Ballia

Ballia is a city with a municipal board in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh bordering Bihar. The eastern boundary of the city lies at the junction of two major rivers, the Ganges and the Ghaghara. The city is situated 140 km (87 mi) from Varanasi. Bhojpuri, a dialect of Hindi, is the primary local language.

The headquarters of the Ballia district are located here. Due to its significant contribution to the Indian independence movement, Ballia is also known as Bagi Ballia ("Rebel Ballia").

History

Ballia is considered to be an ancient city. Legend has it that many saints and sages of India had their ashrams in Ballia, including Valmiki, Bhrigu, Durvasa, Parashara Muni, and Jamadagni. Ballia was a part of the Kosala Kingdom in ancient times and came under Buddhist influence later. The district was earlier part of the Ghazipur district, but later it was established as an independent district.

Sahatwar, Rohua (Village) Sheikhpur, and Sikanderpur are also very old towns of Ballia, populated during the reign of Feroze Shah Tughlaq. At that time, many Muslim saints came and inhabited the area and served Muslims and non-Muslim alike.

Narendra Modi

Narendra Damodardas Modi (Gujarati: [nəreːnd̪rə d̪ɑːmoːd̪ərəd̪ɑːs moːd̪iː], born 17 September 1950) is the 15th and current Prime Minister of India, in office since 26 May 2014. Modi, a leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament (MP) from Varanasi. He led the BJP in the 2014 general election, which gave the party a majority in the Lok Sabha (the lower house of the Indian parliament) – a first for any party since 1984 – and was credited for 2014 BJP electoral victories in the states of Haryana, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Jammu and Kashmir.

Since taking office as Prime Minister, Modi's administration has focused on reforming and modernising India's infrastructure and government, reducing bureaucracy, encouraging increased foreign direct investment, improving national standards of health and sanitation and improving foreign relations. Modi has been appreciated for starting initiatives like Swachh Bharat Mission, Make in India and Digital India. Earlier, as Chief Minister of Gujarat, Modi's economic policies (credited with encouraging economic growth in Gujarat) have been praised, although his administration has also been criticised for failing to significantly improve the human development in the state and failing to prevent the 2002 Gujarat riots. A Hindu nationalist and a former member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Modi remains a controversial figure domestically and internationally, despite his progressivism. Known for his tech savvy image, he is the second most followed politician on social media after U.S. President Barack Obama.