Panchajanya online publication

Last article on TOI as editor of ''Panchajanya'' (dated 20^th Feb, 2008)

First article on TOI as director of Syamaprasad Mookerjee Research Foundation (dated 28^th Feb, 2008)

review of Saffron Surge, India's Re-emergence on the Global Scene and Hindu Ethos

Business standard on SAFFRON SURGE INDIA’S RE-EMERGENCE ON THE GLOBAL SCENE AND HINDU ETHOS

Category:Indian journalists Category:Indian Hindus Category:1961 births Category:Living people

hi:तरुण विजय

Coordinates	67°30′″N64°02′″N
name	Prakash Karat
birth date	February 07, 1948
birth place	Letpadan, Burma
residence	New Delhi, India
office	General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)
term start	2005
predecessor	Harkishan Singh Surjeet
party	Communist Party of India (Marxist)
religion	atheist
spouse	Brinda Karat
date	January 27 |
year	2007 |
source	http://www.cpim.org/bio/prakash_karat.htm }}

Prakash Karat (), born on February 7, 1948 in Letpadan, Burma is a communist politician in India and the current General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) since 2005.

Education and early career

Prakash Karat was born in Letpadan, Burma on February 7, 1948. His father worked in the Burma Railways, where he had sought employment during the British Raj. Prakash Karat is a Malayali, as his family hailed from Elappully, Palakkad, Kerala. Prakash Karat lived in Palakkad till the age of five before returning to Burma where he lived with his family till the age of nine, when his family left Burma for good in 1957. Karat studied in the Madras Christian College School in Chennai. On finishing school, he won the first prize in an all India essay competition on the Tokyo Olympics. He was sent on a ten day visit to the Tokyo Olympics in 1964 as a result. He went to the Madras Christian College as an undergraduate student in Economics, where he won the prize for the best all round student on graduation. He got a scholarship to Britain’s University of Edinburgh, for a Masters degree in politics. In 1970 he received an MSc degree from Edinburgh University for the thesis "Language and politics in modern India". It was at Edinburgh that he became active in student politics and met Professor Victor Kiernan, the well-known Marxist historian. His political activism began with anti-apartheid protests at the University, for which he was rusticated. The rustication was suspended on good behaviour. Karat returned to India in 1970 and joined the premier institution, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He worked as an aide to A.K.Gopalan, the leader of the CPI(M) group in Parliament from 1971 to 1973 while doing his Ph.D. in JNU. Karat was one of the founders of the Students Federation of India (SFI), the CPI(M)’s student wing, in Jawaharlal Nehru University. He was involved with student politics and was elected the third president of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Student's Union. He also became the second President of the Students Federation of India between 1974 to 1979. He worked underground for one and a half years during the Emergency in India in 1975-76. He was arrested twice and spent 8 days in prison.

Personal life

Prakash Karat married Brinda Karat, then a party colleague, in 1975. Brinda worked in the Air India office in London, before she became a CPI(M) fulltime cadre. Brinda has also risen through the party ranks and is a member of the Politburo. Brinda Karat hails from the state of Bengal. The Karats have no children.

Communist Party

After returning to India in 1970, Karat joined the Jawaharlal Nehru University and thereafter Communist Party of India (Marxist). He began working as an aide to the party leader A K Gopalan, the legendary communist leader from Kerala. He was the Secretary of the Delhi State Committee of the CPI(M) from 1982 to 1985. Prakash Karat was elected to the Central Committee of the CPI (M) in 1985 and became a member of the ‘Politburo’ in 1992. He took over as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in 2005 at the 18th Congress of the Party held in Delhi.

Party Leader

Karat was elected to the Central Committee of the CPI (M) in 1985 and became a member of the Politburo in 1992. The Politburo is the key decision making wing of the party. In 2005, he was elected General Secretary, effectively the most influential position in the party structure.

Academic and political writings

Since 1992, Karat has been on the editorial board of CPI(M)'s academic journal, ''The Marxist''. He is also the managing director of Leftword. He is the author of five books.

''Language, Nationality and Politics in India'' (1972)

''A World to Win'' -- Essays on the Communist Manifesto (1999), edited

''Across Time and Continents: A tribute to Victor Kiernan'' (2003), edited

''Subordinate Ally: The nuclear deal and India-US strategic relations ''(2008)

''politics and policies''(2008)

References

Category:Living people Category:1948 births Category:Alumni of Madras Christian College Category:Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Category:Communist Party of India (Marxist) politicians Category:Indian atheists Category:Indian communists Category:Indian political writers Category:Jawaharlal Nehru University alumni Category:Marxist writers Category:Leaders of political parties in India

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