Swami Vivekananda was born in Calcutta on
12th January 1863. His name was Narendranath Dutta and his father’s name was
Vishwanath Dutta was an educated man who was well-versed in English and
Persian. By profession, he was a successful Attorney-at-law in the high court
of Calcutta. His mother was a Pious lady who influenced Naren from his
childhood in the formation of his character. She first taught Naren English
lessons, and then made him acquainted with the Bengali alphabets.

Naren studied in the metropolitan
institution at Calcutta; And after passing the Entrance exam, he joined the
general assembly institution founded by the Scottish general missionary board
in Calcutta, from where he passed his B.A. examination and went to study law.
when his father died, his family’s financial condition did not allow him to
prosecute further to study. He was a good singer.
Once Ramakrishna Paramahamsa happened to hear Naren singing a devotional song.
He asked the young man to see him at dakshineswar, where he was a priest at the
Kali temple. The Naren was very eager to see God face to face. He asked many
religious stalwarts about his desire in the past, but none could satisfy him.
He
became the most important disciple of the saint. His guru taught him that God
lives in every human being. So. By serving mankind,.one can serve God.

With this teaching, Naren, in his later
life, established the Ramakrishna mission which is to this day engaged in
rendering voluntary social service the poor and the distressed, irrespective of
caste, creed, and religion. Naren was later named as “Swami Vivekananda” when
he became a monk. He went to America to participate in the parliament of world
religions held in Chicago in 1893. In his long lecture, Swami Vivekananda
explained to the world that God is one and that the different religions are
like different rivers to terminate in the sea.

Hence there should not be any dispute
among the preachers of different religions that they worship God in separate
forms or with different beliefs. The realization of the eternal truth of one
god can avoid hatred among the people. Swamiji’s view was acclaimed with great
appreciation, and a number of American men and women became his disciples who
later joined the Ramakrishna Mission.

Swami Vivekananda taught us the essence of
nationalism in his bold writings. He wrote: “Our sacred motherland is the land
of religion and philosophy- the birthplace of the spiritual giants-the land of
renunciation, where and where alone, from the most ancient to the most modern
times, there has been the highest ideal of life open to man.”

He also said, “have faith that you are
all, my brave lads, born to do great things.”

He was an extraordinary boy with spiritual
thoughts. His education was irregular, but he completed his Bachelor of Arts
degree from Scottish Church College, Kolkata. His religious and monk life began
when he met Sri Ramakrishna and accepted him as his guru. He later led the
Vedanta movement and introduced the Indian philosophy of Hinduism to Western
countries. His Chicago speech at the World Religion Parliament on 11 September
1893, where he represented India, helped establish Hinduism as an important
world religion. He was a brilliant man with in-depth knowledge of Hindu
scriptures (Vedas, Upanishads, Puranas, Bhagavad Gita, etc.). Karma Yoga,
Bhakti Yoga, Raja Yoga, and Jnana Yoga are some of his significant and famous
works.

As the human civilization has progressed enormously since evolution, we have started occupying habitable lands and constructing living or working places throughout the planet. With high rise in population through centuries, man started expanding our lands and turning natural forests into brick, stone and metal buildings which have totally transformed into concrete jungles. We have modified the Earth’s natural resources according to our requirements, like developing roads, bridges, towers, dams, etc. to make space for our needs and wants. This has made life easier surely, but bringing about modifications in nature has its own perks. Take for instance, the construction of dams, changing the course of rivers, occupying areas surrounding them, as well as climate changes and global warming, poor town planning, deforestation, etc. has led to frequent flooding in human-occupied areas in the recent years. According to the 2019 Global Climate Risk Index report, floods account for 52% of the total calamities affecting India, claiming 63% of the material damage and 32% of the human losses reported as natural disasters. Floods may be caused by heavy rainfall, severe winds over water, tsunamis, failure of dams etc.

Floods have caused more loss than any other disaster worldwide and India is the second most affected country by floods after China. More than 40 million hectares, or 12 per cent of the country’s geographical area are prone to floods according to the National Disaster Management Authority. Many Indian states have been facing huge losses of life and property due to floods. The state of Kerala has been facing severe flooding conditions since four years. The state government authority estimated Rs 19000 crore loss of property, livestock and agriculture. The state of Assam too faces Heavy rainfall and flooding of Brahmaputra river every year. More than 1.5 lakh people had to seek refugee from about 5,474 villages that suffered flooding. Heavy rains in Uttarakhand lead to landslides blocking roadways and sometimes leading to loss of lives travelling through the mountainous areas. Every year Mumbai faces waterlogged roads, suspended transportation during the monsoon season. The other parts of Maharashtra have also been heavily flooding in the past few years.  

This highlights the need for readiness of the frequently occurring disasters. There should be concrete steps taken to mark the flood prone areas so that the losses are minimized. Building infrastructure are required to cope with the frequently occurring floods. Channelisation can be used to redirect excess water. Forecasting mechanisms and a well flood prevention system is a must have in the flood-prone states. District-wise Flood Induntation mapping and other flood prevention engineering will go a long way to manage losses due to floods. Most of all the flood plains need to be reallocated. The flood prone settlements can be converted to afforested land. This will reduce the impact of floods. According to a WWF report, deforestation and global warming are the leading manmade reasons for causing disasters like floods. This hints at the urgent need to bring destructive human activities under control. Also, proper planning of human constructions in cities/towns is necessary in order to prevent disruption of river routes. All in all, we need to restore and reverse the damage caused by unprecedented natural calamities to bring the situation under control, effectively saving living life and preventing economical losses too.

One of the best social reformers in Tamilnadu. He was born on September 17, 1879 in Erode. He was the son of a wealthy businessman Erode, Venkatappa and Chinna Thayammal. He got married at 13th year and renounced his life ar 19th year. By wearing saint dress he went to many holy places like Varanasi. He held different official positions of Erode that included the Chairmanship of Municipal Council (1918-1919). In the context of the rise of the non-Brahmin leaders such as Periyar and P. Varadarajulu, at the initiative of C. Rajaji. In 1919 he joined Congress. He was elected as the secretary of Madras state Congress Committee in 1921. During Non Co-operation movement Periyar was the head Madras Congress. In 1922, he was President of the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee. In Vaikom people protested against this practice. In the initial stages George Joseph of Madurai played big role. After the local leaders were arrested Periyar led the movement and was imprisoned. People hailed him as Vaikom Virar (Hero of Vaikom). Kellapan and T.K. Madhavan played a major role in Vaikom. In the meantime, he was disturbed by the caste- based discrimination in the dining hall at the Cheranmadevi Gurukulam (School). It was run by V.V Subramaniam (a Congress leader) with the financial support of the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee. In 1925, Kanchipuram session Periyar tried to pass the resolution of Reservation in Government services for non-brahmins but in vain. This made him to quit Congress in 1925.

I had a long backlog of movies that I needed to see this month, but when I read the premise of this movie I knew I needed to watch this movie immediately, and I am glad that I did. I must admit that I have seen other movies with a somewhat similar idea but, never have I seen it executed so meticulously as most of those films felt more like documentaries than movies. This movie on the other hand is extremely well-paced and feels very cohesive, despite some awkward time jumps. It’s definitely a very audacious movie and does not shy away from anything.

The movie manages to establish its world and main characters in a very impactful and concise manner. It utilizes clever dialogue throughout this period and we manage to learn a lot about our main character Lucas, played by Mads Mikkelsen, in just a few scenes. You learn that he was just recently divorced and has been fighting over the custody of his son for quite a while, and just when his life starts to fall in place, with him obtaining the custody of his son and finding a new love interest, his life takes the turn for the worst. And when it does fall apart you do feel bad for this character because the movie does do a great job in establishing the character. It does a great job in showcasing the rise and fall of this character

I have seen many movies over the years and have experienced a wide range of emotions, but this movie offers something unique: frustration. Within the first thirty minutes of the movie, you get to know everything there is to know about the case, there are no twists, no conveniently placed characters, and no real developments in terms of the actual case, it is exactly how it is presented at first. That is when you realize that this is not a thriller or a mystery but a drama. The characters in the movie act in a very pragmatic manner, nothing about this movie feels like a movie. It is very much reminiscent of real life and the way society treats you. The frustrating element of the movie is that there is no real antagonist in this movie and there is no one at fault here. It doesn’t play out in a one-sided manner instead it explains the reasoning behind each characters’ action and when you think about it from their perspective, the actions are justifiable. As a result of this Lucas in a sense has to acquiesce to the crime that he never committed.

All of the performances in this movie are nothing short of superb. This was really the first time I recognized Mads Mikkelson as an outstanding actor, portraying a wide variety of emotions as a contrast to the usual bad guy roles that I am acquainted with. Surprisingly, the child actors do a pretty amazing job at their role, largely due to the laconic nature of their characters.

Countries all around the world are facing unprecedented climate conditions, ranging from heat waves to floods. It is now apparent that the dawn of the climate crises is now upon us. The UN unwitingly issue regular warnings about the impending extreme climatic conditions by 2030. But these warnings are almost vacuous since we don’t seem to care about the future. They should instead bring into light the extreme climatic conditions that we have already experienced last year. At of all the bush fires in Australia, heatwaves in Canada, and blizzards in America the UN declared that India has had the worst climatic conditions in 2020. If we do not put an end to this, it will only get worse. Here are some ways India could combat the climate crises.

Proper Infrastructure– With the alarming amount of deaths due to floods last year it is important that we address the problem if poor infrastructure in rural areas. The government needs to invest more on the infrastructure of roads and buildings to withstand floods. Houses must be made of cement and steel in order to withstands floods which are now eminent. States like Odisha have adapted well throughout the years by equipping themselves with flood management systems like alarms and cyclone shelters. The death toll in Odisha is now in the single digits.

Committing to net- zero emissions– India is the third largest producer of natural gas. Several of the top emission countries have already committed to a net- zero emissions plan by 2050, but unfortunately India is not one of these nations. Although it is the natural duty of the more developed countries to help in reducing the net emissions, no such help has been offered as yet. India in the meantime needs to develop a robust plan in order to not only reduce future emissions but to also clean up the green house gases already released.

Electric vehicles– Although the Government has expressed its intention in bringing only fully electric cars to the showroom by 2030, the pandemic has severely affected this plan with several productions grinding to a halt. But this still does not mean that all the hope is lost in bring electric cars to India. 8 years is still enough time to implement new policies to hasten the process of integrating EV in India. Retiring the combustion engine is a humungous endeavor and cannot be achieved by simply introducing tax subsidies or slowly building up the electric infrastructure. Bold steps need to be taken including reducing the cost of production of the the lithium battery’s. More main stream brands such as Maruti should take the frontline in innovation in the field of EV’s.