Constitution of India

0 comments
India ie. Bharat is a Union of States. It is a Sovereign Socialist Democratic Republic with a parliamentary system of government. The Republic is governed in terms of the Constitution of India which was adopted by the Constituent Assembly on 26th November 1949 and came into force on 26th January 1950.



The Constitution provides for a Parliamentary form of government which is federal in structure with certain unitary features. The constitutional head of the Executive of the Union is the President. As per Article 79 of the Constitution of India, the council of the Parliament of the Union consists of the President and two Houses to be known as the Council of States (Rajya Sabha) and the House of the People (Lok Sabha). Article 74(1) of the Constitution provides that there shall be a Council of Ministers with a Prime Minister as its head to aid and advise the President, who shall exercise his functions in accordance to the advice. The real executive power is thus vested in the Council of Ministers with the Prime Minister as its head.



The Council of Ministers is collectively responsible to the House of the People (Lok Sabha). Every State has a Legislative Assembly. Certain States have an upper House called State Legislative Council. Governor is the Head of a State. There shall be a Governor for each State and the executive power of the State shall be vested in him. The council of Ministers with the Chief Minister as its head advises the Governor in the discharge of the executive functions. The Council of the Ministers of a state is collectively responsible to the Legislative Assembly of the State.



The Constitution distributes legislative powers between Parliament and State legislatures as per the lists of entries in the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution. The residual powers vest in the Parliament. The centrally administered territories are called Union Territories.
Sorce : http://indiacode.nic.in/coiweb/introd.htm

Indian-born Designer Anand Jon guilty of raping teen models

0 comments

Anand Jon, Fashion designer for Hollywood stars was found guilty of 14 felony count in Los Angeles Superior Court on Thursday, November 13.

Indian-born fashion designer, Anand Jon Alexander, 34, who had work for Hollywood stars like Paris Hilton and singer Janet Jackson before was found guilty on 16 criminal counts.

His victims were found to be teenage girls whom Jon proposed to be models but then sexually assaulted. The aspiring models ranged in age from 14 to 21 years of age.

Between 2001 and 2007, in all, Jon was found guilty of one count of forcible rape, one count of sexual battery, one count of sexual battery by restraint, one count of attempted forcible oral copulation, and seven counts of lewd acts upon a child and one count of possession of child pornography.

Jon was also found guilty on two counts of sexual penetration by a foreign object, one count of using a minor for sex acts and one count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

Regarding The Los Angeles District Attorney's office, Jon was facing a sentence of life in prison which is scheduled for January 13, with a 67-year wait before becoming eligible for parole.

last year the designer has been in a custody of being investigated on the similar crimes in New York and Dallas.

Source : http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/entertainment/indian-born-designer-anand-jon-guilty-of-raping-teen-models_100118818.html

Obama, talk carefully: children offer sagely advice

0 comments

As President Barack Obama completes 100 days in office next week, the White House has received a book full of letters and drawings from children who have offered praise ("You should be on all dimes in the world"), advice ("Talk carefully") and suggestions ("Help us be nice").

As many as 179 students, aged four to 18 years, took up their pencils and sketch pens, and author-journalists Bruce Kluger and David Tabatsky put it together in the form of a book, "Dear President Obama: Letters of Hope from Children Across America" (Beckham Publications).

The children represent a wide spectrum of socio-economic backgrounds - from a seventh grader in a Manhattan private school to a classroom of children in one of the poorest communities in Lincoln, Nebraska - and include at least one Indian American, Aneesh Dalal.

"Back in November, we began collecting letters to Obama from kids across the nation to compile as a book," the duo wrote in the Los Angeles Times.

"We e-mailed a handful of friends in search of letters from their children. Those friends forwarded the e-mail to their friends, and within four weeks, we were sitting on more than 1,000 letters and drawings from children, ages 4 to 18, from 29 states and every region of the country. Talk about your embarrassment of riches."

Last week, the letters, in book form, finally made it to the White House, they wrote.

"Will the clarity of kidspeak cut through the perpetual din of presidential advice? We hope so. As five-year-old Rukiya Holland-Thomas from Montclair, N.J., demonstrates in her letter, great leadership could be so beautifully simple."

"Dear President Obama," Rukiya writes. "Help us be nice. Get everyone in the circle, and then you can tell them to listen to you."

"I want my children's children to see polar bears!" writes 10-year-old New Yorker Paola Wernick about the environment.

"Please do not forget Darfur," pleads Tasha Slavin, 11, from Missouri.

"Talk carefully on the radio," warns San Franciscan Ashley Wu, 7, "and don't talk too fast because you're going to mess up if you do".

Casey Mack, 14, of Connecticut: "I was happy to see that someone who looks like me can be president of the United States of America. The kids at school have been saying some mean things about people who look like us. But now I believe we can change their negative points of view."

"As the nation faces the daunting challenges that lie ahead, 'Dear President Obama: Letters of Hope From Children Across America' is an uplifting reminder of the unwavering optimism of our national spirit, and a testament to the great promise to be found in our future generations," a release from the authors said.

The new book is reminiscent of "Thanks and Have Fun Running the Country: Kids' Letters to President Obama" (McSweeney's and 826 National), which came out days before Obama took oath Jan 19.

Source :http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/books/obama-talk-carefully-children-offer-sagely-advice_100184753.html

‘Stranger to History’ still leads bestseller list

0 comments
Aatish Taseer's book "Stranger to History" continued to dominate the bestseller list in the non-fiction category for the third week while Paulo Coelho was the new author atop the fiction list, with his latest "The Winner Stands Alone". The top 10 in each group are:
Non-fiction

1. "Stranger to History"

Author: Aatish Taseer

Publisher: Picador India

Price: Rs.495.00

2. "A Better India A Better World"

Author: N.R. Narayana Murthy

Publisher: Penguin Allen Lane

Price: Rs.499.00

3. "Dreams from My Father"

Author: Barack Obama

Publisher: Canongate

Price: Rs.395.00

4. "The Audacity of Hope"

Author: Barack Obama

Publisher: Canongate

Price: Rs.250.00

5. "Outliers: The Story of Success"

Author: Malcolm Gladwell

Publisher: Allen Lane

Price: Rs.399.00

6. "Empires of the Indus: The Story of a River"

Author: Alice Albinia

Publisher: John Murray

Price: Rs.375.00

7. "Why I Supported The Emergency: Essays and Profiles"

Author: Khushwant Singh

Publisher: Penguin Viking

Price: Rs.450.00

8. "India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy"

Author: Ramachandra Guha

Publisher: Picador India

Price: Rs.495.00

9. "Imagining India: Ideas for the New Century"

Author: Nandan Nilekani

Publisher: Penguin Allen Lane

Price: Rs.699.00

10. "Curfewed Night"

Author: Basharat Peer

Publisher: Random House

Price: Rs.395.00

Fiction

1. "The Winner Stands Alone"

Author: Paulo Coelho

Publisher: Harper Collins

Price: Rs.325.00

2. "The Associate"

Author: John Grisham

Publisher: Arrow Books

Price: Rs.219.00

3. "Burnt Shadows"

Author: Kamila Shamsie

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Price: Rs.425.00

4. "Gone Tomorrow"

Author: Lee Child

Publisher: Bantam Press

Price: Rs.440.00

5. "In Other Rooms, Other Wonders"

Author: Daniyal Mueenuddin

Publisher: Random House

Price: Rs.395.00

6. "The Story of a Widow"

Author: Musharraf Ali Farooqi

Publisher: Picador India

Price: Rs.495.00

7. "The Girl Who Played with Fire"

Author: Stieg Larsson

Publisher: Quercus

Price: Rs.299.00

8. "The White Tiger"

Author: Aravind Adiga

Publisher: Harper Collins

Price: Rs.395.00

9. "The Women"

Author: T.C. Boyle

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Price: Rs.599.00

10. "Assegai"

Author: Wilbur Smith

Publisher: Macmillan

Price: Rs.795.00

(Source: Bahri Sons, New Delhi, www.booksatbahri.com. All the books listed above are available online)

Taysha Valez: the young billionaire

0 comments
Taysha Valez is the author of "Young Black Millionairess: How To Start a Million Dollar Business", the owner of H. Couture Beauty LLC and at 27, is a self made billionaire. She is Taysha Smith Valez.

Though there is no article on her in Wikipedia yet, it would be there soon, as this beauty takes the world, as well as the cyber world by storm, with everyone eager to know who Taysha Valez is.

Taysha Valez is famously known for her Socialite Collection line of beauty and skin care and make up products. She has recently launched a new telecommunication company called Tri-my Tay Telecom. In Hawaii, she was recently spotted having lunch and attending business for the new company.

Though Taysha manages to keep away from the spotlight most of the time, she has been linked to a host of big celebrities, including Usher.

Haute.lanta Fashion Week displayed a staggering five million dollars in diamond encrusted beauty products, courtesy Taysha Valez.

The New York mogul has strong inclination for fashion and trends, as can be made out from her rare public appearances. The young billionaire chooses to be fashionably conscious keeping up with the latest trends.

She was recently featured in The Young, Black and Fabulous (theybf.com)

She also owns the by-appointment-only haute vintage departmental store TAYSHA's in New York.

Though the cyber world is going crazy over her, the billionaire beauty chooses to stay away from intense public glare in person, but stays in news through her business.

She is the world's youngest billionaire presently.

Taysha Valez

Through her achievements, Taysha Valez is an inspiration to all, irrespective of color and race.

Source : http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/books/taysha-valez-the-young-billionaire_100197620.html

Barnala releases Urdu version of ‘My Other Two Daughters’

0 comments
After receiving a good response for "My Other Two Daughters", a biographical novel, Surjit Singh Barnala, Governor of Tamil Nadu and former chief minister of Punjab, has come up with the Urdu version of his book Monday.
This heart-wrenching tale of two girls was first released in 2007.

A.R. Kidwai, Governor of Haryana, released its Urdu edition "Meri Aur Do Betian" here Monday evening.

Apart from his own daughter Amrit, Barnala shared a strong emotional bond with two more women and treated them like his own daughters.

"Meri Aur Do Betian" talks about the journey of these two girls and it has been translated into Urdu by Chennai based Mukhtyar Badri.

Talking about his book, Barnala said: "My book is divided into two parts and each part talks about two different girls, whom I met at different places and how gradually they became an important part of my life."

"In 1949, I went to Kashmir for the first time and met a girl named Naseem, who was suffering from TB (tuberculosis). She was very close to me and called me 'chhotte abbi' (father)," said Barnala.

"The entire family of Naseem was suffering from TB. I arranged medicines and good doctors but could not save her. First of all, her mother died followed by her father. Then one day I got a letter from Naseem in which she had written, 'Mere chhotte abbi ko akhiri salaam' (My last regards to my father)," recalled Barnala.

Barnala did not have any photograph of Naseem. However, when he was lodged in the Patiala jail in 1976, during the Emergency, he painted a sketch of Naseem.

"Luckily, I managed to bring her on the canvas very beautifully. This photograph is also there on the cover page of the book," pointed out Barnala.

The second part of the book talks about Kiranjot, an American girl who embraced Sikhism.

"I met Kiranjot at Darbar Sahib (Golden temple in Amritsar in Punjab). She was carrying ashes of her fiance in a vessel over her head and wanted to immerse them at Kiratpur Sahib," recalled Barnala.

He added: "She expressed her desire to call me papa as her own father died in a road accident. After some reluctance, I gave this permission to her. She went back to the US and married an American but she remained in touch with me through letters."

"One day her letter comes that said that she was suffering from cancer. I brought her to Chennai and started her treatment at a leading cancer hospital there. She stayed with me at Raj Bhawan, but she could not survive. According to her will, her last rites were performed by following both Hindu and Sikh rituals," said Barnala.

Source : http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/books/barnala-releases-urdu-version-of-my-other-two-daughters_100176306.html

Over 10,000 clear IIT entrance exam, Faridabad’s Nitin Jain tops (Lead)

0 comments
New Delhi, May 25 (IANS) As many as 10,035 candidates cleared the Joint Entrance Examination-2009 (JEE-2009) for admission to 15 Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) with 17-year-old Nitin Jain from Faridabad topping the list, it was announced Monday.
The 10,035 candidates - 1,048 girls and 8,987 boys - have been declared successful to seek admission for 8,295 seats in the IITs at Bhubaneswar, Mumbai, Delhi, Gandhinagar, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Indore, Kanpur, Kharagpur, Madras, Mandi (Himachal Pradesh), Patna, Punjab, Rajasthan, Roorkee, IT-Banaras Hindu University and ISMU Dhanbad, said a statement released here by IIT-Delhi.

"I was expecting a positive result in IIT-JEE but never thought about securing the top rank. All the credit goes to my teachers and specially to my family that supported me a lot at every crucial step," an elated Jain told IANS.

Jain, a student of Modern Vidya Niketan, Faridabad, cleared his class 12 exam with 95 percent marks this year.

Kritika Singh from IIT-Kanpur zone, with an All India ranking of 56, topped among girl candidates. Seven candidates, of the 176 who appeared for the JEE examination at the sole overseas centre in Dubai, also cleared the exam.

Under relaxed norms, 1,930 candidates from reserved category and 138 students with physical disabilities got through the entrance examination.

The counselling of successful candidates for allocation of seats will be held June 9-16. The course allocations will be declared June 24.

At least 384,977 students - 286,949 boys and 98,028 girls - appeared in JEE-2009 on April 12. The number was 24 percent higher than previous year.