Role Change: Soap in COVID-19 Times

What is the first thought that comes to our minds when we hear the word ‘soap’? Of course, it is the one little thing which washes away dirt from the body. For a long time it has been in the FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) market as a basic bath product. But recently it is having a makeover of sort. In the COVID-19 times soap has earned fame as an essential health care product in India. The Indian Council for Medical Research and front line health workers are making people aware of the necessity of soaps in fighting the possibility of infection. There has been a huge increase in demand for various kinds of soaps— from the pocket friendly to the expensive.  

Initially the official announcement was that we can only protect ourselves if we use hand sanitizer before and after touching anything. This started panic among the common people. They would rush to the nearest stores and start buying bulks of hand sanitizer bottles. It was pointed out that approximately sixty to ninety-five percent of ethanol or isopropanol should be there in hand sanitizers to work effectively. Soon they went missing from the market as the demand far surpassed the supply. Only a handful of people used to carry hand sanitizers all the time. They would be teased by friends that they have OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) syndrome. Now those friends are also carrying hand sanitizers and actually using it all the time.

The next public announcement noted that use of any soap can be effective for protection. Due to the shortage of supply of sanitizers use of normal soaps was being highly recommended. People who did not get hold of sanitizers started to buy basic variety of soaps. The brand range was from Lifebuoy and Savlon to Dove and Palmolive. Healthcare workers advised people to wash hands for minimum twenty seconds every time. They also showed exactly how to do it. The normal hand wash with soap will not have proper result. The soap market was getting unprecedented response.

Various soap and detergent manufacturing companies are now coming up with unique advertisements to promote their brands ‘suitably’ in the pandemic times. Lifebuoy, the “hygiene brand” from Hindustan Unilever, is resorting to public service message showing the important steps to be taken to restrict the infection. It also claimed that Lifebuoy is the “world’s No. 1” to produce handwash and sanitizers with over 99.9% effectiveness against COVID-19. In an innovative approach Lifebuoy soap advertisements and commercials mention that people can also opt for other competitive brands, “whichever soap you have access to”. Proctor &Gamble’s lead brand, Ariel India, has a new socially-oriented commercial about sharing the workload equally at home. It shows the reality of households during the lockdown period where women work not just from home but also work for home. It has started a campaign— #ShareTheLoad for equal sleep. According to its survey, seventy one per cent women doing all household work sleep less than men. The commercial asks men to share the work equally with wives to lessen the pressure during the lockdown.

Dettol has also promoted its handwash to fight the coronavirus outbreak through a commercial. It shows some illustrative graphics as well as a handwashing guide scene shot by cell phones from homes of those involved in the making of the very commercial. Dettol India and NDTV are now collaborating in the mission Swasth India. Many political leaders and celebrities have joined the campaign Swasth Banega Swacch India. The main focus of the campaign is on hygiene and cleanliness. Top celebrities are also participating in the Dettol #HandwashChallenge through social media accounts to influence their fans to follow the official guidelines.

Coronavirus is infecting millions of people in the world. Several ways are being thought of to fight the dreaded virus. It seems that one major way to stay safe and healthy is to fight it with soap. If we take precaution in our own hands we need to have a soap in our hands.

Corona Virus impact on Indian Students..

It has been a long time since the study of students of lower standard has been put on hold due to this novel Corona Virus.  

this is necessary to maintain social distancing to provoke the spreading of the virus among the youth of the country who are considered to be the future of the nation.

Those students with having well educated parental control are getting their studies carried on with the help of their parents.

But those students, whose parents are not well educated, are waiting for good conditions to stroll out to carry on their studies.

Meanwhile students are losing their interest in studying and going out for school education.They are getting addicted to the virtual world of mobile phones and laptops. Which is surely harmful for their mental health as well as eye sight. they are losing what they learned in groups in classes .The feeling of team work which was usually developed in school education being erected from their mind. This erection is very harful to move with the society as well as for co-operation.

besides of this if we talk about graduate and above level students, it doesn’t seem that the students have any representation in education system. they are only considered for examination purpose now.whatever be the condition,corona cases and fear of students but they are getting pushed in exams by our government and universities.

In Universities, Mostly students are of out of cities, districts,states even countries in such situation where the markets are not fully stand up. All the Vendors are establishing their shops again after lockdown in rolling price high, students will have to face all the problems related to living and food and the health issues would be serious concern

Talking about Lucknow University, it has decided to take exams from 7 july. When university is surrounded by active hotspot.the Chief Minister Yogi ji has did very well in fighting with corona but this decision can be more severe.

some corona cases have already been estimated in the campus ,two professers were found positive 10-15 days earlier besides of this University has made the decision to start the exam with previous syllabus and module.

there is no certain infrastructure to deal with it how to resolve the problem if the situation gets critical in mid of the exam. Students are afraid as they would have to take public transport to get the exam and some of them not assured about their lodging and fooding.

Teacher association had already lifted his hands to deal the problem and sent a notice to the CM to cancel the exams for the present crisis in the norms of UGC.

The matter is to get inspected very carefully, as we have already some example of countries of corona spreading in school and colleges due to carelessness.

Thanks to all…

Stay safe ,stay blessed

The Art of Meditation

Meditation is a very important tool to manage stress and reducing anxiety and depression. It is a conscious effort of allowing your anxieties, fears, and anger to calm down so that one can order their own mind , eliminate the stressful thoughts and enhances physical and emotional well-being. It helps us in attaining peace of mind and soul and also helps us tune into a positive mindset.

Meditation can give us a sense of calm, peace and balance that benefits both your emotional well-being and your overall health. They also lead us to a state of self realization, where our mind is away from the anxieties of the past and the anticipations about the future. With emotional stability and calmness, one ends up feeling more confident and is able to face life. It makes people empathetic and thus able to understand others’ emotions, actions, and behaviors. It also improve our physical health by reducing strain on the heart, lowering blood pressure, improved blood circulation, less perspiration , improved data retention and focus , improved sleep patterns and deeper relaxation.

Types of meditation and relaxation techniques include:

1. Mindfulness

Mindfulness meditation practices require you to concentrate in your present. It ensures stability and control of the present state without getting disturbed by what comes or goes. We establish an embodied presence and learn to see clearly and feel fully the changing flow of sensations, feelings of both pleasantness and unpleasantness, emotions and sounds. For example : close your eyes and start breathing, neither long breaths nor too short ones. Breathe like you naturally do. Just that you are conscious about it, not controlling it in any manner. While you do so, you are sure to feel multiple sensations. What we want you to do is to just feel them, coming and going, not attracting any neither repelling one. You just rest and relax, without any judgement. When you practice this discipline of mindfulness meditation, and while you are onto exercising the breathing routine, your thoughts start mingling and flowing in the process. The intention is not to get involved with the thoughts or to judge them, but simply to be aware of each mental note as it arises.

2. Transcendental Meditation

This is a technique of detaching oneself and promoting harmony and self realization. It involves sitting up with your back straight. In this method, we use a mantra such as a word , sound or phrase repeatedly silently to narrow your conscious awareness and eliminate all thoughts from your mind. We focus exclusively on your mantra to achieve a state of perfect stillness and consciousness. It curbs insomnia, gives more power to our body and mind and increases productivity.

3. Walking Meditation

In this meditation, practitioners move slowly and continuously while staying aware of the body and mind. It encourages us to focus on each footstep in order to be fully present.  We must take deep breaths , use good posture , take deep breaths, and experience the motions of the body. This allows us to cultivate a a sense of mind- body awareness by focusing on your body’s posture.

4. Mantra Meditation

In this type of meditation, we silently repeat a calming word , thought or phrase to prevent distracting thoughts and helps us concentrate on that one particular sound. In every moment that we pay full attention to the mantra, we are not disturbed by any other thoughts, memories, or sensations. This helps reduce stress and improves our concentration and well-being.

Meditation is a simple strategy that can help obtain better health and a happier life. It takes time to learn to meditate but the more we practice , the quicker we learn and the more benefits we get and hence this will certainly have a big difference in our life.

World Music Day

Music has emerged to be one of the major driving tools of life since the beginning of time. It does not confine itself into being a mere source of entertainment and its purpose transcends beyond our regular mode of existence while providing with a sense of peace and belongingness throughout the whole journey of life. Music therapy seems to have evolved as an effective therapeutic procedure that never fails to contribute to the betterment of mental health treatments across the globe. Music therapists use music as a developmental tool to help patients improve their social, emotional, psychological, aesthetic and spiritual life.

Apparently the concept of devoting a specific day to celebrate something as precious as music seems unlikely and baseless since music plays a huge role in our life on a daily basis to help us grow as individuals. However, the way it emerged is very interesting and it has found its way to establish itself as a remarkable day in our yearly timetable.

Festival of Music/ World Music Day aka Fête de la Musique was first celebrated in Paris on June 21, 1981. Although the initiative had been taken by American musician Joel Cohen in 1970s, France was the first country that made it possible to celebrate it in a royal manner for the very first time. This particular day also happens to be the longest day of the year. From 1981 onwards, this day has started to be celebrated as the World Music Day in over 120 countries which primarily focuses on recognizing the local musicians and their endless talents which are otherwise unnoticed and to some extent, ignored. In 1981, the culture ministers happened to organize an event that explored different strategies to bring out musicians on the street who would perform collectively. This event was a successful one that created a sense of harmony and unity amidst the chaotic monotony of life.

From this time onwards it has become a ritual in many countries where musicians come out on the streets and play their instruments for fun and entertainment and not any monetary purpose on this particular day. This concept started serving many purposes in the society which include but are not limited to conducting free concerts on the streets, creating a collective space where both the professional and the amateur musicians would feel free to show their art form, providing free and unlimited access to musical events to people who would otherwise not be able to afford it and bonding with people in general.

With the passing years, more and more people have started joining the venture. The way of celebration is subjective. People from different countries celebrate it in their own unique ways which has further created a diverse sphere among the countries where all aspects are different but music. This initiative therefore has eventually established itself as a collective movement that aims at creating a sense of togetherness and unity which never confines itself as a mere commercial source of entertainment. It allows everyone to involve themselves in a correlative space driven by music that knows no caste, religion, gender, age and goes beyond every preconceived mortal binary to achieve a state of endless peace and harmony.

-Suvasree Bandyopadhyay

CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT:HOW IT WORKS AND HOW TO MASTER IT

What is Continuous Improvement?

Firstly define continuous improvement. Continuous improvement is a dedication to making small changes and improvements every day, every hour, every minute with the expectation that those small improvements will add up to something significant and increase your success rate rapidly. When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us become better too.

The classic path to self-improvement is to set a large goal, then try to take big surge in order to conclude the goal in as ln short time as possible. While this may sound good in theory, it often ends in emotional collapse, annoyance, and failure. Instead, we should focus on continuous improvement by slowly and some what accommodate our normal everyday habits and behaviors.

It is so easy to dismiss the value of making slightly better decisions on a daily basis. Attach with the elemental is not impressive. falling in love with disgust is not sexy. Getting 1% better isn’t going to make headlines.

How Does Continuous Improvement Work?

So often we convince ourselves that change is only meaningful if there is some large, visible outcome associated with it. Whether it is losing weight, building a business, traveling the world or any other aim, we are going to talk to everyone about some awesome improvement often put pressure on ourselves.

Meanwhile, improving by just 1 percent isn’t notable (and sometimes it isn’t even noticeable). But it can be just as meaningful, especially in the long run. Means our efforts never waste sometime their is no instant result but after 1week, 1 month, 1 year we can see the result or benefit.

Continuous Improvement Tools

Now, let’s talk about a few quick steps you can take right now to start focusing on continuous improvement.

Step 1: Do more of what already works

We often waste the resources and ideas at our fingertips because they don’t seem new and exciting.

There are many examples of behaviors, big and small, that have the opportunity to drive progress in our lives if we just did them with more consistency. Flossing every day. Never missing workouts. Performing fundamental business tasks each day, not just when you have time. Apologizing more often.

Progress often hides behind boring solutions and underused insights. You don’t need more information. You don’t need a better strategy. You just need to do more of what already works.

Step 2: Avoid tiny losses

In many cases, improvement is not about doing more things right, but about doing little things wrong.

This is a concept called improvement by subtraction, which is focused on doing less of what doesn’t work: eliminating mistakes, reducing convolution, and dispossess away the unimportant things.

Here are some examples:

  • Education: Avoid stupid mistakes, make fewer mental errors.
  • Investing: Never lose money, limit your risk.
  • Web Design: Remove the on-page elements that distract visitors.
  • Exercise: Miss fewer workouts.
  • Nutrition: Eat fewer unhealthy foods.

In the real world, it is often easier to improve your performance by cutting the downside rather than capturing the upside. Subtraction is more practical than addition.

One of the best ways to make great gains is to avoid little losses.

Step 3: Measure backward

We often measure our progress by looking forward. We set goals. We plan milestones for our progress. Basically, we try to predict the future to some degree.

There is an opposite and, I think, more useful path: measure backward, not onward.

Measuring backward means you make decisions based on what has already happened, not on what you want to happen.

Here are a few examples:

  • Weight Loss: Measure your calorie intake. Did you eat 3,500 calories per day last week? Focus on averaging 3,400 per day this week.
  • Strength Training: Oh, you squatted 250 pounds for last week? Give 255 pounds a try this week.

Women Bhaktas in North India and the Bhakti Movement

The Bhakti Movement, which moved in waves from one region to another, i.e., regionwise, originating from South India in the 6th century, is known for playing a vital role in shaping the social, cultural and religious life.

Basically, the Bhakti Movement began in the 6th century in South India and spreaded through out the country, which lasted till the 16th-17th centuries. Major Bhakti saints includes of – Kabir, Surdas, Raidas, Dadu Dayal, Eknath, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Tulsidas, Rahim etc.

The Bhakti Movement in India was marked by few major practices, such as –

  1. The rejection of the existing ritual hierarchy and Brahmanical superiority.
  2. The use of the vernacular in preference to Sanskrit, the language of the elite.
  3. The emergence of the lower caste and non-literate individuals as great spiritual leaders.
  4. Emergence of the women Bhaktas.

As mentioned above, it’s also not a very denying fact that the women too played a pivotal role in contributing for Bhakti Movement. The Bhakti traditions provided a space for women in the world of religion as well as everyday social relations. It was the patriarchal society and male dominated houses that paved the way for the emergence of the women saints. The Brahmanical rituals imposed a hierarchical social differences between men and women. Later, these were reversed by the rebelling women and thus, one can trace the emergence of the women saints from this point of time, thus.

The life and work of the women saints lie somewhere hidden unlike the male saints. This is partly because none of them established any guru-shishya parampara and none of the disciples are said to have has preserved the compositions of the women Bhaktas. Even lesser number of women were known for their spiritual greatness during their lifetime.

Some predominant women Bhaktas were-

  1. Meerabai in Rajasthan
  2. Lalleshwari or Lalded in Kahsmir
  3. Akkamahadevi in Karnataka
  4. Sahajobai in Maharashtra
Meerabai

There were few exceptions like Meerabai, who constituted followers, but they were lesser in number. Unlike in the North India, women saints like Andal and Akkamahadevi were greatly recognized and admired in South India. As a matter of truth, Akkamahadevi was the leading member of a council of saints. In the context, the instance of Meerabai must be given. She was one of the major women Bhaktas of the 16th century. Although she didn’t attract a mass following but is recognized as a source of inspiration for centuries. According to some traditions, her preceptor was Raidas, a leather worker. This shows a complete defeat of the prevailing caste system and highly caste stratified society.

Now let us take a look on other major women Bhaktas of that period.

Lalleshwari or Lalded – she walked out of an oppositive marriage and opted for an ascetic oath. Also she composed several poems in praise of Lord Shiva.

One of the compositions of Lalleshwari or Lalded of Kashmir.

Bahinabai- she was again one of the best examples of women Bhaktas who defied all the caste and gender hierarchy, and came under the spiritual guidance of the Shudra saint Tukaram. She was herself a Brahman woman.

Akkamahadevi- she was one of the most famed women saints of Virashaiva tradition, who could walk naked on the streets, defying the patriarchal order and depicting a huge sense of courage. She was the one who considered Mallikarjuna or the Shiba as her husband.

Vinabai-she was the chief disciple of the saint Ramdas, who headed the mutt at Mirajal. The Ramdasi panth occupies a significant place in the history of the women Bhaktas, as this was the first time when a monastic institution was governed by a woman. This satirically shows a defeat of patriarchal and caste based society.

On the other side of the coin, although the women Bhaktas came up as individual spiritual leaders, but they were always under guidance or have remained disciples of male saints only, showing the prevalence of patriarchy in some sense. Hence, it is more logical to say that the women Bhaktas split between social confrontism and deviant rebelliousness, thus.

Effect of parent’s conflicts on children

We all know that due to parents conflicts children also suffer a lot. Then also it is necessary to know that how these conflicts are harmful for children so that these conflicts are properly addressed by parents or family.

Any home is not free from conflicts pr arguments and every children sees parents arguing with each other. According to researchers if children see that they calmly and positively solving their disagreements and problems then it doesn’t have any negative effect on children. Infact, children learn conflict resolution skills and also use them in their lives and relationships.

If conflicts are frequent and it involves verbal insults, raised voice or when parents become physically agressive or when they withdraw themselves from argument and give each other a silent treatment or when conflict seems to threaten the intactness of family then it will be harmful for children.

According to the research, children show distress when parents fight, from a very early age. Their reaction can include fear, anxiety and there are a high risk of variety of health problems like disturbed sleep, difficulty in paying attention, performing good in school and due to which they become aggressive or internalize it in the form of depression, anxiety, withdrawal and dysphoria.

In research, it is also shown that children having high conflict at their homes are more likely to have poor interpersonal skills, problem solving abilities and social competence. It also have s negative impact on the romantic relations in adoloscences and adulthood as high conflict relations of one couple can produce negative relationships in next generation too.

These conflicts also have a negative impact on the parenting style of parent due to which it become harmful for the children. Parents who are in high conflict relations are more involved in agression, shouting, hitting etc, which may harm children.

Children experience physiological reactions related to stress which may harm their brain development. Parental conflict also have a varietal impacts depending on the age, sex and temperament of the child. Sibling relationship, attachment to the parents and socioeconomic pressure also impact how child react to conflicts.

So it is very important to notice what are you doing and how are you behaving infront of the child. Try not to argue infront of the child and if you are arguing or sometimes it happens by mistake always show your child, how positively you are solving that. Children are very sensitive so try not to do such things in front of the child which hurt them or lead to a negative impact on their development.

MALALA YOUSUFZAI: conspiracies and criticisms

I practically cried when literally heard about Malala Yousafzai,the Pakistani blogger who fought for girl education and currently fighting for their rights. The youngest to win most prestigious Nobel Peace prize along with billions of hearts. But there are ongoing discussions on her overrating.

The allegations made on her despite bravery she showed were mentioned below which are depicted as conspiracy.

The three girls who shot during the same time didn’t get as much attention as Malala. The only girl who was hospitalized to London and the only girl who was being educated there was Malala which was one of the conflicting truth. The reason for shifting her to London hospital lies in severity of her injury. She was the one who got affected more due to the bullets. People write to defame her without knowing the actual truth.

She was victim of Taliban because of her dad since he rebelled against them. Being Ziauddin’s daughter made her special among Taliban. Her father made her to speak and she did it. It was her father who should be awarded not her. She did what is to be done. Her fater fought when Taliban attacked the school. The society we live in defame the daughter to fame the father. This is disgusting. Not everyone does what should be done. The so-called guts is necessary inorder to do few things. Her father made her speak but it’s her choice to speak and she spoke not only for herself but also for the rest. It’s her who spoke and world listened while she spoke.

She left the Swat valley and started to live happily in UK without bothering about her native. She never spoke about the wars in some other countries and never cared about the children of her valley after she left the place. People never speak about the happened and always bother about unhappened. She did everything she could and tried to do what she didn’t and failed it. She had a voice of women who are living not only in her region but the rest of the world.

Malala said, “I am ready to tell the world that Pakistan is safe place and teams can go and play cricket there”. If it’s safe then why are you in UK. The criticism she gets for every word she spoke is unbelievable. She tried her way best to make people of her country happy by making them view cricket match. She tried to bring happiness for her country and people depict it in a wrong way.

Another boy who has been shot 8 bullets didn’t get the same attention who tried to save the school attack from Taliban. He never spoke untill the moment. He had to do his job when it had to be done. He didn’t do when it wasn’t required. He had done a great job but what Malala shouldn’t be compared with it. She stood from the begining of war because she started the war.

She was the reason for the operation launched by Pakistani army namely Operation Rah-e-Rast. The army tried to finish its job within a month. SSG commandos tried to kill who resisted or captured who surrendered.

What is the deadly India-China border dispute about?

What has happened?

At least 20 people have died in clashes between Indian and Chinese troops along the disputed Himalayan border running along the Ladakh area of Kashmir. It is the first fatal clash since 1975 and the most serious since 1967.

Fighting broke out on Monday evening when an Indian patrol came across Chinese forces on a narrow ridge. During the confrontation an Indian commanding officer was pushed and fell into the river gorge. Hundreds of troops from both sides were called in and fought with rocks and clubs. Several fell to their deaths.

The Indian Army said there were casualties on both sides, and confirmed three of its soldiers were killed during the clashes, with another 17 later succumbing to injuries.

Beijing has refused to confirm any deaths on its side, but accused India of crossing the border twice and “provoking and attacking Chinese personnel”. The editor in chief of state-run the Global Times, said he understood there had been Chinese casualties, but the People’s Liberation Army wanted to avoid “stoking public mood” by comparing numbers.

Why now?

Tensions have been escalating since late April, when China sent thousands of troops into the disputed territory along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), bringing artillery and vehicles.

Analysts say the Chinese government, which has been more assertive in building infrastructure in the area, is anxious to frustrate any effort by India to upgrade its own military installations.

Their refusal to leave disputed areas, including the Galwan Valley inside Indian territory, has triggered shouting matches, stone-throwing and fistfights in key border areas. Last month, there was a massive brawl between patrols, but no deaths.

Earlier this month senior military leaders from both sides met and made a commitment to disengagement.

What is the history of the dispute?

India and China fought a war in 1962 over their contested border in the Himalayas. The war ended with a truce and the formation of a de facto boundary, known as the Line of Actual Control.

There has been an uneasy and fragile peace since, punctuated by skirmishes on the border, including in 2013 and 2017.

No official border has ever been negotiated, the region where the clashes occurred is hostile terrain, at high altitude and sparsely populated, running through the Ladakh region bordering Tibet, home to a Buddhist-majority population. It is a popular tourist destination.

What is the Line of Actual Control?

The LAC is a rough demarcation line separating Indian-controlled territory from Chinese-controlled territory. The exact location of sections of the line, particularly in the western Ladakh region, have remained in dispute. Efforts between the two countries to clarify the LAC have stalled in the past two decades, according to Indian media.

What do the two sides want?

Both countries have sought to establish their claims to territory, by heavily militarising the region. Both have built roads, airstrips, outpost stations, and other infrastructure, such as telephone lines. Troops conduct regular patrols along the disputed border. China claims more than 90,000sq km in the eastern Himalayas and another 38,000sq km in the west, both of which are disputed by India.

DARE TO BE YOURSELF

Everywhere we turn in life, there are expectations placed upon us. From birth, there are ways we are expected to behave, milestones we should achieve, choices we should make.

Who makes these expectations? Other people – virtually everyone we interact with has expectations on what we should do or be.

For the most part, this is all well and good. We are expected to uphold the law and be civilized members of society. If we are invited to an event, it goes unsaid that we are expected to arrive on time.

But what about the more grey areas of life? What about when we don’t want to do something other people want us to do, but feel pressured to do it?

Here are some things we should bear in mind whenever we encounter such situations:

First off, we should recognize that sometimes, expectations are just a figment of our oversensitive and insecure imaginations. The other person may not expect you to do the thing you think he expects you to do (sorry, that was a mouthful). Instead, he may just be offering it as a suggestion or as a piece of advice. It is always good to keep an open mind so that we hear them out, but we should also remember that people don’t give advice based on what’s best for YOU. They give advice based on what THEY would do in your shoes. (At least, this goes for most people.) It may not sound like a big difference, but it is. If you follow their advice and come to regret it later, you’ll only have yourself to blame. Because you did not understand that you and him are different, and what works for him may not necessarily work for you.

Second, if you are sure that it is clearly an expectation, then you must ask yourself: Why do you not want to meet this expectation? To answer this question, it is necessary to do some self-reflection. I am not saying that this feeling of not wanting to meet this expectation is wrong – on the contrary, I think it is an important step to take towards improving one’s self-awareness. Doing so will prevent situations like the one in the preceding paragraph, where you blindly follow advice given by others.

Most probably, you will find that you do not want to meet someone else’s expectation because your interests clash with his. Maybe you feel expected to babysit your nephews on a precious weekend when all you wanted to do was have some me-time after an arduous workweek, simply because your brother’s out of town. To agree or disagree? Or maybe you’re invited to attend the wedding of someone you don’t know very well. To go or not to go?

So assuming you’ve done the first and second steps above, and you’ve concluded that your not wanting to meet this expectation is due to a valid reason on your part (what is valid is up to you. YOU decide. Not others). But you still lack the courage to say no.  The need to be liked is very strong in us humans, because we are social creatures. You see apes scratching each others’ backs and grooming each others’ fur? That’s what we are. If you don’t scratch my back and groom my fur, I’ll make you an outcast. That’s how our social fabric works.

To be able to say ‘No’ is not actually a question of having sufficient courage. It, like many other things, can come down to a simple logic test:

First, picture the expectation in your mind and the person who is making the expectation. If you gave in to this expectation, would that make you happy? I don’t think so, otherwise you wouldn’t be considering saying no.

So, if we assume you will be unhappy to give in to this expectation, then we should ask ourselves this question next: Will this person who is expecting us to do this thing still have this expectation, if he knew that we were unhappy to do it?

If the above scenario is true, then I’m sorry to say that this person has no understanding of who you really are, and does not care to know who you really are. All this person cares about is that he gets his way, and your happiness be damned. These are strong words, but the harsh truth is that human nature can be very ugly indeed. And if this is true about this person, we must consider and think real hard about why we are letting such a person determine what we should or should not do.

A person who truly cares about you will understand that you are not him. Therefore, his values are not your values. And it is not his right to impose his values over yours. Sure, he may be slightly disappointed that you may not feel or think the same way that he does, but he recognizes that that is precisely what makes you who you are – what makes you a unique and special person in your own right. And he respects that. If you can find such people in your life, hold onto them, for such empathetic people are truly rare.

There are some people who will read everything I’ve said above and conclude that I am simply trying to justify being selfish. These people completely miss the point because they fail to see that there is infinitely more value in something that is done spontaneously, freely and sincerely than something done out of resentful obligation. They may be proud to have done many things for the sake of others – to wear them as a badge of selflessness, perhaps. But the truth of it is that they valued their own face more than being true to themselves. In the end, they wanted to be liked not for who they were, but simply to be liked. And that is a real tragedy, that people are so willing to sell their own personalities and beliefs for the unattainable allure of universal adoration.

I must emphasize in my conclusion that all of this works both ways. Just as we must remember to stay true to ourselves whenever we are faced with external pressures, we must also remember not to become a source of pressure and expectations upon the people around us. When we are thinking only of ourselves, it is easy to fall into this line of thinking where you expect other people to simply conform to whatever you want them to be. So just as we must recognize this ugly trait in the people around us, we must also be vigilant to prevent any manifestation of it in ourselves. In other words, the Golden Rule applies.

If you skipped all the way to the end, or skimmed everything and forgot most of it, here’s the gist: Don’t become someone you’re not. Don’t blindly do what others want you to do. Recognize your self-worth and your rights and your freedom. Dare to be yourself.

“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind.”
― Bernard M. Baruch

Mind ‘s working cannot be figured out easily!!!!

How our mind works, we can’t be too sure. But according to study mind is working just like heart. It means that how hurt is pumping up and down regularly like it Brain also controlling all the parts of our body. But interestingly Brain is also makes it separate from other parts, an unbelievable fact is that after a human death then also for few hours it is alive and try to communicate with other parts. But due to no communication it silently makes it close down completely.

Mood swings of a lady

It also makes us feel happy or sad. And brain is only that thing due to which we are superior to other creatures in this planet. Science is made just from the observation of our Brain. And for it doesn’t matter that if we know about it earlier or not. Through the high logical thinking analysis, we can understand the things easily. Not only this, we can also make super things through the brain. For example Space Ship,Rockets,and many more things.Those who control their mind and study on a topic,they are called Scientist. They are also one of among us. So the real thing is that if we can control over Brain and make it use to in a study, we can also find amazing things about that. And it’s really cool.

But we should also Know that if we can’t control our brain, then it can also harm us. So we should concentrate on our study also aware of good and bad outcomes of it. Thanks for reading my article ….

Kalaguru Bishnu Prasad Rabha, Cultural Doyen of Assam: Tributes on Death Anniversary as ‘Bishnu Rabha Divash’

On 20 June 1969, a great human being, patriot also an artist, actor, painter, music composer, poet and writer of Assam left for heavenly abode, who is popularly known as Kalaguru Bishnu Prasad Rabha. He passed away at the age of 60 years at Tezpur, Assam, the Date (20 June) presently celebrated in Assam as ‘Bishnu Rabha Divash (meaning day)’.  Kalaguru (meaning master of the arts) was born on 31 January 1909 in ST family in Dhaka (now in Bangladesh), then Bengal Presidency of British India.

Bishnu Rabha’s schooling started at Tezpur Government High School, Assam and later on he went to Calcutta now Kolkata for perusing higher education. He was a great patriot and from young age, he was in freedom movement and was influenced by leftist ideology so ardent supporter of the Communist Party of India. However, when Germany attacked Soviet Union during Second World War, the leaders of Indian communists decided to support the British Government which antagonised a section of the communist leaders and subsequently they formed the Revolutionary Communist Party of India (RCPI) in 1945 where he joined.    

     Anyway Kalaguru was a genius in creative activities. His work Bano Kobang depicts the life of various indigenous Assamese communities. His other works inter alia are Missing Coneng, Sonpahi, Axomiya Kristir Hamuh Abhakh, and Atit Axom. Bishnu Rabha was a great poet also and composed many songs which are known as ‘Rabha Sangeet’. He had given music to most of his songs. He was a visionary, and through music, dance, acting, writing, etc., he endeavoured to realize his dream of a greater, prosperous Assamese society with every ethnic group as equal partners. He acted in a mobile theatre group of that time named ‘Ban Theatre’. He directed an Assamese film ‘Siraj’, where he also composed the music. Further, he acted in the movie ‘Era Baator Xur’. It is pertinent to mention that he was awarded the title ‘Kalaguru’ by Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan at Varanasi for his enthralling ‘dance of Lord Shiva’. Bishnu Rabha worked towards popularizing Vaishnavism initiated by Srimanata Sankardev (Saint and scholar) in Assam in 15th century. He painted portraits of both Sankardev and Madhavdev with water colours, awesome creation. He was a great human being also and always had feelings for the underprivileged and poor echelons of the society.  He donated about 2500 bighas (1 bigha is approximately equal to 0.40 acres) of land received from the British Government to the peasants. His slogan was “Haal Jaar Maati Taar” means “those who cultivate, should own the land”.

He has passed away although on 20 June 1969 but he will be in the heart of millions for his genius activities.

The Following websites have been consulted while writing the paper:

  1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bishnu_Prasad_Rabha
  2. http://onlinesivasagar.com/music/bishnu-rabha.html
  3. http://www.researchgate.net/publication/315476566_Bishnuprasad_Rabha_as_Cultural_Icon_of_Assam_The_Process_of_Meaning_Making
  4. https://web.archive.org/web/20070928043723/http://www.assamtribune.com

Changing landuse pattern in haryana

Land is perfectly finite and scarce in relation to the ever-increasing human wants and needs. Judicious and rational utilization of land, hence land use management, faces the challenge to adjust its use by increasing the proportion of particular use over other uses or certain area can be put to multiple uses. There is variability in the land use pattern in different areas. Both physical factors such as topography, climate, soil types, as well as human factors such as population, density, technological capability and cultural and traditions play an important role in deciding the land use pattern of the areas. And as humans are evolving, progressing and our needs are increasing, and economic activities change with time, land use changes over time and space. Studying the changing land use pattern also helps to know the social, cultural and economic development of the area as well as the people. We can also know about the past condition of land and what the future condition will be. 

Irrigation is an important aspect of agriculture. Water is essential for agriculture, and food is essential for humans. Hence, in this study we also tried to see the association between irrigation and different types of crops and number of crops. It is done to see whether irrigation supports only some specific types of crop or all the crops. Also, the association between number of crops and irrigation tells us whether there is the practice of monocropping (where one or a few crops are grown in greater proportion) or practice of growing different types of crops in the area. 

Food is essential for survival; hence we are taking the state of Haryana for the trend analysis as it is one of the important states in terms of producing food. Haryana State came into existence simultaneously with green revolution i.e. 1966-67. After the formation Haryana emerge as leading State in field of agriculture production. The agricultural economy of Haryana is dominated by food grains. Haryana has emerged as one of the major food grains producing States in the country. Consisting only 2.3 per cent of country’s total area, Haryana has been contributing significantly to the food basket of the country. In 2012-13 country’s 120.78 million hectares area was under food grains production from it, 4.40 million hectares area under food grain production in Haryana; it is 3.64 percent of total country area under production of food grains. Haryana which covers only three percent of food grain area produced 16.23 million tons of food grain in 2012-13and this constitutes 6.31 percent of total food grain production; almost double share compares to area and greater than many large states. It is a matter of interest to know at what extent the land use pattern has been changing, what kind of changes in pattern the land has undergone over a span of 15 years.

When will the transport sector stop polluting?

Transport sector is one of the major polluters of the pollution caused by fossil fuel. Petroleum is the most consumed fossil fuel by the transport sector. IC engines which burn this fuel have ruled the automobile sector for decades. But a welcoming decision is being taken by many nations around the world as they are planning to phase out petrol,diesel and hybrid cars in coming decades.

But, Who can replace them?

They are planning to replace them with electric vehicles which run on battery and motor. Unlike IC engine based vehicles, EVs don’t emit any greenhouse gases as they run on electricity. But they will continue to contribute to pollution until power stations that provide electricity get rid of fossil fuel. It should be noted that fossil fuel contributes to more than 70% of total energy supply that is met by power stations. So technically EVs are burning fossil fuel indirectly. But the good thing about  EV is, it stops the urban pollution caused by transportation thus giving more breathable air to the people in urban locations.  

Green source of energy

Switching the power stations to greener energy is capital intensive. Because, the availability of green energies such as sun and wind are intermittent in nature. So an energy storage system is required to meet the demand for a 24*7 operation. The energy system which usually uses expensive battery technology is  making renewable energy less preferable for operations. Luckily, with current advancements in battery storage technology, the price is expected to fall in the coming years.

Change in lifestyle

Unlike IC engine based vehicles, EVs are suffering from range anxiety and charging time issues. In the EV industry the fuel capacity is calculated in terms of distance covered per charge which is  usually 1/3 of the total fuel capacity of IC engine based vehicles. In addition, the time taken to fill the fuel tank of an Internal Combustion engine vehicle is negligible when compared to time taken to charge the battery of an Electric Vehicle. Hence, people have to learn to adapt to the new type of transport system the EVs would create. 

Co-operation of the three

The cooperation between government, corporate and people is necessary for adoption of a pollution free transport system. The government has to frame a policy that would enhance the adoption of a pollution free transport system while it should also provide financial assistance by giving subsidies to support people and producers. The existing automobile giants should switch to the manufacturing of EVs soon. The people may be subjected to adoption of restrictions caused by electric vehicles.

Pradhanmantri Garib Kalyan Rojgar Yojana- A step towards employability of migrants

                                   Madhya Pradesh Migrant Workers Employment Updates; Pradhan Mantri ...

The Prime Minister on 20th June launched a rural public works scheme-Garib Kalyan Rojgar Yojana- to make migrant workers employable. One of the severely hit people are these migrant workers who were stranded without any jobs. They started to head back towards their hometown as they did not have any permanent place to live where they used to work. The central government has communicated with 116 district administrations to plan about formal employment engagement of a segment of these migrant workers. These districts will explore various sectors like hospitality, manufacturing, service and travel sectors to provide a formal employment engagement to these workers.

Highlights of this scheme:

  1. To address the vulnerable condition of migrant workers, this scheme will deploy 50,000 crores from among the outlays for 25 existing schemes for welfare.

  2. Under this scheme, 3,00,000 migrant workers will be trained and placed as apprentices in rural industries and other district level formal job clusters.

  3. Of the 3,00,000 migrant workers, 1,50,000 will be offered short-term skills and the other 1,50,000 will receive a certificate through a programme- Recognition of Prior Learning.

  4. The scheme will offer informal works immediately for 125 days, while 3,00,000 people will get formal work through this scheme.

  5. Under apprenticeship, an industry can employ an apprentice for three years at a stipend which is on par with minimum wages of semi-skilled workers.

This scheme is like one arrow and two shots. There are two benefits of this scheme

  1. This will train migrant workers in the formal job sector, which increases their employability.

  2. Since it is an apprentice programme, the industries will not have to worry about their permanent wages as they have to pay stipend for a short period. Also some amount of stipend will be reimbursed by the government which will be done under the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana and the Apprenticeship Scheme.

States chosen for implementation of this scheme:

Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Odisha are the states where this scheme will be implemented. Across these states, 116 districts have been selected by the government to implement this scheme. These districts have estimated to cover about 2/3 of the migrant workers