From the moment we wake up, to the moment we go back to sleep, technology is everywhere. The highly digital life we live and the innovations in our technological world has become the new normal. According to The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), almost 50% of the world’s population uses the internet, with over 3.5 billion daily searches on Google and more than 570 new websites being launched every minute. Adding to that, over 90% of the world’s data has been created in just the last couple of years!

A recent report predict that the COVID-19 pandemic will bring the public’s attention on the need to take action to deal with threats to our health and to prevent outbreak of future pandemics. Public attention will drive government policy, with carbon footprint becoming a subject of worldwide concern. Individuals, companies and countries will seek the quickest and most affordable ways to elimination of their carbon footprint. The creation of a sustainable, net-zero future will create energy transformation that significantly reduces the world’s carbon emissions. The report suggests that in just a few years the carbon management industry is going to emerge as one of the largest industries in the world, which will cause more and more players entering the market, thus creating rapid growth towards a sustainable planet.

By 2025, quantum computing will be able tackle meaningful, real-world problems. One major application of this new kind of computer will be the simulation of complex chemical reactions, a powerful tool that opens up new possibilities in drug development. Right now, the development of pharmaceuticals depends massively on trial and error, and a time-consuming and terribly expensive process. Quantum computers may soon be able to change this.

Of cause with this rapid evolution of technology, it makes perfect sense why most people are concerned. But the fear we developed from Hollywood films where artificial intelligence will outsmart humans and take over the world, is most likely not going to happen. Rather than viewing digital disruption as worrisome and challenging, we should be embracing the uncertainty and advances in new technologies, data analytics and artificial intelligence will bring that will benefit billions of people in healthcare and better lifestyle and living conditions for those who are deprived of that at the moment.

These days the biggest threat to humans in the digital world is cybercrime and hacking. Privacy is a topic that is being more and more popular by the day. Individuals and companies are working hard to counter the issue of hacking by working on years of research to enhance cybersecurity that will protect people from any potential danger.

With data growing faster than ever before, the future of technology is even more interesting than what is happening now. We’re just at the beginning of a revolution that will touch every life on this planet.

The famous Gitanjali written by Rabindranath Tagore is a collection of poems. ―Gitanjali‖ is collection of poems which are originally in Bengali under the title ‘Prathana’ meaning Prayer but are later translated into English. It appears in the volume called ‘Naibebya’ in the year 1901. The poems of Gitanjali highlight simplicity of thoughts which are filled with Divine emotions. They are the thoughts about the offering of one own heart at the feet of God. No thought seems to be far away from Tagore‘s pen, from the famous Gitanjali ‘he focus on exploring Divine thought like a devotee finds his God, a seeker finds his master an explorer finds his destination, a lover find his beloved in this poems’. The main focus of his what to teach humans that service to mankind is service to God. He taught us that God lies in the poor and the wretched and we can see and feel God through our service to mankind. According to him man‘s life is a journey, and our destination is to reach the God. The only way to reach God is our kind/heartedness, generosity, love and help to our fellow human being.

Tagore that helps to develop Spiritualism and Humanism in one‘s heart and soul and service to mankind is the pure recognition of God. He also wants to highlight in his poems that human’s life shall be consider worth full and the main concern of one should be devotion towards their work and dedication towards goals. In Rabindranath Tagore‘s Gitanjali he explores the ideas that how he dreamed of a Nation which is free from all the evils and the thoughts that lead to destruction of oneself as well as for the whole nation. He prays to God that each human life shall be filled with happiness and peace and there shall be the spirit of brotherhood among the country men. He strongly criticized the feeling of fear in one‘s life and prays that a soul should be fearless and self-dignified. 

Where the mind is without fear

Where the mind is without fear

and the head is held high,

where knowledge is free.

Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls.

Where words come out from the depth of truth,

where tireless striving stretches its arms toward perfection.

Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit.

Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever widening thought and action.

In to that heaven of freedom, my father,

LET MY COUNTRY AWAKE!

Summary of the poem 

It is one of the most popular and best known poems in the anthology called Gitanjali which was published in the year 1912 and won the prestigious Nobel Prize for literature in 1913. In the very first line of the poem ― “Where the mind is without fear”,  the poet prays to the Almighty that his country man should be free from any oppression, where no fear is bounded with any fourth compulsion and every head is held high with dignity and respect. He wishes of a country where every person should be fearless and the sense of self dignity in filled in once heart. Then he dreams of a nation where knowledge must be free for everyone. He also believes that there should be no restrictions for spreading knowledge on the basis of cast or class and every citizen shall be allow acquiring it. In the ongoing line he talks about the power of unity and desires unity not only for his country man but should be world wise. There should be no discrimination on the basis of cast, creeds, color, religion, as well as superstition should not be promoted to divide people and break the unity. Then he dream of truthful Nation where words should, come out from the heart of oneself. He motivates the reader that everyone should work so hard that they can achieve their goal with perfection. People should not be lazy and ignore their work and one must gain the spirit of dedication towards their job or work. Tagore very beautifully compares Reason or Logical thinking with ‘Clear Stream’. Then he compares ‘Dreary Desert’ with ‘Dead Habits’. Then he conveys to the reader that people should not believe blindly on negative aspect of life as well as baseless thoughts. From his poem he wants the reader to Good Bye the negative thinking or the thoughts that demotivate them as well as leads to a falling apart and should promote one thought that should be monitored by rational or positive thinking. In the ongoing line, he wishes the country men to be progressive and broad minded and one shall have the ability to do something extraordinary and overcome the narrowness of mind. Then he comes to the finale line or the poem in which Tagore wants to convey a message to the reader he is praying the Almighty God to awake his countrymen that they come out from the darkness, disunity and all evil traits that one have in their heart. 

In this concluding line he addresses “God as Father” and wants the people shall be free from heart so that they can attain freedom. He also wishes to lift up his country to such height where freedom would be realized in best form. Thus we can conclude that from this poem Tagore very beautifully and gracefully covey the message to his reader that one must have the spirit of fearlessness and a broad minded thinking in our heart and mind. He also discourages the superstition thoughts and believes that ultimately leads to division in the worldwide. He Prays to the Almighty that knowledge can be free from everyone and each head is held high with dignity and proud.

In India, kids are compelled to work wrongfully in numerous enterprises. In any case, Horticulture is the biggest area that utilizes youngsters to add to the family pay. Indian provincial areas utilizes 85% of kids because of different social factors that neglect to meet their way of life.

Not withstanding established arrangements to cancel Youngster Work, numerous kids stay abused under unsafe work conditions. Because of paid Work, youngsters leave their investigations to help their families. They are made to forego every one of the marvels of youth by the heartless world.

Reasons for Kid Work

The main sources of Kid Work in India are social imbalance, absence of training, and destitution. As indicated by UNICEF’s report, youngsters from the ruined and provincial pieces of the world have no accessible choices like educators and schools.
Various common organization’s need good school workplaces and the availability of school. The low paying economy blossoms with minimal expense, simple to recruit, and youngster Work. Other than the disorderly Rural area, kid Work exists in chaotic gathering, sloppy retail works, and sloppy exchange areas.

Different components of youngster Work incorporate the size of the casual economy, the failure of most Indian ventures to increase, absence of present day innovations, and the design and resoluteness of the Indian market.

Fortified youngster Work

Youngsters are utilized because of social commitment, or credits and obligations made by the families. As a rule, kids are compelled to utilize their families in block ovens, stone and quarries, and agrarian areas.

The offspring of the transient laborers and those that have a place with the minimized segments and Dalits in the general public are vowed to work in little creation houses and processing plants in the metropolitan regions. Youngster Workers on the bond are generally exposed to physical, enthusiastic, mental, and sexual maltreatment, in any event, prompting passing.

In Orissa, individuals of the lower segment of the general public sell their girls having a place with eight to 10 years old, as maidservants to the reasonable their obligations.

Absence of execution of Laws

The Youngster Work (Denial and Guideline) Act, 1986, was the lone ordered arrangement by the Indian Constitution against kid Work and its abominations. Various courses of action communicated by the Indian Constitution are:

Article 24 of the Indian Constitution expresses that no kid underneath the age of fourteen will utilize in any dangerous business or processing plant however not in non-unsafe ventures.

Article 39(f)) of the Indian Constitution expresses that youngsters and youthful grown-ups are to be secured against good and material relinquishment or any types of misuse.

Different Laws and the Indian Corrective Code, for example, The Plants Act,1948, The Mines Act,1952, the Adolescent Equity (Care and Assurance) of Youngsters Act-2000, and the Kid Work (Forbiddance and Abrogation) Act-1986 look to forestall the act of kid Work in India.

Shockingly, these laws and guidelines need dynamic and appropriate execution and authorization.

Local government which are function in villages are called Village Panchayats. The President and ward members are directly elected by the people. (Those who have attained the age above 18 to contest in the election one must have attained the age of 21 years) and their term of office is five years. District Collector act as the Inspector of Village Panchayat. Village Panchayats are constituted in each and every village wherever the population is above 500.

Functions of the Village Panchayat

• Supply of drinking water
• Maintenance of street lights
• Maintanence of roads
• Maintanence of Village libraries
• Maintanence of small bridges
• Granting permission to the housing plots
• Maintanence of drainage
• Construction of group houses
• Cleaning of streets
• Maintanence of burial grounds
• Maintanence of common lavatory facilities

Voluntary Functions

According to the Tamil Nadu Local Government Act passed in 1994, the following functions to be performed as voluntary functions to be local governments

• Maintanence of street lights in the villages
• Maintanence of markets and fairs
• Implantation of trees
• Maintanence of play grounds
• Maintanence of parking vehicles, slaughter houses and cattle sheds
• Control over places of exhibition

Revenue

Village Panchayat was the only one local government which was empowered to levy taxes in the three-tier system of Village Panchayat.

Historical Origin and Development of Local self Government in Tamil Nadu

In the post independence era, the first enactment in democratic decentralisation in the state was the Madras Village Panchayats Act, 1950. Pursuant to the White paper on the ‘Reform of local Administration’ in 1957, the Madras panchayats Act, 1958 and Madras District Development Council Act were enacted with the following salient features.

Taxes

• Property Tax
• Professional Tax
• House Tax
• Taxes for connection of drinking water
• Land Tax
• Taxes levied on shops

Meeting of Gram Sabha

In each and every village,the people living within its jurisdiction will be the members of panchayat. The President of the Panchayat will preside over its meetings. In the meeting of the Grama Sabha, the income and expenditure and the beneficiary of the schemes in the village are discussed.

Meetings of the Grama Sabha are conducted four times a year

1. January 26 – Republic Day
2. May 1 – Labourer Day
3. August 15 – Independence Day
4. October 2 – Gandhi jayanthi

Panchayat Union

Panchayat Union is formed by grouping of villages. Members of the Panchayat Union are directly elected by the people. The Chairman of the Panchayat Union is chosen from among the members.

Functions of the Panchayat Union

• supply of drinking water
• Maintanence of Village Health centres
• Maintanence of roads
• Establishment of Maternity Homes
• Establishment of Public fairs
• Establishment of Veterinary hospitals
• Maintanence of Social forests
• Repairing of Primary School buildings

The district collector, planning officer, concerned to supervise the development functions of the Panchayat Union.

District Panchayat

A district Panchayat is constituted in each district. One district Panchayat is constituted for every 50,000 people and the ward members are directly elected by the people. The Chairman is elected from one among its members and their term is 5 years.

Functions of District Panchayat

• Advising the government about the developmental schemes of the Village Panchayat and Panchayat Union.
• Supervising the functions of District planning Commission.

Town Panchayat

The area where more than 10,000 people live is called a Town Panchayat. Members and President of the town Panchayat are directly elected by the people. There is an Executive officer to look after the administration of the Town Panchayat and their term of office is 5 years and he is appointed by the government.

Municipality

The area where more than 1,00,000 people live is called a Municipality. The Members and the directly elected by the people and their term of office is five years. A Municipal Commissioner is appointed by the government to administer the Municipality.

Corporation

Municipal corporations are established in big cities where the city has many lakhs of population. The Municipal Commissioner is the Administrative Officer. The Mayor is the Chairman of the corporation. The term of office of the Mayor and other members is five years.
The Municipal Commissioner will be a person from the Indian Administrative Service (IAS). All the decisions of the Corporation Council will be implemented by him. He will be assisted by the office of the corporation.

Important functions of the Mayor

• He acts as a bridge between the members of the corporation and the government
• He presides over the meetings of the Corporation Council
• He receives the dignitaries from foreign countries

Types of other Panchayats

• Notified Area Committee
• Town Area Committee
• Cantonment Board
• Township
• Port Trust
• Special Purpose Agency

Elections to the local government in Tamil Nadu

The State Election Commission conducts the elections to the local government like general elections. The electrol roll is prepared ward wise. Seats are reserved for the SC &ST and also for the women in proportion to the population by rotation basis.

Problems and Challenges facing the Local Self Governments

Local self goverments are the crucial basis for our democracy. The Constitutional status of local self goverments adds more significance to their functioning. There are, however,a few critical concerns in the working of local self goverments in India. Major problems and Challenges may be mentioned as below:

• Lack of clear demarcation of powers and functions of local bodies
• Allocation of funds and needs assessment are not matched
• Role of caste, class and religion in decision-making at the local self goverments
• Poor accountability of elected members and officials at the grassroot levels of democracy