title: Big Rip

text: In their paper, the authors consider a hypothetical example with "w" = −1.5, "H" = 70 km/s/Mpc, and "Ω" = 0.3, in which case the Big Rip would happen approximately 22 billion years from the present. In this scenario, galaxies would first be separated from each other about 200 million years before the Big Rip. About 60 million years before the Big Rip, galaxies would begin to disintegrate as gravity becomes too weak to hold them together. Planetary systems like the Solar System would become gravitationally unbound about three months before the Big Rip, and planets would fly off into the rapidly expanding universe. In the last minutes, stars and planets would be torn apart, and the now-dispersed atoms would be destroyed about 10 seconds before the end. At the time the Big Rip occurs, even spacetime itself would be ripped apart and the scale factor would be infinity.


title: Big Rip

text: Evidence indicates "w" to be very close to −1 in our universe, which makes "w" the dominating term in the equation. The closer that "w" is to −1, the closer the denominator is to zero and the further the Big Rip is in the future. If "w" were exactly equal to −1, the Big Rip could not happen, regardless of the values of "H" or "Ω".


title: Big Rip

text: According to the latest cosmological data available, the uncertainties are still too large to discriminate among the three cases "w" < −1, "w" = −1, and "w" > −1.


title: Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Maximilian II (31 July 1527 – 12 October 1576) was Holy Roman Emperor from 1564 until his death in 1576. A member of the Austrian House of Habsburg, he was crowned King of Bohemia in Prague on 14 May 1562 and elected King of Germany (King of the Romans) on 24 November 1562. On 8 September 1563 he was crowned King of Hungary and Croatia in the Hungarian capital Pressburg (Pozsony in Hungarian; now Bratislava, Slovakia). On 25 July 1564 he succeeded his father Ferdinand I as ruler of the Holy Roman Empire.


title: Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Maximilian's rule was shaped by the confessionalization process after the 1555 Peace of Augsburg. Though a Habsburg and a Catholic, he approached the Lutheran Imperial estates with a view to overcome the denominational schism, which ultimately failed. He also was faced with the ongoing Ottoman–Habsburg wars and rising conflicts with his Habsburg Spain cousins.


title: Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: According to Fichtner, Maximilian failed to achieve his three major aims: rationalizing the government structure, unifying Christianity, and evicting the Turks from Hungary. Peter Marshall opines that it is wrong to dismiss Maximilian as a failure. According to Marshall, through his religious tolerance as well as encouragement of arts and sciences, he succeeded in maintaining a precarious peace.


title: Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Maximilian was born in Vienna, Austria, the eldest son of the Habsburg archduke Ferdinand I, younger brother of Emperor Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, and the Jagiellonian princess Anne of Bohemia and Hungary (1503–1547). He was named after his great-grandfather, Emperor Maximilian I. At the time of his birth, his father Ferdinand succeeded his brother-in-law King Louis II in the Kingdom of Bohemia and the Kingdom of Hungary, laying the grounds for the global Habsburg monarchy.


title: Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Having spent his childhood years at his father's court in Innsbruck, Tyrol, Maximilian was educated principally in Italy. Among his teachers were humanist scholars like Kaspar Ursinus Velius and Georg Tannstetter. He also came in contact with the Lutheran teaching and early on corresponded with the Protestant prince Augustus of Saxony, suspiciously eyed by his Habsburg relatives. From the age of 17, he gained some experience of warfare during the Italian War campaign of his uncle Charles V against King Francis I of France in 1544, and also during the Schmalkaldic War. Upon Charles' victory in the 1547 Battle of Mühlberg, Maximilian put in a good word for the Schmalkaldic leaders, Elector John Frederick I of Saxony and Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse, and soon began to take part in Imperial business.


title: Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: On 13 September 1548 Emperor Charles V married Maximilian to Charles's daughter (Maximilian's cousin) Maria of Spain in the Castile residence of Valladolid. By the marriage his uncle intended to strengthen the ties with the Spanish branch of the Habsburgs, but also to consolidate his nephew's Catholic faith. Maximilian temporarily acted as the emperor's representative in Spain, however not as stadtholder of the Habsburg Netherlands as he had hoped for. To his indignation, King Ferdinand appointed his younger brother Ferdinand II administrator in the Kingdom of Bohemia, nevertheless Maximilian's right of succession as the future king was recognised in 1549. He returned to Germany in December 1550 in order to take part in the discussion over the Imperial succession.


title: Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Maximilian's relations with his uncle worsened, as Charles V, again embattled by rebellious Protestant princes led by Elector Maurice of Saxony, wished his son Philip II of Spain to succeed him as emperor. However, Charles' brother Ferdinand, who had already been designated as the next occupant of the imperial throne, and his son Maximilian objected to this proposal. Maximilian sought the support of the German princes such as Duke Albert V of Bavaria and even contacted Protestant leaders like Maurice of Saxony and Duke Christoph of Württemberg. At length a compromise was reached: Philip was to succeed Ferdinand, but during the former's reign Maximilian, as King of the Romans, was to govern Germany. This arrangement was not carried out, and is only important because the insistence of the emperor seriously disturbed the harmonious relations that had hitherto existed between the two branches of the Habsburg family; an illness that befell Maximilian in 1552 was attributed to poison given to him in the interests of his cousin and brother-in-law, Philip II of Spain.


title: Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: The relationship between the two cousins was uneasy. While Philip had been raised a Spaniard and barely travelled out of the kingdom during his life, Maximilian identified himself as the quintessential German prince and often displayed a strong dislike of Spaniards, whom he considered as intolerant and arrogant. While his cousin was reserved and shy, Maximilian was outgoing and charismatic. His adherence to humanism and religious tolerance put him at odds with Philip who was more committed to the defence of the Catholic faith. Also, he was considered a promising commander, while Philip disliked war and only once personally commanded an army. Nonetheless, the two remained committed to the unity of their dynasty.


title: Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: In 1551 Maximilian attended the Council of Trent and the next year took up his residence at Hofburg Palace in Vienna, celebrated by a triumphal return into the city with a large entourage including the elephant Suleiman. While his father Ferdinand concluded the 1552 Treaty of Passau with the Protestant estates and finally reached the Peace of Augsburg in 1555, Maximilian was engaged mainly in the government of the Austrian hereditary lands and in defending them against Ottoman incursions. In Vienna, he had his Hofburg residence extended with the Renaissance "Stallburg" wing, the site of the later Spanish Riding School, and also ordered the construction of Neugebäude Palace in Simmering. In the 1550s, Vienna had more than 50,000 inhabitants, making it the largest city in Central Europe with Prague and before Nuremberg (40,000 inhabitants).


title: Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: The religious views of the future King of Bohemia had always been somewhat uncertain, and he had probably learned something of Lutheranism in his youth; but his amicable relations with several Protestant princes, which began about the time of the discussion over the succession, were probably due more to political than to religious considerations. However, in Vienna he became very intimate with , a court preacher influenced by Heinrich Bullinger with strong leanings towards Lutheranism, and his religious attitude caused some uneasiness to his father. Fears were freely expressed that he would definitely leave the Catholic Church, and when his father Ferdinand became emperor in 1558 he was prepared to assure Pope Paul IV that his son should not succeed him if he took this step. Eventually Maximilian remained nominally an adherent of the older faith, although his views were tinged with Lutheranism until the end of his life. After several refusals he consented in 1560 to the banishment of Pfauser, and began again to attend the Masses of the Catholic Church.


title: Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: In November 1562 Maximilian was chosen King of the Romans, or German king, by the electoral college at Frankfurt, where he was crowned a few days later, after assuring the Catholic electors of his fidelity to their faith, and promising the Protestant electors that he would publicly accept the confession of Augsburg when he became emperor. He also took the usual oath to protect the Church, and his election was afterwards confirmed by the papacy. He was the first King of the Romans not to be crowned in Aachen. In September 1563 he was crowned King of Hungary by the Archbishop of Esztergom, Nicolaus Olahus, and on his father's death, in July 1564, he succeeded to the empire and to the kingdoms of Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia.


title: Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: The new emperor had already shown that he believed in the necessity for a thorough reform of the Church. He was unable, however, to obtain the consent of Pope Pius IV to the marriage of the clergy, and in 1568 the concession of communion in both kinds to the laity was withdrawn. On his part Maximilian granted religious liberty to the Lutheran nobles and knights in Austria, and refused to allow the publication of the decrees of the council of Trent. Amidst general expectations on the part of the Protestants he met his first summoned Diet of Augsburg in March 1566. He refused to accede to the demands of the Lutheran princes; on the other hand, although the increase of sectarianism was discussed, no decisive steps were taken to suppress it, and the only result of the meeting was a grant of assistance for the war with the Turks, which had just been renewed. Maximilian gathered a large army and marched to fight the Ottomans, but neither the Habsburgs nor the Ottomans would achieved much of anything from this conflict. The Ottomans besieged and conquer Szigetvár in 1566, but their sultan, Suleiman the Magnificent, died of old age during the siege. With neither side winning a decisive engagement, Maximilian's ambassadors Antun Vrančić and Christoph Teuffenbach met with the Ottoman Grand Vizier Sokollu Mehmed Pasha in Adrianople to negotiate a truce in 1568. The terms of the Treaty of Adrianople required the Emperor to recognise Ottoman suzerainty over Transylvania, Wallachia, and Moldavia.


title: Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Meanwhile, the relations between Maximilian and Philip of Spain had improved, and the emperor's increasingly cautious and moderate attitude in religious matters was doubtless because the death of Philip's son, Don Carlos, had opened the way for the succession of Maximilian, or of one of his sons, to the Spanish throne. Evidence of this friendly feeling was given in 1570, when the emperor's daughter, Anna, became the fourth wife of Philip; but Maximilian was unable to moderate the harsh proceedings of the Spanish king against the revolting inhabitants of the Netherlands. In 1570 the emperor met the diet of Speyer and asked for aid to place his eastern borders in a state of defence, and also for power to repress the disorder caused by troops in the service of foreign powers passing through Germany. He proposed that his consent should be necessary before any soldiers for foreign service were recruited in the empire; but the estates were unwilling to strengthen the imperial authority, the Protestant princes regarded the suggestion as an attempt to prevent them from assisting their co-religionists in France and the Netherlands, and nothing was done in this direction, although some assistance was voted for the defense of Austria. The religious demands of the Protestants were still unsatisfied, while the policy of toleration had failed to give peace to Austria. Maximilian's power was very limited; it was inability rather than unwillingness that prevented him from yielding to the entreaties of Pope Pius V to join in an attack on the Turks both before and after the victory of Lepanto in 1571; and he remained inert while the authority of the empire in north-eastern Europe was threatened.


title: Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: In 1575, Maximilian was elected by the part of Polish and Lithuanian magnates to be the King of Poland in opposition to Stephan IV Bathory, but he did not manage to become widely accepted there and was forced to leave Poland.


title: Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Maximilian died on 12 October 1576 in Regensburg while preparing to invade Poland. On his deathbed he refused to receive the last sacraments of the Church. He is buried in St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague.


title: Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: By his wife Maria he had a family of ten sons and six daughters. He was succeeded by his eldest surviving son, Rudolf, who had been chosen king of the Romans in October 1575. Another of his sons, Matthias, also became emperor; three others, Ernest, Albert and Maximilian, took some part in the government of the Habsburg territories or of the Netherlands, and a daughter, Elizabeth, married Charles IX of France.


title: Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Maximilian's policies of religious neutrality and peace in the Empire afforded its Roman Catholics and Protestants a breathing space after the first struggles of the Reformation. His reign also saw the high point of Protestantism in Austria and Bohemia and unlike his successors, Maximilian did not try to suppress it.


title: Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: He disappointed the German Protestant princes by his refusal to invest Lutheran administrators of prince-bishoprics with their imperial fiefs. Yet on a personal basis he granted freedom of worship to the Protestant nobility and worked for reform in the Roman Catholic Church, including the right of priests to marry. This failed because of Spanish opposition.


title: Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Under Ferdinand I and Maximilian II, the imperial court itself became the centre of humanist scholarship. The court held close ties to the University of Vienna but the university, that reached its summit under Maximilian I, had been severely diminished due to wars and civil disturbances.


title: Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: In his court, Catholic and Prostestant scholars equally thrived. Many artists and scholars came from Spain, Italy and Spanish Netherlands. Maximilian employed scholars like the botanist Carolus Clusius and the diplomat Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq. Maximilian's library curated by Hugo Blotius later became the nucleus of the Austrian National Library. He implemented the Roman School of composition with his court orchestra, however, his plans to win Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina as "Kapellmeister" foundered on financial reasons.


title: Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: On 13 September 1548, Maximilian married his first cousin Maria of Spain, daughter of Emperor Charles V and Isabella of Portugal. Despite Maria's commitment to Habsburg Spain and her strong Catholic manners, the marriage was a happy one. The couple had sixteen children:


title: Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: "Maximilian II, by the grace of God elected Holy Roman Emperor, forever August, King in Germany, of Hungary, Bohemia, Dalmatia, Croatia, Slavonia, etc. Archduke of Austria, Duke of Burgundy, Brabant, Styria, Carinthia, Carniola, Luxemburg, Württemberg, the Upper and Lower Silesia, Prince of Swabia, Margrave of the Holy Roman Empire, Burgau, Moravia, the Upper and Lower Lusatia, Princely Count of Habsburg, Tyrol, Ferrette, Kyburg, Gorizia, Landgrave of Alsace, Lord of the Wendish March, Pordenone and Salins, etc. etc."


title: Economic liberalisation in India

text: The economic liberalisation in India refers to the opening of the country's economy to the world with the goal of making the economy more market and service-oriented, thus expanding the role of private and foreign investment. Indian economic liberalisation was part of a general pattern of economic liberalisation occurring across the world in the late 20th century. Although some attempts at liberalisation were made in 1966 and the early 1980s, a more thorough liberalisation was initiated in 1991. The reform was prompted by a balance of payments crisis that had led to a severe recession and also as per structural adjustment programs for taking loans from IMF and World Bank.


title: Economic liberalisation in India

text: Through reform, India overcame its worst economic crisis in the remarkably short period of two years.


title: Economic liberalisation in India

text: Specific changes included reducing import tariffs, deregulating markets, and reducing taxes, which led to an increase in foreign investment and high economic growth in the 1990s and 2000s. From 1992 to 2005, foreign investment increased 316.9%, and India's gross domestic product (GDP) grew from $266 billion in 1991 to $2.3 trillion in 2018 According to one study, wages rose on the whole, as well as wages as the labor-to-capital relative share.


title: Economic liberalisation in India

text: As an effect of the liberalisation in 1991, Poverty reduced from 36 percent in 1993-94 to 24.1 percent in 1999-2000.


title: Economic liberalisation in India

text: India also increasingly integrated its economy with the global economy. The ratio of total exports of goods and services to GDP in India approximately doubled from 7.3 percent in 1990 to 14 percent in 2000. This rise was less dramatic on the import side but was significant, from 9.9 percent in 1990 to 16.6 percent in 2000. Within 10 years, the ratio of total goods and services trade to GDP rose from 17.2 percent to 30.6 percent.


title: Economic liberalisation in India

text: Liberalisation policies of Indian government have been criticised for increasing income inequality and concentration of wealth. The reforms have also been criticised for worsening rural living standards and unemployment and increasing farmer suicides.


title: Economic liberalisation in India

text: Indian economic policy after independence was influenced by the colonial experience (which was exploitative in nature) and by those leaders', particularly prime minister Nehru's exposure to Fabian socialism. Under the Congress party governments of Nehru, and his successors policy tended towards protectionism, with a strong emphasis on import substitution industrialization under state monitoring, state intervention at the micro level in all businesses especially in labour and financial markets, a large public sector, business regulation, and central planning. Five-Year Plans of India resembled central planning in the Soviet Union. Under the Industrial Development Regulation Act of 1951, steel, mining, machine tools, water, telecommunications, insurance, and electrical plants, among other industries, were effectively nationalised. Elaborate licences, regulations and the accompanying red tape, commonly referred to as Licence Raj, were required to set up business in India between 1947 and 1990. The Indian economy of this period is characterised as Dirigism.


title: Economic liberalisation in India

text: Licence Raj established an "irresponsible, self-perpetuating bureaucracy" and corruption flourished under this system. Only four or five licences would be given for steel, electrical power and communications, allowing license owners to build huge and powerful empires without competition. A huge public sector emerged, allowing state-owned enterprises to incur record losses without being shut down. Controls on business creation also led to poor infrastructure development. During the brief rule by the Janata party in late 1970s, the government seeking to promote economic self-reliance and indigenous industries, required multi-national corporations to go into partnership with Indian corporations. The policy proved controversial, diminishing foreign investment and led to the high-profile exit of corporations such as Coca-Cola and IBM from India.


title: Economic liberalisation in India

text: By 1980, this had created widespread economic stagnation. The annual growth rate of the Indian economy had stagnated around 3.5% from the 1950s to 1980s, while per-capita income growth averaged 1.3%.


title: Economic liberalisation in India

text: In 1966, due to rapid inflation caused by an increasing budget deficit accompanying the Sino-Indian War and severe drought, the Indian government was forced to seek monetary aid from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank. Pressure from aid donors caused a shift towards economic liberalisation, wherein the rupee was devalued to combat inflation and cheapen exports and the former system of tariffs and export subsidies was abolished. However, a second poor harvest and subsequent industrial recession helped fuel political backlash against liberalisation, characterised by resentment at foreign involvement in the Indian economy and fear that it might signal a broader shift away from socialist policies. As a result, trade restrictions were reintroduced and the Foreign Investments Board was established in 1968 to scrutinise companies investing in India with more than 40% foreign equity participation.


title: Economic liberalisation in India

text: World Bank loans continued to be taken for agricultural projects since 1972, and these continued as international seed companies that were able to enter Indian markets after the 1991 liberalisation.


title: Economic liberalisation in India

text: As it became evident that the Indian economy was lagging behind its East and Southeast Asian neighbours, the governments of Indira Gandhi and subsequently Rajiv Gandhi began pursuing economic liberalisation. The governments loosened restrictions on business creation and import controls while also promoting the growth of the telecommunications and software industries. Reforms under lead to an increase in the average GDP growth rate from 2.9 percent in the 1970s to 5.6 per cent, although they failed to fix systemic issues with the Licence Raj. Despite Rajiv Gandhi's dream for more systemic reforms, the Bofors scandal tarnished his government's reputation and impeded his liberalisation efforts.


title: Economic liberalisation in India

text: The Chandra Shekhar government (1990–91) took several significant steps towards liberalisation and laid its foundation.


title: Economic liberalisation in India

text: By 1991, India still had a fixed exchange rate system, where the rupee was pegged to the value of a basket of currencies of major trading partners. India started having balance of payments problems in 1985, and by the end of 1990, the state of India was in a serious economic crisis. The government was close to default, its central bank had refused new credit, and foreign exchange reserves had reduced to the point that India could barely finance two weeks' worth of imports.


title: Economic liberalisation in India

text: The collapse of the Chandra Shekhar government in the midst of the crisis and the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi led to the election of a new Congress government led by P. V. Narasimha Rao. He selected Amar Nath Verma to be his Principal Secretary and Manmohan Singh to be finance minister and gave them complete support in doing whatever they thought was necessary to solve the crisis. Verma helped draft the New Industrial Policy alongside Chief Economic Advisor Rakesh Mohan, and it laid out a plan to foster Indian industry in five points. Firstly, it abolished the License Raj by removing licensing restrictions for all industries except for 18 that "related to security and strategic concerns, social reasons, problems related to safety and overriding environmental issues." To incentivise foreign investment, it laid out a plan to pre-approve all investment up to 51% foreign equity participation, allowing foreign companies to bring modern technology and industrial development. To further incentivise technological advancement, the old policy of government approval for foreign technology agreements was scrapped. The fourth point proposed to dismantle public monopolies by floating shares of public sector companies and limiting public sector growth to essential infrastructure, goods and services, mineral exploration, and defense manufacturing. Finally the concept of an MRTP company, where companies whose assets surpassed a certain value were placed under government supervision, was scrapped.


title: Economic liberalisation in India

text: Meanwhile, Manmohan Singh worked on a new budget that would come to be known as the Epochal Budget. The primary concern was getting the fiscal deficit under control, and he sought to do this by curbing government expenses. Part of this was the disinvestment in public sector companies, but accompanying this was a reduction in subsidies for fertilizer and abolition of subsidies for sugar. He also dealt with the depletion of foreign exchange reserves during the crisis with a 19 per cent devaluation of the rupee with respect to the US dollar, a change which sought to make exports cheaper and accordingly provide the necessary foreign exchange reserves. The devaluation made petroleum more expensive to import, so Singh proposed to lower the price of kerosene to benefit the poorer citizens who depended on it while raising petroleum prices for industry and fuel. On 24 July 1991, Manmohan Singh presented the budget alongside his outline for broader reform. During the speech he laid out a new trade policy oriented towards promoting exports and removing import controls. Specifically, he proposed limiting tariff rates to no more than 150 percent while also lowering rates across the board, reducing excise duties, and abolishing export subsidies.


title: Economic liberalisation in India

text: In August 1991, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor established the Narasimham Committee to recommend changes to the financial system. Recommendations included reducing the statutory liquidity ratio (SLR) and cash reserve ratio (CRR) from 38.5% and 15% respectively to 25% and 10% respectively, allowing market forces to dictate interest rates instead of the government, placing banks under the sole control of the RBI, and reducing the number of public sector banks. The government heeded some of these suggestions, including cutting the SLR and CRR rates, liberalizing interest rates, loosening restrictions on private banks, and allowing banks to open branches free from government mandate.


title: Economic liberalisation in India

text: On 12 November 1991, based on an application from the Government of India, World Bank sanctioned a structural adjustment loan/credit that consisted of two components – an IBRD loan of $250 million to be paid over 20 years, and an IDA credit of SDR 183.8 million (equivalent to $250 million) with 35 years maturity, through India's ministry of finance, with the President of India as the borrower. The loan was meant primarily to support the government's program of stabilization and economic reform. This specified deregulation, increased foreign direct investment, liberalisation of the trade regime, reforming domestic interest rates, strengthening capital markets (stock exchanges), and initiating public enterprise reform (selling off public enterprises). As part of a bailout deal with the IMF, India was forced to pledge 20 tonnes of gold to Union Bank of Switzerland and 47 tonnes to the Bank of England and Bank of Japan.


title: Economic liberalisation in India

text: The reforms drew heavy scrutiny from opposition leaders. The New Industrial Policy and 1991 Budget was decried by opposition leaders as "command budget from the IMF" and worried that withdrawal of subsidies for fertilizers and hikes in oil prices would harm lower and middle-class citizens. Critics also derided devaluation, fearing it would worsen runaway inflation that would hit the poorest citizens the hardest while doing nothing to fix the trade deficit. In the face of vocal opposition, the support and political will of the prime minister was crucial in order to see through the reforms. Rao was often referred to as "Chanakya" for his ability to steer tough economic and political legislation through the parliament at a time when he headed a minority government.


title: Economic liberalisation in India

text: Reforms led to the achievement of recognizable increases in international competitiveness in a number of sectors including auto components, telecommunications, software, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, research and development, and professional services provided by scientists, technologists, doctors, nurses, teachers, management professionals and similar professions.


title: Economic liberalisation in India

text: Foreign investment in the country (including foreign direct investment, portfolio investment, and investment raised on international capital markets) increased from US$132 million in 1991–92 to $5.3 billion in 1995–96.


title: Economic liberalisation in India

text: Poverty reduced from 36 percent in 1993-94 to 26.1 percent in 1999-00. Within 10 years, the ratio of total goods and services trade to GDP rose from 17.2 percent to 30.6 percent.


title: Economic liberalisation in India

text: After the reforms, life expectancy and literacy rates continued to increase at roughly the same rate as before the reforms. For the first 10 years after the 1991 reforms, GDP also continued to increase at roughly the same rate as before the reforms.


title: Economic liberalisation in India

text: However, the average annual growth rates in GDP, post the 1990s has shown a significant increase, having been around 6.25 per cent against 4.18 per cent for the three decades prior to the reforms.


title: Economic liberalisation in India

text: Liberalisation did not affect all parts of India equally. Urban residents have benefited more than rural residents. An analysis of the effects of liberalisation across multiple Indian states found that states with pro-worker labor laws saw slower industry expansion than those with pro-employer labor laws, as industries moved towards states with friendlier business climates.


title: Economic liberalisation in India

text: By 1997, it became evident that no governing coalition would try to dismantle liberalisation, although governments avoided taking on powerful lobbies such as trade unions and farmers on contentious issues such as reforming labour laws and reducing agricultural subsidies. By the turn of the 21st century, India had progressed towards a free-market economy, with a substantial reduction in state control of the economy and increased financial liberalisation.


title: Economic liberalisation in India

text: In 2006 India recorded its highest GDP growth rate of 9.6% becoming the second fastest growing major economy in the world, next only to China. The growth rate has slowed significantly in the first half of 2012.


title: Economic liberalisation in India

text: The economy then rebounded to 7.3% growth in 2015, 7.9% in 2015 and 8.2% in 2016 before falling to 6.7% in 2017, 6.5% in 2018 and 4% in 2019.


title: Economic liberalisation in India

text: The United Front government attempted a progressive budget that encouraged reforms, but the 1997 Asian financial crisis and political instability created economic stagnation.


title: Economic liberalisation in India

text: The Vajpayee administration continued liberal reforms. NDA Coalition began privatizing government-owned business including hotels, VSNL, Maruti Suzuki, and airports. The coalition also began reducing taxes, enacted a fiscal policy aimed at reducing deficits and debts and increased initiatives for public works.


title: Economic liberalisation in India

text: Towards the end of 2011, the second UPA Coalition Government led by Manmohan Singh initiated the introduction of 51% Foreign Direct Investment in retail sector. But due to pressure from coalition parties and the opposition, the decision was delayed. It was later approved in December 2012.


title: Economic liberalisation in India

text: The second NDA Government also opened up the coal industry through the passing of the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Bill of 2015. It effectively ended the state monopoly over the mining of coal sector and opened up the for private, foreign investments, as well as private sector mining of coal.


title: Economic liberalisation in India

text: In the 2016 budget session of Parliament, the Modi led NDA Government pushed through the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code to create time-bound processes for insolvency resolution of companies and individuals.


title: Economic liberalisation in India

text: On 1 July 2017, the NDA Government under Modi approved Goods and Services Tax Act after the legislation was first proposed 17 years earlier under the NDA Government in 2000 to replace multiple indirect taxes with a unified tax structure.


title: Economic liberalisation in India

text: On 20 September 2019 Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced reduction of the base corporate tax rate from 30% to 22% for companies that do not seek exemptions, and reduced the rate for new manufacturing companies from 25% to 15%.


title: Economic liberalisation in India

text: The liberalisation of Indian economy resulted in a large increase in inequality with income share of Top 10% of the population increasing from 35% in 1991 to 57.1% in 2014. Likewise, the income share of Bottom 50% decreased from 20.1% in 1991 to 13.1% in 2014. It has also been criticised for decreasing rural living standards, rural employment and an increase in farmer suicides.


title: Economic liberalisation in India

text: Poverty continues to persist in India, before COVID-19 Pandemic there were 59 million Indians living below $2 a day and 1,162 million living between $2.01 and $10 a day.


title: Economic liberalisation in India

text: Low government expenditure on healthcare has resulted in a healthcare quality divide between rich and poor as well rural and urban population.


title: Economic liberalisation in India

text: After 1991, Indian government removed some restrictions to imports of agriculture products causing a price crash while cutting subsidies for the farmers to keep government intervention to the minimum as per neoliberal ideals causing further farmer distress.


title: Economic liberalisation in India

text: 2020-2021 Indian farmers' protests forced the Indian government to repeal three laws meant to further liberalise Indian agriculture sector.


title: Economic liberalisation in India

text: India is highly dependent on indirect taxes, especially the tax levied on the sale and manufacture of goods and services that ordinary Indians depend upon.


title: Laila Rouass

text: Laila Rouass (née Abdesselam) is a British actress. She is best known for her portrayals of Amber Gates in "Footballers' Wives" (2004–2006) and Sahira Shah in "Holby City" (2011–2012, 2021). She has also starred in "Primeval" and "Spooks" and been a contestant on "Strictly Come Dancing", in which she finished fourth.


title: Laila Rouass

text: Rouass worked as a VJ on Channel V in India in the 1990s. While on Channel V, she appeared in a music video for the band Colour Blind, directed by the then creative head of the channel, Shamin Desai.


title: Laila Rouass

text: After moving back to the UK, Rouass became famous for playing the role of Bollywood actress Amber Gates in the cult ITV1 series "Footballers' Wives" between 2004 and 2006 and, albeit briefly, on the ITV2 spin-off series "". She also played recurring roles on the British soaps "Family Affairs" and "Hollyoaks", as well as appearing in episodes of "I Dream", "Casualty" and "Meet the Magoons". She starred alongside Meera Syal in the television adaptation of Syal's novel, "Life Isn't All Ha Ha Hee Hee."


title: Laila Rouass

text: Rouass was ranked No.87 and No.69 on FHM 100 Sexiest Women in the World 2004 and FHM 100 Sexiest Women in the World 2005 respectively.


title: Laila Rouass

text: In 2009 she appeared as Egyptologist Sarah Page in the third series of the ITV science-fiction series "Primeval". She left the show when location of filming was changed to Dublin, for series four and five, saying it would be hard to continue participating as she was a single parent.


title: Laila Rouass

text: In spring of 2010, Rouass announced that she will be making a film about Leila Khaled, who led the hijacking of a flight from Rome to Athens in 1969. Rouass stated she had funding for the film.


title: Laila Rouass

text: She played Maya Lahan, a regular character introduced in the ninth series of BBC One drama "Spooks" which broadcast from September 2010. She guest starred as the evil Colonel Karim in "The Sarah Jane Adventures" in October 2010. Rouass then joined the cast of the BBC medical drama "Holby City", appearing from February 2011 as registrar Sahira Shah. She left "Holby City" on 17 April 2012, after just 14 months on the show, to take a break to spend time with her family. She returned to the role of Sahira Shah on 9 February 2021.


title: Laila Rouass

text: She participated in the seventh series of "Strictly Come Dancing", a BBC One reality show, paired with professional dancer Anton Du Beke, and alongside "Footballers' Wives" co-star Zöe Lucker.


title: Laila Rouass

text: The pair made it to the last four before being voted off the show on 6 December 2009. She did not attend the final on 19 December 2009 to reprise her partnership with Anton Du Beke.


title: Laila Rouass

text: Rouass' first film was "City of Dreams" produced by Feroze Nadiawala, in which she starred opposite Lisa Ray and Saeed Jaffery. During the years that she was based in India, early in her career, she acted in some Indian films, Aditya Bhattacharya's Indo-Italian "Senso unico" (1999) and Dev Benegal's "Split Wide Open" (1999).


title: Laila Rouass

text: In 2000, Rouass starred in Jag Mhundra's controversial film, "Bawandar" (English title; "The Sand Storm"), about revenge rapes in Rajasthan, and she made her English-language film debut in 2002 with a small role in "The Four Feathers" opposite Heath Ledger.


title: Laila Rouass

text: She starred in "The Hunt Feast" (2004), and in 2006 she was cast in Aditya Raj Kapoor's film "Don't Stop Dreaming".


title: Laila Rouass

text: Rouass also appeared in the independent British film "Shoot on Sight" (2007) opposite Brian Cox, Om Puri and Sadie Frost. In 2008, she appeared in two films, "Freebird" and the New Zealand funded "Apron Strings".


title: Laila Rouass

text: Rouass appeared in the Harlan Coben Netflix original 8 part mini-series "Safe" where she played Lauren Marshall.


title: Laila Rouass

text: Born Laila Abdesselam to Moroccan immigrant parents, she grew up with six siblings in Tower Hamlets in the East End of London. Raised Muslim, she is now non-practising, while calling the Islamic faith part of her identity. In 1990, she married family friend Abdeslam Rouass, but they divorced in 2003 without having consummated their marriage, after which she lived with London businessman Nasir Khan. The couple held a religious ceremony in 2005 before friends and family, pledging to spend their lives together, after which Rouass stated that she considered herself "married in the eyes of God." She subsequently faced criticism for stating that she and Khan had married each other, even though the ceremony had no legal standing. She became pregnant in 2006, but ended her relationship with Khan shortly after their daughter was born in February 2007. In 2011, Khan was sentenced to nine years in prison for his money-laundering role in a £250 million VAT fraud conspiracy.


title: Laila Rouass

text: From 2010 to 2011, Rouass dated celebrity chef James Petrie. In 2012, she began dating professional snooker player Ronnie O'Sullivan, to whom she became engaged in February 2013. Rouass and O'Sullivan appeared together as guests on BBC's "Saturday Kitchen" in February 2021. In February 2022, Rouass announced that the couple had ended their relationship, but they subsequently reconciled.


title: Laila Rouass

text: In August 2017, Rouass was caught up in the Barcelona terrorist attack, writing on Twitter during the incident that she was hiding in a restaurant freezer.


title: The Girl Before

text: The Girl Before is a 4-part television thriller adaptation created by J.P. Delaney for BBC One and HBO Max, based on the 2016 novel of the same name by Delaney.


title: The Girl Before

text: A traumatised woman falls in love with an extraordinary minimalist house, which remains under the spell of the architect who originally designed it, but not everything may be as it seems.


title: The Girl Before

text: Ron Howard was initially linked to the project. "Killing Eve" director Lisa Brühlmann directed. J.P. Delaney created, wrote and executive-produced the series. He also co-wrote two episodes with screenwriter Marissa Lestrade. Filming began in Bristol in the spring of 2021 on location in Redland, Bristol and at The Bottle Yard Studios. ITV Studios is the international distributor for the series.


title: The Girl Before

text: "The Girl Before" is broadcast on BBC One in the UK and streaming on the BBC iPlayer and streaming in the United States of America on HBO Max. "The Girl Before" premieres in Australia from Thursday 10 February 2022 on Foxtel and Binge.


title: The Girl Before

text: On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds a 50% approval rating based on 14 reviews, with an average rating of 5.6/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Despite stellar performances from Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Jessica Plummer, "The Girl Before" fizzles as a mystery." On Metacritic, the series has a score of 56 out of 100, based on 14 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".


title: The Girl Before

text: Leila Latif of "The A.V. Club" gave the limited series a B and said, "...the series still proves more artful than most entries in the genre. [However], many of its larger plot points and mysteries are predictably resolved (made more predictable still by a small cast that provides a limited number of solutions), but the series shines best when it takes a step back from the twists and turns and settles into character study."


title: UFC 264

text: UFC 264: Poirier vs. McGregor 3 was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on July 10, 2021 at the T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada, part of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Area, United States.


title: UFC 264

text: A lightweight trilogy between former interim UFC Lightweight Champion Dustin Poirier and former UFC Featherweight and Lightweight Champion Conor McGregor headlined the event. Their first fight was a featherweight bout that happened in September 2014 at UFC 178, where McGregor won by first-round technical knockout. They then ascended to lightweight for an eventual rematch in January 2021 at UFC 257, where Poirier prevailed via second-round knockout. During fight week, it was revealed that former lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos was selected by the organization to serve as a potential replacement in case of need.


title: UFC 264

text: A middleweight bout between former KSW Welterweight Champion Dricus du Plessis and Trevin Giles was scheduled to take place at , but du Plessis was pulled from the event due to visa issues which restricted his travel. The pairing was rescheduled and took place at this event.


title: UFC 264

text: A welterweight bout between Sean Brady and former interim UFC Lightweight Championship challenger Kevin Lee was expected to take place at the event. However, Lee withdrew due to injury and the bout was removed from the event.


title: UFC 264

text: A bantamweight bout between Sean O'Malley and Louis Smolka was expected to take place at the event. However on June 29, Smolka withdrew due to an undisclosed injury. He was replaced by promotional newcomer Kris Moutinho.


title: UFC 264

text: At the weigh-ins, Irene Aldana weighed in at 139.5 pounds, three and a half pounds over the bantamweight non-title fight limit. Her bout proceeded at catchweight and she was fined 30% of her purse, which went to her opponent Yana Kunitskaya.


title: UFC 264

text: On July 9, it was announced that the UFC would be increasing bonuses (Fight of the Night and Performance of the Night) from $50,000 to $75,000 for this event.


title: UFC 264

text: A middleweight bout between Alen Amedovski and Hu Yaozong was scheduled to the be the first preliminary bout of the event. However, it was cancelled just hours before taking place due to COVID-19 protocol issues in Amedovski's camp.


title: Mudhalvan

text: Mudhalvan () is a 1999 Indian Tamil-language political action thriller film produced by R. Madhesh and S. Shankar, written and directed by Shankar. The film stars Arjun, Manisha Koirala and Raghuvaran while Vadivelu and Manivannan appear in supporting roles. The film featured an award-winning soundtrack composed by A. R. Rahman, cinematography by K. V. Anand and dialogues by Sujatha.


title: Mudhalvan

text: The film revolves around an ambitious TV journalist, Pughazhendi, who gets his first interview with the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. Pughazh asks harder questions, and the Chief Minister starts trembling and asks him to put his money where his mike is and become his replacement CM for a day. After initially rejecting the offer, Pugazh agrees and does such a great job on his first day, that the actual cabinet collapses and fresh elections are held, where state voters eventually elect him to be their new official Chief Minister. The subsequent unpopularity and jealousy that the old Chief Minister goes through results in him taking revenge on Pugazh, and how he is stopped forms the crux of the story.


title: Mudhalvan

text: The film was released on 7 November 1999, as a Deepavali release. The film enjoyed positive critical acclaim and emerged as one of the top grossing Tamil films of 1999. The film ran for over 100 days in theaters and won awards on a regional scale. The film was later remade in Hindi as "Nayak" (2001). Also the film was unofficially remade in Bangladeshi Bengali as "Minister" (2002) and loosely remade in Indian Bengali as "MLA Fatakeshto" (2006).


title: Mudhalvan

text: N. Pugazhendi aka Pugazh (Arjun Sarja) is a news reporter working for QTV in Chennai. He goes to film the Chief Minister's appearance in a nearby village, where he is told the townspeople have had lights and electricity for a long time. One girl, comes forward and tells the truth about how the lights have only been put up one day ago and there is no electricity. She gets awarded by the CM for her honesty and Pugazh develops a crush on her. One day, a riot occurs between the students and the bus drivers in the city following a communal clash which disrupts normal life. The Chief Minister (CM) of the state, Aranganathar (Raghuvaran), informs the police over wireless not to arrest the protesters as they belong to his community and political party. The conversation is recorded by Pugazh in his video camera. Pugazh tries to learn the name of the village girl and finds her name in the video he took- Thenmozhi (Manisha Koirala) -and falls in love with her. However, her father (Vijayakumar) does not accept the marriage proposal as he wants to get Thenmozhi married only to a government employee.


title: Mudhalvan

text: One day, QTV arranges for a live interview with Aranganathar and the anchor in charge left his job and joined at another television channel UTV, a rival for QTV. Pugazh is thrilled and excited as he gets the opportunity to interview the CM. During the course of the interview, Pugazh unmasks many events done by Aranganathar and his party against the welfare of the state, for political reasons with necessary evidences, and he also blames Aranganathar for not taking action while at the riot by evidencing his recorded video taken at the time of the riot. Aranganathar justifies his indifferent stands and challenges Pugazh to accept his post for a day so that he will realize the pressures faced on a daily basis. Pugazh, after a brief trepidation, accepts the challenge provided the constitution permits. Lawmakers confirm that such a provision is possible, and Pugazh is sworn in as the CM for 24 hours.


title: Mudhalvan

text: To everyone's surprise, Pugazh does not prefer speaking to the waiting media crew, but he gets into action immediately by collecting a list of irresponsible civil servants and issuing suspension letters immediately. He helps poor people rightfully reclaim houses allotted by the government and requests every Indian citizen to pay all required taxes even if it is for a day, highlighting the effects of avoiding the same. Mayakrishnan (Manivannan), an honest official, is the government secretary and helps Pugazh through his one-day mission. Finally, Pugazh digs a case of corruption against the ruling party leading to the arrest of multiple ex-ministers and even Aranganathar. The same night, Aranganar obtains bail through the attorney general, without even going to Jail. Within minutes of release, he takes Pugazh's success as his defeat and a demean to his long-standing political career, and sends goons to kill Pugazh, who fights off and escapes with minor injuries.


title: Mudhalvan

text: Pugal visits Poonjlai and is applauded by the villagers for his actions in the Agri department. He spends his day with Thenmozhi in peace. Meanwhile, Aranganathar's image is tarnished before the public, and all of his coalition parties refuse to support him to become CM again, resulting in dissolution of the legislature, precipitating a General election. Surveys from multiple media indicate enormous public support for Pugazh to become CM, leading to Aranganathar's anger. He uses his clout to get Pugal's house partly demolished. Mayakrishnan meanwhile goes to Q TV office to convince Pugazh to come to politics. But, Pugazh refuses and states that he is preparing for TNPSC exam. Q TV headquarters is then attacked heavily and Pugazh is nearly beaten to death.


title: Mudhalvan

text: Next morning, a huge crowd gathers in front of Pugazh's house, requesting him to contest in the upcoming election. Many political parties also come forward to get his support. However, Pugazh doesn't wish to contest as he wants to lead normal life. Thenmozhi's father meets him and advises him not to go in politics, while accepting his marriage to Thenmozhi. But Mayakrishnan makes Pugazh understand the vast support he has and shows the plight of people and advises him to sacrifice his comfort zone for the sake of achieving heights in the politics and doing good for the people. Finally, Pugazh accepts and contests in the ensuing election. His party wins by the vast majority of votes never seen in the political history of Tamil Nadu, and takes all seats in the Legislature. After assuming the office, Pugazh is keen in the state development and gets busy in his schedule of doing welfare to the people, while Aranganathar and other politicians unite and plot to avenge their political failure.


title: Mudhalvan

text: They hire a hitman to kill Pugazh, but he escapes the attempt with the help of the Z Cadre security guard officials, who kill the hitman. Pughaz's parents are killed in a bomb blast placed in his house. Enraged on learning Aranganathar is behind the death of his parents, Pugazh challenges the latter that the law will not spare him. Aranganathar plans to create a havoc in the state and has his men plant bombs across Chennai. Pugazh and Mayakrishnan get to know of this by a tactful inquiry of Chinnasamy (Cochin Haneefa), who is Aranganathar's right-hand henchman. The bomb squad diffuses all the bombs except one. Meanwhile, Aranganathar blames Pugazh to be the man behind the entire episode and claims it as a ploy to win public support.


title: Mudhalvan

text: Pugazh realizes that he will be prevented from performing his duties and invites Aranganathar to his office. As their conversation progresses, Pugazh pulls out a gun and shoots himself without causing any major injuries. He throws the gun to Aranganathar who catches it out of his reflexes. At the same time, the security guards officials rush in upon hearing gunfire and see Aranganathar pointing the gun at Pugazh. The security guards shoot and kill Aranganathar. A dying Aranganathar remembers his old interview with Pugazh, that had changed everything. Mayakrishnan blames the deceased Aranganathar for trying to kill the Chief Minister out of political rivalry.


title: Mudhalvan

text: Pugazh feels glad that he can continue his mission without being interrupted, but he also feels guilty for having staged a false incident to kill Aranganathar. He confesses to Mayakrishnan that even he has been forced to play the game of politics. Mayakrishnan supports him by consoling that he played the politics only for a good cause and that Aranganathar deserves this. Thenmozhi's father realizes the greatness of Pugazhendhi and consents to the marriage.


title: Mudhalvan

text: The movie ends showing Tamil Nadu as a highly developed state under the administration of Pugazh with world class infrastructures and free of violence.


title: Mudhalvan

text: Following the success of "Jeans" (1998), S. Shankar chose to make a political action film, which would later become "Mudhalvan".


title: Mudhalvan

text: The lead role was initially written with Rajinikanth in mind, but he was unwilling to star in the film. Vijay was also considered by Shankar for the role, though the actor turned the offer down. Shankar revealed that he even approached Kamal Haasan for the film, but he was doing "Hey Ram" at that time. Arjun, who had previously collaborated with Shankar in "Gentleman" (1993), was willing to offer bulk schedule dates for the film and was subsequently signed on.


title: Mudhalvan

text: Shankar noted that he was interested in casting Meena in the leading role, but he opted against doing so as the actress was working with Arjun in another film in the same period, "Rhythm" (2000). Subsequently, Manisha Koirala, who worked with Shankar in "Indian", was selected to play Arjun's heroine. Raghuvaran was signed to play the chief antagonist in the film, while Vadivelu and Manivannan were also chosen to play other characters. Despite reports that Shilpa Shetty was added to the cast in February 1999, it was later clarified to be untrue. Laila, who had made her acting debut earlier in the year with "Kallazhagar", was signed on to portray the role planned with Shetty instead. Originally, her role was supposed to feature throughout the film, but Shankar shortened her character, owing to her call sheet problems. Renowned muralist Natanam and Kalairani were cast as Arjun's parents. S. Sashikanth, who went on to produce films like "Thamizh Padam" (2010) and "Kaaviya Thalaivan" (2014), and K. R. Mathivaanan, who directed "Aridhu Aridhu" (2010), worked as assistant directors.


title: Mudhalvan

text: The film was jointly launched by S. Shankar and his co-director R. Madhesh in October 1998 at an event attended by actors and technicians from the Tamil film industry, with actors Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan being the special invitees. Production continued for several months, with reports suggesting that the film was delayed due to Manisha Koirala's unavailability though Shankar later stressed the production work demanded such delay. Parts of the film were also shot in Bikaner, Rajasthan while the team also shot extensively in rural Tamil Nadu. The film's cinematographer Anand later noted that the scenes involving crowds shot on Anna Salai, Chennai were among the hardest and most satisfying scenes he had worked on. The song "Shakalaka Baby" was the last song to be shot, with Sushmita Sen selected to feature in a special appearance for the song. Stunt master Peter Hein revealed that he worked as a body double for Arjun in the scene where he had to run nude on the streets.


title: Mudhalvan

text: The film dealt with the theme of a television cameraman who is forced to take over the duty of Chief Minister for one day. It also dealt with the concept of opportunities for educated people in politics and demonstrated it is possible to bring change in the country. The film's basic idea was inspired from Nixon-Frost interviews which were broadcast in 1977 and also inspired by Indian actor Sivaji Ganesan being named the honorary mayor of Niagara Falls, New York for one day during his visit to the United States.


title: Mudhalvan

text: The soundtrack features six songs composed by A. R. Rahman and lyrics penned by Vairamuthu. The song "Shakalaka Baby" was re-edited by A. R. Rahman and featured on the international musical production "Bombay Dreams", which ran in Europe and North America from 2002 to 2005. This version was also released as a single. A Mandarin Chinese remix of the track sung by Singaporean singer Kelly Poon was featured in her album "In the Heart Of The World" (2007).


title: Mudhalvan

text: The release of the soundtrack was held at Sathyam Cinemas, Chennai, on 31 October 1999 with two songs from the film being performed on stage. The special guests for the event were actor Kamal Haasan and actress Sushmita Sen, who performed an item number in the film. The event was well attended by the cast and the crew of the film, with other guests including cinematographer P. C. Sriram, actress Sarika, and actor Suriya.


title: Mudhalvan

text: The soundtrack was a success, and the initial day audio sale alone was more than three lakh units. The song "Azhagana Rakshasiye" is based on Rithigowla Raga.


title: Mudhalvan

text: The film's release prints were long. The film was released on 7 November 1999 while the Telugu dubbed version, "Oke Okkadu" released on 9 November 1999 which was also a commercial success. Upon release, the film won positive reviews and was successful at the box office. It was later remade in Hindi as "Nayak" starring Anil Kapoor. The film went on to run for over one hundred days in cinemas with an event being held at Kamaraj Hall on 25 February 2000 to mark one hundred days since release. The event, similar to the launch, attracted several people from the film industry with Kamal Haasan, once again, being the chief guest of the event.


title: Mudhalvan

text: On 21 November 1999, "Ananda Vikatan" in its review gave 43 marks and appreciated the film stating that: "One can see Shankar's grandeur in the way he presented a social problem magnificently. Shankar has approached a serious social issue with usual entertainment elements". "The Hindu" said "Shankar scores again". In regard to the lead performances, Arjun is described as having "acquitted himself with aplomb", while Manisha's performance was criticized with claims that she "lacks the freshness that one always associates her with". The critic also referred to Shankar's direction and Sujatha's dialogs as a "positive", while drawing praise to the videos of the songs describing that "every song and dance sequence seems a magnum opus by itself". "The New Indian Express" described the film as "absorbing" and praised certain scenes, although it criticized the videos of the songs as a "fiasco".


title: Mudhalvan

text: The scene where a crowd gathers around the protagonist's house to persuade him to contest elections was included by "Behindwoods.com" in their list of "Top 20 Mass Scenes".


title: Mudhalvan

text: Songs from the film's soundtrack inspired a number of Tamil film titles. Rama Narayanan directed a film titled "Shakalaka Baby" in 2002, while Radha Mohan made "Uppu Karuvaadu" in 2015. A film titled "Lukku Vida Thonalaiyaa", a line from the song "Shakalaka Baby", also began production in 2002 but was not released.


title: Mudhalvan

text: The scenes, songs and dialogues from the film has been parodied in "Budget Padmanabhan" (2000), "Kandha Kadamba Kathir Vela" (2000), "Kanna Unnai Thedukiren" (2001), "Run" (2002), "Dubai Seenu" (2007), "Sivaji" (2007), "Singakutty" (2008), and "Kaalaippani" (2008). The film has also been spoofed in Star Vijay's Lollu Sabha with the same title with Santhanam as the main character. In 2017 film "Kavan", the interview scene was inspired from this film.


title: Lara Stone

text: Lara Catherina Stone (born 20 December 1983) is a Dutch fashion model. Stone has appeared on the covers of W and Vogue and has worked with brands like Fendi, Chanel, Marc Jacobs, Stella McCartney, H&M, Prada, Louis Vuitton, and Versace among others. She has been signed with The Lions, IMG Models, and Elite Model Management.


title: Lara Stone

text: Stone was born in Geldrop, however, she grew up in Mierlo, a small town in the Netherlands, to a Dutch mother named Kathryna and an English father, Michael Stone. She was discovered in the Paris Metro while on holiday with her family when she was 12, and she also took part in the Elite Model Look competition in 1999 when she was 15. Although she did not win, she impressed the Elite executives and was signed to the Elite Modelling Agency.


title: Lara Stone

text: Stone left Elite and signed with IMG Models worldwide in 2006. In January, she made her catwalk debut when Riccardo Tisci put her in his Givenchy couture shows during the Paris Fashion Week. Later that year, she has signed an exclusive for Calvin Klein. In 2007, she was the subject of a spread in March's "Vogue Paris" in the style of Brigitte Bardot and also appeared on the cover of the April issue. The "New York Times"' fashion critic Cathy Horyn named her the "anti-model" in her "On the Runway" blog; describing her as "not your typical catwalk android with her gapped front teeth, stunned expression, and Lurch walk, which can be attributed to her small foot size 7 – catwalk shoes are at least a size larger." "New York Magazine" to rank her No. 2 on their "Top Ten Models to Watch" for in New York Fashion Week.


title: Lara Stone

text: Stone has opened shows for Giles Deacon, Isabel Marant, Christopher Kane, Fendi, and MaxMara, and closed for Chanel, Diesel, Marc Jacobs, Stella McCartney, and Balmain. She has also been a "semi-exclusive" for Prada, meaning she could not walk any other shows during New York fashion week or any shows in Milan before the Prada show.


title: Lara Stone

text: Her spring/summer 2008 campaigns included Givenchy, Belstaff, Just Cavalli, and H&M. Her campaigns for autumn/winter 2008 included Calvin Klein, Givenchy, Belstaff, Hugo Boss, Calvin Klein Cosmetics, and Jil Sander. Stone was one of the models chosen to be in one of the fourteen covers of "V magazine" September 2008 issue - shot by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, each cover has a headshot of a model, either from the newer generation of models or the supermodel era.


title: Lara Stone

text: Stone was also photographed alongside Małgosia Bela, Daria Werbowy, Randal Moore, Mariacarla Boscono, Emanuela de Paula, and Isabeli Fontana for the 2009 Pirelli Calendar.


title: Lara Stone

text: In the February 2009 edition of "Vogue Paris", which featured Stone on the cover, she said she does not like the runway and that her unusually small feet for a person of her size does not fit in shoes. Stone was featured on the August 2009 cover of "W", declaring her "Fashion's It Girl" and the reasons she is the most-wanted face and body in the business. "Vogue Paris" named her as one of the top 30 models of the 2000s. Stone made her American "Vogue" debut on the May 2009 cover alongside Liya Kebede, Anna Jagodzinska, Natalia Vodianova, Caroline Trentini, Jourdan Dunn, Raquel Zimmermann, Sasha Pivovarova, Natasha Poly, Karen Elson, and Isabeli Fontana as one of the "Faces of the Moment". It was also a special issue because the cover featured models instead of celebrities. An international racial controversy arose when she appeared in an editorial for French's "Vogue" October 2009 issue with her face and body blackened.


title: Lara Stone

text: In 2010, Stone replaced Sasha Pivovarova as the new face for Prada's fragrance Infusion d'Iris, shot by Steven Meisel. Her other spring/summer campaigns included Louis Vuitton, Versus by Versace Fragrance, Jaeger, and H&M. This same year her look sparked a trend in: blonde, gap-toothed, big-lipped models like Georgia May Jagger, Lindsey Wixson, and Ashley Smith. The look even inspired Tyra Banks to have a contestant's tooth gap widened on cycle 15 of "America's Next Top Model".


title: Lara Stone

text: Stone signed an exclusive deal with Calvin Klein Inc., making the 26-year-old model the face of Calvin Klein Collection, CK Calvin Klein, and Calvin Klein Jeans for fall 2010. It marked the first time in years the fashion house had chosen to use one model for three of its brands, and Stone would be exclusive to CKI for all apparel advertising and runway appearances for fall. At the end of the year she won British Fashion Awards' Model of the year 2010.


title: Lara Stone

text: Stone was featured in the 2011 Pirelli Calendar photographed by Karl Lagerfeld. Stone was part "Vogue UK"s first multi-cover in the publication's 95-years, landing one of the three May 2011 covers in celebration of the Wedding of Prince William of Wales and Kate Middleton. She debuted on Forbes' "World's Top-Earning Models" list, ranking No. 7, with estimated earnings of $4.5 million since May of last year (2010–2011).


title: Lara Stone

text: Stone was again featured in the 2012 Pirelli Calendar photographed by Mario Sorrenti and also as the face of Calvin Klein's 2012 Underwear campaign.


title: Lara Stone

text: Stone was ranked #1 on models.com's "Top 50 Models" list from Spring 2010 to Summer 2012 before moving to their "Industry Icons" list and she was also ranked the 9th sexiest model on their Top Sexiest Models list.


title: Lara Stone

text: In March 2014, Stone again appeared on the cover of "Vogue Paris" and in April, American "Harper's Bazaar".


title: Lara Stone

text: In March 2015, Stone appeared on one of three "Vogue Paris" covers alongside Kate Moss and Daria Werbowy. Stone was also on the August cover of "British Vogue", shot by Mario Testino.


title: Lara Stone

text: Stone starred with Yvan Attal, Mathilde Bisson, Arthur Igual and Akaji Maro in the short film "En Moi" (""In Me"") directed by Laetitia Casta. The film was selected for the closing ceremony of the 2016 Cannes Film Festival Critic's Week.


title: Lara Stone

text: In the December 2009 issue of "Vogue UK", Stone said she was undergoing inpatient rehabilitation for alcoholism earlier in the year.


title: Lara Stone

text: Stone began dating English comedian David Walliams in September 2009. They announced their engagement in January 2010. They were married at London's Claridge's hotel on 16 May 2010. In November 2012, the couple announced that Stone was pregnant with their first child, due mid-2013. On 6 May 2013, Stone gave birth to a baby boy, Alfred. It was reported on 4 March 2015 that, following five years of marriage, the pair had decided to try a trial separation, after "drifting apart". On 9 September 2015, Walliams filed for divorce from Stone, citing "unreasonable behavior". The couple were granted a decree nisi the next day, dissolving the marriage six weeks after the date of filing. On 17 July 2021, she married property developer David Grievson.


title: Bob Irwin

text: Robert Eric Irwin (born 8 June 1939) is an Australian naturalist, animal conservationist, former zookeeper, and a herpetologist known for his conservation and husbandry work with apex predators and reptiles. He is the founder of the Queensland Reptile and Fauna Park (now known as Australia Zoo). His son was the conservationist and well-known international television personality Steve Irwin.


title: Bob Irwin

text: Robert Irwin was born on June 8, 1939, in Melbourne, Victoria. He was a successful plumber from Melbourne who, in addition, had also spent time building sheds and houses.


title: Bob Irwin

text: Irwin's career in animal conservation began in 1970, when Irwin moved his family from Essendon, located north west of Melbourne, to Queensland.


title: Bob Irwin

text: He had decided to turn his love for animals from a hobby into a career and purchased of land to construct a wildlife refuge. As a builder, Irwin personally turned his hand to building and designing the Beerwah Reptile Park. Irwin dedicated so much time to constructing the Reptile Park and the enclosures that, for the first years in their new life of exhibiting native fauna, the Irwins lived in an old RV caravan. Irwin would build a shed, and then the Irwin house, which the Irwin family and Bob Irwin lived in until Bob gave the wildlife park to his son Steve.


title: Bob Irwin

text: Irwin also resigned from his role as manager of Ironbark Station at Blackbutt where he lived, moving to a new property surrounded by forest and national park between Kingaroy and Murgon where he would continue his son's conservation work.


title: Bob Irwin

text: Irwin's memoir, "The Last Crocodile Hunter: A Father and Son Legacy", was released on 25 October 2016.


title: Bob Irwin

text: Irwin's foresight and innovation in captive care, breeding, and handling of native Australian animals set a new benchmark for wildlife welfare in Australia. Irwin was noted in the conservation sector for utilizing non-violent capture techniques which were then largely unemployed, such as proximity lassoing, hooding, trapping, and netting instead of the more common tranquilizers, chains, or other potentially harmful methods. Irwin would also come to strike bargains with the government, catching problematic or intruding crocodiles in Queensland and in return bringing them to the Reptile Park. Irwin, later aided by son Steve, personally caught and raised every crocodile in the Reptile Park, ultimately tallying over 100 crocodiles.


title: Bob Irwin

text: Irwin married Lyn Hakainsson, a maternity nurse who was killed in a car accident in 2000. Together, they had three children, a daughter, Joy, son Steve, and a second daughter, Mandy. While Irwin made a living as a plumber, and Lyn as a maternity nurse, the family's consuming passion was rescuing and rehabilitating local wildlife. Steve, the couple's son, would not only come to fulfill the roles of curator and director of the Beerwah Reptile Park, but also produced and starred in his highly popular educational documentary series, "The Crocodile Hunter". Steve would enlarge the park to and rename the park the Australia Zoo.


title: Bob Irwin

text: Steve Irwin wrote on his website:What a childhood! My mum was the "Mother Teresa" of wildlife rehabilitation. Our house was a giant maternity ward fair smack-dab in the middle of the Beerwah Reptile Park. It was nothing for us kids to be sharing our house with orphaned joey kangaroos, sugar gliders, ringtail or brushtail possums, koala joeys, baby birds and untold amounts of other injured Australian animals. What a wild menagerie, and an exceptional household to be raised in.


title: Bob Irwin

text: Bob Irwin has since remarried to Judy, and was Queensland's Grandfather of the Year in 2008. Irwin and his wife live on a rural property near Kingaroy, from where Irwin continued to campaign for wildlife and environmental conservation through his foundation, Bob Irwin Wildlife & Conservation Foundation Inc.


title: Bob Irwin

text: On 2 March 2008, it was announced that Bob Irwin had resigned from Australia Zoo (the renamed Beerwah Reptile and Fauna Park) in order to "keep his son's dream alive". He thanked the zoo staff for all their support, with the notable exception of his daughter-in-law, Terri Irwin, with whom, according to zoo staff and volunteers, Irwin had an ongoing feud over treatment of staff, management of Wildlife Warriors and the commercial direction of the world-famous attraction.


title: Bob Irwin

text: On 12 April 2011, Bob Irwin was arrested and charged for contravening police direction as part of his civil disobedience actions against the Queensland Gas Company. He was protesting the construction of a gas pipeline. He faced court in May 2011.


title: Bob Irwin

text: On 1 July 2011, Bob Irwin announced he was considering challenging Labor incumbent Kate Jones and Liberal National Party leader Campbell Newman for the seat of Ashgrove in Brisbane. On 5 September 2011, it was reported that Irwin had become disenchanted with politics and felt he could best carry on his passion for animal conservation and fight against the coal seam gas industry from outside of the political arena.


title: Bob Irwin

text: In June 2018, Irwin announced his retirement, and his Foundation announced suspension of its operations, "... for the foreseeable future ...".


title: Bob Irwin

text: In June 2021, Irwin's granddaughter Bindi claimed that her entire life "has been psychological abuse from him." She also stated that Bob "never said a single kind word" to her personally", and had “shown no interest” in spending time with her or her family. Irwin denied these comments through a spokesperson not long after.


title: European Conservatives and Reformists

text: The European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) is a soft Eurosceptic, anti-federalist political group of the European Parliament. The ECR is the parliamentary group of the European Conservatives and Reformists Party (ECR Party) European political party (formerly known as the "Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe" (2016–2019) or "Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists" (2009–2016), but also includes MEPs from four other European parties and thirteen MEPs without European party affiliation.


title: European Conservatives and Reformists

text: Ideologically, the group is broadly eurosceptic, anti-federalist and right-wing. The main objective of the ECR is to oppose unchecked European integration, enlargement and potential evolution of the European Union (EU) into a Federal European Superstate on the basis of "Eurorealism," and to ensure the EU does not heavily encroach on matters of state and domestic and regional decision making within EU member countries. It also advocates for free market policies and stricter controls on immigration. The ECR contains factions of socially conservative, right-wing populist, liberal conservative, Christian democrat, and national conservative parties who all subscribe to an anti-federalist and eurorealist or euro-critical stance. Within the ECR, some parties and MEPs promote soft euroscepticism, (as opposed to a total rejection of the existence of the EU characterized by anti-EU-ism or hard euroscepticism), by calling for democratic reform of the EU, more transparency, changes to the Eurozone and EU migration/asylum policies, and the curbing some of the EU's powers and bureaucracy whilst maintaining unrestricted free trade and cooperation between nations. Other parties and individual MEPs within the group support complete withdrawal from the block, referendums on EU membership and opposition to the Eurozone.


title: European Conservatives and Reformists

text: The ECR was founded around the Movement for European Reform after the 2009 European elections at the behest of British Conservative Party leader David Cameron. Currently it is the sixth-largest group in the European Parliament with 62 MEPs from 16 countries.


title: European Conservatives and Reformists

text: The genesis of the ECR dates back to 2005, and possibly earlier. A political group in the European Parliament cannot be officially recognised if it contains MEPs from only a single member state. Instead, it must meet the minimum threshold required by the European Parliament's Rules of Procedure. Any party seeking to create a group must therefore seek partners. The last mixed group in the European Parliament was forcibly dissolved. Since then, groups have been required to demonstrate ideological coherence. This is usually done by publishing a document (sometimes called a "constituent declaration") stating the principles to which each group member is expected to adhere. The constituent declaration of the ECR has become known as the Prague Declaration. That document outlines the following principles:


title: European Conservatives and Reformists

text: Ideologically, the founder members of the ECR traditionally sat on the centre-right to right-wing of the political spectrum with an economically liberal and anti-federalist outlook and an initial reluctance from the Conservative Party to include hardline anti-immigration and ultra-nationalist parties. Like the centre-right European People's Party (EPP), the founding members of the ECR mostly support pro-free market ideas with some of its MEPs maintaining ties to think-tanks such as the Cobden Centre and Open Europe, as opposed to the more economic nationalist and anti-globalization approach of other euro-critical groups such as the EFDD and Identity and Democracy. However, the EPP generally favours EU integration and enlargement whereas the ECR opposes it.


title: European Conservatives and Reformists

text: In recent years the group has come to contain a growing faction of nationalist, anti-immigration and right-wing populist movements, with some former ECR members arguing that the group has shifted considerably further to the right over time.


title: European Conservatives and Reformists

text: The shift to the right was increased following the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union, since the Conservative Party lost its representation in the European Parliament.


title: European Conservatives and Reformists

text: In a statement issued on 11 November 2021, two core political documents were cited by the Group's Co-Chairmen, Ryszard Legutko and Raffaele Fitto, to define the ECR's ideological basis when they reaffirmed the Group's "commitment to the Prague Declaration and the ECR Statement on the Reform of the European Union".


title: European Conservatives and Reformists

text: In 2005, the British Conservative Party held a leadership contest. During the sixth term of the European Parliament, Conservative Party MEPs sat in the European Democrats (ED), a subgroup of the European People's Party–European Democrats (EPP-ED) group, which is dominated by the European People's Party (EPP). Leadership contender David Cameron argued for withdrawal of the Conservatives from EPP-ED and the formation of a new group. Upon taking office as Conservative leader in December 2005, Cameron indicated that the launch of a new group would be undertaken immediately. The motives for forming this group was the EPP-ED was too federalist, while the Tories opposed stronger European integration.


title: European Conservatives and Reformists

text: In June 2006, Cameron ordered Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague to ensure the new group was created by 13 July 2006. However, when that date arrived, it was announced that the launch of the new European Parliament group was delayed until after the 2009 elections.


title: European Conservatives and Reformists

text: In the interim, a pan-European alliance, called the Movement for European Reform (MER), was founded and functioned outside of the European Parliament. The same day, the Law and Justice and Civic Platform parties of Poland were identified as potential members of the new group: However, Civic Platform stated that it would not leave the EPP, and the Law and Justice stated that it planned to stay aligned to UEN. The next day, Sir Reg Empey, the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), suggested that the UUP could join the new group after the 2009 election. In the event of the election, the UUP ran under the banner of the Ulster Conservatives and Unionists, an electoral alliance between the Conservative Party and the Ulster Unionists.


title: European Conservatives and Reformists

text: The Czech Civic Democratic Party (ODS) was part of MER but its leader, Mirek Topolánek, did not rule out staying in EPP-ED. Topolánek then attended the EPP Summit (a meeting of heads of state and government of the European People's Party) of 21 June 2007, adding speculation about the fragility of the new group.


title: European Conservatives and Reformists

text: Later in 2007, the relations between the EPP and the Conservative Party further deteriorated when the EPP voiced its opposition to the UK holding a referendum of the Treaty of Lisbon, something the Tories had campaigned for.


title: European Conservatives and Reformists

text: In July 2008, the European Parliament raised the 2009 threshold for forming a group to 25 members and representing 7 member states. Topolánek, after being re-elected Leader of the ODS on 7 December 2008, attended yet another EPP Summit, on 11 December 2008.


title: European Conservatives and Reformists

text: As the 2009 European elections approached, Cameron, Topolánek, and Conservative MEP Geoffrey Van Orden (a 'point-man' for the new group) were looking for partners. The list of possible partners was kept secret.


title: European Conservatives and Reformists

text: People or parties that were rumoured to be possible partners in the new group included Law and Justice; Lega Nord; the Danish People's Party; For Fatherland and Freedom, Order and Justice, the Pensioners' Party; Order, Law and Justice; Libertas; Civic Union; Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania, ChristianUnion-SGP; the independent Indrek Tarand; and Lijst Dedecker's Derk Jan Eppink; from member states such as the Czech Republic, Poland, Italy, Sweden, the Baltic and Balkan states, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Speculation also considered the remnants of the Union for Europe of the Nations (UEN) group, which was thought to be on the verge of collapse after the decision of Fianna Fáil to join the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) and the Italian National Alliance merging with EPP member party Forza Italia. Lajos Bokros, elected on the list of the Hungarian Democratic Forum (MDF) joined the group as the EPP did not want to accept him on pressure of the rival Fidesz.


title: European Conservatives and Reformists

text: The new group was provisionally named the European Conservatives, (echoing the 1970s group of the same name), which was then changed to European Conservatives and Reformists. The original estimates were firmed up to 84 MEPs, then to approximately 60. Frictions surfaced, as the ODS wanted the new group to have as many MEPs as possible, whilst the Conservatives wanted to disbar anti-immigrant parties in the new group, including the Danish People's Party and Lega Nord.


title: European Conservatives and Reformists

text: On 22 June 2009, the first official list of the new group's members was released. On 24 June, the group held its inaugural meeting, in which Conservative MEP Timothy Kirkhope was named interim leader. Adam Bielan of PiS and Jan Zahradil of the ODS were named interim vice-chairmen.


title: European Conservatives and Reformists

text: At the first sitting of the Seventh European Parliament, on 14 July 2009, outgoing Parliament President Hans-Gert Pöttering announced that applications from all new and returning groups had been received and approved, including ECR. The group then became eligible for EU funding, office space, and committee places.


title: European Conservatives and Reformists

text: The first election for the group leadership was also scheduled for 14 July 2009, pitting interim leader Kirkhope against fellow Briton Geoffrey Van Orden. However, both Conservative leadership candidates were forced to forfeit the leadership to prevent it from falling apart, when Conservative MEP Edward McMillan-Scott defied his party whip and stood for one of the vice-presidency posts despite pledges the previous week that Polish MEP Michał Kamiński would be backed for it. Kamiński's bid for Vice-President of the European Parliament subsequently failed, and the Polish MEPs threatened to abandon the new caucus unless Kamiński was made the group leader in the parliament. Kirkhope went to an emergency meeting with Polish MEPs in Strasbourg and proposed sharing the group leadership with the Kamiński; however, this was not accepted, and he had to step down as coalition leader, withdrawing in favour of Kamiński. McMillan-Scott, who alleged that the Conservative's new allies in Poland are 'racist and homophobic', had the Conservative whip withdrawn in the European Parliament. In March 2010, McMillan-Scott joined the British Liberal Democrats and the ALDE group.


title: European Conservatives and Reformists

text: Group chairman Kamiński left Law and Justice (PiS) in November 2010, saying that the party had been taken over by the far-right. Kamiński and other Law and Justice MPs and MEPs formed a new Polish party, Poland Comes First, formed as a breakaway from Law and Justice following dissatisfaction with the direction and leadership of Jarosław Kaczyński. Kamiński initially remained chairman of the group, but other Law and Justice MEPs argued he should step down. On 15 December, rumours emerged that the eleven remaining PiS MEPs might leave the ECR and join the right-wing Europe of Freedom and Democracy (EFD) group instead.


title: European Conservatives and Reformists

text: In February 2011, Kamiński announced he would resign his chairmanship, effective 8 March, when a replacement would be elected. Former interim leader Timothy Kirkhope was said to be the front runner, but lost the election to Jan Zahradil of the Czech Republic's ODS. Zahradil has been in talks with other parties about joining the ECR. In late March, David Cameron invited the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) to join the group.


title: European Conservatives and Reformists

text: The May 2011 resignation of Silvana Koch-Mehrin, one of the fourteen Vice-Presidents of the European Parliament, led to the ECR considering putting another candidate forward to take the position they were denied through McMillan-Scott's defection. Conservative Party MEP Giles Chichester was nominated on 31 May, and was elected unopposed by the Parliament on 5 July 2011, after the ALDE group to which Koch-Mehrin belongs failed to find a willing and suitable candidate.


title: European Conservatives and Reformists

text: On 14 December 2011, a new leadership was elected, with Martin Callanan as chairman and Jan Zahradil, Geoffrey Van Orden, Ryszard Legutko, and Derk Jan Eppink as Vice-Chairmen. On 26 December 2011, four members of United Poland – who had split from Law and Justice in November – left the ECR to join the Europe of Freedom and Democracy (EFD) group. On 17 January 2012, Czech Oldřich Vlasák replaced Chichester as the ECR's Vice-President of the Parliament.


title: European Conservatives and Reformists

text: The 2014 European elections were held on 22–25 May 2014. On 4 June 2014, the ECR accepted applications from the Danish People's Party (4 MEPs) and the Finns Party (2 MEPs), both formerly attached to the EFD group during the 7th term of the European Parliament, as well as the Family Party of Germany, both Ordinary People and Independent Personalities (OĽaNO) and New Majority (NOVA) from Slovakia, and the Independent Greeks. Alternative for Germany and Bulgaria Without Censorship were admitted on 8 June, followed by the Dutch Reformed Political Party on 16 June. On 18 June the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) joined the group, a party previously attached to the Greens/EFA group. N-VA party members had voted by a wide margin to join the ECR group instead of ALDE; 70 voted to join the ECR, and just three to join ALDE. The N-VA's decision allowed the ECR to overtake ALDE as the third biggest group in the European parliament, assuming the role of "kingmakers" in the new parliament. On 23 June, Irish Fianna Fáil MEP Brian Crowley joined from the ALDE group, but without the permission of his party or its leader Micheál Martin, who removed Crowley's party whip the following day. On the same day, IMRO – Bulgarian National Movement joined, taking the group to 70 MEPs.


title: European Conservatives and Reformists

text: The ECR's unanimous decision to admit the Danish People's Party and Finns Party as members was criticised because one MEP from each party has a criminal conviction. Morten Messerschmidt, lead candidate for the Danish People's Party, was convicted in 2002 for publishing material that appeared to suggest that there is a link between a multiethnic society and rape, violence and forced marriages. Jussi Halla-aho, a Finns Party MEP, was convicted in 2012 after writing a 2008 blog entry which claimed that Islam "reveres paedophilia". However, Syed Kamall, the ECR's chairman, who is a practising Muslim, defended the new members.


title: European Conservatives and Reformists

text: Following the election, British Conservative MEP Sajjad Karim was the group's candidate for President of the European Parliament.


title: European Conservatives and Reformists

text: On 8 March 2016, the bureau of the ECR Group began motions to exclude the two remaining MEPs of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) from their group due to the AfD's links with the far-right Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) and controversial remarks about immigration, inviting the MEPs to voluntarily leave the group by 31 March, with a motion of exclusion to be tabled on 12 April otherwise.


title: European Conservatives and Reformists

text: Prior to the 2019 elections, the Sweden Democrats (SD) and Brothers of Italy joined the ECR group, while Forum for Democracy (FvD) and Debout la France pledged to do so after the elections should they win seats.


title: European Conservatives and Reformists

text: Two ECR member parties, the Danish People's Party and the Finns Party, announced their intention to form a new group called the European Alliance for People and Nations with Alternative for Germany and Italy's League following the 2019 elections which was subsequently named "Identity and Democracy."


title: European Conservatives and Reformists

text: During the 2019 elections the British Conservative Party sustained losses, including that of former ECR chairman Syed Kamall. The ECR also saw its total number of MEPs reduced to 62 MEPs and was overtaken in number by Identity and Democracy, the other predominant eurosceptic grouping. However, the FvD and the new Spanish Vox party gained seats for the first time and were formally admitted into the group.


title: European Conservatives and Reformists

text: The Dutch Christian Union (CU) quit the group following the 2019 elections and switched to the European People's Party group with the CU's sole MEP Peter van Dalen protesting that the ECR was moving too far to the right with the inclusion of parties like Forum for Democracy, Vox and the Sweden Democrats. The fellow Dutch Reformed Political Party opted to remain the group, signalling the end of an alliance the CU and Reformed party had during European elections.


title: European Conservatives and Reformists

text: On 31 January 2020, the remaining British Conservative Party MEPs resigned from the group following the completion of the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union.


title: European Conservatives and Reformists

text: In May 2020, Cristian Terheș announced he was joining the ECR group as an MEP for the Romanian Christian Democratic National Peasants' Party (which had previously been expelled from the European People's Party group) having initially been elected for the Social Democratic Party.


title: European Conservatives and Reformists

text: In 2020, all MEPs of the Forum for Democracy party resigned to sit as independents before co-founding a new party, JA21. In 2022, Forum for Democracy switched its affiliation to the Identity and Democracy group.


title: European Conservatives and Reformists

text: ECR Group members participated in two summits organised by the ECR Party (then called the Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe):


title: European Conservatives and Reformists

text: Following the 2019 election, the ECR won 61 seats. The Finns Party and the Danish People's Party agreed to leave the group and join the far-right Identity and Democracy after the election. After those losses, four parties joined the group: the Spanish Vox, the Family Party of Germany, Greek Solution and the Dutch Forum for Democracy.


title: European Conservatives and Reformists

text: Following the 2014 election, members from twelve new parties joined. Additional parties were admitted during the course of the Eighth European Parliament, such as the Slovak Freedom and Solidarity party and the Italian Direzione Italia. Alternative for Germany was initially admitted, but expelled in April 2016.


title: European Conservatives and Reformists

text: In 2019 the ECR had 77 Members of the European Parliament, from twenty-three parties across eighteen countries. The ECR drew the majority of its MEPs from northern and central Europe.


title: European Conservatives and Reformists

text: Originally, it had been announced on 22 June 2009 that Hannu Takkula, MEP for the Finnish Centre Party (an Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe member party) would also be a member of ECR (with his two party colleagues remaining in ALDE), but he reversed this decision two days later.


title: European Conservatives and Reformists

text: The group membership was reduced to 54 when Edward McMillan-Scott was expelled from the group in July 2009. It increased to 55 again when Anna Rosbach joined the group in March 2011. UKIP MEP David Campbell Bannerman rejoined the Conservative Party in May 2011, taking the group's tally to 56: one larger than The Greens–European Free Alliance – an advantage that disappeared in June 2011. Anthea McIntyre was confirmed as the ECR's 57th MEP on 1 December 2011. United Poland, which had been founded by four defectors from Law and Justice – Zbigniew Ziobro, Tadeusz Cymański, Jacek Kurski, and Jacek Włosowicz – left the ECR for Europe of Freedom and Democracy (EFD) on 26 December 2011. In March 2012, Conservative Roger Helmer defected to the UK Independence Party (UKIP) and also joined EFD; Marta Andreasen moved in the opposite direction, joining the Conservatives and the ECR from UKIP and the EFD group, in February 2013. In October 2012, Cristiana Muscardini joined the ECR, when she left Future and Freedom to found the Conservatives and Social Reformers. In April 2013, the ECR was joined by fellow Italian Susy De Martini, an independent who was formerly a member of The People of Freedom. The newly elected Croatian MEP Ruža Tomašić of the Croatian Party of Rights joined the group when Croatia joined the EU in July 2013. In November 2013, Poland Comes First dissolved itself, with three of its members joining the new Poland Together, which was also joined by Artur Zasada from the EPP: taking the group's number of MEPs to 57. In 2014, Mirosław Piotrowski rejoined Law and Justice, and sought re-election in 2014 under that party's banner.


title: European Conservatives and Reformists

text: According to calculations by "Vote Watch Europe", the ECR group had a cohesion rate of 86.65% in parliamentary votes during the 7th session (2009–14). This is slightly lower than in the four pro-European groups, but higher than in the European United Left–Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL) and far higher than in the Europe of Freedom and Democracy (EFD) groups. Internal cohesion was highest in votes on constitutional and inter-institutional affairs (94.79%), international trade, and industry, research & energy. The greatest divergence within the group was in decisions on regional development (70.53% cohesion), agriculture, and development (cooperation). The parties that were most loyal to the group (meaning that they voted with the majority of ECR members the most often) were the UK Conservatives (97.51%), the Ulster Unionist Party and the Czech Civic Democratic Party. The members who deviated from the ECR majority the most often were the individual MEPs Andreasen from the UK (who had switched over from EFD group only in 2013; 61.20% loyalty), Muscardini from Italy, and Rosbach (who had crossed over from EFD in 2011).


title: Microsoft OneNote

text: Microsoft OneNote is a note-taking software developed by Microsoft. It is available as part of the Microsoft Office suite and since 2014 has been free on all platforms outside the suite. OneNote is designed for free-form information gathering and multi-user collaboration. It gathers users' notes, drawings, screen clippings, and audio commentaries, and notes can also be shared with other OneNote users over the Internet or a network.


title: Microsoft OneNote

text: OneNote is also available as a free, stand-alone app via the official website and the app stores of: Windows 10, MacOS, iOS, iPadOS and Android. Microsoft also provides a web-based version of OneNote as part of OneDrive and Office for the web.


title: Microsoft OneNote

text: OneNote was announced by Microsoft's Bill Gates on November 17, 2002. The software allows users to create notes that can include: texts, pictures, tables, and drawings. Unlike a word processor, OneNote features a virtually unbounded document window, in which users can click anywhere on the canvas to create a new text box at that location. OneNote saves data automatically as the user makes edits to their file.


title: Microsoft OneNote

text: OneNote saves information in "pages" organized into "sections" within "notebooks". Microsoft designed this user interface to resemble a tabbed ring binder, into which the user can directly make notes and gather material from other applications. OneNote notebooks collect, organize and share possibly unpublished materials – as compared to word processors and wikis, which usually target publishing in some way. The difference shows in certain OneNote features and characteristics: