text:
Khandwa

Khandwa is a city and a nagar nigam in the Nimar region of Madhya Pradesh, India. It is the administrative headquarters of the Khandwa district, formerly known as East Nimar District.

Khandwa is a major railway junction; the Malwa line connecting Indore with the Deccan meets the main east–west line from Mumbai to Kolkata.

In May 2019, Nandkumar Singh Chauhan of Bharatiya Janata Party had been elected as the Member of Parliament from Khandwa Lok Sabha constituency.

History
The name of the city is derived from "Khandav Van", which literally means Khandav Forests.

Ancient history
Recent explorations in the beds/tributaries of Narmada have revealed traces of the Paleolithic men in East Nimar district. Omkar Mandhata, a rocky island on the bank of Narmada river, about 47 miles north-west of Khandwa, is said to have been conquered by the Haihaya king Mahishmant, who had named the same as Mahishmati.

During the rise of Buddhism, the East Nimar region was included in Avanti Kingdom under Chand Pradyota Mahesana, which was later added to the growing empire of Magadha by Shishunaga. From the early 2nd century BCE to late 15th century CE, the Nimar Region (earlier a part of Khandesh) was ruled by many dynasties, which include Mauryas, Shungas, Early Satvahanas, Kardamakas, and Abhiras (Ahir Gavli). Vakatakas, Imperial Guptas, Kalchuris, Vardhanas (of Harsha Vardhana fame), Chalukyas, Rashtrakutas, Paramaras, Faruki Dynasty.

Geography
Khandwa is located at 21.83°N, 76.33°W. It has an average elevation of 313 metres (1026 feet).

Demographics
As of the 2011 Census of India, Khandwa had a population of 200,738, of which 102,901 were males and 97,837 were females. Population within the age group of 0 to 6 years was 24,801. The total number of literates in Khandwa was 151,545, which constituted 75.5% of the population with male literacy of 78.9% and female literacy of 71.9%. The effective literacy rate of 7+ population of Khandwa was 86.1%, of which male literacy rate was 90.4% and female literacy rate was 81.7%. The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes population was 27,430 and 8,139 respectively. There were 39002 households in Khandwa in 2011.

Hindi is the most spoken language. Nimadi is the local dialect. Urdu, Marathi and Sindhi are also common.

Places of interest

 * Ganguli House, the ancestral home of Ashok Kumar and Kishore Kumar. Also named Gauri Kunj, after their mother.
 * Samadhi of Kishore Kumar.
 * Four Kunds located in four directions of the city, called Padam Kund, Bheem Kund, Suraj Kund and Rameshwar Kund.
 * Dada Darbar, popularly known as Shri Dadaji Dhuniwale.
 * Shree Vitthal Mandir Khandwa the temple was founded by shree swami sacchidanand swami maharj in 1850, temple is made up of sheesham and sagvan wood.  Great example of architecture.

Notable people

 * Ashok Kumar, actor
 * Anoop Kumar, actor
 * Kishore Kumar, actor and singer
 * Makhanlal Chaturvedi, poet
 * Saroo Brierley, real name was Sheru Munshi Khan prior to adoption
 * Bhagwantrao Mandloi, former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh

Transport
The nearest commercial airport is Indore. It also has an airstrip which is rarely used for occasional aircraft landings, located on Nagchun Road.

Khandwa has a major railway junction located on the Jabalpur-Bhusaval section of Howrah–Prayagraj–Mumbai line.

In popular culture

 * The town was featured in the 2016 Australian biographical film Lion, which was based on the extraordinary search for his birth family by Khandwa-born Saroo Brierley, who got lost as a child and ended up in Australia after being adopted.

title: Khandwa


text:
Fred Hofheinz

James Fred Hofheinz (born March 15, 1938) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 55th mayor of Houston, Texas, from 1974 to 1978.

Hofheinz's father, Roy, was mayor of the city in the 1950s.

Early life
Hofheinz graduated from Lamar High School in Houston, where he was a championship debater and also lettered in track and field. He attended the University of Texas, earning a Bachelor of Arts summa cum laude in 1960 and continued at Texas to earn both Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in economics. While an undergraduate at Texas, he joined Delta Kappa Epsilon Fraternity. Hofheinz earned a Juris Doctor from the University of Houston in 1964.

Career
Hofheinz was elected in 1973 as mayor by 3,000 votes, with one of his pledges being to fire police chief Herman Short, who had been chief of the city since 1964 and had a reputation as both a supporter of George Wallace and a racist. Short, perceiving Hofheinz as too liberal, resigned that year. Hofheinz replaced Short in January of 1974 with Carroll Lynn. That same year, Hofheinz was named one of "200 Faces for the Future" byTime. However, Hofheinz accepted Lynn's resignation (replacing him with B. G. Bond) in 1975 after an investigation by Lynn found numerous department irregularities (such as illegal police wiretapping) that led to discord with rank-and-file officers and had opponents waiting to face Hofheinz to use it against him in the upcoming election, which Hofheinz won. Dogged by questions about police management (particularly in regards to perceived brutality in certain cases), Bond resigned in June of 1977, weeks after the body of José Campos Torres was found floating in the Bayou after being beaten to death by officers, of which Bond had fired three involved and had two of them charged with murder (in the fall of that year, the officers on trial received probation). Hofheinz left office in 1978.

After his two terms as mayor, Hofheinz practiced law in Houston. He also served as a board member at Lucas Energy, an independent crude oil and gas company. In 1971, Hofheinz co-founded the closed circuit television company Top Rank. Hofheinz ran again for mayor in 1989 against incumbent mayor Kathy Whitmire (running for her fifth two-year term after having already beaten a former mayor in Louie Welch four years prior). Hofheinz had a lead in the polls at one point but Whitmire on election day won with 60% of the vote.

In 1994, Hofheinz was the sole shareholder of Top Rank when it attempted to purchase the Minnesota Timberwolves and move them to New Orleans, which had the combined efforts of Louisiana politicians and boxing promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank in their attempt to buy the team. The deal fell through when NBA owners voted unanimously to reject the sale, citing concerns about the firmness of Top Rank's finances. In 1999, he was indicted in the state of Louisiana as part of the investigation of former governor Edwin Edwards. Hofheinz was one of three businessmen (one a longtime associate of Edwards) indicted on charges of bribery, with Hofheinz delivering bribes to Cecil Brown (a longtime associate of Edwards) meant to advance projects (as overseen by Hofheinz) such as building a juvenile prison and the effort to move the Timberwolves to New Orleans. On November 21, 2000, Hofheinz reached a plea agreement with federal prosecutors that saw him plead guilty in failing to report a felony and testify against Collins in exchange for all other charges being dropped; he was issued a fine of $5,000 and sentenced to one year of probation.

Hofheinz currently resides in Houston. Formerly, he had served as an attorney in the law firm of Williams, Birnberg & Andersen L.L.P.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Fred Hofheinz


text:
Talk:Khwaja Ghulam Farid

Untitled
It is supposed that  Khwaja Farid belonged  with Arab family ,but it is not correct. His family belonged with Sindh Pakistan His family is called Koreja. Koreja caste is an old caste of SINDH' Pakistan.Khawaja Farid did n't wrote any Kafi or poem in Punjabi language

This article exsists alredy, see : Fariduddin Ganjshakar. Therefore delete it or merge it. If this is not the same article change the name, its very confusing.
 * They are two different people. I'll change the name to Khwaja Ghulam Farid, as this is how he is usually referred to in texts. --Barastert 21:43, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

Khawaja Ghulam Farid was a Saraiki sufi poet, not Punjabi sufi poet. Engr.ismailbhutta (talk) 08:20, 16 July 2020 (UTC)

Saraiki poem
Khawaja Ghulam did n't write any poem in Punjabi language.His only collection is in Siraiki language in wich Sindhi.Hindi and Braj poems are included .There is no Punjabi poem.His Urdu collection is only in Urdu language with a Hindi song --Rasoolpuri (talk) 08:59, 2 July 2008 (UTC)

Most of His poetry is actually in Punjabi. The language structure and vocabulary is Punjabi he himself calls it punjabi in his verses. Saraiki was not even a name in use when Ghulam Farid was alive it was called Lahnda i.e the dialect of the western part of Punjab. Sariki is the name for Northern sindhi dialect spoken in northern sindh province. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.30.2.106 (talk) 17:08, 25 October 2011 (UTC)

Khawaja Ghulam Farid was a poet of Saraiki language. He didn't write anything in punjabi. Please correct the sentence about him and write as he was a Saraiki sufi poet. Thanks. Engr.ismailbhutta (talk) 08:18, 16 July 2020 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion
The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion: Participate in the deletion discussion at the. —Community Tech bot (talk) 05:37, 9 December 2022 (UTC)
 * Khawaja Ghulam Farid.png

title: Talk:Khwaja Ghulam Farid


text:
2chan

2chan may refer to:
 * 2channel (also 2chan, 2ch or 2ch.net), a defunct Japanese textboard founded by Hiroyuki Nishimura
 * 5channel (or 5ch and 5ch.net), its successor owned by American businessman Jim Watkins (also the owner of 8chan)
 * 2ch.sc, a fork of 2channel created and owned by Hiroyuki Nishimura
 * Futaba Channel or 2chan (2chan.net), an unrelated Japanese imageboard, based on 2channel

title: 2chan


text:
Kathy Whitmire

Kathryn Jean Whitmire (née Niederhofer; born August 15, 1946) is an American politician, businesswoman, and accountant best known as the first woman to serve as Mayor of Houston, serving for five consecutive two-year terms from 1982 to 1992. From 1977 to 1981, she was the city controller, a position which made her the first woman elected to any office in the city. Whitmire drew national attention when she defeated former Harris County Sheriff Jack Heard in her election as mayor. The election drew national focus because it symbolized a major political realignment in the fourth-largest city in the United States.

In office, she implemented many reforms to city finances, enabling new programs without raising taxes. Her appointment of the city's first African American police chief and the first Hispanic woman as presiding judge of the Municipal Court, her support of a failed job rights bill preventing discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, among other acts, cemented her support among many minority groups.

When former mayor Louie Welch attempted a comeback in the 1985 election, he was unable to mount a convincing argument that he could more ably lead the city out of a recession than Whitmire could. Instead, the opposition to Whitmire focused on public fears about the AIDS epidemic. A so-called "Straight Slate" opposed gay rights and supported Welch, who, however, did not accept its endorsement. The issue failed to affect Whitmire's support. She won the election, getting 59.8 percent of the votes. The Straight Slate did force two city council members, Anthony Hall and Judson Robinson, into runoffs which they then won. Whitmire's string of victories ended with the 1991 mayoral election when she was defeated by long-time political power broker Bob Lanier and State Representative Sylvester Turner. Lanier defeated Turner in the December runoff. Whitmire has never run for political office again.

Early life
Kathy Niederhofer received her basic education in the Houston Independent School District, ultimately graduating from San Jacinto High School. She then enrolled at the University of Houston, and graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in accounting in 1968. She continued her studies at the university to earn a Master of Accountancy degree in 1970. In that same year, she married a fellow student, James M. (Jim) Whitmire, who died in 1976. In 1970, she began working in the Houston office of the well-known accounting firm Coopers and Lybrand. She also began working to qualify as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), and opened an accounting firm with her husband. She also found time and energy to serve on the faculty of the Department of Business Management at the University of Houston–Downtown.

Political career
Kathy Whitmire's exposure to and interest in city politics began in her parents' home. Her father had been active in precinct-level politics, and the family frequently talked about local political issues. Her husband's brother, John Whitmire, already a rising star in the Texas Democratic Party, was a willing political mentor.

Houston City Controller
After City Treasurer Henry Kriegel was appointed to serve out the unexpired term of Leonel Castillo, who had been appointed as Commissioner of Immigration for the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, Whitmire was elected to finish Castillo's term. She won the race for a full two-year term in a landslide, defeating Steve Jones in the Runoff Elections with 110,762 votes (58.57%) to Jones' 78,365 votes (41.44%), making history as the first woman ever to hold the office. Upon being inaugurated on January 2, 1978, Whitmire criticized the late then-Mayor Jim McConn for his inefficiency and lax administration. Becoming familiar with "sweetheart contracts", that had often been awarded to friends and supporters of influential office holders, she stopped the practice by rigorously enforcing observance of the Open Bidding laws. She also diligently looked for inefficiencies or outright wasteful practices in each of the city offices. Although this angered many "insiders", she won election in 1979 to a second term, becoming the first female elected to a top job in the Houston City government.

Mayoralty
Whitmire decided to run for mayor in the 1981 election. The incumbent, Jim McConn, had already served two terms in the office and was supported by the business community, who had largely controlled city politics for decades. However, McConn lost in the general election to Jack Heard, formerly Sheriff of Harris County and the City Controller, Whitmire, sending the race to a runoff between the latter two. There was a sharp contrast between Whitmire and Heard in the runoff election. Heard was 63 years old, with 25 years of experience in political office. Whitmire was only 35 and had little political experience. She said in her speeches that her opponent's experience was too narrowly focused on law enforcement. According to one report, Heard spent $1.5 million on the race, while his opponent spent $650,000. While Heard had credibility with those who were more concerned about law and order or maintaining the status quo, Whitmire campaigned on her fiscal conservatism and moderate-to-liberal views on social issues. Whitmire was supported by a coalition of women, minorities, and other groups who were looking for a more progressive city government. These voters had been strengthened by the wave of newcomers who had moved into Houston during the boom years. She won the race with 170,695 votes (62.49%) to Heard's 102,446 votes (37.51%). As noted by the New York Times, "The developers and bankers and oil millionaires who used to handpick candidates can no longer be said to dominate the political scene. Houston is home today to too many different kinds of people, with too many different sets of values and interests, for any one group to control elections so easily."

Whitmire was the first mayor to appoint an African American, Lee P. Brown, as Houston's police chief. Brown had previously served as Commissioner of Public Safety, in Atlanta, Georgia. In Houston, he introduced the concept of Community Policing, creating improved relationships between the police department and the various diverse communities of the city. He left Houston in 1990 to serve as Police Commissioner of New York City. Brown was succeeded by the city's first female police chief, Elizabeth Watson, after he resigned to accept the top police job in New York City. Whitmire also appointed the first Hispanic, Sylvia R. Garcia, as presiding judge of the Houston Municipal Court.

In 1985, she ran for mayor against five-term mayor Louie Welch. She won that election, getting about 60 percent of the vote. She was re-elected in 1987, winning 74 percent of the vote. Her closest rival in a field of six was Bill Anderson, who only received 12 percent of the vote.

Bob Lanier was a wealthy attorney who was considered a political kingmaker in Houston. During the 1980s, he had sold off much of his investment portfolio, just in time to avoid the economic collapse that engulfed many other investors. Appointed as chairman of the Texas Highway Commission, he became a critic of Mayor Whitmire's plan for Houston Metro to build a monorail system. Supporters of the Metro agency decided that it was prudent to compromise with Lanier, so they agreed to fund more street improvements, rather than concentrate solely on a rail system. Lanier soon became chairman of the Metro system board. The mayor fired Lanier from his Metro position in December 1989. It proved to be fatal to Whitmire's political future. Unable to find another satisfactory candidate for her office, Lanier decided to challenge her himself. The hot-button issues for the 1991 election became fear of street crime and skepticism about the functionality of an expensive monorail system proposed by Whitmire. Lanier promised to cancel the latter and put more police on the streets. Lanier made inroads into Whitmire's white supporters, while a black candidate, Sylvester Turner, cut into her black support. She placed third with 20% of the vote and thus failed to make the run-off election. Lanier would go on to defeat Turner for the mayoralty.

After the mayorship
After the 1991 election, Whitmire turned her talents to teaching at Rice University, Harvard University and the University of Maryland. At Rice, she served as director of the Rice Institute for Policy Analysis and held the Tsanoff Lectureship in Public Affairs. In the latter position she taught courses in public policy, management, and political science. In 1994, she was appointed president and CEO of Junior Achievement. In 1995 and 1996, Whitmire served as lecturer on Public Policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and was a Fellow at Harvard's Institute of Politics. In 1997, she accepted a position at the newly formed Academy of Leadership at the University of Maryland College Park campus. She is credited with attracting former U.S. Senator Bill Bradley to join the academy as a scholar and chairman of the board.

Unlike most of Houston's former mayors who are still living, Whitmire has moved away from the city. She has said that she has no plans to return, although she visits the city regularly to see family and friends. In 2001, Whitmire moved to Hawaii, where she became an active investor in real estate. She married Alan J. Whelms in 2002. Whitmire commutes by air to work at the University of Maryland, where she is a professor at the James MacGregor Burns Academy of Leadership. On July 1, 2005, Whitmire became the volunteer president of The Outdoor Circle, an organization dedicated to preserving Hawaii's beauty by eliminating outdoor blight.

When Annise Parker, Whitmire's long-time friend and supporter, ran for mayor of Houston in 2009, Whitmire flew there to show her support by hosting a fund raiser. Parker ultimately won the election and became the city's first gay mayor. In 2023, Whitmire's former brother-in-law John Whitmire ran for the office, and won after a runoff on December 9, 2023, against U.S. Representative Sheila Jackson Lee.

Awards and honors
Whitmire has received numerous awards for her efforts and accomplishments, including:
 * Public Service Award from the American Society of Women CPAs (1984)
 * International Business Award from the Houston World Trade Association (1985)
 * Michael A. DiNunzio Award for Partnerships for Youth from the U.S. Conference of Mayors (1985)
 * Distinguished Professional Woman by the Committee on the Status of Women at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston(1987)
 * Institute of Human Relations Award from the International New Thought Alliance (1986)
 * Distinguished Sales Award by the Sales and Marketing Executives Society of Houston for her economic development efforts for Houston. (1987)
 * In 1985, Whitmire received the Michael A. DiNunzio Award for Partnerships for Youth from the U.S. Conference of Mayors
 * In 1987, she co-chaired the National League of Cities' (NLC) International Economic Development Task Force and
 * was the 1987 chair of the NLC's Finance, Administration and Intergovernmental Relations Steering Committee
 * Served as second vice-president on the board of directors of the Texas Municipal League and was a member of the board of trustees of the UH Foundation and the executive committee of the Houston Economic Development Council
 * Inducted into the Houston Hall of Fame on August 26, 2010

Political legacy
Soon after Whitmire left office, Bob Stein, a political scientist at Rice University, said that her legacy was to make the city operate more efficiently, citing improvements in fundamental operations like garbage collection and public transportation. He added, "She brought (Houston) into the 21st Century (sic) in city administration." His concluding opinion was, "I think she really was one of the great administrative mayors of this city's history, maybe the finest."

The "good old boy network" that once controlled city politics has lost much of its political clout. It can no longer count on support by the local news media. Many of the reforms that occurred during that period are still in effect. Elected city offices are still more open to minority candidates. There have been two African-Americans (Lee P. Brown and Sylvester Turner) and one woman (Annise Parker) elected to the mayor's office. A number of minority members have been elected as council members and as city controller.

title: Kathy Whitmire


text:
Pinus parviflora

Pinus parviflora, also known as five-needle pine, or Japanese white pine, is a pine in the white pine group, Pinus subgenus Strobus, native to Japan.

It is a coniferous evergreen tree, growing to 15–25 m in height and is usually as broad as it is tall, forming a wide, dense, conical crown. The leaves are needle-like, in bundles of five, with a length of 5–6 cm. The cones are 4–7 cm long, with broad, rounded scales; the seeds are 8–11 mm long, with a vestigial 2–10 mm wing.

The Latin specific epithet parviflora means "with small flowers".

This is a popular tree for bonsai, and is also grown as an ornamental tree in parks and gardens. The cultivars 'Adcock's Dwarf' and 'Bonnie Bergman' have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.

title: Pinus parviflora


text:
Jagjit Singh

Jagjit Singh (born Jagmohan Singh Dhiman; 8 February 1941 – 10 October 2011) was an Indian composer, singer and musician. He composed and sang in numerous languages and is credited for the revival and popularity of ghazal, an Indian classical art form, by choosing poetry that was relevant to the masses and composing them in a way that laid more emphasis on the meaning of words and melody evoked by them. In terms of Indian classical music, his style of composing and gayaki (singing) is considered as Bol-pradhan, one that lays emphasis on words. He highlighted this in his music for films such as Prem Geet (1981), Arth (1982), and 'Saath Saath' (1982), and TV serials Mirza Ghalib (1988) and Kahkashan (1991). Singh is considered to be the most successful ghazal singer and composer of all time in terms of critical acclaim and commercial success. With a career spanning five decades and many albums, the range and breadth of his work has been regarded as genre-defining.

Singh's 1987 album, Beyond Time, was the first digitally recorded release in India. He was regarded as one of India's most influential artists. With sitar player Ravi Shankar and other leading figures of Indian classical music and literature, Singh voiced his concerns over politicisation of arts and culture in India and lack of support experienced by the practitioners of India's traditional art forms, particularly folk artists and musicians. He lent active support to several philanthropic endeavours such as the library at St. Mary's School, Mumbai, Bombay Hospital, CRY, Save the Children and ALMA.

Singh was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the government of India in 2003 and in February 2014, the government released a set of two postal stamps in his honour.

Early life and career
Jagjit Singh Dhiman was born at Sri Ganganagar, Rajasthan, India (then Bikaner State) into a Namdhari family. His father, Sardar Amar Singh Dhiman, was a surveyor with the government's Public Works' Department and hailed from village Dalla in Ropar district of Punjab.

Educated initially at Khalsa High School and Government College in Sri Ganganagar, Singh obtained an arts degree from DAV College, Jalandhar. There, he began his professional career in 1961 by undertaking singing and composing assignments at All India Radio's (AIR) Jalandhar station. Later, he studied to obtain a post-graduate degree in history from Kurukshetra University in Haryana. Throughout this time, and as a consequence of a natural talent that was spotted by his father, Singh learned music initially from a visually impaired master of Indian classical music, Pandit Chagan Lal Sharma and later from Ustad Jamal Khan of Maihar gharana, who taught and trained him in all the prominent styles of Hindustani Classical vocal tradition such as Khayal, Dhrupad, Thumri and others. Throughout his teenage years, he performed on stage and composed music. Although his father, who was a government employee, had hoped that he would become an engineer, Singh pursued his passion for music relentlessly. Like all parents in Indian middle-class families, his father aspired for him to become a bureaucrat. However, he also encouraged Singh and his siblings to learn music.

In March 1965, and without the knowledge of his family, Singh moved to Bombay, where there were many opportunities for music artists because of the Hindi film industry. He obtained work initially as a singer of advertising jingles and later progressed to playback singing.

Achievement
Singh was still struggling to make a living in 1967 when he met the Bengali-born Chitra Dutta. She divorced her husband and married Singh in December 1969. Following the birth of their son, Vivek, the couple performed as a singing duo but it was not until the 1977 release of the album The Unforgettable that they found significant, and surprising, success. In the interval, the primary difficulty for them had been that the ghazal music genre was dominated by Muslim artists and especially those from Pakistan.

The Unforgettable, which was the couple's first LP, was an unconventional recording and it turned them into stars. The song "Baat Niklegi" from the album achieved great popularity for the Singhs. The Independent described it in 2011 as "ground-breaking ... it became a transformative, before-and-after milestone in the history of Indian popular and ghazals music. It remains that." Using modern arrangements, it consists of ten tracks that include two on which they sang as a duo and the remainder equally split between Jagjit and Chitra singing the lead. The Independent further noted that "This format of solo and duet performances from the first commercially successful husband-and-wife team in Indian popular music proved astonishingly successful." Jagjit explained that "I was determined to polish up the genre and make it more acceptable to modern tastes, so chose simple poems and set them to simple tunes. I also introduced western instrumentation to make them livelier." Thereafter, the couple worked both on solo and joint musical projects and performed concerts worldwide. There was success from involvement with the film industry and they amassed considerable wealth,.

Among their subsequent duo recordings of the 1970s were Shiv Kumar Batalvi – Birha da Sultan (1978), Live in Concert at Wembley (1979) and Come Alive (1979). Of those released in the 1980s, "The Latest" by Sudarshan Faakir was the best selling album with his lifetime hit "Woh Kagaz ki Kashti...Woh Baarish ka Paani". It was the first album by the duo with poetry of only one Poet. Ecstasies (1984) has also been described as "one of their finest". The joint projects ceased in 1990 when their 20-year-old son, Vivek, died in a road accident. Chitra felt unable to sing following these events. Monica, Chitra's daughter from her first marriage, committed suicide in 2009.

Although Jagjit continued to work and to have success after Chitra withdrew from public life he, too, was affected by the death of Vivek. The Guardian notes that he "suffered from deep depression and his anguish was often evident in his live performances." Aside from occupying himself with solo projects, which he performed in several languages, he collaborated with Lata Mangeshkar on an album titled Sajda, an Urdu word meaning "prostration".

Singh's work in film encompassed playback singing for productions such as Arth, 'Saath Saath' and Premgeet. He composed all of the songs for the latter, as well as for the TV serial Mirza Ghalib that was based on the life of the eponymous poet, Mirza Ghalib.

On 10 May 2007, in the presence of numerous political and diplomatic luminaries at an event held in the Central Hall of the Parliament of India, Jagjit Singh rendered Bahadur Shah Zafar's famous ghazal Lagta nahin hai dil mera to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Indian Rebellion of 1857.

Personal life
In 1990, Vivek Singh (Jagjit Singh and Chitra's son) died in a road accident at the age of 20. This came as a profound shock to Jagjit and Chitra Singh. They gave up music for a full year after the death. At the end of that period, Jagjit returned slowly to music, but Chitra announced her retirement and declared that she would not sing or record any more songs.

Singh had suffered from numerous ailments like diabetes and hypertension during his later life, and had undergone two heart bypass surgeries in 1998 and 2007. A chain smoker for decades, he had stopped smoking after his first heart attack.

Death
Singh turned 70 in February 2011. To celebrate his 70th birthday he committed 70 concerts in different parts of the world. He toured the UK, Singapore, Mauritius, inter alias, in 2011 and was due to perform with Ghulam Ali in Mumbai but suffered a brain haemorrhage on 23 September 2011. He was in a coma for over two weeks and died on 10 October at Lilavati Hospital, in Mumbai. He was cremated the following day at Chandanwadi Crematorium near Marine Lines in Mumbai.

A number of tributes have been paid to Singh after his death,    and some tried to cash in on his popularity, which was criticised by his wife.

Legacy
A biography of Singh, entitled Beyond Time based on about 40 hours of interviews with him, was released in 2012. It was transcribed and edited by Ashrani Mathur. A biopic documentary by the name of Kaagaz Ki Kashti has been made on the life journey of Jagjit Singh, who broke through the norms and revolutionised the Ghazal scenario. The film traces the struggle and stardom in his musical career, the love & loss in his personal life and the scope and limitations in the music scenario of the times. The film directed by Brahmanand S Singh is currently available on Amazon Prime Video in India and worldwide.

Recognition

 * In 2012, the State Government of Rajasthan posthumously awarded Jagjit Singh its highest civilian award, the Rajasthan Ratna.
 * In 2002 and 2005, Singh was awarded the Indian Telly Award for the best title singer for a TV show.
 * In 2003, Singh was awarded the Padma Bhushan, India's third highest civilian award, by the government of India
 * In 1998, Jagjit Singh was awarded Sahitya Academy Award, a literary honour in India. He was awarded for popularising the work of Mirza Ghalib.
 * Sahitya Kala Academy Award by Rajasthan government in 1998
 * Ghalib Academy by Delhi Government in 2005
 * Dayawati Modi Award in 1999.
 * Lata Mangeshkar Samman in 1998 by Madhya Pradesh government.
 * D.Litt. by Kurukshetra University, Haryana in 2003
 * Teacher's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006.8th Teacher's Achievement Awards.
 * Google honoured Jagjit Singh with a doodle on his 72nd birthday on 8 February 2013.

Discography

 * Arth (1982)
 * Saath Saath (1982)
 * Aaeena (2000)
 * Aarogya Mantra (2008)
 * Adaa (1992)
 * Ae Mere Dil (1983)
 * A Journey (2000)
 * Akhand Ram Naam (2009)
 * A Milestone (1980)
 * Amritanjali (2009)
 * An Evening With Jagjit & Chitra Singh (Live)
 * A Sound Affair (1985)
 * Awaaz (2007)
 * Baba Sheikh Farid (Shabads & Shlokas- 2006)
 * Beyond Time (1987)
 * Best of Jagjit & Chitra Singh (2005)
 * Bhajans (Lata-Jagjit −2004)
 * Bhajan Uphar (2008)
 * Biraha Da Sultan (1978)
 * Chahat (2004)
 * Chirag (Also known as Live in Trinidad – Islamic Devotional- 1993)
 * Classics Forever (2000)
 * Close to My Heart (2003)
 * Come Alive in a Concert (1979)
 * Cry For CRY (1995)
 * Dard-E-Jigar (2011)
 * Desires (1994)
 * Different Strokes (2001)
 * Dil- Jagjit, Asha & Lata (2002)
 * Dil Kahin Hosh Kahin (1999)
 * Do Dil Do Rahein (A Tribute To Mehdi Hasan- 2007)
 * Echoes (1986)
 * Ecstasies (1984)
 * Emotions (1989)
 * Encore
 * Essential Chants of Shiva (2006)
 * Eternity (1978)
 * Face To Face (1994)
 * Forever (2002)
 * Forget Me Not (2002)
 * Gayatri Mantra (2008)
 * Ghalib Live in Concert (2014)
 * Ghazal Greats Jagjit Singh And Ghulam Ali
 * Ghazals from Films (1989)
 * Golden Moments (1999)
 * Govardhan Girdhari (2011)
 * Guru Govind Singh (1998)
 * Hare Krishna (Live)
 * Hari Om Tatsat (2003)
 * Harmony
 * Hey Govind Hey Gopal (1991)
 * Hey Ram (Ram Dhun)
 * Hare Ram Hare Krishna (1999)
 * Hope (1991)
 * Kahkashan,Doordarshan TV Serial (1991–92)
 * In Search (1992)
 * In Sight (1994)
 * In Sync- Jagjit Singh & Asha Bhonsle
 * Inteha (2009)
 * Jaam Utha(1999)
 * Jai Raghunandan Jai Siyaram (2002)
 * Jai Siya Ram (2000)
 * Jazbaat (2008)
 * Jeevan Kya Hai (2005)
 * Jeevan Maran Chhe Ek (Gujrati)
 * Kabir (2007)
 * Karuna (2007)
 * Keertan (Gurbani- 2000)
 * Khamoshi (2002)
 * Khumar
 * Khwahish (2002)
 * Krishna (1983)
 * Krishna Bhajans (1998)
 * Koi Baat Chale (2006)
 * Krishna Bhajans And Music For Divine Meditation (2009)
 * Krishna Dhun
 * Live in Concert (1988)

 * Live in Concert at the Wembley (1980)
 * Live in Pakistan (1979)
 * Live in Royal Albert Hall (1983)
 * Live in Sydney (2006)
 * Life Story (Live- 2001)
 * Live With Jagjit & Chitra Singh
 * Live With Jagjit Singh (1993)
 * Love
 * Love Is Blind (1998)
 * Maa (1993)
 * Madho Hum Aise Tu Aisa (2003)
 * Madhusudana- Shree Krishna Dhun (2011)
 * Magic Moments
 * Main Aur Meri Tanhai (1981)
 * Man Jeetey Jagjit (1990)
 * Man Mein Ram Basa Le
 * Marasim (1999)
 * Mara Ghatma Shrinathji (2007)
 * Mehfil (1990)
 * Melodious Pair
 * Memorable Concert (Live)
 * Memorable Ghazals of Jagjit and Chitra (1990)
 * Mirage (1995)
 * Mirza Ghalib (T.V. Serial- 1988)
 * Mitr Pyaare Nu (2005)
 * Moksha (2005)
 * Morning Prayers And Music For Divine Meditation (2009)
 * Muntzir (2004)
 * Nayi Disha (1999)
 * Nivedan (2011)
 * Om- The Divine Mantra (2007)
 * Parwaaz (live at the Esplanade, Singapore- 2004)
 * Passions (1987)
 * Phaldata Ganesh: God Who Fulfills Wishes (2006)
 * Playback Years
 * Pray For India
 * Punjabi Hits- Jagjit & Chitra Singh
 * Radhey Krishna Radhey Shyam (2000)
 * Radhey Krishna Dhun
 * Rare Gems (1992)
 * Rare Moments
 * Ravayat
 * Rishton Mein Darar Aayi
 * Romance
 * Masha alla
 * Royal Salute
 * Saanwara (2003)
 * Saher (2000)
 * Sai Dhun (2005)
 * Sajda (1991)
 * Samvedna (2002)
 * Samyog (Nepali)
 * Shabads Live in the UK (2014)
 * Shiva (Dhuns and Bhajans- 2005)
 * Shri Ganesha (2010)
 * Shukrana (2011)
 * Silsilay (1998)
 * Solid Gold (2001)
 * Someone Somewhere (1990)
 * Soz (2001)
 * Stolen Moments
 * Tera Bayaan Ghalib (2012)
 * The Inimitable Ghazals Composed by Jagjit Singh (1996)
 * The Latest (1982)
 * The Life And Times of Jagjit Singh (2011)
 * The Master and His Magic (2012)
 * The Unforgettables (1977)
 * The Voice From Beyond (2013)
 * Together
 * Trishna (Bengali-2001)
 * Tum Toh Nahin Ho (2005)
 * Unique (1996)
 * Vakratunda Mahakaya (2006)
 * Visions (1992)
 * Your Choice (1993)

title: Jagjit Singh


text:
John Clarke (Baptist minister)

John Clarke (October 1609 – 20 April 1676) was a physician, politician, and Baptist minister, who was co-founder of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, author of its influential charter, and a leading advocate of religious freedom in America.

Clarke was born in Westhorpe, Suffolk, England. He received an extensive education, including a master's degree in England followed by medical training in Leiden, Holland. He arrived at the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1637 during the Antinomian Controversy and decided to go to Aquidneck Island with many exiles from the conflict. He became a co-founder of Portsmouth and Newport, Rhode Island, and he established America's second Baptist church in Newport. Baptists were considered heretics and were banned from Massachusetts, but Clarke wanted to make inroads there and spent time in the Boston jail after making a mission trip to the town of Lynn, Massachusetts. Following his poor treatment in prison, he went to England where he published a book on the persecutions of the Baptists in Massachusetts and on his theological beliefs. The fledgling Rhode Island colony needed an agent in England, so he remained there for more than a decade handling the colony's interests.

The other New England colonies were hostile to Rhode Island, and both Massachusetts Bay and Connecticut Colony had made incursions into Rhode Island territory. After the restoration of the monarchy in England in 1660, it was imperative that Rhode Island receive a royal charter to protect its territorial integrity. It was Clarke's role to obtain such a document, and he saw this as an opportunity to include religious freedoms never seen before in any constitutional charter. He wrote ten petitions and letters to King Charles II and negotiated for months with Connecticut over territorial boundaries. Finally, he drafted the Rhode Island Royal Charter and presented it to the king, and it was approved with the king's seal on 8 July 1663. This charter granted unprecedented freedom and religious liberty to Rhode Islanders and remained in effect for 180 years, making it the longest-lasting constitutional charter in history.

Clarke returned to Rhode Island following his success at procuring the charter; he became very active in civil affairs there, and continued to pastor his church in Newport until his death in 1676. He left an extensive will, setting up the first educational trust in America. He was an avid proponent of the notion of soul-liberty that was included in the Rhode Island charter—and later in the United States Constitution.

Early life
John Clarke was born at Westhorpe in the county of Suffolk, England, and was baptized there on 8 October 1609. He was one of seven children of Thomas Clarke and Rose Kerrich (or Kerridge), six of whom left England and settled in New England. No definitive record has been found concerning his life in England other than the parish records of his baptism and those of his siblings.

Clarke was apparently highly educated, judging from the fact that he arrived in New England at the age of 28 qualified as both a physician and a Baptist minister. His many years of study become evident through a book that he wrote and published in 1652, and through his masterful authorship of the Rhode Island Royal Charter of 1663; further, his will mentions his Hebrew and Greek books, as well as a concordance and lexicon that he wrote himself.

The difficulty with tracing Clarke's life in England stems largely from his very common name. Rhode Island historian George Andrews Moriarty, Jr wrote that this was probably the same John Clarke who attended St Catharine's College, Cambridge, but he may also have received a bachelor's degree from Brasenose College, Oxford in 1628 and a master's degree there in 1632. Another clue to his education comes from a catalog of students from Leiden University in Holland, one of Europe's primary medical schools at the time. The school's ledger of graduates includes, in Latin, "Johannes Clarcq, Anglus, 17 July 1635-273" (translated as John Clark, England). It is apparent that Clarke earned a master's degree from the concordance that he wrote, where the authorship is given as "John Clarke, Master of Arts".

Rhode Island
Clarke arrived in Boston in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in November 1637 when the colony was in the midst of the major theological and political crisis known as the Antinomian Controversy. A major division had occurred within the Boston church between proponents of so-called "covenant of grace" theology, led by John Cotton, and proponents of so-called "covenant of works", led by John Wilson and others.

The controversy ultimately resulted in many people leaving Massachusetts Bay Colony, either voluntarily or by banishment. Some went north in November 1637 to found the town of Exeter, New Hampshire, while a larger group were uncertain where to go. They contacted Roger Williams, who suggested that they purchase land from the Narragansett people along the Narragansett Bay, near his settlement of Providence Plantations. John Clarke apparently went with both groups, based on what he wrote in his book: "By reason of the suffocating heat of the summer before [1637], I went to the North to be somewhat cooler, but the winter following [1637–38] proved so cold, that we were forced in the spring to make towards the South."

Clarke joined a group of men at the Boston home of William Coddington on 7 March 1638, and they drafted the Portsmouth Compact. Some historians suggest that Clarke wrote the document, based on its religious sentiment. 23 men signed the document which was intended to form a "Bodie Politick" based on Christian principles, and Coddington was chosen as the leader of the group.

Roger Williams suggested two places where the exiles could settle on the Narraganset Bay: Sowams (which became Barrington and Warren, Rhode Island) and Aquidneck Island (which was called Rhode Island at the time). Williams was uncertain about English claims to these lands, so Clarke led a delegation of three men to Plymouth Colony where he was informed that Sowams was under their jurisdiction but Aquidneck Island was not. This suited Clarke, whose desire for the exiles was to "get clear of all, and be ourselves". Aquidneck was in the territory of the Narragansett people, and Williams suggested that the Colonists pay them for the land with tools, coats, and wampum. On 24 March 1638, Williams drew up the deed granting Aquidneck Island to the settlers, which was signed "at Narragansett" (likely Providence) by sachems Canonicus and Miantonomi, with Williams and Randall Holden as witnesses. The names of many of the settlers were included on the deed; Coddington's name appeared first because he was responsible for the gratuity.

Clarke joined William and Anne Hutchinson and many others in building the new settlement of Pocasset on Aquidneck Island. Within a year, however, there was dissension among the leaders, and Clarke joined Coddington and others in moving to the south end of the island, establishing the town of Newport. On 2 January 1639, Clarke and three others were appointed to survey the new lands around Newport, and they were appointed to proportion it among the inhabitants on 5 June.

In 1640, the towns of Portsmouth and Newport united and Coddington was elected its governor. Roger Williams wanted royal recognition for these settlements and protection against encroachments from their neighbors of Massachusetts, Plymouth, and Connecticut. In 1643, he went to England to obtain a patent bringing all four towns (Newport, Portsmouth, Providence, and Warwick) under one government. Coddington was opposed to the patent because the two island towns had grown and prospered much more than the mainland towns of Providence and Warwick. He managed to keep the island towns separate until 1647 when the four towns finally adopted the patent and became the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.

Clarke had some legal training, and historian Albert Henry Newman argued that he was the principal author of the first complete code of laws that was enacted by the fledgling colony in 1647. Rhode Island historian and Lieutenant Governor Samuel G. Arnold extolled the virtues of this code, calling it a model of legislation which has not been surpassed.

Founding of the Newport church
In 1638, Roger Williams established a church in Providence which is now known as the First Baptist Church in America. The next Baptist congregation was established by John Clarke on Rhode Island and likely had its beginnings when he arrived on the island in 1638. Massachusetts Governor John Winthrop wrote that there were "professed Anabaptists" on the island from 1640 to 1641. Boston lawyer Thomas Lechford wrote that there was a church on the island in 1640 of which Clarke was the elder or pastor, but he understood that it had been dissolved. Nevertheless, Clarke conducted public worship in Newport from the time of his arrival until 1644, when a church at Newport was founded. The church remains active as a Reformed Baptist Church and carries the name of United Baptist Church, John Clarke Memorial in honor of its founder.

Baptist activism
In 1649, Clarke went to Seekonk (then in Plymouth Colony but later in Rehoboth, Massachusetts) to help organize a Baptist church. Roger Williams confirmed this in a letter to Governor Winthrop: "At Seekonk, a great many have lately concurred with Mr. John Clarke, and our Providence men, about the point of a new baptism and the manner by dipping; and Mr. John Clarke hath been there lately, and Mr. Lucar, and hath dipped them. I believe their practice comes nearer to the first practice of our great Founder, Christ Jesus, than other practices of religion do." Several members of the Seekonk church had quarreled with their minister Samuel Newman and had broken off from the main church, largely over the issue of infant baptism. Hearing of this division, Clarke and Lucar went to welcome the dissidents and baptize them by immersion. One of the Seekonk men was Obadiah Holmes who is considered a "pugnacious man [and] a hot-tempered fault-finder" by Clarke biographer Sydney James.

The Massachusetts clergymen and magistrates were angered when they learned of the Seekonk baptisms. In their eyes, they invalidated the earlier baptisms which the parishioners had undergone as children, and also invalidated the ministers who performed them. The magistrates wrote to their counterparts in Plymouth accusing them of doing nothing about the practices. The Seekonk church then excommunicated Holmes and he was compelled to move to Newport in 1650 or 1651 with a few other dissidents, following court action against him. He subsequently became an elder of the Newport church.

Imprisonment

William Witter was an elderly blind man with Baptist sentiments who was living in Lynn, Massachusetts in July 1651. He wanted to connect with his Baptist faith, but he was too infirm to travel to Newport, so Clarke, Obadiah Holmes, and John Crandall visited him at his home. The party arrived on Saturday 19 July and held a religious service the next day. Those present included family and visitors and "four or five strangers that came in unexpected". During the service, two constables appeared with a warrant signed by local magistrate Robert Bridge calling for the arrest of Clarke and his two associates. No baptisms had been performed, but the wording of the warrant suggested that this was the reason for the men's arrest. The men were forced to attend a Puritan religious service against their will, and they refused to remove their hats in church. Clarke stood at the end of the service and explained to the congregation why they refused to remove their hats. The men were detained that evening, then brought before the local magistrates the following day. They were free to return to Witter's after being arraigned and before being taken to Boston. Clarke conducted a service and Holmes baptized three people.

The prisoners were taken to Boston on 22 July and held until their trial on 31 July. They were brought before Governor John Endicott for questioning and were accused of being Anabaptists. Clarke replied that he was neither an Anabaptist, nor a Pedobaptist (one favoring infant baptism), nor a Catabaptist (one opposing infant baptism). The governor said that the three men "deserved death, and he would not have such trash brought into his jurisdiction."

During the trial, the court was represented by Governor Endicott, Deputy Governor Thomas Dudley, and magistrates Richard Bellingham, William Hibbins, and Increase Nowell. The Reverend John Cotton weighed in with denunciation for the prisoners, and the Reverend John Wilson struck Holmes while he was in the protection of the court. The men were charged with: (1) holding an unauthorized religious meeting; (2) disrupting an authorized meeting (wearing their hats); (3) administering sacraments illegally; (4) maintaining that the Massachusetts churches were not true churches; and (5) maintaining that infant baptism was false baptism. The men were sentenced without any accuser or witness speaking out against them.

The outcome of the trial was that Holmes was fined £30, Clarke £20, and Crandall £5. Holmes had been given the heaviest fine because of his excommunication in Seekonk and for administering the baptisms in Lynn. Clarke protested their heavy fines, and Governor Endicott replied that Clarke "was worthy to be hanged." In court, Endicott told Clarke that his beliefs would not stand up to those of the Puritan ministers. Clarke responded to this by writing a letter to the court from prison the following day, accepting the implied challenge to have a debate with the Puritan ministers on religious beliefs and practices. The challenge was initially accepted, but Clarke's fine was paid by some friends without his knowledge and he was released from jail. He left the area, and was then accused by the Puritan elders of defaulting on the challenge. He made two more attempts to debate the Puritan clergy, but the case was dropped by the court and the debate never took place. Clarke had drafted four points of discussion which detailed his beliefs and position.

Friends raised the money to pay the fines for Clarke and Crandall, but without their consent and contrary to their wishes. As soon as Holmes discovered what was happening, he was able to forbid the payment of his fine as a matter of conscience, though friends attempted to pay for him as well. As a result, Holmes was taken to the town's whipping post on 5 September 1651 and given 30 lashes with a three-corded whip. He told the magistrates, "You have struck me as with roses", and he claimed to have felt no pain during the incident; however, he could only sleep by resting on his knees and elbows for many days afterwards. Much later, Rhode Island Governor Joseph Jenckes wrote, "Those who have seen the scars on Mr. Holmes' back (which the old man was wont to call the marks of the Lord Jesus), have expressed a wonder that he should live."

Aftermath
Following the men's arrest and ill treatment, Sir Richard Saltonstall wrote from England to Reverends Cotton and Wilson of the Boston church: "These rigid wayes have lay'd you very lowe in the hearts of the saynts." Shortly after the incident, Roger Williams wrote a letter to Governor Endicott, making an earnest plea for toleration in matters of conscience and religion, but the request was unheeded. However, Williams did not let the matter rest, and used Clarke and Holmes as the subjects of his book The Bloody Tenent Yet More Bloody (1652). Williams gave a copy of this book to Clarke and wrote in the front: "For his honoured and beloved Mr. John Clarke, an eminent witnes of Christ Jesus ag'st ye bloodie Doctrine of persecution, &c."

One positive outcome of the ordeal endured by these men was the conversion and baptism of some of the witnesses. One such witness was Henry Dunster, the first president of Harvard College. Dunster's conversion in faith resulted in his removal as president in 1654, but helped inspire the creation of the First Baptist Church of Boston. Some scholars have argued that Clarke's mission trip was planned to provoke the Massachusetts officials in order to support the cause of Rhode Island in England. Shortly after Clarke arrived in England, he published Ill Newes from New-England, documenting the ordeal at the hands of the Massachusetts authorities. The book was an appeal to the English government outlining the case for religious tolerance, and it was instrumental in shaping public opinion and generating support for a charter for the Rhode Island colony.

Time in England
William Coddington was unhappy with the colonial patent that Roger Williams had obtained in 1643, and he was resistant to consolidating the four settlements into the unified Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, which ultimately came about in 1647 as a result of the patent. He wanted colonial independence for the two island towns of Newport and Portsmouth, and decided to go to England to present his case to the Colonial Commissioners in London. On 3 April 1651, the Council of State of England gave Coddington the commission of a separate government for the island of Aquidneck and for the smaller neighboring island of Conanicut (later Jamestown, Rhode Island), with him as governor for life.

Repeal of Coddington Commission
Criticism arose as soon as Coddington returned to Rhode Island with his commission. In September 1651, William Arnold summed up the feelings of many of the Providence settlers when he wrote, "Whereas Mr. Coddington have gotten a charter of Road Iland and Conimacuke Iland to himself, he have thereby broken the force of their charter that went under the name of Providence, because he have gotten away the greater part of that colonie." Clarke voiced his opposition to Coddington's rule of the island, and he was commissioned as the island's agent to England on 15 October 1651. The following month, he and William Dyer were sent to England to get the Coddington commission revoked. Simultaneously, the mainland towns of Providence and Warwick sent Roger Williams on a similar errand, and the three men sailed for England in November 1651, just a few months after Clarke had been released from prison. The men did not meet with the Council of State on New England until April 1652 because of recent hostilities between the English and the Dutch.

Coddington's commission for the island government was revoked in October 1652, with the help of Henry Vane. William Dyer returned to Rhode Island the following February, bringing the news of the return of the colony to the Williams Patent of 1643, but Clarke remained in England with his wife.

Ill Newes from New England
Very soon after arriving in England, Clarke published Ill Newes from New England: or a Narrative of New England's Persecution (1652). The book begins with a letter to the English Parliament and Council of State, conveying an earnest plea for liberty of conscience and religious toleration. This is followed by another letter addressed to the Puritan leaders in Massachusetts. The largest part of the book is devoted to Clarke's beliefs on conducting a church and why he thought that the Massachusetts churches were proceeding in the wrong direction. Less than half of the book concerns the persecution that Clarke and his companions experienced at the hands of the Massachusetts authorities. He wrote, "it is not the will of the Lord that any one should have dominion over another man's conscience. ... [Conscience] is such a sparkling beam from the Father of lights and spirits that it cannot be lorded over, commanded, or forced, either by men, devils, or angels."

The book ultimately had the desired effect. The Massachusetts authorities became so alarmed over the contents of Ill Newes that Thomas Cobbet, the minister of the Lynn church, wrote a rebuttal entitled The Civil Magistrates Power in Matters of Religion Modestly Debated (1653). This book defended the use of force to maintain the "correct" church in the Massachusetts colony. This response was well written, but it did more to confirm the persecutions of Clarke's party than to defend the Massachusetts position. Ultimately, the book helped Rhode Island secure significant religious liberties, prompting one Baptist historian to describe Clarke as "the Baptist drum major for freedom in seventeenth century America."

Rhode Island agent
Clarke was Rhode Island's official agent in England, although he received little compensation for his work. However, he remained active in his religious commitment and joined a Particular Baptist church under the pastorship of William Kiffin. One of his means of support was preaching at this church, which he called his "cheefe place for proffitt and preference", possibly because this arrangement offered him room and board. He also offered legal services and practiced medicine in London.

Most of Clarke's time in England was during the Interregnum, when rule of the country was under Parliament and Oliver Cromwell as the Lord Protector. Clarke's primary purpose there was to secure a strengthened charter for the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations ensuring the religious liberties on which the colony had been founded, and Cromwell confirmed the validity of Rhode Island's 1643 patent. Clarke also assisted the colony in 1656 by sending home four barrels of powder and eight barrels of shot and bullets, and in 1657 he handled a letter from the colony requesting assistance with legal proceedings against William Harris.

An important acquaintance of Clarke's in London was Richard Baily, who provided him with legal expertise, helped him draft petitions to the king, and may have even helped him write Rhode Island's charter. When Clarke eventually returned to Newport, Baily sailed with him, later providing additional legal counsel and writing Clarke's extensive will.

Negotiating a charter

In 1660, Charles II ascended the throne of England, and within two years the Act of Uniformity was passed requiring unified religious observances centered on the Anglican Church. The new king harbored prejudices against the Presbyterians, Independents, and Baptists, increasing Clarke's difficulty in crafting a charter that included religious freedoms. Clarke's commission as the agent for Rhode Island was renewed on 18 October 1660, and he filed at least ten petitions and letters to the king between 1661 and 1662. He offered the king the complete loyalty of the Rhode Island colony, and then requested the king's sympathy and support to guarantee freedom of conscience in the pursuit of religious worship.

Clarke wrote a particularly eloquent proposal in a petition received by the crown on 5 February 1661, with certain words emboldened within the document. His earnest request was "TO HOLD FORTH A LIVELY EXPERIMENT THAT A MOST FLOURISHING CIVILL STATE MAY STAND ... AND BEST BE MAINTAYNED ... WITH A FULL LIBERTIE IN RELIGIOUS CONCERNMENTS". These words became emblematic of Rhode Island's struggle for religious freedom and were soon included in the charter itself—and much later were chiseled on the frieze of the Rhode Island State House. One of the later petitions dealt heavily with the boundary issues between the Rhode Island and Connecticut colonies. Clarke had to wait nearly a year for any action on the various petitions.

An unforeseen emergency occurred in the spring of 1662 when Connecticut Colony Governor John Winthrop, Jr. was given an audience with the king ahead of Clarke, and he obtained a new charter for his colony. Winthrop was on good terms with many Rhode Islanders, but he also had a stake in the Atherton Company, which undermined the sovereignty of Rhode Island by buying large tracts of land from the Narragansett people west of the Narraganset Bay, where Rhode Island claimed the territory. Clarke regarded Winthrop's conduct as treacherous, and Winthrop avoided Clarke while in England; he was able to get his charter approved in May 1662.

The Earl of Clarendon recognized the conflict between Connecticut and Rhode Island. He summoned Winthrop and Clarke in July 1662, representing the king in hopes of settling the boundary dispute between the two colonies. Both colonies claimed the territory between the Pawcatuck River and the Narragansett Bay. The boundary line between the two colonies was ultimately set at the Pawcatuck River, after months of negotiations involving lawyers and arbitrators on both sides. Those who had settled on Atherton Company lands were allowed to choose whether to be governed by Connecticut or Rhode Island. Once the agreement was reached, Winthrop returned to New England while Clarke made his final push for Rhode Island's charter.

Following all the furore over the land boundaries, none of the other provisions of the proposed charter aroused any debate. Many of the provisions of Rhode Island's charter were like those in Connecticut's, except that Connecticut wanted a government similar to that of Massachusetts, while Rhode Island wanted the same self-government of the freemen that had been granted earlier in the 1643 patent. However, the Rhode Island charter went much further in its guarantees of religious freedom.

Rhode Island's Royal Charter

Once the boundary issue between Rhode Island and Connecticut was resolved, the long-awaited charter, drafted by Clarke, was given the king's seal on 8 July 1663. The document was remarkable in that it not only offered corporate powers beyond what most English bureaucrats thought prudent, but offered a degree of religious freedom without precedent. The provisions of this charter were so far-reaching that not only would Rhode Island proceed as an autonomous entity, but the document would remain in effect for 180 years.

In this charter, colonial boundaries were outlined, provisions for a military and for prosecuting war were effected, fishing privileges were secured, and a means of appeal to England was detailed. The charter guaranteed the rights of Rhode Island residents to travel freely within the other colonies, which rights had been curtailed due to religious reasons in the past. The new charter also forbade the other New England colonies from making war against the Indians within Rhode Island, without its permission, and also directed that disputes with other colonies would be appealed to the crown. It also outlined provisions for colonial representation, specifying a colonial governor, deputy governor, and ten assistants (called magistrates because of their judicial role). In addition, the number of deputies allotted to each town was specified.

Of paramount importance to Clarke was the charter's explicit guarantee of religious freedom. It excused Rhode Islanders from conformity with the Anglican Church "because some of the people ... cannot, in their private Opinions, conform to the publique exercise of religion ..." It also took some of the language from the Declaration of Breda:

"that no person within the said colony, at any time hereafter shall be any wise molested [harassed], punished, disquieted, or called in question, for any differences in opinion in matters of religion, and do not actually disturb the civil peace of our said colony; but that all and every person and persons may, from time to time, and at all times hereafter, freely and fully have and enjoy his and their own judgments and consciences, in matters of religious concernments, throughout the tract of land hereafter mentioned, they behaving themselves peaceable and quietly ..."

Once he had the cherished document in hand, it was imperative for Clarke to get it sent to Rhode Island. However, he had received very little remuneration for his diplomatic efforts and did not have the funds to immediately sail back to New England. He therefore entrusted the charter to Captain George Baxter, who carried it to Rhode Island. On 24 November 1663 Rhode Island's General Court of Commissioners convened at Newport for the last time under the parliamentary patent of 1643. The inhabitants and legislators had gathered to receive the result of Clarke's decade-long labors. The magnitude and solemnity of the occasion was captured in the colonial records:

"At a very great meeting and assembly of the freemen of the colony of Providence Plantation, at Newport, in Rhode Island, in New England, November the 24th, 1663. The abovesayed Assembly being legally called and orderly mett for the sollome reception of his Majestyes gratious letter pattent unto them sent, and having in order thereto chosen the President, Benedict Arnold, Moderator of the Assembly, [it was] Voted: That the box in which the King's gratious letters were enclosed be opened, and the letters with the broad seale thereto affixed be taken forth and read by Captayne George Baxter in the audience and view of all the people; which was accordingly done, and the sayd letters with his Majesty's Royall Stampe, and the broad seal, with much becoming gravity held up on hygh, and presented to the perfect view of the people, and then returned into the box and locked up by the Governor, in order to the safe keeping of it."

The following day it was voted that words of humble thanks be delivered to the King and also to the Earl of Clarendon, and that a £100 gratuity be given to Clarke. The charter stood the test of time, and it wasn't until 1843, 180 years after its creation, that the charter was finally replaced by the Constitution of Rhode Island, and only for the one reason that the apportionment of representatives for the several towns "could no longer be rendered as just in operation and could only be remedied by alteration of the organic law." When the document was ultimately retired, it was the longest surviving constitutional charter in the world. It was so far-reaching that even the American Revolutionary War did not change its position, since both the revolution and the charter rested on the same foundation—the inherent right of self-government.

Later life
With the royal charter ready to travel to New England, Clarke had to begin gathering funds to get himself back as well. Only a week after the king put his seal on the charter, Clarke made an indenture with Richard Deane of London, mortgaging his Newport properties to raise money. Even this didn't ensure his immediate departure from England, and it wasn't until the following spring that he was able to make the voyage back to Rhode Island. He and his wife sailed aboard The Sisters of London, carrying their belongings and a shipment of armaments for the colony.

Despite the magnanimous provisions of Rhode Island's charter, it did not definitively settle the land disputes with Connecticut, which would continue for more than half a century. Nor did it settle the issue with the Atherton Company, occupying two large tracts of land within Rhode Island's "Narragansett country". Fortuitous for the Rhode Island colony, however, was the arrival in 1664 of a group of royal commissioners. Samuel Gorton had told the crown that in 1644 the Narragansett people had submitted themselves to England's king. Once the newly arrived commissioners verified this, they declared all of the Narragansett territory (what is now Washington County and a part of Kent County, Rhode Island, including the Atherton tracts), to be Kings Province. One of the commissioners was Samuel Maverick, a good friend of Rhode Island's recent governor William Brenton, who abhorred the Atherton Company. Clarke was one of three men allowed to present Rhode Island's views on the land disputes, and the commissioners ultimately took a strong stance in favor of Rhode Island. Eventually, the Atherton Company lost its Narragansett property, and the Kings Province became a part of the Rhode Island colony.

Civil roles
Following his great usefulness in England, Clarke became further involved in the affairs of the Rhode Island colony upon his return. He served for six years, from 1664 to 1671, as a Deputy from Newport in the General Assembly, and then served as the Deputy Governor under Governor Benedict Arnold for two of the three years between 1669 and 1672. With his legal background, he was appointed in October 1666 to make a digest of Rhode Island laws. In June 1670 and again in March 1672 he was chosen as an agent to go back to England on behalf of the colony. His selection in 1672 was to make an appeal to the king because of incursions that the Connecticut Colony was making into the territory of Rhode Island, but the plan to send him was abandoned.

From 1675 to 1676, Rhode Island became embroiled in King Philip's War, considered "the most disastrous conflict to ever devastate New England," and leaving the mainland towns of the colony in ruins. This confrontation between many indigenous people and the English settlers was named for Metacomet, sachem of the Wampanoags, who had been given the English name of King Philip. Though Rhode Island was much more at peace with the Indians than the other colonies, because of geography, it took the brunt of damage from the conflict, and the settlements of Warwick and Pawtuxet were totally destroyed, with much of Providence ruined as well. Because of the very high esteem Clarke held within the colony, he was one of 16 colonial leaders whose counsel was sought in a 4 April 1676 General Assembly resolution. Two weeks later, while the war was still raging, Clarke was dead.

Church divisions
While Clarke became very active in the affairs of the colony upon his return from England, he also resumed his leadership role in the Newport church. One major schism occurred in the church while he was in England, and another several years after his return. The first of these concerned the "laying on of hands". This practice was considered to be one of Christ's six principles as advocated in the biblical verse Hebrews 6:2, and the ritual was welcomed in the Newport Baptist Church. However, some members of the church wanted the practice to be mandatory, while others did not want additional restrictions placed on the parishioners. This disagreement prompted William Vaughan to break away from the church in 1656 and form his own "Six Principle" Baptist Church in Newport, sometimes called the Second Baptist Church of Newport.

The second major division in the church occurred over the day of worship, when Sabbatarians within the congregation wanted to worship on Saturday. The practice was largely tolerated, with some parishioners attending one service, some attending another, and some attending both. The elder Obadiah Holmes, however, was hostile to the practice, and was rebuked by Clarke in 1667 over his harshness towards the Sabbatarians. Holmes subsequently withdrew from preaching at the Newport church, but resumed his pastoral duties there in 1671. When he continued to be critical of the Sabbatarians, they finally left to form their own church in December 1671. Additional dissension occurred in the church, centered on the family of Giles Slocum. When Slocum's wife, Joan, denied that Christ was alive, she was excommunicated in 1673. Following this, her husband, their children, and their children's spouses all left the church, and became Quakers.

Death and legacy

With the help of Richard Baily, Clarke drafted his will on 20 April 1676, then died in Newport the same day. He was buried in his family plot in Newport, as directed in his will, beside his two wives, Elizabeth and Jane, who predeceased him.

In his will he set up a trust to be used "for the relief of the poor or bringing up of children unto learning from time to time forever." Still in use, this trust is generally considered to be the oldest educational trust fund in the United States. Ironically, the trust undermined some of the principles that Clarke cherished, particularly the separation between church and state. While the trust was used to support ministries of the church, it enmeshed the town counsel and the church in many legal entanglements. Eventually the trust was used to pay, at least in part, the salary of a paid minister—something that Clarke thought to be highly inappropriate.

Clarke believed that secular government should peacefully coexist with religion, and he became a seminal figure in applying the separation of church and state. Historian Thomas Bicknell, one of Clarke's most ardent supporters, wrote that at the time of the Puritan settlement of New England that "nowhere on the face of the earth and among civilized men, did civil and soul-liberty exist. Its first clear, full, deliberate, organized and permanent establishment in the world can now be distinctly traced to the Colony of Rhode Island, on the island of Aquidneck, in the Narragansett Bay, under the leadership and inspiration of Dr.  John Clarke, the true Founder". Historian Louis Asher wrote, "It hardly seems arguable that Dr. Clarke was the first one to bring democracy to the New World by means of Rhode Island." Bicknell also asserted that Clarke was the "recognized founder and father of the Aquidneck Plantations, the author of the Compact of Portsmouth and leading spirit in the organization and administration of the island towns. Historian Edward Peterson wrote that Clarke was a man "whose moral character has never been surpassed, and his piety never been questioned."  Asher made this final assessment of Clarke: "As a man, Clarke lived for others. Like many men of the past, he was selfless and uncomplaining. Despite his sectarian religious views, he gave more for his fellow man than he received."

The First Baptist Church of Newport, a grammar school, and a merchant Liberty ship, the SS John Clarke, are named for Clarke. The Physical Sciences building at Rhode Island College was dedicated in his honor in 1963. A plaque on the wall of the Newport Historical Society reads:

Erected by the Newport Medical Society

December 1885

To

John Clarke, Physician

1609–1676

Founder of Newport

And of the Civil Polity of Rhode Island

Ancestry and family
John Clarke was the fifth of seven known children born to Thomas and Rose Clarke, all born or baptized at Westhorpe, Suffolk, England. Margaret was the oldest child, born about 1601, and next was Carew, baptized 17 February 1602/3, followed by Thomas, baptized 31 March 1605. Mary was next, baptized 26 July 1607, then the subject John was baptized 8 October 1609, next was William baptized 11 February 1611 who probably died young, and the youngest, Joseph, was baptized on 16 December 1618. Margaret married Nicholas Wyeth and lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Mary married John Peckham, and came to Newport, Rhode Island with her husband and four brothers, Carew, Thomas, John, and Joseph.

John Clarke was married three times, his first wife being Elizabeth Harris, the daughter of John Harris who was lord of the manor of Wrestlingworth in Bedfordshire. This was the wife who was with him while he was an agent in England, and she died in Newport a few years before Clarke. Following her death, he was married on 1 February 1671 to Jane, the widow of Nicholas Fletcher, but she died the following year on 19 April 1672. Clarke had a daughter with Jane, born 14 February 1672 and dying on 18 May 1673.

Clarke's third wife was Sarah, the widow of Nicholas Davis, with whom Clarke had had a long association. Davis, like Clarke, had been an early settler of Aquidneck Island in 1639, but became a merchant and moved to Hyannis in the Plymouth Colony. Davis had many business dealings in Massachusetts, but when he became a Quaker, he was imprisoned and banished from there in 1659, and later lived in Newport. He transported Quaker founder George Fox from Long Island to Newport in 1672, during Fox's visit to the American colonies. Soon thereafter Davis drowned, and within a year and a half his widow married Clarke. Sarah survived Clarke, and died sometime about 1692. She had children who were remembered in Clarke's will.

title: John Clarke (Baptist minister)


text:
Robert Lanier

Robert Lanier may refer to:
 * Bob Lanier (1948–2022), American basketball player and coach
 * Bob Lanier (politician) (1925–2014), American politician
 * Rob Lanier (born 1968), American basketball coach

title: Robert Lanier


text:
India Shining

India Shining, India Rising (Hindi: भारत उदय ) was a marketing slogan referring to the overall feeling of economic optimism in India in 2004. The slogan was popularised by the then-ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the 2004 Indian general elections. The slogan is initially developed as a part of an Indian government campaign intended to promote India internationally.

Advertising firm Grey Worldwide won the campaign account in 2003; the slogan and the associated campaign was developed by national creative director Prathap Suthan, in consultation with Finance Minister Jaswant Singh. The government spent an estimated 20 million USD of government funds on national television advertisements and newspaper ads featuring the "India Shining" slogan.

Some editorials also suggested that the India Shining campaign was one of the causes for the subsequent defeat of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government in the 2004 parliamentary elections, particularly in urban areas, the target audience of the campaign.

The negative assessment of the India Shining campaign was echoed after the election by former Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani, who described it as "valid," but "inappropriate for our election campaign... By making them verbal icons of our election campaign, we gave our political opponents an opportunity to highlight other aspects of India's contemporary reality... which questioned our claim."

Controversy
There has been controversy over the India Shining advertisements as whether the governments, States or Centre are not permitted to use taxpayer's money to promote any political gain. The BJP government has spent an approximate cost of Rs. 5 billion for the advertisements campaign during 2004 Parliament elections.

The India Shining slogan drew criticism from various columnists  and political critics of the ruling National Democratic Alliance government  for glossing over a variety of social problems, including poverty and social inequality.

The slogan was then used as a central theme in the BJP's campaign for the 2004 national elections, a move criticised by the BJP's political opponents, who felt that public money was being used for partisan purposes. In response, the Indian Election Commission banned the slogan's broadcast until after the elections, although BJP politicians continued to use the slogan in other contexts.

title: India Shining