Government vs Twitter

Chris pirillo said that “twitter is a great place to tell the world what you are thinking before you have had a chance to think about it”. However, the government wants to control it. 

India’s Covid-19 rise had eclipsed all superlatives only a few months ago. Hundreds of thousands of people have died because of India’s worst public-health catastrophe in history, which has highlighted the country’s deteriorating healthcare infrastructure. In the midst of the tragedy, while armies of medical personnel and volunteers focused their energies on battling the virus, the administration looked to be concentrating on a different issue. And that issue is TWITTER.

 The initial root of the situation was a tweet sent by BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra on May 18. Patra displayed a paper he referred to as a “toolkit” in this tweet, which appears to be an internal Congress document outlining the processes for undermining the BJP’s reaction to the epidemic and increasing publicity of the party’s activities. Days later, the Delhi Police, which reports to the Union government but is not a full-fledged state, paid a visit to Twitter’s headquarters in Delhi and Gurugram, ostensibly to find out why the company opted to put the warning label on Patra’s post. According to local sources, authorities in Uttar Pradesh recently blamed Twitter, along with journalists and opposition party officials, for posting a video that sparked communal strife. The video, which alleged to depict majority Hindus beating a minority Muslim guy, prompted another complaint against Twitter India CEO Manish Maheshwari, according to Delhi police. However, The problematic footage has subsequently been deleted, with no more comment from the firm other than a remark about following local regulations. 

The government has opted to focus on digital image management many times during the epidemic, including the most recent occurrences. Following government demands, Twitter and Facebook pulled down about 100 postings in April. The government’s approach to the epidemic was criticized in several of these tweets.Following the agricultural demonstrations, Twitter agreed to the BJP’s demands to temporarily and permanently restrict 500 accounts, including those of opposition leaders and journalists. The government also forced Twitter to remove several well-known personalities who expressed support for the protestors, like Punjabi musician JazzyB, whose account has 1.2 million followers but can’t be viewed from India, though the firm hasn’t followed through on all of its demands.

Therefore, they not only silence the critical voices but also exposes the corporation to much more pressure to stifle government critics in India and elsewhere. Twitter, a relative newcomer with 17.5 million members, has India as one of its fastest-growing markets. However, its limited reach makes it vulnerable in a country that demonstrated its willingness to outlaw popular foreign services a year ago when it banned TikTok — which had 200 million users in the country — WeChat, and hundreds of other Chinese-made apps following a violent clash on the disputed border. It is critical to political debate in India, and Modi himself is a frequent user with a following of over 69 million people, demonstrating its global reach. While politicians have been outspoken in their criticism of Twitter, none have publicly threatened to abolish it. 

The hydrogen powered reality is here

Сentre is  соnsidering  green  hydrоgen  tо  fuel  vehiсles  оn  Indiаn  rоаds.  Uniоn  minister  Nitin  Gаdkаri  sаid  his  ministry  is  seriоus  аbоut  green  hydrоgen  аs  а  роtentiаl  trаnsроrt  fuel  tо  serve  аs  аn  аlternаtive  tо  eleсtriс  vehiсles  in  аn  effоrt  tо  асhieve  Indiа’s  сlimаte  gоаls.  Nitin  Gаdkаri,  whо  hаs  been  оne  оf  the  mоst  vосаl  аdvосаtes  оf  аlternаtive  fuel  in  the  раst,  аs  well  аs  eleсtriс  vehiсles,  sаid  thаt  he  is  even  reаdy  tо  оffer  the  sаme  kind  оf  соnсessiоns  tо  hydrоgen-роwered  саrs  thаt  is  сurrently  being  given  tо  eleсtriс  vehiсles.

Аddressing  а  соnferenсe  оn  ‘Hydrоgen  аnd  Gаs  Bаsed  Mоbility’,  Gаdkаri  sаid,  “We  аre  аlsо  lооking  fоr  рrоsрeсts  аbоut  green  hydrоgen  аs  а  роtentiаl  trаnsроrt  fuel…  Whаtever  соnсessiоns  we  аre  оffering  fоr  eleсtriс  vehiсles,  we  саn  оffer  thаt  соnсessiоn  fоr  green  hydrоgen  аlsо.”  Ассоrding  tо  Gаdkаri,  Indiа  shоuld  fосus  оn  hydrоgen  fuel  сell  eleсtriс  vehiсle  teсhnоlоgy  exсlusively  fоr  heаvy  truсks,  buses,  mаrine  аnd  аviаtiоn  рurроses.  Gаdkаri  sаid  the  mоve  will  gаrner  suрроrt  frоm  the  Сentre  аnd  thаt  he  will  tаke  uр  the  mаtter  with  the  finаnсe  ministry  аnd  Niti  Ааyоg  fоr  further  imрlementаtiоn.

“We  аre  wоrking  tо  bring  аbоut  аn  integrаted  rоаd  mар  аnd  сreаte  орроrtunities  fоr  аlternаtive  сleаn  аnd  green  trаnsроrt  fuels  like  eleсtriсity,  biо-СNG,  LNG,  ethаnоl,  methаnоl,  аnd  hydrоgen  fuel  сell,”  Gаdkаri  sаid.  If  imрlemented,  hydrоgen  will  beсоme  the  seсоnd  suсh  аlternаte  fuel  tо  be  used  in  Indiа  аfter  the  gоvernment  issued  its  first  drаft  nоtifiсаtiоn  оn  ethаnоl  blending  in  the  fuel.  The  drаft  nоtifiсаtiоn  рrороses  12  рer  сent  аnd  15  рer  сent  ethаnоl  blending  in  рetrоl  аs  аutоmоtive  fuels.  Ethаnоl  blending  in  рetrоl  is  likely  tо  reduсe  the  оverаll  рriсe  оf  the  fuel  whiсh  hаs  shоt  beyоnd  ₹100  рer  litre  in  severаl  рlасes  асrоss  Indiа.  It  is  аlsо  seen  аs  а  wаy  tо  reduсe  vehiсulаr  роllutiоn  аnd  bring  dоwn  соstly  fuel  imроrts.Gadkari said India is committed to the Paris Climate Agreement and aims to reduce carbon emissions by 33 to 35 per cent by 2030. He also said that India aims to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

THE ELIZABETHAN THEATRE

The early part of the Elizabethan age was a period of strolling players. It was a time when the actors had to go to the audience instead of the audience coming to the actors. These strolling players performed in improvised theatres anywhere in tavern, yards, palaces or gentleman’s house.

DRAMATIC COMPANIES OF ELIZABETHAN PERIOD:

There were many such touring traumatic companies but the most important where the Admiral’s Men and Chamberlain’s Men. When both these companies where patronised by Queen Elizabeth. James I who succeeded Elizabeth took Chamberlin’ Men under his protection and thereafter the company was called the “King’s Men“. It was to this company that Shakespeare belonged for most of his career as a dramatist.

THE THEATRES OF THE TIME:

The first permanent theatre was built in 1576 by James Burbage, father of one of the colleagues of Shakespeare at Shoreditch, to the north of London. It was called the theatre as it was the only one of its kind in existence. Soon other theatres were also built thus the famous ‘Rose’ was built in 1587 the ‘Globe’ in 1599 and the ‘Fortune’ in 1600. Most of the theatres of the time was small as they were expected to accommodate only a limited number of spectators. They were different in shape, the Swan was after octagonal but the fortune was square. Part of the theatre that is the yard in the front of the stage was open to the sky where is the backstage as well as the galleries found in the yard was roofed.

THE STAGE ARRANGEMENT AND PRACTICES:

Throughout the Elizabethan period the theatre was half open to the sky and the place were acted during day time. But towards the end of Shakespeare’s career great changes for the better took place. In 1608 James Burbage bought the refectory of old Blackfriars Monastery and convert it into an indoor playhouse. Here plays where acted by candlelight and therefore most stage effects were possible.

The stage arrangement in the Elizabethan theatre was not so elaborate as in a modern one. Its main drawback was that there were no proper stage appliances to produce the effect of change in time and place. Placards were sometimes used to announce the location of the action. Shakespeare considered such devices as very and realistic and therefore tried to convey the effects of place time and action through the dialogues between characters. For instance, in Hamlet, Act I, scene 1, to let the audience know that the time of action is dawn for Horatio says to Marcellus and Bernardo.

“But look, the morn in russet mantle clad Walks o’er the dew of yon eastern hill”

There was no drop curtain in the Elizabethan theatre. The end of a scene was so often indicated by a rhyming couplet. In Hamlet, Act II,

“. . . I will have grounds

More relative than this, play is the king, Wherein I catch the conscience of the king”

NO FEMALE ACTORS:

A feature of great importance of Elizabethan stage was that there were no female performers. The acting profession was entirely masculine. It was only in the Restoration period that professional actresses became the accepted part of the English theatre. Women’s part was therefore played by young boys train from childhood for the purpose. The dramatic company for which Shakespeare wrote his plays, perhaps did not have many such ‘actresses’ and that is the reason why there are only a few women in most of his place. He had his own difference about the effect that was likely to be produced by these boy actresses and so he tried to overcome the difficulty by making his heroine is like Roselind, Viola and Beatrice appear under the disguise of boys. It was likely that this boy actors are not able act successfully like the part of somewhat grown up women of the type of Lady Macbeth and Cleopatra. Shakespeare himself is aware of this difficulty when he makes Cleopatra complain

“. . . and I shall see

Some squeaking Cleopatra boy may greatness”

AUDIENCE:

The audience of the Elizabethan age consisted of a small motley crowd drawn from all sections of society differing in tastes, education and wealth. Most of them were highly superstitious believing in ghost and witches and witchcraft and found of witnessing scenes of violence like brutal fights and bear biting. Those who could pay well was seated in the galleries from where they could have a better view of the performances. Some of the most privilege person sat on the stools on the stage and this enables them to pass remarks on the acting of the players. The rest of the audience known as groundlings, the most unruly and noisy section of the spectators, who pay just the penny stood on the floor around the uncovered part of the stage which jutted into the yard.

RELIGIOUS TO NON-RELIGIOUS DRAMA:

The Elizabethan age was a period of transition from the old religious trauma tomorrow and non religious plays. It is often said that the church was the cradle of English drama. In the beginning the dumb show were performed inside the church or the church premises by the clergyman. After the Renaissance there was a revival of learning and the demand was for the new type of classically influenced non-religious drama. At first this plays were written according to the classical tradition, observing the three unities of time, place and action. Later this rules were broken and the modern type of drama was evolved.

THE PLAYWRIGHTS OF THE PERIOD:

The first English dramatist of some originality was Robert Greene, who was one of “University wits“. The famous “Spanish tragedy” written by Thomas kyd is considered to be first tragedy in English. However, Christopher Marlowe, the author of Tamberline, The Jew of Malta, Dr. Faustus and Edward II is recognised by all as the father of english tragedy.

SHAKESPEARE’S CONTRIBUTION:

The presiding deity, however, of the Elizabethan stage, was William Shakespeare whose dramatic carrier extended to about 20 years from 1590 to 1610. Starting as an errand boy and actor of minor parts, be slowly rose to prominence and dominated the stage for years together without any break and without arrival anywhere in the vicinity. At the end of his career having earned a fortune sufficient to live comfortably for the rest of his life. ‘Shakespeare return to his native town, Stratford-on-Avon.’

HOW TO STUDY MATHS IF YOU FIND IT BORING

Everyone is unique. Someone might be a good painter and someone might be a good sportsperson. There might be children who do not like neither of the two and like spending their time doing scientific experiments and learning new concepts. This is a macro view of the interests and talents of different people in different fields.

Coming to a micro view, there are times when we are expected to study since there is no other option for us. It may be because of a lack of self-introspection, wherein the person does not know what he is good at or it might be a parental compulsion. Hence, we are bound to study the subjects at hand whether regardless of our like or dislike for them.

One subject that many students find uninteresting or hardwired at is Mathematics. Admit it or not, sometimes or the other the subject of mathematics has haunted most of us. Either we found the whole subject boring or if by any chance, someone liked it, they must have found a topic or too boring or a tad too difficult to understand. We’ve all been through it. Some would have devised ways to tackle the subjects and related problems and some would have left the subject in higher classes for good. 

The article is only for people who have no other option but to study maths. This is because students who are good at the subject or have dropped it, have no relation to the article in the first place.

So since you have no other choice but to continue with the subject why not do it in a way so that you do not get stressed over it and maximum output can be brought out?

Try following the tips given below.

  1. Make it interesting-  Human mind is such that it remembers knowledge and information based on our likes ( mostly). A simple example of this is you remember every character from a web series or movie that you found interesting and relatable. So, try relating the formulas and concepts to something you find interesting or in the form of a story. Make a thread of chunks of little stories and see the difference.
  2. Start from the very basic-  We often try copying our peers who have mastered the basic concepts and are solving problems of advanced levels. With this, a lot of chaos is created leading to negativity towards the subject. Always master the basics first. Solve problems at the rookie-level and then move to advance problems.
  3. Practice, practice, and practice! – Studying a concept once and being able to solve related problems in one go does not make you a master of the topic. To get a proper hold of the same, keep practicing until you are confident of solving any problem of any type from that particular topic.
  4. Go at your own pace- Do not try competing with some other person. A lot of factors differ between you and the other guy. Be yourself. Master topics at your own pace and ace the exams ( try keeping the pace such that the topics are covered before the exam!)

Good luck!

5 plants of Biofuel Production

Sign of Bio fuel

What Is Bio fuel : Bio fuel is a liquid type of fuel derived from plant ,grass ,crop & other biological ,agricultural waste product .

Production plants:   There are some plants which is used to produce this bio fuel —-                                                                           Bio ethanol from Corn ; Bio diesel from Canola ; Bio ethanol from sugarcane ;Palm oil (acting as bio diesel ) from Palm (Elaeis Guineensis) ; Bio diesel from Jetropha ; Soy Bio diesel from soybean (Glycine max), Bio diesel from cotton seed or sunflower seed ;Bio ethanol from wheat (Triticum aestivum) ;Bio ethanol from Switch grass (Panicum virgatum) ; Bio diesel (CNSL or Cashew Nut Shell Oil ) from Cashew shell (Anacardium occidentale) .

Palma africana [African oil palm] (Elaeis guineensis) | Flickr
Palm (Elaeis Guineensis)
Panicum virgatum | Although cultivated as an ornamental, Pan… | Flickr
Switch grass (Panicum virgatum)
File:CSIRO ScienceImage 4689 Soya bean crop ColeamballyNSW.jpg - Wikimedia  Commons
soybean (Glycine max)
Triticum aestivum | Cultivated wheat is most commonly grown … | Flickr
wheat (Triticum aestivum)
Cashew shell (Anacardium occidentale)

Significance:                                                                                                                                                                                                  1) Bio fuels contain very low amount of carbon .That’s why the production amount of Carbon dioxide & Carbon monoxide become low .The chances of environment harm reduces .                                                              2) Bio fuels are very good replacement of fossil fuel ,crude oil ,natural gas  as fossil fuels are in very demand & low in amount .                                                                                                                                                                 3) As bio fuel  are a better replacement for carbon containing fossil fuels they helps to prevent the pollution. Sometime they are mixed with gasoline to act as an engine oil.

4) Bio fuel are renewable energy .So there are no threat for finishing up of these type of sources .

Scientists study ways to integrate biofuels and food crops… | Flickr
Environment friendly biofuels

Categories:   There are 2 types of bio fuel  .                                                                                                                                    1)Bio Alcohol — Ethanol, which is produced by the fomentation of the starch compound of yeast and bacteria.                                                                                                                                                                     2)Biodiesel — Produced from animal fats and plant oils.

Some of the bio fuel plants are discussed below ————

1.Jatropha:    Scientific name :  Jatropha curcas                                                                                                                                                                                                 It is very poisonous tree. Cultivating jatropha is economically benefiting for rural farmers as it has the bio fuel producing value.  Moreover jatropha can grow very quickly &  live for 50 years long. They need less amount of water for cultivating. Jatropha seeds contain 40% Oil. India is the largest country for producing this plant. Bio fuel is extracted from seeds and the remaining part of these plants are used as a biomass fuel.

Biofuel production from Jatropha
Jatropha young plant
Jatropha flower
Jatropha raw & ripe fruit (Which is used for producing Biofuel)
Jatropha Biofuel
Jatropha matured plant

2.Sugar cane:  Scientific Name : Saccharum officinarum                                                                                                                                                                                                           Bio ethanol are produced from sugar cane . In Brazil it is cheaper than gasoline and is produced in a lot of amount. The juice of Sugarcane plant has lots of sugar which gives lot of energy and the reduced part is a inflammable product used in cooking. Production cost of bio ethanol by reaction process is costly than production cost of bio ethanol from sugar cane.

Sugar cane
Sugar cane young plant
Sugar cane are collected from field
Sugar cane Bio ethanol production

3.Rapeseed or Canola:    Scientific name :    Brassica napus                                                                                                                                                                             Canola is a type of rapeseed . From ancient time it is used as a cooking oil for containing  low amount of erucid acid and is good for human body. In cold environments, biodiesels tend to convert in crystals because of saturated fat which is not good for combustion engines of vehicles. In this case canola has low saturated fat and is able to work in cold climates. Canola is high in oil contain and low in saturated fats. Produced bio diesel have very low amount of Carbon so the production of Carbon monoxide by burning is low .

Rapeseed or Canola
Rapeseed or Canola Flower & Fruit
Bio fuel production plant of Canola
Canola Edible oil

4.Corn:     Scientific name :   Zea mays                                                                                                                                                                                                  It is the major crops in the world, which produce ethanol. Produced ethanol is used in car engine along with gasoline. The kernels of corn are smashed into dust then it’s mixed with water to made a dough which is fermented by yeast to produce ethanol. Produced bio ethanol emits less carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide and Sulphur after burning. The body part cannot be used in the production of biodiesel rather it is used as a cooking mass for containing cellulose. This bio ethanol helps to reduce the smog.

Sweetcorn Plant
Corn Carnell for biofuel production

5.Sunflower:   Scientific name :   Helianthus annuus L.                                                                                                                                                                                     This flower name comes from facing the sun every time.  The seeds of sunflower are edible, delicious and good for health. As you all know Edible cooking oil are produced from sunflower. The biodiesel is produced from seeds which have lots of oil & the remaining plant parts are used as a biomass to produce bio fuel. Its plantation of sunflower helps the farmer economically as it has food production value & bio fuel production value .

Happy Flowers | Pacific Biodiesel Technologies sunflower fie… | Flickr
sunflower plant
Sunflower | Another sunflower from last week. | Stig Nygaard | Flickr
Sunflower
Sunflower seed kernels and whole seeds with sunflower flow… | Flickr
sunflower seed
Sunflower oil is with the flowers of sunflower and grain o… | Flickr
sunflower oil

How you can improve your thinking ability

Introduction:
Thinking process refers to the steps or ways required to fulfill/achieve/complete a task. It’s an important aspect of critical thinking. Critical thinking is the objective analysis of a problem by carefully stating your arguments to reach a desired and rational conclusion/judgement/result. When thinking processes are involved, we can reach a more clear conclusion and it helps us be a better judge of character and helps us build reasonable arguments.

The few main things to keep in mind to improve ones thinking process and ability are:


• Train your Memory:
Training your memory refers to how one can improve their memory by reading or making sure that your brain is never stagnant. If one trains their memory regularly then it’s possible for them to retain information. Reading and writing regularly, memorization is an useful way to do so.


• Question facts:
Whenever you learn a new fact, try to find out more about it and try to question as to why it’s the way it is. Try not to think the conventional way and always think outside the box. Even if it’s something you’ve known for a long time and it’s always been the way it is, question it’s authenticity and it’s relatability.


• Read:
Make it a habit to read a lot, even it’s just a page a day, remember to read. It’s an important element to improve your thinking ability. Reading helps your vocabulary and it also intrigues your mind and makes you question what’s around you.


• Self awareness:
To have an excellent thinking ability, becoming self aware is very necessary. Noticing your surroundings and changes happening with you can help you overcome your narrow-minded attitude as you get to learn so much about yourself and how mature you can be when the situation calls for it.


• Active listening:
While getting yourself involved in the process of improving your thinking ability, active listening plays an important role. Just like how you need to be aware of your surroundings, listening carefully to others and your own self is very important. Never ignore your gut feeling. While trying to come to a conclusion, always try to consider the opinion of others too and compare it with your arguments to see which would be a better fit for the situation to resolve.


• Rest:
While trying to improve your thinking ability, resting is very significant. While trying to learn new information and retaining that information, your brain might be overworked and needs a few minutes for itself before it starts to proceed gaining new information. Resting doesn’t only mean to lie down or to close your eyes. It could mean anything which is peaceful for you, it could be exercising, meditation, painting, singing, dancing etc. There’s no fixed method. Whatever brings you peace and calms you down can be called resting.


• Engage in multitasking:
Doing one task at a time is great but it’s amazing if you’re capable of completing 2 or more tasks at the same time. Don’t always play safe. Try to come out of your comfort zone and learn something new. Completion of many tasks at a time could save you time and energy which will therefore give you more time to engage in other interests.


Conclusion:
There’s no fixed way of knowing how to improve your thinking ability. It’s all about how much you want to put in effort to better yourself so it mainly depends on you.

Doubling Farmers Income

  • Agriculture sustains livelihood for more than half of India’s total population. Doubling farmers’ income in such a short period is an overwhelming task for decision makers, scientists and policy makers because of its continued role in employment, income and most importantly in national food security.
  • Doubling farmers’ income is possible through increasing total output and better price realization in the market, reduction in production costs,diversification of product, efficient post-harvest management, value addition, etc.

What are the needs of the Agricultural sector?

  • Extension of Irrigation Facilities:
    • The coverage of irrigation facilities needs to be extended while ensuring an effective water conservation mechanism.
  • Improve Agricultural Credit:
    • An inclusive approach to provision for agricultural credit has to be undertaken to address the issue of skewness in its regional distribution, it said.
  • Land Reform:
    • As the proportion of small and marginal holdings is significantly large, land reform measures like freeing up land markets can help farmers improve their Income.
  • Boost to Allied Sectors:
    • Allied sectors, such as animal husbandry, dairying and fisheries, need to be given a boost to provide an assured secondary source of employment and income, especially for small and marginal farmers.
  • Farm Mechanisation:
    • There is also a need to address the issue of lower farm mechanisation in India which is only about 40% as compared to about 60% in China and around 75 % in Brazil.
  • Improving Food Processing Sector:
    • More focussed attention” is required to be given to the sector due to its significant role in reducing post-harvest losses and creation of an additional market for farm outputs.
      • The food processing sector is growing at an average annual growth rate of more than 5% over the last six years ending 2017-18.
  • Exploring Global Markets:
    • There is a need to give increased focus on exploring global markets for agricultural commodities to give an additional source of market for the surplus of agricultural produce India currently has.
  • Reallocation of Labour:
    • There is also a need to reallocate labour resources to other sectors.
    • Though the structural transformations involved a falling share of the agriculture sector and rising share of services sector jobs, more needs to be done to create manufacturing jobs to absorb the large pool of workers.
  • Other Issues:
    • Issues such as investment in agriculture, insurance coverage, water conservation, improved yields through better farming practices, access to market, availability of institutional credit, increasing the linkages between agricultural and non-agricultural sectors need urgent attention.

What are the Government policies and interventions?

Institutional reforms

  • Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana, Soil health card, and Prampragat Krishi Vikas Yojana: Aiming to raise output and reduce cost.
  • Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana: To provide insurance against crop and income loss and to encourage investment in farming.
  • Interlinking of rivers – To raise output and farm incomes.
  • Operation Greens: To address price volatility of perishable commodities like Tomato, Onion and Potato (TOP).
  • PM Kisan Sampada Yojana: To promote food processing in a holistic manner.

Technological Reforms

  • Initiating E-NAM: The National Agriculture Market (eNAM) is a pan-India electronic trading portal which networks the existing Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMCs) mandis to create a unified national market for agricultural commodities.
  • Technology mission on cotton: It aims to increase the income of the cotton growers by reducing the cost of cultivation as well as by increasing the yield per hectare through proper transfer of technology to the growers.
  • Technology Mission on Oilseeds, Pulses and Maize (TMOPM): Few schemes implemented under TMOPM are: Oilseeds Production Programme (OPP), National Pulses Development Project (NPDP), etc.
  • Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH): It is a scheme for the holistic growth of the horticulture sector covering fruits, vegetables, root & tuber crops, mushrooms, spices, flowers, aromatic plants, coconut, cashew, cocoa and bamboo.
  • Sugar Technology Mission: Aimed at reducing the cost of production of sugar and improving sugar quality through steps for improvements in productivity, energy conservation and improvements in capital output ratio.
  • National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture: It aims at promoting sustainable agriculture through a series of adaptation measures focusing on ten key dimensions encompassing Indian agriculture namely; ‘Improved crop seeds, livestock and fish cultures’, ‘Water Use Efficiency’, ‘Pest Management’, ‘Improved Farm Practices’, ‘Nutrient Management’, ‘Agricultural insurance’, ‘Credit support’, ‘Markets’, ‘Access to Information’ and ‘Livelihood diversification’.
  • In addition, schemes relating to tree plantation (Har Medh Par Ped), Bee Keeping, Dairy and Fisheries are also implemented.

Way Forward

  • The low level of farmers’ income and year to year fluctuations in it are a major source of agrarian distress.
  • To secure the future of agriculture and to improve the livelihood of half of India’s population, adequate attention needs to be given to improve the welfare of farmers and raise agricultural income.
  • It is essential to mobilize States and UTs to own and achieve the goal of doubling farmers’ income with active focus on capacity building (technology adoption and awareness) of farmers that will be the catalyst to boost farmers income.
  • The National Sample Survey Office’s last survey on agricultural households was conducted in 2013. There has been no further assessment of the farmers income. Therefore there is an urgent need to track the progress of farmers and help them increase their income.

Operators and Expression in Python

Operators :-

Python consists a set of operators which are used to specify operations to be performed in an expression.

  • Unary Operators :- Operators that used only one operand. ‘+’ and ‘-‘ sign can be used as a sign of addition and subtraction and also as unary operators.
  • Binary Operators :- Operators which use two operands are known as binary operators like multiplication (*), addition (+) etc. are example of binary operators.
  • Membership Operators :- The membership operators (in and in not) are used to test for membership of a sequence, such as string , lists or tuples.
  • Identity Operators :- Identity operator ( is and is not) is used to compare the memory location of two objects by using id (object) functions.

Expression :-

  • Arithmetic Expression :- It is a combination of operands and arithmetic operators such as +,-,*,/ etc.
  • Relational/Conditional Expression :- The Expression that compares two operands using relational operators like >,<,>=,<=, etc. is called relational/conditional expression.
  • Logical Expression :- The logical expression uses logical operators like and, or and not. The logical expression produces boolean result such as True or False.

Green Marketing

What is Green Marketing?

The technique of advertising products or services based on their environmental benefits is known as green marketing. These items or services may be ecologically friendly in and of themselves, or they may have been created in an environmentally beneficial manner.

Green marketing entails businesses presenting their products or services in a way that emphasises their environmental friendliness. Green-marketing, often known as environmental marketing, is another term for eco-marketing.

When a firm promotes its eco-friendliness, it may include the following products:

  • Produced in a sustainable manner.
  • There are no hazardous or ozone-depleting chemicals in this product.
  • Produced from recycled materials or recyclable.
  • Made from renewable resources.
  • Excessive packing should be avoided.
  • Designed to be repairable rather than discarded.

Companies that are devoted to sustainable development and corporate social responsibility are more likely to engage in green marketing. More businesses are attempting to embrace sustainable business strategies. Businesses realise that they can make their goods more appealing to consumers while simultaneously saving money on packaging, shipping, energy and water consumption, and other costs.

Furthermore, businesses are learning that displaying a high degree of social responsibility may enhance brand loyalty among socially conscious consumers. The primary impediment to sustainable business strategies like green buying is the short-term expense. Going green may generally cost more up front, but will reap significant benefits in the long term.

Why is green marketing important?

There are several hazards to our world, including air and water pollution, food waste, plastic pollution, and deforestation. Chemicals produced by industries may be found all over the place. To help the environment, many businesses consider manufacturing their goods in an ecologically friendly manner. Furthermore, when consumer knowledge of the environment grows, individuals choose to buy eco-friendly items, even if they are more expensive.

Many businesses have begun manufacturing of such items in order to answer client desires and honour our obligations as residents of our planet. Green marketing has a good impact on people’s health and the cleanliness of the environment. This form of marketing encompasses all aspects of a company’s operations, from packaging to public relations.

Benefits of Green Marketing:

Companies may use green marketing to help alter our globe for the better and assist individuals who are conscious of the problem and trying to help the environment. Companies seek to decrease the harmful impact of waste goods on our environment by developing sustainable products. Going green allows you to gain the confidence and loyalty of your consumers. It aids you in the following ways:

  • stand out in the increasingly competitive environment;
  • reduce the negative impact of the production on the environment;
  • save energy, reduce the use of natural resources and carbon footprint;
  • produce recyclable products;
  • improve the credibility of a certain brand;
  • enter a new audience segment;
  • ensure long-term growth;
  • implement innovations;
  • obtain higher revenue.

It’s not enough just to know about the benefits of green marketing since you should also be aware of the strategies. Luckily, nowadays there are many ways to go green. Let’s review them right away.

Green Marketing Strategies:-

You can find a lot of strategies related to green marketing that can help you create a sustainable brand to help our planet. So let’s review some of them.

  1. Sustainable design. It’s not just about a recycling logo on your product packaging, it’s about a full life cycle of the product in mind. You should pay attention to the details: the sources of your materials, the workers involved in the process. Especially, your company should control the amount of waste generated and the way your products are packaged and delivered. You have to consider a lot of things that have an impact on our environment when designing for sustainability.
  2. Responsibility. If you’re giving a thought to going green, your brand should be ready for a profound change. Green marketing is about becoming conscious of pollution. To prove the sincerity of your intentions, rethink your company in terms of ecological and social responsibility and show customers that you care about our planet.
  3. Green pricing. Environmentally friendly products are considered to have a high value due to the increased cost of sustainable design. However, despite the high price, customers are still willing to pay. So if you charge high prices for your eco products, ensure to communicate the specifics to prove that your goods are worth the price you’re asking for. Keep in mind that the greater your mission, the greater your opportunity to gain exposure for your brand’s goods.
  4. Sustainable packaging. The excessive use of plastic is the number one reason for the pollution of our planet. According to Greenpeace, 8.3 billion tonnes of plastic has been produced since the 1950s and only around 9% of this plastic has been recycled. Nowadays consumers are more responsible and try to avoid plastic packaging. That’s why it’s advisable to create recycled or no-plastic packaging for your brand.

Green Marketing Ideas:

  1. Use recycled materials:- Make every effort to use recycled materials and limit the use of virgin items. Recycling decreases raw material refining and processing, which produces significant air and water pollution. It also aids in energy conservation and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
  2. Consider using bulk email service:- Newsletters provide an excellent opportunity to contact your target audience without the need to produce promotional materials. You may use it to preserve trees. Furthermore, email marketing is more successful at getting consumer feedback on your initiatives. You may send as many email campaigns as you need to your client base with SendPulse. You may tell your audience about your decision to manufacture environmentally friendly items. Create your own emails with our drag-and-drop editor.
  3. Upgrade your equipment and vehicles:- If you have adequate funds, it would be ideal to use part of them to purchase new equipment and cars. It is recommended that you switch to electrical models in order to decrease the amount of carbon your firm emits. Our environment is impacted by the vehicles you typically utilize to transport your items. As a result, many manufacturers choose to employ fuel-efficient automobiles. Don’t forget to add your company’s emblem on such a vehicle.
  4. Highlight that your company is eco-friendly:- Inform customers about your brand’s eco-friendly practises, such as utilising energy-efficient office equipment, partnering with vendors who value sustainability, or creating an in-house recycling programme for paper and electronics. Because some clients choose to buy green items, you must tell them about your business methods. It will provide them with a broader range of items from which to choose the finest. A shopper, for example, may discover all the essential information about the brand’s sustainability on the website of Dr. Scholl’s Shoes.
  5. Invest in social media marketing:- Since social media marketing is more environmentally friendly and nowadays isn’t less popular than offline marketing, it would be a great step to invest in it to reach your customers with your innovative ideas and eco-friendly products. For example, The Body Shop’s campaigns against animal testing through its Instagram account.
  6. Support environmental initiatives:- Some companies make donations to help the environment. Some of them even establish their own foundations and organizations. Donating cash helps your firm to support environmental projects, improve our world, and acquire reputation and confidence. People Tree, a company created in 1991 and recognized for its ecologically friendly clothing, supports a variety of activities. The People Tree Foundation is an independent nonprofit that promotes environmental justice. People Tree works with this charity to conserve our world and raise awareness about the challenges that threaten it.

Green Marketing Examples:

TOMS:

The well-known brand for its comfy shoes utilises business to better people’s lives while minimising environmental impact. If you go to the company’s website, you’ll see that over the past five years, TOMS has been attempting to grow sustainable practises in important areas of the business: the brand utilises eco-friendly materials, lowers waste and energy usage, and uses sustainable cotton. Furthermore, the company offers recycled-material packaging to consumers.

Green Toys:

The company assumes that to raise a happy and healthy child, you should provide a healthy environment. This makes everybody think about our earth and take care of it. Green Toys are safe both for kids and the environment as they are made from 100% recyclable materials.

The Body Shop:

The well-known cosmetics company fights animal cruelty by opposing animal experimentation. The company only sells vegetarian goods. This firm is regarded as the first multinational cosmetics company to speak out against animal cruelty.

Boden:

Universal companies, like as Boden, must pay close attention to the sourcing and supply chain since they have a big impact on our environment. That is why the aforementioned firm is committed to sustainability. Boden manufactures their clothing from organic and ecological cotton.

Love Beauty and Planet:

Unilever, a worldwide consumer products business, has several brands, one of which is Love Beauty and Planet. The brand was developed in order to make consumers and the environment more lovely. The business believes that beauty and its environmental effect are inextricably linked. As a result, they created recycled plastic bottles for shampoos, hand creams, and other items.

Avocado Mattress:

Avocado is a brand of environmentally friendly mattresses. The firm is dedicated to employing organic materials in the manufacture of its pillows, mattresses, and bedding. It maintains such policies to protect consumers’ health and to preserve our world from harmful consequences.

Green marketing includes progressive ideas that are so necessary for our planet now, when it suffers from water and air pollution, cruelty to animals during animal testing, and other environmental problems. By going green, your brand enables people to live better, conscious, and responsible lives.

Ratha Yatra

Jagannath temple is one of its own kinds where the divinities get involved in human affairs. The deities are deemed to reside in human form. So, the god has to follow the natural laws applicable to living beings. He bears the suffering like his subjects and has his own share of joy and pain. So after the ceremonial bath with 108 pots of water on eve of Snana Purnima; the lords fall sick and get isolated in “Anasar gruha” for 15 days. The priests take care of them as we take care of sick persons. They are well treated with medicinal herbs. The temple doors remain closed for the devotees. The series idols are made of wood, so in this time, the wooden idols are re-painted and cleaned properly. And once the doors open, the festival of Rathayatra begins in full form.

Ratha Yatra is an annual festival in Jagannath temple when Lord Jagannath along with his siblings visit Gundicha temple getting on their huge chariots. The first day of Ratha Yatra is  called Pahandi Bije when the lords come out of their sanctum, decorated with huge flower adorned tahiyas and carried on to their respective chariot. The journey of the deities to the world outside, starts with a spectacular royal procession called Pahandi Bije. This Pahandi procession of the deities is in a row and is known as ‘Dhadi Pahandi’ or a group movement. In Dhadi Pahandi procession the deities take rest whenever required during the journey to their respective chariots. All the deities move simultaneously one after the other in close succession. First lord Sudarshan, then Balabhadra, the Subhadra and lastly lord Jagannath are taken out from the inner sanctum. At the seven – stairs northern exit from the dancing hall, the three deities assemble and receive giant floral crowns, called Tahias. Then the deities are literally pulled, pushed and dragged in rhythmic movement with the accompaniment of the beat of cymbals, drums, and chanting of their names in chorus by devotees. Lord Sudarshan and Subhadra are carried on the shoulders but Balabhadra and Jagannath are carried all the way with little pauses in forward and backward motions. Every year during Ratha Yatra, Lord Jagannath visits queen Gundicha temple with his siblings to keep a promise that he made to the queen. It is believed that the mythological king Indradyumma and his queen Gundicha sacrificed a lot in the making of Jagannath temple. When Lord Jagannath first appeared in Puri temple, he asked the king to make a wish and generous king told that he never wants his successors to claim their authority on Jagannath temple. But deep inside Lord Jagannath could sense the motherly feeling of queen Gundicha and promised her that he along with his siblings will pay a visit to her temple once a year so that she never gets to feel childless. It is believed that Gundicha temple is the birthplace of the Lord’s and Queen Gundicha was the first to open the doors and witness the divine wooden incarnation of Lord Krishna. This is the reason why first day of Ratha Yatra is also known as “Shri Gundicha” and every year Lord Jagannath offers ‘Pinda Shraddha’ to Indradyumma and Gundicha during Dena deepabali considering himself as their child.

During the nine days long festival to Ratha Yatra, lord Jagannath along with his siblings while visiting to Gundicha temple meet his devotees leaving behind his beloved wife Maha Laxmi in Shrimandir. Jagannath temple is the only temple where the god dies all these humanly affairs like going on a trip with his siblings and planning not to involve his wife in this.

How One Person Helped save around 2,500 children from the Nazis

Irena Sendler - Wikipedia

Irena Sendler daughter of Dr Staninslaw a physician and his wife Janina. Her father died from typhus contracted from the patients he was treating, mainly Jews whom other physicians had rejected.

She, later on, went to study at the University of Warsaw and was suspended shortly afterwards because of her public protests.

Her most dangerous and valuable possession was the glass jar which contained names of over 2000 children whom she had smuggled to safety. Her entire life was that glass jar.

When the Nazis had invaded Poland, they made further laws that eroded Jewish rights. Hitler forced the Jews into just one square mile of land. They were subjected to constant surveillance and the families eventually became sick and starving.

Sendler and her colleagues secured passes into the Ghetto and claimed to be checking for typhus outbreaks. They tried to smuggle food and medicines to the people with the help of the Polish. But the scenario was different inside. People were desperate to help their children escape through sewage and over fences.

It was when Irena and her group of 10 realized that they had to change their plan of action. They developed rescue missions –

  1. Make use of an ambulance to take a child out hidden underneath the stretcher.
  2. Escape through the courthouse or church.
  3. Children could escape through the sewer pipes and other underground passages.
  4. A trolley was used to aid in carrying out a child in a sac, suitcase, coffin etc.
  5. If a child pretends to be very ill – he could be legally removed using an ambulance.

The children were sent to convents, foster families and orphanages.

The names of all these children were written down on cigarette papers and stored in glass jars.

The police captured Sendler but her records remained safe. She was repeatedly tortured and finally sent to be executed. But the German officer diverted her course as he was paid a lump sum amount for her release.

She continued her mission of smuggling children out of the Ghetto camps till the defeat of the Nazi’s in 1945.

Irena was awarded for Valor and Courage in 2003.

Pin on history

Review of International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS)

Review 

Reading literacy 

Source – Google scholar

Date – August 2004

Author 

Ina v.s, Ann M.kennedy, Miachel O Martin ,Maraian Sainsbury

(International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement).

Reference 

PIRLS 2006 assessment framework and specifications

The study was conducted in 2004 under the supervision of IEA (International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement).

The study is consists four parts:

  • Overview of IEA’s PIRLS Assessment.
  • PIRLS Reading Purposes and Processes of Reading Comprehension.
  • Contexts for Learning to Read.
  • Assessment Design and Specifications

Reading is the first step to being literate. Reading is a multifaceted process involving word recognition comprehension, fluency and motivation. For the development of a country it is really important to have literacy.

The PIRL also have a look over the improvement of reading and literacy achievement around the world. IEA was founded in 1959 and its main purpose was focusing on educational policies all over the world.

Reading abilities are important for the progress of one individual. Reading skill is the basis for the upcoming education. It is not about language. Reading literacy helps to grow ones personally and professionally and prepare for communication with the world. The PIRL conducts a framework which is revised every five years, to help to understand the achievement of children across the world in reading literacy.

PRIL defines reading literacy and its importance in IEA framework 2001. Readers are regarded as actively constructing meaning and as knowing effective reading strategies and how to reflect on reading.

Reading literacy also brings changes in the behavior and attitude including the construction of meaning from a variety of text and behavior which is going to support lifelong reading. It helps the children to develop a positive attitude, self-confidence and gain valuable experiences with the help of different texts. Reading literacy establishes an individual/reader as a member of a literate community.

The process of comprehension and purpose of reading are two elements which help to understand the importance of reading literacy. The process of comprehension helps the reader to examine their understanding and adjust their approach. 

The texts could vary on the basis of length, complexity, abstractness of idea and structures. Readers not only get information from the content but also focus on relevance to the question posed. It makes straightforward inference about the ideas and information. The purposes of reading are

  1. Reading for literacy experience.
  2. Reading to acquire and use information.

The context of reading literacy is also important. There are contexts which impact on the reading of children such as school, home, community, national and international. 

The study also focuses on assessing/evaluating the children on the basis of their reading literacy. They focus not to put a burden on the student so they provide a comprehension to evaluate.

Reflection 

The article had old data and its focuses on reading literacy only. But I feel the writer should focus on the other aspects too. How reading literacy influenced the other aspects of literacy? The whole study is conducted over the fourth class students. The fourth class students were literally very small to answer the questions. I think the writer can involve more people of different ages because a child is still in the learning process so they can answer the question with their cognitive ability. According to me, the writer should consider the people who have left their studies or continue their study or have interest in studying and fulfilling their desire by reading the texts. We can get better results from them too. 

The four parts are very well explained by the writers. The study consists of the appendix, research and questionnaires. The questionnaire consisted of multiple choice, short and long questions. 

In the end there is Comparison between the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) and the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). 

Best Medicine for Depression🪄 – 🎶Music 🎶

🎼Music🎼

Sounds are all around us,from birds chirping and waves lapping against a costline to cars honking in traffic. But sometimes sounds are put together in purposeful ways to create a specific atmosphere or to express ideas or emotions. Such organized sounds are called Music

Music is a collection of coordinated sound or sounds. Making music is the process of putting sounds and tones in an order, often combining them to create a unified composition. People who make music creatively organize sounds for a desired result,like a Beethoven symphony or one of Duke Ellington’s jazz songs. Music is made of sounds, vibrations,and silent moments,and it doesn’t always have to be pleasant or preety. It can be used to convey a whole range of experiences , environments,and emotions.

Music is a language of emotions in that it can represent different feelings and barge into the soul with no boundaries or limitations. People are always challenged by the fact that”no one understand them” or know how they “really feel”,so they turn to music… music also has the capacity to imitate emotions.

Music treated in a number of articles. For the history of music in different regions,see African music; Oceanic music and dance; western music; Central Asian arts: Music; Chinese music; Japanese music; Korean music; Islamic arts; Native American music; South Asian arts: Music; and Southeast Asian arts: Music. See also folk music. Aspects of music are treated in counterpoint, harmony, instrumentation,mode,music criticism,music composition, music performance, music recording,musical sound,music notation, rhythm,scale and tuning and temperament. See also such articles as blues, Chamber music,choral music,concerto, electronic music,fugue,jazz, opera, rhythm and blues,rock, symphony,sonata, theatre music,and vocal music. Musical instruments are treated in electronic instrument, keyboard instrument, percussion instrument,stringed instrument,and wind instrument,as well as in separate articles on individual instruments, such as clarinet,drum,guitar,kayagum,piano,tabla and theremin.

“There is growing Scientific evidence showing that the brain responds to music in very specific ways,”says Lisa Hartling,PhD, professor of pediatrics at the University of Alberta and lead author of the study.”Playing music for kids during painful medical procedures is a simple intervention that can make a big difference”.

“There’s just something about music–– particularly live music–– that excites and activates the body,”says Loewy, whose work is part of a growing movement of music therapists and psychologists who are investigating the use of music in medicine to help patients dealing with pain, depression and possibly even Alzheimer’s disease.”Music very much has a way of enhancing quality of life and can,in addition, promote recovery”.

” Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and Philosophy “.

The Violence of Development: Lakshadweep Development Authority Regulation, 2021

ABOUT LAKSHADWEEP

Lakshadweep is the smallest Union Territory of India and covers an area of 32 sq. km. It has 36 islands out of which 10 are inhabited. The island is directly under the control of Central Government through an administrator. It has 3 main group of islands:

  • Amindivi Islands (Northernmost Island)
  • Laccadive Islands
  • Minicoy Islands (Southernmost Island)

It has tiny islands of coral origin and are surrounded by fringing reefs (hence called as Atoll). The capital is Kavaratti, which is the principal town of the UT and the Pitti Island (uninhabited) has a Bird Sanctuary.

The island has a population of 64,429 (according to Census of India, 2011). More than 93% of the population is indigenous and are Muslims. Because of the populations economic and social backwardness, the entire population is classified as Scheduled Tribes and there are no Scheduled Castes in the UT. The main occupation of the people is fishing, coconut cultivation and coir twisting. And tourism is an emerging industry. Under Participatory Guarantee System (PGS) of India, the entire island was declared as an Organic Agricultural Area.

WHAT IS LDAR 2021 ?

The latest Draft Lakshadweep Development Authority Regulation, 2021, for the creation of a Lakshadweep Development Authority (LDA) which will be the administrative body for the island and will pan the development of the island.

PROVISIONS

  1. CONSTITUION OF LAKSHADWEEP DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY : The LDAR empowers the government to be identified as the administrator of the island and has the power to constitute Lakshadweep Development Authority. The authority will plan the development of any area in the island, which could be identified in a bad layout or in obsolete condition. This authority has power to prepare land use pans, zonation’s of land uses, indicate areas for different types of development etc. And only Cantonment areas are exempted from this.
  2. Definition of ‘Development: Development is defined as the process of carrying out of building, engineering, mining, quarrying or other operations, in, on, over or under land, cutting of a hill or any portion thereof or the making of any material change in any building or land or in the use of any building or land.
  3. LEGAL PENANLTIES: As per the DDAR, the development plan will not be questioned by anyone, either before or after being approved. It empowers the administering body to forcibly relocate or remove residents or citizens from their own property for carrying out any developmental activity. It establishes penalties for those who will violate the laws. Such as imprisonment for obstructing the development plan’s work or workers.
  4. FEES FOR CHANGING ZONES: It stipulates that islanders and citizens must pay a processing fee for changing zones, which implies that localities will be paying fees to gain approval for altering or changing zones as per the development plan as well as for permission to develop their own land.

CRITICISMS

Following concerns were raised by the people of Lakshadweep:

  1. VIOLATION OF FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS : The LDAR provides the Government and Development Authority constituted by Government, the supreme powers to acquire, alter and transfer the properties owned by the residents of the island which violates the fundamental rights of the residents of Lakshadweep as guaranteed in Article 14 and 21 of the Constitution.
  2. INTERESTS ON REAL ESTATE : Many residents have been suspecting and fearing that LDAR might seeking real estate interests to usurp the small landholdings and properties owned by the native islanders. There have been proposals of bringing “Transferable Development Rights” to the island which has raised another major concern and fear among islanders for being migrated forcefully.
  3. FORCIBLE RELOCATION AND EVICTION: The LDAR has given the power to relocate people for development plans has become one of the major concerns and issues. According to the regulations provided, the owner has to develop his holding as per the plan prepared by the authority or else they will be penalized in case of non-compliance with the regulation.
  4. ECOLOGICAL CONCERNS: Lakshadweep is a part of coral ecosystem and it has inherited this cultural and ecological uniqueness as well as fragility. This ecosystem can get destroyed easily if the development activities around them are not regulated. The regulations which provide the government supreme powers for acquiring and developing land can be disastrous for this ecosystem.
  5. THREATEN THE CULTURE AND LIFE: The island is very vulnerable to destruction and any further large-scale infrastructural development can have large ecological and social footprint which can negatively affect the potentiality and sustainability of the area as well as the life forms present in the island.
  6. IGNORES PEOPLE’S NEEDS AND GEOGRAPHICAL REALITIES: Lakshadweep has unique geography, ecology and culture and for protecting and preserving this uniqueness it is important to limit the development activities in the island. The LDAR tries to expand the road connectivity ignoring the geographic conditions of the island and the interests of the people. And the LDAR has also provided the regulation that no one can raise or question the strategies or actions provided by the development authority, before or after being approved. This shows that the needs, interests and concerns of the people are undermined.
  7. VIOLATES THE OBJECTIVES OF LAND ACQUISITION ACT, 2013: The Act promotes the consultation with institutions of self-government and Gram Sabha’s, local people and tries to have a transparent and informed process for land acquisition.

What is Data Science?

As the world entered the era of big data, the need for its storage also grew. It was the main challenge and concern for the enterprise industries until 2010. The main focus was on building a framework and solutions to store data. Now when Hadoop and other frameworks have successfully solved the problem of storage, the focus has shifted to the processing of this data. Data Science is the secret sauce here. Data Science is a blend of various tools, algorithms, and machine learning principles with the goal to discover hidden patterns from the raw data. But how is this different from what statisticians have been doing for years? The answer lies in the difference between explaining and predicting. 

From the above image, it is clear that a Data Analyst usually explains what is going on by processing history of the data. On the other hand, Data Scientist not only does the exploratory analysis to discover insights from it, but also uses various advanced machine learning algorithms to identify the occurrence of a particular event in the future. A Data Scientist will look at the data from many angles, sometimes angles not known earlier.

So, Data Science is primarily used to make decisions and predictions making use of predictive causal analytics, prescriptive analytics (predictive plus decision science) and machine learning.

  • Predictive causal analytics – If you want a model that can predict the possibilities of a particular event in the future, you need to apply predictive causal analytics. Say, if you are providing money on credit, then the probability of customers making future credit payments on time is a matter of concern for you. Here, you can build a model that can perform predictive analytics on the payment history of the customer to predict if the future payments will be on time or not.
  • Prescriptive analytics: If you want a model that has the intelligence of taking its own decisions and the ability to modify it with dynamic parameters, you certainly need prescriptive analytics for it. This relatively new field is all about providing advice. In other terms, it not only predicts but suggests a range of prescribed actions and associated outcomes.
  • Machine learning for making predictions — If you have transactional data of a finance company and need to build a model to determine the future trend, then machine learning algorithms are the best bet. This falls under the paradigm of supervised learning. It is called supervised because you already have the data based on which you can train your machines. For example, a fraud detection model can be trained using a historical record of fraudulent purchases.
  • Machine learning for pattern discovery — If you don’t have the parameters based on which you can make predictions, then you need to find out the hidden patterns within the dataset to be able to make meaningful predictions. This is nothing but the unsupervised model as you don’t have any predefined labels for grouping. The most common algorithm used for pattern discovery is Clustering.

Why Data Science?

Traditionally, the data that we had was mostly structured and small in size, which could be analyzed by using simple BI tools. Unlike data in the traditional systems which was mostly structured, today most of the data is unstructured or semi-structured. One can understand the precise requirements of your customers from the existing data like the customer’s past browsing history, purchase history, age and income. No doubt you had all this data earlier too, but now with the vast amount and variety of data, you can train models more effectively and recommend the product to your customers with more precision. The self-driving cars collect live data from sensors, including radars, cameras, and lasers to create a map of its surroundings. Based on this data, it takes decisions like when to speed up, when to speed down, when to overtake, where to take a turn – making use of advanced machine learning algorithms. Data from ships, aircraft, radars, satellites can be collected and analyzed to build models. These models will not only forecast the weather but also help in predicting the occurrence of any natural calamities. It will help you to take appropriate measures beforehand and save many precious lives.

The following infographic shows the various domains in which Data Science is creating its impression:

Role of a Data Scientist

Data scientists are those who crack complex data problems with their strong expertise in certain scientific disciplines. They work with several elements related to mathematics, statistics, computer science, etc (though they may not be an expert in all these fields). They make a lot of use of the latest technologies in finding solutions and reaching conclusions that are crucial for an organization’s growth and development. Data Scientists present the data in a much more useful form as compared to the raw data available to them from structured as well as unstructured forms.