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Economic condition

Communities having significant ownership of three-wheeler vehicles in Bihar	Number of three-wheelers owned
Yadav	24,765
Kushwaha (Koeri)	6,571
Kurmi	4,552
Brahmin	6,704
Bhumihar	5,109
Rajput	6,149
Bania	5,376
Kayastha	1,340

List

A

• Abhay Kushwaha
• Awadhesh Prasad Kushwaha

D

• Deo Nath Prasad
• Dinesh Prasad

S

• Sukhdeo Prasad Verma
• Suraj Nandan Kushwaha
• Satyendra Narayan Kushwaha
• Samrat Choudhary

Start

Saurabh Suman interview. The Activist (in Hindi). 24 April 2024 – via YouTube.

Manish Maurya

Manish Maurya
Born	Uttar Pradesh, India
Occupation	Industrialist
Title	Owner of the Shri Ram Sweets & Snacks pvt ltd.
Parent	Rajendra Kumar Maurya (Father)

Manish Maurya is an Indian industrialist and owner of Shri Ram Sweets & Snacks Private Limited, one of the biggest sweets brand of North India. He is a son of Rajendra Kumar Maurya, the member of Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly from Pratapgarh Assembly constituency. He is also the owner of several business ventures, which includes Shree Ram Vatika, Shree Ram Inn & Maurya Resorts, a luxurious hotel for wedding events and other special occasions. Maurya also owns food processing industry, Shree Ram Gramoudhog, a production facility that uses fruits and vegetables to make Amla Murabba.

Business career

Maurya started his business career by taking over the management of Shree Ram Sweets, a business venture, which was started in 1965 as a small sweet shop. Under his leadership, the business expanded, with its franchises spreading over to many north Indian cities, which includes Allahabad, Faizabad, Sitapur, Prayagraj, Ayodhya, and Raebareli.

New Sources

• https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/outlook-spotlight-manish-maurya-leading-entrepreneur-astounding-the-world-of-victory/401207
• https://www.theweek.in/news/biz-tech/2022/08/16/entrepreneur-manish-maurya-gives-an-insight-into-his-entrepreneurial-journey.html
• https://theprint.in/theprint-valuead-initiative/co-founder-of-shree-ram-sweets-and-snacks-manish-maurya-talks-about-his-entrepreneurial-journey/1097648/
• https://www.oneindia.com/partner-content/manish-maurya-entrepreneur-soon-to-appear-in-the-bollywood-industry-after-tackling-his-currently-3337676.html
• https://news24online.com/sponsored-article/entrepreneur-manish-maurya-makes-shree-ram-sweets-market-leader-with-his-futuristic-vision-sak/142120/
• https://hindi.news24online.com/business/entrepreneur-manish-maurya-has-made-shri-ram-sweets-a-famous-brand/24312/
• https://www.mid-day.com/lifestyle/infotainment/article/entrepreneur-manish-maurya-adding-flavor-to-lives-with-delectable-sweets-23201142

Sources 2

• https://www.forbesindia.com/article/brand-connect/vibhu-maurya-the-digital-tycoon-in-the-making/60951/1
• https://www.aninews.in/news/business/business/entrepreneur-and-film-maker-vibhu-maurya-joins-hands-with-aca-films20210309160158
• https://www.business-standard.com/content/press-releases-ani/entrepreneur-and-film-maker-vibhu-maurya-joins-hands-with-aca-films-121030901185_1.html
• https://www.mid-day.com/mumbai-guide/famous-personalities/article/film-producer-and-entrepreneur-vibhu-maurya-denies-going-to-bigg-boss14-22994258
• https://nykdaily.com/2020/08/interview-with-vibhu-maurya-owner-of-multiple-ventures-and-a-successful-trader/
• https://www.mid-day.com/mumbai-guide/famous-personalities/article/film-producer-and-entrepreneur-vibhu-maurya-denies-going-to-bigg-boss14-22994258
• http://bwdisrupt.businessworld.in/article/Vibhu-Maurya-Acquiring-40-01-Stake-In-Onesource-Ideas-Venture/02-11-2021-410813

Sonu Kumar

Sonu Kumar is an Indian Police Services officer, serving currently as Assistant Supritendent of Police in the state of Bihar. He passed the Union Public Services Commission Civil Service Examination in 2023. He was allotted Bihar cadre, because of his first preference and exceptional performance in the examination. He is close to many leaders of Janata Dal (United), the ruling party of the state of Bihar and also to the leaders of Rashtriya Lok Janata Dal.

Rashtravadi Kushwaha Parishad

The Rashtravadi Kushwaha Parishad is an organisation founded in 2014, for carrying out caste based identity politics of Koeri or Kushwaha caste.caste.

Violence against Upper Castes in Bihar

Expansion of Maoist Communist Centre in Bihar In 1980s, rampant corruption and caste-ridden bureaucracy gave birth to extreme dissatisfaction among the masses in Bihar. The emergence of various extremist groups, which were based on the Communist ideology thus took place. There were three main groups. These were Maoist Communist Centre, CPI(ML) Anti Lin Bao group and CPI(ML) Party Unity. After the discussion of All India Coordination Committee of the revolutionaries, CPI(ML) was formed with the merger of many splinter revolutionary groups, one of which was "Dakshin Desh". The terminology represents India, as it is located in south of Himalayas unlike China, which was in North and called Northern Country (Uttar Desh).

Yadav's proxy rule, Rabri Devi's tenure

Lalu Yadav in a rally with Rabri Devi and Subhash Prasad Yadav (centre), Subhash was one of the strongmen of Lalu who was allegedly running parallel government in some parts of Bihar. He was brother-in-law of Lalu and one of the brothers of Rabri Devi.

In 1997, Yadav was charge-sheeted by the Central Bureau of Investigation for his alleged involvement in Fodder Scam and the CBI realising his popularity and the response of his supporters in the aftermath of his arrest asked for the help of Indian Army to detain him. Yadav though claimed CBI of maligning his image, faced a serious diellema by this time. The conundrum lied in selection of his successor to the post of Chief Minister and eventually he decided to appoint his wife as the Chief Minister of Bihar. Many, including his own supporters thought that Rabri Devi, Lalu's wife wouldn't be able to survive the vote of confidence in the assembly for her bid to the most coveted office of Bihar but making every postulation lay waste, Rabri won the vote of confidence. Rabri instead survived an attempt to topple her government by the National Democratic Alliance government at the centre. The attempt to dislodge her government was triggered by an incident in Jehanabad in which 12 Dalits were killed by an upper-caste private militia. The Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee urged the opposition parties at centre and even the Congress under Sonia Gandhi to help enforce President's rule in the state as the state government of Bihar was not capable to control the law and order situation. But, due to Sonia's refusal to pay heed to his request and lack of majority with the NDA government in second house of Parliament, the resolution imposing president rule was revoked.

Splits in Janata Dal and formation of Rashtriya Janata Dal

The Janata Dal had survived the splits in past when leaders like George Fernandes and Nitish Kumar defected to form Samata Party in 1994, but it remained a baseless party after the decision of Yadav to form Rashtriya Janata Dal in 1997. The second split took place prior to the Rabri Devi assuming power which resulted in Janata Dal having only two leader of any consequence in it, namely Sharad Yadav and Ram Vilas Paswan. Paswan was regarded as the rising leader of Dalits and had the credit of winning his elections with unprecedented margins. His popularity reached to the national level when he was awarded the post of Minister of Railways in the United Front government in 1996 and was subsequently made the leader of Lok Sabha. His outreach was witnessed in the western Uttar Pradesh too, when his followers organised an impressive rally at the behest of a newly floated organisation called Dalit Panthers. Sharad Yadav was also a veteran socialist leader but without any massive support base. In 1998 Parliamentary elections, Samata Party and Janata Dal, which was in a much weaker position after formation of RJD ended up eating each other's vote base. This made Nitish Kumar merge both the parties to form Janata Dal (United).

Former Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Shri Sharad Yadav delivering his inaugural speech at Regional Seminar on National Food Agencies "Challenges of the New Millennium" in New Delhi.

Ram Vilas Paswan as the Union Minister of Chemicals & Fertilizers and Steel, addressing at "India Chem 2008" Industry meet in Mumbai on 10 June 2008.

In 1999, Lok Sabha elections Rashtriya Janata Dal received a setback at the hand of BJP+JD(U) combine. The new coalition emerged leading in 199 out of 324 assembly constituency and it was widely believed that in the forthcoming election to Bihar state assembly elections, the Lalu-Rabri rule will come to an end. The RJD had fought the election in an alliance with the Congress but the coalition didn't work making state leadership of Congress believe that the maligned image of Lalu Prasad after his name was drawn in the Fodder Scam had eroded his support base. Consequently, the Congress decided to fight the 2000 assembly elections alone. The RJD had to be satiated with the communist parties as the coalition partners but the seat sharing conundrum in the camp of NDA made Nitish Kumar pull his Samta Party out of the Sharad Yadav and Ram Vilas Paswan faction of the Janata Dal. Differences also arose between the BJP and Nitish Kumar as the later wanted to be projected as the Chief Minister of Bihar but the former was not in favour. Even Paswan also wanted to be a CM face. The Muslims and OBCs were too divided in their opinion. A section of Muslims, which included the poor communities like Pasmanda were of the view that Lalu only strengthened upper Muslims like Shaikh, Sayyid and Pathans and they were in search of new options.

Yadav also alienated other dominant backward castes like Koeri and Kurmi since his projection as the saviour of Muslims. It is argued by Sanjay Kumar that the belief that, "the dominant OBCs like the twin caste of Koeri-Kurmi will ask for share in power if he (Yadav) seeks their support while the Muslims will remain satisfied with the protection during communal riots only" made Yadav neglect them. Moreover, the divisions in both the camps made the political atmosphere in the state a charged one in which many parties were fighting against each other with no visible frontiers. JD(U) and BJP were fighting against each other on some of the seats and so was the Samta Party. The result was a setback for the BJP, which in media campaigns was emerging with massive victory. RJD emerged as the single largest party and with the political maneuvere of Lalu Yadav, Rabri Devi was sworn in as the Chief Minister again. The media largely failed to gauge the ground level polarisation in Bihar. According to Sanjay Kumar:

there can be no doubt about one thing that the upper-caste media was always anti Lalu and it was either not aware of the ground level polarisation in the Bihar, or deliberately ignored it. If the election result did not appear as a setback for RJD, it was largely because of the bleak picture painted by the media. Against this background, RJD's defeat had appeared like a victory.

Even after serving imprisonment in connection with the 1997 scam, Lalu seemed to relish his role as lower-caste jester. He argued that corruption charges against him and his family were the conspiracy of the upper-caste bureaucracy and media elites threatened by the rise of peasant cultivator castes. In 2004, Lalu's RJD had outperformed other state based parties by winning 26 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar. He was awarded with the post of Union Railway minister but the rising aspirations of the extremely backward castes unleashed by him resulted in JD(U) and BJP led coalition to defeat his party in 2005 Bihar Assembly elections. Consequently, Nitish Kumar a leader of OBC Kurmi caste was sworn in as the chief minister. During Lalu's time backward caste candidates came to dominate Bihar assembly claiming half of the seats in it and it was the aspiration of this powerful social community which led to fricton among the united backwards, leading to the rise of Nitish Kumar who made both social justice and development as his political theme.

Assessment

Yadav's Janata Dal government was accused by some for fomenting caste-based antagonism in the state as recalled by travel writer William Dalrymple in one of the speech he attended while visiting one of the election campaign. In the following speech Yadav was reported to have said:

Our fight is against the wearer of sacred thread. For years, the priest had made fortune looting peasants. Now I tell them they should learn to milk cattle and graze them, otherwise they will starve.

The records however state that, the caste-based antagonism, perpetration of violence and undignified teasing against the lower caste was more prevalent in the period preceding Lalu Yadav's rule. On the question of wage, the agricultural labourers often faced harassment at the hands of upper-caste landlords. The women belonging to Dalit and landless agricultural families were molested by the landlords and undignified teasing of these women like "pinching on breast" and implicating the male members of Dalit families in frivolous cases by Rajput landlords, when their women rejected their (landlord's) proposal of sexual contact was a common phenomenon. Besides, the numerous caste armies that sprang around the hinterlands to avenge the killings of landlords by the naxal groups (manned primarily by Dalits and Extremely Backward Castes) also brought apocalypse for the marginalised communities.

The militias like Ranvir Sena, Kuer Sena and Sunlight Sena of Bhumihars and Rajputs were recorded as violators of human rights of poor Dalits. The pattern of abuse remained cleansing of the slums inhabited by the Harijans by brutally killing the men, raping their women with impunity and stripping and parading them naked. Some of the brutal incidents also took place in 1997 when Yadav assumed power but in this scenario, the emboldened lower caste also retaliated violently. The upper-caste who remained the victims of retaliatory killings of the lower-caste blamed Yadav for their plight. One of the victim of Bara Massacre was reported to have stated that: "the power is in their hands now, why would their government protect them ?" (an implicit indication towards the strengthening of muscle power of the Harijans under Yadav). Earlier, a section of upper-backwards also operated private militias like Bhumi Sena, run by members of Kurmi caste and Lorik Sena run by Yadav caste but the activities of these caste armies were less brutal and they lost their significance with time. The Lorik Sena though run by Yadavs was later found to be a brainchild of some of the Bhumihar politicians to play Yadavs against Scheduled Castes.

In one of the ghastly incident that took place at Laxmanpur Bathe, the witness recounted with horror the tragedy that she saw after Ranvir Sena members massacred Harijans. According to witnesses, everyone who died was shot in chest, five girls were raped and mutilated before being killed. The murdered girls had their panties ripped, their breasts chopped off and were shot in the vagina. In the period before Yadav's ascedency too the Rajput landlords were notorious for frequently raping lower-caste women in their strongholds of Bhojpur region. The individual heroic actions of the revolutionaries like Jagdish Mahto (who though not a Dalit but an ambedkarite fighting for the cause of Dalits) failed to create a long-lasting impasse upon the activities of tyrant landlords. But, with Yadav's ascedency, the lower caste were thrilled seeing the superior caste leaders submitting before him. It is evident from the discourse with the Musahar people in some part of Bihar that Janata Dal under Yadav had tacit support for their forcible acquisition of extra land in the possession of landlords which the landlords managed to retain even after Bihar's Zamindari abolition drive.

Sinha describes the regime of Lalu-Rabri with the terminology Mai baap ka sarkar translated as the "Government of mother and father" which was characterised by the compassion towards the destitute and the discriminated section of society. The state in this regime didn't focus on the method of leveraging state machinery for the developmental plans but opened its treasury for distribution of free Saree, Dhoti and other essential items directly to the poor. This was a carry-over of ancient practices when kings donate to poor on special occasions, but the Mai baap sarkar also had a negative characteristic of corrupt subordinates in government offices enjoying immunity from the action of their seniors if they possess enough connection to made themselves heard to those sitting in government. This patronage was ended by subsequent Nitish regime who provided a free hand to law enforcement agencies to take necessary action against the tainted.

Maker of the background for Nitish's developmental politics

The post independence period though saw populist measures like Zamindari abolition and positive discrimination in the form of reservation for scheduled castes in order to bring the idea of inclusive development to the fore, but the upper-caste retained their socio-economic dominance by exploiting the loopholes in the existing legislation. The congress was backed for a long time by these upper-caste who still managed to dominate the block, bank and thana, the tripod of rural india which determines the hierarchy of status in the feudal society. The cultivation of association with these institutions was an important feature of dominance enjoyed by upper-caste in rural agrarian society. With the Mandal politics stirring up in the state and ascedency of OBC leaders like Lalu, the upper-caste lost their importance in state level politics. As ascertained through reports, the upper-caste made up 46% of the membership of Bihar Legislative Assembly in 1952, highly disproportionate to their actual population in state. With the rise of OBCs they were reduced to 23% in 2000 but again managed to represent 30% of the membership of assembly in 2010, when Bharatiya Janata Party emerged as a significant player in the state's politics in alliance with Nitish Kumar. It is reported that while Lalu's politics affected the twice-born castes at the upper level of state's administration and politics, the step taken by Nitish to extend the caste-based quota to the local institutions and Panchayats marginalised them at the grassroot level. Earlier, due to their influence at grassroot level institutions, the upper-caste managed to make the lower castes vote to the parties and candidates of their choice. In the absence of this they depended totally upon the brokers i.e the lower-caste people who manned these institutions for asserting themselves, making it a costly affair for the former.

According to a report of ThePrint in 2018, it was ascertained that it was not the culpability of Lalu's rule that industrialisation was not set in Bihar but the failure of subsequent Chief Ministers since independence. Krishna Ballabh Sahay, Sri Krishna Sinha, Binodanand Jha and all other predecessors of Lalu failed to promote industrial development which could have benefitted the most rural state of India. The symbolic gestures like using the water supply of fire department for bathing the poor children, pitting a Musahar caste candidate, the lowest in caste hierarchy for parliamentary elections and naming the Bihar University upon Dalit icon Bhim Rao Ambedkar popularised Lalu amongst the untouchables and poor meanwhile alienating the upper-caste bastion in the state who dominated the bureaucracy and media. It is argued by journalist Dilip Mandal that the upper-caste dominated media demonised him because of his robust stand on enforcement of quota for the lower castes but it didn't help in destroying his political strength in the state. In 2015 assembly elections RJD and Janata Dal (United) alliance humbled the Bharatiya Janata Party, the latter only won 53 seats in the 243-member house of Bihar legislative assembly. Even after initial success of Nitish Kumar government in bringing some of the Bihari expatriates to reinvest in the state following his apparent control on crime, the private sector investment in the state remained far from satisfaction taking a downturn due to host of factors which included uncooperative bureaucracy. John Albert Rorabacher in his Bihar and Mithila: The historical roots of backwardness writes:

The state has failed to attract private investors; although many Bihar expatriates at one time, began to reinvest in Bihar based on apparent elimination of street crimes and the rapid increase in infrastructural development projects. This temporary euphoria quickly faded as private investors were faced with non availability of land for industries, power shortages and a lackadaisical and uncooperative bureaucracy.

In the period before Yadav's Janata Dal assumed power too, industrial development was at a precarious stage compared to the more developed states of India. According to reports, the share of manufacturing sector at current price was only 13.4% in the state's Net Domestic Product in 1984-85.

Colonial roots of underdevelopment in Bihar

Shaibal Gupta, the founder of 'Asian Development Research Institute' at Patna argues that the roots of underdevelopment of Bihar lies in colonial rule which introduced different system of land revenue extraction in different part of India. According to Gupta, while in south and western India they applied Ryotwari and Mahalwari system in which peasants had a greater say, in the Bihar and eastern India it was based on the system of feudal lords performing the task of land revenue collection besides police duties. This arrangement served as the major cause behind the loss of fortune in the agrarian economy. It was a consequence of this arrangement that the feudal lords who primarily belonged to upper-caste, came to dominate the administration in the post independence india and halted the all major land reform initiative like Bhoodan and land redistribution which could have ended the disparity in agrarian society. The arrival of Yadav's government resulted in weakening of bureaucracy and public administration which according to DM Diwakar, Professor at A.N Sinha Institute of Social Science (Patna), was due to upper-caste dominated bureaucracy remaining uncooperative to the elected representatives of masses. Yadav chose to weaken bureaucracy for this reason and the new recruitment were also halted in the cases where his government was not able to find suitable backward caste candidates for the vacant posts. For instance, Santosh Mathew, an officer of the Indian Adminstrative Service, and Mick Moore, a professor at the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex, who have analysed government recruitment data for 1996-’06 in a working paper titled “State Incapacity By Design: Understanding The Bihar Story” reveal that only 30,000 new primary school teachers were recruited against the 90,000 that were required in the government schools.

Sources

• https://books.google.co.in/books?id=KYwkDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA189&dq=Rajput+of+Bihar+savage&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiFyJWsnOHtAhW9ILcAHea2CKIQ6AEwAHoECAEQAg
• [https://books.google.com/books?id=Ew2rCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA172
• https://books.google.co.in/books?id=zA2rCwAAQBAJ&lpg=PT172&pg=PT169#
• Naxalite Terror
• differences

Agrarian struggle in Bihar

The period of 1950s witnessed the landmark "Land reform initiative" by the state government of Bihar, (branded as the drive to improve the lot of agricultural labourers and the poor peasantry) didn't succeed in reducing the class difference existing in the agrarian society marked by non tiller class assuming the apex position of the society while the tillers at base of the social pyramid barely getting enough to satiate their needs. The agrarian struggle which emerged out of the unfinished task of land reforms was stretched right from Purnea to Palamu and from Bhojpur to Bhagalpur. The killing fields of Bihar has been studied by many scholars, among which Kalyan Mukherjee's and Rajendra Singh Yadav's Bhojpur : Naxalism in the plains of Bihar (1980), Arvind Narayan Das's Agrarian unrest and socio-economic changes in Bihar (1900-1980) (1983) have documented the rural unrest in a significant way.

History of peasant struggle in Bihar

In 19th century itself the peasants of Bihar were involved in individual heroic struggle against the intermediaries in isolated events like Santhal Hul (1855-56) and Munda uprising of 1899-1901. Later, Indigo revolt provided Gandhi with an opportunity to experiment with the peasantry. These events were however limited to local issues only with a lack of overall national perspective and the leadership was provided by local peasant leaders. Sahajanand Saraswati is also known for leading peasant struggle in some parts of Bihar but its effects were limited to certain sections of farmers only. After his death, Karyanand Sharma is well known for leading the agrarian movement specially for his Barahiya Bakhast struggle 1937-39. It was Sharma under whom the CPI uh undertook some of the important peasant struggle in 1950s, most important being Sathi farm struggle of Champaran.

Background

A document released by CPI (ML) in 1986 titled Reports from the flaming fields of Bihar which is also cited by the authors like Ranbir Sammadar defines the nature of agrarian society of Bihar in the period immediately succeeding the Green Revolution. The landed gentry which comprised mostly the landlords of the upper caste and some of the emerging kulaks of the intermediate agricultural caste were in conflict with the lower caste agricultural labourers and landless tenants often leading to armed struggle. The Socialist movement under Jay Prakash Narayan and others though getting strengthened had little scope for downward filtration in the rural Bihar which was facing worst form of feudalism. The state and the landlords often colluded against the naxalite forces, dominated by the landless labourers belonging to lower castes. The CPI (ML) was leading the struggle of the later along with other groups and ultra-Left cadres belonging to MCC & Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti, an organization based on idea of Jay Prakash Narayan which later turned towards radicalism aimed at reducing growing class difference.

Caste and class composition of Maoist cadres

The land reforms primarily benefitted the middle peasant castes who were the tenants of the upper caste landlords in prep independence period [1947]. These middle peasant castes were linked to the landlords in variety of ways including the economic ties such as trade and money lending to supply of credit and input in agricultural operations. Some of these castes left the direct cultivation after successfully climbing up the socio-economic ladder, Awadhiya Kurmi was one such community. The Bhumihars who were included in both landlords and middle peasant category took up plough in some regions and were known for their hard working nature, contrary to the other upper castes whose ritual status forbade them from taking plough. The Koiris who were another middle castes were more attracted to the Maoist cadres, due to persistent banditry and oppression by the upper-castes. Sammadar argues that even the rich peasants of the Koiri and other middle caste were easily attracted to naxal a cadres due to their peculiar position in caste hierarchy. Yadavs often made the class struggle difficult by coming between the two ends of agrarian society i.e landlords and the labourers. But, overall the question of wage, vested lands, social oppression and 'caste solidarity' made these peasant castes, a sympathisers of the Maoism.

Literature in medieval India

Literature 7th-13th CE

• Sanskrit literature

Sanskrit language was continued to be used in the period under consideration for the composition of literature. The work of Shankaracharya motivated proponents of other schools of Hindu philosophy to compose their own work in Sanskrit. Hence, Shankara was followed by Ramanuja, Madhava and Vallabhacharya, who also composed their work in the Sanskrit. In the later period also many Sanskrit academies functioned in north India and under the Muslim rule the existing academies were left unharmed.

Literature in Sultanate period (13-14th CE)

The period of 10th century onward saw the shift in power from the Hindu rulers to the Turkish ruling class who initially came to India as invaders. The establishment of Gaznavi rule in Punjab region introduced Persian language in India. The Arabic was language of Prophet and most of the literature composed by Muslims from Spain to Baghdad used to be in Arabic. But from 10th century onward Islamic empires of central Asia developed a more preferred affiliation towards the Persian language and culture. The Persian thus came to be the language of court and administration in India after the establishment of Turkish rule in the Sultanate period.

Arabic thus remained concentrated only in some scholarly circles and with time the digest of Islamic laws were also prepared in the Persian, the most notable among which being those prepared during the reign of Firuz Shah Tughlaq called Fikh-i-Firuzshahi. The digest of Islamic law were also prepared during Mughal period the important one being Fatwa-i-Alamgiri, which was prepared by Islamic scholars in the reign of Aurangzeb. Under the patronage of Firuz Shah Tughlaq a scholar called Majduddin Firozabadi composed an Arabic dictionary called 'Qamus'.

The earlier Persian literature in India was derivative in character. It was after establishment of Delhi Sultanate that Persian literature got a boost in India. The famous Persian scholar Firdausi and Sadi wrote in earlier period while scholars like Al-Biruni followed the Mahmud Gaznavi across his way to India. After the establishment of Delhi Sultanate the Persian literature produced used to have certain impact of India. The Mongol menance in central Asia also paved the way for the cultural development of the Delhi as a hub of Arabic-Persian culture. Large number of scholars who were patronised in the Islamic countries of the central Asia flocked to Delhi and were taken into refuge by the succesive Sultans like Iltutmish, Balban, his son Muhammad and Alauddin Khalji.

The son of Balban, Muhammad is said to have patronise to greatest scholars of the period namely Amir Hasan and Amir Khusrau (1252-1325) . Of all the scholars of the period Amir Khusrau is most important . Known in the circle of scholars as Tuti-i-Hind (Parrot of India) Khusrau was a poet who saw the reign of seven sultans of Delhi and enjoyed their patronage. He was basically a poet who composed various genre of music like Ghazal and Khyal besides Masnavi or historical narratives. He composed five literary masterpiece all dedicated to Alauddin Khalji namely Shirin Khusrau, Hasht Bihist, Aina-i-Sikandari, Laila-Majnun and Qutla-ul-Anwar. Khusrau is also credited with discovery of a new form of Persian called "Sabaq-i-Hindi".

He composed several historical narratives or Masnavi. Some of the notable ones are:

• Khazain-ul-futuh : It deals with the military achievements of Alauddin Khalji.
• Qiran-us-sadin : This work deals with the narrative which discusses the meeting of Bughra Khan and Kaikubad.
• Tughlaqnama : It describes military conquest of Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq.
• Miftah-ul-futuh: It describes military conquest of Jalaluddin Khalji.
• Nuh-Sipir : This work describes the political scenario of the reign of Qutubuddin Mubarak Khalji, one of the successor of Alauddin.
• Ashiqa: Which deals with love story of Deval Devi, the daughter of Rai Karan Dev, the Baghel Rajput ruler of Gujarat and Khizr Khan, the elder son of Alauddin.

Khusrau describes his love for India in his works. This gives the indication of Turkish nobility being indegenised in and around the period under consideration. Describing his affiliation with India, Khusrau says:

I have praised India for two reasons. First, because India is the land of my birth and our country. Love of the country is an important obligation Hindustan is like heaven. Its climate is better than that of Khurasan . It is green and full of flowers all year round . The Brahmans are as learned as Aristotle and there are many scholars in various fields.

Khusrau adorned the court of Alauddin Khalji too and the period of Khaljis is recognised as the "golden age" for the development of Persian literature . The contemporary historian Ziauddin Barani describes the Delhi as hub of cultural and intellectual activities. According to him:

there lived at Delhi the scholars of such eminence and calibre as were not to be found in Bukhara , Samarqand , Tabriz and Isafahan and in their intellectual accompalishment they equalled Razi and Ghazali. Under every stone lay hidden a precious gem of literary excellence.

Akbar and Jahangir

The reign of Akbar saw a spur in the production of Persian literature. The emperor though himself illiterate, patronised many scholars to his court. Abul Fazl one of the nine gems of the Akbar's court was a noted scholar whose Ain-i-Akbari and 'Akbarnama' are of much historical importance. Faizi Sirhindi an another scholar at Akbar's court also wrote an Akbarnama but it is not considered as an original work of his own, being borrowed heavily from the 'Tabaqat-i-Akbari' of Nizamuddin Ahmed. The 'Tabaqat-i-Akbari' describes the external events of the Akbar's reign by completely ignoring emperor's religious views. Another court historian of Akbar, Abdul Qadir Badauni who often criticises Akbar's religious policies in his works composed 'Muntakhab-ul-Twarikh', a historical work which balances the information provided by Abul Fazl's Akbarnama. The later one is written in the eulogical form. The 'Muntakhab-ul-Twarikh' describes the history from the time of Gaznavids to the fourtieth year of the Akbar's reign.

Akbar also set up a seperate department of translation to bring Hindu and Muslim culture together and to give a common literature to his subjects. At the instance of his translation department, many Hindu religious scriptures were translated into Persian. The Turkish, Arabic, Sanskrit and Greek works were also translated into Persian. Thus, Ramayana was translated into Persian by Abdul Qadir Badauni and Sheikh Sultan of Thaneswar. Abul Fazl translated Panchtantra while Faizi translated Lilawati, a Sanskrit treatise on Mathamatics. Atharva Veda was also translated by Haji Ibrahim Sirhindi.

Though Jahangir also had a taste for the literature but he seems to have banned 'department of translation' which used to be very busy in the reign of Akbar. In his reign a number of commentaries on Quran were written. Jahangir also wrote his autobiography called Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri in which he has ommitted some of the important events of his reign like death of Khusrau Mirza, the situation leading to his marriage with Nur Jahan and his rebellion against his father. In his autobiography, Jahangir discusses about his weaknesses and limitations like that of Babur. The reign of Jahangir also saw prouction of a very important work of Amid Khan called Iqbalnama-i-Jahangiri, which is considered as the primary source of his reign.

Shah Jahan

During the period of Shah Jahan, the Persian literature in India acquired a distinct character and it ceased to remain truely Persian in the nature. Shah Jahan was himself a great admirer of the art and literature and patronised artists and scholars at his court. Some of the important scholars patronised by him were Abdul Hamid Lahori, the court poet of the Emperor; Inayat Khan; Chandrabhan Brahaman; and Muhammad Salih. These scholars produced many notable works which included the 'Padshahnama' by Lahori, 'ShahJahanama' by Inayat Khan and 'Amal-i-salih' by Muhammad Salih. The elder son of Shah Jahan, Dara Shukoh was himself a scholar and was interested in religious discourse. He composed his work 'Majma-ul-Bahrin' or the 'confluence of two oceans' which discusses the similarity between Hinduism and Islam. Dara is described as a enlightened Muslim, which can be attested from his enthusiasm in other religions as well. He translated Hindu religious works like Upanishads, Gita and 'Yoga Vashistha' into Persian. A Sufi literature 'Sir-i-Akbar' was also written by him.

Aurangzeb, an another son of Shah Jahan who succeded him was an orthodox Sunni Muslim and thus he stopped the practice of composition of poetry and even prohibited the writing of history of his reign under his patronage . Consequently, the historical accounts of his reign were not composed in his patronage but were the result of efforts of the scholars independently. Some of the notable works which presents a glossary of the incidents of his reign are Alamgir Nama by Mirza Muhammad Qasim and Maasir-i-Alamgiri by Iswar Das Nagar. Aurangzeb himself was well versed in Persian language, a testimony to which lies in the collection of his letters called "Raqqat-i-Alamgiri". He also patronised many theologians who were tasked to codify all the Islamic laws and hence "Zawabit-i-Alamgiri" came into existence.

The successors of Aurangzeb continued to patronise the Persian literature but it lost its importance and the work produced were not of high literary merit as compared to those in earlier period. During the reign of Muhammad Shah (1713-1748), it was grossly neglected and more focus was shifted on Urdu language.

National Action Plan on Climate Change

Climate change is regarded as one of the most pressing problem of the 21st century. It's impact ranges from affecting the agricultural production to endangering food security and from increasing the intensity of natural disasters to increase in incidence of vector borne diseases. For the developing countries, the climate change is acting as double edged sword by creating challenges for ensuring development and mitigating the harsh impact of excessive resource utilisation to pursue their developmental objectives simultaneously.In order to mitigate and adapt to the climate change, India launched its National Action Plan on Climate Change(NAPCC) in 2008.

Depiction of mitigation against climate change.

The plan which has a multi-pronged approach to deal with the climate change is divided into 8 sub-plans or the missions. The 8 missions under NAPCC are as follows:-

● National Solar Mission.

• National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency.
• National Mission on Sustainable Habitat.
• National Water Mission.
• National Mission for Sustaining Himalayan Ecosystem.
• Green India Mission.
• National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture.
• National Mission on Strategic Knowledge for Climate Change.

National Solar Mission

National Solar Mission was launched as Jawahar Lal Nehru National Solar Mission in 2010 to make India a global power in solar energy production. It has been revised two times since then. The Mission was launched with a target of producing 20,000 Megawatts of solar power in three phases of (2010-2013); (2013-2017); and (2017-2022). In 2015 Budget speech, a revised target of 100,000 Megawatts was fixed, which is to be achieved till 2022. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has also set up a target of producing 40 Gigawatts of solar power by Rooftop solar power projects while the rest 60 Gigawatts is planned to be obtained from large and medium scale grid connected solar power projects.

The Ministry will provide capital subsidy in the form of viability gap funding to the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI). The Government of India also planned to leverage the funding from bilateral donors like Green Climate Fund under United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), as the solar power production could reduce greenhouse gas emissions from coal based power plants. The target of 100 GW solar energy capacity generation was part of production of 175 GW of energy through renewable sources by 2022. In 2019, speaking at the United Nations Secretary General's Climate Action Summit, Prime Minister, Narendra Modi announced the target of 175 GW renewable energy production to be extended beyond its ceiling to reach an ambitious target of 450 GW till 2022.

The Mission targets gave way to launch of several schemes in order to promote solar power and reduce dependency on the traditional power sources. One such scheme called Kisan Urja Suraksha Evam Uthhan Mahabhiyan (KUSUM) was approved by Cabinet Committee on Economic affairs in 2019. The program aims for installation of off-grid solar pumps in rural areas and reducing dependence on grid in grid connected areas.

A disputed step taken by India under National Solar Mission was the "Domestic content requirement" provision, aimed at developing the major components of the solar power projects indegenously. The provision gave a push to the procurement of the components used in solar power projects to be developed in the country from the domestic manufacturers leading to USA dragging the matter into World Trade Organisation.

National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency (NMEEE)

India has fifth lowest energy efficiency in the world. Further, the GDP to energy consumption ratio is also poor. The mission thus plans sustainable economic growth along with reduction in energy and carbon intensity of the economy. The Mission has four components:-

• Perform Achieve and Trade
• Energy Efficiency Financing Platform
• Market Transformation For Energy Efficiency (MTEE)
• Framework For Energy Efficiency Economic Development

The Perform; Achieve and Trade component of the mission assigns targets to the energy intensive industries for reducing energy intensity and also assigns them energy saving certificates (Escerts), which are tradable amongst the candidates which either breached their targets or remained unsuccessful in achieving it. The Energy Efficiency Financing Platform on the other hand boosts the confidence of the financial institutions and investors to support energy efficiency initiatives. The other two components promote the use and adoption of energy efficient equipment’s as well promote energy efficiency initiatives by hedging against investment risks.

Under the Market Transformation For Energy Efficiency component, the Government launched Bachat Lamp Yojna to replace the incandescent lamps with the CFL bulbs. In the scheme which was running since 2009 where the CFL were distributed at reduced prices, Government was able to recover the cost through sale of Certified Emmission reduction certificate. The "Bachat Lamp Yojna" was later replaced by "Unnat Jyoti Affordable LED for All" (UJALA) scheme in 2015, which LED bulbs were distributed to replace the comparatively more efficient CFL bulbs. The UJALA scheme is implemented by Energy Efficiency Service Limited (EESL); which is a joint venture of Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) under power ministry.

Under the same component of MTEE, the Government also launched "Super Efficient Equipment Program", which was supported by the World Bank. The scheme aimed at transfer of the assistance from the World Bank to the energy equipment manufacturers to enable them produce the products that consume less electricity. The "Super Efficient Equipment Program" is implemented by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency.

In order to hedge the financial institutions providing loans for the energy efficiency projects against credit risks, the Bureau of Energy Efficiency has also institutionalised two funds namely "Partial Risk Gaurantee Fund for Energy Efficiency" and "Venture Capital Fund for Energy Efficiency". Both these funds have been launched under "Framework for Energy Efficient Economic Development" component of the NMEEE.

National Mission on Sustainable Habitat

The transport sector along with urban buildings are major consumers of energy in India apart from electricity production sector. The National Mission on Sustainable Habitat is an umbrella programme to reduce the energy consumption and hence the risk of climate change due to the urban settlement pattern. The mission envisages a shift to Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC) in the design of new commercial buildings as well as solid and liquid waste management. The mission also covers under its ambit, the water resource management as well as drinking water management. One of the most important plan under the mission is to pave the way for a shift to public transport. The research and development is an important component of the mission to promote the waste water use and sewage utilisation along with waste management.

National Water Mission

National Water Mission is a comprehensive programme for equitable distribution of water across the country as well as for enhancing the capacity building process for the management of over exploited blocs. It is focused upon tackling the issues related to water availability and pollution which is owed to the global warming and climate change. The mission promotes research and development as well as timely review of National Water Policy is also proposed. The mission while promoting the traditional water conservation system, also promotes the expeditious implementation of the multipurpose water projects. It has a target of increasing water use efficiency by 20%. The convergence of various water conservation schemes for a better outcome and implementation of water resource management prpgram via the MNREGA route with participation of the elected representatives of the over exploited water blocs is central theme of the mission.

The program has focus on decentralised approach which is reflected in its plan of "basin level" integrated water resource management and sensitization of the urban local youths. The National Water Mission also have an identified goal of putting comprehensive water resource database in public domain. The onus of implementation lies on Ministry of Jal Shakti.

National Mission for Sustainable Himalayan Ecosystem

The Himalayas are one of the most important ecosystem of India with millions of people depending upon it. The adverse impact of climate change has remained detrimental to the Himalayan Ecosystem which provides a variety of Ecosystem Services. To ensure the provisions from the Himalayas, the mission has a multi-pronged approach to understand the impact of climate change on the Himalayan Ecosystem for the Sustainable Development of other part of country. The Ministry of Science and Technology is the nodal Ministry for its implementation but the collaboration of "Himalayan states" as well as Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change is instrumentation in the success of the Mission.

One of the primary objective of the mission is to assess the health of Himalayan Ecosystem, for which the scheme was released with an outlay of Rs.550 Crores during the 12th "Five Years Plan" period.

Green India Mission

The Green India Mission is aimed at protecting, restoring and enhancing India's green cover in response to the climate change. The mission has a cumulative target of increasing forest cover on 5 million hectares of land while improving the forest cover on additional 5 hectares. The mission also has a target of providing livelihood to 3 million people through the forest based activities and enhancing the provisioning capacity of the Indian forests along with their carbon sequestration capacity. The scheme was proposed for 10 years with an outlay of 60,000 crores but it has remained grossly underfunded. Due to investment crunch, the scheme which was planned to be launched in 2012 was delayed for its final launch in 2015. The scheme also has an important goal of fulfilling India's Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) target of sequestrating 2.5 Billion tonnes of "Carbon emissions" by 2020-30, which it submitted to UNFCCC.

National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture

National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture includes multiple programmes for the sustainable growth of agriculture sector. It includes interventions like Soil Health Card Scheme, Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana, Mission organic value chain development for North-East region, Rainfed Aread Development program, National Bamboo Mission and Sub Mission on Agro-Forestry. These programs along with others like "Pradhanmantri Krishi Sinchai Yojna" are aiming to promote judicious use of natural resources.

National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA)

National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture includes multiple programmes for the sustainable growth of agriculture sector. It includes interventions like Soil Health Card Scheme, Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana, Mission organic value chain development for North-East region, Rainfed Aread Development program, National Bamboo Mission and Sub Mission on Agro-Forestry. These programs along with others like "Pradhanmantri Krishi Sinchai Yojna" are aiming to promote judicious use of natural resources. The NMSA has four components, namely "Rainfed Area Development Program", "On Farm Water Management Program", "Soil Health Management Program" and "Climate Change and Sustainable Agriculture Monitoring, Modeling and Networking Program".

Under NMSA, the Cabinet Committee on Economic affairs released the restructured "National Bamboo Mission" in 2018 to last till the end of 14th Five Year Plan period. The Mission is a centrally sponsored scheme in which the funding pattern for General states is in 60:40 ratio with the central government while for North-East and hilly areas it is 90:10. The Union Territories will get 100% funding from the centre. The goal of the scheme is to promote Bamboo cultivation on non-forest government land and on the private lands of farmers in the states where it has social, commercial and economic importance.

Earlier in 2017, to further its aim of market development and commercial cultivation of Bamboo for the livelihood improvement of the tribals and farmers, the government had amended the Indian Forest Act, 1927, in order to remove the Bamboo plant from the category of trees to enable its cultivation and felling without permit in non-forest areas.

Foreign policy of the Mughals in North-West

The "Mughal foreign policy" refers to the steps taken by successive Mughal rulers to secure the western frontiers of India. The Khyber pass along the Kabul- Qandhar route was the natural defence for the India and their foreign policy revolved around securing these outpost as also balancing the rise of powerful empires in the region. During the establishment of Mughal rule in India, and the breaking up of Timurid empire in 15th century, the Ottomans in Turkey, the Safavids in Persia and the Uzbegs in central Asia emerged as the new contenders of power. While the Safavids were Shia by faith, Ottomans along with Uzbegs were Sunni and so were the Mughals. The Uzbegs were the natural enemy of the Mughals who caused Babur and other Timurid princes to leave Khurasan and Samarqand. The powerful Uzbegs who held sway over central India sought an alliance of Sunni powers to defeat the Shia ruled Persia, but Mughals were too broadminded to be driven away by the sectarian conflicts. The Mughal rulers specially Akbar were keen to develop strong ties with the Persia in order to balance the warring Uzbegs. Thus, the foreign policy of Mughals was centred around rallying with Persia while maintaining the balance of power in the region by keeping it intact against the wishes of Uzbegs.

The Surrender of Kandahar, a miniature painting from the Padshahnama depicting Persians surrendering keys to the city to Kilij Khan in 1638.

Mughals and the Uzbegs

When Uzbeg chief, Shaibani Khan was defeated by the Safavids in 1510, Babur was able to control Samarqand for a brief period of time. But, the Uzbegs soon striked back by defeating the Safavids and Babur lost the control over it. During this time he was helped by the Safavids which established a tradition of mutual friendship between the two empires. Later, Humayun was also given refuge by the Shah Tahmasp of Persia when ousted from India by Sher Shah Suri. In 1572, Abdullah Khan Uzbeg captured Balkh and sent embassy to the court of Akbar, seeking the coalition of Sunni powers against the Persia. But, Akbar admonished him and in his reply let him know that, mere sectarian strife was not a justifiable reason for conquest. Meanwhile, though Uzbegs had captured Balkh, which along with Badakhshan was ruled till 1585 by Timurids, he had no desire to be embroiled into a conflict with them until they threatened Mughal position in Kabul and Qandhar.

In his message sent to Akbar, Abdullah Uzbeg had also rose the issue of pilgrims to Mecca, who were facing difficulties due to unfavourable route traversing across Persian territory. Akbar convinced him that opening up of a new route from the Gujarat coast will bring the difficulties down. In 1585 Abdullah Uzbeg captured Badakhshan and the Timurid prince ruling over the area, Mirza Sulaiman along with his grandson were forced to seek refuge in Akbar's court, who were assigned suitable Mansab. In the meantime, Akbar had also captured Kabul after the death of his half brother, Mirza Hakim. Abdullah sent a second embassy which was received by Akbar. He was uneasy with the presence of Akbar at Attock at the time when Uzbeg and Mughal borders were running side by side.

According to historian Satish Chandra, both the Mughals and Uzbegs reached to an informal agreement, according to which Mughal gave up their claims in Balkh and Badkhshan while Uzbegs left Kabul and Qandhar for Mughals. Akbar, with the capture of Qandhar in 1595 was able to set up scientific frontier along the Hindukush. But, Akbar remained at Lahore till 1598 and left for Agra only after death of Abdullah Khan.

Balkh campaign of Shah Jahan

In 1598 after death of Abdullah Khan Uzbeg , the Uzbegs became ineffective to threaten Mughal position in North-West for a long period of time until a new Uzbeg ruler Nazr Muhammad captured Balkh and Bokhara. Both, Nazr Muhammad and his son Abdul Aziz were ambitious and their control over the Balkh and Bokhara implied their future attempt to threaten Mughals in Kabul. Later, Abdul Aziz rebelled against his father and Nazr Muhammad was able to control only Balkh, which was also threatened by the activities of his son. Threatened by his rebel son, Nazr Muhammad sought help of Shah Jahan who was keen to help as he wanted a friendly ruler at Bokhara. Shah Jahan ordered Prince Murad Baksh to march toward Balkh and to help Nazr Muhammad in maintaining his hold upon his empire as well as to assist him in capturing Samarqand and Bokhara. Prince Murad marched as per the order but made a mistake by not waiting for the order of Nazr Muhammad and rushed Balkh in hurry. He also commanded his army to march into the fort of Balkh, in which Nazr Muhammad was seeking shelter.

The hasty action by the prince made Nazr Muhammad skeptical of his intention and thus he fled. Mughals occupied Balkh but they were soon attacked by Abdul Aziz, the rebel son of Nazr Muhammad who mustered an army of 1,20,000 to cross Oxus river and launch strike against the Mughals. Prince Murad who was unable to continue in the campaign was now replaced by prince Aurangzeb. Under the command of Aurangzeb the Mughals routed Uzbegs under Abdul Aziz in 1647 near Balkh. After the Mughal's success at Balkh, the prestige of Mughal army rose and the supporters of Abdul Aziz renounced him. Nazr Muhammad who at this time was taking refuse at Persia started conversation with the Mughals for regaining his empire and his claim were supported by Shah Jahan.

Nazr Muhammad was asked to submit personally and apologise to Aurangzeb, but According to Satish Chandra:

This was a mistake since the proud Uzbeg ruler was unlikely to demean himself in this way, particularly when he knew that it was impossible for the Mughals to hold on to Balkh for any length of time.

The unfriendly Uzbeg population of the Balkh and the harsh Winter accompanied by shortage of supplies made Mughals left in the same year(1647) in which Balkh was captured. The gain of Shah Jahan was his success in keeping Uzbeg divided and preventing a united Uzbeg state to rise which could have been a danger to Mughals at Kabul. The motive of "Balkh campaign" as Shah Jahan's attempt to regain Mughal homeland of Samarqand and Fargana and setting up a scientific frontier at Oxus is discarded by Satish Chandra as Oxus was hardly defensible and no serious attempt were made for the former.

Mughals and Iran

Shah Tahmasp I and the Mughal Emperor Humayun in Isfahan.

The relationship between Mughals and the Iran (Persia) was cordial but the Qandhar served as bone of contention between them, being claimed by both. Qandhar was a strategic place and could serve as a better defence against any future onslaught from North-West. Before 1507, the year in which Uzbegs ousted the cousins of Babur from Qandhar, it was ruled by Timurid princes. For Persians, Qandhar was nothing sort of a strategic fort but for Mughals it was of much importance. It was well supplied with water, was necessary for protection of Kabul and controlling it implied the best way to keep a tab upon the Afghan and Baluch tribes who possessed a tribal sense of independence and were difficult to control otherwise. Qandhar was also a rich and fertile area and after conquest of Sindh and Baluchistan, Akbar was determined to capture it. Akbar also wanted to promote trade via it.

In 1522, Babur captured Qandhar following the disruption created by Uzbegs in Khurasan. But this victory was short lived as following the death of Humayun, Shah Tahmasp, the ruler of Persia at whose court Humayun had taken refuge after being ousted by Sher Shah Sur, captured it. In 1595, when Abdullah Khan Uzbeg captured Balkh and Badkhshan, the area ruled by Timurids till 1585, Akbar was forced to capture Qandhar in 1595 to made a defensible frontier against the Uzbegs. The relationship between Mughals and Persians remained cordial since then and embassies were frequently exchanged between the two until the reign of Jahangir came.

Initially in the reign of Jahangir, Nur Jahan served as bridge between the Mughals and Persians and due to her connections with the Persia relationship remained cordial. In 1620, Shah Abbas 1, the ruler of Persia sent a friendly request to Jahangir to return the Qandhar and subsequently made preparation for the expedition. Jahangir was surprised and he decided to send prince Khurram to Qandhar, but the prince put many impossible demands and was reluctant to move onto the campaign. This was the phase of tussle between Nur Jahan and Prince Khurram who was supported by his father in law Asaf Khan. Thus, Qandhar passed into Persian hands by 1622. Shah Abbas 1 sent lavish embassies and costly gifts to erase the bitterness that developed in the mind of Jahangir after his failure at Qandhar but the cordiality in the Mughal-Iran relationship came to an end.

In 1629, following the death of Shah Abbas 1, Shah Jahan, who succeded Jahangir made the Persian governor Ali Mardan Khan to his side and formally Qandhar was retained by the Mughals in 1638. In 1647, the setback of Mughals at Balkh even after winning the war against Uzbegs emboldened the Persians to attack and conquer Qandhar (1649). The success of Aurangzeb in the battle against Uzbegs persuaded Shah Jahan to send him to Qandhar with an army of 50,000. Mughals under Aurangzeb though defeated Persians but were not able to capture the fort.

In total, Mughal made three attempts twice under Aurangzeb and once under Dara Shukoh, the elder son of Shah Jahan. But, able Persian commander and determined resistance made all the efforts waste. After ascending the throne, Aurangzeb, the successor of Shah Jahan decided not to get embroiled into the Qandhar affair provided it had lost its strategic significance following the weakening of both Persians and Uzbegs. In 1668, the new ruler of Persia, Shah Abbas 2 insulted Mughal envoy and made derogatory remarks on Aurangzeb. But, before any conflict happened, Shah Abbas 2 died and Persian danger to India faded away until Nadir Shah ascended the throne of Persia.

References

Reflist

• Social Movements and the State in India: Deepening Democracy?
• Bihar is struggling to improve the lives of the poor.
• Lalu-Rabri versus Nitish rule: What the data on Bihar crimes reveal
• Seeing Stars: Spectacle, Society and Celebrity Culture

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