Welcome to the Art World

Madhubani Art

Madhubani is also known as Mithila Painting is Indian style painting. It is famous folk painting originated from the Madhubani town in Jitwarpur village and Ranti village of Mithila region in Bihar. It is practiced especially by the women of the Mithila region of the India and also some parts of Darbhanga district. It is painted using twigs, brushes, fingers , and match sticks. It is painted using natural dyes and pigments. It specialty is the geometrical patterns. This is most profoundly done on freshly plastered mud walls and hut floors. It is very well know for the representation of the ritual content representing festivals and religious rituals. It has also its form established in some parts of Nepal.

Its various colors are extracted naturally from various natural resources. The Yellow color from the turmeric and marigold flower. They extracted Dark green from the leaves of the plants . As it was a vibrant color it was mostly used for bordering the the picture. Black was extracted from the coal powder which was used as a base for the painting . Rice powder served as a source of color for the White color. Indigo flowers provided the indigo color. Red roses was used for the red color.

It is a painting that comes under the category of Folk art. This folk art was started for the utility purposes or mostly for ritual kind if things. This Madhubani painting  primarily depict the nature and the Hindu mythological figures and the themes are generally associated with Hindu deities, fish, birds, animals, natural objects like the sun, moon and religious plants like Tulsi plant or Banyan tree. Each symbol has different meaning ,like fish symbolizes fertility ,wealth harmony .

Tantrik Painting is described as the another form of Madhubani painting . It depicts the religious texts and characters related to it. Its styles includes the manifestations of the Hindu deities like Maha Kali, Maha Durga, Maha Sarawathi, Lakshmi, Ganesh . Complex mathematical patterns were used in Madhubani paintings makes them more intriguing and special.

­

Reservation in India refers to the practice of reserving a certain percentage of seats in government institutions for people belonging to backward and under-represented communities.

The primary beneficiaries of the reservation policies under the Constitution are the Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Other Backward Classes (OBCs). Furthermore, this concept was made part of the Constitution in order to let the deprived classes come at par with the privileged classes.

One can attribute the origin of the reservation system to the age-old caste system of India. According to the caste system, the division of the people was to take place on the basis of occupation. As such, various sects came up like teaching and preaching (Brahmins), kingship and war (Kshatriya), and business (Vaish).

Soon, however, the system became an instrument of dividing the society on the basis of caste. Furthermore, this led to the creation of various walls between the different sections of society. After independence, the main objective of the reservation policy was to uplift the untouchables who had to suffer maximum marginalization.

Today, the division of the Indian society has taken place into Hindu, Muslim, SC, ST, OBC etc. Furthermore, demands for newer reservation are also coming from Christians, Jats, Pandits, Tribals etc.

Unfortunately, there has been the failure of the policy to achieve its aim to uplift the marginalised classes. Rather, the reservation policy has become a political tool in the hands of politicians.

The 93^rd Amendment stirred the anger of the youth, in general, all over the country. Furthermore, protests took place from various sections of society. Moreover, the reason for the anger of the youth was that the development of one section of the society cannot take place at the cost of the other section.

Overall, it can be said that while the intention behind reservation cannot be blamed, it is the faulty implementation that has been the main problem.

The Two-child policy is a government-imposed limit of two children allowed per family. It is used for some population groups in China, has previously been used in Vietnam, and has lately been discussed in the Philippines. Although not by law, in the 1970s, citizens of Hong Kong were also highly encouraged to have two children as a limit, and it was used as part of the region’s family planning strategies. One country which has also started to adopt this child policy to control its high population is the world’s largest democracy: India.

Multiple states have adopted this policy by prohibiting people with more than two children from serving in the government. Seven states:  Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand have laws barring couples with more than two children from contesting local body elections. In 2017 this policy was adopted by the North Eastern state of Assam with those having more than two children would be ineligible for government jobs. Some states have repealed policies; the state of Chhattisgarh introduced a policy in 2001 and repealed it in 2005. On July 10^th 2021, the state of Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state, had announced draft legislation which would see anyone with more than two children denied state benefits, subsidies and government jobs. After a family has two children, there will also be incentives if one of the parents undergoes voluntary sterilisation. The state’s draft law includes incentives for two-child couples if one of them opts for voluntary sterilisation, including soft loans for construction or house purchases and rebates on utility bills and property taxes. The bill says that because of the state’s “limited ecological and economic resources at hand, it is necessary and urgent that the provision of the basic necessities of human life are accessible to all citizen”.

The implementation of a one-child policy will help to control the population. Not only will the policy help control head counts, but it will also provide advantages socially and economically. With reference to China’s one child policy, the plan of birth control could reduce India’s increasing unemployment. The fall in birth rate offers a demographic dividend, as the economically productive proportion of the population grows more rapidly than the general population. Without the rapid decrease in fertility, China’s economy would not have grown by 7-8% in a year. Thus, job opportunities would not be created for more people to be employed. With the decrease in population, competition among citizens was lowered and unemployment was alleviated. India needs such a change with the existing number of unemployed. Population control can also help reduce carbon emission in India and help alleviate climate change. India is among the top 5 countries with the highest carbon emission in the world. According to the Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research, India ranks number 4 in the world in carbon emission, with up to 2.5 million carbon dioxide emission in 2015. The implementation of the policy will help to decrease emission. China is an example of avoiding excess carbon emission with the population control policy. From the one-child policy, China avoided around 300 million births, meaning she has averted 1.3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2005 based on average world per capita emissions of 4.2 tonnes. From controlling population growth, this can help suppress the increasing carbon emission in India. As a result, would help slow down the exacerbating global warming and the consequences that come with it.

When diving deep however there may be some problems with this policy. People are quick to point out that India is a country with a booming technology industry, one that primarily relies on young people. There is a fear that restrictions on having children will produce a shortage of the educated young people needed to carry on India’s technological revolution. There are already well-documented problems with China’s one-child policy (1979-2015). Worst of all, there is a major gender imbalance resulting from a strong preference for the male child. Another criticism of two-child policies in India is that the laws violate women’s rights. Human rights activists argue that the laws discriminate against women right from birth by encouraging the abortion or infanticide of females. The two-child policies also create incentives for men to divorce their wives and abandon their families if they want to run for political office.

Every coin has two sides. Only time will tell if this policy will prove to be successful at combating the various issues which have arisen with India’s high population growth.

WHAT IS ZIKA VIRUS?

Zika is a mosquito-borne virus that spreads through the bite of an infected Aedes species of mosquito named Aedes aegypti. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the Aedes mosquitoes usually bite during the day, peaking during early morning and late afternoon or evening. This is the same mosquito that transmits dengue, chikungunya and yellow fever.

WHEN WAS ZIKA IDENTIFIED?

The virus was first identified in Uganda in 1947 in monkeys and was later found in humans in 1952 in Uganda and the United Republic of Tanzania. Since then, outbreaks of the virus have been seen in Africa, America, Asia and the Pacific, while rare cases of human infections were found across Africa and Asia.

The first reported outbreak of Zika was on the Island of Yap in 2007. A massive outbreak was recorded in 2013 in French Polynesia

The outbreak in Brazil in 2015 became a real scare making headlines across the globe. Soon cases were seen in the US, Africa, and other regions of the world.

According to the WHO, so far 86 countries have reported evidence of mosquito-transmitted Zika virus.

SYMPTOMS AND TREATMENT

According to the US Centre for Disease Control (CDC), many people infected by the virus won’t have symptoms or show mild symptoms that include fever, rash, headache, joint pain, red eyes, muscle pain. The symptoms can last for several days, and if it continues for long, they might need hospital care.

Diagnosis of the Zika virus can only be confirmed by blood tests or other through body fluids, such as urine or semen.

There is no specific medicine for the treatment of Zika virus infection. There is no vaccine for protection from Zika virus. There is a Zika-appropriate behaviour protocol that is recommended to stay safe and be prevented from this viral infection.

Precautions recommended against Zika virus infection include:

• Wearing long-sleeved shirts and long pants
• Staying in places with air conditioning and windows
• Mosquito-netting can be used to cover babies younger than two months
• Not using products containing oil of lemon eucalyptus or para-menthane-diol on children younger than three years

According to the WHO, pregnant women living in areas with known Zika virus transmission or who develop symptoms of Zika virus infection should seek medical attention for laboratory testing and other clinical care.