Thiruvananthapuram,^{[needs IPA]}known in English as Trivandrum /trɨˈvændrəm/, is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala and the headquarters of the Thiruvananthapuram District. It is located on the west coast of India near the extreme south of the mainland. Referred to by Mahatma Gandhi as the "Evergreen city of India", the city is characterized by its undulating terrain of low coastal hills and busy commercial alleys. With more than 750,000 inhabitants in the city proper, and a population around 1.68 million when including the wider urban agglomeration, Thiruvananthapuram is the largest and most populous city in Kerala. It is an IT hub of the state with over 80% of the state's software exports.

The city houses several central and state government offices and organizations. Apart from being the political nerve centre of Kerala, it is also a major academic hub and is home to several educational institutions including the University of Kerala, and to many science and technology institutions, the most prominent being the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), Technopark, the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST), the Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management, Kerala,Indian Institute of Science, Education and Research (IISER), the Centre for Development Studies, the International Centre for Free and Open Source Software (ICFOSS), the Regional Research Laboratory, the Centre for Earth Science Studies, Rajeev Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology and the Sree Chithira Thirunal Institute for Medical Science and Technology. It is also considered as one of the 10 greenest cities in India. Thiruvananthapuram was ranked as the best city in Kerala to live in by a recent Times of India survey

Narendra Damodardas Modi (Gujarati: નરેન્દ્ર મોદી; born 17 September 1950) is the current Chief Minister of the Indian state of Gujarat. Born in a middle class family in Vadnagar, he was the third of six children born to Damodardas Mulchand Modi and his wife Heeraben. He has been a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) since childhood also having interest in politics since adolescence. He holds a master's degree in political science. In 1998, he was chosen by L. K. Advani, the leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), to direct the election campaign in Gujarat as well as Himachal Pradesh.

He became Chief Minister of Gujarat in October 2001, promoted to the office at a time when his predecessor Keshubhai Patel had resigned, following the defeat of BJP in the by-elections. His tenure as chief minister of Gujarat began on 7 October 2001, and he is the longest serving Chief Minister of the state of Gujarat. In July 2007 he became the longest serving Chief Minister in Gujarat's history when he had been in power for 2063 days continuously. He was elected again for a third term on 23 December 2007 in the state elections, which he had cast as a "referendum on his rule".