Essays

India has 375 million children, more than any other country in the world. Their condition has improved in the last five decades with child survival rates up, school dropout rates down, and several policy commitments made by the government at the national and international levels. Resource allocations by the State, however, remain quite inadequate to take care of the survival and healthcare needs of infants and children, their education, development and protection. India has made some significant commitments towards ensuring the basic rights of children. There has been progress in overall indicators: infant mortality rates are down, child survival is up, literacy rates have improved and school dropout rates have fallen. But the issue of Child Rights in India is still caught between legal and policy commitments to children on the one hand, and the fallout of the process of globalization on the other. Socio-economic factors must also be taken more...

The hostile powers only use their fragile ceasefires to prepare for another round of war — so perhaps it is better to let them slug it out until they are more willing to compromise with each other. In any case the human cost of an artificially imposed peace is much greater than that of a short war. These are radical ideas, and rooted, quite predictably, in the West's recent Balkan experience. But post-Kargil and post-Atlantique, these become quite relevant to the situation in the subcontinent. Irrespective of whether the two countries are now able to contain the post-Atlantique fallout or let things drift into greater escalation, questions will inevitably be asked if the fire that began at Kargil was put out too prematurely. Did it leave the basic conflict and warlike mood simmering dangerously, and, therefore, only delayed the inevitable? Implicit in these doubts is the view that the West, more...

Adolescence is a vital stage in human development, a time of rapid, often uneven development of physical, emotional, intellectual, social, moral, spiritual and aesthetic aspects. Adolescents are susceptible and vulnerable to external influences and the socio- culture environment has an impact on their health, development, security and dignity. Habits and behaviours picked up during adolescence, including risk- taking behaviours, substance abuse, eating habits, conflict resolution, etc have often lifelong impact. Of course, adolescents are not a homogenous entity and they have diverse needs relating to their development, social and economic security and health. Unfortunately, many adolescents in the Member Countries of WHO South- East Asia Region are at a disadvantage as they have had insufficient formal and vocational education. Also, there are inadequate opportunities for sports and exercise, which help to develop physical, mental and social capabilities. While many girls drop out of school, a large number of adolescents are more...

India has strived for self-reliance in nuclear power and has made a massive financial investment in nuclear fuel facilities as well as reactors. Twenty to twenty-five per cent of the country's research and development spending has gone on nuclear research. Nevertheless, nuclear power is not yet a major energy source in India, and self-reliance has not yet been achieved. Without an enrichment plant India is still dependent on the USA for fuel supplies for the Tarapur reactor. And until the technical problems with the novel heavy water plants are solved, heavy water too will have to be imported. It is likely that India can become self-reliant in the end — the knowledge and capability are there —but at what economic cost? .... A detailed economic analysis of India's power reactors indicates that nuclear electricity generation has no advantage over hydro or coal-fired generation. Indeed the latter two are considerably cheaper more...

For many of us every day's work is not just a routine daily activity. Each and every individual in the world works to meet his/her basic needs and few treat it as a source of income and others as a passion. As the saying goes 'our work defines us' and in a sense we are known by our work, in past and present. We all strive for excellence through our work and with our work we can find happiness in our life. Perhaps the most important requirement for success is finding interest in your work. The happiness can only come when we work with a sense of optimism, with a sense of purpose with a sense of challenge and with a view to enjoying the work we are doing! What is more important in our life is not just completion of work but the achievement and recognition that follows after more...

In the late 1800's and the early 1900's the people of northern Europe, southern Africa and Asia were in despair. They had no leaders. They were defenceless. India had been taken over by the British Empire and now the 315 million Indians were under the rule of the 100 thousand British soldiers there. In Germany there were six different political groups; nobody knew what to do. These countries were in shock, they needed a change, but more importantly, they needed a leader. Mohandas K. Gandhi was a law student, born and raised in India, but schooled in England. Early on in his career he returned to his birthplace and attempted to practice law there, but he was very unsuccessful. A few years later he moved to South Africa, and again attempted to set up a law practice there. But South Africa was now in British control and the Indian lawyer more...

Advertising a collective term for public announcements, designed to promote the sale of specific products or services. Advertising is a form of mass selling employed when the use of direct, person-to-person selling is impractical, impossible, or simply inefficient. It is to be distinguished from other activities, intended to persuade the public, such as propaganda, publicity, and public relations. Advertising techniques range in complexity from the publishing of simple notices in the classified-advertising columns of newspapers to integrated marketing communications, involving the concerted use of advertising in newspapers, magazines, television, and radio, as well as direct response, sales promotion and other communications vehicles in the course of a single campaign. Advertising falls into two main categories: consumer advertising, directed to the ultimate purchaser, and trade (or business-to-business) advertising, in which the appeal IN made to business users through trade journals and other media. Both consumer and trade advertising employ many specialized more...

India is a country of many diversities. India has a hierarchical caste system in the society. Within Indian culture, whether in the north or the south, Hindu or Muslim, urban or village, virtually all things, people, and groups of people are ranked according to various essential qualities. If one is attuned to the theme of hierarchy in India, one can discern it everywhere. Although India is a political democracy, in daily life there is little advocacy of or adherence to notions of equality. Caste systems in India and caste like groups—those quintessential groups with which almost all Indians are associated—are ranked. Within most villages or towns, everyone knows the relative rankings of each locally represented caste, and people's behavior toward one another is constantly shaped by this knowledge. Between the extremes of the very high and very low castes, however, there is sometimes disagreement on the exact relative ranking of more...

'Women are either goddesses or doormats', this legendary saying by Simone de Beauvoir, in her work called The Second Sex (1949) becomes very relevant in the way they are being tormented, molested and raped, now-a-days. Violence towards women is on the rise. And when someone courageous amongst them voices her interests and pains, the antediluvian, orthodox patriarchy opposes it with full force. Recently, when Eve Ensler came to India with her Obie award winning play, 'The Vagina Monologues,' it was immediately banned in Chennai and there were wide protests in Mumbai and Delhi. This was due to the word ‘Vagina' in its title which actually made its staging difficult. Though it is known to very few, that vagina means 'sheath for a sword' (a Greek word). The Feminist movement which started way back in the 14th century with the writings of Chaucer, has come a long way The Modernist thoughts more...

From time immemorial, India has been a centre for learning. Thousands o fyears ago, great scholars used to teach through the scriptures. A variety ofsubjects such as philosophy, religion, medicine, literature, drama and arts, astrology, mathematics and sociology were taught and masterpieces on these subjects have been written. Under the Buddhist influence, education was available to virtually everyone who wanted it and some world famous institutions arose out of the monasteries, such as Nalanda, Vikramshila and Takshashila (now in Pakistan). Nalanda is especially noteworthy, flourishing from 5thto 13th century AD. It had at one time about ten thousand resident students and teachers on its roll, which included Chinese, Sri Lankan, Korean and other interactional scholars. During the 11th century, the Muslims established elementary and secondary, schools, "Madrassahs" or colleges and even universities at cities like Delhi, Lucknow and Allahabad, using Arabic mostly as the medium of instruction. During the medieval more...