Author: Admin

Track2Training for students. Learn more on https://track2training.com

Winston Churchill: The greatest hero of World War II who saved the whole world from Hitler

This is about the second world war. There was a great uproar in Britain only the second day after Germany attacked Poland. Prime Minister Neville Chamberlin succumbed to pressure and appointed Winston Churchill as First Lord of the Admiralty. In today’s context, this appointment can be called like Defense Secretary. Churchill was given the same position that he had in the First World War. Then he was removed from this post due to the failure of a military action.
” WINNIE IS BACK ” : 
Churchill had said long ago that not only Europe, but the whole world is in danger from Hitler. And on September 1, 1939, as soon as Poland was attacked, his claim proved to be true. When the war came to the shores of Britain, the talk of the First World War was forgotten and the 64-year-old Churchill was given the command of the war. 
Although Lord Mountbatten confirms this, historian John Perry doubts the claim that the message of ‘Winnie is Back’ was sent to Britain’s fleets spread around the world as soon as Churchill was appointed. Whatever it is. At that time there was no one in the British Parliament who was as knowledgeable on German issues as Churchill had. He spent many wonderful years of his life in understanding Germany.
Churchill also did not disappoint Britain, Europe, the world, history and above all, time. Without Churchill, England might have lost the war. He is given the status of wartime prime minister. From Gumnani to becoming the First Lord of Admiralty and then the Wartime Prime Minister, this story of his is very thrilling.
Churchill’s impudence :
Two days after the attack, on September 3, Churchill gave a speech in the House of Commons explaining the rationale for England’s entry into the war. He said, ‘The road to war will be very long and difficult, but the victory will ultimately be for England because the truth is with England. This is a matter of highest morality. Not only morality, it is also a matter of practicality.’ He further said, ‘We will fight to save the world from the Nazis. We will fight together and hence we will win’.
Churchill approached the people of England with honesty and frankness. He recognized that Britain was inferior to Germany in military power, that people’s lives were going to be difficult, sacrifices were needed and it would not go in vain. In his speeches, he said that the great cities of Europe, which were being taken by Hitler’s armies, would one day be liberated. People were believing his words. Although Chamberlin was then Prime Minister of England, Churchill became the hope and voice of the people.
Churchill’s ‘Lakshagriha’ :
The battle was being fought on every front i.e., air and sea. Britain’s naval power was stopping Germany. Nazi troops were heavy on the ground. To save the European country of Norway from Germany, the army of England had to take a fierce fight. The effect of victory and defeat on Norway would have been on England. Seeing things not working out, people started doubting Chamberlin’s ability. Voices started rising against him.
A no-confidence motion was passed against him in Parliament and he had to resign. Chamberlin offered to the King of England to make Foreign Secretary Lord Halifax the next prime minister. Rejecting this, the King appointed Churchill as Wartime Prime Minister of England on 10 May 1940. England did not have a better option than him. 
The command was now in the hands of Churchill. The moment for which he had waited so long had come, even in what difficult situation? Ramdhari Singh Dinkar has written in ‘Rashmirathi’, ‘Those who burn in Lakshagriha, the same surma emerges’. Churchill was to become Surma. Many believed that Churchill was not the right choice for this task. But within two weeks things changed.
Churchill’s Three memorable speeches : 
Few people would know that Churchill had some difficulty in speaking. Despite this, he was a very motivational speaker. More than speaking well, he also did a great job. His first speech on becoming Prime Minister was: 
I have nothing but to give hard work, sweat, tears and blood. We have the most difficult task of this era before us. Many months of struggle and torture are before us. You may ask what is our policy? All I would say is that we will fight – on land, in air and in water. We will fight with as much strength as God has given us. You may ask, what is our goal? I would say, Vijay. Victory at all costs. No matter how much fear, no matter how difficult it may be, no matter how long the road has to go. You will not survive without living. Taking this task in hand with Harsh, I seek everyone’s cooperation. Let us move forward with all our might.’
Although Britain was defeated in the ‘Dunkirk operation’, but by saving several lakhs of its soldiers, the government kept the morale of the soldiers and people high. Even while accepting this defeat, Churchill said in his speech, ‘We will fight till the end. We will fight at sea. Fight in the ocean. We will fight bravely. Whatever we have to do, we will fight for our country. We will fight in the air. We will fight on the shores. We will fall on the ground. We will fight in the fields. We will fight in the streets. We will fight in the mountains but will never surrender.’
When France was conquered by Germany and its top leadership pleaded with Hitler for mercy, it was as if darkness fell in Europe. Churchill understood that war was now inevitable. On 18 June 1940, he delivered what can be called one of the greatest speeches in the world. They said:
‘After the French war is over, now (Germany) will go to war with England. The burden of Christian civilization rests on this battle (decision). The life of Britain (the British people), its institutions and the empire depends on it. The force and anger of the enemy will now be on our side. Hitler knows we must defeat him to win. If we win, then Europe will be free, life in the whole world will progress towards progress. If we lose, the whole world including America will be lost in darkness. So, let us move towards our duty and think, if our empire and this Commonwealth survive for thousands of years, then remembering this day people will say – that was the best moment of their life!’ 
Churchill’s Tough Decisions and Diplomacy :

Hitler had greatly expanded his military capabilities as soon as he gained power in Germany. As soon as he became Prime Minister, Churchill appealed to the people to reduce their expenditure and talked about saving money for military preparations. On the other hand, France refused to hand over its ships standing in the port of Algeria to England. Churchill feared that after the defeat, French power would hand over the ships to Germany at the behest of Hitler. Churchill destroyed these warships without wasting time.
At the same time, when it came to joining hands with Russia, Churchill said, ‘If it is a question of choosing between a monster and a communist, I will choose the communist.’ After winning the war, he ironed out the opacity of Stalin’s communist regime. Said like a screen. 
To increase the strategic power of England, Churchill appealed to America for help. He told the American people, ‘Give us your blessings and support. We will neither lose nor fall. We are neither afraid of the horrors of war, nor will we get tired. Give us weapons, we will not let you down. 
Won the war, but lost the elections :

The war was not over yet, but its result was already visible. Then came the elections in England. The popularity of Churchill, who converted England’s sure defeat into victory in World War I, was at its peak. But to everyone’s surprise, the citizens of England threw Churchill out of power. As if in the eyes of the people of England, their importance was only till the war. People no longer wanted ‘War Prime Minister’. Churchill said with restraint that ‘this is the victory of democracy’ in 1951, he won the election again and became Prime Minister again. 
Some interesting aspects of Churchill’s personality :

Churchill’s mother was American. Churchill was born premature. He never went to college. His wife’s name was Clementine Churchill, who was very similar to Clement Attlee, from whom he was elected. It was said that the number of hats he has, even his wife does not have. The fact behind his being a good speaker is also the fact that he used to have difficulty in speaking, so he used to speak very thoughtfully. He is the only Prime Minister to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature. He is the only Prime Minister of England whose residence, 10 Downing Street, was attended by the British royal family for a meal. When he died, the royal family attended his funeral. This also happened for the first time.
Yes, Churchill’s view of India was quite pessimistic. In his eyes, Indians were stupid and cowardly. They did not want India to be given independence. He would probably be the only head of state in the world who wished for Mahatma Gandhi to die.

SLEEPLESS NIGHTS

 

Are you getting an adequate amount of sleep these days? If not, then what is the reason behind this. Have you ever given a thought to it? Recently I was asked this great although very common question. I was completely puzzled out. I went blank. How strange is this? Isn’t it? A simple and common question like this left me pondering over many things which I have never thought about or you can say I never considered it important to think about.

What keeps me awake at night?

To find the answer to this question I started making an endless list in my mind. What can be the reason which is not letting myself have peaceful sleep at night? Many thoughts started popping into my head. I even googled to check what are the things which can keep a student like me awake at night. I found many articles but one was clashing with the other. So, I ended up with this list.

·       Stress – Yes this could be one such reason which I might take to bed with me. Study looms large in people’s minds, and I am not Einstein to not get affected by it. Stress-related to studies, job, career, parent’s and society’s expectations all these thoughts suddenly started crashing into my head. And then I realized that this could be the potential reason.

·       Insomnia – This might be the problem that maybe I am a born insomniac. Tossing and turning on the bed, failing to fall asleep. This can also be a problem.

·       Racing Thoughts – One can have control over his/her feelings but one can’t control his thoughts. It is said that you can stop someone from coming after you but how can you stop someone from thinking about you. I am the kind of person who loves being lost in her imagination. You can call me a mess of chaos. Sometimes I keep trying to make them stop, but nothing works. It is very hard for me to control my thoughts.

·       Depression– Maybe I am suffering from depression. If you sometimes start crying without any reason, then what will you call it. What will you call it when you don’t even know the reason why you are crying? I seem to cry more often when I try sleeping. But even at other times of the day when I am not crying, I often feel sad about something. And the worst part is that I don’t know the reason, or maybe I know but just don’t want to accept it.

      I started thinking about what else could be the reason which is keeping me awake at night. Then it came to me, that I should think about that one time when I slept peacefully without any thought racing around in my mind. Suddenly something hit me strikingly from within. Everything went doomed. All of the list which I have made up in my mind disappeared and only thoughts started lingering in my mind. I started feeling chills without fever. Tears started shedding from my eyes and I felt the same pain that I have been trying to hide vigorously for the past many years.

      What happens to a dream deferred? For me, it just explodes. He was my dream. His picture radiated happiness for me. He is the one whom I cannot have. You might not believe in one true love, but I do. For me, he is the only one. Even after he left me alone, he will forever be the one. I often used to think about people who used to get move on quickly. Even my friends suggested me the same but I failed and I failed terribly. Call me a loser if you want but for me, you can fall in love many a time but with just that one person whom you consider your eternal love.

      His memory was a pounding headache or a stiff back which is the reason why I have sleepless nights. Not being able to sleep is perhaps a common occurrence after a breakup. I guess it has affected me badly. Mostly because my mind is so busy running through the events that happened in the past. Even sometimes when I manage to fall asleep, I wake up more frequently. This all is due to my restless mind and my broken heart. Maybe I haven’t accepted the truth yet. Maybe I’m still stuck in the past, in his thoughts, and his memories.

      Little does my mind know that remembering those vibrant memories will likely inflict more pain and aggravate my situation further. And needless to say, he has started living in my mind persistently, even more than he used to when we were together. I used to tell him, “My happiness lies in your happiness.” He is now happy even without me then why do I have to face sleepless nights? Why do his thoughts keep me awake at night? I’ll tell you why I had to.

      ·       They say you realize the value of something when it is lost. But I had always valued him. And maybe that’s why I lost my sleep. I valued him beyond everything and when I wasn’t reciprocated, I lost my sleep.

      ·       I lost my sleep because I couldn’t get over the thought that he can even be happier without me.

      ·       His smile used to radiate happiness in my life. Thinking about the thought that it’s reflecting upon someone else’s life has made me lose my sleep.

      ·       I have lost my sleep because somewhere in the corner of my heart I knew that he will come back to me, but that desire for us to be back together is still unfulfilled.

     You might consider me a lunatic but I guess I am happy this way, lost in my unfathomable thoughts, lost in the memory of that last tranquil night when I was in his arms lost in our world together. I am now used to of these sleepless nights where I am awake with his thoughts subconsciously protracting in my mind. While I am writing this, I can feel that same pain running through me. Memories are sneaking out of my eyes and rolling down my cheeks. Something which was endured within my heart for so long has suddenly busted out. I finally got the answer to my question. His memories are the one which makes me awake at night. Maybe I will have these sleepless nights forever.

Art and Mental Health

 In our daily life filled with stress and tension, art can be a great source of comfort to our minds. “Creative Therapy” has the power to heal the mind and has a positive impact on mental health. Any form of art, especially drawing, painting and sculpting is considered to be a therapeutic practice. Its benefits on mental well-being can be traced from the psychological theories by Adrian Hill, Edward Adamson, and Donald Winnicott.

“Art as Healing”

Artist Edward Adamson, also known as the father of art therapy in Britain, has written the book “Art as Healing”. It highlights his findings on the positive impact of art in healing the patients suffering from mental illnesses. He worked on his idea of “art therapy” in the psychiatric hospital in Netherne and with the patients in his studio in West London. He collected the artworks produced in these sessions, which is known as the Adamson Collection. 

 According to him, art is not simply a form of occupation or art therapy to distract or absorb, but a dynamic and unique aid to the patient’s recovery. He believes that mental illness is a breakdown of personality and art is one of the expressions of a human being’s personality. The patient can achieve harmony through the art forms. 

Art is a way of expressing ideas of a personality. There are three major benefits of using art as the healing process for those suffering from mental illness. Firstly, the patient feels relief when their ideas are expressed through art. Secondly, they can externalise and examine their ideas. Thirdly, the doctor gets a permanent record of the state of mind of the patient at that moment. The patient’s subconscious mind gets displayed through the painting.  


Art for mental well-being

Involving in any form of art brings peace and joy to the mind. It acts as the “food for our soul”. Another benefit of art is that it has the capability to calm our mind. It helps us to cope up with the day-to- day stress. It can be a fun as well as productive activity to do in leisure time or to take a break from work and a busy schedule. 

Participating in any form of art gives us a sense of purpose and achievement. It helps immensely to boost self esteem. Not only does art calm the mind, but it also helps us to grow it creatively. Art improves the skills of the brain like learning, focusing, memorising, problem solving, patience and concentration. While painting, the obstacles faced are tackled by finding creative solutions. It enhances the creative thinking skills of our brain. 

As a child, most of the people are involved in some form of art, be it drawing, painting, sculpture or anything else. But gradually as we grow old we tend to leave it behind, ignoring the numerous psychological benefits and mental positivity it offers. Art is a great exercise that can strengthen,  calm and heal our mind. 


VENTRILOQUISM AND ME..

 


Ventriloquism, also referred to as throwing the voice, is a special way of using one’s voice to create an effect such that the sound seems to come from somewhere else, a body part other than the speaker’s mouth or a different person or object. The word is a Latin re-creation of engastrimythos, the Greek word for speaking through one’s abdomen, by combining “Venter” (stomach) and “Loqui” (to speak). For a ventriloquist, the trick to winning the audience is to have his dummy play the leading role as if it had a mind of its own. The ventriloquist displays virtuosity often by pretending to argue with the dummy—which sounds witty and mischievous—while pretending to lose the argument. In so doing, the ventriloquist stages the illusion that his dummy is somewhat out of control.

MEANING OF VENTRILOQUISM:

The art or practice of speaking, with little or no lip movement, in such a manner that the voice does not appear to come from the speaker but from another source, as from a wooden dummy.

I AND VENTRILOQUISM:

There will be a dummy in this act where both the voices are controlled by the ventriloquist. I just love ventriloquism, because even I am a ventriloquist.I use a monkey figure to do the act. That gives me really fun and sometimes the  dialogues make me laugh but I control and move ahead with the dialogues.Well,It’s a bit difficult to manage both the voices but I do enjoy to do that.I personally performed many shows here and there in My college and school. 

HOW IT IS DONE?

Ventriloquism—altering your voice to make it sounds like it’s coming from somewhere else—is familiar to most as entertainment. Performers beguile audiences by making their voices seem like they belong to a dummy (or some other figure like Lamb Chop), chatting with their playful, inanimate partner.

IS IT EASY?

It may have something to do with the fact a good ventriloquist makes it appear so easy.Some people believe to learn ventriloquism, all you must do is master how to talk without moving your lips. That is not true. Lip control is only one aspect of ventriloquism.

International Youth Day

 Nelson Mandela once said “The youth of today are the leaders of tomorrow”. August 12th is celebrated as the International Youth Day. The Youth Day was declared by the UN in 1999, to recognise and shed some light upon  the issues faced by the youth of different countries. 

International Youth Day is celebrated with the help of awareness campaigns, community concerts and events in the youth club, etc. to bring into attention the difficulties faced by the youth. The UN decides a theme for Youth Day every year. “Transforming Food Systems: Youth Innovation for Human and Planetary Health” is the theme for this year. According to the UN, it aims to highlight the need for “inclusive support mechanisms that ensure that the youth continue to amplify efforts collectively and individually to restore the planet and protect life while integrating biodiversity in the transformation of the food system.”

The theme also includes discussion around the topics of poverty reduction, social inclusion, health care, biodiversity conservation and climate change. The ECOSOC Youth Forum highlighted the concerns of youth regarding the impact of Covid-19 pandemic. They emphasized the need for a more equitable food system and awareness about the healthiest and sustainable food options. The Youth Lead Innovation festival will be held to encourage the fresh and innovative approach of youth to find solutions to the ongoing problems. This year, events for the Youth Day will be held virtually. 


Problems faced by the Youth

The youth has always been an active part of the society. India has the highest youth population in the world. As per the Census of 2011, one-fifth of the population in India is its youth population. The youth have been a helping hand in the tough times of Pandemic, especially for those from the vulnerable age group. But the pandemic has affected the youth in terms of education and employment. 

The number of young people involved in the field of education or training and employment has gone down in the last fifteen years. Right now, 30% women and 13% male are not involved in these activities. In this highly competitive world, lack of job and educational opportunities is a major problem. Frustration and chaos builds up in their minds when they remain idle. It is extremely important to utilize their energy for the betterment. Training in skill based or vocational courses should be provided. Skills such as Leadership, Communication, Scientific Temperament should be developed among the youngsters. 

Youth is filled with immense energy and ambitions which should not be wasted. The youth of a country plays a key role in building a better future. Therefore it is important to provide them proper education and opportunities, so that they can pave the way for development.


IPCC Report: Need for Climate Action

 The latest sixth assessment report released by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change on 9th August, 2021, indicates some key areas of concern related to climate change. According to the report, 1.5 degree celsius warming is likely to be experienced before 2040. The report says that warming is inevitable and immediate climate action is needed to achieve the best case scenario and minimise the level of warming.

A future of Extreme Events

The report pointed out that the increase in intense heat waves, extreme rainfall, dangerous rise in sea-levels, frequent droughts and melting of ice are a direct consequence of human activities. The scientists involved in the assessment have warned about a rise in such extreme events in the present and future. At 2 degrees of global warming, the heat can impact human health as well as agriculture. 

The report also indicated the possibility of rise in “compound events” in the future, as a result of global warming. Compound events are severe and deadly. The lake bursts and landslides that happen in the Himalayan region is an example of a compound event. 


Climate Action and Net-Zero Target

The IPCC report addresses the question of how long it will take to see the results after the immediate implementation of the Climate Action plan and whether good results can be experienced by lowering the carbon emission. The report has suggested immediate cuts in greenhouse gases. This has pressured many countries to renew their Climate Action Plan or the Nationally Determined Contributions(NDCs) decided in the Paris agreement. 

This has triggered the countries to take up the net-zero target. More than 100 countries have agreed to achieve the net zero target by the middle of this century, including the US, China and European Union. Net zero is also known as carbon neutrality. It does not mean cutting the carbon emissions to zero. It means a state in which the carbon emission of the country is compensated by absorption and removal of greenhouse gas from the atmosphere. The gases are absorbed by creating more carbon sinks like forests. 

India is the third largest emitter in the world and a lot of pressure is being built on the developing nations to take up the net-zero target. The report says that global net-zero targets can keep the temperature rise in its best case scenario, and it is not possible without wider cooperation by the countries. 

Alok Sharma, the UK minister who will be presiding over the climate change talks in Glasgow said “The science is clear, the impacts of climate crisis can be seen around the world and if we do not act now, we will continue to see the worst effects, impact lives, livelihood and natural habitat.”


The Girl on the Train – A bewildering tale

 

                                                                       (Photo: Twitter)

The Girl on the train is the story of Rachel Watson’s life, post-divorce. She is an alcoholic who rides on a train aimlessly. On her way, she travels past an old house where she and her then-husband, Tom used to live. However, there is one house that she waits to see each day. She watches Megan in her seemingly perfect relationship with her husband. Then one day Rachel sees Megan cheating on her husband. So, she decides to communicate with her. However, she has a blackout and is awaken with bruises in her apartment. Soon she learns that Megan is missing and detective Rilly interrogates her since she was seen wandering in the area.

The language used in this book is simple, understandable, and subtle which makes the readers get interested in reading the book. The themes of the novel are that of gaslighting, manipulation through questioning or validating a person’s sanity as the three women are abused by the men in their lives. It also deals with a very strong theme that some things are not always what they seem to be. In some respect, the novel is a connectional mystery.

Rachel Watson is the titular girl on the train and novel’s protagonist. She is complicated and an invaluable character. She is a divorced and deeply depressed person because of her impotence and failed marriage. Megan Hipwell is a young, sensitive woman with a dark past. Megan is not at all the model wife that Rachel imagines her to be. Megan begins dwelling into the depth of her trauma of losing her baby. Anna Watson is threatened by Tom’s ex-wife for calling and texting Tom all the time. She fails to see the unearthed trauma and pain in Rachel’s odd behavior and views her as a loser. Tom Watson disguises himself as a loving husband but in reality, he is a liar, cheater, murderer, and antagonist of the novel.

The Girl on the Train is a 2015 psychological thriller novel by Paula Hawkins. The novel debuted in the number one spot on The New York Times Fiction Best Sellers of 2015 list dated 1 February 2015, and remained in the top position for 13 consecutive weeks. In January 2016, it became the number 1 best seller again for two weeks. The book has also sold 15 million copies around the world. The readers of this book loved it warm-heartedly. The author did a really great job with the three character’s voices. It deals with powerful themes all the while weaving the story into a heart wrenching tale of obsession and madness. One cannot help but get reeled into the chaos of it all, questioning oneself at times of who is what, and whether everything is as it is.

There is no need of any suggestions for this novel as it is one of its kind. The writing is quite masterful as the writer gives away only enough with each chapter. Hence, this novel is perfectly paced.

Organic Farming

 With the increasing use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, organic farming stands as an eco-friendly farming process. Organic Farming is the process of farming without using any synthetic or chemical fertilizers. In simple words, it means farming without the use of any inorganic substances. 

Benefits of organic farming

Chemical fertilizers are not only highly expensive but also have some serious environmental consequences. Some chemicals contain toxic materials which can harm the skin and respiratory organs. It can deteriorate the natural fertility of the soil by killing the bacteria and other microorganisms present in it. It takes years to regain the natural fertility of soil. 

Organic farming can ensure maintenance of the soil quality and also prevents soil erosion. It can also prevent the harmful effect of nitrates leaching into the groundwater. The chemical fertilizers have a tendency to escape from the soil to the nearby water bodies and pollute them. Therefore it is extremely important to minimise the use of chemicals and switch to better alternatives. 

Organic farming in India

India stands in the 100th position in the World Hunger Index of 2020. This indicates towards the growing food requirement in the country. Ensuring an adequate amount of food for the huge population of the country is an enormous challenge that needs to be tackled. But it is also important to ensure the quantity as well as safety of the food. In India, organic farming is largely seen as a procedure of using organic manure instead of chemicals. But it also includes several methods to increase the microbial population of the soil. 

 The chemical fertilizers yield results quickly. As the process of organic farming takes a lot of time and due lack of awareness and facilities, it is not widely practiced. Between 2011 to 2014, there was a decrease in organic farming in India. 

Sikkim was declared as the first 100% organic state in the whole world, by UN Food and Agriculture. All of its  farmlands are organically certified. Chemical fertilizers and pesticides are not available in the state. In 2003, all imports of chemical fertilizers in the state were banned. This transition to a completely organic farming practice has helped around 66,000 farming families in the state. This organic image has also uplifted the tourism sector in Sikkim. It helped to promote the idea of organic farming in the country. 

Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana is a government scheme under the Soil Health Management and the National Mission of Sustainable Agriculture which aims to promote certified organic farming in India. The objectives of the scheme includes providing resources and motivating the farmers to take up organic farming. 

The idea of organic farming and the question of food safety and eco-friendly farming measures have received some attention lately. With proper education and access to facilities, organic farming can be further promoted in the country.


TRENDING TECHNOLOGY

Can a robot ever be conscious and how would we know if it were?🕘

Some people think we could easily build and identify a conscious robot, while others insist that it’s impossible – it all depends on what you think consciousness.

Technology’ is one of the keywords of our world, yet it is also one of the most confused. As an analytical category it seems necessary for our understanding of all of humanity’s history, and indeed beyond. We are probably comfortable with asserting that humans have had technologies since the Palaeolithic, and a menagerie of animals, from crows to chimps, have even been identified as tool users. As an actors’ category ‘technology’ is of surprisingly recent vintage, although cognate terms – techne, arts, and so on – have a much longer history. Yet even for a recent English word ‘technology’ has come to embrace often conflicting meanings. In this essay review I have three aims. First, I will offer a summary of Eric Schatzberg’s important new opus Technology, which untangles and clarifies the history of ‘technology’ and its cognates as actors’ categories. Second, I will conduct a critical analysis, arguing that Schatzberg, while helpfully placing past ways of thinking about technology into two camps, ones he calls the ‘cultural’ and ‘instrumental’ approaches, makes a misstep when he favours the former over the latter.

Third, I offer an extension of my preferred instrumentalist definition, one which highlights an essential property of technologies – their power to intervene over scales – in a way that, I suggest, offers a new, invigorating direction of study for historians of science and technology.

There is disagreement over whether machines can ever be conscious, let alone how we would know if one were. Your view may depend on how you see consciousness.

If the subjective feeling of consciousness is an illusion created by brain processes, then machines that replicate such processes would be conscious in the way that we are. How would we know this? Daniel Dennett at Tufts University in Massachusetts thinks a Turing test, in which a machine has to convince a human interrogator that it is conscious, should, if conducted “with suitable vigour and aggression and cleverness”, be enough.

WHY BIODIVERSITY IS SO IMPORTANT??

 Biodiversity is soul for life!!💚


Biodiversity has become an important issue on the global arena. The importance of biodiversity is increasingly being recognised as of vital concern on the local, national and international levels. The challenge is how to find practical and workable ways to increase biological diversity. Obviously action needs to be taken on the governmental level. However there are also ways that individuals, and groups of individuals can begin to act on their own right and help create ecological change and increase biodiversity.

The issues and challenges around achieving biodiversity are many and therefore likely require many solutions in order to be find the most effective solution, or combination of solutions, for a given area.

One highly effective solution which has recently emerged is called a “Rewilding Stick”. A Rewilding Stick is a highly-scalable method suitable for leveraging the planting efforts of either a single individual, or of a large group of individuals.

 

Time Management skills that everyone should know

 Have you ever wondered why we feel so short of time these days. Why do we get tense when we do not work on time, if not then read this article till the end. In this article, I will share with you 15 tips from Sudhir Dixit’s book Time Management, so that you can achieve your best version. So without further due let’s talk about 15 Time Management Skills to improve your time utilisation.

  1. Keep a Log of Time : Just as you budget for money, in the same way budget for time. To make a budget, you have to calculate where your money is being spent. Follow the same policy in case of time also. Take a diary and keep a record of how much time you spend in which work for a week. Remember there is only one week, you have to do this. The more detail you keep in the log book, the more profit you will get. After a week, sit on Sunday and analyze this entire record thoroughly. With this analysis, you will get to know which work is meaningless or in which activity you are giving more time than necessary. You can get extra time only if you leave some old activity.
  2. Set Financial Goals : If you don’t know where you want to reach, you can’t get anywhere. If you don’t have a goal, then how will you plan to reach it, so if you want to do something in life, then setting a goal is important for you and without it, it will not work. The clearer your goal is, the higher is your chances of succeeding. Let us understand this with an example. The wife of a salesman was admitted in the hospital for a long time. Surprisingly, that year the salesmen sold twice as much as the average sales. When the salesman was asked the secret of his success, he said that the hospital bill was placed in front of him and he knew exactly how much he would have to sell to pay the bill.  From this example it becomes clear that if a person is determined, then he can achieve his financial goal provided he has a clear goal in front of him.
  3. Do the most important work first : Our daily routine is such that we start doing whatever work comes in front of us and because of this, all our time goes to doing small tasks. But the ambitious man is cautious about this because he knows that in order to get success, it is necessary that important work should be done first. And for this, they have a diary in which their work list is according to the priority. You can do this too. You take a diary and make three columns in that diary named A, B and C. In column A, put your most important work which you consider essential. In column B, keep such work which is not mandatory but not important. In column C, keep such common work, which is neither important nor mandatory. First of the day, complete the first work of A column, then start the work of B column and then do the work of C column only when there is time left. 
  4. Make complete use of travel time : Common people go to simple sit idle and do nothing during travel time, while successful people make maximum use of their valuable time. Mahatma Gandhi used to take sleep while traveling so that he could stay refreshed. When Napoleon went to war with the army, he used his time well by writing characters on the way. Microsoft founder Bill Greats follows this principle by doing important things on mobile while traveling. All successful people have been cautious about time because they know that time is very powerful and success is possible only by using it properly. You and I can also take advantage of our travel time. It takes a lot of time for employed people to travel from home to office. You can make meaningful use of it by doing some important work in this time.
  5. Work in your prime time : At a particular time of the day, your energy and efficiency are higher than at other times. This is your prime time. Do your most important or creative tasks during this time, so that they can be done well and quickly. Sometimes so much happens in an hour which is not normally known in a day. Remember quality of time is more important than quantity of time. This is called Quality Time. The person who is not very successful makes a goal of working 8 hours a day; More successful is the person who sets the goal of doing 8 or 9 tasks a day, the only difference between the two is that the first person gives importance to the quantity of time and the second to the quality of time and that is why their success is tremendous which makes the difference.
  6.  Do organise yourself : Unorganized life creates many difficulties in front of us. One of the difficulties is that our time is wasted unnecessarily and the sad part is that we ourselves are to blame for it. The most common example of unorganized work is the absence of any paper or file. It is estimated that people working in the office waste about 30 minutes every day searching for a paper or file. Due to laziness or haste, we do not keep something in the right place and then disturb the office or home in finding it. In the end we find that thing at a place where it should not have been kept. To make the best use of time, we should lead an organized life. Keep in mind that if your routine is organized then your life will also be organized and when your life is organized then you will be able to make the best use of time easily.
  7. Engage yourself in action : We all know that we cannot be successful without working hard, but the amazing thing is that in spite of this, we keep working hard, keep postponing the work, making excuses for not being in the mood, arguing for lack of time or resources. That is, they do everything except work. If you want to reap the harvest of success in the future, then you have to sow the seeds for it today. If you don’t sow seeds, how can you expect to reap in the future? The whole creation works on the principle of karma and fruit, so you will get the results in proportion to your karma. If you want success, then work hard and keep working till you become successful. If you learn to make the best use of time, then in the long run time will reward you with the thing you strongly want.
  8.  Increase your work efficiency : If you know typing, do one thing. Remember the time when you first started typing. How fast could you type then? Maybe five words per minute and what is the situation now? Maybe thirty words per minute. Why so? Because you learned typing, you practiced continuously, as a result of which your typing speed increased. You have to do the same in the time zone. Desire is the first condition for increasing efficiency. You must have a desire for it. The second condition of increasing efficiency is knowledge. You have this knowledge. How should the capacity be increased. For this read the book, go to the seminar. The third condition is to compare with your past performance. Think that if yesterday you did some work in one and a half hour, how can it be done in one and a half hour today? Just keep in mind that the quality of the work should not decrease. Do not let the work get spoiled in the hurry to save time. 
  9. Set your deadlines : After all, what happens in the deadline, which increases your capacity and makes you complete the work faster? The first thing is that it gives you a clear goal, secondly, you make a plan and discipline yourself to follow it. Third, the deadline keeps your mind focused on the task, so that you can think of new ways to complete it in time. When you are given a deadline, adrenaline is released inside you and you become active and get focused and get involved in the work. You know that if the work is not completed on time, then there will be disaster, so you get up a little early in the morning, work till late at night. Let us understand this as an example, suppose in normal condition you run one kilometer in six minutes. But if a fierce dog is chasing you, how fast will you run? Obviously, you will cover a kilometer in less than six minutes because of the dreaded dog behind you. Deadline is also the same as the dreaded dog. 
  10. Always work on schedule : There is a clock in our body, which is called biological clock, when you get used to working at a certain time, then your body adapts accordingly. So friends, you should always try that every work should be done at a fixed time so that you can use the biological clock of your body to save your time. 
  11. Wake up early in the morning : People may argue that getting up in the morning is not up to them, work is best done in the stillness of the night and they can work at night and for as long as they can, but these arguments are useless. Even after getting up at 4 o’clock there is peace and work is done relatively well in that. The main thing is that at that time the speed of work is also fast, because both the body and the mind are refreshed. Timing is not ideal. 
  12. Exercise for an hour : A person thinks that he is living for himself, but the way he spends time, it does not seem that he is living for himself. Often he eats food that belongs to his wife or child. When he returns home tired, he is also has to watch television programs of others’ choice. That is, he does not even know how to find time for himself. One hour you have to take care of yourself and in this one hour you have to take care of your body. To walk, to exercise, to go to yoga or gym, to massage your body, that is, to pay attention to the health of the body as a whole. 
  13. Avoid being lazy : To save time you should avoid laziness. Whenever a difficult task comes in front of us, we start laziness and postpone it. But apart from procrastination, there are many reasons for laziness. One of the main causes of laziness is overeating. Have you ever wondered why we work best in the morning? One reason is that the body does not remain tired after taking rest at that time. The second reason is that oxygen is more in the morning and the third reason is that our stomach is empty at that time. When the stomach is empty, the brain moves faster, so we should avoid overeating at one go. When you eat less, you don’t get sluggish and your energy and concentration level remains up. 
  14. Don’t procrastinate : Why do people procrastinate? There are many reasons for this: either the work is boring or difficult, or it has no deadline. Whatever may be the reason for procrastination, remove it and make a habit of completing today’s work today. If you postpone for tomorrow, then its loss will be that you mortgage tomorrow’s time. By postponing the work that you can do today, you increase the burden of tomorrow even more. Do today’s work today only so that tomorrow does not become a burden. If possible, then do some work of tomorrow also today, so that tomorrow the pressure on you is reduced and you can do new work in it. The mind is afraid of hard work, so if you want to do something in life, do not be a slave to your mind or mood. Discipline the mind and start working whether the mood is there or not. 
  15. Avoid bad habits : Alcohol and cigarettes are not only injurious to your body, but are no less harmful to your time. It is estimated that youth spends about half an hour smoking cigarettes. It takes only five minutes to smoke a cigarette, but it takes time to juggle it and create its atmosphere. Alcohol wastes time even more. One, it takes a long time to drink alcohol. After the second drink, the man is of no use. Not only this, drinking alcohol also spoils the next day, because it causes headache or hangover the next morning. Apart from cigarettes and alcohol, there are many bad addictions, which waste a lot of your time. The habit of doing evil to others or talking here and there. To argue or fight. 

Alibaba Group Founder Jack Ma Short Biography and Success Story

Friends, in this article we are sharing the story of a tourist guide becoming a billionaire. This story is about a brave man who worked as a tourist guide for many years; Who could not get a small job even after many attempts. He was rejected in 30 job interviews, but despite this he did not give up and continued to try his every rejection as a new opportunity to do something else. With this combativeness, he created a huge business empire and today he is the richest person in China.

Short Biography : 

Name : Jack Ma

Birth : 10 September 1964

City : Hangzhou

Occupation : Founder and Executive at Alibaba Group 

How did a tourist guide become the richest person in China?

This is the story of “Jack Ma”, Founder & Executive Chairman of Alibaba Group. Alibaba Group is a Chinese e-commerce company, which provides business-to-business, business-to-consumer and consumer-to-consumer sale service through web-portal. It is the world’s largest retailer company, which operates in more than 200 countries. In addition, it is also the largest internet company in the world. Let’s know about Alibaba Group Founder Jack Ma Success Story.

Birth and Early life of Jack Ma :

Jack Ma was born on 10 September 1964 in Hangzhou village of Zhejiang province of China. After his birth, he was given the name “Ma Yun” by his parents. To earn a living, his parents used to roam from place to place and play traditional songs. He has an elder brother and a younger sister. The main language in China is Mandarin and it is not considered necessary to speak English there. But Jack Ma was fond of learning English since childhood. That’s why he used to cycle every morning to a hotel near his house. He used to practice English by talking to the tourists staying there in broken English. 

In the urge to learn English, he also started working as a guide. In his spare time, he used to take foreign tourists to the city for free. In this way, he used to get an opportunity to spend more and more time with him. For nine years, he worked as a guide in this way. Not only did he learn English from this work, but he also gained knowledge of Western civilization, technology and style. While guiding foreign tourists, he also became friends with a foreign tourist. 

After going back to his country, he used to write letters to Jack. It was he who gave him the name “Jack Ma”, because Jack’s Chinese name was very difficult to speak and write. Since then he is known as “Jack Ma”.

Education :

Jack Ma was not good in studies. He failed twice in class V and thrice in class VIII. After completing his schooling, when he gave the entrance examination of the university, he failed thrice in this also. He was rejected 10 times from the famous Howard University. After that he took admission in ‘Hangzhou Teachers Training Institute’ and completed his graduation from there in 1988. After completing graduation, he worked as a teacher of English in a local college for 5 years at a salary of $ 15 per month. During this time, he also applied for jobs in many other places.

Frequent Rejection in Job :

Wherever he applied for Jack Ma jobs, he would have been disappointed. He applied for jobs in 30 different places, but was rejected from everywhere. He gave the first interview for a police job, but due to his skinny appeal, he was rejected. When KFC opened for the first time in China, job advertisements came out for 23 people. 24 people applied for that job, of which Jack Ma was also one. 23 out of 24 people were selected for the job. Jack Ma was the only candidate who was rejected.

Internet access for the first time :

After getting rejected continuously in job interviews, he decided to try his hand at business and opened a translation company. He went to America in 1994 with his company’s work. There he got the opportunity to use the Internet for the first time. The first word that he searched on the Internet was – Bear ‘bear’ meaning ‘bear’. During the search, he got information from different countries related to ‘beer’, but he did not get any information related to Chinese Bear.

Then he searched other general information related to China on the Internet. But they were surprised that no information about China was available on the Internet. Jack Ma became sad because of not having any information about his country on the Internet. He felt that his country was far behind in the technical field as compared to other countries.

Launch of ugly.com website :

To provide information related to China, he along with his friends created a website, which he named – ugly.com. Within 5 hours of creating this website, he got e-mails from some Chinese people who wanted to know about him. After this incident, he realized that a lot can be done with the Internet.

Establishment of company named China Yellow Pages :

In 1995, Jack Ma started a company with the help of his wife and friends by investing $ 20000. The job of this company was to make websites for other companies. He named his company ‘China Yellow Pages’. In one year this company earned $ 80000. But due to lack of capital investment, this company could not be more successful and it had to be closed. After that Jack Ma worked as President in an IT company established by ‘China International Electronic Commerce Center’ between 1998 and 1999. After resigning from there in 1999, he came back to China.

Launched alibaba.com :

After coming back to China, he, along with his 17 friends, started China’s first Business-to-Business Marketplace website alibaba.com (Alibaba.com) at his home for $ 60,000. The purpose of this website was to connect various suppliers and buyers of the world. alibaba.com faced some problems initially. Due to which many in Silicon Valley had termed this project as a loss-making business model. 

But in 1999 and 2000, two big companies ‘Goldman Sachs’ and ‘Soft Bank’ invested a total of $ 25 in alibaba.com. This investment helped in the growth of alibaba.com. After this the company never looked back.

Take ebay.com out of Chinese market :

Jack Ma’s team created an auction website named taobao.com in 2003. By that time, eBay.com dominated the bulk of the Chinese auction market. But taobao.com showed the way out of eBay.com within 4 years. Apart from this, Jack Ma also created sites like Alipay, Tmall etc., which are under the Alibaba group.

Today Jack Ma is the richest person in China. Along with this, he is also counted among the rich of the world. His net worth is more than $ 20 billion. The network of his company Alibaba ‘Alibaba’ is more than Facebook. Jack Ma’s company ‘Alibaba’ alone does more than what Amazon and eBay earn together. 


WHY BIHAR CONSIDERED BACKWARD

         WHY BIHAR CONSIDERED BACKWARD

BY : NEHA SHAHAB 
Bihar has a population of over 103 million.
Bihar is the only state in India where the incidence of poverty is uniformly at the highest level (46-70%) in all the sub-regions. The annual real per capita income of Bihar at Rs 3650 is about a third of the national average of Rs 11,625. Bihar is also the only Indian state where the majority of the population – 52.47% – is illiterate.
Bihar has 7.04 million hectares under agriculture and its yield of 1679 kg per hectare. While it is less than the national average of 1739 kg per hectare, it is better than that of six other states, which include some big agricultural states like Karnataka and Maharashtra.
The causes of poverty in Bihar may be viewed in terms of certain parameters such as (i) Over population and apathy towards family planning (ii) Poor land and water management for agriculture (iii) Mal-administration, poor governance and corruption (iv) Illiteracy (v) Poor Health care (vi) Lack of industrialisation.

A Brief History of Pandemics

 The world is still fighting with the coronavirus, after more than a year of it being officially declared as a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO). A pandemic is an epidemic that crosses the borders of one country. Pandemics can have a severe and long term impact on humankind. 

Pandemics in History

There have been several instances of pandemics since the ancient times, when modern medicine and science was not much developed. Earlier, people believed that a disease was caused by gods or spirits to inflict destruction upon those who deserve it. But this unscientific perception prevented them from treating the patient properly and led to the death of millions of people. 

There were a number of plague epidemics and pandemics in history, especially in the times of war. The Anthenian plague was spread between 430 to 26 B.C. It originated in Ethiopia during the Peloponnesian War. It spread to different parts of Egypt and Greece. The overcrowded city of Athens became severely affected and many lives were lost due to the rapid spread of the disease. Similarly, the Antonine Plague between 165-180 A.D, infected the Roman Empire. 

The Justinian plague was known as the “real plague” epidemic. It originated in Ethiopia and spread to different parts through trade. It was one of the most severe plagues which led to lonely and deserted streets as trade activities were abandoned. The Black Death of 1334, originated in China and spread to several parts of central Asia, North India, Russia and Europe.

Spanish Flu was caused between 1918 to 1920 by the H1N1 strain of the Influenza virus. Its spread happened in the middle of World War-1. This avian borne flu was one of the most spread pandemic, it infected almost all the parts of the globe. It had a higher mortality than the previous virus and had a deeper impact on humankind. It caused nearly 50 million deaths worldwide. Even after its deadly impact, the virus faded away easily from everyone’s attention because of the ongoing World War at that time. Some writers have written about it as the “forgotten pandemic”. 

The Ebola outbreak was one of the most recent outbreaks, between 2014 and 2016. It mostly affected Central and Western Africa. But it was efficiently contained and did not spread rapidly all over the world.  


Covid-19 Pandemic

The pandemic caused by coronavirus originated in China in November, 2019. It was officially declared as a pandemic by WHO, on March 11, 2020. By that time it had spread to 114 countries. Methods such as quarantine, isolation and lockdown were implemented to curb its spread. New developments related to medicines, treatment, and vaccination have been developed over time. 

The vaccines stand as a ray of hope to overcome the Covid pandemic in near future.