Nanded

Nanded is the city in Maharashtra state of India. Nanded is 8th largest Urban agglomeration of Maharashtra. It is also headquarters of Nanded district and second largest city in Marathwada region after Aurangabad. Nanded has been a major place for Sikh pilgrimage.10th Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh made Nanded as his permanent abode and passed Guruship to Guru Granth Sahib before his death in Nanded. Nanded is located on the banks of Godavari river.Nanded was famous for its Vedic rituals on the sacred banks of river Godavari. Urvashi Ghat, Ram Ghat, Govardhan Ghat are some of them . Nanded has been the regional education hub which has Swami Ramanand Teerth Marathwada University at Vishnupuri. Nanded is also known for its health services.

History

One of the oldest and historic cities in the Marathwada region of Maharashtra, Nanded is situated on the north bank of the Godavari River. The Nanda dynasty ruled over Nanded for generations in the 5th and 4th centuries BCE. Nanded was also part of the Maurya Empire under Ashoka (c. 272 to 231 BCE). Nanded District is located in the southeastern part of Maharashtra, Bordering Telangana. The name Nanded is widely believed to have originated from "NANDI" the Vahan of Lord Shiva, who performed penance on the banks (TAT) of River Godavari. This "NANDI TAT" became NANDED. Today, Nanded gains prominence from the Sikh Gurdwara which is erected at the place where Guru Gobind Singh, the last Sikh Guru, died in 1708.

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.