Archives October 2013

With increasing intrusion of aliens in their lives, it was natural that nationalist feelings began to be articulated by an increasing number of Indians. A group of middle class Indians formed the Indian National Congress (1885) - a society of English – educated affluent professionals - to seek reforms from the British. The British did not respond adequately to the legitimate demands of the Indians and this resulted in growing resentment against them. By the last decade of the 19th Century a younger, more militant generation of Indians had begun to assert their birthright to independence. The Indian National Congress inevitably changed under the constant pressure exerted by men like Bal Gangadhar Tilak from Maharashtra. In Bengal too, there was a fiery group of revolutionaries who maintained that violence was the only language the foreigners understood. The partition of Bengal, announced by Lord Curzon in 1905, triggered a political earthquake more...

Indian society is multifaceted to an extent perhaps unknown in any other of the world's great civilisations. Virtually no generalisation made about Indian society is valid for all of the nation's multifarious groups. Comprehending the complexities of Indian social structure has challenged scholars and other observers over many decades. The ethnic and linguistic diversity of Indian civilisation is more like the diversity of an area as variable as Europe than like that of any other single nation-state. Living within the embrace of the Indian nation are vast numbers of different regional, social, and economic groups, each with different cultural practices. Particularly noteworthy are differences between social structures in the north and the south, especially in the realm of kinship systems. Throughout the country, religious differences can be significant, especially between the Hindu majority and the large Muslim minority; and other Indian groups— Buddhists, Christians, Jains, Jews, Parsis, Sikhs, and practitioners more...

Advertising is the communication link between the seller Hid the buyer or the consumer. It does not simply provide information about the products and services but is an active attempt at influencing people to action by an overt appeal to reason or emotion. Advertising may be in any form of presentation. It may be a sign, a symbol, an illustration, an ltd message in a magazine or a newspaper, a commercial on the radio or television, a circular dispatched through the mail or a pamphlet - handed out at a street corner, a sketch or a message on a billboard or a poster. Any form of presentation which an advertiser wants to make. Advertising is communication with many consumers of products and services. To communicate with a large group, we put the advertising message through mass media like the press, magazine and TV Ethics in advertising is concerned with good more...

Prudence is the virtue of the senses. It is the science of appearances. It is the outmost action of the inward life. It is God taking thought for oxen. It moves matter after the laws of matter. It is content to seek health of body by complying with physical conditions, and health of mind by the laws of the intellect. The world of the senses is a world of shows; it does not exist for itself, but has a symbolic character; and a true prudence or law of shows recognises the co- presence of other laws, and knows that its own office is subaltern; knows that it is surface and not center where it works. Prudence is false when detached. It is legitimate when it is the Natural History of the soul incarnate; when it unfolds the beauty of laws within the narrow scope of the senses. There are all more...

India has 375 million children, more than any other country in the world. Their condition has improved in the last five decades with child survival rates up, school dropout rates down, and several policy commitments made by the government at the national and international levels. Resource allocations by the State, however, remain quite inadequate to take care of the survival and healthcare needs of infants and children, their education, development and protection. India has made some significant commitments towards ensuring the basic rights of children. There has been progress in overall indicators: infant mortality rates are down, child survival is up, literacy rates have improved and school dropout rates have fallen. But the issue of Child Rights in India is still caught between legal and policy commitments to children on the one hand, and the fallout of the process of globalization on the other. Socio-economic factors must also be taken more...

The hostile powers only use their fragile ceasefires to prepare for another round of war — so perhaps it is better to let them slug it out until they are more willing to compromise with each other. In any case the human cost of an artificially imposed peace is much greater than that of a short war. These are radical ideas, and rooted, quite predictably, in the West's recent Balkan experience. But post-Kargil and post-Atlantique, these become quite relevant to the situation in the subcontinent. Irrespective of whether the two countries are now able to contain the post-Atlantique fallout or let things drift into greater escalation, questions will inevitably be asked if the fire that began at Kargil was put out too prematurely. Did it leave the basic conflict and warlike mood simmering dangerously, and, therefore, only delayed the inevitable? Implicit in these doubts is the view that the West, more...

Adolescence is a vital stage in human development, a time of rapid, often uneven development of physical, emotional, intellectual, social, moral, spiritual and aesthetic aspects. Adolescents are susceptible and vulnerable to external influences and the socio- culture environment has an impact on their health, development, security and dignity. Habits and behaviours picked up during adolescence, including risk- taking behaviours, substance abuse, eating habits, conflict resolution, etc have often lifelong impact. Of course, adolescents are not a homogenous entity and they have diverse needs relating to their development, social and economic security and health. Unfortunately, many adolescents in the Member Countries of WHO South- East Asia Region are at a disadvantage as they have had insufficient formal and vocational education. Also, there are inadequate opportunities for sports and exercise, which help to develop physical, mental and social capabilities. While many girls drop out of school, a large number of adolescents are more...

India has strived for self-reliance in nuclear power and has made a massive financial investment in nuclear fuel facilities as well as reactors. Twenty to twenty-five per cent of the country's research and development spending has gone on nuclear research. Nevertheless, nuclear power is not yet a major energy source in India, and self-reliance has not yet been achieved. Without an enrichment plant India is still dependent on the USA for fuel supplies for the Tarapur reactor. And until the technical problems with the novel heavy water plants are solved, heavy water too will have to be imported. It is likely that India can become self-reliant in the end — the knowledge and capability are there —but at what economic cost? .... A detailed economic analysis of India's power reactors indicates that nuclear electricity generation has no advantage over hydro or coal-fired generation. Indeed the latter two are considerably cheaper more...

For many of us every day's work is not just a routine daily activity. Each and every individual in the world works to meet his/her basic needs and few treat it as a source of income and others as a passion. As the saying goes 'our work defines us' and in a sense we are known by our work, in past and present. We all strive for excellence through our work and with our work we can find happiness in our life. Perhaps the most important requirement for success is finding interest in your work. The happiness can only come when we work with a sense of optimism, with a sense of purpose with a sense of challenge and with a view to enjoying the work we are doing! What is more important in our life is not just completion of work but the achievement and recognition that follows after more...

In the late 1800's and the early 1900's the people of northern Europe, southern Africa and Asia were in despair. They had no leaders. They were defenceless. India had been taken over by the British Empire and now the 315 million Indians were under the rule of the 100 thousand British soldiers there. In Germany there were six different political groups; nobody knew what to do. These countries were in shock, they needed a change, but more importantly, they needed a leader. Mohandas K. Gandhi was a law student, born and raised in India, but schooled in England. Early on in his career he returned to his birthplace and attempted to practice law there, but he was very unsuccessful. A few years later he moved to South Africa, and again attempted to set up a law practice there. But South Africa was now in British control and the Indian lawyer more...