title: Steve Trevor

text: Steve Trevor is the first foreigner to have ever set foot on Themyscira, the first man Diana has ever seen, and the first ambassador to open diplomatic relations with the Amazons. Trevor, Superman and Batman are the only men in the "DC Universe" to be granted honorary citizenship by Queen Hippolyta; an extraordinary feat, given that "Aphrodite's Law" demands the death penalty for any man who sets foot on Themyscira. He was often Diana's primary love interest and their relationship was usually a flirtatious one, yet they always remained steadfast friends. On occasion, Marston would place Trevor in "gentleman-in-jeopardy" situations as an appropriate male version of the damsel in distress trope. His marriage proposals were often rejected, as Diana prioritized saving the world first before marriage, in accordance with "Aphrodite's Law". In more recent years Steve and Diana's relationships in the comics have become more platonic, or at times either of their love is unrequited.


title: Steve Trevor

text: In the original version of Wonder Woman's origin story, Steve Trevor was an intelligence officer in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II whose plane crashed on Paradise Island, the isolated homeland of the Amazons. He was nursed back to health by the Amazon princess Diana, who fell in love with him and accompanied him when he returned to the outside world. There she became Wonder Woman (and also his coworker, Diana Prince).


title: Steve Trevor

text: Steve Trevor was portrayed as a blonde military hero who often fought battles both alone and alongside Wonder Woman. At the same time, he was also a traditional superhero's love interest and gentleman-in-jeopardy: getting kidnapped and being rescued from peril by Wonder Woman, as well as pining after the superheroine in the red-and-blue outfit while failing to notice her resemblance to his meek, bespectacled secretary Diana Prince. Although, at times, Steve has rescued Wonder Woman.


title: Steve Trevor

text: The character was purposely made blond, which stemmed from William Moulton Marston’s belief that the best romantic combination is a blue-eyed brunette girl to a light-haired man, because blond males are more submissive to brunette females, according to him.


title: Steve Trevor

text: After Marston's death, much of the original supporting cast paid less attention to him. Under writer-editor Robert Kanigher, both his and Diana's personalities were compromised considerably, with Steve beginning to seem threatened by his heroine's power, and Diana almost beginning to seem apologetic about it.


title: Steve Trevor

text: During the '50s and '60s, comic writers regularly made Wonder Woman lovesick over Steve Trevor, here a Major in the United States Army. Stories frequently featured Wonder Woman hoping or imagining what it would be like to marry Steve Trevor. As with Superman stories of the same period, the question of marriage was never far from the couple's minds. There was also considerable attention given to the threat of the Amazon's secret identity being revealed.


title: Steve Trevor

text: Wonder Woman often found herself agreeing to Steve's contests for her hand in marriage, which he typically cheated at using government tracking equipment. Afraid that she loved someone else; Steve once again misused government spying equipment to stalk Wonder Woman, finding her with her childhood boyfriend Mer-Man; whom he felt the need to prove himself better than.


title: Steve Trevor

text: In 1968, Diana chose to give up her powers and cut ties with her native Paradise Island to stay close to Steve. Trevor was killed off in the next issue. He was thus absent for the next few years of the comic. In the mid-1970s, following the return of the heroine's powers, Trevor was brought back to life by Aphrodite, and given a new identity as the brunette Steve Howard. In 1978, he was killed off again. He would be replaced in 1980 by a double from another, undisclosed dimension of the Multiverse. For the next few years the classic relationship of Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor would be essentially restored, and explored with some detail. In 1985 with issue #322, writer Dan Mishkin dealt with Trevor's three separate "lives", and after much explanation merged the "new" Steve with the old.


title: Steve Trevor

text: During this same period in early 1980s issues of "Wonder Woman", the villainous Doctor Psycho fused Steve's image with Wonder Woman's abilities and became "Captain Wonder", sporting a costume similar to Wonder Woman's. In the final issue of the original "Wonder Woman" series, Steve and Diana get married.


title: Steve Trevor

text: The 1985 comic book storyline "Crisis on Infinite Earths" retconned, or rebooted the fictional continuity of the DC Universe. At the end of the storyline, the Wonder Woman and retired four-star General Steve Trevor of pre-Crisis Earth-Two traveled to Mount Olympus to live with the Greek gods and goddesses, as many of the other pre-Crisis Earth-Two heroes died or merged into a new streamlined continuity. The Wonder Woman of pre-Crisis Earth-One was devolved back into the mystical clay from which she was formed (technically dying), thus allowing Wonder Woman and her supporting characters to be re-introduced with new origins, backgrounds and plotlines.


title: Steve Trevor

text: With the restart of the series in the second volume after "Crisis on Infinite Earths", Steve Trevor was revamped to be considerably older than Diana. In addition, the two of them never had a romantic relationship. Years before Trevor's crash landing on Themyscira (the modern name for Paradise Island), his lost mother, Diana Rockwell Trevor, a pilot for the Women Airforce Service Pilots, had also crashed there, finding the Amazons battling a large monster. Seeing they were close to defeat, Diana Trevor used her pistol on the beast, giving the Amazons an advantage in the battle. Trevor dies as a result. After her death the Amazons considered the outworlder to be an honored hero for her sacrifice. It is from her that Queen Hippolyta named her daughter Diana and also from her that the Amazons came into possession of a gun originating from Man's World. It is this familial link that led the god Ares to manipulate Steve into bombing Themyscira to eliminate the Amazons. However while in flight and guided to the island, Trevor realized he was about to needlessly bomb civilians and attempted to abort the mission. Steve's co-pilot, a minion of the war-god, transforms into a monster in an attempt to continue the attack. Diana rescues Steve from the resulting disaster.


title: Steve Trevor

text: Bringing the unconscious Trevor to the island, Diana recognized his American flag insignia on his uniform mirrored her own armor's color motif and took this as a sign of where she had to go to begin her fight against Ares. Thus inspired, Diana took Trevor to 'Man's World' in the city of Boston and began her calling. Since then, Trevor and Diana have been close friends despite him being old enough to be her father. This version of Steve Trevor went on to marry Etta Candy and became the Deputy Secretary of Defense for the U.S. government.


title: Steve Trevor

text: Following the 2005–2006 "Infinite Crisis" storyline, Wonder Woman's origin was yet again revamped, as was her supporting cast. Diana is no longer a recent arrival to man's world, but instead has lived in it for some time, having been involved in the creation of the Justice League of America (as was the case in the group's Silver Age introductory story in 1960). Although Steve Trevor still remains close friends with Diana and married to Etta, his history with Diana has not fully been developed.


title: Steve Trevor

text: In the aftermath of the 2011 "Flashpoint" storyline, DC Comics cancelled all of their monthly books and relaunched them with a rebooted continuity, in an initiative called The New 52. In this continuity, Steve Trevor is a long-time advocate for the Amazons, having lobbied the U.S. government for peace with the Amazons, arguing that they are benevolent. Steve then becomes Wonder Woman's U.N. liaison during her stay in Washington, D.C. and later becomes the head of the newly formed A.R.G.U.S., (Advanced Research Group for Uniting Super-Humans), as well as the UN's liaison to the newly formed Justice League. Promoted to the rank of Colonel, his assistant is Etta Candy and he has made his feelings and attraction to Wonder Woman clear to her, although his feelings were not reciprocated. The hero Black Orchid is revealed to be A.R.G.U.S. Agent Alba Garcia, working covertly for Justice League Dark to monitor John Constantine.


title: Steve Trevor

text: Trevor is also a member of several team books, including "Team 7", which launched in September 2012, and "Justice League of America", launched in 2013.


title: Steve Trevor

text: The pre-"Crisis on Infinite Earths" version of Trevor seen in the 2015 "Convergence" storyline works with Diana and Etta Candy to better the fate of Earth One's Gotham City while stuck under an alien dome for a year. When vampiric versions of Gotham criminals from invade a makeshift church service, it is up to Diana and Steve to keep them from spilling out into the streets. Steve falls prey to the vampires, arising as one of them. However, he manages to maintain his own free will, taking down a vampire and falling under the rubble of the collapsing church.


title: Steve Trevor

text: As part of DC Comics' 2016 relaunch of its monthly titles and their continuity, DC Rebirth, Wonder Woman's origin is retold in the "Year One" storyline. Steve crashes on the island of Themyscira and is the sole survivor. He is saved and nursed back to health by the Amazons, and a competition is held to determine the one to take Steve and the bodies of his fallen comrades back to America, one that Diana wins. In the United States, Trevor relates to the authorities his experiences with the Amazons and Diana, and the two become allies in subsequent conflicts with terrorists, the Greek god of war Ares, a global virus, an African cult, a paramilitary group called Poison, and the supervillain group Godwatch.


title: Steve Trevor

text: The Silver Age Steve Trevor makes an appearance in Alex Ross' 2005–2007 miniseries "Justice". He is among the sidekicks and loved ones attacked by the Legion of Doom, and can be seen embracing Wonder Woman.


title: Steve Trevor

text: In the Elseworlds story "", Stephen Trevor is a Royal Marine who tricks the Amazons into being loyal, but then calls down the British Empire and slaughters them all except Diana. He brings her to Man's World to put her into stage plays re-enacting Biblical stories. Diana later kills Stephen as revenge.


title: Steve Trevor

text: In the alternate universe depicted in Amalgam Comics, Steve Trevor is fused with The Punisher/Frank Castle to form Trevor Castiglione/Trevor Castle. A seasoned combat veteran who went AWOL after his wife and children were caught in a Mafia ceasefire and were killed, Castle decided to begin a one-man war on crime. After being wounded in a gunfight, he was saved by rogue Amazon princess Diana Prince (who left Themyscira by herself without becoming Wonder Woman in this world, the title being given to this universe's version of Storm instead), leading the two to start a romantic relationship that led to marriage and the birth of their son Ryan. However the two eventually separated over their differences until Ryan was kidnapped, forcing the two to work together. After learning that Thanoseid (an amalgam of Thanos and Darkseid) was responsible, they tried to get Ryan back only to fail when he seemingly killed their child. However, in reality Thanoseid had only sent their son back in time to become his personal assassin Kanto, which Diana figured out and revealed. Thanoseid, who had wanted revenge for the death of his son Orion and had hoped Castle or Kanto would die at the hands of the other, sent everyone back where they belong. Castle and Diana then decided to get back together.


title: Steve Trevor

text: In the alternate timeline of the 2011 "Flashpoint" storyline, Steve and Wonder Woman have no relationship; instead, it appears that he is in love with Lois Lane. Steve made an appearance in London where he is waiting at a rendezvous point for Lois Lane as he is attacked by Wonder Woman and the Amazons. Wonder Woman catches him by the neck with her Lasso of Truth and begins interrogating him after he is temporarily able to resist the lasso's effects. He explains that he was hired to extract Lois Lane from New Themyscira because she was sent to gather information on the Amazons for Cyborg who's amassing superhumans to stop the fighting between Wonder Woman and Aquaman. Steve's fate comes to an end when Wonder Woman strangles him to death.


title: Steve Trevor

text: Steve Trevor appears in the 2016 original graphic novel "" in a similar manner to his original counterpart, though this time presented as African-American.


title: Steve Trevor

text: Steve Trevor appears as a major supporting character in the "Legend of Wonder Woman", an alternate re-telling of Wonder Woman's origin that debuted in 2016 by writer Greg Rucka. Similar to Marston's original comics, the young pilot Steve Trevor crash lands on Paradise Island.


title: Steve Trevor

text: Steve Trevor appears in the comic series based on the "Injustice 2" video game. Similar to his Golden Age origin, he crash lands on Themyscira and is brought back to London by Wonder Woman. After spending several months with Steve, Diana decides that they must return to Themyscira to get the Lasso of Hestia to aid them against the Nazi forces. However, it is later revealed after he kills one of the Amazons, Calliope, that he had been a Nazi agent all along. Despite his love for Diana, he states he loves his homeland more than he could ever love a woman. Wonder Woman then chokes Steve to death with the lasso. His betrayal influences Diana's ruthless ethics in the "Injustice" series.


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: Mahendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev (; 11 June 1920 – 31 January 1972) was the King of Nepal from 13 March 1955 until his death in 1972. Following the 1960 coup d'état, he established the partyless Panchayat system which governed the country for 28 years until the introduction of multiparty democracy in 1990. During his reign, Nepal experienced a period of industrial, political and economic change that opened it to the rest of the world for the first time after the 104-year-long reign of the Rana rulers, who had kept the country under an isolationist policy, came to an end in 1951.


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: King Mahendra was born in the year 11 June 1920 (1977 B.S) at the Narayanhiti Palace to King Tribhuvan of Nepal. King Mahendra was the eldest child of King Tribhuvan and Queen Kanti. Under the Rana dynasty, the power of the king was reduced to that of a figurehead. Although Tribhuvan was nominally king since 1911, the royal family had been held captive in Narayanhiti Palace since the rise of the prominent Rana dynasty.


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: Even though he had not take any official education, he took private education inside the palace and learned politics, economics and Nepali literature, history and culture.


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: Inside the palace, King Mahendra had a love affair with a concubine, named Geeta Gurung through which a child was born at the age of 13.There was only one child named Rabindra Shah/Gurung. Since the concubine was not a Thakuri, his marriage could not take place and the royal family decided to marry their son with the Rana family.


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: In 1940, He married Indra Rajya Lakshmi, the granddaughter of Juddha Shumsher Jung Bahadur Rana and daughter of General Hari Shamsher Jang Bahadur Rana. Mahendra had three sons, Birendra, Gyanendra, and Dhirendra and three daughters Shanti, Sharada, and Shobha. His first wife, Crown Princess Indra died in 1950.


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: In 1951 King Tribhuvan launched a successful political movement against the Ranas and established Nepal as a constitutional monarchy. Mahendra was not happy that King Tribhuvan had reduced the rights of the monarchy in the 1951 (2007 B.S) Interim Constitution while bidding farewell to the Rana dynasty after the 1951 revolution.


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: After the death of his first wife Indra Rajya in 1950, the then Prince Mahendra was in a love affair with sister in law, Ratna, but King Tribhuvan was planning to prevent his son from marrying Rana's daughter Ratna under any circumstances. Prince Mahendra did not like the pressure of his father to marry the girl of his choice. King Tribhuvan, on the other hand, was not in favor of expanding relations with the Rana family, even more so with Shamsher's Clan. King Tribhuvan was outraged by the insult inflicted on him by Juddha Shamsher, but the dispute had been going on for a long time. In 1952,two years after the death of his queen, Mahendra married Indra's younger sister, Ratna Rajya Lakshmi Devi. This created bad relations between him and his father. This marriage produced no children as King Mahendra had married on the condition his personal life should not hinder his national duties and the queen agreed to be childless.


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: Mahendra became the king of Nepal as the successor of King Tribhuvan. When King Tribhuvan left for Europe for treatment, Mahendra got the authority from the then King Tribhuvan. He inherited the throne aged 34 as a constitutional monarch. He became king on 13 March 1955 but his coronation took place on 2 May 1956 due to the one year mourning period of death of his father.


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: On January 27, 1956 (Magha 13, 2012 B.S) King Mahendra appointed Acharya as the Prime Minister of Nepal. The first five-year plan was launched during his tenure as prime minister. During his time, Nepal Rastra Bank and the Supreme Court were established. Acharya's tenure is also seen as a golden age for Nepal in foreign relations. In addition to establishing diplomatic relations with many countries, the government was able to establish close ties with the Chinese government. The Chinese government had provided Rs 60 million to Nepal on 7 October 1956 (Ashwin 22, 2013 B.S). Tanka Prasad Acharya resigned as Prime Minister in July 1957(Ashadha 2014 B.S).


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: Kunwar Indrajit Singh was appointed Prime Minister by King Mahendra in 1957 (2014 B.S) His cabinet included Education Minister Mahakavi Laxmi Prasad Devkota. He tenure was mostly spent in attempts to curtail his own enemies He was later replaced by a government led by Suvarna Samsher Rana. According to General Nara Shumsher Jang Bahadur Rana, he was dismissed by King Mahendra because he tried to stage a coup against the king and relegate him to a 'puppet king', just like in the Rana days.


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: King Mahendra had promulgated the constitution in 1959(2015 B.S) to take the country towards a parliamentary system. On the basis of the royal announcement on February 1, 1958, a Constitution Drafting Commission was formed on March 27, 1958, to take the country towards a parliamentary system. On the basis of the draft prepared by the Constitution Drafting Commission, the Constitution of the Dominion of Nepal(2015) was announced on February 12, 1959 (Falgun 1, 2015 B.S) from King Mahendra. Sections 73 and 75 came into force on February 12, 1959, and the rest of the sections came into force from June 17, 1959. In that law, which has a bicameral system, the lower house was the House of Representatives and the upper house was the General Assembly. There was a system of 109 members elected from 109 constituencies in the House of Representatives, while in the General Assembly there were 36 members with 18 elected and 18 nominated. Candidates were required to be 25 years of age to become a candidate for the House of Representatives and 30 years of age to be a candidate for the General Assembly. After reaching the age of 21, one could become a voter. The constitution had made the first provision of Public Service Commission which required one-third member to have not had served government job for last 5 years. The arrangement of the Auditor General was also made for the first time while there was no arrangement for an Election Commission. The constitution recognized Nepali as the official language and Devanagari as the official script of the country. The 1959 election was held in accordance with this constitution


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: In order to elect 109 representatives to the House of Representatives, the lower house of the Parliament of Nepal, the first democratic election of Nepal was held in 45 days from Falgun 7, 2015 until Chaitra 21, 2015. B.S. This election was held in accordance with the Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal 1959, which was implemented on Falgun 1, 2015 B.S. The Nepali Congress, achieved two-third majority and merged as the largest party in the election.


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: The Nepali Congress, which emerged as the largest party in the election, elected party president B. P. Koirala as the leader of the parliamentary party and fielded him as Nepal's prime minister. On Jestha 13, 2016 B.S. Bishweshwar Prasad Koirala of the Nepali Congress took the oath of office before the then King Mahendra Bir Bikram Shah. The first assembly of the house took on 1 July 1959 (Ashadha 17, 2016 B.S.)


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: On 15 December 1960, King Mahendra used his emergency powers and took charge of the State once again claiming that the Congress government had fostered corruption, promoted party above national interest and failed to maintain law and order. The King suspended the constitution, dissolved the elected parliament, dismissed the cabinet, imposed direct rule and imprisoned the then-prime minister B. P. Koirala and his closest government colleagues. Political parties were outlawed.


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: On 13 April 1961, Mahendra made a televised appearance, in which he introduced Panchayat, a partyless political system of village, district and national councils. At first, the Nepali Congress leadership propounded a non-violent struggle against the new order and formed alliances with several political parties, including the Gorkha Parishad and the United Democratic Party. However, the king would abolish political activities, jail political dissenters calling them anti-national elements and introduce a new constitution in which the people could elect their representatives, while real power remained in the hands of the monarch.


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: The Constitution Drafting Commission was formed on May 8, 1962, with the then Minister for Finance and Economic Affairs Rishikesh Shah as chairman and Kulshekhar Sharma as Member Secretary and Mrs. Angur Baba Joshi as the only female member. The commission was assigned to submit the draft constitution to the king within 23 days until June 1, 1962. On December 16, 1962, King Mahendra promulgated a new constitution institutionalizing a four-tier Panchayat System. The constitution had a unicameral legislature named as Rashtriya Panchayat. Sovereign power and residual rights were vested in the King based on Article 90. There was a provision that the constitution could be amended by a royal proclamation from the king. This constitution made the provision of Election Commission and the Commission for Prevention of Abuse of Authority for the first time. The arrangement of 6 class organizations was made which could send its class representatives in the Rashtriya Panchayat while the basic duties of citizens were also designated. The Constitution officially recognized Hindu religion as the national religion and introduced country's first national anthem by giving official recognition to Shriman Gambhir. It also introduced the new modernized national flag of the country and therewith introduced the method to draw out the flag for the first time . In addition to that, it introduced national emblem such as Lali gurans as the national flower, crimson colour as the national colour, the cow as the national animal and Danphe as the national bird of Nepal.


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: The constitution, which has been amended 3 times, was first amended on January 27, 1967. Through the first amendment, the various English words used in the constitution were replaced with Nepali, Nepal was divided into 14 zones and 75 districts and the arrangement of zonal commissioner was made. The constitution would officially abolish political parties and substitute a ""National Guidance" system" based on local panchayat led directly by the king.


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: The first elections to the National Panchayat took place in March and April 1963.The panchayat election of 1963 was held on the basis of constitution of kingdom of Nepal 1962. Although political parties officially were banned and the major opposition parties publicly refused to participate, about one-third of the members of the legislative were associated with the Nepali Congress. There were 4,000 village assemblies at the local level, electing nine members of the village assemblies, who in turn elected a mayor . Each village assemblies sent a member to sit on one of seventy-five district "panchayat", representing from forty to seventy villages; one-third of the members of these assemblies were chosen by the town "panchayat". Members of the district "panchayat" elected representatives to fourteen zone assemblies functioning as electoral colleges for the National Panchayat in Kathmandu. In addition, there were class organizations at village, district, and zonal levels for peasants, youth, women, elders, laborers, and ex-soldiers, who elected their own representatives to assemblies.


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: Adopted on the second anniversary of the royal coup and founded on the idea of having a system "suitable to the soil", the new constitution, created a four-tier Panchayat System. The National Panchayat of about ninety members could not criticize the royal government, debate the principles of partyless democracy, introduce budgetary bills without royal approval, or enact bills without approval of the king. Mahendra was supreme commander of the armed forces, appointed (and had the power to remove) members of the Supreme Court, appointed the Public Service Commission to oversee the civil service, and could change any judicial decision or amend the constitution at any time. To many of the unlettered citizens of the country, the king was a spiritual force as well, representing the god Vishnu upholding dharma on earth. Within a span of ten years, the king had, in effect, reclaimed the unlimited power exercised by Prithvi Narayan Shah in the eighteenth century.


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: Support of the king by the army and the government bureaucracy prevented opposition to his rule from developing within the Panchayat System. Real power came from the king's secretariat, and in the countryside influence rested in the offices of zonal commissioners and their official staffs or the parallel system of development officers. The Nepali Congress leadership made increasingly conciliatory statements and began to announce its faith in democratic ideals under the leadership of the king. In 1968 the king began to release political prisoners, including B. P. Koirala, who was freed on 30 October. At this point, a three-way split developed in the Nepali Congress. B.P. Koirala went to India, where he headed a wing committed to democratic revolution and violent overthrow of the Panchayat System. He was a symbol for youth but powerless politically. Subarna Shamsher's wing continued to advocate local cooperation with the king outside the Panchayat System. A third wing tried to work within the Panchayat System in the expectation that it would evolve into a democratic system. The disunity of the political opposition left King Mahendra to do as he wished.


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: There were multiple struggles and attempts to remove the king from power both before and during the Panchayat regime.


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: King Mahendra used his residual power of Royal prerogative of mercy and pardoned KI Singh in 1955 when he was declared a traitor and rebellion against the state by former state powers. He was then allowed to enter the country and listening to his nationalist view, Kunwar Inderjit Singh was appointed Prime Minister by King Mahendra in 1957. He tenure was mostly spent in attempts to curtail his enemies while he also tried to stage a coup against the king with the help of the army. However, the head of the army, General Nar Shamsher, being loyal to the king informed him about the coup and KI Singh was immediately dismissed.


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: On January 22, 1962, King Mahendra visited the Janaki Temple after completing his eastern tour. Arvind Kumar Thakur and other anti-panchayat youths under the leadership of Durgananda Jha threw a bomb at the car he was traveling in when he was returning to the arena after performing religious visit. Fifty nine people were arrested on the charge of their involvement in the incident and a special court was formed to investigate the incident. The court found three people, Durgananda Jha, Arvind Kumar Thakur and Dal Singh Thapa, guilty on July 3, 1962. They were slapped death penalty on grounds of treason and rebellion on September 4, 1963, after the introduction of new Nation's Legal Code (Muluki Ain ) on 17 August 1963 since the old law did not allow the punishment of a person of Brahmin descent. On January 29, 1964, Durgananda Jha was hanged until death while Arvind Kumar Thakur and Dal Singh Thapa had their sentenced changed to life time imprisonment.


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: King Mahendra's role in the promotion of nationalism has been unforgettable. In nearly two centuries since Prithvi Narayan Shah, Nepal was administered as a single political entity from Kathmandu and was treated as a single country by its neighbouring powers including like China, India and Tibet but its citizens never had a unified sense of "Nepali-ness". Even the citizens of the country did not know where and what Nepal was. calling Kathmandu valley as Nepal, lower plains around Birgunj, Biratnagar area as Madesh, upper gorkha region as Gorkha, and western Nepal as Khas and even the king as Gorkhali King rather than a king of Nepal. It is said that Nepal was built before, but Nepal as a political boundary and country was institutionalized by King Mahendra. Before 1960, foreigners were free to purchase land in Nepal. After coup d'état of 1960, King Mahendra banned foreigners from purchasing land in Nepal. At that moment there was no single mother language used by the whole nation, and Nepalese were increasingly influenced from foreign languages. Indian cultures, Indian cinemas, teaching of Hindi language in the schools were all the signs leading towards the amalgamation of Nepal into India. Mahendra was uncomfortable with the widespread changes happening in the country: a diverse elected cabinet under BP Koirala; political parties in the Terai advocating for an autonomous province; and Hindi, lingua franca of the people of Indian origin, being spoken in Parliament. The king was troubled by how democracy had allowed people to assert their identity and culture forcing communalism, regionalism, and other anti-national motives . When Hindi dominance was increasing in communities, he devised the policy of national language by selecting Khas Kura as the national language as it was the lingua franca and made it nationwide. The language was transformed from lingua franca, to official language and then later to national language. By establishing the Nepal Rastra Bank, King Mahendra made Nepali currency compulsory throughout the kingdom. At that time, 90 percent of Indian currency was in circulation in Nepal. By creating a distinct language, distinct currency, distinct dress, distinct political system and distinct religious identity from those of the neighbouring nations, Mahendra created a distinct identity of the people which in turn promoted national unity and nationality. King Mahendra personally funded 2 lakh 50 thousand rupees to build a martyr's gate at Bhadrakali, Kathmandu in order to honor the great martyrs who died for the rights and democracy of the people during the rana regime.


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: He is also credited for introducing country's first national anthem by giving official recognition to Shriman Gambhir. The constitution introduced by King Mahendra in 1962 introduced the modern national flag of the country which is being used until today. In 1955 King Mahendra appointed a commission headed by famous writer Balkrishna Sama to make nominations of National heroes of Nepal since ancient times on the basis of their contributions to the nation.


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: The role played by Mahendra in establishing Nepal in the international arena is important. From the thought of achieving membership of the United Nations to establishing Nepal as a zone of peace major attributions goes to King Mahendra. Adopting the principle of Panchsheel and non-aligned foreign policy, he maintained diplomatic relations with neighboring countries and kept them in balance. King Mahendra established diplomatic relations with 45 countries to show the world that Nepal is an independent nation.


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: In 2012 B.S, Nepal also became a member of the United Nations. Rishikesh Shah then became the Permanent Representative to the United Nations. On Magha 13, 2012 B.S, King Mahendra appointed Acharya as the Prime Minister of Nepal. He established friendly relations by visiting China and Japan. Under his guidance and policy, Nepal was elected as a Member of United Nations Security Council in 1969. Nepal was elected in the Security Council the second time again in 1988. Nepal established its image as a committed member of the UN and Nepal was well recognized by the member countries. Nepal's active role and the role she played on the Security Council twice are the proof of a success policy guided by the King.


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: King's tenure is also seen as a golden age for Nepal in foreign relations. In addition to establishing diplomatic relations with many countries, the government was able to establish close ties with the Chinese government. He pursued a foreign policy of neutrality between China and India. One of the historical diplomatic achievement of king Mahendra is his success in Nepal-China Boundary Treaty of 1961. The border adjustments was made on grounds of equality by performing land-swapping with Nepal gaining more land than it gave. After the treaty Nepal gained 302.75 square kilometer more land from China.


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: King Mahendra introduced five years government plans to plan and oversee development in the country. Seeing the importance of planning in better development, the king established the National Planning Commission in 2013 BS. The highway built by the king has greatly contributed to the all round socio-economic development of the country. He launched the Back to the Village National Campaign in 1967 which was one of his largest rural development efforts. He established Nepal Sports Council to oversee the development of the sports activities in the country. For the first time the industrial policy of 1957 formally recognized the responsibility of the government in "promoting, assisting and regulating" industrial development in the country and the First Plan intended to establish state monopolies in the fields of transportation, telecommunication, hydro-electric power generation and irrigation, and to run some big industries, such as cement, sugar, cigarettes, textiles, iron and steel He introduced Company Act for the first time in Nepal on 1964 to facilitate and manage the industrialization of the economy. Following the promulgation of Nepal Electricity Corporation Act 2019, Nepal Electricity Corporation (NEC) came into operation in 1962 which was the main authority for responsible for providing electricity to the citizens. The provision of planning for five years known as the five-year plan started during his reign from 1956.


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: Before 1956, Nepal did not have its own foreign currency reserve but rather maintained it in central bank of India. For getting the foreign currency amounts required to bear the expenses of Nepalese Embassies and treatment expenses of King, an application had to be submitted to the Reserve Bank of India. One of the problems that distressed Nepalese economy was the circulation of two types of currency, Nepalese and Indian simultaneously. Nepal had a dominant use of Indian rupee. Exchange rates between the Indian and Nepali currency were fixed by local traders. Between 2007 and 2011 B.S, Nepal's economic dependence on India was 95 percent. Seeing this, King Mahendra, established a central bank on 26 April 1956 in order to reduce dependence on India, replace Indian currency being circulated in the market and strengthen the countries' sovereignty by making Nepal independent in foreign currency exchange. Mahendra had managed to bring this dependency below 60 percent.


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: The responsibility of notes issuance was transferred from "Sadar Muluki khana" (Central Treasury) to the NRB. On 19 February 1960, NRB released its first bank notes in the denomination of Mohru 1. The Nepal Rastra Bank Act, 1955 and Later, the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1963 and Nepal's choice for a fixed exchange rate with Indian Currency along with supporting government policies contributed significantly in stabilizing confidence in both the domestic currency and in exchange rate among the local traders. Additionally, during this decade, the national policy of relations with foreign institution were implemented which created the foundation for membership with international organization such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB) in 1961. Because of these policies, Nepal succeeded in the circulation of the new Nepalese rupee as the legal tender in Nepal's Terai region which was predominated by Indian currencies and facilitated for the elimination of the dual currency period in 1964 in the country and making Nepal independent in foreign currency exchange. Many financial institutions, such as Rastriya Banijya Bank, Rastriya Beema Sansthan, Nepal Co-operative Banks among others were gradually established to make the Nepalese economy more engaging and sustainable.


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: In July 1959, Nepal Industrial Development Corporation started serving as an industrial finance organization to expand Nepalese industries and services, including hotels, and industrial estates. King Mahendra laid the foundation of economic development by building physical infrastructure with the help of foreign aid. The foundation for the Industrial Estates (IEs) was laid with the establishment of Balaju Industrial Area in 1963 (2018 BS) with technical and financial assistance from the United States of America (USA). Patan Industrial Area, Hetauda Industrial Area, Dharan Industrial Area, Birgunj Sugar Mill, Nepal Oil Corporation, Janakpur Cigarette Factory, Himal Cement Industry, and Balaju Textile Industries were all established during his time. Salt Trading Corporation was established in 1963 (2020 BS), with objective to make iodized table salt accessible to all citizens. Later, again to deal with the import and export for the purpose of rendering support to the economic development of the country Mahendra established National Trading Limited. On 12 March 1969, (Falgun 29, 2025 B.S) with the help of Chinese aid, Mahendra inaugurated Nepal's First Brick and Tile Factory in Harisiddhi which started its production two months later in Baishakh 17 2026 BS. Similarly, Bansbari leather Shoe Factory was also established in 1965 with help of Chinese aid. Similarly, he started the era of stocks and bonds by issuing the first Government Bond in 1964. To providing a guaranteed market for milk to the rural farmers with fair price and for the purpose of economic advancement of the farming communities Dairy development corporation (DDC) was established in 1969 .


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: During the Cold War, Nepal tried to boost the economy by creating an environment of economic cooperation between the two neighboring sides.


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: The death of the first wife of King Mahendra due to birth complications led to the building of the kingdom's first maternity hospital, Paropakar Shree Panch Indra Rajya Lakshmi Maternity Hospital later renamed as Paropakar Maternity and Women's Hospital, commonly known as the Prasuti Griha, on the grounds of Charburja Durbar on 17 August 1959. Kanti Children's Hospital was established as a general hospital in 1963 with the economic aid from USSR and was later specialized mainly for children in 1968. In 1964, Royal Drugs laboratory was established to perform scientific research and analysis of drugs as well as development of new drugs. Also, Nepal Ausadhi Limited was established in 1972 with technical collaboration with United Kingdom. In the same year, Institute of Medicine (IOM) was established under Tribhuvan University with the purpose of producing and training all categories of medical manpower required for the nation which immediately initiated courses for Auxiliary Nurse Midwives and Community Medical Assistants. The first ayurvedic school, Rajakiya Ayurvedic Bidyalaya was also established in this year.


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: Malaria Eradication Project in the Terai region was launched for the first time in 1958 with the help of USAID. After its success, several other projects to control and prevent smallpox, tuberculosis and leprosy were initiated in successive years. Programs to prevent nutritional disorders, and family planning, maternal and child health issues were also launched in successive years.


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: Various health centers were established between 1955 and 1958 such as in Dailekh (1955), Ramnagar Bhutaha,sunsari (1956) and Chainpur, Sankhuwasabha (1957). Biratnagar Hospital, Dang Hospital and Baglung Hospital were also opened between 1955 and 1958. In 1958, government announced to build one health center in each 105 electoral constituency and announced to establish zonal hospitals in all 14 zones in 1961. Within this policy the numbers reached 32 for hospitals and 104 for health centers in the public sector In the year 1963.


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: Similarly in this period, hospitals funded by various NGO missions were established such as Scheer Memorial Hospital in banepa (1957), Pokhara Shining Hospital in Kaski (1957), Amp Pipal Hospital in Gorkha (1957), Okhaldhunga Hospital in Okhaldhunga (1963), Bulingtar Hospital in Nawalparasi (1962) and United Mission Hospital in Palpa(1954),Anandban Leprosy Hospital in patan (1963), Green Pasteur Hospital in kaski (1957) and Dadeldhura Leprosy Hospital in Dadeldhura.


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: To support animal husbandry and agriculture and to modernize the traditional agriculture "Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science" (IAAS) was established in 1957 as an independent institute for the motive of training agriculture technicians which was later brought under Tribhuvan University's management. In 1964, to process sugar from sugar cane, Birgunj Sugar Mill was established with economic aid from the then Soviet Union in Parsa. Visioning better future prospects of the Tea industry in Nepal, in 1965 a Tea plantation Estate, Soktim Tea was set up in the plains of Jhapa District. Nepal Tea Development Corporation was established in 1966 by Government of Nepal to aid the development of Tea industry. Agriculture Supply Corporation, which was later split into Nepal Food Corporation, Krishi Samagri Company Ltd. and National Seed Company Ltd was established in 1965 to distribute high quality agricultural inputs such as seeds, and agro-chemicals at a price accessible to the farmers across the country. In order to provide credit to farmers and people of rural areas, financial institutions dedicated to agriculture development, Agricultural Development Bank was established in 1967 . This bank has also been executing Small Farmer Development Program (SFDP) for motive of poverty alleviation in rural areas. Agricultural Tools Factory was initially established in Birgunj in 1967 and later also in Biratnagar to produce required agricultural tools for the farmers in cheap cost within the country with the technical and economic aid of Soviet Union. Dhan Chamal Company was established to produce rice produced from the fields of newly extended agriculture region after the extinction of malaria in the Terai region. Eradication of Malaria in the Terai region and the land settlement programs contributed to a massive movement of population from the hills into the Terai, resulting in a large increase in the area devoted to agriculture.


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: In late 1950s, king Mahendra gave a direct order to make feasibility studies of agricultural development in various parts of the country. In the early 1960s, buckwheat and millet were the main agriculture products in Mustang, which were easy to produce but were extracting very little income since rice and wheat were the main products beyond its borders. The then government of Nepal invested in apple farming for the first time in several areas around the region like mustang and Baitadi, by setting up a regional agricultural outpost in 1966 which was later restructured as the Temperate Horticulture Development Center. Along with the horticulture expert Pasang Sherpa and help of the Nepali army, government tested different varieties of the fruit on various qualities parameters, while disseminating the most successful cultivated ones to local farmers. The technical and economic assistance provided to the farmers, as well as harvest and grooming tools and equipment promoted apples and agro products in Marpha, Jomsom and Thak Khola villages of Mustang which eventually introduced this region as the apple farmland of the country. According to the Companies Act, "The Timber Corporation of Nepal Limited" (TCN), later restructured as Nepal Forest corporation, was established in 1960 to systematically collect and chop firewood produced by forest management and supply it to the general public.


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: Cigarette was one of the major import during panchayat regime so people were encouraged to cultivate tobacco and Janakpur Cigarette Factory was established to make use of such tobacco and reduce the import of cigarette in the country.


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: He also focused on the development of tourism in Nepal. Apparently, he built many houses, rest houses, Taverns and water taps in this beautiful country. Under his reign, Nepal was first open to the foreign people laying the foundation of tourism in the nation. The first tourist group aside from the Foreign Diplomat and Bureaucrats arrived for the first time during his reign. In 1959 Nepal became the member of International union of Official travel organization, now known as World Tourism Organization. In the same year, a separate directorate for tourism was setup by the government and a general plan for organization of tourism of Nepal was prepared with cooperation with the Government of France. In 1960 the first handicraft exhibition was performed with the royal approval. In 1964, the King travelled to Rara Lake and penned his famous poem "Rara Ki Apsara" since he got mesmerized by beauty of Rara"." His visit and the famous poem afterwards brought this lake to limelight and the reader of the poem started visiting the lake. The royal family established Soaltee hotel in 1965 and was inaugurated by King Mahendra in 1966. Similarly, Annapurna Hotel was also established in 1965 with cooperation with foreign diplomats and tourists by the royal family. The hotel tax act was first time devised in 1960 defining hotel, restaurants, casinos and bringing them under the jurisdiction of law. Also, the first professional trekking took place in 1960 when Mahendra opened the Himalayas to tourists for trekking. The first tourism act was enacted in 1964 with the motive of increasing foreign tourist and the first travel agency "Mountain Travel Nepal" was established immediately afterwards. With his initiation, Nepal association of Travel agents was established in 1966. In the same year, eight members of the hotels together established Hotel association of Nepal (HAN) which became the one of the main contributor to governmental decisions making regarding tourism. The first casino for the purpose of promoting tourist was established during his reign in 1968. The five-year plan of 1965-1970 devised a plan to dedicate a commission for recognizing and promoting the tourism of the country. Under this plan, a high level Tourism development board was later established in 1969 After being member of the United Nations, King Mahendra invited the UN Secretary General U Thant to Nepal and involved him in the development of Lumbini as a Birthplace of Lord Buddha. With this initiation, a 13 nation International Lumbini development Committee was established in New York to develop the Ancient Lumbini area. It was in his time the famous Hippie trail started in Nepal and Nepal's existence started being known to the outside world. The famous Mahendra Cave in Pokhara got his name after he officially inaugurated it and since then it is one of the most visited places in Pokhara. In 1972 a tourism master plan was created emphasizing public-private partnership model with the view of creating more jobs and more revenue to the government. Under this master plan, Hotel management and tourism training center (HMTTC) was established with the economic and technical assistance of ILO and UNDP with the motive to produce skilled workers inside the country in 1972 which was later renamed as Nepal Academy of Tourism and Hotel Management. Later the establishment of Royal Nepal Airlines and opening of Himalayan trek for the first time brought more influx of tourist.


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: Earlier, Nepalis were compelled to travel via Indian territory while visiting from one district to another district. King Mahendra ended this situation by constructing a highway with foreign assistance. King Mahendra had initially requested India to build this highway. However, when India refused, he sought the help of the Soviet Union. India was also attracted after the road from Dhalkebar to Pathalaiya was built by Soviet Union, the Mechi section from Dhalkebar (Jhapa to Janakpur) was constructed by India, while the Hetauda-Narayanghat section was constructed by the Asian Development Bank, the Narayanghat -Butwal section by the United Kingdom and the Butwal-Kohalpur section by India. In 1961, King Mahendra laid the foundation stone for the construction of the Mahendra Highway (also called East-West Highway) at Gaindakot. The highway has greatly contributed to the all round socio-economic development of the country. In his efforts to diversify Nepal's connectivity beyond India, he created Kodari road link with China's Tibet Araniko Highway . India was furious when China said it would build the Kodari Highway. The highway construction was started in June 1963 and completed with Chinese aid in April 1967 (2024 B.S.) Again, with the aid of Indian government, Tribhuvan Rajpath from Hetauda to Thankot was built. This Rajpath was famously known as "By road" when lots of Indians using this road to travel to Kathmandu. Similarly, another major Highway, the Prithvi Highway was also built under King Mahendra's plan in 1967 (2024 BS). This highway connects Naubise near Kathmandu to Prithvi Chowk, Pokhara. Kanti Highway, a 92 Kilometer feeder road connecting Lalitpur to Hetauda was started in 1954 by King Mahendra. In 1964, with the help of USAID, Kathmandu-Hetauda ropeway was started to reduce the cost of goods transportation from India.


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: On 15 June 1955, Tribhuvan International Airport was inaugurated by Mahendra and later named in memory of his father. In 1957, depart of aviation was established and it started its first scheduled service in 1958. However, there were no any airports inside the country other than Tribhuvan International Airport and to remain sustained it required various airports to be built. This led to the policy of building airports inside the country. Under this policy, Bhairahawa Airport later renamed as Gautam Buddha Airport, Biratnagar Airport, Bharatpur Airport and Dhangadhi Airport,Pokhara Airport, Simara Airport was established in 1958. In 1959 Rajbiraj Airport was officially inaugurated. In the same year His Majesty's Government started Royal Nepal Airlines Cooperation (RNAC) as a public undertaking. However it was only in 1963(2019 B.S), when King Mahendra enacted Nepal Airlines Corporation Act, Royal Nepal Airlines was effectively established. Funds were temporarily transferred from development of suspension bridge to establishment of the airline when the Soviets promised to help with the civil aviation after the King's state visit to the Soviet Union. Under his leadership, Nepal became the member of ICAO in 1960. Janakpur Airport and Palungtar Airport was established in 1960 and Nepalgunj Airport and Meghauli Airport in the Chitwan District was established next year in 1961. Bhadrapur Airport was established in 1963, Surkhet Airport in 1966, Syangboche Airport at Solukhumbu was established in 1971 and Rumjatar Airport and Tumlingtar Airport established in 1972. After, the establishment of country own airlines, air service agreement was needed for which first air service agreement was made in 1963. Mahendra also established Sajha Bus Yatayat in order to provide cheap and accessible transport to the local people in 1961.


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: He built the modern Narayanhiti Palace after the demolition of the old palace from the old Rana architecture . King Mahendra also built Ratna Mandir, the Lakeside palace for Queen Ratna in 1956. Nepal's first golf course, the Royal Nepal Golf Club (RNGC) at Tilganga, Kathmandu, was inaugurated on 2022 BS. by him. He is also given credit for the construction of Dasrath Stadium in Kathmandu. Diyalo Bangla, a palace for the former royal family was constructed in Bharatpur, Chitwan to allow former royal family members to relax and hunt wild animals during their visit.


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: The Koshi River Barrage, a product of multiple ideas to control monsoon floods was constructed during his reign between 1959 and 1963 with the motive of irrigation of agricultural fields, flood control and generation of hydroelectricity. In 1959, king Mahendra and Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru jointly inaugurated and laid foundation of Koshi Barrage. Koshi Barrage was believed to be biggest water project of south Asia at the time of its construction.


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: A similar dam, the Gandaki river dam was built between the period of 1959 to 1964 on the border between India and Nepal at Gandak for the purpose of flood control, irrigation and hydropower generation. Also, Trisuli dam was built in 1971. In 1956 (2013 BS), the first 1728 KW diesel plant of the country was established for the coronation of king Mahendra which opened the door for supply of electricity to the public and made it more accessible. Hydro Power generated at Trishuli Hydropower Station, Sunkoshi Hydro Power Project, Panauti Hydro Power, Kulekhani Hydro Power are some of the few power projects built during King Mahendra's rule. He is also credited for the vision of Kathmandu water project also known as Melamchi Water Supply Project though his early demise could not bring the plan into implementation. The first bridge connecting Nepal with China was also built during his reign in 1964.


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: At the beginning of king's reign the literacy rate of the country was estimated to be 5 percent and it reached 10 percent in 1960 while it reached 18 percent in 1971. After the 1960 coup, efforts were made to establish an education system. The All Round National Education Committee was established in 1961, and the National Education Advisory Board in 1968 in order to implement and refine the education system. Nepal 's 1965's education plan and 1971's education plan hastened the educational development in the country. In the year 1971 (2028 BS), it was King Mahendra who formulated the education policy of the nation and implemented it by making the Education Act. In this year, Nepal's own education came into operation as an integral part of the Fourth Five-Year Plan (1970–75) designed to address individual as well as societal needs towards the goals of national development. This new education system boycotted foreign books and education system. Furthermore, he wrote books named Mahendra Malla for schools to give priority to Nepal and Nepali language and boycotted Indian Books. The introduction of the first University of the country, Tribhuvan University was the landmark contributions made by King Mahendra in reforming education sector. At that time King Mahendra's family raised 16 lakh rupees by selling gold jewelries in order to fund the project. He later modernized Tribhuvan University, creating conditions for higher education in Nepal, and displaced Indian books from the curriculum. He also started production of books in Nepal with the introduction of Jana Shiksha Samagri Kendra Limited. King Mahendra's diplomacy also made arrangements to send Nepali students to study in Russia on scholarships.


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: As a memorial to his wife, one of the famous public college, Ratna Rajya Campus was established in Putalisadak, Kathmandu and its school was established in Taulihawa,Gorkha, Kathmandu and Mukundapur in 1961 during his reign. With the need to provide higher education institution for a growing settlement n Chitwan, Birendra Intermediate Arts College was established on April 13, 1965 (Baishakh 1, 2022 BS.) later renamed as Birendra Multiple Campus. In order to produce skilled workers inside the country, Pulchowk Engineering Campus was established in 1966 with assistance from Government of India and Thapathali Engineering Campus was established in 1967 with technical assistance of Germany. Later in 1972, these two institutes were brought under the umbrella of Tribhuvan university to constitute the Institute of Engineering. These two engineering institution are still regarded as one of the best engineering institution in the county. The king was in forefront to bring women forward for participation in the society. With the heated discussion to bring women in the schools a girl school was established in Dillibazaar, Kathmandu which was with effort of the king later converted in to a higher institution, Padma kanya campus, and moved to Baghbazar within a greater college premises and facilities


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: The telephone service in the country was initially, exclusively aimed for use in the Palaces of feudal Rana rulers. However, since the day of coronation of King Mahendra, the first distribution of telephone line was made available to the general public. Beginning in 1959, with support from USAID, Nepal developed 1,000 telephone lines in the capital. It also established its first public exchange in 1962 and converted its manual exchange into the country's first automatic telephone exchange within 1964. In 1961 (2018 BS) Rastriya Samachar Samiti commonly abbreviated as RSS, was established under the Rastriya Samachar Samiti Act, 2019 B.S, with a view to facilitate news for newspapers and broadcasting media. It is still one of the major source of news and photos in the nation. Understanding the value of newspaper in spreading knowledge and information, he modernized Gorkhapatra and converted it from weekly newspaper it to a daily newspaper in 1961. Similarly, to address the English language influence and increment of foreign tourists, The Rising Nepal was established on 16 December 1965 (1 Poush 2022 BS) by the then Panchayat Government. In 1971, Nepal received its first telex service. He increased tower infrastructures so that Radio Nepal could reach all corners of the country.


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: After the 1962 war between China and India, Chinese troops occupied mountain areas east and west of Nepal in an attempt to resolve border disputes with India by simply occupying disputed territories. The reversal, Indian armed force were deployed in the country's norther border. and Indian diplomats were involved in the ministry as well as every decisions made by the Nepalese Government. King Mahendra played an important role to oust the Indian armed force from Nepali territory. Moreover, there were multiple representatives from India claiming that Nepal cannot handle its foreign policy and defense policy on its own. King Mahendra removed all the Indian representatives and politicians from the ministry and only kept Nepalese representatives. He was the first king to introduce constitution as the fundamental law in the country. King Mahendra incorporated the phrase 'Hindu Kingdom' in the newly introduced constitution. He scientifically divided Nepal into 14 administrative zones with 75 districts in it. In order to perform proper administration and to secure decentralization of power to every zone, each zones were appointed a zonal commissioners. This was the first decentralization of power in history of Nepal. There were more than 4000 villages and 35 municipalities. Every village was divided into nine wards and every municipalities were divided between 9-35 wards as per the size of the town. During his rule an extensive legal and judicial reforms were carried out. In order to provide good governance and social justice to people he nullified Royal courts and introduced local courts in 1961 through introduction of two new acts Petty States and Rulers Act and royal court nullification act (Nepali: राज्य रजौटा ऐन, २०१७ र राज्य अदालत उन्मूलन ऐन, २०१७) and introduced Supreme court in Nepal on 21 May 1956. Even though royalty act removed many smaller kings, it still recognized 17 small kings including that of Salyan, Bajhang, Jajarkot, Mustang, Bhirkot, Malneta and Darna. King Mahendra publicly declared his will for rule of law in the nation. The "Legal Practitioners Act, in 1968" was introduced to institutionalize this willingness of a systematic rule. He introduced the separation of power within the state by dividing legislative power to the "Rastriya Panchayat" , executive power to the Council of ministers and judicial power to the Supreme Court. The Commissions of Inquiry Act introduced in 1969 opened the legal means through which government could appoint various investigative committees for the purpose of making inquiries into matters of national importance He also established the Office of the Auditor General in Nepal by appointing the first auditor general in 1963 according to the Nepalese constitution of 1958. Section 77 and Section 78 of Part 13 of 1962 constitution provided a provision for establishment of Public Service Commission to employ and train government officials in the country. Section 78 (a b c) of Part 13 (a) of the same constitution made the arrangement of the Election Commission which later became the sole authority to regulate and conduct elections in the country.


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: In 1955 (2012 B.S), with the enactment of the Police Act, there were attempts to boost the morale of the army. National Police Academy was established under this act. The electricity produced in the country at the beginning was exclusively aimed for use in the Palaces of feudal rulers. However, since the day of coronation of King Mahendra in 1955, electricity became more open and accessible to the public. On 17 August 1963 a new legal code was promulgated replacing the Muluki Ain of 1854 with the new Muluki ain. The Muluki Ain (people's code) and made attempt to break untouchables, caste discrimination and policy of gender-discrimination. He then introduced the Nepal Civil Service Act to develop employee skills, ending the long era of the Panjani practice. Nepal Public Commission was established under this act for reforming and developing the civil service. This move ended the long-standing tradition of directly electing, dismissing and transferring government officials by the king and started the tradition of electing only eligible candidates. In 1963,a Central Police Training Centre was established to train and reform the police. "Rajya" reform abolished special privileges of some aristocratic elites in western Nepal. The new "panchayat" system managed to bring 50,000 to 60,000 people into a single system of representative government in a way that had been rendered impossible for the elite-based political parties. Nepal was able to carry out its second plan (1962–65) and third plan (1965-70), and to begin the Fourth Five-Year Plan (1970–75). He was also the first ruler to bring high class Brahmin rulers under the equal rule of punishment. His wife, queen Ratna had huge love for children for which he desired to establish an orphanage. So he provided 25 ropanies of land to establish the first orphanage of the country to Daya Bir Kansakar under the name of Paropkar Sansthan. Moreover, he became the first king to donate blood in Nepal in order to create awareness between people about blood donation. He was also concerned about illegal Indians entering the nation and taking benefit in the name of local, so he introduced the system of citizenship in 1964.


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: In order to preserve the local traditions, religion and culture, way of life, festivals and languages, he had established the Royal Nepal Academy (Nepali:- नेपाल राजकीय प्रज्ञा प्रतिष्ठान) and National Dance Academy (Nepali: राष्ट्रिय नाचघर) and other institutions. Royal Nepal Academy later renamed as Nepal Academy started translating foreign literature to Nepali language giving access to the people for foreign literature. In 1961 Nepal Association of fine arts later known as Nepal Academy of Fine Arts (Nepali:नेपाल ललित कला प्रज्ञा प्रतिष्ठान ) was established .This along with Srijana Fine Arts School were some prominent established made to promote contemporary art in the nation. Furthermore, under the instruction of Mahendra, the government established Ratna Recording Sansthan to facilitate Nepali artists who otherwise were travelling to Calcutta for recording songs. This corporation paired with Radio Nepal to increase the reach of produced records of Nepali national music. King Mahendra was a great lover of Art. In his leadership National Numismatic Museum was established in 1962 to preserve the national history, art and culture. To promote the art and the artist in the nation, he conceived a Public-Private partnership organization and established Nepal Art Council in 1962. In 1962,Nepal Sahitya Sansthan was established to stimulate public's interest in art and culture through literature. In 1965, Panchayat Government initiated a program where actors and directors were sent to India for special training. Later, Mahendra Pragya puraskar was introduced which awarded to contributors of Nepali language, arts and culture every two years. King Mahendra as a chancellor of Nepal academy started the tradition of All Nepal poetry competition on his birthday where winners are awarded with cash prizes. In 1966, on the personal request of Mahendra, the first private bannered Film, Maitighar was produced in the country. Mahendra wrote songs for the film and also provided some funding. In 1967, National archive was established to document and preserve the history and historical documents. Kaiser Library was established in 1969 when the ownership of Kaiser Shumsher Jung Bahadur Rana's history and books collection came under the ownership of the government. King Mahendra made this property accessible to the public with the donated personal collection by his widow Krishna Chandra Kumari Devi. In 1970, the king discussed with Dev Anand, an Indian actor, director and producer, to produce film in Nepal to promote the local cultural heritage and depict the hippie culture. The movie showcased the cultural heritage of the country to the world for the first time such as ancient Kasthamandap, Basantapur Durbar Square as well as Bhaktapur durbar square and showcased the hippie culture.


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: Royal Nepal Academy started translating religious text to Nepali and Sanskrit language giving access to the people for religious text.


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: The constitution introduced by King Mahendra in 1962 officially recognized Hindu religion as the state religion. In addition to that, it introduced national emblem such as crimson colour as the national colour, the cow as the national animal which had its root in Hinduism. The constitution guaranteed promotion of Hindu religious festivals and religious discourses including the use of Sanskrit and a ban on proselytizing. A Being a state religion Hinduism was promoted and protected under the expense of the state and prohibited the slaughter of the animal. Under his reign, the king and the queen was started being worshipped in every Nepalese homes as the incarnation of Vishnu.


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: After being member of the UN, King Mahendra invited the UN Secretary General U Thant to Nepal and involved him in the development of Lumbini as a Birthplace of Lord Buddha.


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: In 1962 (2021 BS), King Mahendra, set up a Guthi Sansthan with the objectives to continue preservation and promotion of festivals, heritage and culture of the people. During the kings reign, Sikhism flourished in Nepal as a number of Sikhs entered Nepal as a businessman with the permission of the king. King Mahendra was the one to provide first citizenship to Sikhs for their help during the drought in 1960s. During his entire rule, he enhanced the religious responsibilities of the royal family and enhanced the ritual status of the king in the society by routinely referencing himself in his speeches and writings "as the last remaining Hindu king of the world" He also promoted Dashain as a religious practice to integrate the entire state through integration of the local leaders into national government. All local and regional leaders were expected to receive Tika from the hands of the king and similarly from their bureaucratic superior and thus dispensing the political hierarchy from the center to all the corners of the country. Dashain embraced the vision of the panchayat regime to create a religiously and ethnically homogeneous society which accepted an hierarchical system with the king at its center to bring the country into a single integrated unit.


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: In 1959, the Birta Abolition Act was enacted which gave poor people and farmers ownership to the land they were historically working on. Birta land was then converted into Raikar through this act. Similarly, the Land Survey and Measurement Act was introduced in 1962. It classified land as Abal, Doyam, Sim, and Chahar. This act effectively established a Land Administration Office (Nepali:भूमि प्रशासन कार्यालय).The Agricultural Reorganization Act, passed in 1963 emphasized security for tenant farmers and put a ceiling on landholdings. Likewise, land reform act 1964 ended the feudal land ownership practice and secured the right of farmers. This land reform policy led to the confiscation of large Rana estates and provided land to many landless people. In the meantime, the Land Administration Act, 1966 was promulgated which further reformed the land administration office changing it into Land Revenue office(Nepali: मालपोत कार्यालय). Moreover, He had provided accommodation to ex- soldiers who knew how to wield weapons and to Nepalese who were expelled from Burma and set up settlements of Nepalis in the Terai from Jhapa to Kanchanpur so that the Indians would not oppress them. He also provided passport to the people of Manang region and waived custom duty for them so that the people of the region could use their lands to grow herbs and trade in the nearby regions. Eradication of Malaria and the land settlement programs contributed to a massive movement of population from the hills into the Terai, resulting in a large increase in the area devoted to agriculture.


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: Mahendra seized power after dissolving the government of Nepali Congress, jailed any objectors and moved steadily towards an authoritarian rule. He considered political parties anti-national elements and put a complete ban on them in favor of a partyless system. While he believed himself to be a supporter of democracy and considered the Panchayat system to be a democratic regime, the claim was rejected by many. He also criticized and objected to King Tribhuvan's decision to accept a multiparty democracy and an arrangement for a constituent assembly. Mahendra once said, "The constitution is given by the King. It is not supposed to be made by the people. "("translated from Nepali").


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: Mahendra gave himself absolute power following the coup and tried to establish his image as a patriotic and benevolent ruler. He suppressed all his critics and launched a propaganda campaign through radio, newspapers and pamphlets that boosted his popularity among the people and established himself as a god-like figure. Critics also see his one-country one-language one-monarch policy as the height of his abuse of authority. Some people also claim that his introduction of the reformed Muluki Ain was not to bring equality in the society but rather to give death sentences to the Brahmin leaders of rebellions who had tried to assassinate him.


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: Some critics claim that Mahendra stole the development plans of B.P Koirala and credited himself as the architect of the developmental process of the era. Mahendra made a conscious effort to consolidate his hold over the Nepalese Army.


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: Mahendra's efforts to unite the multicultural country under a singular culture have faced heavy criticism. The system equated the identity of the country with the Nepali as the language, the Daura-Suruwal as the national dress and Hinduism as the national religion. Everyone was required to wear a Dhaka topi for official purposes: to acquire their citizenship, passport, and driving license. This was criticized to be one sided as it dominated a country with pluralism and completely ignored the existence of the many minority groups within the country. This policy was disseminated in the Nepali language textbooks titled as 'Mahendramala' during the Panchayat era.


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: Many critics consider the Panchayat system to be an institution that innately favored the rich and Mahendra to be the patron saint of the feudal lords and landlords of the country. Ganesh Man Singh criticized the establishment of the Nepal Rastra Bank saying, "The Central Bank, opened for the benefit of landlords and right-wing traders, does not benefit the poor." ("translated from Nepali") Some also argue that the 1960 coup happened because the then BP Koirala government could not keep the feudal lords happy.


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: Mahendra was criticized for constructing various memorials and statues for himself and his wife and for naming various landmarks, schools and parks after him and his family members. Ratna Park, named after King Mahendra's wife Rani Ratna, a prime example of it. The statue of Queen Ratna Rajya Lakshmi Devi at Ratnapark was vandalized by republican protestors in 2062 BS. The Kathmandu Metropolitan City changed the name of the park to Shankdhar Udyan in 2077 BS and erected a statue of Sankhadar Shakwa instead of the one of Queen Ratna. Similarly, naming various development projects like Prithvi highway, Mahendra highway, Kanti highway, Tribhuvan airport etc. after their family members was seen as his attempt to improve the image of the royal family among the common people.


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: The land-reform policy introduced by Mahendra is considered to be a major failure by many people. Land reform efforts began with the enactment of the Land and Cultivation Record Compilation Act (1956), through which the government began compiling tenant records and continued with the Lands Act (1957). These acts were not much successful in increasing small farmers so further efforts had to made. The Agricultural Reorganization Act, passed in 1963 emphasized security for tenant farmers and put a ceiling on landholdings. Likewise, land reform act 1964 ended the feudal land ownership practice and secured the right of farmers. However, there were loopholes in the acts which allowed landlords to control most of the lands. Though, these policies were successful in securing the rights of farmers, it was not so in the case of land redistribution. Until 1972, average landholdings remained small. Moreover, the double ownership law of land introduced by the Panchayat through 'Mohiyai hak' became a major hindrance in development in the decades to come.


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: After the death of his first wife Indra Rajya in 1950, Prince Mahendra was in a love affair with his sister in law, Ratna, but despite sharp opposition from his father King Tribhuvan, Prince Mahendra married Ratna Rajyalakshmi two years later. This created bad relations between him and his father. Mahendra held many criticism from this marriage. Some people criticize him for not obeying his father and disregarding the obedience of a prince towards the king of Nepal. Moreover, some people also criticize him for pre-marriage sterilization of his new wife and snatching the right of his wife to be a mother


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: Historians define Mahendra as an ambitious ruler. He was courageous and visionary who would not be reluctant to take any steps. Swiss scholar, Toni Hagen described him as very clever ruler who could handle delicate issues. He was a deep admirer of Nepalese literature, art and culture which led to himself composing several poems which was later on sung by many famous singers. He was proficient in Nepali, English, Hindi and Sanskrit Language.


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: Mahendra went in for various activities like noblemen of his era and subsequent eras. MBB Shah (Nepali: म. वी. वि. शाह) is the literary name of King Mahendra. MBB Shah is a more passionate poet of the Romantic section of Nepali poetry. King Mahendra wrote various songs and poems. He is also called the first lyricist of Nepal by some sources. He penned "Lolayeka Tee"", Gajalu Tee Thula Thula Aakha," "Garchin Pukar Aaama," "Aakashma Tirmire," "Kina Kina Timro Tasbir," ma mare pani mero desh bachi rahos, Rara ki Apsara etc. which were later sung by Gulam Ali and Lata Mangeshkar. He was also fond of hunting and would regularly go to hunting with her queen to different places.


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: Other than his 6 children, King Mahendra also had a son from one of his concubine Gita Gurung, who was born before any other child from his legal marriage. Gita worked in the royal palace as a servant when Mahendra was a prince.


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: Many structures, institutions, locations and honors have been built and introduced in the memory of King Mahendra. Monuments erected in his name were renamed after the restoration of the parliament in 2063 BS and the end of the monarchy in 2065 BS. After the political changes of 2063 BS, an attempt was made to rename the highway built in the name of the king as Lok Marg. Even though the Ratna Park named after his queen was renamed as Shankhadhar Sakhwa Park, Ratna Park is still popular among the people.


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: Mahendra suffered a massive second heart attack whilst on a winter hunting trip in Chitwan where he was attended to by his trusted Physicians Dr Mrigendra Raj Pandey and Dr Sachey Kumar Pahari. King Mahendra was in a stable but critical condition and eventually breathed his last at Diyalo Bangala, the royal palace in Bharatpur on 31 January 1972. The King's body was subsequently flown to Kathmandu by helicopter in preparation for the State Funeral.


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: His son Birendra ascended the Nepalese throne on 31 January 1972 immediately after his father's death at the age of 27. However, his coronation took place only on 24 February 1975 at the age of 29 due to Hindu ritual for an auspicious date and the astrologers had claimed only that time to be auspicious.


title: Mahendra of Nepal

text: King Mahendra and Queen Ratna visited the US in 1960 and 1967. In 1960 they were greeted by President Dwight D. Eisenhower and in 1967 they were greeted by President Lyndon B Johnson and Mrs. Johnson in Washington DC in 1967. The royal couple of Nepal was greeted with the 'guard of honor'.


title: ECW World Heavyweight Championship

text: The ECW World Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship originally used in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) and later, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was the original world title of the ECW promotion, spun off from the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. It was established under ECW in 1994 but was originally introduced in 1992 by the promotion's precursor, Eastern Championship Wrestling. The inaugural champion was Jimmy Snuka, however, WWE considers the inaugural champion to be Shane Douglas, with his reign beginning on August 27, 1994.


title: ECW World Heavyweight Championship

text: The title was deactivated in 2001 when ECW went out of business. ECW was then purchased by WWE two years later during the summer of 2003. In 2006, WWE reactivated the championship as the world title of their newly established ECW brand. It was the third concurrently active world championship in the promotion, complementing the WWE Championship and World Heavyweight Championship of the other two brands, Raw and SmackDown. The ECW Championship briefly appeared as the sole world title of the Raw brand in 2008 as a result of that year's draft. When WWE disbanded the ECW brand in 2010, the championship was subsequently retired with Ezekiel Jackson as the final titleholder.


title: ECW World Heavyweight Championship

text: The ECW World Heavyweight Championship was introduced originally in 1992 as the NWA-ECW Heavyweight Championship with Jimmy Snuka becoming the inaugural champion on April 25. However, its origin is attributed to events that began in the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), an organization with many members promotions. In the early 1990s, Eastern Championship Wrestling (ECW) was a member of the NWA and by 1994, the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, the world title of the NWA, was vacant. Consequently, a tournament was organized to crown a new NWA World Heavyweight Champion and on August 27, NWA-ECW Heavyweight Champion Shane Douglas defeated 2 Cold Scorpio in the finals to win the title. However, Douglas immediately relinquished the NWA World Heavyweight Championship and instead proclaimed himself the new ECW World Heavyweight Champion. ECW subsequently seceded from the NWA and became Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW). The ECW World Heavyweight Championship was thus established, spun off from the NWA title. It remained active until April 11, 2001, when ECW closed and World Wrestling Entertainment subsequently purchased its assets. The final champion Rhyno went on to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship in 2005.


title: ECW World Heavyweight Championship

text: By 2005, WWE began reintroducing ECW through content from the ECW video library and a series of books, which included the release of "The Rise and Fall of ECW" documentary. With heightened and rejuvenated interest in the ECW franchise, WWE organized ECW One Night Stand on June 12, a reunion event that featured ECW alumni. Due to the financial and critical success of the production, WWE produced the second ECW One Night Stand on June 11, 2006, which served as the premiere event in the relaunch of the ECW franchise as a third WWE brand, complementary to Raw and SmackDown. On June 13, Paul Heyman, former ECW owner and newly appointed figurehead for the ECW brand, recommissioned the ECW World Heavyweight Championship to be the brand's world title and awarded it to Rob Van Dam as a result of winning the WWE Championship at One Night Stand 2006. Heyman had originally stated that either the WWE Championship or the World Heavyweight Championship would "become" the ECW World Heavyweight Championship if a competitor designated to the ECW brand became WWE Champion or World Heavyweight Champion at the event. However, Rob Van Dam later declared that he would hold both titles simultaneously instead. The title became known as the ECW World Championship in June 2006, and later simply as the ECW Championship in August 2007.


title: ECW World Heavyweight Championship

text: The ECW World Championship Tournament was a tournament created to determine a new ECW World Champion after Bobby Lashley vacated his championship due to being drafted to "Raw" on June 11, 2007. The finals took place at . This tournament is notable because one of the semi-final rounds was Chris Benoit's final match. The tournament final was supposed to be Benoit vs CM Punk but Benoit no-showed the event and was replaced by Johnny Nitro, who would go on to win the title. It was reported the day after the event that Benoit, his wife Nancy, and their son Daniel were found dead in their home in suburban Atlanta. The day after police ruled that Benoit himself had killed his wife and son before committing suicide. This event has gone on to be known as the Chris Benoit double murder and suicide.


title: ECW World Heavyweight Championship

text: (*) – Johnny Nitro was an event-day replacement added by WWE after Chris Benoit was a no-show, with the official statement a "family emergency". It was later discovered Benoit's double murder/suicide had taken place that weekend.</onlyinclude>


title: ECW World Heavyweight Championship

text: Following the events of the WWE brand extension, an annual WWE draft was established, in which select members of the WWE roster are reassigned to a different brand. ECW was revived as a third brand in 2006 to rival Raw and SmackDown and continued to operate until February 16, 2010, rendering the title inactive once again.


title: ECW World Heavyweight Championship

text: The original belt was a five-plate title belt made by Mike Vartanian. The belt was an exact copy of NWA-ECW's forerunner Tri-State Wrestling Alliance's Heavyweight title. The only difference was that the NWA-ECW's main plate featured the promotion’s name and had areas painted blue. During this belt's period of use, it was treated badly and was grinded, repainted, and had jewels placed on the main plate, which would explain why it appears different in almost every photo of it. By the time the belt was replaced, it was in a very bad state and two of the side plates were broken off or missing.


title: ECW World Heavyweight Championship

text: When Eastern Championship Wrestling withdrew from the NWA to become Extreme Championship Wrestling in 1994 it continued using this belt until 1996 when it had a new belt created in 1996 starting during Raven's second title reign and was used through 1998.


title: ECW World Heavyweight Championship

text: In 1998, ECW had a new belt created for its championship that would be used until the promotion ceased operations in 2001.


title: ECW World Heavyweight Championship

text: Soon after its recommissioning, the ECW World Heavyweight Championship belt design was updated to a design similar to the belt used before ECW's original closure in 2001, which featured a black leather strap with a snakeskin pattern on the rear, snaps to wrap around the waist of the wrestler who wore it, and five pieces made of gold. In the middle of the strap was a large centerpiece, which featured a design of a blue globe in the center, and to the left and right of the globe were a pair of baseball bats wrapped in barbed wire. At the top of the piece, a purple ECW logo and the words "World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion" were engraved with the words "Heavyweight Wrestling" in red, which gave the text a blood-like appearance. In addition, the entire piece was engraved with a pattern similar to that of a steel cage. Along the strap, on both ends, were four smaller pieces that featured a design similar to that of the centerpiece. The new belt as of June 20, 2006 was differentiated by a full black strap with barbed wire tooling, red ECW logos, and the innards of the steel cage pattern outlined in black.


title: ECW World Heavyweight Championship

text: On July 22, 2008, ECW General Manager Theodore Long introduced a new belt design for the ECW Championship belt. This design features a large black leather strap with five platinum pieces. The large centerpiece features a design of a phoenix over a globe in the center with its wings expanded and rays of light emitting from it. At the top of the piece, the WWE logo and the words "World Wrestling Entertainment" are engraved with "ECW" in large letters engraved prominently over the phoenix. A nameplate, which has the name of the champion etched, is located below it and at the bottom of the piece, the word "Champion" is engraved. Additionally, the entire piece is bordered by a jagged saw-like pattern. Along the strap, on both ends, are four small biker cross-shape pieces that feature a design similar to that of the centerpiece.


title: ECW World Heavyweight Championship

text: Overall, there have been 49 ECW World Heavyweight Championship reigns shared among 32 individuals. The inaugural champion was Jimmy Snuka, who won the title by defeating Salvatore Bellomo in April 1992. The Sandman holds the most reigns as champion, with five. Shane Douglas, in his fourth reign, had the longest reign in the title's history which lasted 406 days. Ezekiel Jackson's 3-minute reign following his defeat of Christian on the television finale of "ECW" is the shortest, as the title was retired with the cancellation of the ECW brand. Christian's second reign was the longest under WWE at 205 days.


title: Betty DeGeneres

text: Betty Jane DeGeneres (née Pfeffer; born May 20, 1930) is an American LGBT rights activist. She is the mother of Ellen and Vance DeGeneres and the first straight spokeswoman for the Human Rights Campaign's National Coming Out Project and an active member of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG). She gained notability following her lesbian daughter Ellen's highly publicized coming out in 1997.


title: Betty DeGeneres

text: The youngest of three daughters, DeGeneres was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1930, during the height of the Great Depression. Her father was German and her mother was Irish. Her sisters (Helen and Audrey) were not involved in day-to-day family life while DeGeneres was in her late teens, but the sisters did become close in adulthood. She attended Louisiana State University (LSU) for two years, studying speech language pathology to become a speech therapist. While in college she performed in a number of plays with Joanne Woodward, who would go on to be an Academy Award-winning actress.


title: Betty DeGeneres

text: She married Elliott DeGeneres in 1952. The couple divorced in 1974. Shortly afterwards, DeGeneres married Roy Gruessendorf, who moved the family to Texas. DeGeneres was diagnosed with breast cancer shortly after her second marriage. Their marriage ended in the early 1990s; Gruessendorf died in 1997. In 2005, Ellen spoke publicly for the first time about the molestation she had suffered from her stepfather when she was a teenager. DeGeneres returned to LSU after the age of 50 to complete her master's degree in speech pathology.


title: Betty DeGeneres

text: DeGeneres is the author of two books: "Love, Ellen: A Mother Daughter Journey" and "Just a mother". In "Love, Ellen: A Mother Daughter Journey", Betty describes her reaction to her daughter coming out as a lesbian, and her path from passive acceptance to becoming a passionate advocate for LGBT rights. She also describes the media scrutiny she received after Ellen came out. Her second book, "Just a mother", continues these themes. She also wrote a column for the (now defunct) website PlanetOut called "Ask Betty."


title: Betty DeGeneres

text: DeGeneres appeared as an extra in the episode "The Puppy Episode" of the television sitcom "Ellen", in which her daughter Ellen's character comes out. DeGeneres appears in many episodes of "The Ellen DeGeneres Show", sitting in the audience.


title: Greater Albania

text: Greater Albania is an irredentist and nationalist concept that seeks to unify the lands that many Albanians consider to form their national homeland. It is based on claims on the present-day or historical presence of Albanian populations in those areas. In addition to the existing Albania, the term incorporates claims to regions in the neighbouring states, the areas include Kosovo, the Preševo Valley of Serbia, territories in southern Montenegro, northwestern Greece (the Greek regional units of Thesprotia and Preveza, referred by Albanians as Chameria, and other territories that were part of the Vilayet of Yanina during the Ottoman Empire), and a western part of North Macedonia.


title: Greater Albania

text: The unification of an even larger area into a single territory under Albanian authority had been theoretically conceived by the League of Prizren, an organization of the 19th century whose goal was to unify the Albanian inhabited lands (and other regions, mostly from the regions of Macedonia and Epirus) into a single autonomous Albanian Vilayet within the Ottoman Empire, which was briefly achieved "de jure" in September 1912. The concept of a Greater Albania, as in greater than Albania within its 1913 borders, was implemented under the Italian and Nazi German occupation of the Balkans during World War II. The idea of unification has roots in the events of the Treaty of London in 1913, when roughly


title: Greater Albania

text: 30% of the predominantly Albanian territories and 35% of the population were left outside the new country's borders.


title: Greater Albania

text: "Greater Albania" is a term used mainly by the Western scholars, politicians, etc. Albanian nationalists dislike the expression "Greater Albania" and prefer to use the term "Ethnic Albania". Ethnic Albania () is a term used primarily by Albanian nationalists to denote the territories claimed as the traditional homeland of ethnic Albanians, despite these lands also being inhabited by many non-Albanians. Those that use the second term refer to an area which is smaller than the four Ottoman vilayets, while still encompassing Albania, Kosovo, western North Macedonia, Albanian populated areas of Southern Serbia and parts of Northern Greece (Chameria) that had a historic native Albanian population. Albanian nationalists ignore that within these regions there are also sizable numbers of non-Albanians. Another term used by Albanians, is "Albanian national reunification" ().


title: Greater Albania

text: Prior to the Balkan wars of the beginning of the 20th century, Albanians were subjects of the Ottoman Empire.


title: Greater Albania

text: The Albanian independence movement emerged in 1878 with the League of Prizren (a council based in Kosovo) whose goal was cultural and political autonomy for ethnic Albanians inside the framework of the Ottoman Empire. However, the Ottomans were not prepared to grant The League's demands. Ottoman opposition to the League's cultural goals eventually helped transform it into an Albanian national movement.


title: Greater Albania

text: Albanian nationalism overall was a reaction to the gradual breakup of the Ottoman Empire and a response to Balkan and Christian national movements that posed a threat to an Albanian population that was mainly Muslim. Efforts were devoted to including vilayets with an Albanian population into a larger unitary Albanian autonomous province within the Ottoman state while Greater Albania was not considered a priority. Albanian nationalism during the late Ottoman era was not imbued with separatism that aimed to create an Albanian nation-state, though Albanian nationalists did envisage an independent Greater Albania. Albanian nationalists were mainly focused on defending rights that were sociocultural, historic and linguistic within existing countries without being connected to a particular polity.


title: Greater Albania

text: The imminence of collapsing Ottoman rule through military defeat during the Balkan wars pushed Albanians represented by Ismail Qemali to declare independence (28 November 1912) in Vlorë from the Ottoman Empire. The main motivation for independence was to prevent Balkan Albanian inhabited lands from being annexed by Greece and Serbia. Italy and Austria-Hungary supported Albanian independence due to their concerns that Serbia with an Albanian coast would be a rival power in the Adriatic Sea and open to influence from its ally Russia. Apart from geopolitical interests, some Great powers were reluctant to include more Ottoman Balkan Albanian inhabited lands into Albania due to concerns that it would be the only Muslim dominated state in Europe. Russo-French proposals were for a truncated Albania based on central Albania with a mainly Muslim population, which was also supported by Serbia and Greece who considered that only Muslims could only be Albanians. As more Albanians became part of the Serbian and Greek states, Albanian scholars with nationalistic perspectives interpret the declaration of independence as a partial victory for the Albanian nationalist movement.


title: Greater Albania

text: On 7 April 1939, Italy headed by Benito Mussolini after prolonged interest and overarching sphere of influence during the interwar period invaded Albania. Italian fascist regime members such as Count Galeazzo Ciano pursued Albanian irredentism with the view that it would earn Italians support among Albanians while also coinciding with Italian war aims of Balkan conquest. The Italian annexation of Kosovo to Albania was considered a popular action by Albanians of both areas.