Day: March 24, 2021

FRANZ KAFA

I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound or stab us. If the book we’re reading doesn’t wake us up with a blow to the head, what are we reading for? So that it will make us happy, as you write? Good Lord, we would be happy precisely if we had no books, and the kind of books that make us happy are the kind we could write ourselves if we had to. But we need books that affect us like a disaster, that grieve us deeply, like the death of someone we loved more than ourselves, like being banished into forests far from everyone, like a suicide. A book must be the axe for the frozen sea within us. That is my belief. -Franz kafka

Franz kafa was born on July 3, 1883 in Prague, Bohemia.

He grew up in a middle class Jewish family Both of his brother’s died before he was seven year’s old and his sisters died in concentration camps during the holocaust.

He studied law at the University of Prague.

During his lifetime, he didn’t publish much of his work, his  friend Max Brod published his work posthumously.

The metamorphosis is his most popular and best selling short story. It was completed in 1912 and got published in 1915. In his book ‘The Judgement’ he wrote about his relationship with his father.

Kafka burned many manuscripts before his death because he was not completely satisfied with his works.

Notable Work

The Metamorphosis

The Castle

Amerika

The Trial

If By Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

Wind And Window Flower by Robert Frost

Lovers, forget your love,
And list to the love of these,
She a window flower,
And he a winter breeze.

When the frosty window veil
Was melted down at noon,
And the caged yellow bird
Hung over her in tune,

He marked her through the pane,
He could not help but mark,
And only passed her by,
To come again at dark.

He was a winter wind,
Concerned with ice and snow,
Dead weeds and unmated birds,
And little of love could know.

But he sighed upon the sill,
He gave the sash a shake,
As witness all within
Who lay that night awake.

Perchance he half prevailed
To win her for the flight
From the firelit looking-glass
And warm stove-window light.

But the flower leaned aside
And thought of naught to say,
And morning found the breeze
A hundred miles away.

10 BEST BOOKS OF ALL TIME

1.Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Leo Tolstoy was a Russian write. Tolstoy is regarded as one of the greatest authors of all time.

2.Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

Vladimir Nabokov was a Russian -American novelist, poet and translator and entomologist. He wrote in both Russian and English.

3. Hamlet by William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was a English playwright, poet a and actor. He is regarded as the greatest writer in the English language.

4. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Fitzgerald is a short- story writer and novelist. He is famous for his depictions of the jazz age.

5. Middlemarch by George Eliot

George Eliot was a poet, novelist, journalist and translator. She was one of the leading writers of the Victorian era.

6. Ulysses by James Joyce

James Joyce was an Irish poet, novelist, short stories writer, teacher and literary critic. He is regarded as one of the most influential writer of 20th century.

7. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin

Jane Austin was an English novelist. she published only four novels during her lifetime- Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Emma and Mansfield park.

8. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

English novelist and poet, Emily Bronte wrote over 200 poems but only a small fraction was published.

9. Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell

George Orwell was an English novelist. essayist, journalist and critic. He is one of the worlds most influential author.

10. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens was an English writer and social critic, he is considered as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era.

Why artificial pollination industry is blooming?

Decline in bee population, forcing some farmers to pollinate crops by hand.

Pollination is the main mode of reproduction in plant’. It’s a method of transferring pollen grains from the male anther of a flower to the female stigma, later enabling fertilisation and the production of seeds and a pollinator is an animal that moves pollen from the male anther of a flower to the female stigma of a flower, Majority of the flower’s plants rely on pollinators move pollen from plant to plant. Honey bee is the most widely knows pollinator. Without pollinators we won’t be able to grow the crops necessary for food, majority of our staple crops and food crops requires pollinators. Increasing air pollution, climate change, loss of habitat and over- development, pollinators are pollinating less. To overcome this problem artificial techniques have been developed.

In artificial pollination the plants are hand pollinated. In this method pollination is done by manually transferring pollen from the stamen of one plant to the pistil of another and for pollinating tall trees mechanical devices have been developed. The devices used in mechanical pollination is generally made of long telescopic light metal or plastic tubing to reach the target. The existing methods for mechanical pollination are difficult, uneconomical and time consuming also.

Recent studies revealed that electrostatic forces play an important role in pollination. Electrostatic is a scientific study and application of electric charges which accumulate on a surface. Electrostatic devices can be used for both non-contact detachment as well as electro-deposition of pollen. The biggest advantage of non detachment method using electrostatic forces is that it reduces physical damage to the pollen grains and flowers, enables safe and healthy pollination which ensures higher field, better quality and expected market rates. Electrostatic pollination is very important, it could reduce the pollen requirement to one third of conventional artificial pollination and could double the full seed percentage without reduction in viability. It is the need of the hour to bring in expertise from both plant breeding and agricultural engineering fraternity to develop a versatile and cost-effective electrostatic artificial pollination technology system. AS the population of natural pollinators in the world is declining so the Electrostatic pollination technique seems to be the saviour of the global food security and food-supply chain.

In conventional hand pollination method, there is a high wastage of pollen grains that need to be produced to ensure fertilization occurs, which greatly raises production costs. On the other hand, the process of artificial pollination using electrostatic charging would scatter lesser pollen mass to pollinate similar number of plants. The concept of electrostatic non contact detachment and deposition of charged pollens in plant pollination ensures less physical damage to pollen therefore, it has better potential to increase the fruit set and its quality. Moreover, the Electrostatics in artificial pollination is reliable, economic and much convenient while dealing with pollination of larger tress which is a very tedious job while working with manual method.

At present, electrostatic pollination method is routinely used for date palms in Arab countries, for larch in forestry and pistachio pollination, etc.

FANDRY MOVIE


Fandry is a Marathi word which means pig. The movie is directed by Nagraj Manjule who is best known for his Marathi film Sairat. Many scenes in the movies are inspired from Nagraj own experience. The movie focuses on the hardships faced by a poor family living on the outskirts of village in Maharashtra. Nagraj touched so many issues in this film from social discrimination, dowry, Ill treatment of women to superstition. It’s very hard to believe that it’s the story of today’s India. In the movie we can see lot of photo frames of great thinkers on the school wall but there were many scene’s which shows how we forget to learn or understand what those thinkers did.
The main protagonist Jabya belongs to a lower cast family. Samnath Awghade played the role Jabya.
Kachru, Jabya’s father role is played by Kishor Kadam who is best known for his works in Marathi and Hindi cinema. Kachru serves as an all-purpose peon for the village. Most of the time his job is to catch pigs. Jabyas Nani (Chhaya kadam) sometimes also helps Kachru in catching pigs and other laborious work.
The movie shows the hardships faced by a Dalit family on a daily basis in India. From the very beginning we get to know that Jabya wants to study but his father forces him to get involved in the butchering and selling of pigs in which Jabya’s family is involved. He never refuses to do what his father and other family is doing. Whenever his schoolmates are around, he escapes from the pig hunting site. Jabya tries to run away from his identity but he failed miserably.

  1. The Whole village always ignored Jabyas family and makes fun of them. They only speak to them when they want to get their work done.
  2. The head of the village told Jabya father “your pig created havoc” and told him to catch the pig before the village wresting tournament starts. As his family starts hunting the pig. Jabyas class fellow and villagers starts gathering. Now Jabya knows that everyone is watching him and there is no escape from humiliation. when Jabya’s family finally get successful in catching the pig and they were carrying it out of the village, they pass through a wall which has paintings of revolutionaries like B.R Ambedkar, Savitribai Phileas, Jyotiba Phule, they are the people who worked hard to eradicate caste system out of our country. This scene shows that not much has been changed because we all are too thick skinned to be touched by these kinds of tragedy. Jabya family humiliation shows that the past efforts of revolutionaries have been whitewashed by the present.
    The last stone he throws directly towards the camera, the stone comes at us- the audience because we all know about the caste discrimination but we all are so insensitive towards this and always turns blind eye from the truth, it’s a shame and the most shameful part is that nobody is ashamed.

HAIDER MOVIE

Haider movie is based on William Shakespeares Hamlet. when Haider’s (Shahid Kapoor) gets the news that his father Hilaal Meer has been arrested by the Indian military, he returns from Aligarh. When he returns to his hometown he found out that his mother Ghazala (Tabu) is in a relationship with his uncle Khurram (Kay Kay Menon). Irfan Khan played the role of Roohdar, he is the one who tells Haider that his father was brutally murdered. He also tells him that his mother and uncle are involved in his father’s death. Roohdar is the one who pushes Haider into a bloody war.

 After that Haider set out on a path of revenge. The movie is directed by Vishal Bhardwaj. Haider is set in insurgency-torn Kashmir (1995). The movie shows the conflict and emotions of Kashmiris. Through this movie, Vishal Bhardwaj tries to tell the story of Kashmir from a different angle.

Haider Ghazala is one of the strongest roles ever written for a woman. Ghazala is a woman who is beautiful, broken, and real. She is the one who is trying to embrace normalcy.  The protagonist (Haider) in this movie is different from the idealistic heroes which the audience usually sees in (Bollywood) movies. The character’s unpredictability in this movie raises the excitement. At the beginning of the movie Haider shown as a simple man but as the story moves forward, we see his journey from anger to jealously to madness.

Maqbool (Macbeth), Omkara (Othello), and Haider( hamlet), these movies of Vishal Bhardwaj have proved that he is a master of mixing literature with cinema and presenting them in different ways. Female characters in Bhardwaj movies are more strong, real, more complex as compared to other Bollywood movies. Women do play important roles in his movies. His character’s sufferings make their actions justified in the most strange and unexpected way.His movies have shown his love for realism and literature.

The local dialects and music of the film make it closer to the reality of the 1990’s period of militancy. Jhelum, Bismil, Gulon Mei Rang Bahre and So Jao all these songs were used in the movie in the most memorable way. Kashmiri folk songs and musical instruments are used to compose the songs. The best part about Haider music is that Bhardwaj has used the music as part of the narration in certain situations. “Bismil” is the song of pain and revenge. “Aao Na” song showcases aggression and violence. The powerful song “Jhelum Doonde Kinara” is sung by Vishal Bhardwaj.

Over 67% people cast their votes to elect new Parliament in Israel

In Israel, 67.2 per cent eligible voters cast their ballots to elect a new Parliament yesterday. This was the fourth parliamentary elections in two-years to elect 120-member Knesset. Israel’s Central Elections Committee does not expect all of the votes to be counted this afternoon due to coronavirus-related restrictions.
 
According to exit polls, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party and its allies are projected to win 52 or 53 seats in the 120-seat Knesset. Mr Netanyahu has been in power continuously since 2009, having served an earlier three-year term in the late 1990s.
 
His campaign focused on Israel’s world-leading Covid-19 vaccination programme and his diplomatic success in normalising ties with some Arab countries. Yair Lapid, a former finance minister who heads the centrist Yesh Atid party, has emerged as Netanyahu’s main challenger.

Health Minister writes to States to undertake necessary measures for expansion of covid 19 vaccination drive

Union Health Minister has written to the States to immediately undertake necessary measures for expansion of covid 19 vaccination drive to include  beneficiaries aged 45 years and above. Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan has written to the Chief Secretaries and Administrators of all States and Union Territories to direct the concerned officials in this regard.
 
He said, they should ensure wider dissemination of information of such expansion amongst citizens for increased uptake of vaccination services. He said, special focus should be given on optimal utilization of the  capacity of COVID-19 vaccination centres while minimizing the wastage of vaccines. Mr Bhushan said that National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19, NEGVAC has been guiding all aspects of COVID-19 vaccination drive on the basis available scientific evidence.
 
Based on the recommendation of NEGVAC, the government of India has now decided to expand the prioritized age group to include all persons aged 45 years and above for COVID-19 vaccination from 1st April,2021. He said there will now be no need for a comorbidity certificate for people aged 45 years to 59 years. The CoWIN software is also being suitably  modified for doing away with the need for confirmation of comorbidities  at the time of online registration  and on-site registration  or for uploading the comorbidity certificate at the time of vaccination. The registration on CoWIN would begin from 1st of April, 2021.

Fitch Ratings revises India’s growth estimate to 12.8% for next fiscal

American credit rating agency Fitch has revised India’s GDP growth estimate to 12.8% for next fiscal from the previous 11% on the back of a stronger carryover effect, a looser fiscal stance, and better virus containment.
 
The ratings agency, in its latest Global Economic Outlook GEO, anticipates the level of the country’s GDP to remain well below its pre-pandemic forecast trajectory. Fitch also expects GDP growth to ease to 5.8% in Fiscal Year 2023.
 
In a report it said, India’s recovery from the depths of the lockdown-induced recession in the second quarter of 2020  has been swifter than expected. GDP surpassed its pre-pandemic level in the fourth quarter of current fiscal.
 
It also added that High-frequency indicators point to a strong start to 2021. The manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index PMI remained elevated in February, while the pickup in mobility and a rise in the services PMI point to further gains in the services sector.
 
The ratings agency notes that it no longer expects the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to cut its policy rate, owing to a brighter short-term growth outlook and a more limited decline in inflation than it had forecast.

Suspended Mumbai Police officer Sachin Vaze named prime accused in Mansukh Hiren murder case

The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad said that Sachin Vaze is prime accused in Mansukh Hiren’s alleged murder case. He is responsible for destruction of crucial evidence like SIM cards and mobile phone besides CCTV footage of his residence, office, certain godowns and business establishments. 

Addressing a press conference in Mumbai yesterday Chief of Maharashtra ATS, Mr. Jai Jeet Singh said, it will try to gain the custody of suspended police officer Sachin Vaze to question him about his role in Mansukh Hiren’s alleged murder case. Mr. Singh confirmed that evidence collected so far suggests that Vinayak Shinde, who was out on parole, had called Masukh for a meeting where he was killed.

The ATS further said bookie Naresh gore had purchased 14 SIM cards from Gujarat, some of which were used in the crime. It may be recalled that Sachin Vaze is in NIA custody till 25th of this month. Even though the Hiren murder case was transferred to the NIA on March 20, the ATS is still conducting an investigation. 

Meanwhile, Maharashtra ATS seized a high-end VOLVO car from Daman in connection with the Mansukh Hiren murder case. The car has been brought to the ATS office in Thane. While there is no clarity about the car’s owner; the ATS suspects that the vehicle was used by Vaze and his team to dump Mansukh Hiren’s body in Thane creek.

Besides this vehicle, at least five more vehicles have been seized by NIA in relation with the Antilia bomb scare case, in which suspended police officer Sachin Vaze is a prime accused.

Home Ministry issues guidelines for effective control of Covid-19 from April 1

Union Home Ministry issued an Order containing Guidelines for effective control of COVID-19. It will be effective from 1st of April and remain in force upto 30th of April. The main focus of the Guidelines is to consolidate the substantial gains achieved in containing the spread of COVID-19, which was visible in the sustained decline in the number of active cases, continuously for about five months. 
 
Keeping in view a fresh surge in COVID-19 cases, which is being witnessed in some parts of the country, the guidelines mandate the State and Union Territories Governments to strictly enforce the Test- Track-Treat protocol and ensure observance of COVID appropriate behaviour by everyone and to scale up the vaccination drive to cover all the target groups.
 
It is also emphasised that in order to ensure that the resumption of activities is successful and to fully overcome the pandemic, there is need to strictly follow the prescribed containment strategy, and strictly observe the guidelines and Standard Operating Procedures issued by the Home Ministry, Health Ministry ,other Ministries, Departments of the Central Government and State Governments.
 
With regard to Test- Track-Treat protocol, the Home Ministry said that States and UTs, where the proportion of RT-PCR tests is less, should rapidly increase it, to reach the prescribed level of 70 percent or more. The new positive cases, detected as a result of intensive testing, need to be isolated and quarantined at the earliest and provided timely treatment.
 
Further as per the protocol, their contacts have to be traced at the earliest, and similarly isolated and quarantined. The Ministry said, based on the positive cases and tracking of their contacts, Containment Zones shall be carefully demarcated by the district authorities, at the micro level while taking into consideration the guidelines prescribed by the Health Ministry in this regard.
 
Within the demarcated Containment Zones, the containment measures will be followed, which include strict perimeter control, intensive house-to-house surveillance and contact tracing. The local district, police and municipal authorities will be responsible to ensure that the prescribed Containment measures are strictly followed and State Governments will ensure the accountability of the officers concerned in this regard.
 
As per the guidelines, State and  UT Governments will take all necessary measures to promote COVID-19 appropriate behaviour in work places and in public, especially in crowded places. It said, for strict enforcement of wearing face masks, hand hygiene and social distancing, States and UTs may consider administrative actions, including imposition of appropriate fines.
 
States and UTs, based on their assessment of the situation, may impose local restrictions, at district and sub-district and city/ or ward level, with a view to contain the spread of COVID-19. The guidelines said that there shall be no restriction on inter-State and intra-State movement of persons and goods including those for cross land-border trade under Treaties with neighbouring countries. No separate permission or e-permit will be required for such movements.
 
It said, all activities have been permitted outside Containment Zones and SOPs have been prescribed for various activities including movement by passenger trains, air travel, metro trains, schools; shopping malls and  yoga centres. The SOPs, as updated from time to time will be strictly enforced by the authorities concerned. With regard to vaccination, the Government of India has launched the world’s largest vaccination drive against COVID-19. 

The Home Ministry said that while the vaccination drive is proceeding smoothly, the pace is uneven across different States and UTs and the slow pace of vaccination in some States is a matter of concern. It said vaccination against COVID-19, in the present scenario, is critical to break the chain of transmission. The Ministry said, all State and UT Governments should rapidly step up the pace of vaccination, to cover all priority groups in an expeditious manner.

India achieves significant milestone of administering more than 5 crore doses of Corona vaccine

Health Ministry said, a total of 5 crore 8 lakh 41 thousand 286 vaccine doses have been administered till now. 47 thousand 262 new COVID19 cases have been reported in the country in the last 24 hours. With this total cases have reached to 1 crore 17 lakh 34 thousand 58.
 
Total recovery tally has touched 1 crore 12 lakh 5 thousand 160 as 23 thousand 907 people recovered from Covid-19 in the last 24 hours. 275 deaths reported the last 24 hours and death toll reached 1 lakh 60 thousand 441. Active cases now at 3 lakh 68 thousand 457.
 
ICMR said, a total of 23 crore 64 lakh 38 thousand 861 samples have been tested for COVID19 till yesterday. Out of these, 10 lakh 25 thousand 628 samples were tested yesterday.

Union Cabinet approves Covid-19 vaccination for all above 45 years of age from April 1

Centre has opened Covid19 vaccination for everyone aged above 45 starting 1st of April. Briefing the media after the Cabinet meeting in New Delhi yesterday, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar requested all eligible people to immediately register and get vaccinated. He said vaccination is the shield against COVID 19. He also clarified that vaccines are available in enough numbers and there is no scarcity.