INDIA ABROAD PERSON OF THE YEAR

India Abroad is a weekly newspaper published from New York City, which focuses on Indian news meant for an Indian American, Indian diaspora and expatriate audience. The publication is known for its annual award ceremony for the "India Abroad Person of the Year."

India Abroad was founded by Indian American publisher Gopal Raju in 1970. India Abroad calls itself "the oldest Indian newspaper published in North America. The Economist, a British weekly international affairs magazine, referred to India Abroad as a daily publication of “unusually high quality”.

Since 2002, the publication has been honoring Indian-American achievers at the annual India Abroad Person of the Year award ceremony. The following are the list of winners.

Year
2002	Swati Dandekar	politician
2003	Sonal Shah	founder, Indicorps
2004	Mohini Bhardwaj	Olympic gymnast and silver medalist
2005	Bobby Jindal	politician
2006	Indra Nooyi	CEO, PepsiCo
2007	Mira Nair	filmmaker
2008	Fareed Zakaria	journalist, author, and television host
2009	Venkatraman Ramakrishnan	scientist, Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry for 2009
2010	Nikki Haley	politician
2011	Preet Bharara	United States Attorney
2012	Ami Bera	US Congressman
	Raj Shah	USAID Administrator

     Amerish B. "Ami" Bera is an American physician who has been the U.S. Representative for California's 7th congressional district since 2013. He is the Indian American to be elected to the US congress. Bera was hounersed Indian Abroad Person of the year 2012 along with Rajiv “Raj” Shah (born March 9, 1973) is an American economic development specialist and physician who is currently the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

       Legal Activist and the youngest daughter of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Amrit Singh received the India abroad publisher’s special award for excellence 2012. Amrit is senior legal officer for national security and counterterrorism at the Open Society Justice Initiative based at the New York. Amrit Singh was given the award at the event organized by India Abroad on 21 June 2013 for her report Globalizing Torture: CIA Secret Torture and Extraordinary Rendition released in February 2013.

The report stated that 54 nations comprising Pakistan helped the US in its war against al-Qaida by hosting CIA prisons on their territories and detaining, interrogating and torturing terror suspects

RANADHURJAYA’S

• Also called SriRamaKhasyapa gothraja’s

• Source of history are Thandivada and Gollapalli (virija nagara) inscriptions. Both are in odisha.

• Capital: Pistapuram

Ranadhurjaya

First king, dynasty name come from him.

Randhurjaya is contemporary (samantha) to Madhava Varma of Vishnukundin.

Ruled pistapuram (pitapuram).

His son is Vikramendra.

Issued Virija inscription.

Prithvi Maharaja

Son of vikramendra.

He was defeated by Pulakeshin II in kolleti war (kunala/kolleru). Source is mutnuru inscription.

CULTURE !!!!

What is Culture?

• Culture is a way of life. The food you eat, the clothes you wear, the language you speak in and the God you worship all are aspects of culture. 

• In very simple terms, we can say that culture is the embodiment of the way in which we think and do things. 

• It is also the things that we have inherited as members of society. All the achievements of human beings as members of social groups can be called culture. Art, music, literature, architecture, sculpture, philosophy, religion and science can be seen as aspects of culture. .

• However, culture also includes the customs, traditions, festivals, ways of living and one’s outlook on various issues of life.

Which are the two types of Culture?

1.  Material

2.  Non Material

              There is a general agreement among social scientists that culture consists of explicit and implicit patterns of behaviour acquired by human beings. 

• Material culture consists of objects that are related to the material aspect of our life such as our dress, food, and household goods.

• Non-material culture refers to ideas, ideals, thoughts and belief.

What is the difference between Culture and Civilization ?

•  ‘Civilization’ means having better ways of living and sometimes making nature bend to fulfill their needs. It also includes organizing societies into politically well-defined groups working collectively for improved conditions of life in matters of food, dress, communication, and so on. Thus some groups consider themselves as civilized and look down upon others. This disposition of certain groups has even led to wars and holocausts, resulting in mass destruction of human beings.

• On the other hand ‘culture’ refers to the inner being, a refinement of head and heart. This includes arts and sciences, music and dance and various higher pursuits of human life which are also classified as cultural activities. One who may be poor and wearing cheap clothes may be considered ‘uncivilized’, but still he or she may be the most cultured person.One possessing ostentatious wealth may be considered as ‘civlilized’ but he may not be cultured.

 ALL CULTURES HAVE A CIVILIZATION ..BUT ALL CIVILIZATIONS NEED NOT HAVE A CULTURE !!

 

What is cultural heritage?

Cultural heritage includes all those aspects or values of culture transmitted to human beings by their ancestors from generation to generation. They are cherished, protected and maintained by them with unbroken continuity and they feel proud of it.

example -- TajMahal , Dilwara temple etc ...aprt frm this ... contributions of Baudhayan, Aryabhatta,Bhaskaracharya in the field of Mathematics, Astronomy and Astrology; Kanad and Varahmihir in the field of Physics; Nagarjuna in the field of Chemistry, Susruta and Charak in the field of Medicines and Patanjali in the field of Yoga also are a part of Heritage !

also Vedas ,Upanishads and other literature !

 

IMPORTANCE OF CULTURE IN HUMAN LIFE ??

• Culture is closely linked with life. 

• It is not an add-on, an ornament that we as human beings can use. 

• It is not merely a touch of colour. It is what makes us human. 

• Without culture,there would be no humans. Culture is made up of traditions, beliefs, way of life, from the most spiritual to the most material. It gives us meaning, a way of leading our lives. 

• Human beings are creators of culture and, at the same time, culture is what makes us human.