SAARC portal
The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation ( SAARC) is an economic and political organization of eight countries in Southern Asia. In terms of population, its sphere of influence is the largest of any regional organization: almost 1.5 billion people, the combined population of its member states. In the late 1970s, Bangladesh President Ziaur Rahman proposed the creation of a trade bloc consisting of South Asian countries. The Bangladeshi proposal was accepted by India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka during a meeting held in Colombo in 1981. In August 1983, the leaders adopted the Declaration on South Asian Regional Cooperation during a summit which was held in New Delhi. The seven South Asian countries, which also included Nepal, Maldives and Bhutan, agreed on five areas of cooperation:
- Agriculture and Rural Development
- Telecommunications, Science, Technology and Meteorology
- Health and Population Activities
- Transport
- Human Resource Development
Afghanistan was added to the regional grouping at the behest of India on November 13, 2005, With the addition of Afghanistan, the total number of member states were raised to eight (8). In April 2006, the United States of America and South Korea made formal requests to be granted observer status. The European Union has also indicated interest in being given observer status, and made a formal request for the same to the SAARC Council of Ministers meeting in July 2006. On August 2, 2006 the foreign ministers of the SAARC countries agreed in principle to grant observer status to the US, South Korea and the European Union. On 4 March 2007, Iran requested observer status. (more)
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Bengali or Bangla (বাংলা, IPA: ['baŋla]) is an Indo-Aryan language of East South Asia, evolved from Prakrit, Pali and Sanskrit. With nearly 200 million native speakers, Bengali is one of the most widely spoken languages of the world (it is ranked between four and seven based on the number of speakers). Bengali is the main language spoken in Bangladesh, and the second most commonly spoken language in India (after Hindi-Urdu). Along with Assamese, it is geographically the most eastern of the Indo-European languages. Owing to the Bengal renaissance in the 19th and 20th centuries, Bengali literature emerged among the richest in South Asia, and includes luminaries such as Rabindranath Tagore, the first Asian to be awarded a Nobel Prize. Like most other modern Indic languages, Bengali arose from the Apabhramsha melting pot of Middle Indic languages, around the turn of the first millennium CE. Some argue for much earlier points of divergence - going back to even 500 BCE, but the language was not static, and different varieties co-existed concurrently, and authors often wrote in multiple dialects. In particular, the eastern region language known as Abahatta (with considerable overlap with Purvi and Magadhi Apabhrangsha), had begun to emerge by the seventh century AD. Hiuen Tsang has noted that the same language was spoken in most of Eastern India. (more...)
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Rather than continuing to seek the truth, simply let go of your views. |
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Gautama Buddha
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Did you know
- ...that five mountains in Pakistan are more than 8,000 meters high, including K2 which is the second highest mountain in the world ?
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The Islamic Republic of Pakistan (Urdu: اسلامی جمہوریۂ پاکستان, islāmī jamhūriya i pākistān), or Pakistan (Urdu: پاکستان, pākistān), is a country located in South Asia and Central Asia and was a part of Ancient Pakistan and became a subject to British rule in the 1800s. The country borders India, Afghanistan, Iran (Persia), China and the Arabian Sea. With around 162 million inhabitants, it is the sixth most populous country, the second most populous Muslim-majority nation. It is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations and the OIC.
Pakistan was made into a separate nation from Britain on 14th August, 1947 for Muslims of the sub-continent, but the region has a long history of settlement and civilisation that includes some of the most ancient cultures. The region was invaded by Chinese, Greeks, Persians,Arabs, and Turks before being invaded by the British Raj in the Eighteenth century. Following independence, Pakistan has seen the loss of East Pakistan in 1971, repeated military coups, widespread Islamic fundamentalism and significant military and economic growth, with the second-fastest growing economy amongst the ten most populous countries in the world in 2005 and the twenty-fifth largest economy in terms of purchasing power parity. Pakistan has the seventh largest armed forces in the world and is one of eight declared nuclear weapons states.
At a glance
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Sri Lanka is divided into 9 provinces. This labeled map collaboratively created by wikipedia editors and released to public domain shows these provinces.
Map credit: Rarelibra, Snowolfd4 and QuartierLatin1968
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Siddhārtha Gautama (Sanskrit; Pali: Siddhāttha Gotama) was a spiritual teacher from ancient India and the founder of Buddhism. He is universally recognized by Buddhists as the Supreme Buddha (Sammāsambuddha) of our age. The time of his birth and death are uncertain: a majority of 20th-century historians date his lifetime from circa 563 BCE to 483 BCE, but some more recent scholars have suggested dates around 410 or 400 BCE for his death. This alternative chronology, however, has not yet been accepted by other historians.
Gautama, also known as Shakyamuni (“sage of the Shakyas”, in Pali "śakamuṇi"), is the key figure in Buddhism, and accounts of his life, discourses, and monastic rules were summarized after his death and memorized by the sangha. Passed down by oral tradition, the Tripitaka, the collection of discourses attributed to Gautama, was committed to writing about 400 years later.
Siddhartha was born in Lumbini, Ancient India now in modern day Nepal. His father was King Suddhodana, the chief of the Shakya nation, one of several ancient tribes in the growing state of Kosala; Gautama was the family name. His mother, Queen Maha Maya (Māyādevī) and Suddhodana's wife, was a Koliyan princess. (more...)
Wikipedia in South Asian Languages
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Bengalūru (formerly Bangalore) ( Kannada: ಬೆಂಗಳೂರು; pronunciation: ['beŋgəɭuːru] (help·info) in Kannada and /'bæŋgəlɔː(ɹ)/ (help·info) in English) is the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. Located on the Deccan Plateau in the south-eastern part of Karnataka, Bangalore has an estimated metropolitan population of 6.5 million (65 lakh), making it India's third-most populous city and fifth-largest metropolitan area. Though historical references to the city predate 900, a written history of continuous settlement exists only from 1537. In that year, Kempe Gowda I, whom many regard as the architect of modern Bangalore, built a mud fort in the city and established it as a province of the Vijayanagara Empire.
During the British Raj, Bangalore developed as a centre for colonial rule in South India. The establishment of the Bangalore Cantonment brought in large numbers of migrants from Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and North India for developing and maintaining the infrastructure of the cantonment. After India gained independence in 1947, Bangalore evolved into a manufacturing hub for public sector heavy industries—particularly aerospace, telecommunications, machine tools, heavy equipment, and defence. The establishment and success of software service firms in Bangalore after the liberalisation of India's economy has led to the growth of India's information technology industry. Bangalore is referred to as the Silicon Valley of India and accounts for 35 percent of India's software exports. Home to prestigious colleges and research institutions, the city has the second-highest literacy rate among the metropolitan cities in the nation. However, as a large and growing metropolis in the developing world, Bangalore continues to struggle with problems such as air pollution, traffic congestion, and crime. (more)
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