In India's long history, there have been many women who have excelled with their sheer strength and courage. Some such examples are Razia Sultan, Rani Laxmi Bai, Sarojini Naidu, Indira Gandhi, etc. The latest entrant to the list is Indra Nooyi, who has been placed 4th in the lint of world's topmost influential women by the Forbes Magazine. Indra Krishnamurtliy Nooyi was horn on 28 October 1955 in the south Indian city of Madras, now Chennai. After graduating from Madras Christian College with Maths, Physics and Chemistry in subjects, she did her Masters in Finance and Marketing from India Institute of Management, Calcutta. Her first job was with ABB and then she joined Johnson and Johnson (J&J) in Mumbai. While with J&J, she was closely associated with the launch of the sanitary napkin "Stayfree", The desire to do more in life drew her to Yale Management School in US, where more...

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) is Government of India's flagship programme for achievement of Universalisation of Elementary Education (UEE) in a time bound manner, as mandated by 86th amendment to the Constitution of India making free and compulsory education to the children of 6-14 years age group, a Fundamental Right. SSA is being implemented in partnership with State Governments to cover the entire country and address the needs of 192 million children in 1.1 million habitations. Under the programme, new schools are being opened in those habitations which do not have schooling facilities and existing school infrastructure is being strengthened through provision of additional class rooms, toilets, drinking water, maintenance grant and school improvement grants. Additional teachers are being provided to existing schools with inadequate teacher strength. The capacity of existing teachers is being strengthened by extensive training, grants for developing teaching- learning materials and strengthening of the academic support structure more...

Linguistic ability is a relatively new phenomenon vis-a-vis non-verbal communication, which reminds us of our primitive links with the rest of the creation. Many a times, our body gives out nonverbal cues without us being aware of it. It needs to be borne in mind that every individual has his or her own particular way to stand, sit, or gesture one way or the other. Cues emanating from a person's body can be properly interpreted on being aware of the other person's body language. If the person you are speaking to turns away after having faced you dimity and maintained good eye contact, it is a sure sign of that person being annoyed with you or with what you have just uttered. Similarly, if as person starts by facing away and suddenly, during the course of  interaction, starts looking at you and making eye contact, it would mean that you more...

Human beings enjoy the maximum freedom and power for governing their habitat and environment. This power enables them to misuse the resources or exploit the not- so-privileged at will. Materialism, advanced technologies and a lack of understanding of the basic cause of existence has led us to a degradation in our moral values. Let us take the case of India. We are the most ancient civilization. Vedas were written here. Buddha got divine knowledge here. We are proud of our rich cultural, historical and spiritual heritage for which, we are well known around the globe. But today, have we kept those ideals, values and principles close to our hearts, which were so dear to our ancestors? Take for example, the concept of joint family. Today, no young couple prefers a joint family. Nuclear families—on the pattern of division of the family in the USA and the West—create a sense of more...

I am a girl. My name isRadhika Gupta. I like my name. I worship God daily. I go for a walk daily with my father. My father is a author. His name is Mr. Sachin Gupta.My mother's name is Mrs. Neeru Gupta. My mother is a housewife. She works at home. She always tries to solve theproblems of her neighbours. Sometimes, she helps the poor people. I love my parents. They love me very much. I am ten years old. I read in VIth Class. I am slim. Iam healthy. My colour is very fair. My hair is long. I have a younger brother. His name is Rakesh Gupta. He reads in standard V. I love my brother. My grandmother is a religious lady. Her hair has turned white. Although she is old, she is very active. She leaves her bed early in the morning. After taking a bath she more...

The shocking death of 19-year-old Amman Kachroo sharply reminded the nation of our inability to curb the menace of ragging in institutions of learning, despite the recurrence of incidents that result in injuries, attempted suicides, and even death. To make indefensible suggestions that this habitual intimidation of junior students is a way of breaking the ice and fostering fellow feeling reflects utter insensitivity in the face of such tragic incidents. Ragging or hazing is no gentle rite of passage but a ritualised form of torture that can cause severe psychological and physical injury. The prevalence of the phenomenon and the damage it can do has been reinforced by reports of other incidents of attempted Suicide after being ragged by seniors. In early 1990s, ragging was recognized as a problem and since then has been debated and discussed to find a solution. It seems the minorities have always ignored to understand more...

According to last census held in 2001, the percentage of female literacy in the country is 54.16. While the literacy rate in the country has increased from 18.33 per cent in 1951 to 65.38 per cent, the female literacy rate has also increased from 8.86 per cent in 1951 to 54.16 per cent. During the period 1991-2001, the female literacy rate increased by 14.87 per cent whereas male literacy rate rose by 11.72 per cent. Hence the female literacy rate actually increased by 3.15 per cent more compared to male literacy rate. Historically, a variety of factors have been found to be responsible for poor female literate rate, viz gender based inequality, social discrimination and economic exploitation, occupation of girl child in domestic chores, low enrolment of girls in schools, and low retention rate and high dropout rate. It is pertinent to note that gender disparity still persists with uncompromising more...

We live in an unequal world. Huge differ-ences can be found in human development across and within countries. For many people in developing countries moving away from their home town or village can be the best— sometimes the only—option open to improve their life chances. Human mobility can be hugely effective in rais-ing a person's income, health and education prospects. But its value is more than that because being able to decide where to live is a key element of human freedom. When people migrate—whether within or across international borders—they embark on a journey of hope and uncertainty. Most people move in search of better opportunities, hoping to combine their own talents with resources in the destination city or country so as to benefit themselves and their immediate family, who often accompany or follow them. If they succeed, their initiative and efforts can also benefit those left behind and the more...

Barack Hussein Obama, the 44th President of the United States, was born in Hawaii on 4 August 1961. With a Kenyan father and mother from Kansas, he was raised with help from his grandfather, who served in Patten's army, and his grandmother, who worked her way up from the secretarial pool lo middle management at a bank. He had a middle- class upbringing in a strong family, where hard work and education are the means of getting ahead, and the conviction that a life so blessed should be lived in service to others. After working his way through college with the help of scholarships and student loans, Obama moved to Chicago, where he worked with a group of churches to help rebuild communities devastated by the closure of local steel plants. He went on to attend law school, where he became the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review. more...

Social service has been and even today is the greatest need of India. Since Raja Ram Mohan Roy's period the days of Mahatma Gandhi, many great men and women have devoted themselves selflessly to the cause of social service. However the problem of social evils still persists. Thus social reform should be the religion of all the Indians It is only then that we can recapture our ancient gloryand fame. We must all unite ourselves and try to bring about social reform for the betterment of our nation. We have to be unselfish while trying to improve the lot of ourBellow beings. Let us consider a few ways by which a Young educated Indian can serve his nation. The main problem in our country is that of poverty. If we could raise funds regularly so that we can provide Money for some poor people it would be a great servicein more...