India – My Study Times

How to make India ‘Cashless India’ ?

INTRODUCTION

In order to curb the circulation of fake currency notes and black money, the honorable PM of India, Mr. Narendra Modi abruptly announced in the beginning of the second week of November, 2016 that the scrapping of Rs.500 and Rs.1,000 notes is to be taken place in India in no time. The schemes “Make In India” and “Digital India” were the two other successful schemes launched by the Modi government during 2014 and 2015 respectively. Soon after a few days of implementation of the demonetization scheme by the government, Mr. Narendra Modi came out with a new scheme of making India a cashless country for the addressing the same issues.

How to make India 'Cashless India' ? — How to make India ‘Cashless India’ ?

BARRIERS IN THE WAY OF MAKING INDIA A CASHLESS NATION

There some hindrances that need to be taken care of to make India’s economy a cashless one. Let us have look at some of the issues that the government of the country needs to address to make India go cashless.

1) About one-fifth of India’s population is under the BPL and they lack adequate access to the basic necessities. Carrying out cashless transactions is too hi fi, a thing to be expected from them.

2) Too much paper work goes on in any government office like Passport office, Income Tax department, post office, etc. People working in those places are unwilling to work with modern technologies.

3)There is no electrification in many villages in India. Without electrification, how can one have access to the internet. If one has no connectivity with the world wide web, there is no scope to carry out a cash-less transaction.

4) E-wallets of several e-commerce entities provide customers with cash back facilities on making purchases. Promotion of e-wallets like M-pesa ,Paytm wallet, etc is yet to be carried out on a mass scale.

5) Payments through debit cards, credit cards, internet banking facilities sometimes are associated with surcharges, service charges, etc. Withdrawal or removal of these burdens are to be carried out.

6) It is to be guaranteed that there is high availability of internet and one can undertake transactions in a secured manner. The government has to develop confidence among the masses on the internet by imposing a strong check on the cyber crimes issues.

7) The vendors who are accepting or willing to accept payments via electronic means should be rewarded by the government through provision of tax benefits. This sort of incentive is surely going to encourage lots of business houses to have their online presence.

8) The late teenagers and the youth are the people who opt for cash-less transactions more than others. In order to make India cash-less, people of all ages are required to become tech savvy which is quite a difficult issue to address.

9) Most of the banks are having their presence only in urban and semi-urban areas. One can hardly find a substantial number of banks carrying out their operations in rural areas. If people residing in villages are not having their accounts in banks, it is impossible for them to carry out transactions via electronic means.

10) The government is yet to eradicate the social evils like illiteracy and unemployment from the country. If a person is illiterate or unemployed it is not possible for him/her to do something for his/her living. If there is no earning, a person cannot get any access to gadgets via which he/she can carry out cash-less transactions.

Conclusion on Cashless India

In India, only 5% of transactions in the economy is being taken place through electronic means. The Modi government is planning to make India a cash-less nation soon as a measure to address the issues of black money, fake currency notes, tax evasion, etc. It is highly probable that Goa is going to become the first state in the country to become cashless from December 31^st of the current year. Making India a cashless nation is going to take a lot of time to make it happen. None of the country across the world has reached the aim of total cashless services. The target is even tough for a developing country like India to achieve.

5 Cultural Delights Of Ahmedabad – Must Visit

5 Cultural Delights Of Ahmedabad

Cultural Delights Of Ahmedabad : For cultural buffs, the wonders of Ahmedabad are something that should definitely be explored. Apart from Ahmedabad tourism, there are few things from its typical culinary treats to village clans and colorful attire to art forms, Ahmedabad is a beautiful blend of the traditions and modernity. Let’s take at some of the best cultural wonders the city has to offer.

Touring The Cultural Delights Of Ahmedabad

5 Cultural Delights Of Ahmedabad

#1 Lemon Grass Hopper

One of the finest art galleries in Ahmedabad, the Lemon Grass Hopper brings the best work from contemporary artists like BV Suresh, Shampa Ghosh, Abhijit Paul, MF Hussain, Sunil Darji and more. The gallery has few exhibitions halls showcasing the some beautiful sculptures, photographs, paintings, sketches, pottery and ceramic. You can get some really fantastic deals at the exhibitions, which is usually flocked by the who’s who of the artsy world.

#2 Calico Museum

Located in Shahi Bagh, Calico Museum is considered to be one of the finest places to admire specialised work of art and history. Established in 1949 by the Sarabhai family to document the history of textile business in the country, this museum has some fine collection dating back to several centuries. With exhibitions taking place in the majestic setting of the old Sarabhai haveli, this is one cultural tour you shouldn’t miss.

#3 Gandhi Memorial Museum

Situated on the banks of the Sabarmati River, the Gandhi Memorial Museum is located besides the famous ashram where Mahatma Gandhi spent his remaining years. This museum is perfect to understand the man who led the fight of freedom against the British regime, as you look through the deeper aspects of his life. If you have kids in your family, then this could really become an eye-opening tour for them.

#4 World Vintage Car Museum

Famous known as the Auto World, this assembly of vintage cares is just the place to be in if you’re passionate about cars. Showcasing the private collection of car enthusiast, Pranlal Bhogilal, the vintage cars included belong the leading car-makers like Mercedes, Cadillac, Chrysler, Bentley, and Maybach. The best part about the museum, that you can also take this vintage beauties for a quick spin. Take home a little souvenir and cherish the experiences for lifetime.

#5 Shreyas Folk Art Museum

If you’re interested in exploring the local art and culture of Gujarat, this museum becomes a must-visit. Showcasing the artwork from the major communities of the region like, Kathi, Bhansali, Meghwal, Rabari, Ahir, and Mer, you can browse handicrafts from wood cravings to handmade utensils and musical instrument.

History of India – Cave to Home

History Of India [ Glorious Past of India ]

History of India covers thousands of periods and dynasties. If we arrange these dynasties in a chronological order, we have to go back to the Stone Age which is known as the beginning.

Stone Age

Remains of stone tools and a skull depict the presence of an early species of man (Homo erectus). Archeologists believe that they started living in India about 500,000 years ago. This is known as Paleolithic era.

Next comes the Mesolithic era which is also a part of the Stone Age. Modern humans (Homo sapiens) started living in India 12,000 year ago.

Neolithic agriculture sprang up in the Indus Valley region around 7000 years ago, in the lower Gangetic valley around 5000 years ago and also into Malwa around 3800 years ago.

Chalcolithic era covered the regions of modern Maharashtra except the part of vidarbha and the coastal region of Konkan. This era marked the end of the Stone Age.

Bronze Age

Next comes the Bronze Age which established 5300 years ago with the early Indus Valley Civilization (including cities like Harappa, Mohenjo-Daro, Lothal , Kalibanga ). It was situated on the Indus River and its tributaries which lengthen to the Ghaggar-Hakra River valley. The initial cities in the subcontinent were in the Indus Valley Civilization. It is one of the world’s earliest urban civilizations. About 3700 years ago, most of the cities were deserted. However, the Indus Valley Civilization did not fade away suddenly. Few parts of the Indus Civilization may have continued to exist in the smaller villages and secluded farms.

Vedic Civilization of History of India

The Vedic Civilization gave birth to the Vedas which were the oldest teachings of India and were mainly oral until the 5^th century. According the RigVeda the entire region in which the Aryans were first settled in India which was called as the Land of 7 Rivers or Sapta Sindhawa .The other three Vedas are SamVeda, YajurVeda and Atharva Veda. The Vedas have verses in honor of gods. Vedas are the precious gift from history of india.

Around the 5th century BC, north-western parts of India faced invasion by the Achaemenid Empire and by the Greeks of Alexander the Great. A Persian way of philosophy, management and standard of living came to India. This was known as the Persian and Greek Invasion.

Magadha Empire

The Magadha Empire formed one of the sixteen kingdoms in ancient India. Magadha played an imperative role in the expansion of Jainism and Buddhism. Two of India’s supreme empires, the Maurya Empire and the Gupta Empire, originated from Magadha.

The early middle kingdoms in history of india included- Satavahana Empire, Western Kshatrapas, Indo-Scythians, Gupta dynasty and Hun invasion.

Satavahana Empire came to power from about 230 BC. They were also known as Andhras. For about 450 years, many Satavahanas kings ruled the majority parts of the southern and central India.

Western Kshatrapas ruled for about 350 years, from the years 35-405, Saka kings ruled India. They ruled the western and central parts of India. There were 27 independent rulers, communally known as the Kshatrapas.

Indo-Scythians came to India from Siberia passing through numerous places like Bactria,Sogdiana, Kashmir and Arachosia . They conquered the Indo-Greek rulers of India, and ruled India from Gandhara to Mathura.

The Gupta dynasty

The Gupta dynasty reigned from around 320 to 550 AD. The Gupta Empire covered most of North-central India. Gupta society was ordered in harmony with Hindu beliefs.

By the middle of the fifth century, a cluster of people known as Huns had settled in Afghanistan. Skandagupta, an emperor of the Gupta dynasty battled back and kept them away for some years. At last the Huns won. With this the Gupta dynasty came to an end. This was the Huns invasion.

Late Middle kingdoms of India

Late Middle kingdoms of India cover a period commencing from the 6th-7th century. After the fall down of the Gupta Empire, it was Harsha of Kanauj who united the northern parts of India in a single realm.

Then the Pratihara kings came into power in Rajasthan and some further parts of northern India from the 6th century to the 11th century. The Palas ruled the eastern part of India.

In the 6th century numerous Rajput kingdoms came into being in Rajasthan. Some of these kingdoms continue to endure for hundreds of years during special phase of the history of India.

Islamic Sultanate Period

Islam spread across the Indian subcontinent over a period of 500 years and was called the Islamic Sultanate period. During this time, the two systems—the prevailing Hindu and Muslim—blended and left long lasting cultural influences on each other.

Slave dynasty was started by Qutub ud din Aibak. He was the one who started the first architectural monument of the slave dynasty or rather the first architectural work of Muslims in India which was Qutub Minar which was completed in during the Delhi Sultanate period.

Sikhism

Guru Nanak founded Sikhism and his supporters were called Sikhs. The supremacy of Sikhs continued to increase in the northwestern part of India. The Sikhs became rulers of a huge part of the northwestern India. This is called the Sikh Kingdom or Empire.

Durrani Empire

A person named Ahmed Shah Durrani ruled some parts of northwestern India. Historians have named his rule as the Durrani Empire. He took many valuable things from India. This included the famous diamond named Kohinoor.

Colonial period

Colonial period means the period during which Western countries ruled India. In the 1600’s the British East India Company began a very profitable trading empire in India this commenced the Company Raj.

India won its independence, and became a free country on August 15, 1947 and Now India is Known as Incredible India .

This was the basic information about the Glorious Indian history and Glorious Past of India and I hope it helped you to know more about your country.

History of Mughal Empire in India

The Mughal Empire was an empire in the Indian subcontinent, established and ruled by a Muslim Persianate reign of Chagatai Turco-Mongol origin that extended over big parts of the Indian subcontinent and Afghanistan.

Establishment of Mughal Empire

The establishment of the empire is predictably dated to the founder Babur’s triumph over Ibrahim Lodi, the last ruler of the Delhi Sultanate in the First Battle of Panipat (1526). The Mughal Empire did not aim to intervene in the local societies during most of its existence, but rather evenhanded and pacified them through new administrative practices and diverse and inclusive ruling elites, leading to more logical, federal, and uniform regulation.

Mughal architecture

The reign (1628–58) of Shah Jahan, the fifth emperor, was the golden age of Mughal architecture. He erected several large monuments, the best acknowledged of which is the Taj Mahal at Agra, as well as the Moti Masjid, Agra, the Red Fort, the Jama Masjid, Delhi, and the Lahore Fort. The Mughal Empire reached the zenith of its territorial area during the sovereignty of Aurangzeb and also started its incurable decline in his reign due to Maratha military resurgence under Shivaji Bhosale.

Founder of Mughal Empire

The Mughal Empire was founded by Babur, a Central Asian ruler who was descended from the Turco-Mongol defeater Timur (the founder of the Timurid Empire) on his father’s side and from Chagatai, the succeeding son of the Mongol ruler Genghis Khan, on his mother’s side. Babur’s military occupied much of northern India after his success at Panipat in 1526.

Akbar’s son, Jahangir, ruled the empire at its peak, but he was addicted to opium, mistreated the affairs of the state, and came under the manipulation of opponent court cliques. During the reign of Jahangir’s son, Shah Jahan, the culture and splendor of the lavish Mughal court reached its zenith as exemplified by the Taj Mahal. The protection of the court, at this time, began to cost more than the revenue.

Historians have presented numerous explanations for the speedy crumple of the Mughal Empire between 1707 and 1720, after a century of escalation and prosperity. The emperor lost ability, as the extensively scattered imperial officers lost assurance in the central authorities, and made their own deals with local men. The majestic army, bogged down in long, futile wars against the more aggressive Marathas, lost its fighting strength. Then arrived a series of violent political feuds over power of the throne. Since the 1970s historians have taken manifold approaches to the decline, with little consensus on which factor was overriding. The psychological interpretations highlight depravity in high places, excessive luxury, and increasingly narrow views that left the rulers unprepared for an external challenge.

A major Mughal contribution to the Indian subcontinent was their inimitable architecture. Many monuments were built by the Muslim emperors, especially Shah Jahan, during the Mughal era including the UNESCO World Heritage Site Taj Mahal, which is known to be one of the greatest examples of Mughal architecture. Other World Heritage Sites include Humayun’s Tomb, Fatehpur Sikri, the Red Fort, the Agra Fort, and the Lahore Fort

The palaces, tombs, and forts built by the dynasty situate today in Agra, Aurangabad, Delhi, Dhaka, Fatehpur Sikri, Jaipur, Lahore, and many other cities of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh.

Although Persian was the dominant and “official” language of the empire, the language of the elite later evolved into a form known as Urdu.

The Indian economy remained as flourishing under the Mughals as it was, because of the construction of a road system and a standardized currency, together with the unification of the country. Manufactured goods and peasant-grown cash crops were sold all throughout the world. Main industries included shipbuilding (the Indian shipbuilding industry was as superior as the European, and Indians sold ships to European firms), textiles, and steel.

Mughal astronomers continued to make advances in observational astronomy and produced nearly a hundred Zij treatises. Humayun built a special observatory near Delhi. The instruments and observational techniques used at the Mughal observatories were mainly derived from the Islamic tradition. In particular, one of the most extraordinary astronomical instruments invented in Mughal India is the seamless celestial globe.

Fathullah Shirazi (c. 1582), a Persian polymath and mechanical engineer who worked for Akbar, prepared a volley gun.

Akbar was the first to initiate and use metal cylinder rockets known as bans principally against War elephants, during the Battle of Sanbal.

In the year 1657, the Mughal Army used rockets during the Siege of Bidar. Prince Aurangzeb’s forces released rockets and grenades while scaling the walls. Sidi Marjan was severely wounded when a rocket struck his large gunpowder depot, and after twenty-seven days of hard struggle Bidar was captured by the victorious Mughals.

Later, the Mysorean rockets were upgraded versions of Mughal rockets used during the Siege of Jinji by the progeny of the Nawab of Arcot. Hyder Ali’s father Fatah Muhammadthe constable at Budikote commanded a corps consisting of 50 rocketmen (Cushoon) for the Nawab of Arcot. Hyder Ali realised the significance of rockets and introduced highly developed versions of metal cylinder rockets. These rockets turned fortunes in favor of the Sultanate of Mysore during the Second Anglo-Mysore War, mainly during theBattle of Pollilur.

This era contributed significantly towards the architecture, technology and astronomy sector. It gave the country a lot of things that we still cherish.

East India Geography , Culture , Heritage , Demographics

East India is a compilation of varied cultures and traditions and has an apex position in India due to its magnificence.

Geography

States in East India

East India is an area consisting of Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, 7 Sisters ,West Bengal and also the union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. West Bengal’s capital Kolkata is the largest city of this section. The Kolkata Metropolitan Area is the country’s third largest one. The states of Odisha and West Bengal share some intellectual and linguistic characteristics with Bangladesh.

Atmosphere

The region lies in the humid-subtropical zone, and experiences hot summers from March to June, the monsoon from July to October and mild winters from November to February. The central states have a drier climate and vaguely more extreme climates, particularly during the winters and summers, but the whole region receives heavy, persistent rainfall during the monsoon months. Snowfall occurs in the extreme northern regions of West Bengal.

Demographics

Languages

Bengali is the dominant language of West Bengal as well as the whole of East India. Hindi along with Urdu, Maithili, Magahi and Bhojpuri is the dominant language of Bihar and Jharkhand. Also, Santhali and Magahi are the dominant language of Jharkhand, nevertheless 34% people of Jharkhand are tribals (2001 Census) and speak their own tribal languages and use Hindi as second language. Odia is the dominant language of the state of Odisha. Oriya is the only traditional language in east India and earliest Indo-Aryan language-family and sixth Indian language to be measured as a classical language in the basis of being aged and not borrowed from other languages.

Religions

The greater part of the population of East India is Hindu with Muslim, Christian, Buddhist and Sikh minorities. The Muslims constitute a huge minority in Bengal with 25% of the population and 17% in Bihar. Hindus form 94% of the entire population of Odisha. Christians are the largest minority in Odisha.

Culture and Heritage

Festivals

Durga, Jagannath and Shiva are particularly popular Hindu deities in this region. Durga & Kali are deities of Bengal and Mithila whereas Jagannath or Vishnu is patron god among Odia people. Shiva is worshipped in all areas of eastern states.

Cuisines

With an emphasis on fish, vegetables and lentils served with rice as a staple diet, Bengali cuisine is known for its subtle flavours, and its huge increase of confectioneries and desserts. It also has the only traditionally urbanized multi-course tradition from the Indian subcontinent that is analogous in construction to the modern service à la russe technique of French cuisine, with food served course-wise rather than all at once.

Oriya cuisine refers to the cooking of the eastern Indian state of Odisha. Foods from this area are rich and diverse, while relying heavily on limited ingredients. The flavours are usually clever and delicately spiced, quite unlike the fiery curries classically associated with Indian cuisine. Fish and other seafood such as crab and shrimp are admired. Chicken and mutton are also consumed, but rarely.

Arts

Odissi (Odissi) is a classical dance in eastern India. It instigated from the state of Odisha, in eastern India. It is the oldest existing dance form of India on the basis of archaeological evidences. Odissi has a long, endless tradition of 2,000 years. Bengali dance forms draw from folk traditions, especially those of the tribal groups, as well as from the broader Indian dance ritual. Dance forms of Bihar are another appearance of rich traditions and ethnic identity. There are numerous folk dance forms that can keep one enchanted, such as dhobi nach, jhumarnach, manjhi, gondnach, jitiyanach, mor morni, dom-domin, bhuiababa, rah baba, kathghorwa nach, jat jatin, launda nach, bamar nach, jharni, jhijhia, natua nach, bidapad nach, sohrai nach, and gond nach.

Music

Rabindra Sangeet, also known as Tagore Songs, are the songs written and composed by Rabindranath Tagore. They have unique characteristics in the music of Bengal, popular in India and Bangladesh. Tagore wrote about 2,230 songs.West Bengal’s capital Kolkata is also the cultural capital of India.

Literature

Education in the eastern part of India has seen quick transformation. Several latest educational institutes have been established to gratify the needs of students. East India is now the home to some of the great Indian universities and Institutions of National Importance.

Read Also :

South India
West India
North India
Incredible India

East India has truly excelled in every theme and has a deep sense of culture, tradition, art and cuisine. It is a pack of all the magnificent things in a single place. An immensely beautiful yet an ethnic element of India.