Category: News

Comprehensive, up-to-date news coverage, aggregated from sources all over the world by EduindexNews.

Chandrababu Naidu’s role for Microsoft in Hyderabad, India.

Microsoft is an American multinational technology company Founded by honourable Bill Gates, Paul Allen. Microsoft has around 2,00,000 employees. It’s Headquarters is located in Redmond, Washington. Before 1998 Microsoft’s R&D centre has nowhere outside the Redmond Headquarters. But, in 1998 the Microsoft’s development centre was established in Hyderabad (before state partition) which was neither an IT hub nor a developed city. But now Microsoft India Development Center is one of the Microsoft’s largest R&D centers outside the Redmond headquarters. What was the reason to start R&D in such a city? What encouraged Mr. Gates? Let us see now.

By the time 1998, Chandrababu Naidu was served as Andhra Pradesh state Chief Minister (before the state partition) from 1995 to 2004.  In the year 1997 Mr. Gates visited New Dellhi, India on some work. Mr. Naidu reached Delhi solely to meet Mr. Gates and asked the American Ambassador in India to provide 10 minutes of Mr. Gates’s time. But they said that Mr. Gates was not meeting anyone then and said to meet in cocktail party that night if that was okay for Mr. Naidu. But Mr. Naidu said he couldn’t meet in cocktail party s that may reach in different manner to the public and terrified that he may lose votes. So at last, after all the discussion Naidu had success in getting appointment of Mr. Gates for just 10 minutes. Before the commencement of the meeting the authorities said Mr. Gates that there was someone who loves and believes technology more than he does by which, Mr. Gates was shocked and granted appointment for Naidu.

In the meeting with Mr. Gates, Naidu gave a presentation of all what he wanted to say through his laptop. Naidu was the first politician to do so and Mr. Gates was impressed by that. Naidu said that he was trying to advance the government with the technology tools and so asked Mr. Gates time. There were three things that Naidu asked Gates.

1. Naidu made sure that India is strong I information technology.

2. A Request to start Microsoft’s Development Center in Hyderabad.

3. A request to visit Hyderabad.

When Mr. Gates had put his ears on Naidu’s agenda, He said that the Microsoft’s Development is only in Seattle and if he would start outside Seattle then he would definitely do that in Hyderabad. Mr. Gates made a promise that he would start R&D in Hyderabad and nowhere in India after Naidu’s presentation.

However, naidu was allotted only 10 minutes but, the meeting lasted for more than 45 minutes and everyone was waiting outside for Mr. Gates to begin the dinner.

By the time, Bangalore was one of the India’s largest IT hub. But, Mr. Gates had chosen an under developing city Hyderabad. Naidu promised affordable taxes, good supply of electricity etc.

Mr. Gates visited Hyderabad and had chosen a place to setup R&D and however was done in 1998.

Today, Microsoft India Development Center is one of the Microsoft’s largest R&D centers outside the Redmond headquarters.

National Education Policy, 2020-A 360 degree turn in education system.

Gone are the days when Mark sheets represented YOU. When the caliber of an Individual was judged by the percentage on his report card . We have now entered an Era where what you are and what you can do will be examined on the basis of how and what skills you carry. Where your personality is able to please the audience .Whether or not your Persona makes an impact. The worth of books can never be replaced, but just being a book worm can be.

Thanks to our Respected Prime Minister ,who believed that the Education policy ,like any other policy like The Defense or the Foreign policy belongs not to the government but to the country. After a wait of 34 years India is finally focusing on building a “KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY.” Where learning is the key element.

The dream and the aspiration to become an AATMANIRBHAR BHARAT can be solved and achieved when your human resource and your youth is competent enough to bring in ideas and technology that will help the Indian economy to grow like never before . “We are working to make India a knowledge economy. To tackle brain drain, the NEP has paved the way for opening campuses of best international institutions in the country to bring them within reach of youth from simple families,” the Prime Minister said.

The myth of DOCTOR KA BETA SHOULD BECOME A DOCTOR has been swayed away because of this Policy. Now a DOCTOR KA BETA can become a doctor along side his passion, if any. Now choosing to be a Musician or a Coreographer is no alien to the ears of the society. There remains no hassle in choosing your streams .No competition of getting into a science stream and feeling you have won the world ,and no embaressment of choosing Arts, as if it is the end of the World. (This is what society teaches us) .

LET US LOOK AT SOME BENEFITS OF NATIONAL EDUCATION POLICY ,2020.

  1. There will be a focus on Holistic development of Learners by giving them 21st century skills. A reduction in content learning and focus on Practical learning.
  2. Vocational training will start from the 6th grade including Internships.
  3. Multilingualism and the Power of Language learning will be taken care of.
  4. No student is bound to for a specific Stream selection.
  5. The ways Exams were conducted will now be different and the focus will be on critical thinking and analysis and conceptual clarity.
  6. There will be training of teachers as welL.
  7. An increase in the Employment ,thus, leading to growth and revival of Economy

The above points were just a glass of water out of a swimming pool of information.What matters is India and Indians are ready for a CHANGE . A CHANGE THAT WILL LEAD TO ONLY BEING BETTER. A CHANGE where you will be judged on your skills and knowledge of your domain not by the marks on your Marksheet.

“The best thing for being sad,” replied Merlin, beginning to puff and blow, “is to learn something. That’s the only thing that never fails. 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 about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honour trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then — to learn. Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting. Learning is the only thing for you. Look what a lot of things there are to learn.”

― T.H. White, The Once and Future King

Just like T.H. White quotes , LEARNING never stops . LEARNING has no end. And one who stops LEARNING , stops GROWING!

Export of Rice and Sugar jump in Q1.

Despite being the tough situation all over the world and the lockdown there are some commodities which still were in growth in the amount of export to different countries.In India the agri exports took a great jump of around 23% in the Q1 period i.e from April to June.

Basmati rice tops the list of exported agri commodity that is of around Rs 8591 crore which accounts for a third of India’s export in the first quarter of 2020-21.It is also the contribution of non-basmati rice which was of around Rs 2392 crores.If we talk about and what data shows,overall around an increase of Rs 4818 crore.If we take into account overall percentage of 95%.

Export of sugar contributed an increase of Rs 1719 crore and export of raw sugar Rs 448 crore during the period.It means that non-basmati rice & sugar (refined and raw) together accounted for Rs 4559 crore.If we talk of other agri commodities like pigeon pea(tur),Bengal gram and raw groundnut oil all the percentages have been increased from the past data.But from the likes of rice & sugar their export percentages are low.Report also mentions that onion was also on increase.

Export basket of tea and soya have declined numbers of around 27% and 14% respectively,as per the first quarter of the current financial year compared to the corresponding period in 2019.All this data was recorded during the UN Food and Agriculture Organization 35th regional conference for Asia and the Pacific organised by Bhutan on a virtual platform.India has shown in this tough situation that the country is ready to serve other countries at any cost and at any period of time.

Analysis of the agri report shows the performance of different agri commodities from the period April to June that pigeon pea increased to 440%(from Rs 15 crore to 81 crore this year) while Bengal gram had increased around 407%,groundnut oil 243% increase and wheat 148% rise.Incidentally Rice and Sugar which includes basmati and non-basmati,refined and raw sugar both are the commodities which requires ample of amount of waters which contributes about 78% of total export.

In lockdown it has been seen that there has been various such incidents of positive culture of which showed the power of the country.It signifies such act towards the society that any situation whether whatsoever India will never be backed down.Many examples are there but i would like take example related to health sector i.e medicines provided to many countries and another example is the worst Lebanon blast in that India provided medical,food supplies.

MENTAL HEALTH, IT’S AWARENESS AND POSSIBLE STEPS

Mental health is about our emotions, psychological thinking and mindset. It consists of our feelings, actions, thinking nature. It consists of our feelings, actions, thinking nature.It determines how balanced we are mentally . It is all about controlling our emotions, balancing mindset, handling stress etc.

   Health is of two types

  1. Physical health
  2. Mental health

  To understand about mental health, let us take a brief look into Physical health. One can say a person is healthy by just knowing about physical health only. Because they don’t know the mental condition of the person as it is not visible. So one cannot judge other person’s health condition by just seeing them. If a person is physically strong we cannot say that he is mentally strong.

   Mental health plays a dominant role than physical health. Mental health is most important as it plays a key role in our life. If it is good we can live happily but if we become mentally weak then it is very dangerous as it leads to wrong ways like depression, consumption of alcohol, consuming drugs, suicide etc.So mental health is very important.

One should balance their health physically and mentally. Both are important but mental health is dominant so every person should balance their mindset and take care of health as everybody know “Health is wealth”.

       Nowadays youth are not able to balance their state of mind and getting depressed for silly reasons and taking wrong steps. If a person is mentally weak then there is a chance of getting addicted to drugs, consuming alcohol, smoking etc. There is a higher chance of affecting their own health in a drastic way. So we as a person having humanity should bring awareness to the people about the importance of mental health.

     There are many mental disorders which will cause due to mental illness. Some of them are 

  •    Bipolar disorder
  •    Anxiety disorder
  •    Clinical depression

In your friends if anybody looking moody, depressed,dull, sitting lonely for a long duration then ask them what happened and give them confidence that you will support them and also motivate them, inspire them and also try to be in touch with them. Give them confidence with your words. In most of the cases this will help them to get out of depression. After your motivation and words also they are not changing and again going into depression then without any doubt inform about their condition to their parents. As parents can give more support and consult a psychiatrist. Their counseling can definitely make them strong. If you do this small thing you are the greatest person who is saving their life. Not only there one life but also lives of their family. As death of one person affects their family. 

   So just observe your friends and if anyone is going into wrong path and getting addicted to bad stuff just try to motivate and inspire them. Follow the above steps. If you notice them in that way but also you didn’t care about them then this can lead to suicide also. So try to bring awareness about mental health.

We Bleed and it’s Normal!…

After all the struggle and convincing, finally the love birds Emily and Jack got married. Everything was happening as they planned, so both of them were very happy. The wedding ceremony took place with full of joy. There is a ritual that newlywed along with family visit temple next day of marriage. But as they reached there, she was asked to stay outside. But why? Because she was on her periods. They struggled very hard to make this marriage happen so she wanted to enjoy every single moment of her marriage. But Alas! She was asked to stay outside. She felt very much sad and frustrated as everybody went inside and here she was alone. The saddest thing was she couldn’t even speak up against it as it would be going against the holy ritual.
Our society considers women on periods as impure. Though it is a natural process, we took it to our emotional levels. If you go and read some articles regarding women anatomy, you’ll get to know that periods are a simple natural and routine phenomenon which has nothing to do with our culture or our beliefs. Even today, women in the village are made to use clothes instead of a pad during her cycle, though it can lead to dangerous diseases. The thing is not a single holy book demand of it we do as a society. A few days back, I saw a post on the media platform where the goddess was leaving the temple and devotees were asking the reason running behind. The goddess replied, “Women on periods are not allowed in the temple”. This post left me totally struck. We live in a culture where women are treated like a goddess and it’s the same society where women have to face such unreasonable restrictions. No men ever have any such restriction. A killer, lier, rapist anybody can get in the temple but not the women on periods. They already bear so much physical pain during the periods but these unreasonable restrictions make them emotionally weak. If the purity of a person is based on a naturally based physical phenomenon, then I believe no one in the world is pure!…

Rising Cases of Mob Lynching in India : Threat to the nation and Humanity

Article by – Shishir Tripathi
Intern at Hariyali Foundation
In collaboration with
Educational News

During the last two years, there has been a hike in the cases of mob lynching in India. Mob Lynching is an act of killing a person or a group by an angry mob without any proof only upon the basis of some misdoubt or any other false rumor.


On 16th of April 2020, a vigilante group lynched two Hindu Sadhus and their driver in Gadchinchale Village in Palghar district, in the state of Maharshtra. This inhuman incident happened into the days of Nationwide Lockdown due to the attack of Corona Virus. So, these Sadhus were travelling to attend the funeral of their guru in Surat. As they were crossing a local checkpoint near the village, the mob attacked them and killed them to death. The incident was fuelled after the spread of rumors of thieves operating in the area and the mob attacked the three passengers assuming them as child thieves and organ harvesters.


A video went viral on Social Media in which it is clearly visible that the local police handed over one of the elderly Sadhus to the angry Mob and the insane crowd started beating him with stones, sticks and axes and killed him. Similarly the other Sadhu and the driver too were killed brutally. 115 villagers and 9 juveniles were the accused and the 115 villagers were later arrested too.


Now, the question arises that is it safe to travel in India through places with people having such mentality. Was it really justified to kill the 3 passengers who were on their way to attend a funeral? Absolutely not, if there is a mob doing justice then there’s no point of having some legal body like Police. No inquiries, no legal process is carried out and a mob with brainless, ridiculous fellows with ill mentality comes and straight away kills the person just in the name of some fake news.


Many a times it is seen that transporters of cattle are also killed by the mob itself without any proof in the name of Gau Raksha too. Whereas some incidents of mob lynching happen in the suspicion of rape, ill behavior, thefts and many more such rumors. Many a times, various police officials too get killed by such violent mobs.


There is a general increase in the hate feeling among the population within certain religious groups. People have assumed that people of certain groups in some specific regions of the country would surely be harming them just because they belong to a certain religion. People fear to pass through such areas with similar incidents happened previously. Nobody knows that when a mob will come out of a sudden will kill them to death without any reason. There’s an atmosphere of fear and panic everywhere in people across the country.


Some people associate incidents of Mob Lynching with religion. But cases like this must be looked upon with the perspective of ill mentality of such groups involved in those heinous acts and a failure of the govt. authorities against regulating such incidents. Also, the absence of strict laws being formulated against such acts is also a reason behind people getting motivation to commit such acts in groups.


Hence, proper steps are needed to be taken by the government and the concerned authorities to give a strict message to the ill minded people who commit such atrocious acts to the innocent people.

The haunted fort : Shaniwar wada.

Shaniwar wada is one of the most haunted place in Pune located in the Maharashtra State of India.

The Shaniwar Wada Fort is a historic place of politics, rulers and death that embellishes the city center of Pune, India.. The imposing fort continues to stand strong after being constructed in 1732, even after a destructive fire stripped the fort of its interior palace and many other structures in 1828.

The foundation of Shaniwar Wada was laid by Peshwa Baji Rao 1 who was succeeded by his son Peshwa Balaji Bajirao, fondly known as Nanasaheb Peshwa. Nanasaheb Peshwa had three sons: Vishwasrao, Madhavrao and Narayanrao.
His eldest son Vishwasrao perished during the third battle of Panipat against Afghan armies and hence, Nanasaheb Madhavrao succeeded as the 4th Peshwa of the Maratha Empire which he remained until his death in 1772.

After death of Madhavrao, Narayanrao, the youngest of Nanasaheb’s son, took over as the 5th Peshwa. He was only 17 years old at the time of his brother Madhavrao’s death and became the youngest Peshwa ruler ever. As he wasn’t an adult yet, his uncle Raghunathrao was incharge of the state on behalf of his nephew.

However, Anandibai ; wife of Raghunathrao was jealous as she wanted the throne to be her husband’s. So she seeked help of the Gardis, highly trained assassins for hire. Gardis were originally the Bheels of central India, a hunting tribe.
On the last day of Ganesh Festival on 30th August 1773, several Gardi guards, led by their captain, Sumer Singh Gardi, entered the palace and started creating a commotion.

They then charged towards the sleeping Peshwa’s chambers, killing a clerk on the way. Narayanrao, seeing the Gardis and sensing trouble, ran out of his chambers towards his uncle’s quarters, screaming “Kaka! Mala Vachva!!” or “Uncle! Save me!”.

The Gardis followed Narayanrao to his uncle’s chamber and a menial pulled him while Sumer Singh Gardi cut him down. Narayanrao’s corpse was cremated secretly by the river at midnight.

To this day, many claim to capture the sight of Narayanrao’s apparition throughout the fort, or sometimes walking the banks of the river his body was dumped in.
More commonly reported paranormal activity is reported from people passing by the fort who can still hear Narayanrao’s pleads for help to his uncle echoing off the tall, stone walls.

It is believed that Raghunathrao never wanted to kill his nephew and only asked Gardis for help in order to get out of captivity. According to popular legend, Raghunathrao had sent a message to Sumer Singh Gardi to capture Narayanrao.
His message read “Narayanrao la dhara” where dhara means to capture. This message was intercepted by his wife Anandibai who changed the letter dhara to make it read as maaraa or ‘kill’ .
The miscommunication led the Gardis to chase Narayanrao and finally kill him. Rumor has it that Narayanrao’s body was hacked into so many pieces that they had to carry the pieces in a pot.

The Shaniwar Wada Fort is a fascinating place to visit in Pune and is of immense historical significance to the area.
The fort is open daily to visitors for a small fee and can be explored with or without a guide.
The fort also opens nightly for a light and sound show. This consists of fountains, lasers and sounds all telling the fort’s history and paying particular detail to the story of Narayanrao.

Hunger Games of the government…

The government holds too much power. This is very well portrayed in the Hunger Games a book trilogy written by American author Suzanne Collins later made into a science fiction dystopian film series. The story is basically how the government has too much power over the lives of common man, how and why it is so wrong. The story is takes place in the fictional country that goes by the name of Panem. It consists of 12 districts that have been assigned various disciplines under which the people of the district work. Naming a few, district 3 specializes in technology, district 11 in agriculture, district 12 in coal mining. District 12 being the smallest and the poorest. All these districts are forced to produce the assigned goods and no have no freedom. The Capitol is the government who enjoy all the riches and luxury while the other districts starve to death. The Capitol, for the sole purpose of entertainment, organises this game annually where two teenagers- a male and a female are forced to participate, locked in an area and have to fight each other to death. The one who survives is declared the winner.

On the big screen we may find it interesting but more interestingly the series is the best depiction of communism. We know that our government always wants to suppress us and gain full control over our lives. Hence this book or the movie series is a good way to give us some lesson in an entertaining manner.

The government’s control over the goods production in a district and no freedom of their own reminds us of the real world example of North and South Korea. Everyone is aware of the situation here. People in North Korea have no freedom it is only the governmental control over their lives and henceforth people are starving. On the contrary, South Korea is thriving. Former Soviet Union couldn’t find a permanent position due to the same reasons. It had too much control over the people and the people suffered. A government cannot work without the cooperation of its people. History holds records of how such controlling government led to their own decline. Panem government violates its people’s basic rights resulting in poverty and starvation and later a rebellion.

The Hunger Games also shows how the upper class lives in luxury in contrast to the middle class lives. It shows how the people of district 1 enjoy all the facilities and live a posh life. They do not have to wait in lines for hours to manage some food for the family. This demonstrates real life situation where the rich are getting richer and the poor even poorer. The government might show us false hope but it is the lower class people who are the fools. The horrors of communism in this book/movie is a good way to let the younger generation realise the truth about the world. Also teach us lessons to be smarter.

Thank you for reading. Have a nice day!

LGBTQ belong to the human race!…

Ronnie and Maria got married. Few days passed, but they were not happy together. So the thing was there was no physical intimacy between them. Maria tried for it at times but Ronnie refused without a reason. One day she found him making love to a guy on the terrace. She was terribly surprised thinking about her married life. She felt so devasted. She was now stuck in a midway where she neither could’ve baby nor a divorce. What will society say now? What will be the future? Thousands of thoughts struck in her mind but she kept calm.
In the night, she confronted Ronnie asking about the guy. Ronnie began to cry in front of her stating his story. He told her how he felt attraction towards the same gender since childhood, how everyone made him suppress his emotions and sexuality. He even told her that he wasn’t ready to marry the girl but they made him do that just for the sake of society. After listening to his story, now Maria was also in tears. But she was a strong woman. She decided to stand by him. She called her parents, made her and Ronnie’s parents sit together. She told them the whole story. None of them was ready to accept it. It took much time but somehow she convinced them. Then she got herself divorced, called the guy her husband was in love with and made them marry. Now both of them were very happy. Later she found a guy perfect for her and got married.
So? Everybody must have loved the story as it was the ideal version of the situation. But is it possible even in real life as well? We’ve been taught since childhood that a girl and a boy together form a couple. We just can’t digest when a girl loves a girl or a boy loves a boy. We even laugh at them saying they have some mental problem. We all have the fear that what people will say, how society will react? If something goes wrong we’ll lose our honour. This sick fear makes us weak. Even if a guy or a girl dares to speak up about their sexuality, they are made to suppress their emotions. They’ve been brainwashed at times that attraction towards opposite gender is only the normal thing, anything else is not allowed. With the revoke of section 377, even the judiciary system agreed that LGBTQ is totally normal. But still, we didn’t accept them as one of us, a human. The basic issue of people’s such reaction is the ignorance I feel. People don’t even what is it all about. They simply take it as someone is going against nature and rules and we must stop them. There are so many types of sexualities that we don’t even know and never ever heard of it either. So basically the LGBTQ community includes lesbian, gay, Bi, Trans and Queer. Sexuality is a very personal thing and nobody can question someone about it. There are many types of sexualities such as asexual where a human is not sexually attracted towards any gender, bisexual where human is attracted towards both the genders, demisexual where sexual attraction develops only after an emotional attachment. Actually, there are many. We just need to understand them clearly. We must get to know that it’s totally normal to have different but unique sexuality. Even they belong to the human race and they deserve to live, happily. It’s not a one day task to bring the change. Revolution always comes with opposition. We need to give a fight until we succeed.

Online classes

Online lessons have emerged as the go-to solution for schools looking to resume classes despite lockdown.Online lessons are helping educational institutions around India beat the Covid-19 lockdown to push ahead with the academic calendar.

Tens of thousands of students are glued to computers and smartphone screens as teachers and students enter a new world of virtual lectures, tutorials, and assessments. Though e-learning poses a challenge to both students and teachers over technology and access, it is keeping everyone busy with lectures, worksheets and assignments.  

Even before the COVID-19 outbreak, e-learning was growing at an unprecedented pace. According to the 2019 Global Learning Technology Investment Patterns report, EdTech companies around the world pulled an investment of $18.66 billion in 2019. It will be interesting to see if the changes coronavirus has caused in the education system stay forever. Let us explore other benefits of online classes-
Since the virus outbreak forced the educational institutes to adopt online classes, there is a considerable improvement in the attendance of students. While there is no need to travel long distances for classes, today’s tech-savvy and pro-digital generation are loving the concept of online classes. There is a significant improvement in participation and interaction. Naturally, the biggest advantage to studying online is the increase in flexibility. You can study when you want to, how you want to, where you want to.

e-learning is going to majorly impact education and herald the arrival of a new normal.  

10 things I hate about you (who hasn’t seen this movie) and 10 reasons I’ll give to convince you to watch it.

Directed by: Gil Junger
Production company: Touchstone pictures
Running time: 1 hour 39 minutes worth your time.
Based on: Shakespeare’s ‘Taming of the shrew’.


A newcomer at Padua high school ( filmed at Stadium High School, Washington), Cameron falls in love (at first sight) with Bianca the beautiful. Rich and handsome but dumb Joey has his eyes on Bianca as well. Kat is the older sister of Bianca who doesn’t care about social life. Their strict father won’t let Bianca date unless her sister does. In order to take Bianca out Cameron along with his geek friend Michael makes Joey to pay bad boy Patrick to take Kat out. Things don’t go as smoothly as planned but that’s the fun part. Patrick’s ways to impress Kat is reason 1. Reason 2 is that fight that happens. Reason 3 love can make bad boys turn soft. Check out the movie for details.


Reason 4, the cast: Heath Ledger as Patrick Verona10/10 actor, Julia Stiles as the savage Kat Stratford damn I worship her, Larisa Oleynik as Bianca Stratford perfect for the role, Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Cameron James again perfect for the role. Rest of the cast is irreplaceable as well.


I am seriously obsessed with this movie. I have literally watched this one multiple times and have the whole script learnt by heart. I suggest anyone whom I cross paths with to watch this. Reason 5, it is definitely hands down one of the best rom com out there.

Reason 6,


Reason 7, “Patrick Verona: See, first of all, Joey is not half the man you are. Secondly, don’t let anyone, ever, make you feel like you don’t deserve what you want. Go for it!”

Reason 8, (lesson learnt)

Reason 9, (lesson learnt)

This can totally be a movie for your family night. Who doesn’t love a rom com plus it has Heath Ledger. Though the movie does contain a few slang words but that’s mild. Trust me it will leave you smiling at the end all satisfied.

Reason 10, 7.3/10 IMDb rating and 11/10 from me.

Thank you for reading. Have a nice day!

Shrestha Dutta is a high school pass out (batch 2019-2020) from DeNobili school Dhanbad, Jharkhand. She is a design aspirant and currently preparing for NIFT entrance exam.
Shrestha is passionate about art, books, movies, fashion. Team Marvel (cinematic universe). She is a normal teenager who has a lot of questions about life. She is an optimistic and happy person in general.

Plastic – The slow poison.

Lately plastic has taken over the world. People often believe that all of this has happened in the recent few years, but the truth is everything takes time to happen and gradually makes its impact, and the same is with plastic.

Commercial (fully synthetic) plastic was first introduced in the year 1907 when Belgian-American chemist Leo Baekeland created Bakelite, the first real synthetic, mass-produced plastic. This breakthrough made people think, that it was going to be a great positive change for the industrial years ahead. The creation which was believed to be a boon for the world now appears to be a curse. A curse that is not only harming human life but every other life form on the planet.

Though there are many movements and initiatives taken by several organizations and governments of various countries going on, the effect of plastic is now on the verge where, either in some years it’ll be irreversible or we would have completely eradicated it.

From Mount Everest to the bottom of the sea, plastics are found to be persistent polluters of many environmental niches. Whether being mistaken for food by animals, flooding low-lying areas by clogging drainage systems, or simply causing significant aesthetic blight, plastics have attracted increasing attention as a large-scale pollutant.

The latest reports from the UN show how the consumption and demand for plastic have increased over the years. From the 1950s to the 70s, only a small amount of plastic was produced, so plastic waste was relatively manageable. By the 1990s, the plastic waste generation had more than tripled in two decades, following a similar rise in plastic production. In the early 2000s, the output of plastic waste rose more in a single decade than it had in the previous 40 years. Today, about 300 million tonnes of plastic waste is produced every year. That’s nearly equivalent to the weight of the entire human population.

Around the world, one million plastic drinking bottles are purchased every minute, while up to 5 trillion single-use plastic bags are used worldwide every year. In total, half of all plastic produced is designed to be used only once and then thrown away.

Researchers estimate that more than 8.3 billion tonnes of plastic have been produced since the early 1950s. About 60% of that plastic has ended up in either a landfill or the natural environment.

Since the 1950s, the rate of plastic production has grown faster than that of any other material. A shift away from the production of durable plastic, and towards plastics that are meant to be thrown away after a single use has also been seen. More than 99% of plastics are produced from chemicals derived from oil, natural gas, and coal, all of which are dirty, non-renewable resources. If current trends continue, by 2050 the plastic industry could account for 20% of the world’s total oil consumption. Scientists have also claimed that if the use of plastic is not reduced, then by the year 2050 oceans would contain more plastic than fish.

Single-use plastic products are everywhere For many of us, they’ve become integral to our daily lives.

The use of plastic needs to be reduced, and the improvement of plastic waste management is now a necessity. Only 9% of all plastic waste ever produced has been recycled. About 12% has been incinerated, while the rest 79% has accumulated in landfills, dumps, or the natural environment.

The government and various organizations are doing their work by introducing various rules to regulate the use of plastic and organizing events to make people aware of the impacts plastic is making on this planet. But this is not enough, we need more to prevent our environment from going into a state, from where it’s revival won’t be possible. Each and every individual needs to take charge. It is often asked that “How can an individual make an impact globally by just reducing their consumption of plastic”, the answer is if each and every individual decides to take up their responsibility then we won’t need a bigger change, these small changes would eventually make a bigger impact than any other move can.

But the questions are, are we willing to make a change? are we ready to start working instead of just speaking? are we ready to pledge that we are going to make this world a better place to live in for our future generations, or are going to make it worse enough for them to struggle to survive? The answers to all these questions lie inside us, we just need to bring them out.

” It is us who has to decide, whether we protect what we have, or we and every other thing we cherish is going to be history”

See yaa..

Problems of Rape

Priya Yadav,
In the year 1989-90, a film was being shown in a township in North India. As the villainous character of Shakti Kapoor started raping the character Anita Raj on the screen, the people in the haul started shouting and enjoying the screen. Then suddenly the power went out, by the time the generator was run and the screen lighted again, the audience started creating an uproar. And when electricity came, it was said that the scene should be played again.

A large number of male viewers of that era loved the rape scenes. Such scenes were deliberately planted in the corners of the posters installed here and there in the market so that people can know that this film also has a rape scene. “Paan” shops just outside the theater used to complain that the rape scene was shown, but the clothes did not tear properly, something did not show properly, it was not so much fun. However, there were also some such audience present in the cinema, whose sympathy was with the character of the victim. It is difficult to say that the filmmakers of that era started to capitalize on this trend by understanding the mindset of the people, or that the interest and mentality of the people were created due to the scenes served by the filmmakers.

Read the news every day, and be ashamed, because now we have no choice but to be embarrassed. Every half an hour a ‘baby girl’ is being raped and every hour humanity is shaming. So we need permanent solutions. Counselor Anuja Gupta says that ‘sexual harassment of children is a forced act. If a criminal sexually abuses a child, then it increases the chances that he should do all this with other children as well. So if we want to stop sexual abuse, then we really have to stop it. Instead of being jailed, we should treat them.

“Bulbul” movie review

I saw this Hindi movie recently and I would like to give my opinion on it. “Bulbbul” was recently released on Netflix on 24 June, 2020 by the production company ‘Clean Slate Films’. A supernatural horror produced by Anushka Sharma and directed by Anvita Dutt Guptan. It is roughly based on Rabindranath Tagore’s “The Broken Nest” which is based on his own life incidents.


The movie is set in 18th or 19th century Bengal. It doesn’t have many characters. Our main characters are Bulbbul, a child who is barely five years old when she gets married to Indranil, also known as ‘Bado thakur’. Indranil has two brothers namely Mahendra, his mentally challenged identical twin and Satya, the youngest close to Bulbbul’s age which is the reason why they become close friends which becomes a matter of concern for her husband. Bulbbul grows up to be an enigmatic woman. We see how men in her village are brutally being killed by some witch or chudail.


Basically the film takes us on a journey of Bulbbul’s growth from an innocent child bride to a strong woman who runs her own household.
The character of Bulbbul is played by Tripti Dimri. In my opinion, I don’t think anyone could have done a better job playing the role. Though not from a Bengali background she does a pretty great job in giving us those typical Bengali vibes. Rahul Bose as Indranil (as well as Mahendra) does a pretty great job too. Handling two very different roles at the same time is not easy but he did it. Avinash Tiwary acts as Satya; another great work. Paoli Dam as Mahendra’s wife, Binodini. Parambrata Chatterjee as Sudip, the village doctor. I feel the cast was great. Each one of them did a wonderful work and I cannot imagine anyone else replacing them.
The music is exceptionally good, gives you goose bumps every time you listen to it not because it scares you but it feels like there’s a story behind everything screaming to be heard. Hats off to Amit Trivedi. It gives a special essence to the movie. Another thing I loved was the cinematography. Scenes where the witch or the chudail was to be, the screen would turn red telling us to hold on to our seats for something is about to happen. It has a feminist theme. It shows how women change themselves due to past abuse. Paoli Dam’s character had this dialogue “Badi havelion me bade raaz hote hai” translates to “big havelis have big secrets”. This explains a lot about the chudail. One would understand when they see the movie.
Lesson I learnt was innocence is a pure thing taking that away from someone is sinful.
The movie is family friendly except a couple of scenes but I think it’s high time little girls need to be made aware what the real world holds.
It has a 4.3/5 audience rating. I would totally give it a 4.5/5 just because there is this one thing that it becomes predictable midway. Apart from that it is a masterpiece and a change from regular Indian thriller.

Thank you for reading. Have a nice day!

MOVIE REVIEWS- HUSBANDS AND WIVES (1992) AND, POINT BLANK (1967)

  1. HUSBANDS AND WIVES (1992)

Husbands and Wives (1992) is about a New York based couple, Gabe (Woody Allen) and Judy (Mia Farrow) who are shocked to discover that their best friends, Sally (Judy Davis) and Jack (Sydney Pollack) are splitting up. The news of their divorce makes them question their own relationship.

This film is so close to reality. The characters are very human, this film captures the complicated nature of people like no other. Like us the characters make stupid decisions and fuck up a lot. One of the examples of this is Woody’s character falling in love with a certain type of women. Even though he knows that they’ll bring him down, he cannot resist them.

It also shows how our mind functions in weird ways, how we would feel that we are capable of doing a certain thing or we imagine a specific type of future to be better than the present but actually things do not always pan out that well. It portrays the struggles of being human in a very authentic way. “Nobody’s got it perfect” is a line that the characters repeat several times, a lot of it sounds like the self talk that I give to myself when I’m facing going through shit.

This film is chatty, full of free flowing conversations like all of his films. And there are a lot of references to pop culture and literature. Woody Allen is more of a philosopher here. He deals with heavy subjects with a lot of humour. The writing is one of his finest, his eccentric and genuine style of showing middle aged people facing adversity in life makes him stand out from other filmmakers. His characters are full of charm, and of course he himself brings a lot of charisma on screen. Special props to Carlo Di Palma, his handheld cinematography is mesmerising.

Overall Husbands and Wives is amongst Allen’s best works. It’s edgy, deep, realistic and a lot of fun.

  1. POINT BLANK (1967)

Point Blank (1967) is about a mysterious crook named Walker who is double crossed and left for dead. He Survives and now he goes after the money that was stolen from him.

 

One of the most influential films of the 60s this film splendidly mixes the styles of noir and the European New Wave. While the film has most elements of a noir – an intricate plot, an existential hero, a femme fatale, witty dialogue, use of flashbacks, high contrast lighting and claustrophobic settings, the excellent composition will remind you of European cinema. Every frame is brimming with visual metaphors.

 

Lee Marvin steals the show as Walker, his presence is frightening. He’s given a subdued performance. Walker is a very interesting character, he’s calm and silent but he knows his shit. I loved how John Boorman has created this dreamy atmosphere. The way he’s used colours, lighting and music to elevate that dreamy feeling is truly masterful. One example would be this night club brawl, the way Boorman has utilised these technical aspects makes it look really trippy. Boorman has gone with an unconventional narrative style for that time, alot of plot details are kept ambiguous and I really appreciated how Boorman has made a ballsy film for intelligent viewers.

 

Overall Point Blank is an extremely stylish noir about revenge, betrayal and passion that has stunning visuals and a trippy style along with a terrific performance by Lee Marvin.