Mohammad Hamid Ansari

Mohammad Hamid Ansari ( pronunciation ) (born 1 April 1937) is the 12th and current Vice President of India, in office since 2007. Ansari is the only person to get re-elected for the post of Vice President of India after Dr. Radhakrishnan. He also presently serves as President of the Indian Institute of Public Administration and Chancellor of Panjab University, Chandigarh.

Ansari worked as an ambassador and served as Vice-Chancellor of the Aligarh Muslim University from 2000 to 2002. Later he was Chairman of the National Commission for Minorities from 2006 to 2007. He was elected as Vice President of India on 10 August 2007 and took office on 11 August 2007. He was re-elected on 7 August 2012 and was sworn-in by Pranab Mukherjee, the President of India. The oath taking ceremony was conducted at Rashtrapati Bhavan on 11 August 2012.

Early life and career

Ansari was born in Calcutta (now Kolkata), West Bengal, India on 1 April 1937 though his family belongs to Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh. He is the grand nephew of former Congress President Mukhtar Ahmad Ansari, a leader of the Indian independence movement. Ansari studied at St. Edward's School, Shimla, the St. Xavier's College of the University of Calcutta and Aligarh Muslim University.

Vice president

A vice president (in British English: vice-president for governments and director for businesses) is an officer in government or business who is below a president (managing director) in rank. The name comes from the Latin vice meaning "in place of". In some countries, the vice president is called the deputy president. In everyday speech, the abbreviation VP can be used.

In government

In government, a vice-president is a person whose primary responsibility is to act in place of the president on the event of the president's death, resignation or incapacity. Vice presidents are either elected jointly with the president as their running mate, or more rarely, appointed independently after the president's election.

Most governments with vice presidents have one person in this role at any time, although in some countries there are two or more vice-presidents. If the president is not present, dies, resigns, or is otherwise unable to fulfill their duties, the vice president will generally serve as president. In many presidential systems, the vice president does not wield much day-to-day political power, but is still considered an important member of the cabinet. Several vice presidents in the Americas held the position of President of the Senate; this is the case, for example, in Argentina, the United States, and Uruguay. The vice president sometimes assumes some of the ceremonial duties of the president, such as attending functions and events that the actual president may be too busy to attend; the Vice President of the United States, for example, often attends funerals of world leaders on behalf of the president.

President of India

The President of India is the formal Head of State, head of the executive and legislature of India and is the commander-in-chief of the Indian Armed Forces.

The President is indirectly elected by the people through elected members of both the houses of Parliament and the Legislative Assemblies of New Delhi and Puducherry and serves for a renewable term of five years. The oath of the President is administered by the Chief Justice of India, and in his/her absence, by the most senior judge of the Supreme Court.

Although Article 53 of the Constitution of India states that the President can exercise his powers directly or by subordinate authority, with few exceptions, all of the executive authority vested in the President are, in practice, exercised by the Prime Minister with the help of the Council of Ministers.

The President of India resides in an estate in New Delhi known as the Rashtrapati Bhavan (which roughly translates as President's House). The presidential retreat is The Retreat in Chharabra, Shimla and Rashtrapati Nilayam (President's Place) in Hyderabad.

Republic Day

Republic Day is the name of a holiday in several countries to commemorate the day when they became republics. In some countries, it is known as National Day or Proclamation Day, or by some other sort of name.

January

26 of January in India

India gained its independence on 15 August 1947, after which the process of preparing a constitution was started. The Constitution was passed on 26 November 1949 in the Constituent Assembly. It was adopted on 26 January 1950 with a democratic government system, when the country became a republic in true sense. 26 January was selected, because it was this day in 1930 when the Declaration of Indian Independence was passed. India achieved independence from British rule on 15 August 1947 following the Indian independence movement noted for largely peaceful nonviolent resistance and civil disobedience led by the Indian National Congress. The independence came through the Indian Independence Act 1947 (10 & 11 Geo 6 c. 30), an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that partitioned British India into the two new independent Dominions of the British Commonwealth (later Commonwealth of Nations): India and Pakistan. India obtained its independence on 15 August 1947 as a constitutional monarchy with George VI as head of state and the Earl Mountbatten as governor-general. The country, though, did not yet have a permanent constitution; instead its laws were based on the modified colonial Government of India Act 1935. On 28 August 1947, the Drafting Committee was appointed to draft a permanent constitution, with Dr.B. R. Ambedkar as chairman. While India's Independence Day celebrates its freedom from British Rule, the Republic Day celebrates of coming into force of its constitution.

Rajya Sabha

Coordinates: 28°37′0″N 77°12′30″E / 28.61667°N 77.20833°E / 28.61667; 77.20833

The Rajya Sabha or Council of States is the upper house of the Parliament of India. Membership of Rajya Sabha is limited by the Constitution to a maximum of 250 members, and current laws have provision for 245 members. Most of the members of the House are indirectly elected by state and territorial legislatures using single transferable votes, while the President of India can appoint 12 members for their contributions to art, literature, science, and social services. Members sit for staggered six-year terms, with one third of the members retiring every two years.

The Rajya Sabha meets in continuous sessions, and unlike the Lok Sabha, the lower house of Parliament, is not subject to dissolution. The Rajya Sabha has equal footing in all areas of legislation with Lok Sabha, except in the area of supply, where the Lok Sabha has overriding powers. In the case of conflicting legislation, a joint sitting of the two houses can be held. However, since the Lok Sabha has twice as many members as the Rajya Sabha, the former would normally hold the greater power. Joint sittings of the Houses of Parliament of India are rare, and in the history of the Republic, only three such joint-sessions have been held; the latest one for the passage of the 2002 Prevention of Terrorism Act.