Lok Sabha polls: Google launches 'Know your candidates' tool

New Delhi: Google has announced the launch of a new tool as part of its elections portal offering 'google.co.in/elections', called 'Know Your Candidates'. 

The new tool will allow citizens to get easy access to relevant information about political candidates contesting from their constituency and their incumbent Member of Parliament. This tool integrates publicly available information sourced from Indian organizations such as the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), PRS Legislative Research and Liberty Institute India. 
The tool will provide information for each sitting Lok Sabha MP and contesting candidates such as their disclosed educational background, financial details and social media presence (wherever available) including video bios of the candidates provided by Ping networks. Mapped onto Google Maps interface, citizens will be able to find the information by using pin codes of their area or by zooming on their locality on the map. The tool will be updated regularly to provide information about all candidates as they get finalised and will be made available at least a week before the voting day in each constituency. 
Prof. Trilochan Sastry, a founding member of ADR applauded this launch saying, "We are delighted to collaborate with Google to launch this tool, which will help our concerted effort to disseminate to the citizens of India the background information of the candidates contesting the Lok Sabha 2014 elections that will enable them to make an informed choice during voting. As citizens we have to play a proactive role in ensuring that we choose politicians who are clean, honest and committed to the progress, security and development of the people of India, and we at ADR have been working on deeper reforms including political party reforms and in the last few years have obtained several landmark judgments from the Supreme Court and Central Information Commission." 

Commenting on the launch, Rajan Anandan, VP and Managing Director of Google India, said "In the last five months, we have made a concerted effort to provide our users a one stop destination for all their information needs for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. With the launch of this tool, we have added all the important information of the contesting candidates with the help of groups such as ADR and PRS Legislative Research who have been doing a stellar job of collating all the important information about the candidates. We hope that making this information easily accessible will help Indian voters learn more about candidates running for public office and help them to make an informed decision." 
The site also includes features such as elections related News Videos, Search Trends, G+ Hangout Series, and an interactive Pledge to Vote campaign. 

Google created its first elections tools seven years ago when our engineers noticed a huge increase in search traffic around the election period in the United States. 

Today over 20 countries including Malaysia, Thailand, and now, India have elections pages that aid voters during election periods. Google aims to encourage people to be more participative and engage with candidates. It also allows voters to have a deeper understanding of politics and governance through engagement with the candidates. 

Facts of India

• India never invaded any country in her last 100000 years of history.
• When many cultures were only nomadic forest dwellers over 5000 years ago, Indians established Harappan culture in Sindhu Valley (Indus Valley Civilization)
• The name 'India' is derived from the River Indus, the valleys around which were the home of the early settlers. The Aryan worshippers referred to the river Indus as the Sindhu.
• The Persian invaders converted it into Hindu. The name 'Hindustan' combines Sindhu and Hindu and thus refers to the land of the Hindus.
• Chess was invented in India.
• Algebra, Trigonometry and Calculus are studies, which originated in India.
• The 'Place Value System' and the 'Decimal System' were developed in India in 100 B.C.
• The World's First Granite Temple is the Brihadeswara Temple at Tanjavur, Tamil Nadu. The shikhara of the temple is made from a single 80-tonne piece of granite. This magnificent temple was built in just five years, (between 1004 AD and 1009 AD) during the reign of Rajaraja Chola.
• India is the largest democracy in the world, the 7^th largest Country in the world, and one of the most ancient civilizations.
• The game of Snakes & Ladders was created by the 13th century poet saint Gyandev. It was originally called 'Mokshapat'. The ladders in the game represented virtues and the snakes indicated vices. The game was played with cowrie shells and dices. In time, the game underwent several modifications, but its meaning remained the same, i.e. good deeds take people to heaven and evil to a cycle of re-births.
• The world's highest cricket ground is in Chail, Himachal Pradesh. Built in 1893 after leveling a hilltop, this cricket pitch is 2444 meters above sea level.
• India has the largest number of Post Offices in the world.
• The largest employer in India is the Indian Railways, employing over a million people.
• The world's first university was established in Takshila in 700 BC. More than 10,500 students from all over the world studied more than 60 subjects. The University of Nalanda built in the 4th century was one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education.
• Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to mankind. The Father of Medicine, Charaka, consolidated Ayurveda 2500 years ago.
• India was one of the richest countries till the time of British rule in the early 17th Century. Christopher Columbus, attracted by India's wealth, had come looking for a sea route to India when he discovered America by mistake.
• The Art of Navigation & Navigating was born in the river Sindh over 6000 years ago. The very word Navigation is derived from the Sanskrit word 'NAVGATIH'. The word navy is also derived from the Sanskrit word 'Nou'.
• Bhaskaracharya rightly calculated the time taken by the earth to orbit the Sun hundreds of years before the astronomer Smart. According to his calculation, the time taken by the Earth to orbit the Sun was 365.258756484 days.
• The value of "pi" was first calculated by the Indian Mathematician Budhayana, and he explained the concept of what is known as the Pythagorean Theorem. He discovered this in the 6th century, long before the European mathematicians.
• Algebra, Trigonometry and Calculus also originated in India.Quadratic Equations were used by Sridharacharya in the 11th century. The largest numbers the Greeks and the Romans used were 106 whereas Hindus used numbers as big as 10*53 (i.e. 10 to the power of 53) with specific names as early as 5000 B.C.during the Vedic period.Even today, the largest used number is Terra: 10*12(10 to the power of 12).
• Until 1896, India was the only source of diamonds in the world
  (Source: Gemological Institute of America).
• The Baily Bridge is the highest bridge in the world. It is located in the Ladakh valley between the Dras and Suru rivers in the Himalayan mountains. It was built by the Indian Army in August 1982.
• Sushruta is regarded as the Father of Surgery. Over2600 years ago Sushrata & his team conducted complicated surgeries like cataract, artificial limbs, cesareans, fractures, urinary stones, plastic surgery and brain surgeries.
• Usage of anaesthesia was well known in ancient Indian medicine. Detailed knowledge of anatomy, embryology, digestion, metabolism,physiology, etiology, genetics and immunity is also found in many ancient Indian texts.
• India exports software to 90 countries.
• The four religions born in India - Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism, are followed by 25% of the world's population.
• Jainism and Buddhism were founded in India in 600 B.C. and 500 B.C. respectively.
• Islam is India's and the world's second largest religion.
• There are 300,000 active mosques in India, more than in any other country, including the Muslim world.
• The oldest European church and synagogue in India are in the city of Cochin. They were built in 1503 and 1568 respectively.
• Jews and Christians have lived continuously in India since 200 B.C. and 52 A.D. respectively
• The largest religious building in the world is Angkor Wat, a Hindu Temple in Cambodia built at the end of the 11th century.
• The Vishnu Temple in the city of Tirupathi built in the 10th century, is the world's largest religious pilgrimage destination. Larger than either Rome or Mecca, an average of 30,000 visitors donate $6 million (US) to the temple everyday.
• Sikhism originated in the Holy city of Amritsar in Punjab. Famous for housing the Golden Temple, the city was founded in 1577.
• Varanasi, also known as Benaras, was called "the Ancient City" when Lord Buddha visited it in 500 B.C., and is the oldest, continuously inhabited city in the world today.
• India provides safety for more than 300,000 refugees originally from Sri Lanka, Tibet, Bhutan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, who escaped to flee religious and political persecution.
• His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists, runs his government in exile from Dharmashala in northern India.
• Martial Arts were first created in India, and later spread to Asia by Buddhist missionaries.
• Yoga has its origins in India and has existed for over 5,000 years.

Veteran Actress Nanda No More

Nanda who cast her spell in films like Hum Dono, Ittefaq, Dhool Ka Phool and Bhabhi passed away at her Versova residence in Mumbai today, March 25, 2014 following a heart attack. Nanda was seventy five.

Her father died when Nanda was a child. The family faced hard times and Nanda helped her family by working and taking up roles in films like Jaggu in the early 1950’s.

Nanda made her acting debut in the year 1956 with her uncle and celebrated filmmaker V. Shantaram‘s Toofan Aur Diya and with her pairing with Shashi Kapoor was the talk of the town. Both Shashi Kapoor and Nanda appeared in eight films including Jab Jab Phool Khile.

Nanda has been close friends with Waheeda Rehman right from the time they worked together in the popular film Kaala Bazaar.

Nanda received her first Filmfare Award Nomination as Best Supporting Actress for Bhabhi (1957); she claims that the reason she didn’t win was because there was lobbying involved. She won the Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award for Anchal (1960). She was the heroine in B.R.Chopra‘s Kanoon (1960), a film that was very unusual back then, because it had no songs.

She then played supporting roles to stars like Dev Anand in Kala Bazar, and did small roles in big films like Dhool Ka Phool. Nanda later worked with Dev Anand in films like Hum Dono (1961) and Teen Deviyan (1965).

In 1992, Nanda was reportedly engaged to popular filmmaker Manmohan Desai. But he passed away after he fell off the terrace of his rented apartment in Girgaon, just a year after her mother’s death. As reports had said, the railing on which he was leaning collapsed. Nanda decided to remain unmarried.

Nanda acted in films like Dhool Ka Phool, Dulhan, Bhabhi, Naya Sansar, Jab Jab Phool Khile, Gumnaam, Shor and Parineeta. Prem Rog, which released in the year 1983, starring Padmini Kolhapure and Rishi Kapoor was her last film.

She will be remembered by many for her various roles in Bollywood films and her timeless beauty. May her soul rest in peace!
By businessofcinema

Viswanathan Anand on top at the World CandidatesTournament

After round 9 of the FIDE World Candidates Tournament being held in Khanty-Masisysk, Russia, Viswanathan Anand has now a full point lead and can be considered a favourite to qualify for a rematch against Magnus Carlsen for the World Chess Championship title. With five rounds to go, he now leads with 6 points, followed by Levon Aronian with 5 points, who lost to Shakhriyar Mamedyarov.

By economictime

After Bose's retirement, senior most among all five secretaries in finance ministry will be appointed Finance Secretary

The government today appointed Financial Services Secretary Rajiv Takru as the Revenue Secretary. He will take charge from Finance Secretary Sumit Bose who is retiring on March 31.

Rajiv Takru

Gurdial Singh Sandhu from Rajasthan cadre has been Financial Services Secretary. He will take over from Takru when the latter relinquishes his charge later this month, the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet said in a statement today.

After Bose's retirement, the senior most among all the five secretaries in finance ministry will be appointed Finance Secretary. Economic Affairs Secretary Arvind Mayaram is a 1978 batch officer from Rajasthan cadre. Expenditure Secretary Ratan P Watal, from Andhra Pradesh cadre, is also from the same batch. On seniority-cum-merit basis, Mayaram may be appointed Finance Secretary.

With Sandhu's appointment the finance ministry will have three secretaries from Rajasthan. Disinvestment Secretary Ravi Mathur also belongs to 1979 batch of Rajasthan cadre.

Takru, a 1979 batch IAS officer of Gujarat

Sandhu, a 1980 batch IAS officer, comes to DFS at a time when the banks are seeing huge bad loans and the Reserve Bank of India is in the process of issuing new bank licences. At present, he is Principal Secretary in his state and had his last stint with the Centre during 2003-2008 as Joint Secretary in the Chemicals & Fertilisers ministry.

Bose, a 1976 batch Indian Administrative Service Officer from the Madhya Pradesh cadre, is currently handling the revenue portfolio. An alumnus of Doon School, St Stephen's College in Delhi and the London School of Economics, he served in key roles such as Expenditure Secretary, Disinvestment Secretary, Secretary in 13th Finance Commission, and Principal Secretary, Finance in Madhya Pradesh.

 cadre, took charge at DFS upon the retirement of DK Mittal. Prior to becoming Secretary, Takru was Additional Secretary and Financial Adviser in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

By Business standard

Amitabh Bachchan conferred Global Icon of the Year award

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• Megastar Amitabh Bachchan was conferred India's Global Icon of the Year award at the NRI of the Year awards here.The 71-year-old, who has been ruling the film industry for over four decades now, dedicated the award to the younger generation of actors in the film industry."I want to thank Times Now (news channel) and ICICI Bank for honouring me with this (NRI) award," Big B told reporters Monday here at the awards red carpet."I think I am not the only one person who should be honoured with this award. In fact, there are many of my friends in the entertainment world, especially the actors of the younger generation because of whom our film industry is known in the whole world, so I would like to dedicate this award to them," he added.The awards, presented by Times Now in association with ICICI Bank, were given to the achievers who have made their mark internationally.Meanwhile, Big B, who made his movie debut with "Saat Hindustani" in 1969, recalled his early career and said: "During that time (when I started my career) I didn't have much releases, but I started doing thstage shows (the world over) around 1980s and then I came to know how much we (actors) are loved by them (people outside India) and how much we love them.""Since then it is still continuing and...I would like to thank them all," he added.Currently, the megastar is busy promoting his next "Bhootnath Returns", slated to release April 11.Directed by Nitesh Tiwari, the sequel to 2008 film "Bhootnath", also features Shah Rukh Khan and Ranbir Kapoor in cameos.
• By DNA news

MTV Roadies contestants and winners of all sessions

Ranvijay Singh

MTV Roadies 1 Winner-  Rannvijay Singh

MTV Roadies 1st Season contestants were Mini Goel, Divya Shukla, Tony Koderlia, Ranjit Bajaj, Natasha Gulati, Ignoor Bains and Rannvijay Singh.

Rannvijay Singh was the first winner of MTV Roadies in the year 2003. He loves to ride bikes and has a volcano of energy.
After winning MTV Roadies he went on to host the show. Apart from Roadies Rannvijay has also hosted many other shows on MTV. He has also acted in movies.

Ayushman Khurana

MTV Roadies 2 Winner-  Ayushman Khurrana

MTV Roadies 2nd Season contestants were Varun Agarwal, Vinod Rawat, Candy Brar, Neha Bhatia, Shaleen Bhanot, Ayushmann Khurrana, Aarti Seth.

Ayushman Khurrana, the 28-year-old Chandigarh boy was the winner of MTV Roadies second season. He recently made his debut in a Bollywood movie Vicky Donor for which he received positive reviews. He also has sung a song for the movie ‘Paani Da Rang‘ which was quite a success. He has hosted TV shows Main Tera Ayushmann. Khurrana was also a VJ on MTV Wassup.

MTV Roadies 3 Winner-  Parul Shahi

Parul Shahi

MTV Roadies 3rd Season contestants were Priyanka Bhau, Rahul Mehta, Krishnesh Nayak, Sonia Clark, Meher Ahmed, Anuj Sachdeva, Laveen Bhardwaj, Shubendru Sood, Parul Shahi, Stuti Nagpal, Shubhi Mehta, Abhijeet Ghosh, Amitinder S Deepak.

Parul Shahi won the 3rd Season. She had auditioned for Roadies 2 but couldn’t make it however she went on to audition for Roadies 3 and won a prize money of Rs. 5 Lakhs and a Hero Honda Karizma. She is a die-hard fan of Angelina Jolie’s character in Tomb Raider.

MTV Roadies 4 Winner-  Anthony Yeh

Anthoni Yeh

MTV Roadies 4th Season contestants were Poonam Thacker, Shaleen Malhotra, Anthony Yeh, Rishabh Dhir, Sonam Gupta, Sahil Anand, Gurbani (aka Bani) Judge, Amandeep Narang’s (aka Oorja), Ankit Mohan, Roopali Anand, Vishal Karwal, Swati Ahuja, Raj Roy.Anthony Yeh won the 4th Season of MTV Roadies. The cute boy really wasn’t confident in getting selected after his Audition but fate had a different role to play and he won MTV Roadies 4. He was competing against Bani in the last task. I personally had seen the finale of MTV Roadies 4 where Anthony confesses his love for Bani by saying the voted out roadies ‘ You can go ahead and vote me out’  am sure he had a soft side towards Bani.

MTV Roadies 5 Winner-  Ashutosh Kaushik

Ashutosh Kaushik

MTV Roadies 5th Season contestants were Prabhjot, Vibhor, Avaz, Ankita, Shambhavi, Anmol, Vikrant, Sonel, Aashutosh, Snehasish, Nihal, Varun.

Ashutosh aka aashu won MTV Roadies 5.0 in 2007. The Saharanpur boy did his tasks really well and was quite confident to win. In 2012 he made a debut in acting. In 2008 he also won Bigg Boss Second Season.

MTV Roadies 6 Winner-  Nauman Sait

Nauman Sait

MTV Roadies 6th Season contestants were Bobby Chopra, Paulmi De, Varisha Hawelia, Ankur Khanduja, Bhanu Pratap, Vicky Arora, Sufi Malhotra, Sandeep, Kiri Timung, Samrat Kaushal, Devarshi Patel, Neha Kapoor, Gurmeet Kaur, Sonia Chouhan, Natasha Sinha, Nuaman Sait, Suzanna Mukherjee, Roop Bhinder, Pradeep Singh, Tamanna

The season 6 was known as MTV Roadies ‘Hell down under’ where Nauman Sait, a Bangalore boy won. By profession Nauman is a actor and model. He also plays cricket and is a state-level player.

MTV Roadies 7 Winner- Anwar Syed

Anwar Syed

MTV Roadies 7th Season contestants were Meghna Mirgnani, Shweta Bisen, Vikram Jeet Singh, Mohit Malik, Ameya R. Kadam, Sahibjit Singh, Amritpal Singh, Anwar Syed, Mannat Mundi, Priyanka Telang, Charlie Chauhan, Gaurav Gill, Nisha Rana, Priyanka Roy, Yatin Madhok, Zaid Bin Nazir, Eric Roy, Bharti Nagpal, Ravneet Kaur, Vikas Ambwani, Rahul Suri,
Rishabh Gulati, Ranjna Rawat.

MTV Roadies 7th Season was won by Anwar a 24-year-old guy. The XLRI graduate performed really well in the deadly tasks in the wild terrains of Africa. He wanted to experience the show as he loved adventure.

MTV Roadies 8 Winner-  Aanchal Khurrana

Anchal Khurana

The Delhi based girl won Roadies 8. She feels girls can do equally well as boys do. She has a never-say-die attitude. She currently comes in Sapne Suhane Ladakpan Ke , a daily-soap aired on Sony.

MTV Roadies 9 Winner- Vikas Kokher

MTV Roadies 9th Season : Everything or Nothing was won by Vikas. He was eliminated by other Roadies but made a come back and proved his worth. He gave a tough fight to the other finalists and won a prize money of Six Lacs Seventeen Thousand.

Vikas Kokher

MTV Roadies 9 Winner-  Vikas Kokher

MTV Roadies 9th Season : Everything or Nothing was won by Vikas. He was eliminated by other Roadies but made a come back and proved his worth. He gave a tough fight to the other finalists and won a prize money of Six Lacs Seventeen Thousand.

MTV Roadies X Winner –  Palak Johal

Palak Joshi

 The auditions started on October 31, 2012 and were held in Pune, Delhi, Chandigarh and Hyderabad. The show started airing on MTV India from January 19, 2013 with new episodes airing every Saturday at 7:00 pm IST.

The series was won by veteran roadie Palak Johal, originally from Season 6, of Team Raghu. She won the title on May 11, 2013. Her grand price included a total cash price of ₹ 450,000, a Hero Impulse bike and an HP laptop