Thampu (English: The Circus Tent, 1978) is a highly acclaimed Malayalam film written and directed by G. Aravindan. Bharath Gopi, Nedumudi Venu, V. K. Sriraman, Jalaja the artistes of the Great Chitra Circus form the cast. The film deals with the roving street circus of Kerala. It is shot in black and white in a direct documentary mode.^[2][3]

Plot[link]

Besides a long glittering river some men raise a pole. A tent balloons up. Where there was wide sand and the sound of water lapping, there is now a truck, chairs, hoops, stools, ropes, goats, a lioness, a pair of fat girls, some bicycles, and an old man with a philosopher's dignity, putting on white paste.

Across a dirt road, the circus truck comes to a village. The tent goes up. Schoolboys run to the ten. Village women come and watch an acrobat roll a hoop across a tightrope. A lion leaps from the edge of one stool - across darkness - on to another stool. A gap-toothed old woman gazes at a goat on a tight rope; her eyes are wide with curiosity.

For three days the cicrus makes small ripples in the life of this village. Municipal permits are required. At a toddy shop, a soldier befriends the circus strongman; a pump attendant sits on a rock each day watching a village girl bathe and dry her hair. The dwarf brings back to the circus a watermelon larger than his head.

In the film's three days, we, the viewers, learn the geography of the village: the banyan treewith leaves like transparent film, the shining water, the light on the sand at sunset. When the circus leaves the village, it leaves us. The narrative says: The circus comes and leaves; life goes on.

Major awards[link]

• National Film Award for Best Direction
• National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Malayalam
• Kerala State Film Award for Best Direction
• Kerala State Film Award for Second Best Film

References[link]

1. ^ C. S. Venkiteswaran (June 19, 2009). "The alchemist of cinema". The Hindu. http://www.hindu.com/fr/2009/06/19/stories/2009061951190200.htm. Retrieved April 11, 2011. 
2. ^ "Aravindan's profile". India Film database. http://www.chaosmag.in/aravindan.html. Retrieved April 11, 2011. 
3. ^ Sashi Kumar (January 02-15, 2010). "Aravindan’s art". Frontline. http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2701/stories/19890610160.htm. Retrieved April 11, 2011. 

External links[link]

• Thampu at the Internet Movie Database
• Revisiting Thampu - The Economic Times

Revd. Valson Thampu is an Indian educator, christian theologian, who is the present Principal of St Stephen's College, University of Delhi, Delhi, since 2008. Prior to this he was a lecturer at the college and its officiating principal since May 2007.

He is an Ordained minister of Church of North India and a member of the National Minorities Commission and Delhi Minorities Commission.^[1][2][3]

Works[link]

• Kristiya drishtanta: a Christian viewpoint. with Kathleen D. Nicholls, Christopher Raj. Publisher: TRACI (Theological Research and Communication Institute), 1989.
• AIDS, heresy and prophecy: what the virus says. Publisher TRACI, 1993.
• The Word and the World: a Biblical perspective on contemporary issues. Theological Research and Communication Institute, 1995.
• Cross-cultural issues in AIDS: an Afro-Asian advocacy. TRACI Publication, 1995.
• Rediscovering Mission: Towards a Non-western Missiological Paradigm. TRACI (Theological Research and Communication Institute), 1995.
• Be thou my vision: spiritual resources for the healing ministry. TRACI Publications, 1997. ISBN 8190085417.
• Religion and politics: minorities and the regeneration of the mainstream. Media House, 1999. ISBN 8174950567.
• Pilgrims to the light: encounters in a shared destiny. Har-Anand Publications, 2000. ISBN 8124106436. Ed. Excerpts
• Tongues of fire: Sermons for today. TRACI Pub., 2001. ISBN 81-900854-3-3.
• Harvest of Hate: Gujarat Under Siege, with Swami Agnivesh. Rupa & Co ,India. 2002. ISBN 81-7167-858-0.
• The Word and the World, TRACI Pub., 2003.
• Othappu: The Scent of the other side, OUP, 2009.
• The Dream and the Dragon, TRACI, 1994.

References[link]

External links[link]

• St. Stephen's College, Official Website

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2012)

Kapil Sibal
Kapil Sibal at 2007 World Economic Forum
Minister of Human Resource Development
Incumbent
Assumed office 22 May 2009
Preceded by	Arjun Singh
Minister of Communications and Information Technology
Incumbent
Assumed office 15 November 2010
Preceded by	A. Raja
Minister of Science and Technology
In office 22 May 2004 – 2010
Succeeded by	Pawan Kumar Bansal
Minister of Earth Sciences
In office 22 May 2004 – 2010
Succeeded by	Pawan Kumar Bansal
Member of Lok Sabha
Incumbent
Assumed office 2004
Constituency	Chandni Chowk
Personal details
Born	(1948-08-08) 8 August 1948 (age 63) Jalandhar, Punjab
Nationality	Indian
Political party	Indian National Congress
Spouse(s)	Nina Sibal (deceased)(1973-2000) Promila Sibal
Children	2 sons
Residence	New Delhi
Alma mater	University of Delhi (M.A./LL.B.) Harvard Law School (LL.M.)
Profession	Politician, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India
Religion	Hindu
Signature	Kapil Sibal's signature
Website	Kapil Sibal
As of 5 June, 2011

Kapil Sibal (Punjabi: ਕਪਿਲ ਸਿਬਲ, Hindi: कपिल सिब्बल; born 14 Feb 1950,is a lawyer and an Indian politician. He is currently the Minister of Human Resource Development and Minister of Communications and Information Technology.^[1] He also held the two positions of Minister of Science and Technology and Minister of Earth Sciences in the First Manmohan Singh Cabinet.

Sibal was first nominated in July 1988, as a Member of the upper house of the Indian Parliament, the Rajya Sabha, from the State of Bihar and served as Additional Solicitor General of India (December 1989 – December 1990) and President of the Supreme Court Bar Association on three occasions (1995–96, 1997–98 and 2001–2002).^[2]

Career[link]

Kapil Sibal joined the Bar association in 1970.In 1973, he qualified for the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), and was offered an appointment, but declined the offer. Instead he decided to set up his own law practice.^[2][3] He was designated as a Senior Lawyer in 1983. He was also the Additional Solicitor General of India between 1989 and 1990.^[2][4]

In August 2008, an anthology of Kapil Sibal's poems titled I Witness: Partial Observation was published by Roli Books, New Delhi.^[5] He has also contributed several articles on various prominent issues such as security, nuclear proliferation, and terrorism in national dailies and periodicals. In the 2004 general elections, Sibal became an MP by winning the Chandni Chowk constituency in the National Capital Territory representing the Congress Party and was inducted into the Cabinet under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as Union Minister for Science, Technology and Earth Sciences. He won the constituency of Chandni Chowk for the second time for the Indian National Congress in the Lok Sabha elections of 2009 against TV actor Smriti Irani of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Over the years, he has held several important positions in the Government of India and the Society, such as: Additional Solicitor General of India (December 1989 – 1990); Member, Board of Management, Indira Gandhi National Open University (1993); President, Supreme Court Bar Association (1995–96, 1997–98 and 2001–2002); Member, Rajya Sabha (July 1998); Member, Executive Council, Institute of Constitutional and Parliamentary Studies (July, 2001); Member, Business Advisory Committee (August, 2001); Member, Committee on Home Affairs (January, 2002); Co-chairman, Indo-US Parliamentary Forum (2002); Member, Board of International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (2002); Member, Programme Board of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's Indian AIDS initiative (2003); Member, Working Group on Arbitrary Detention set up by the Human Rights Commission, Geneva.

He represented India in the Annual Meetings of the World Economic Forum in 2005 and 2009 held at Davos, Switzerland. He led the Indian delegation to the Annapolis Conference, USA, held to gather International support for establishment of a Palestinian state and the realization of Israeli–Palestinian peace during November 2007. He led the Indian delegation to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) at Bali in December 2007.

Minister Sibal has recently approved the creation of an Indian Institute of Technology Muddenahalli as part of the 11th 5 year plan.^[6] He is also the person who introduced the Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) system in India for Class IX and Class X and he has also started the changes in the IIT JEE pattern. He has laid the foundation stone for IIT Patna

One Laptop per Child (OLPC) and $35 Laptop[link]

He has also announced an Indian touchscreen tablet computer, Akash which will be co-developed with private partnership. It may be available to students for 1,500 (US$29.93). Satish Jha, chairman of OLPC India, the leading competitor to this venture, questioned his claim that a $35 laptop could be created in a year.^[7] Five state Chief Ministers endorsed the OLPC initiative and the Chief Minister of Rajasthan himself inaugurated the project on the day Sibal showcased his future laptop. The event was attended by two members of the Union Cabinet.^[8][9] This also lead to an open letter by Nicholas Negroponte offering him complete access to MIT and OLPC technologies to help realise India's dream to create a laptop of its own.^[10] Though Sibal demonstrated the laptop in a TV interview and suggested that his tablet was for university students and not for the school children as yet, there were questions about India's contribution to it that may be open to scrutiny once the laptop reaches university students.

Controversy[link]

Kapil Sibal has come under criticism from the students of several IIT's who call his move of abolishing IIT-Joint Entrance Examination and introducing 40% weightage for Class 12 marks and the proposal for a Common Engineering Entrance Exam as a move which was uncalled for. After the HRD Ministry confirmed the news of abolishing IIT-JEE.^[11]

During his tenure as Telecom Minister his comment about the loss in the 2G spectrum scam being only notional and causing "zero loss"^[12] created a public outcry^[13] and he had to clarify it later.^[14] Kapil Sibal was indicted by CAG for favoring M/S Phoenix Rose LLC by overlooking rules and regulations and handpicking that company for creating a database for over 5 lakh working professionals of People of Indian Origin settled in the US. CAG's report said that the project’s cost was $1,20,000 but three years after the initiation, the company has dumped the networking site, completing just over 16% of the targeted work.^[15]

His move to regulate internet content^[16] was strongly criticized across many social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and Google+.^[17]

Personal life[link]

Kapil Sibal was married to Nina Sibal from 1973. But she died due to breast cancer in 2000.^[18] Amit and Akhil, Sibal's two sons from his first marriage, are both lawyers.^[19]

In 2005, Sibal married social activist Promila Sibal.^[20][21]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Kapil Sibal

• In Conversation: Kapil Sibal, HRD Minister Business Standard
• Profile at Ministry of Science and Technology, Official website
• Kapil Sibal Update

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (September 2011)

A major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject. It may require cleanup to comply with Wikipedia's content policies, particularly neutral point of view. Please discuss further on the talk page. (June 2009)

Ajay Makan (born 12 January 1964) is the current Sports minister^[1] and member of the 15th Lok Sabha of India. He represents the New Delhi constituency of Delhi and is a member of the Indian National Congress (INC) political party.

Political career[link]

Ajay Maken, was elected the President^[2] of Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) in 1985, having the rare honor of being the only B.Sc Chemistry(Hons)- Final Year student to serve this post.^[3]

His grandfather, Shri. O.P. Maken, was a freedom fighter and his uncle Mr. Lalit Maken was a popular trade union leader. Ajay Maken was subsequently was elected as the President of Delhi Transport Corporation Trade Union.

[edit] Positions Held^[4]

• 1/1/1993 Member, Delhi Legislative Assembly (three terms)

• 1/2/1993 General Secretary, Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee

• 1/1/1997 General Secretary, Indian Youth Congress

• 1/1/1999 Parliamentary Secretary to the Chief Minister, Govt. of Delhi

• 1/1/2001 Cabinet Minister, Transport, Power and Tourism, Govt. of Delhi

• 1/1/2003 Speaker, Delhi Legislative Assembly

• 1/1/2004 Elected to 14th Lok Sabha

• 1/2/2004 Member, General Purposes Committee

• 1/3/2004 Member, Rules Committee

• 1/4/2004 Member, Committee on Information Technology

• 1/5/2004 Member, House Committee

• 1/6/2004 Member, Panel of Chairmen, Lok Sabha

• 1/7/2004 Secretary, All India Congress Committee (AICC)

• 1/1/2006 Union Minister of State, Urban Development

• 1/1/2007 Permanent Invitee and Member, Congress Working Committee (CWC)

• 1/2/2007 Permanent Invitee and Member, All India Congress Committee (AICC)

• 1/3/2007 Incharge, Orissa and Jharkhand

• 1/1/2009 Re-elected to 15th Lok Sabha (2nd term)

• 1/2/2009 Union Minister of State, Home Affairs

• 1/1/2011 Union Minister of State, (Independent Charge) Youth Affairs and Sports

Delhi Constituency[link]

Mr. Ajay Maken has been elected a Member of Legislative Assembly^[5] from the Delhi constituency, for three consecutive terms. One of the 14 wins (of 70 candidates fielded) by the Congress(I).

1993. Won by a margin of 4,000 votes. (More than 50% of total votes polled.). One of the 14 winning candidates (of the 70 fielded) by the Congress(I).

1998. Won by a margin of 20,000 votes (70% of the total votes polled.) The Congress(I) took charge of the Delhi Legislature. Mr. Maken received his first appointment in the Delhi administration.

2003. Won by a margin of 24,000 votes. Appointed the Speaker of Legislative Assembly of Delhi, at age 39. (India's youngest Speaker in a State Assembly).

Delhi State Assembly[link]

1999. He became the Parliamentary Secretary to the Chief Minister. Shri. Sheila Dikshit, chief minister appoint him as her principal troubleshooter and consul.

2001. Appointed Transport, Power and Tourism Minister. He implemented the CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) based Public Transport System in Delhi. He is credited with the privatization of the electricity distribution in Delhi.

In 2004 he was appointed the Speaker of Legislative Assembly of Delhi, at age 39. (India's youngest Speaker in a State Assembly).

Lok Sabha[link]

2004. Mr. Maken represents the Congress(I) in the elections for the New Delhi constituency. Becomes a Member of Parliament^[6] after defeating the BJP candidate, a sitting Cabinet Minister Jagmohan from the prestigious New Delhi Lok Sabha constituency. Long a BJP stronghold, the constituency had elected BJP stalwarts, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L.K.Advani.

2006-2009. Held the independent portfolios as the Minister of State and the Minister of Urban Development. Therefore, the youngest minister in the Congress(I), to be sworn in the Council of Ministers in Indian Government. Played a key role in finalising the Master Plan for New Delhi.

2007. Appointed a permanent invitee to the Working Committee of AICC. He was entrusted with the responsibility of the states, Orissa and Jharkhand.

In the General Elections for the 15th Lok Sabha (Parliament), Ajay Maken contested and secured 455,867 votes. Winning by a record margin of 187,809 votes from the New Delhi Parliamentary constituency.

2009. Appointed the Minister of State for Home Affairs. Entrusted with countering left wing extremism, raising of additional police battalions, and establishment of a national human rights division.

2011. Appointed the Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs^[7] after the debacle Commonwealth Games, replacing Mr. M S Gill in a cabinet reshuffle by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh

Sports Bill 2011 / RTI in Sports[link]

The Sports bill has been introduced by the Sports Minister with the aim to bring in overall transparency and Administrative reforms in sports. Few aspects of the bill which deal with the Tenure, age and other aspects of related for National Sports bodies have eclipsed the other very significant aspects of the bill. The bill covers important aspects which would overall improve and encourage the sportspersons and make the sports bodies more accountable and transparent, such as to have penal provisions for unethical practises in sports which cover sexual harassment, doping, age fraud.

Measures like asking the federations to mandatorily place various reports, including their audited accounts, in public domain through their web-sites are designed to ensure that accountability.

The bill has picked up accepted norms being followed by other countries, national international federations. The US introduced the Ted Stevens Olympic & Amateur Sports Act in 1978,^[8][9] France has the Associations Law of 1 July 1901, even Sri Lanka has Sri Lanka Sports Law of 1973 (amended in 1993, 1998 and 2005).

But there is an even bigger issue which has been overlooked in the whole debate.It would be interesting to see if the federations and sports bodies come under the RTI ACT.^[10] Now, this draft Bill was actually an enabling provision which would have made National Sports Federations more autonomous without any interference by the government in their functioning.^[11]

Personal life[link]

Ajay Maken is married to Radhika and has three children, Aarushi, Ahana and Aujaswi.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official biographical sketch in Parliament of India website

Sandeep Dikshit (born 15 August 1964) is a member of the 15th Lok Sabha of India.^[1] He represents the East Delhi constituency of Delhi and is a member of the Indian National Congress (INC) political party.^[2]

Early life[link]

Sandeep Dikshit was born to Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dixit and Vinod Diskhit,^[3] an IAS officer from the Uttar Pradesh cadre. He attended St. Joseph's Boys' High School, Bangalore and Modern School, New Delhi, and holds a masters degree in History from St. Stephens College. He received his Post-Graduate Diploma in Rural Management in 1989 at the Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA).

His grandfather Uma Shankar Dikshit was a part of the freedom struggle for thirty years who was closely associated with Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi.

Career[link]

Sandeep Dikshit, before entering active politics, headed a social development group SANKET which pioneered the first sub-national Human Development Report in the world in 1996. Sandeep has worked on rural development and human development issues for the last 15 years in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

Political career[link]

Sandeep Dikshit represents the East Delhi Parliamentary constituency in the 14th Lok Sabha and is a member of the Indian National Congress (INC). He won the seat by a margin of 2.29 lakh votes.

He has had a meaningful impact in the standing committees on Rural Development while debating the landmark legislations of the UPA government including the NREGA (National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) and RTI (Right to Information).

Dikshit has recently come into news carrying 1 million Indian Rupees in cash for a 'friend' while travelling in train. This is being termed in media as another example of Indian MP's becoming cash 'courier's'.^[4]

Personal life[link]

Sandeep Dikshit is married to Mona. They have a daughter, Yamini Dikshit.^[3]

References[link]

Allama, Dr.Syed Ali Imam Zaidi "Gauher" (Great grand son of Mir Baber Ali Anees)

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