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Assam & Mizoram Conflict

India is the tenth-largest country by land. Carved out of 565 princely states & 17 provinces at the time of Independence, which were just 14 states and 6 union territories.
With time number of states has grown to
28 states and 8 Union territories.
All the states have some issues in between one such issue which raised the eyebrows is the ‘conflict between Assam & Mizoram’.
Carved out of Assam in 1972 as a union territory, Mizoram gained its complete statehood in 1987.
The states have a dispute over a border of 164.6 km. 

Claims-

Mizoram stands by an 1875 notification, which came from ‘The Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation Act of 1873’.
Whereas, Assam claims the land as per ‘1933 notification by the state government that demarcates Lushai Hills’.
During Colonial time Lushai was known as Mizoram.
These borders change with natural obstacles like rivers, forests, etc. Often people living on one side of the land cross it as they are unaware of the border demarcation.
Other Land Disputes in Indian states-
• Belagavi Dispute between Karnataka and Maharashtra.
• Assam & Nagaland dispute.
• Gujarat & Rajasthan dispute over Mangadh Hill.
• Himachal dispute with Haryana over Parwanoo region.
• Himachal dispute with Ladakh over claim on Sarchu.

CORRUPTION IN INDIA…

Looking at the situation of India today, corruption can be observed and seen in almost every person, every place, every sector, every field, every institute, every dealing, every department, every exchange, every transaction, every opportunity, every job, every system and what not. In case of politics, it is in a worst situation or condition. Sometimes a doubt arises that whether we are living in a democratic country, whether we are following the constitution of  Dr. B .R. Ambedkar or not. Because the present scenario in India is like that, really worst. 

Corruption can be seen in every aspect. In politics, before winning elections-corruption to win, after forming government- corruption in activities and welfare programs. See the situation, how worse is it becoming day by day .I want to discuss this with some examples .Let’s begin.
CORRUPTION WITH EXAMPLES:
1.Distribution of money and gifts at the time of elections to come into power. See how they are cheating on people to come into power and for their personal benefits .They are directly spoiling the voting right of the people.
2. Corruption in quality and quantity of products. Corruption can be seen in the aspects of quality and quantity. If government is distributing something among the people, in between reaching the people from the government, it goes through a lot of corruption, like in hands of officers corruption takes place, some officers they ask money in return from the people to give their part from the government, which is so weird. And sometimes they practice do mal practices by which people may loose their quality ad quantity of the products receiving from the government.
3.For example, corruption in petrol, and food products. Expired products, and adulterated foods and products, cheating in petrol and fuels filling and many more like this. 
MAIN REASON FOR CORRUPTION IN INDIA:
The causes of corruption in India include excessive regulations, complicated tax and licensing systems, numerous government departments with opaque bureaucracy and discretionary powers, monopoly of government controlled institutions on certain goods and services delivery, and the lack of transparent laws and processes.

THERE IS A LOT OF CORRUPTION IN INDIA:

Corruption is especially prevalent in the judiciary, police, public services, and public procurement sectors. Due to varying levels of corruption and quality of government operations across India, local investment conditions vary between and within states.


A SAD THING IS:

Corruption in India is a consequence of the nexus between Bureaucracy, politics and criminals. India is now no longer considered a soft state. It has now become a consideration state where everything can be had for a consideration. Today, the number of ministers with an honest image can be counted on fingers.
HOW CAN WE STOP CORRUPTION:

  1. Expose corrupt activities and risks that may otherwise remain hidden.
  2. Keep the public sector honest, transparent and accountable.
  3. Helps stop dishonest practices.
  4. Ensure that public sector employees act in the public interest.




WORDS OF WISDOM

WORDS OF THE LONGEST LIVING PEOPLE

The rise of the life expectancy around the world and the number of the super centuries were also increased. A healthy and purposeful life could help us join in the beautiful world.

HERE ARE SOME OF THE INTELLIGENT WORDS!

Eat and Sleep, and you will live a long time. You have to learn to relax

The answer for the longest living person is just simple, it was the best self care routine, that would add some of the tremendous thirst for the life. The secret to live longer life is to take care of yourself. 

Everything is fine

Every single thing hat happens to you is for a reason. Nothing is without a reason, everything is good, just take care. Have a sense of humor to get out of the bad thoughts. Though it is bad, it is just fine.

If you keep your mind and body busy, you’ll be around a long time

This is a true statement and is also proven by masters of longevity. Exercising every day will make you busy and make a habit of helping others. Somehow or another we are all going to die one day. There is no point to be scared of dying. Never be afraid to die. Because once born is to die one once.

I just haven’t died yet

Never think that you are old, you are always young by heart. Once you start thinking about this, even when someone says that you are old, you can’t believe that. Just give the moment and go with the flow.

Never stop learning

You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, You may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world devoted by evil, But still there is only one thing that it LEARN. 
Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing that the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never be feared, never be distrusted and never dream of regretting.

Experience everything

Every day continues to see and learn new things, It may be anything which makes your heart feel blessed. You stay in your time, don’t go backward. If you relate yourself with the time, you are opened with everything around you. You will be automatically won by time.

Have a great day

Life is pure imperfection, as the philosophy teaches us. Time passes every day. Have a clear sense of what you are doing currently. Find the purpose of living. Each moment is possible with everything you are hoping to do so. You have possibilities and that it will be seen in you when start realizing the value of each day.
These are some of the words which can make you feel great when you don’t have nothing in your hand. Make a habit of following this one and you will be able to achieve great heights with long life and better health.

            ALL THE BEST



How to Handle Criticism, Hate & Disrespect

 Hello everybody , people did you ever notice that we all are told since childhood that the habit of embracing criticism is the stepping stone to success. But, nobody ever tells us how exactly do you embrace criticism ? If you look at the greatest leaders of all time, the greatest change makers of all time. The one thing you will find common in all of them is their ability to take and act upon the criticism that they receive. Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, one of the greatest kings who ever lived in this country was primarily known to take criticism from everyone. 

For him it really did not matter whether it is coming from an ordinary villager or the prime minister of the state himself. A modern day example of the same is Elon Musk, you know what, Elon Musk was once asked at a conference as to what exactly is the most difficult thing in his life. Now, considering the fact that he is already doing crazy things like colonising the Mars and making reusable rockets. You would think that his most difficult thing would be related to either one of these crazy things that he is doing. But you know what he said, and I quote, And here’s where the question arises, as to why is this habit so so important and more importantly, how can ordinary people like you and me learn to take criticism the right way. To give you a deeper understanding of the same, I want to take you back to 1846, Europe. For those of you do not know, this was one of the darkest times in the European history wherein there was a major disease that was on the rise. 

This disease was called the black death of child bed wherein as soon as the mothers gave birth to their children they used to die out of something called the Puerperal fever. And just like the Covid-19 death toll today there used to be a consistent increase in the deaths of mothers. And even after years of research and millions of dollars into spending no one could actually find out what exactly caused this problem. But amidst all of this chaos, there was this one guy by the name Dr Ignaz Semmelweis. He very openly started criticising the doctors and was screaming out the solution in every way possible. And he did everything in his capacity to get his word out and prove the solution to the world. But you know what, nobody listened to him and the entire society, especially the doctors they called him crazy for decades. And this poor man died in a mental asylum. But you know what, after years of ‘Research & Development’.

As it turns out, Dr Ignaz had made an observation that the doctors were doing the deliveries in the afternoon after conducting the autopsies in the morning which is why the disease got passed on from the dead bodies into the mother’s body which is why even healthy mothers were dying out of the puerperal fever. So all they had to do was wash their hands and instruments with Chlorine and one of the deadliest disease in the history could have been eradicaed very very easily. Today, Dr Ignaz is considered to be a legend and he is regarded as the ‘saviour of mothers’. But all throughout those years while the doctors were too proud to admit their flaws, god knows how many mothers went inside the ward hoping that they would be able to see their babies only to come of in body bags. 

God knows how many children in that generation grew up without a mother just because of the futile ego of the doctors who consider themselves next to god. This is the reason why feedback and criticism is very very important. This story also tells us that criticism is a double edged sword. If taken the right way, it will lead you to greatness and at the same time if not taken the right way, it will become the graveyard of your success. So now the question is, in this big bad world while we have got only a few genuine well wishers and on the other side we have got these dedicated haters who will go out of the way just to pull you down and then we have got these people who often sugarcoat their answers just to keep their image regardless of how pathetic your condition is.

 How do you exactly filter through this chaos and take the feedback that really matters ? The answer to this question comes from this book called the culture code wherein Daniel Coyle talks about the method which is used by one of the greatest basketball coaches of all time who goes by the name Gregg Popovich. And this method is very famously known as the magical feedback. And you can use this magical feedback technique by asking three questions to your critic Eventually, you will realize that you are getting constructive feedback. These 3 questions are: That’s it. Once you begin to ask these questions, automatically you will begin to receive constructive feedback from your critics because these questions help the viewer navigate through both the good and the bad and urges him/her to think about the new possibilites of improvement which is what brings constructive feedback. 

Once you get all these answers, it’s time to jot them down And work upon treating what works best for you and work upon what is not Then comes the most important question of all How do you exactly process this feedback and how do you decide whom to listen to and who not to. Well always remember, people, that there are 4 broad categories of people who will criticise you. The first category of the people are the haters. These are the people who will criticise you just to pull you down and if you start taking them seriously it will mess up with your focus and stifle your growth. So, block them both from your life and social media and it will work wonders for you. The second category of people are innocent critics. These are people who love you a lot but might sometimes give you baseless advice. 

For example, your parents love you a lot that is why they might push you to take a so called safe career. But you need to remember one thing; that their intent is never bad but their advice very well could be. So, never ever take their advice without giving it a clear thought If it makes sense to you, work upon it, if not, learn to ignore it. But the one thing that you need to remember is that you should never ever disrespect them because today they might be giving you baseless advice but tomorrow they could be giving you a sensible advice because ultimately their intent is not evil. But then, if you begin to disrespect them they might eventually stop giving you feedback which is very very bad.

 With that we move on to the third category and these are sweet talkers. These are people who will praise you so much that you will knowingly or unknowingly incline towards them just to get validation. And this is where you need to remind yourself that “Ego is the anaesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity” I repeat So definitely listen to the sweet talkers but don’t ever take them seriously. And last and most importantly we have got constructive critics These are people who love you a lot and will give you feedback that might sound very harsh at the beginning but is very very important. This could be a professor who really cares for you this could be your best friend or even your partner.

 And you know what, never ever leave these people and always jot down what they say. And sometimes they might give you baseless advice because nobody is perfect but do make sure to jot down their criticism and work obssessively on it. And once you start doing this, you will begin to witness exponential growth in whatever aspect you’re taking criticism for. This could be your personal life, professional life and this could even be your own business. 

And if you do this I am 100% sure that nobody in this goddamn world can stop you from achieving greatness regardless of what you’re doing right now. And every time it gets difficult to gulp down a harsh feedback just tell yourself one thing Criticism is that stone that people will throw at you all the time but it is you who needs to decide to whether to build the castle of your greatness or the graveyard of your success. Now, let that sink in, and think about it for a while.

How did India's MTR Foods Overcome The Economic Downturns

 Hello everybody , On 25th of June 1975 the Indira Gandhi government officially declared a nationwide emergency. The fundamental rights were curbed, the press was censored and within a fortnight the livelihood of 620 million Indians was at stake. Little did they know that the next 21 months of their lives would be known as the darkest chapter in the history of Indian democracy. And all of this was happening during a time when India was already witnessing a socioeconomic crisis. During this time, let alone business prosperity even survival was considered to be a miracle. And the story that I’m about to tell you today is the story of one such miracle wherein amidst this economic nightmare while most businesses were shutting down there was one incredible businessman who turned this very same emergency into an business opportunity and built a business empire that now has a revenue of 1000 crores. This businessman is Mr Sadananda Maiya and the company that I’m talking about is Mavalli Tiffin Room which is popularly known as MTR. 

The question is- What was so special about MTR and how was it able to turn an economic nightmare into a business opportunity ? The answer to this question lies in the rich history of MTR that dates back to 1924. This is when the Maiya family started the MTR restaurant with the vision to serve the most authentic, hygienic and the tastiest South Indian food to its customers. And the entire family was so dedicated to their profession that even during the post-independence time when the country was witnessing a political turmoil they still served the most authentic, hygienic and the tastiest South Indian food in town. Within a few years the restaurant became so popular that it became a hotspot for tourists television personalities and even film stars. But after 5 long decades of prosperity; in 1975 when the emergency was imposed the family hit a dead end due to the socio-economic crisis. 

During this time, apart from the emergency India had already seen 2 bad agricultural years and due to the formation of OPEC the oil prices had quadrupled and the inflation in the country had skyrocketed to 15%. The situation was so bad that the government had to stop all new construction work they froze the wages and salaries in the public sectors And imposed compulsory savings on income tax payers. And this meant that every single rupee was a lifesaver for a middle class person and it obviously meant that rarely anybody ever went to a restaurant. On top of that, the government required every restaurant to conform to prices set by the government and it was practically impossible to run a profitable restaurant business with those given prices. For example, under the President’s rule, the price of Idli was clipped to 10p from 25p while a cup of coffee which costed one rupee was to be sold for just 25p. 

Now, people, when something like this happens most of the restaurant owners do either one or many of these 3 things to survive. And this is something that you would’ve seen even during the COVID-19 crisis. Number one, they do extreme cost cutting and fire all of their employees. Number two, they indulge in adulteration and serve extremely low quality food to their customers which eventually leads to health hazards. Or number three they just shut their shop altogether and wait for the situation to get back to normal. And this is exactly what the restaurant owners did in 1975 because they saw no other option to survive. But you know what ? Even during this time MTR foods still served the most authentic, hygienic and the tastiest South Indian food to its customers without compromising on their quality. 

And not just that They retained most of their employees and built a supply chain that was so robust that when the emergency was lifted MTR went on to become one of the most successful food companies in the country. The question is- What exactly was this strategy and what was so special about it ? As it turns out, when the government imposed the prices the MTR restaurants started bleeding. They were loosing out ₹25,000 on weekdays and lost upto 1 lakh rupees during weekends. But even during that time Sadanand Maiya sir was not willing to compromise on his family business values. At the same time he did not want to fire any of the employees because they had stayed loyal to the business for decades So you know what ? He took a bold step to shut down the restaurant altogether and made 3 strategic changes to it’s business.

 Number one, he realised that inspite of the emergency, the demand for food did not go down. It’s just that the purchase power of the customers had declined drastically. And the supply chain of the restaurant was too costly to actually cater to their demands. So, to reduce the cost he moved from cooked food to packed food. Because of this the heavy cost and loss due to perishable items was completely eliminated. On top of that instead of adulterating the costly ingredients he changed the ingredients altogether. For example, they moved from rice idlis to rava idlis to make idlis cost effective. And even today, Rava Idli is one of MTR’s signature dishes. 

Number two since he could not comply by the prices imposed by the government he turned the same restaurant into a grocery store and started selling food mixes via grocery sales. And last and most importantly he trained his entire staff to build an efficient supply chain to make packed food and sold it at an affordable price. In the corporate world this is what we call as reskilling. And that is how ladies and gentlemen MTR was able to survive the emergency without compromising on its business values. And guess what ? As soon as the emergency was lifted MTR restaurant reopened but this time along with the restaurant they had a ready to fire manufacturing chain which produced nothing but high quality products. Soon enough it extended to multiple food mixes like pickles, like spices and even special spice mixtures. Fast forward to today MTR has emerged as one of the finest food brands in the country with a revenue of almost 1000 crores. And MTR exports its products to 21 countries including US, UK, Australia and Japan. 

And most importantly it has successfully stood the test of time for 97 years without ever compromising its values And even during the COVID crisis, 10 years after Maiya sir stepped down The company is still setting very high standards for change management in the industry. While most companies were clueless and struggled to keep their supply chain intact during the COVID crisis; MTR foods had already doubled their inventory level from 14 days to 30 days capacity. And while the first lockdown was imposed on 25th of March MTR rigorously started preparing for the crisis way back from 10th March itself. And this is when none of us had a clue that our lives were about to change forever. 

And that is how time and again by turning a business threat into a business opportunity MTR has consistently set a benchmark for other brands to follow and from entrepreneurs like you and me to learn from. Now there are 3 very important lessons that we need to learn from this iconic case study. Number one and this is something that has been followed by Dhirubhai Ambani sir better than anybody else wherein his policy was everytime you see a market crisis you need to realize that your competitors are facing the exact same crisis as you are. The question is are you going to see it as an obstacle and succumb to it or treat it as a business opportunity and get way ahead of your competition.

 Number two, money can build a company but it takes guts, quality and values to build a brand. And last and most importantly as much as the Internet is filled with American and European business case studies we often fail to realise the fact that India has had a long history of political and economic crisis and the adversity has been so much that let alone business, even staying alive was considered to be a big deal.

 But even during these times we have had some incredible entrepreneurs who were able to build a business empire and have established a golden legacy for us to follow and we being in the Indian markets need to pay very close attention to these lesser known goldmines because they have got nuggets of wisdom that can turn us into extraordinary business leaders of this country. 

How Facebook become Powerful & Giant Company

 Hi everybody, We all know Facebook as the giant, powerful company that it is today but very few of us know that when Facebook actually came out in the market it was neither the first social media product in the market nor was it the best social media website in the market. In fact, when Facebook came out, there was already another social media website that had about 1 million users. And it was already one of the most visited websites on the Internet. But somehow, within the next four years Facebook made history by overtaking this huge company and went onto become one of the most powerful companies on the planet. 

And the reason why this happened has got some very very important business learnings for each one of us because more often than not, we all must have had a brilliant idea but then after doing a little bit of research, we tend to realize that there is already a giant company as our competitors doing the exact same thing as we planned to do. And that could be demotivating. But guys, what if I told you that instead, you should be super happy to build a business if there is already a giant competition in the market. And the fact that it will actually provide you a golden opportunity to build a business. The question is- How is it even possible and how can you go on to build a business to compete with a billion dollar company. The answer to this question lies in a story that dates back to 2004.

 This is when a social media website called Myspace had arrived on the Internet. It was just like the modern day Facebook which allowed people to form connections and helped them find new friends on the Internet. And within just one year Myspace became a sensation in the making with more than 1 million users signing up within the first month itself. And by the end of the year, Myspace had 5 million users. This is when in 2005, it got purchased by a gigantic media company called News Corp for $580 milllion. Because somehow, News Corp was one of those few organisations that actually realized the potential of social media ads, back in 2005. And the day this purchase happened it marked the beginning of the capitalistic Internet era. During this time, Facebook was just a college student website which was open to only Ivy League students in the US. But on the other side, from 2005 to 2008 Myspace became the most visited social networking site in the world. And in 2006, it even surpassed Google to becoming the most visited website in the world. 

But something happened in the next 4 years because of which the same Myspace had 115 million users while on the other side Facebook, the college community website had more than 1 billion users. The question is What exactly happened and how did two companies inspite of being in the exact same space, doing the exact same thing have such a vast difference in their success. The first reason is based on the fundamental concept of social network and human psychology which is known as the triadic closure property. And this is something that was suggested by a german sociologists named Georg Simmel in 1908. In simple words what it means is if there are three people: Shyam, Baburao and Raju If Raju knows Babu and Babu knows Shyam then automatically, Raju will form a connection with Shyam and Raju will be more inclined to trust Shyam. So, basically, if A knows B, and B knows C then A is more inclined to form a connection with C eventually leading to speed of trust. And you must have observed this while you used Facebook or Instagram, that is when you get a request from a person who has 200 mutual friends you easily tend to accept their request. 

At the same time if you get a request from a person whom you possibly know but has got zero mutual friends there’s a little bit of skepticism that pops in. This is how the triadic closure property plays out. In case of Myspace and Facebook, the major drawback with Myspace was that it did not allow users to use their real names as their usernames and because of this, although you could meet new people on the Internet through similar interests you couldn’t really tell who exactly are you chatting with. So, this kinda turned into a fine mix of privacy and creepiness. But on the other hand Facebook insisted on getting people to use their real names as their usernames. Why? Because as legend has it, Facebook was meant to stalk girls and if you didn’t know the names of those girls stalking wouldn’t be user-friendly right? Will do anything for girls Just kidding guys! It was meant to be that way because Mark Zuckerberg believed in helping people build authentic connections through digital technology. 

And regardless of the truth behind this statement the strategy of using real names turned out to be Facebook’s X factor because of which apart from connecting with people in their own respective social circle users actually started to expand their network to form second and third connections. And this is where the mutual friend feature came in handy and because of this, the networks on Facebook became far more deep rooted and helped people expand their connections beyond their social circle. And this is the reason why in 2006, when Facebook opened itself to the general public people flocked to create a Facebook account inspite of having a Myspace account already. Now, this begs the question If this was just this simple feature of using real usernames that distinguished Facebook from Myspace then why didn’t Myspace incorporate that feature and kill Facebook altogether? In fact, this is what Facebook did with Snapchat right? By introducing Instagram stories. In fact, the Myspace team even had the backing of a large corporation like News Corp, right? Then why couldn’t they incorporate this feature? Well, as it turns out, this is exactly why they couldn’t incorporate the feature in their website. Because News corp turned Myspace into a proper corporate organisation which had to follow protocols and procedures And more than the ideas and the execution, the focus went to register quarterly profits, yearly profits and all the other corporate procedures. 

In fact, even if the Myspace team came out with a brilliant idea. It first used to get scrutinized by the lawyers, then by so-called experts and then a series of meetings used to be held and then a series of emails to be sent and it just kept going back and forth. And in the process, things got so slow that the ideas just got lost into bureaucracy and even something as simple as adding a feature also took forever to be executed. While on the other side, Facebook was being run by a bunch of college students who could add, change, modify and delete features overnight. And make major modifications to the website without any formalities. And unfortunately finally when Myspace incorporated the option of real usernames it was already 2008 and Facebook had already surged way ahead.

 So, to put that straight, while Myspace became a rigid organisation that was focused on procedures and protocols. And was constantly debating about who is right and who is not. Facebook was obsessively focused on what is right and executed ideas with agility. And this became the second reason for the fall of Myspace and the rise of Facebook. And the story didn’t end here the rigid corporate structure of Myspace also lead to another huge setback that literally became the golden recipe for Facebook to surge way ahead of Myspace. And this recipe also became a game changer for Amazon, Google and Apple. And this was the idea of third party integration wherein Facebook practically tranformed from a product to becoming a platform. 

On 24th of May 2007, Facebook launched the Facebook platform to provide a framework for software developers to create applications that could interact with core features of Facebook. For example, Spotify could use Facebook API to allow users to share music directly within the Spotify application itself. Candy Crush used Facebook for instant login and I’m sure most of you must have used it. And thirdly, Nike run club used Facebook API to enable its users to share their achievements of their run with their friends by posting directly to the Facebook’s news feed. So, this way Facebook allowed developers and gave them the freedom to use their technology and build products and services of their own.

 Whereas on the other hand, Myspace was set to be a notoriously closed system and Myspace even used to block contents from potential competitors. And for some reason it also ended up blocking Photobucket which was at that time the most popular photo sharing website. And this is the third reason why Facebook became an incredible platform not just for consumers and advertisers but also for developers. And by the way, this concept of going from a product to a platform is also the reason for the unprecedented success of Apple because back then even Steve Jobs was skeptical about allowing third party developers. But when Apple started providing its platform to developers the iconic App Store was born and that changed Apple forever. 

Even Android did the same with Play Store. But If you look at Nokia Nokia acted like Myspace and made it very difficult for developers to operate because the symbianOS was too rigid for third party apps to be built upon. And fast forward to 2006, Amazon launched its own version of third party integration by allowing third party sellers to use this technology to sell their products. And guess what? In 2020 alone, Amazon generated $80.46 billion dollars in third-party seller services revenue which is more than the revenue generated by its own sellers. This was the insane revenue stream that Myspace passed on and turned Facebook into the billion dollar company that it is today.

Now, let’s talk about the 3 important lessons from this case study. Lesson number one, Every entrepreneur and a leader needs to realize that the fundamental purpose of an organisational structure is not just to help you make strategic decisions but to enable you to make those strategic decisions before its too late. And the day you realize that these protocols are making the execution of ideas tedious you need to kill those protocols straightaway or else those very same protocols will end up killing your organisation. 

Lesson 2, regardless of how marvelous your technology is if you’re building a business to consumer product human centred design must always be taken into consideration because if you see, in this case, it was the simple feature of mutual friends that actually got Facebook the same amount of popularity as Myspace. Because knowingly or unknowingly it abided by the triadic closure property. 

And last and most importantly, even if you’re not the first mover in the industry it’s completely fine guys. In fact, it is great because regardless of how big a company is if they are venturing into a new space, they will make mistakes. And if you carefully learn from those mistakes you can save yourself a lot of time, a lot of money and a lot of efforts. And more importantly, merely by learning from those mistakes you will have the opportunity to race ahead of the game Because afterall, wisdom is that attribute that often separates a few legendary entrepreneurs from the many good ones.

Taj – the strongest hotel brand

In its annual report ‘Hotels 50 2021,’ Indian Hotels Business (IHCL), the biggest hospitality company in South Asia, has revealed that its famous brand, Taj, has been recognized as the world’s Strongest Hotels Brand by Brand Finance, the world’s top brand evaluation consultants.

The most valued and powerful hotel brands are recognized in this study worldwide.

“For the Indian hospitality sector, this is a proud occasion on the world stage. Taj being named the Strongest Hotel Brand in the World is a tribute to the constant confidence that our guests have shown and that our staff has personified day-to-day warmth and honest care. We continue our commitment to raise the global premium hospitality experience and to provide all our stakeholders the enchantment of Tajness “Puneet Chhatwal, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of the Indian Hotels Company, stated.

Out of 100, Taj got an overall brand strength index of 89.3 with the AAA’s matching consumer acquaintance, staff satisfaction, and reputation as well as its world-class customer service.

Source: businessstandard

Pegasus software

                              (Photo: The Guardian)

Before dwelling into Pegasus software let us firstly know what Spyware is. We often must have come across this world specially the computer users. So, spyware is basically a software which is designed to gather data from your device. It is considered as vitriolic in nature. It can communicate your confidential information to the person who is spying at you and has vengeful intentions. People with such intention can get spyware in your system through many ways. Spyware can also affect the functioning of your system. Your daily activities can be slowed down due to this. The method by which it gets into your system varies.

Now let’s dive into Pegasus software. Pegasus made global headlines again in 2021. Phones of Indian politicians, Journalists were hacked using Pegasus software. Though it is said that the Pegasus spyware is only available with the government. However, the Indian government completely denied the scandal. So, what exactly is Pegasus? Pegasus is a type of malicious software which is classified as spyware. It gains access to your personal information in your system and sends it to the attacker. Pegasus is considered as the ultimate spyware for iOS and android. Pegasus was developed by NSO group, an Israeli company. It first came to news in 2016 when an Arab activist received a doubtful message. He then started identifying it. Before it was believed that the Pegasus only targets iOS. It was only after a year that researchers confirmed that Pegasus is equally capable of targeting iOS as well as android devices.

Pegasus got widely highlighted because it was capable of hacking iPads and iPhones which claims to be the best in terms of data security and privacy. Indeed, if someone has Pegasus in their phone, the attacker can automatically turn on phone’s camera and microphone to capture the data. What can be worst than this? The Israeli company sells Pegasus to only sovereign government at about 7-8 million dollars per year. In this whole process of hacking, the user has no clue that their phone has been hacked. The normal phishing method is typically adopted by the attackers to infect the victim’s device. Clicking on the phishing link would start downloading the Pegasus software in the victim’s device without their knowledge. Through this the hacker gets command over the device.

Pegasus is considered as an extremely sophisticated spyware as it is able to gather vast information from the victim’s device such as password, message, account pin, credit card number, voice calls, etc. The other features which make it the most vicious amongst all is that it can self-destruct itself if it fails to communicate with the attacker or if it detects that it has been installed in a device with wrong SIM card. The intention of the NSO group behind making this spyware was good as it was meant for the law enforcement agencies to use it against terrorism. Who knew that it will be viciously used by the hackers for their own destructive motives?

CONSTRUCTION OF OUR WORLD , DESTRUCTION OF THE EARTH

   Imagine a world in which people would not see trees and a blue sky when they go outside. Imagine stepping out of a house and not being able to walk a few feet without getting winded because of the amount of pollution in the air. This might become a reality if our society as a whole does not start to think about the repercussions of our actions. The irrevocable decisions that we make today will ultimately be the arbiter of what the world will be like in the future. The environment is a very fragile thing and if we do not take care of it, future generations will not be able to enjoy it.

             There are many ways in which we can begin to better our environment. One of which is to recycle. One does not have to be an erudite person to know the numerous advantages of recycling. By recycling daily material in our lives, we will perpetuate a lifetime of useful material without using Earth’s transient resources. If our waste is not recycled, then it is sent to landfills, where the harmful substances are left to permeate into the soil. The simple task of recycling is a very powerful way for renewing our supply of natural resources and helping the environment.
             Another way in which we can improve the environment is to conserve energy. The energy that is used to power our lights and televisions is provided by large power plants that can sometimes inadvertently harm our environment. If we retrench the amount of energy that we use at home, than we are able to reduce the chance of harming our fragile ecosystem. With the flick of the switch when the light is not needed, there will be a salutary effect on the environment, even if it is just a nominal amount.

 Our gossamer world is not something that society should take for granted. If we choose to take care of our environment now, the world might become a much better place.

Mankind’s effect on the environment has been one of the most controversial social issues in recent years. The environment has constantly been in the forefront in most political debates. There are two sides to every story. Chris Bright says that yes, mankind is dangerously harming the environment. On the other side, Bjorn Lomborg, says the environment is in fact improving, not declining. I’m going to be discussing both sides of this issue and then giving my own opinion.
 



          

  Much of the information on development in the 1960s was based on the belief that all of mankind would prosper. It really ignored the strong effects of development on the environment and assumed that the readiness of raw materials would not be a factor. The thinking was that all people working together would get richer because they would be investing in new technologies that would bring more wealth to all.
             By the end of the 1960s, a marine scientist Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring, had an enormous impact on the public. Her book noticed the loss of birds to pesticides. Her book also made all classes of the population to realise that the pollution affects everyone, not just the rich.
  

 Another professor, Paul Ehrlich, was worried about overpopulation being the demise of mankind. He thought that the population was about five times too large, and we were using our resources to not only overpopulate but to also over use our environment. We were poisoning the ecological systems which we were dependent on for all of our food and oxygen. Chris Bright said the world population would double to 8 billion sometime between 2010 and 2020. That means at the same time that the population is growing, people are striving to get richer, which in turn means that they would consume more, pollute more and use up all of our resources. He also thought that humans would disturb the ecological system.

Neighbourhoods

 The term neighborhood is often used to describe the sub divisions of urban or rural settlements. In its purest definition, a neighborhood is the vicinity in which people live. Neighbourhood unit idea was proposed by Clarence Perry in 1929. Neighborhoods have some particular physical or social characteristics that distinguish them from the rest of the settlement. The clustering of these neighborhoods has formed towns, villages, and cities. The Neighbourhood unit plan in brief is the effort to create a residential neighbourhood to meet the needs of family life in a unit related to the larger whole but possessing a distinct entity. 

Perry described the neighborhood unit as that populated area which would require and support an elementary school with an enrolment of between 1,000 and 1,200 pupils. This would mean a population of between 5,000 and 6,000 people. Developed as a low density dwelling district with a population of 10 families per acre, the neighborhood unit would occupy about 160 acres and have a shape which would render it unnecessary for any child to walk a distance of more than one-quarter mile to school. 

About 10% of the area would be allocated to recreation, and through traffic arteries would be confined to the surrounding streets, internal streets being limited to service access for residents of the neighborhood. The unit would be served by shopping facilities, churches, library and a community center, the latter being located in conjunction with the school. Perry outlined six basic principles of good neighborhood design. As may be understood, these core principles were organized around several institutional, social and physical design ideals. 

  1. Major arterials and through traffic routes should not pass through residential neighborhoods. Instead these streets should provide boundaries of the neighborhood 
  2. Interior street patterns should be designed and constructed through use of cul-de-sacs, curved layout and light duty surfacing so as to encourage a quiet, safe and low volume traffic movement and preservation of the residential atmosphere 
  3. The population of the neighborhood should be that which is required to support its elementary school 
  4. The neighborhood focal point should be the elementary school centrally located on a common or green, along with other institutions that have service areas coincident with the neighborhood boundaries 
  5. The radius of the neighborhood should be a maximum of one quarter mile thus precluding a walk of more than that distance for any elementary school child 
  6. Shopping districts should be sited at the edge of neighborhoods preferably at major street intersections.
Neighbourhood unit

Principles of Neighbourhood Planning 

1) Size 

The town is divided into selfcontained units or sectors of 10,000 populations. This is further divided into smaller units called neighbourhood unit with 2,000 to 5,000 based on the requirement of one primary school. The size of the unit is therefore limited to about 1 to 1.5 sq km i.e. within walkable distance of 10 to 15 minutes. 

2) Boundaries 

The unit should be bounded on all its sides by main road, wide enough for traffic. 

3) Protective Strips 

These are necessary to protect the neighbourhood from annoyance of traffic and to provide suitable facilities for developing parks, playgrounds and road widening scheme in future. These are also called Minor Green Belts. 

4) Internal Streets 

The internal streets are designed to ensure safety to the people and the school going children in particular, since the mothers are anxious every day till the safe return of the child. The internal streets should circulate throughout the unit with easy access to shops and community centres. 

5) Layout of Buildings 

To encourage neighbourhood relation and secure social stability and balance, houses to suit the different income group should be provided such as single family houses, double family houses, cottages, flats, etc. 

6) Shopping Centres 

Each shop should be located on the circumference of the unit, preferably at traffic junctions and adjacent to the neighbourhood units. 

7) Community Centres 

Each community will have its centre with social, cultural and recreational amenities. 

8) Facilities 

All public facilities required for the family for their comfort and convenience should be within easy reach. These include the primary school, temple, club, retail shop, sport centre, etc. These should be located within 1km in the central place so as to form a nucleus to develop social life of the unit.

Neighborhood in the Contemporary Urban Context 

The concept of neighborhood unit in traditional built environments and rural settlements constituted a strong sense of attachment, identity, admittance and belonging for inhabitants. Neighborhood feeling in contemporary urban environments is less dependent on the sharing of common close physical residential environment. Impacts of urbanization, rise of mass society, modernization, improved inter connectivity and the consequent increased socio-spatial mobility in the neighborhood has been highly destructive. Increasing mobility and transportation facilities have opened up new possibilities, thereby disregarding the benefits expected of a neighborhood. 
Remote activities and changed lifestyles of dwelling occupants thus become the basic factors that shape the social environment. This issue causes segregation of the social environment from the immediate physical environment. Most of the current housing approaches concentrate on the physical attributes of single dwelling units and exclude the fact that the dwelling units rarely stand alone in a given physical space. The high-rise settlement blocks with inadequately planned physical environment characterize most of the contemporary developments. This however does not diminish the importance of the neighborhood unit.

Digital Literacy

 In the times of increasing dependency on digital technology, digital literacy plays a vital role for learning or working in this virtual world. Digital literacy refers to the skills and knowledge to access and use the digital technology responsibly.It is also called the survival skill in this digital world. 

It does not only mean the knowledge to use digital platforms, it also includes other skills such as critical thinking, practical and functional skills, efficient communication, curating information, collaboration, creativity, E-safety, cultural and social understanding, required while operating a digital platform. Digital literacy is extremely important to overcome the obstacles while learning or working in the digital era. 

It does not refer to just a technical know-how or the ability to read content online. It includes the understanding of basic rules, social practices and ethics while using cyberspace. The digital world is filled with information on various topics. It becomes imperative to know how to access and consume credible information. Awareness about the fact that every piece of information received online may not be true is extremely important. 

Most of the content online is shareable. Therefore it is important to check the credibility of the information and know the impact that the shared information can have on others. The content is also searchable. So it is important to know how to search for relevant information. Not every information we see online may be the latest one, its relevance needs to be checked before consuming or sharing it further. 

The cyberspace is interconnected with each other, people can connect here easily. Digital communication is always two-way.  Most of the content has the option to receive feedback. So it is an important aspect of digital literacy to learn effective communication skills for the digital platform. Communication can be both formal or informal in cyberspace. Nowadays, a number of career options require online collaboration and digital communication skills. 

The online behaviour of users also plays an important role. Often people do not realise the consequence of their actions online and take their digital presence for granted. Digital literacy makes people aware to make a safe cyberspace and avoid cyber bullying, abuse and harassment. It is crucial to know about the basic internet safety measures like setting a strong password, maintaining password secrecy, privacy settings in social media, reporting fake accounts etc. 

Digital literacy is being promoted in educational institutions so that the students can find and consume accurate information. The students can access diverse learning content from the digital space, especially from the facilities like the digital library. 

In this constantly changing world of technology, Digital Literacy is a lifelong learning process. The basic knowledge of functioning digitally and constantly learning about the latest updates and features of cyberspace has become essential in today’s world. 

Giant panda on loan from China gives birth to lively twin female cubs in France zoo

  Giant panda on loan from China gives     birth to lively twin female cubs in France     zoo!!

A giant panda gave birth to female twin cubs on Monday, a French zoo announced, declaring ‘they are very lively, pink and plump’. They cubs weigh 149 and 129 grams.

A  giant panda on loan to France from China gave birth to female twin cubs early Monday, a French zoo announced, declaring “they are very lively, pink and plump.”

Tokyo Olympics 2021 Updates: India men to play Germany in hockey bronze play-off

Tokyo Olympics 2021 Updates: India men to play Germany in hockey bronze play-off

India lost to Belgium 2-5 in the men’s hockey semifinal and will now play Germany in the bronze-medal playoff. Tajinderpal Singh Toor failed to qualify for the men’s shot put final after finishing 13th in Group A qualification. Also, the country’s wrestling campaign began on a losing note as Sonam Malik lost her 62kg freestyle pre-quarterfinal. Stay with Times of India to get all the live updates on Olympics 2021, India Events at Tokyo Olympics, Results, Medal Table and more on Times of India.




BEAUTIFUL ROSE TUTORIAL…

See this amazing and easy tutorial , how to make a rose. It’s really super easy and well explained. So, go ahead, watch the video and make one for yourself. It’s from YouTube channel named ‘ANGELS INNOVATIVE WORLD’ . You can find really interesting stuff like crafts, MAGIC SHOWS, School hacks etc.So, You can check that channel if you want so.