India Gate foundation stone laid 100 years ago by Duke of Connaught
New Delhi, Feb. 11: Here’s one for history buffs. After whom is iconic shopping centre Connaught Place named? Prince Arthur, the Duke of Connaught. That was easy. Here’s a tough one. Who set the ball rolling for the construction of India Gate? Duke of Connaught again.
He laid the foundation stone of the All India War Memorial Arch in Delhi, or India Gate as it is now known, exactly 100 years ago on February 10 in 1921 during a visit to the country. The 42-metre-high sandstone monument, sometimes compared to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, was opened after a decade. Ninety years on, it is still the centre of India’s sprawling capital, an eternal flame burning under the arch in memory of soldiers who laid down their lives for the country.
Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, was an uncle of King George V, the then reigning monarch of the British Empire who held a grand durbar in Delhi in 1911, where he also announced the shifting of the imperial capital from Calcutta to Delhi. Following this decision, work began to create a new capital in the Raisina Hill area, the foundation stone of which was laid by the king on December 15, 1911. Sir Edwin Lutyens and Sir Herbert Baker laid out their plans for a new imperial capital, with the Viceroy’s House (now Rashtrapati Bhavan) and the North Block and South Block as the centrepiece of “New Delhi”, as the city was officially named in 1926. In 1921, during the Delhi leg of his India visit, the Duke of Connaught laid the foundation of the All India War Memorial on February 10 and the Council Chamber of the Parliament House, designed by Baker, two days later.
The Supreme Court will hear on Friday Odisha’s plea for contempt action against Andhra Pradesh allegedly for violating 2006 undertaking of status quo and transgressing into its three villages for holding panchayat elections in the wake of local bodies election in rural areas underway in the State (Andhra Pradesh).
While Andhra Pradesh is holding elections in three villages of the Kotiya Panchayat in Koraput district, Odisha has claimed that these villages belong to it and they have existing elected bodies.
Both Andhra Pradesh and Odisha have been claiming their rights over the Kotiya panchayat which comprises 28 villages.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Sharad A. Bobde agreed to hear the contempt plea on a mentioning by senior lawyer Vikas Singh appearing for Odisha seeking urgent listing of the matter.