“I have no color prejudices nor caste prejudices nor creed prejudices. All I care to know is that a man is a human being, and that is enough for me; he can't be any worse..” ~ Mark Twain Introduction India is the World's largest democracy, containing the second largest population in the World. Since the Independence in 1947 the World's perception of India has changed; from categorizing and treating it as a 'developing' nation to today's belief of India to be a superpower with a strong ally in the international arena. Caste Pyramid There are many internal problems in India which need immediate attention, including the issue of caste discrimination and untouchability. Caste discrimination and untouchability is not something new; it derives its root from ancient India. It is a cultural and social phenomenon th...

India is mainly an agricultural society/ country. Agriculture is the most important occupation for most of the Indian families. Agriculture is the backbone of the Indian economy and will continue to remain so for a long time (as it seems now). Indian agriculture is characterised by agro-ecological diversities in soil, rainfall, temperature and cropping season. Agriculture and its allied sector employ more than half of the workforce in the country. However, it contributes only about 17% of the GDP. Distribution of Farmland in India 86% of total farmers are small and marginal, and they only own 47% of the total agricultural land, medium farmers are 13%, and they own 44% of the land, and the rest belongs to large farmers (see figure 1). The average size of farm holdings gradually reduced from 2.58 ha to 1.57 ha (2017-18 data) due to fragmentation of landholding generations after generation. These small and marginal farmers have limited resources com...

Pre and Post Coronavirus way of life Coronavirus or COVID-19 is now synonymous to lockdowns, curfews, massive airport screenings, quarantine and social distancing across the globe. It has affected every aspect of - political, economic, social, technological and cultural - life. The world as we know before the coronavirus and after the coronavirus is not going to be the same. There will be many fundamental changes in an individual's life, structural changes in the functioning of the society, and functional changes on the professional front. Already face masks, social distancing, priority to health etc. have become the new norm across the globe. Background On December 31, 2019, China reported the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of cluster of cases and pneumonia of an unknown cause in Wuhan City in Hubei province. On January 09, 2020, WHO issued a statement saying Chinese researchers have made "preliminary determination" of the virus as a nov...

The new political map of Nepali comprising of the disputed lands of Kalapani, Limpuyadhura, Lipulekh, published on May 20, 2020. Photo: Nepal government The dispute over Kalapani, between India and Nepal, was revived in November 2019 when India published a political map showing the newly created Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh. Both India and Nepal claim to Kalapani. On May 8, India inaugurated 80 km Darchula-Lipulekh pass link, cutting across the disputed Kalapani area, which is used by Indian pilgrims to Kailash Mansarovar. On May 22, Nepal has released a new political map that claimed Kalapani, Limpiyadhura, and Lipulekh of Uttarakhand as part of Nepal's territory. The area of Susta (West Champaran district, Bihar) can also be noted on the map. Kalapani territory is an area under Indian administration as part of the Pithoragarh district in Uttarkhand state but is also claimed by Nepal. It also shares a border on the north with Tibet Autonomous Region ...

The twin relationship between population and economic growth has always been a subject of great interest to economists, as population is a resource that supplies the labour force needed for industrialization that symbolises economic growth. However, it is an established principle that labour alone cannot produce anything without the help of other resources. If other resources needed for production are available in sufficient quantity, then a larger lobour force could become a productive asset of a country. Growth Rate of Population At any point of time, all countries have some people living there, the number of these people constitutes the size of population of that country at that time. This number, however, keeps on changing continuously through birth, deaths and immigration. Therefore, increase in the number of people during a fixed period of time, in a country, is called the growth rate of population. The rate of growth of population during a period is estimated as the rati...

Basics of Chinese Currency RMB is an abbreviation for 'Ren Min Bi', which means 'People's money' . Yuan is the base unit of RMB just as Dollar in USD. (1 RMB = 10 jioa = 100 fen) Chinese money comes by two names: Renminbi is the name of the currency and yuan refers to its primary unit. Renminbi is the official currency of China and act as a medium of exchange, but the yuan is the unit of account of the country's economic and financial system. Reasons behind launching e-RMB Replacing the dollar - A soverign digital currency provides a functional alternative to the dollar settlement system and blunts the impact of any sanctions or threats of exclusion both at a country and company level. China has successfully achieved Trade Globalisation, Economic Globalisation, and Military and Geo-strategic Globalisation, but it has failed to achieve Financial Globalisation. Without Financial Globalisation it is not possible to replace the Dollar as the World...

21 st century is marred by the outbreak of various zoonotic diseases. Be it the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), Ebola haemorrhagic fever, Nipah virus encephalitis, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), Swine Flu (H1N1) or Bird Flu (H5N1). They have resulted in millions of fatalities around the globe. The new addition in this line is the new strain of coronavirus i.e. SARS-CoV2 which has resulted into COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 pandemic is notified as 'biological' disaster by the government of India. Hence it is important to understand the meaning of “biological disaster” and assess India’s preparedness with respect to handling of a “biological disaster”. Means to Counter Biological disaster As per the constitutional norm, health is a state subject. The primary responsibility of dealing with the state government. There are a number of legislations that control and govern the nation's health. Government can enforce these legislations to contain the sp...

The truth about inequality The great promise of communism in the 20 th century was the removal of inequalities. However if failed comprehensively by 1991. The worldwide spread of capitalism and LPG wad the next big promise. But sadly data show that the world income inequality has grown and diminished. The seven key truths about income inequalities are: Income inequalities is lowest in Europe and highest in Middle East. The top 10% income share is 37% in Europe, 41% in China and 56% in India. In the Middle East top 10% cornered 61% of National Income. Since 1980s inequality has sharply risen in India, China, Russia, and North America. Regions like Brazil, Middle East and Sub-Sharan Africa are the inequality frontiers, as they never experienced post World War-II egalitarian. In 1980 the top 1% income share was roughly 10% in US and Western Europe, but today it is roughly 20% in US and 16% in Western Europe. The bottom 50% of share in America steeply dropped from 20% in ...

Who came first - Viruses or Humans? Do humans really mark the pinnacle of evolution of viruses? While we’ve evolved along a pathway of ever-increasing complexity, viruses have streamlined, successfully jettisoning all but a handful of essential genes. Viruses are the most abundant biological entities on Earth. They are present everywhere, in our surrounding, the oceans, the soil and in every living being. Retroviruses contributed to about half of our genomic sequences and to the evolution of the mammalian placenta. Contemporary viruses reflect evolution ranging from the RNA world to the DNA-protein world. Viruses and Bacteria both descended from an ancient cellular life form. But while - like humans - bacteria evolved to become more complex, viruses became simpler. Today, viruses are so small and simple, thet can't even replicate on their own. Viruses carry only the essential genetic information they need to be able to slip inside a host cell and coax it into making new ...

Well, the lockdown/ curfew has barely begun, and people are already bored. As restaurants, bars, beaches, parks, and pretty much everything else has been closed, all you can do it get out and got to a general store to buy necessary items. As the total number of cases around the globe are increasing day-by-day, I think it was a necessary step that was required to contain the spread of the pandemic Coronavirus. However, thinking out of the box, the 21 day isolation may very well present us with the opportunities to try out our hands at something new or even get things done around the house which we have been putting off. without further ado, let us now take a look at the top 8 things we can do during a lockdown: 1. EXERCISE A complete lockdown behind the doors can take a took on the mental health as well as the physical health, and lockdown can easily translate to a week of slouching on the couch. At a time like this, it becomes to get the blood circulation and retain health...