The United Nations

The names ‘United Nations’ was devised by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt and was first used in the Declaration by the United Nations of Jan 1, 1942 during second World War. It is an association of states which have pledged themselves to maintain international peace and security and cooperate in solving international political, economic, social, cultural and humanitarian problems. The United Nations officially came into existence on 24th October 1945. United Nations day is celebrated on 24th October each year. New member states are admitted by the General Assembly on the recommendation of the Security Council. Official languages of UN are : Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. The UN has a post office originating its own stamps. The headquarters New York city, USA. Principal organs of the UN are : General Assembly, Secretariat, Security Council, Trusteeship Council, Economic and Social Council and International Court of Justice. 

The General Assembly consist of the representatives of all the member states. Each state has one vote. The General Assembly meets atheist once in a year. It elects its own President and Vice president every year.

Trusteeship Council – The Charter provides for an international trusteeship system to safeguard the interest of the inhabitants of territories which are not yet fully self governing and which may be placed under by individual trusteeship agreements. These are called trust territories. 

International Court – The International Court of Justice was created by an international treaty, the Statute of the Court which forms the integral part of the United Nations Charter. The headquarters located The Peace Palace, Netherlands. The Court has its seat at The Hague, but may sit elsewhere whenever it considers desirable. The expenses of the Court are borne by the UN. The languages are English and French.

 Kyoto Protocol

The amendment to the treaty on United Nations Framework Convention on Climate change called Kyoto Protocol. It aims at cutting global emissions of Green House Gases(GHG). The main objectives of Kyoto protocol are : it is intended to assign mandatory targets for the reduction of global emissions of greenhouse gas to signatory nations. The objective is the “stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system.”

“Kyoto is underwritten by governments and is governed by global legislation enacted under UN aegis.” Governments are separated into two general categories: developed countries referred to as Annex 1 countries who have accepted strict GHG emission reduction obligations. Any Annex 1 entity failing to meet its Kyoto targets is subject to a fine and further penalized by having its reduction targets increased by 30%. Developing countries referred to as Non Annex 1 countries who have no GHG emission reduction obligations. “Kyoto includes linking mechanisms ”which allow Annex 1 economies to meet their GHG targets by purchasing GHG emission reductions from elsewhere. The treaty was negotiated in Kyoto, Japan in December 1997, opened signature on March 16, 1998 and closed on March 15, 1999. As of July 2006, a total of 164 countries have ratified the agreement. According to terms of the protocol, conditions for entry into force required 55 parties and at least 55% reduction of the total carbon dioxide emission. 

 Right to Information Act

The Right to Information Act 2005 is enacted by the Parliament of India giving citizens of India access to Central Government records. Under provision of this Act, any citizen may request information from a public authority which is required to reply within thirty days. Every public authority need to computerize their records for wide dissemination and publish certain categories of information. It is applicable to all constitutional authorities including executive, legislature and judiciary, any institution established or constituted by an Act of Parliament or a State legislature. The Act specifies that citizens have right to : request any information, take copies and inspect documents, works and records, take certified samples of materials of work, obtain information in form of printouts, tapes or in any other electronic mode.

Under the Act, all complying department must appoint Public Information Officer(IPO). Any citizen of India may submit request to the PIO for information in any format paper or electronic. Public information officers responsibility is to ensure that the information is obtained from the appropriate department or section. If the request pertains to other public authority, it is the PIO’s responsibility to transfer or forward the concerned portions of the request to a PIO of the other. Every public authority is required to designate Assistant public information officer( APIOs) to receive RTI requests and appeals for forwarding to the PIOs of their public authority. The citizen making the request is not obliged to explain why the information is needed. The Act specifies time frames for replying to the request. 

The 1st war of Independence 

The year 1857 is very significant in the history of India’s freedom struggle. It witnessed a revolt which the British historians have dubbed the Sepoy Mutiny and the Indian historians the First war of Independence. The troubles first broke out in Berhampore of Bengal on February 26 in 19th Bengal infantry. The first shot was fired by Mangal Pandey of the 34th Bengal infantry at Barrackpore of Bengal. He was hanged at Barrackpore on April 8th.

Mutiny started on May 10th at Meerut, followed in Delhi on May 11th. The revolt began as a mutiny of Indian soldiers against British commanders. The military and political coalesced in the revolt of 1857. The Indian soldiers having massacred British personnel in Meerut, marched to Delhi and proclaimed Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah II as the Emperor of India. Bahadur Shah issued proclamation urging people of India “ to end the tyranny and the oppression of the infidel and treacherous English.” The British recaptured Delhi from the mutineers on September 20. Bahadur Shah surrendered to Lt. W.S.R. Hodson on September 21 at Humayun’s Tomb in Delhi. Queen Victoria was proclaimed the Empress of India.

 Great wars of the 20th Century

The major wars that happened in 20th century are:

1. World War I

The WWI involved many countries and caused great destructions. It spread from western Europe to Middle East and the war lasted for 4 years( 1914 – 1918). The war took the lives of nearly ten million soldiers. The war was fought between two European powers the Central power( Germany, Australia and Hungary) later Turkey joined, and the Allies (Britain, France and Russia) Italy also joined. On June 28th 1914, the Prince of Austria – Hungary , Franz Ferdinand was gunned down at Sarajevo by Serbian nationalist. Austria- Hungary declared war on Serbia. Germany declared war on Russia and France, and invaded Belgium. Britain entered war in support of Serbia, Belgium and France. The Central Powers surrendered in November 1918. The treaty of Versailles imposed on Germany. The Treaty created a condition which led to the outbreak of World War II.

The Russian Revolution

The Russian revolution of 1917 ended the long regime of or autocratic Tsars in Russia and culminated in the creation of the first communist state the Soviet Union. In February, revolution in which the Tsar Nicholas II was abdicated his throne and the Provisional government took power. In October revolution the provisional government was overthrown by Bolsheviks led by V.I. Lenin.

Food shortages provoked riots to which Tsar reacted very harshly. Hundreds of unarmed demonstrators were shot dead by troops in St. Petersburg in 1905. The provisional government failed to improve the situation. The Tsar and family we’re massacred in 1918.

World War II

The World War II lasted for six years (1939 – 1945) and the war killed more than 17 million soldiers and great numbers of civilians. It was fought between the Axis (Germany, Italy and Japan) and the Allies (Britain, the USSR, China and thr U.S). The war began on September 1, 1939 when Germany under Adolf Hitler invaded Poland. It annexed Australia, Denmark, Norway, Netherlands,France, Belgium. Germany defeated by USSR, Germany surrendered and the war continued in Eastern front the Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed by the U.S on August 6th and 9th, Japan also surrendered. 

Korean War

Korea was under Japan occupation until 1945, Japan was defeated in WWII. The nation was divided into two and northern half under control of USSR and southern half under control of U.S. The war began on 1950 North Korea invaded South Korea. The UN forces send to assist Soth Korea against North assisted by China and the USSR. North was beaten and south was recaptured. The fighting stopped in 1953. Korea remained divided as before. 

Iran – Iraq war

It was one of the longest , bloodiest and costliest Third world armed conflicts in the 20th century the rivalry between Arabs and Persians. The war began in September 1980 and ended in August 1988, it cost more than 1 million lives on both sides. On 1980, Saddam Hussein launched military attack on Iran. Iraq captured Iranian border towns and Iran’s largest oil refinery. In 1982, Iran drew the Iraqis out and carried the war back. Both bombed each other’s cities and attacked the oil tankers in the Gulf. The war ended in August 1988 when Iran reluctantly accepted UN call for truce which Iraq accepted. 

 Tourism in Rajasthan

The places to visit in Rajasthan are :

Jaipur known as the Pink city has massive forts, magnificent palaces and exquisite temples, marvelous gardens. Hawa Mahal, the City palace and the museum, the Chandra mahal, the Central museum in the Ram Niwas Gardens, Jal Mahal palace, Sheeshmahal palace, Jaigarh and Nahargarh forts are other places interesting to visit. It is also home for handicrafts, beautiful textile prints, delicate jewelry, precious gems and stones. Amber was the capital of Jaipur for six centuries the fortress palace built here in 1592 combines Mughal and Hindu styles of architecture.

Alwar – Alwar is between a cluster of small hills of Aravalli range. It has natural heritage with beautiful lakes and thickly wooded picturesque valleys. The government museum in the city palace complex has series of paintings based on music ragas. It also reflect the elegance of former rulers lifestyles. Other attractions are Bala Quila, Purjan vihar, Kankwari hill fort, Siliserh, Sariska Tiger Reserve and National Park.

Ajmer and Pushkar – Ajmer is a popular pilgrimage center for both Hindus and Muslims. The Dargah Sharif, the tomb of Sufi Saint, Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti with a mosque inside. The Ana sagar lake created in the 12th century has two parks – Daulat bagh and Subash bagh on its banks. Shajahan’s mosque, Akbar’s palace housing the government museum, the Nasiyan temple etc. Pushkar separated from Ajmer by Naag Pahar( snake mountain).It is sacred place for Hindus. Famous are Brahma temple, Savitri temple, the Papmochani temple. It is also famous for the camel fair held every year.

Jaisalmer – Jaisalmer, the Golden city in the Thar desert was founded by Rawal Jaisal, a Bhati Rajput in 1156 AD. The Fort, Gadi Sagar lake, Manak Chowk, Lakshminath temple, Salim Singh ki Haveli, wood fossil park, Sam sand dunes and the Desert National Park are the attractions.

Jodhpur – Jodhpur at the edge of the Thar Desert was the capital of old Marwar State. The great attractions are Meherangarh fort and museum, Umaid gardens, Sadar museum, Balsamand lake and garden,Kailana lake, Rohet fort, Luni fort, Umaid Bhavan palace etc.

Mount Abu – Rajasthan” s only hill station, Mount Abu at 1220 m on the Aravalli hills is a place of scenic beauty. Toad rock, wildlife sanctuary, Dilwara group of Jain temples, Gaumukh, Achalgarh fort, the Guru Shikhar peak are important attractions. 

Ranthambore – Rathambore National Park is home to tigers, sambhar, wild boar, leopard, jackal, hyena etc. Other attractions are Rathambore fort, Jogi mahal the Sunehri Kothi – a monument with rich interior.

Open Source and Linux

Open Source movement is a large movement of programmers and the computer users that advocate unrestricted access to the Source code of the software. The biggest strength of Open source is that it is free. Other advantages include it can be peer reviewed and make sustained innovation in the softwares. The idea behind the Open source is when programmers read, distribute and modify the source codes for a piece of software, the software is evolving. People improve it, adapt it and fix its bugs themselves.

Linux

Linux is a scaled down operating system originally developed by Linus Torvalds. At beginning Linux was originally Minix, an educational version of UNIX developed by Andrew Tannenbaum. Linux grew up cheap as UNIX that ran on Intel based PC equipment. Linux is really just an OS kernel produced under direction of Linus. Linux comes out with set of utility, desktop and server programs including networking suites, web servers, file systems, compilers etc. A number of organizations that include commercial and volunteers, collect together the versions of all these programs with Linux kernel, test whether everything works together and then release it, it is called a distribution of Linux.

 Communication in Cyberspace

Cyberspace is a metamorphic, conceptual or virtual area where files, data, images, text, music etc all fly back and forth from user to user through computers. Internet is physical and technical network which interconnects all the computers located all over the world, it supports the activities of cyberspace. Information and communication technology is the driving force of these activities in Cyberspace. The communication backbone comprises of satellite communication, optic fibre route and other infrastructure supplemented by cellular base stations and antenna towers. The internet infrastructure and the communication system have together brought converged network capable of carrying both voice and data over same physical network carried over by IP(Internet Protocol). ADSL(Asynchronous Digital Subscriber Line), VDSL( Very High Speed DSL) , it is also known as FTTN( Fibre To The Node) as well as FTTP( Fibre to the premises) are able to provide multi gigabit per second connectivity.

The IT had greatly impacted on industries – industry involved in creation of global information infrastructure which include servers, computers and communication backbone using optical Fibre, satellite and cellular communication system and associated softwares. Increase in the manufacture, installation, operation, maintenance of activities. The development and production of different capacity and diversified applications, areas , software systems and products. It also include maintenance of product, software and upgrading activities of industries. Many industries provide different services to the society utilizing the IT tools and known as ITES( IT enabled services).

 Need for Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)

Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)

Sustainable Development is the development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of the future generations to meet their own needs. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) are the blueprints or steps that are needed to achieve a better, bright and sustainable future for everyone. They address the global challenges that we all face which include climate change, environmental degradation, inequality, justice, peace and poverty.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) are : 1. No poverty 2.Zero Hunger 3. Good Health and well-being 4. Quality Education 5. Gender Equality 6. Clean water and sanitation 7. Affordable and clean energy 8. Decent work and economic growth 9.Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure 10.Reduced Inequalities 11. Sustainable Cities and Communities 12. Responsible Consumption and Production 13. Climate Action 14. Life below water 15. Life on land 16. Peace, justice and strong institutions 17. Partnerships . The idea of UN Sustainable Development Goals has mainly started by the UN. It needs support of the nation’s, business, civil society and NGO’s for its funding and implementation. 

Effective ways to achieve Sustainable Development Goals are

1.We must minimize the excessive use of natural resources in order to preserve it from getting extinct.

2.We must preserve and conserve the national, cultural and traditional heritages for self dignity.

3. Effective and strict governing system for smooth development and administration.

4. Awareness programs should be conducted for spreading the importance of sustainable development.

5. People need to have mutual and cooperative understanding among themselves. 

6. Every illiterate citizen should be provided formal and informal education for attaining better knowledge and sustainable development.