Many adults function best with around 8 hours of sleep and this varies depending on many variablessuch as your environment, health, age, etc., youth today may be averaging only 6–6.9 hours of sleep as a result of all-nighters, cramming, parties, TV, the internet, and a general overload of activity. In fact, 8 hours of sleep may seem unreasonable for many college students; residence hall life is remarkably noisy, distractions are plentiful, and you may have a job or have a family to care for in addition to school.



■Sleep Deprivation: Symptoms and Consequence



Sleep is an important process which  helps you remember what you learn and prepares you for your next challenge. If you are experiencing any of the following for a period of a few weeks, commonly known as insomnia, you may want to consider asking for help.



▪difficulty falling asleep

▪wake up frequently during the night

▪fall asleep at inappropriate times even after a night of adequate sleep

▪sleeping too much (more than 9 hours)have sudden attacks of uncontrollable sleep or muscle weakness

▪have nightmares or night terrors (the experience of awakening in a terrified state without recollection of a dream) that interrupt your sleep

▪sleep-walking



■Sleep Loss and depression



 Depression is already two times more common in the general population, affecting the youth very badly and it is believed that lack of sleep contributes to this high rate. What people often fail to realize is that sleep problems that persist for more than two weeks can actually be a risk factor for developing depression. Moreover people who suffer from depression also have difficulty sleeping, and if sleep problems persist after depression has subsided, the risk of relapse increases.



■How to Improve Your Sleep?
While 8 hours of sleep may seem unreasonable, you should not underestimate the power of good quality sleep. If you are having trouble sleeping, here are some suggestions to help:



▪Develop sleep rituals or sleep-promoting bedtime routines. Do the same things in the same order before going to bed to cue your body to slow down and relax. Stop studying and don’t get into any stimulating discussions or activities a half hour or hour before bed. Just before going to bed, do something to relax yourself: read a book for leisure (not a text book or a journal article for class), play your guitar, listen to quiet music, write in a journal.

▪Exercise and/or keep physically active during the day. Strenuous exercise (brisk walking, swimming, jogging, squash, etc.) in late afternoon can promote more restful sleep. This is especially important the day after a bad night’s sleep. While regular physical activity is good, exercising just before bedtime may actually make it harder to go to sleep.

▪Create a “to do” list throughout the day and keep a pad and pencil near your bed. If your thoughts are racing as you are trying to sleep and if you think of something you want or need to remember, jot it down. Then let the thought(s) go. There will be no need to lie awake worrying about remembering it.

▪Cut down on alcohol. Alcohol might help you fall asleep, but it often results in shallow and disturbed sleep, abnormal dream periods, and frequent early morning awakening.

▪Avoid large meals three hours before bed. Limit yourself to light snacks when studying late at night.Avoid routine use of sleeping pills or other sleep aids, which reduce sleep quality.

▪Take a short nap (30 minutes or less), as early in the day as possible, if you are tired. While short daytime naps can be refreshing, longer naps can upset your internal clock.

▪Reduce your intake of caffeine and nicotine 4–6 hours before going to sleep. If coffee shops are a common late night study place, try decaffeinated coffee or tea if you crave something warm. Drink decaffeinated pop instead of regular pop. Stimulants interfere with your ability to fall asleep and progress into deep sleep.



 



■When to Seek Help?
If restless or sleepless nights continue for a period of several weeks, think about discussing with a therapist or  with your medical doctor. Sometimes you may have conflicts that you are unaware of which may be preventing you from sleeping peacefully. Treating insomnia often entails treating the condition causing the insomnia (e.g., stress, depression) and relearning healthy sleep habits, and Take a short nap (30 minutes or less), as early in the day as possible, if you are tired. While short daytime naps can be refreshing, longer naps can upset your internal clock. Reduce your intake of caffeine and nicotine 4–6 hours before going to sleep. If coffee shops are a common late night study place, try decaffeinated coffee or tea if you crave something warm. Drink decaffeinated pop instead of regular pop. Stimulants interfere with your ability to fall asleep and progress into deep sleep.



 



When to Seek Help?



If restless or sleepless nights continue for a period of several weeks, think about talking with a therapist or talking with your medical doctor. Sometimes you may have conflicts that you are unaware of which may be preventing you from sleeping peacefully. Treating insomnia often entails treating the condition causing the insomnia (e.g., stress, depression or anxiety) and relearning healthy sleep habits, and a therapist can help you with this. Sleeplessness may also be a result of a more severe medical problem (or may lead to increased health problems) and you may need to see a physician.

The word unemployment itself describes that the problem of giving job to those who are willing to work. It is mainly an economic problem. A problem that has been in tradition without a particular solution. The major rise in unemployment is because of the population crisis. This year we can say that the pandemic also played an important role and increased this problem at the highest level. The people who were employed and were at professional posts lost their jobs because of the pandemic situation for which they weren’t prepared.

Now coming to the second part that is the population crisis. We need proper family planning schemes so that the jobs could be created. Because it’s impossible to create the employment opportunities for all if we will not plan accordingly and prepare a structure for this problem. The trouble is not only this. In every field we have multiple candidates with qualified degrees for the same single post. People are going to the same sector as their parents had gone into that and think that they will get the better chance.

Mental makeup is also necessary for both boys and girls. We ate service minded since our childhood’s so that we are afraid of taking risk but it is not a good option to completely being dependent on the government for creating job opportunities. It’s the problem of both educated and uneducated people and we can find a solution together only. Even agriculture sector suffers disguised unemployment which can be job oriented if we think and focus on it.

When the person is unemployed it may be lead to many undesired results that may be competition, frustation, depression, drug addiction, and even suicides. Running a race without a goal is worthless. One must think twice before taking his steps about his studies and career. Every individual is not the same and has different way of thoughts and capabilities. We need to get to know about them so that we could be confident in our field and make necessary decisions.

At last I could conclude my article on a positive note that the one step should be taken by government and one step by ourselves because it’s our choice, our future and our life. Expectations are a part of life but don’t try to make it a habit. If the steps are taken from both the side then only the solution can be derived not only for ourselves but for our future generations too.

Keep reading, keep knowing…… Thank you!!

Trophy hunting is hunting of wild game that is characterized by the selective harvest of mature male animals. Sad to say that this ancient practice is still being carried out in the name of ‘providing incentive’ and ‘developing economies’.

Animal rights have been openly violated by some nations by allowing trophy hunting and are in great danger in countries considering to resort to such barbaric means to earn money.

Animal rights are not legal rights but moral rights which are often ignored in the name of utilitarianism. Animals are treated as property and, thus, enjoy little to know legal rights. As the saying goes, “Until the lion learns how to write every story will glorify the hunter”. Well, the hunters indeed are trying to glorify their scheme of easy money earned through their immoral and savage actions against innocent lives.As the government of countries allowing trophy hunting, such as Africa, US and some countries in North America, reasons that trophy hunting raise funds for the conservation of wildlife, when there is “no incentive” for conservation, might I say that this can be considered an irony, a hilarious one too.

The truth is that these governments think that investing a portion of their GDP on conservation of environment, moreover on conservation of wildlife, is nothing more than waste of money. Those arguing that this practice also serve as population control of the wild animals, which would otherwise exceed the carrying capacity of an area, must I remind them that it was our fault, fault of the human race, behind significant decrease in forest areas and green cover and now to cover up our mess we are going on mass killing of innocent animals.

It might sound extreme but, Sire, this would be called murder with corporate motives had the entity been human. The claims stating, directly or indirectly, that trophy hunting is the best method to make money out of wildlife and the local community benefits from this income have been false. Reports suggest that around 3% After revenue collected from trophy hunting reaches the communities that are affected by it.

As for money through wildlife conservation, wildlife tours and safaris and increasing fascination for trips to reconnect with nature can fairly boost economy. Not only it gives incentive to save wildlife but also a chance for connected sectors, such as tours and travels, aviation, hospitality, local handicraft etc., to grow and prosper.Considering ourselves to be the superior species though, why must we ponder upon the wellbeing of wildlife and concern ourselves with moral issue of innocent animals being killed in the name of big game, isn’t it?

Animals like lions, tigers, wild boar and others are the ones on the kill list of rich people in the name of ‘social service by killing dangerous animals’. Basically the idea is ‘killing the ones on the top of the food chain’. It’s unfortunate that human race never learns from its past mistake. I would like to tell the story of Sahara desert which apparently wasn’t a desert but a King, in his own noble perspective, killed all carnivores in order to protect the herbivores from ‘savage beings’. With no one to check the plant-eaters, they grazed the whole forest down to a desert. There is a reason nature came up with the food chain and the so-called ‘savage beasts’. Need of the time is sustainable development and protection of environment, not what is being done in the name of economy and GDPs, so that there remains an economy to be taken care of not just.If it’s really about utilitarian view then we should start killing all the people above the age of 65 or 70 who are dependent. It will give far more greater benefits than loses.

We can achieve control on population, decrease in number of dependent population, more disposable income more resources and increase in unit area per person, not to forget increase in availability hospital beds, decrease in waste generation and better waste management and economic development in sector dealing with cremations, funeral services etc. And at what cost?

Only the emotional unrest which will eventually fade with the realisation of the inevitable ad the burden of caring the economy. Sound barbaric, extreme, baseless. What about the greater good now?

Just because human beings, in their own false sense of superiority, fail to remember doesn’t mean that animals are not an entity and do not deserve right to live.To conclude, I would say animal rights are in dire need to be upheld legally and should be ore widespread otherwise the money-minded, greedy beings would wipe out the wildlife. It is not just important but necessary to ban trophy hunting not only to save wildlife and nature but to save our environment, our ecosystem within which the ‘economies’ exist. To assume environment to be unrelated to the issues of economy and politics and proceeding ahead like that is like breaking the roof of one’s own house to build oneself a fire. Not only is it illogical but also will not sustain economies in the long run. Also, I would like to add that giraffes don’t hurt people, they are plant eating and peaceful animals. So, Ms Sabrina Corgatelli should be ashamed of killing innocent, harmless animals and should have her facts straight next time or come up with better excuses.

Epicurean paradox, also known as Riddle of Epicurious or Epicurious trilemma, is a version of problem of evil, i.e. the problem of existence of evil with the existence of an all-knowing, all-loving, all-powerful God. In this paradox, questions that does God knows about all evil or not, can prevent evil or not and whether he is willing to prevent evil or not is contemplated upon on for two possible outcomes, yes or no, and each time the reasoning circles back to God not being all-knowing, all-loving and all-powerful. This paradox, however, doesn’t argues against existence of God’s but rather against the divine-providences. Epicurus believed in the existence of deities, like everyone during the early Hellenistic period in Greece.

Epicurus was born in 341 BC and was an ancient Greek philosopher who founded the school philosophy, Epicureanism. He was an empiricist and was against Platonism of his days. He was inspired by Cynics and led a simple like and discussed a wide range of philosophical subjects with his followers. He believed that both body and soul died at death and hence death must not be feared.

The epicurean paradox follows a series of hypothesis and antithesis to arrive to the paradoxical conclusion. As per my understanding of Socrates, he might agree with the process of acquiring knowledge through series of question. But, Socrates believed that God is perfect and immortal and tries to make the soul as perfect as Him. But this trilemma breaks the proposition of God being perfect. Though it does not deny existence of God, it does makes out that God does not interfere with the working of human world. Epicurus did not even believed in realms and believed in only what senses can perceive. Socrates indirectly states that God does affect human realm and that there is more to world and oneself than what senses can perceive. Also, the existence of this paradox is an irony to the existence of one absolute knowledge that Socrates claimed.

As for Plato, Epicureanism was against Platonism and their thoughts differ a great degree. Plato also believed God to be real and all-powerful, all-loving ad all-knowing. He believed that ideal is real and beyond visible. His theories are also challenged through the paradox. Epicurus believed only what the senses can administer. He believed in the existence of God as He was the reason behind the infinite universe and nature but not in the way Plato did.

Aristotle and Epicurus were similar in a lot of ways. Both were empiricist and involved themselves with politics. But where Aristotle, too, believed Epicurus believed that the concept of God is different than what Aristotle believed, that God’s exist unaware of us and does not try to administer the world.

To conclude, I would like to say that Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, all three of them talked a lot about and believed in existence of absolute knowledge and Good, which is often considered synonymous to God, and importance of following virtue and doing Good. They believed in existence of all-knowing, all-loving and all-powerful Gods who is concerned with the working and miseries of the world, that God is perfect. Though Epicurus believed God to be ethical ideals he did away with the concept of God involving themselves with humanity and through his Problem of Evil wants to prove that only. Also, Epicurus was somewhat influenced by ideas of Socrates because of he was influenced by Cynics and Aristippus, both of which were born out of Socrates teachings. We can see how the branches of the same tree goes in different directions because of different perspective of seeing the same concept, even with reason and logic supporting them.

Roads : lifeline of rural developmentRoadways are not only a key for rural development,but play a major role in poverty reduction by generating increased agricultural income and productive employment.

When globalisation was changing the world it could not reach many places as they were inaccessible due to lack of proper road connectivity hence many village did not develop.

To solve this issue government launched pradhan mantri gram sadak yojna also known as PMGSY in the year 2000 to connect rural areas with urban by network of all weather roadways.Objectives of construction of roads :-

1.To connect unconnected habitations in rural areas with major urban areas and markets for better buisness and employment

2. To make places having resources accessible so that suitable industries could set up in order to develop the area.

3.to establish a core network that is essential to provide basic access to essential social and economic services to all eligible unconnected habitations.Steps taken by government :-

1. Government has launched PMGSY whose primary focus is to connect remote areas with urban areas.

2. Government creates a core network of roads from each place so that basic needs like school,hospital, market are accessible

3. Government launches tender after suitable time for maintenance of roads.

4. Government ensures quality of roads is high otherwise necessary actions are taken again the contractor.

5. Government prioritizes different places where roads should be constructed with their needs

6. Border areas are also connnected with mainstreams by roads especially constructed for them.Importance of roads :-

1. Roadways helps in the growth of market hence helps in rural development.

2. They connect places with schools so that children can be educated .

3. Areas with proper roads attracts different industrialists which help in development of area.

4. Roads help in attracting tourist which helps the locality by generating ample opportunities.Rural connectivity is not an end in itself it is a means. The connectivity will improve education,health,rural incomes.roadways connects rural areas to major political hubs which helps local government to ensure development in their locality

Poverty as an issue:

One of the biggest challenges faced by rural India is Poverty.We are not talking about the places like Punjab where the agriculture and people live with colours.

The issue is about the backward places and actual rural places in India. Even states like Odisha  and Jharkhand who are very rich in resources are considered the poorest states in India. Poverty is an interdependent aspect of the society. The most it is dependant on is the literacy rate. Other backward areas , Naxalite areas are still very far away from attaining the correct information and education. These people are not even aware of the relaxations and schemes of the government for their welfare. The most that is holding back people in these rural areas is adaptation.

They are nit very familiar with the concept of change with time. They bind themselves inside their old practices when there is much more to learn and excel in. The stereotypes and old practices cause them to loose assets for them.For example the girls are not educated and are not used as assets who can earn in future. They are considered as a burden and hence are thought only for the marriage purposes.The main reason for poverty in the rural society is because rural people do have the resources but they are bot aware as of how to use their resources.

Some provisions given by the government for poverty alleviation are:

Wages programmes like: 

  Jawahar Rozgar Yojhna/ Gram Samridhi YojhnaThe NREP and RLEGP were merged in April 1989 under the Jawahar Rozgar Yojhna. The JRY was meant to generate meaningful employment opportunity for the unemployed and underemployed in rural areas through the creation of economic infrastructure. A major proportion of JRY funds was spent on roads and buildings. Over 47 per cent of the employment generated benefited SC/STs. The share of landless labourers among the beneficiaries was 36 per cent. The village community found the assets created under the programme useful:  

   Employment Assurance Scheme:

The Employment Assurance Scheme (EAS) was launched on 2 October 1993 covering 1,778 drought-prone, desert, tribal and hill area blocks. It was later extended to all the blocks in 1997-98. The EAS was designed to provide employment in the form of manual work in the lean agricultural season. The works taken up under the lean agricultural season. 

Self Employment programmes like:·     

The coverage of beneficiaries in the Ninth plan was considerably lower than the coverage under SGSY. The formation of self-help groups by itself contributes to the empowerment and economic well-being of the poor by improving their collective bargaining position. The group formation also emphasises social capital and enables the poor to Interact with other social groups from a position of strength. Group formation would continue to be the Focus under the SGSY. 

NGOs have an inherent advantage in·        ·       Reaching the poor due to their proximity, the trust. They generate by working in the area, their. Commitment, flexibility in approach, responsiveness.And cost effectiveness. They have played a dynamic role as social animators and organisers in rural areas. Many NGOs have not only been instrumental in the formation of self-help groups but· Have also nurtured them over the years. Such NGOs have a strong presence in many states. However, voluntary and non-governmental action is weak in some of the poorer states. These are also the states where the spirit of cooperation and collaboration may be lacking because of poverty Itself.

Training of social animators would have to be promoted in such states. Departments of social sciences, social work, agriculture and rural development in universities and colleges could be engaged as facilitators in the process of group formation so that every rural habitation has at least one self-help group by the end of 2004.Many more reforms are suggested by the government for different aspects which affect the lifestyle and habitat of the people.           

The counting of blood cells after proper dilution is known as haemocytometer. Using haemocytometer method,red cells, platelets and eosinophils are often counted. Now-a-days it is also used for counting cells of bacteria, yeast, or algae.

Haemocytometer – instrument’s description

A haemocytometer consists of a counting chamber, a coverglass for the counting chamber and diluting pipettes. Many types of counting chambers are available. Improved Neubauer and Fauchs Rosenthal are the two most commonly used counting chambers in laboratories.

RBCs and WBCs in blood cannot be counted as such. The blood has to be dilute in specific isotonic solutions. RBC, diluting fluid is called Hayem’s solution. For WBC counting Turk’s solution or Toisson solution can be used.

The total number of cells is expressed per mm^3 . The isotonic diluting fluid keeps up the cells intact. In WBC counting, the solution will lyse the red blood cells and the remaining nucleated WBCs are counted. Venous blood is used in blood cells counting.

Normal Range of RBCs in human

Men : 4.5-5.9 million/mm^3

Women: 4.1-5.1 million/mm^3

At birth: 4.0-5.6 million/mm^3

Normal Range of WBCs in human

Adults: 4,500-11,000/mm^3

Neonates: 10,000-25,000/mm^3

Clinical significance

☆ Decrease in the number of circulating erythrocytes indicates anaemia.

☆ An increased number of erythrocytes indicates the possibility of polycythemia.

☆ An increase in WBC count for a transient period indicates bacterial infection.

☆ Progressive increase in abnormal WBC count indicates the possibility of leukemia.

Dr. Stephen Jay Gould, a Professor of Geology at Harvard University, a Curator of invertebrate paleontology in the Museum of Comparative Zoology, a public figure and spokesperson, and an author of many popular science books, has in a Wonderful Life created a window through which the reader views one of the most important events in natural history: the explosion in the variety of marine animals that took place during the Cambrian Period more than half-a-billion years ago. What could be more thrilling than to witness one of the great steps in the long history story of life that has begun with a microbe and ended with the Homo sapiens?

A favorite theme of Dr. Gould is to overturn commonly accepted notions that have arisen through human prejudices often due to self-centered preconceptions. It is almost as though Gould regards humans as apes with merely enlarged brains and big egos¹ who would still believe to this very day that the Earth was the center of the universe had not humanity been enlightened by Galileo, Newton and Copernicus. This is one reason why Gould selected as a subject of a book the Burgess Shale of eastern British Columbia in Canada. Charles Doolittle Walcott, who discovered the remains of tens of thousands of mostly soft-bodied invertebrates in the Burgess Shale in 1909, managed to misinterpret what one day would become one of the greatest discoveries in paleontology. Walcott incorrectly classified these marine animals as ancient versions of modern fauna despite the extraordinary character of some of them such as Opabinia, which had five eyes, and Hallucigenia, whose name describes its bizarre and dream-like appearance (it had seven pairs of toothpick-like spines, a tubular tail, a bulb-like head, seven tentacles along its back and six pods at the base of its tail!). Walcott considered this creature to be a worm. How could the director of the Smithsonian Institution make such an incredible mistake? According to Gould, Walcott was trying to force the Burgess Shale fauna into the classification scheme prevailing at the time. Here was one of the great field paleontologists trying, like an infant child, to squeeze round pegs into square holes.

For more than 60 years, scientists would believe Walcott’s interpretation of the Burgess Shale fauna. However, in 1971, Harry Whittington published a monograph on Marrella in which he expressed doubts that Marrella was a trilobite² as previously thought. Marrella looked roughly like a fly with wings replaced by a shield consisting of four, pointed prongs sweeping over its back. Eventually, Marrella would be classified as an arthropod unique to the Cambrian Period. Simon Conway Morris and Derek Briggs, who began as graduate students of Whittington, would join him to form a trio of researchers who would radically change Walcott’s view of the Burgess Shale fauna. Through thorough examination of the specimens, the three would in due time arrive at the conclusion that many Burgess Shale specimens were unique arthropods or belonged to new phyla, implying that the Cambrian Period was one of the richest for animal diversity. Thus, this period in geological history marked the appearance of new “wonderful life.” Other paleontologists eventually joined the quest to understand Cambrian marine creatures in what would become a revolution in evolutionary thought — a saga of scientists struggling to discover the truth.³

It is perhaps ironic that Gould, who points out the pitfalls that personal prejudice and ego can play in drawing false conclusions in science, should employ a rather pompous writing style where, in places, his arrogance pervades every other paragraph and where in the Preface of the book he refers to himself as “yours truly.” Nevertheless, Gould is one of the few research scientists who has achieved a heightened mastery of the English sentence and a vocabulary rich enough to make even the most sophisticated writers envious.

The Cambrian Period began 570 million years ago. It marked the beginning of the Paleozoic Era (from which henceforth hardened body parts such as exoskeletons, shells and bones would leave a trail of fossil evidence that paleontologists would ponder over to construct the “tree of life”), and it marked the advent of virtually all the major groups of modern animals. Not only were all the basic extant anatomical designs introduced at this great moment in life’s history but also some designs appeared that would be unmatched in modern fauna. The Cambrian was a period during which Nature seemed to be experimenting in an enormous variety of body structures. Many of these “experiments” failed in the sense that they did not survive, but interestingly Gould suggests that somewhat random factors rather than survival-of-the-fittest properties were the reason for the subsequent decimation.

This coincides with a new viewpoint of evolution that Stephen Gould and Niles Eldredge have advocated in which contingency plays a significant role. This is the so-called punctuated equilibrium. During most periods, the environment at most slowly changes and Darwin’s survival-of-the-fittest principle prevails. But there are other times in geologic history when rapidly varying conditions or catastrophes randomly decimate Earth’s creatures. The extinction of the dinosaurs is a good example (See Chapter XVI :Nature’s Holocaust of the Book of the Cretaceous of The Bible According to Einstein). For more than 100 million years, the dinosaurs were the most “successful” land animal, but, when an asteroid struck the Yucatán Peninsula 65 million years ago, large size was a great disadvantage. Only the smallest creatures survived. When 90% of species disappear during an extinction event, it is often random factors that decide which life forms survive. Another example of contingency, Gould argues, is the Cambrian fauna. It is impossible for scientists in examining the remarkable Burgess Shale fauna to predict which ones would survive and be “successful.” Would not Opabinia, for example, with its five eyes have an evolutionary advantage over fauna with two eyes?

These ideas have led to a new view of the tree of life with a richer branching structure. Compared to the old tree, the new tree during brief periods (such as at the beginning of the Cambrian) suddenly broadens in diversification only to suffer a decimation at a later time with many “leaves” terminating in evolutionary dead ends. Only a few lineages survive. Not all scientists believe in the theory of punctuated equilibrium of Gould and Eldredge, but most give the two credit for pointing out that species quite often appear and disappear on what seems to be short geologic time scales. Although this might be an artifact due to the scanty fossil record, it is more likely that evolutionary processes occur much faster than have previously been assumed.

Gould, by his own admission, is unable to provide a convincing explanation of why the explosion in animal diversity occurred during the Cambrian Period. This is often regarded as an unsolved problem in natural history. According to Gould, several evolutionary forces could have contributed. One argument is that life was filling a new, previously uninhabited, ecological niche, thereby providing an “open field of unparalleled opportunity” into which organisms expanded at rapid rates. A second, rather weak, idea argues that genetic systems age and just happened to “mature” at around the time of the Cambrian Period. Some religiously inclined individuals claim that the lack of a good explanation for the Cambrian biological explosion implies divine intervention. This is a Creationist’s point of view applied not at the initial moment of the birth of life but to the middle of its more-than-three-billion-year long development.

The Cambrian explosion can be “explained” by several important developments in evolution that had occurred in the Precambrian. Earth’s very early atmosphere essentially contained no oxygen gas. Indeed, this was “fortunate” for O₂ was poisonous for early life. The oxygen in the atmosphere has been largely biologically generated as a waste product of photosynthetic life, and, as a result, oxygen in air has been increasing during the last 3 billion years. Approximately 2 billion years ago, certain organisms uncovered how to use O₂ as a more efficient means to generate energy in metabolic processes. This allowed life forms to increase in size. Eukaryotes, which are organisms with cells containing organelles specializing in various biological processes and containing, in particular, a nucleus housing genetic codes, first appeared around 1.4 billion years ago. About a billion years ago, sexual reproduction arose as a more efficient means of biological replication. The potentially rapid increase in evolutionary progress expected from sexual reproduction, however, was retarded by the longest ice age in geologic history. Had Earth been warmer, the Cambrian explosion might have happened several hundred million years earlier. With the eukaryotic cell, respiratory metabolism and sexual reproduction, life forms were able to increase their size: The first multicellular organisms — microscopic metazoa — emerged about 800 million years ago. Then, 200 million years later, the two supercontinents of Earth broke up providing more shallow water habitats for life, and, at around the same time, one of the coldest ice ages, the Varanger, ended. The confluence of all these developments and events provided the “fuel” for the Cambrian explosion. The second chapter of the book of The Cambrian of The Bible According to Einstein summarizes the situation:

Now evolution was proceeding at a rapid pace. The fire on the fuse was burning. The fuse itself was almost gone. And everything was perfect for a biological explosion, an evolutionary radiation.  The geology was right; the chemistry was right; the climate was right; the atmosphere was right; the biology was right; and the recent evolutionary past was right, for sea level had risen and the continents had separated, providing new shallow-water habitats; for circulating ocean currents were full of nutrients; for the seas and air had warmed; for the atmosphere had oxygen; for eukaryotic cells had previously appeared and the sexual revolution in evolution had occurred.

Gould is a firm believer that Homo sapiens hold no special status in the scheme of things. It is true — here on Earth, we are the “smartest” creatures. But whether we are superior is a totally different issue. Bacteria outnumber us multiplicatively by the billions. As species, archaea have outlived us by a factor of more than 10,000. Elephants are still bigger, cockroaches more cunning, lions still stronger, rats more numerous and so on. Not only have the seventeenth century astronomers relegated us to an inconspicuous corner of the universe, but modern paleontologists such as Gould have also placed us on a tiny, barely noticeable twig of the tree of life.

In fact, we are very “lucky” (in both senses of the word: “fortunate” and “probabilistically unlikely”) to be here on Earth. We often think of Darwinian evolution as a smooth, almost predicable, process in which the poorly adapted species die out and the “superior” species survive. Such a viewpoint is not valid and neglects some of the truly random events that have shaped the history of life. The asteroid-induced extinction mentioned above is a good example. Had it not struck Earth 65 million years ago, reptiles would probably still be ruling the Earth and the small mammals that survived would not have had the opportunity to radiate. The result would have been no monkeys, no apes and no humans. There are dozens of examples for which a slight change in the history of the Earth would have eliminated one of the essential steps in the long chain that gave rise to Homo sapiens.

Gould, while taking great pleasure in overthrowing false dogma, is probably himself guilty of exaggeration, an effect possibly due to his enthusiasm for his field of research. Has he overemphasized the role of punctuated equilibrium and contingency in the evolution of life? Could the Cambrian explosion be less dramatic, a consequence of a great find of 50,000 soft-bodied specimens in a single location during a particular point in time? Could the introduction for the first time of hard-body parts led to significantly more fossils thereby creating the illusion of a great radiation of species? It is possible that, one day, we shall have more information and a clearer picture as to how the Cambrian fauna fit into the great scheme of things. Perhaps the Cambrian diversity is somewhat exaggerated and future links will be established between divergent phyla. Perhaps some “consolidation of the data” will take place. Indeed, it is now suspected that Hallucigenia is related to the modern velvet worm rather than a new phylum as Conway Morris had proposed. But even if a revision does occur, the Cambrian will remain one of the great periods of experimentation in animal design.

Wonderful Life is detailed, well written, entertaining and informative. It is fun to follow the history of the Burgess Shale story. In the book are some great descriptions and sketches of the main characters of the drama, those diminutive Cambrian marine metazoa of extraordinary design and sophistication. In a Wonderful Life, the reader learns about the thrills and pitfalls of a historically based science such as paleontology. The writing is often intricate, sometimes technical and not always so accessible to the unskilled reader. But enthusiasts of science with an interest in evolution should greatly enjoy reading this classic, best-selling book.

What is Child marriage?

A child marriage is a term which is generally used when and underage boy or a girl or both of them enter into the commitment of marriage.

How it affects the rural India and development?

This is a very common happening in the stereotypical societies of rural India. There have been cases when even babies or sometimes an unborn child is promised and married.

One of the most probable reasons for it is the stereotype in the rural society and the image of woman being born as a burden. They want to marry her off soon so that they don’t have to worry about dowry and bringing her up.

This also results in less Literacy rate of women and hence less resources. Women are taught to not ho outside and this is the bitter reality of the rural regions. Although this practice still happens in urban areas too but this article mainly focuses on how the development of rural society gets affected.

The Child Marriage Act:

 The act may also be called the prohibition of Child marriage Act,2006 and it came into force on 1 November 2007 in India. The contents of the act includes 21 sections and it extends all over India and the Union territories.

The main objective of the act was to save innocent children from getting into a big commitment like marriage and to save their childhood innocence and to make a difference.

Punishments under the Act are:

If an adult man who is above the age of 18 years does child marriage, then he will be punishable with a maximum extended fine of one lakh rupees or a 2-year imprisonment or maybe both.

The act of conducting or performing a child marriage is punishable with 2-year imprisonment or a fine which may extend to 1 lakh rupees or both.

Promoting and permitting of Child marriage and even attending one is punishable with 2 years imprisonment or a fine which may extend to 1 lakh rupees or both.

One of the very important statement of this act is :

The legal age for marriage among female should be 18 and the same among males should be 21 years of age and the act of marrying below this age will make the marriage voidable.

One of the very important cases of this Act is Independent Thought Vs UOI which brought a very big change as The Supreme Court increased the age of consent for sexual intercourse within marriages to 18. Before the ruling sexual conducts of a husband on his wife , where the wife  was above 15 years of age  did not constitute rape for the purpose of criminal law. The case law instigated the issue that almost all the statues in India suggest that a girl below the age of 18 is a child.

Some of the issues which the case law instigated and were solved later are:

• Whether intercourse with a 15 to 18 year girl would amount to rape or not?
• Whether the section 375 of IPC is discriminatory.
• And just because the girl between the age of 15 to 18 is married does not mean that she can conceive a baby or is mantally and physically capable of having sex.

In the case law it was said that Independent Thought and Child Rights trust argued that the classification between married and unmarried minor girls in punishing sexual violence had no rational nexus to the objectives of the section. It is also contrary to the obligations of the State to protect the right of the child under Article 21 as well as under International Conventions (Supreme Court observers. LINK:https://www.scobserver.in/)

Local government as a tool for rural development constitutionally , local government is the third tier of indian goverment commonly known as ‘”grassroot government'”.

A proper combination of local efforts with the government in order to develop socio-economic conditions of the people is a key factor for rural development.Local government as a tool :-The major factor in rural development is self help.the local government being nearest to the population is one of the best institutions or tool for generations motivation and encouraging mobilization for self help.

Thay can also induce wider participation of local people in decision making.To guarantee the basic social needs local people must participate not only in political affairs but also commonly affairs hence local government serves as the proper tool .

Integrated rural development :-

Proper synchronisation between the people and the government is inevitable for rural development.Without IRD rural development is not possible as each place has different basic needs,requires different kind of approach. Only local government ensures that government works in proper synchronisation with locals to provide basic needs ,to solve local issues.IRD focuses only on the growth of the local area with the help of local resources and support of local people hence,it serves as the most effective tool for rural development.

The panchayat or the Panchs hold so much power to themselves that they even take decisions of life and death in the area.

India is a vast country to be administered to the depest levels. Rural areas and their traditions can only be controlled and understood by a local government.

Conclusion :-Thus we conclude that local government acts as the closest government to the people.Local government is the focus of central government to develop social as well as economic conditions of the are which leads to the rural development.Local government also succeeds in understanding the people better and hence motivating them to become self sustainable ,encourage them to take part in decision making and work together with the government for proper development. Local governments work effectively as a communication between the local people and central government. They also observe needs of the locality and with the help of revenues from the government local bodies fulfill the needs.hence,local government acts as the most powerful tool in rural development.

Impact of globalisation on rural developmentThe uninterrupted flow of trade,capital ans technology across the world is commonly known as globalisation.In globalisation the world is considered as a whole big market.In 1991 when new industrial policy came into force globalisation started taking pace.

Just like a coin globalisation had two faces one good and one bad. This means that it had good impact as well as bad impact on the people of rural places.If we try to observe in a larger view globalisation was good as it had many good impacts like the world transformed into a single society but it also widened the gap between the rich and poor.Positive impacts of globalisation on rural area :-

1. Liberalisation of international trade and marketing of food and agricultural products.

2. standards of living increased in rich and poor families of urban as well as rural places

3. Increasing privatization like privatization of coal mines increased employment opportunities

4. Intensification of people as well as internal migration

5. Education quality developed and people from rural places started learning new skills

6. Many villages advanced and now they have advanced automated or semi automatic technologies, fertilizers etc.

7. globalisation provided better exposure to market goods hence quality of goods increased as well as proper price was providedWe can observe that globalisation developed our society ,our nation but in many ways it also ruined it.Negative impacts of globalisation on rural development :-

1. With globalisation many advanced technologies came into this nation which reduced manpower hence unemployment increased especially among unskilled labourers of the rural areas.

2. As many villages did not have proper transportation facilities, communication facilities many hinterlands never got chance to develop

3. With globalisation competition increased and local farmers could not compete with international quality and price hence their condition got worse.

4. not only farmers conditions of artisans also got worse as they could not compete

5.Many small industries of rural areas were shut down because of high level of competition and economical lossWe can still take steps to neutralize the negative impacts of globalisation om the rural area of this country which is predominantly rural and has major part of its income from these areas only.Steps that can be taken for neutralization are :-

1.steps luke ‘bharatnet’ should be taken in order to provide advanced information and technology to people living in rural areas.

2. Government,NGOs as well as private sector should join their hands to provide assets to rural areas and encourage entrepreneurship.

3. Government should impose some restrictions in MNCs before coming to indian market so that they dont affect small businesses

4. Low cost loans should be provided to small industries so that they get time to re-establish themselves and earn profit.

5. Proper rural urban transportation and communication facilities should be developed even in inaccessible areas so that they can also enter the market .

Types of Negotiable Instruments

The types of negotiable expand a lot. some of the very common ones are promissory notes, certificate of deposit , money orders etc.

Personal Checks:         

These checks can only be authorized by a person if they deposit money in the bank and clearly justify the sum of money and the name of the person to whom the cheque is addressed to with the name of the bearer of the check.

Advantages of Checks:

No cash is required and big amounts can be transferred hassle free.

If money gets lost it can’t be recovered but check transactions can be stopped from depositing, if lost.

Disadvantages of Personal Checks:

• Personal checks are not always taken easily everywhere.

In the fast pace world of technology checks are relatively sluggish and their processing takes time.

2. Travellers Check:             

Travellers checks are convenient for people who are in foreign countries for any of the following temporary situations such as vacations, work visits, trading etc. these checks can be used as an alternative for the respective foreign currency which makes the travel hassle free and reduces currency exchange which results in more following of the social distancing protocol.

“These checks are generally issues by financial institutions with serial no. and in prepaid fixed amounts”. A dual signature system is generally followed in which the signature of the buyer of the check has to sign at the time of issuing of the check and later another signature is required while using the check. The two signature are mandatory to match for the financial institutions to issue the check and guarantee the payment.

Advantages of Travellers:

• Hassle free and safe travel is enabled because no big amounts of money are carried around.
• The banks back up for most of the stolen or lost checks and even sometimes provide security money for the same.

Disadvantages of Travellers check:

• This whole system depends on the double signature system too much and as we understand that signatures can be easily forged it is not the most secure method to carry and transfer money.
• Debit and credit cards are a more convenient way nowadays compared to travellers checks.

3.Promissory Notes:

Promissory notes are handwritten promises between 2 parties. One party is the one liable to pay that is; payor and the other one is the receiver that is payee. These handwritten documents hold promises of the payor   to pay the payee a certain sum of the money in future. These notes also contain all the important aspects for a promise to be relevant. These information includes specified principle amount, interest rate, term length ,date of insurance and signature of the payor.

“These at first enables a person, people or a co operation to obtain financing from a source other than a bank or financial institution. Those who issue a promissory note become lenders.”

4. Money Order:

The holder of money orders are paid a promised amount as mentioned in the money order. These are available across easily and are generally issued by financial organisations and governments also. Money orders differ by the limit of amount of order that is typically One thousand Dollars.

These resemble checks but the main difference is that there is little personal detail mentioned in the money orders compared to checks.

5. Bill of exchange:

“A Bill of Exchange is a binding agreement by one party to pay a fixed amount of cash to another party as of a predetermined date or on demand”

These are basically used for international trade purposes. These have become more powerful.

To understand it in detail the following example is suitable:

If Mr. Varun orders Mr. Jatin to pay Rs.85000 for 60 days and Mr. Jatin signs his name to accept the order given by Mr. Varun then it is called a bill of exchange.

But sometimes due to financial inadequacy or different circumstances the seller and the purchaser cannot pay off immediately generally after which a promise is signed for future credit to be paid and this promise is drafted in a written format after which it turns into a legal instrument of value.

NOTE: “These instruments can often  be accepted by banks and we can advance money against them. Also, we can also endorse the instrument that is, pass it to another person.”

Features of Bill Of Exchange:

• “A bill of exchange is an instrument in writing”
• “It is drawn and signed by the maker i.e. drawer of the bill.”
• “It contains an unconditional order to a person i.e. drawee.”
• “To make an instrument of value the drawee must accept it.”
• “The specified amount is payable to the person whose name is mentioned in the bill or to his order or to the bearer.”
• “It specifies the date by which amount should be paid.”
• “Payment of the bill must be in the legal currency of the country.”
• “It must be properly stamped”.
• “It must bear a revenue stamp”.

5. Post Dated Cheque:

The case is currently being heard by the International Court of Justice(ICJ).

BACKGROUND: The Rohingya people are a group of ethnic(Muslim Indo-Aryan) minority in the Buddhist majority.In the recent years they have been facing procedural ethnic cleansing and prosecution at a mass level. it has also been described as genocide.The genocide followed for more than 2 years with decades of prosecution on the Rohingya people which included mass murders,destruction of villages,rapes and various other heinous crimes undertaken by the millitary of Myanmar.

Mostly restricted to the Rakhine state (where the Rohingya are largely settled) and done under the
garb of “anti-terrorism measures”.
With the general support of the public. (John Oliver did a segment on how “free” Facebook
contributed to the genocide.

What does genocide mean?

According to the Article 2 genocide means comitting any of the follwoing acts:

• Causing serious bodily harm to a group.
• Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.
• Killing members of the group
• Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group.
• Forcibly transferring children of one group to another group.

Article 6 of Rome Statute of International Criminal Court: For the purpose of
this Statute, “genocide” means any of the following acts committed with intent to
destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethical, racial or religious group, as such:
(a) Killing members of the group; (b) Causing serious bodily or mental
harm to members of the group; (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group
conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in
part; (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

Role of women self help groups

Women self help groups is a scheme launched by indian government under the mission of National rural livelihood mission im 2011.The mission took pace around 2012-13.Bank accounts are provided by the government to these groups in which each member adds 10 rupees per week in their account to which the government provides economical support with very less interest.women can borrow loan from the group with a mere interest of 2 percent which is very low compared to the money lenders who charge 20 percent of interest.

Effect of National rural livelihood mission :-
The women self help groups formed under the above mission has worked magically in the field of women empowerment.because of availability of hassle fress loans without and security encouraged women to follow their passion or start a new business.Financial access and other support has increased family incomes of each member by almost 19 percent and savings by 23 percent according to the recent reports by National rural livelihood mission.This scheme proved to be most beneficial for educated women who get extra benefits.

Success stories :-
There are many cases or inspiring stories of women who started their own business in a country having very few women leaders whether they are in politics or in the field of business.Recently,Hemlata devi borrowed some amount from jai ambe swaya sahayata samooh in udaipur rajasthan to buy a pump for her farm.There was no way she could approach any bank for loan as she had nothing as security hence she approached to one of the self help groups in her district who provided her loan with mere interest of 2 percent .Because of this she could buy a pump which gave a powerful thrust to her family income and she easily returned the borrowed amount.

Benefits :-
These self help groups benefitted the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes the most.the programme increased income of households to a good extent and has helped in empowering women.these groups also provide skill training like sewing to the rural people so that they can start their own tailoring shops.they also provide other training as well such as agro ecological practices.these groups boosted confidence of women hence many women started taking part in politics as well.

Conclusion :-
Self help groups has empowered women of rural areas ,has provided training which are beneficiary to everyone despite their differences has motivated equality as well as provided support in the economy of their nation.No doubt SHGs has golden effects on the society and has helped in many ways in the development of their areas.A nation can be developed only if women are empowered and these groups did that.

Negotiable instrument act enacted on 9^th December 1881, by Imperial Legislative Council is an act to define the law relating to negotiableinstruments.

Some imp dates and their significance for the act:

          Negotiable Instrument Act (1881)

            (Citation: ACT No. 26 of 1881)

1866 – The act was originally drafted.

1867- “Introduced in the council and was referred to a select committee.”

1877-“ the bill was revised by a select committee, after the lapse due to criticism by local governments , high courts and chamber of commerce.”

1880-“ By the order of secretary of state the bill was referred to new law commission as in spite of everything happened in the past bill could not reach the final stage.” The bill was redrafted.

1881- Thus after being prepared for 4 times, it was introduced in the council.

1882-  Commenced on 1 March 1882.

Characteristics of Negotiable Instruments :

• These are freely transferable in nature. for example; property is a negotiable instrument and it is readily transferable by a simple process of delivery..
• Presumed to have been

1. made

2. accepted

3. endorsed

4. drawn

5. negotiated

6. transferred for consideration

• They are easy for recovery

Independent Title: “The general principle as regards the transfer of property, that is, no

“One can give a better title than he himself has, is not applicable in case of negotiable

instruments.  If  the  transferor  had  obtained  a  negotiable  instrument  by  exercising fraud, but the transferee obtains that negotiable instrument in good-faith (bona-fide)

for  value,  then  the  transferee  shall  enjoy  a  good  title  as  regards  that  negotiable

instrument.  Thus,  the  title  of  the  transferee  as regards  a  negotiable  instrument  is independent of the title of

the transferor.”

“The holder who acquires the instruments hold title free from all defects.”

“Every holder of instrument is presumed to be holder in due course.”

 Presumptions as to negotiable instruments: “Sections 118 and 119 of the Negotiable Instrument Act lay down certain presumptions which the court presumes in regard to negotiable instruments. In other words these presumptions need not be proved as they are presumed to exist in every negotiable instrument”. Until the contrary is proved the following presumptions shall be made in case of all negotiable instruments:

 1. Consideration: “It shall be presumed that every negotiable instrument was made drawn, accepted or endorsed for consideration. It is presumed that, consideration is present in every negotiable instrument until the contrary is presumed. The presumption of consideration, 6 however may be rebutted by proof that the instrument had been obtained from, its lawful owner by means of fraud or undue influence.”

 2.Date: “Where a negotiable instrument is dated, the presumption is that it has been made or drawn on such date, unless the contrary is proved.”

3. Time of acceptance: “Unless the contrary is proved, every accepted bill of exchange is presumed to have been accepted within a reasonable time after its issue and before its maturity. This presumption only applies when the acceptance is not dated; if the acceptance bears a date, it will prima facie be taken as evidence of the date on which it was made.”

 4. Time of transfer: “Unless the contrary is presumed it shall be presumed that every transfer of a negotiable instrument was made before its maturity.”

 5. Order of endorsement: “Until the contrary is proved it shall be presumed that the endorsements appearing upon a negotiable instrument were made in the order in which they appear thereon.”

 6. Stamp: “Unless the contrary is proved, it shall be presumed that a lost promissory note, bill of exchange or cheque was duly stamped. “

7. “Holder in due course: Until the contrary is proved, it shall be presumed that the holder of a negotiable instrument is the holder in due course. Every holder of a negotiable instrument is presumed to have paid consideration for it and to have taken it in good faith. But if the instrument was obtained from its lawful owner by means of an offence or fraud, the holder has to prove that he is a holder in due course.”

Role of NGOs in rural development

NGO (Non Governmental Organization) came into use in 1945 .According to the UN,all private bodies which are free from government control are known as NGO.Voluntary organizations with no profit making objective were active in health,disaster relief,cultural promotion as early as medieval era.they proliferated during british empire working to improve social welfare.Many organizations like Friend in need socity(1857), Arya samaj(1875), National council for women in india (1875) emerged during the second half of 19th century as self help emerged as primary objective of socio political movements.When mahatma gandhi returned he identified poverty as major issue and hence focused on developing with available local resources. Concept of voluntary organisations is not new to india.time to time many voluntary organisations emerged each focusing on important things of their time.

Role of NGOs :-

Voluntary organisations can prove themselves as a very helpful hand to the government in order to develop an area or a nation.voluntary organisation have deep roots among the people they know their issues and people love them as they seek no profit for them.NGOs and government working together can develop an area at an exponential rate as these organisations know the root problems that people are facing and have comparatively very low corruption unlikely the government.The only thing they lack is power however government has taken measure so that NGOs can work with government to achieve great results like there are scheme which provide these NGOs permission to use resources directly for rural development.

Some of the major objectives of NGOs in the present world are listed as follows
Objectives of NGO in rural areas :-

1. To establish a proper communication between the people and government
2. To motivate people through social media to help poor people in rural areas
   3.To help people in need with fund raising movements for different causes like health issues ,shelter etc.
3. To establish camps in order to provide basic medicines
   5.to organise programs teaching rural people new skills for their livelihood

Looking at the work quality of these organisations new five year plan was given to these NGOs focusing on rural development by the government.with each tenure new opportunities emerge and these NGOs work amazingly because if their direct connection with people in developing areas.With time NGOs in rural india is growing,so now they are hiring experts to help in solving different issues.

Few famous NGOs in india:-

1. Garima samajh vikas sansthan :-
   Woks primarily in the domain of Gender, education ,food etc.

2.Anahita foundation :-
Established in 2009 works with the single minded focus of empowering rural india

3.Batika :-
Works in the field of sustainable development of rural india

4. Centre for education and social development :-
   Works in the area of advocacy and research, art and culture,nutrition,legal aid etc

5.Akruti :-
Provides special education,health and vocation training to people with disabilities

Conclusion :-
NGOs in rural areas works in many inaccessible areas to provide basic needs to people They not only work as gap fillers but also as a failure mechanism if anything wrong happens in any rural areas.they work among the people and with the government strengthening the society and developing the area .they provide training related to agriculture help people during adverse weather provides food if needed hence we can conclude that NGOs has worked efficiently in rural development and hence are very important for further development as they are the bridge between the rural people and government.

Financial literacy and financial markets are rapidly changing,with developments in technology and new and more complex financial products.From different kind of loans to mortgages,the range of financial products people have to chose from has changes drastically from what it was in the past.the exponential hrwoth in fintech(financial technology) is revolutionizing the way people take financial decisions.Ability to effectively manage money and taking financial decisions in order to become financially self sustainable is known as financial literacy.

The OECD( organisation for economic cooperation and development)defines financial literacy not only as the knowledge of risks and management but also the skills.What does financial literacy involve:-From keeping tracks and understanding when to spend money how to spend money so that it does not have any negative impact on one’s life comes under financial literacy. Importance of financial literacy in a farmer’s life :- Financial literacy enables a farmer to develop a budgetary guide to distinguish what he owes,what he buys and what he spends.This can help them in becoming independent and self sufficient instead of debtors to banks or someone.

Understanding your money and knowing basic principles can prevent farmers from fraud as it will help them with foreseeing risks and argue with anyone learned and well informed.Hurdles in farmer’s way to achieve self sustainability :-Financial literacy can help farmers in many ways, but in india ,most of the farmers are illiterate who dont know how to read,never went to school hence they dont know basics things such as calculating interest adding amounts which plays a very big role in their lives.Because of lack of proper knowledge farmers usually become victims of fraud by money lenders.Money lenders charge a very hight amount of interest which is illegal but many farmers dont know that.Not only this there are many cases when a money lender charges money even though farmers have already paid it . There are many cases in india where farmers hang themselves to tree , burns themselves only because they get trapped in a debt trap and they dont know how to come out of it. There are cases like sanjeev bhatnagar vs union of india 2006, related to this matter but evern supreme court couldn’t do much then asking governments for reasons behind deaths and ordering them to take proper steps. So farmer have tk become self sustainable so that they can prevent themselves and their families from these.And to achieve this the only way is financial literacySolution :- Government should organise specialised programs at every panchayat where trained teachers can teach farmers about 1.Calculating interest to a given amount

2. Managing credit debit system

3. Different places from where they can get low interest loans

4.How to spend money and manage bills so that they dont have to face negative impacts.

5.Asset management. Risk managementThey can also teach them skills and how to apply them because there is no use of knowledge if you dont know how to apply it and where.With proper knowledge and understanding of credit debit system farmers can provide a major help in the growth of economy of india . No farmer will end up having a day with no food,no money or loss of thier land. This will be a concrete step towards the converting our developing nation into developed nation

Importance of rural education in india
India is a country with a population of 135 crores.According to reports by world bank in 2020, 65 percent of indian population resides in rural areas.With such a huge population living in rural areas,rural education in india becomes important not only to eradicate poverty and illiteracy,but also for a variety of social ,economic as well as cultural and political reasons.
In 1947 when india became independent policy makers realized the importance of education.Education is considered as the most strong weapon to improve community development as well as initiate social alterations in the world.For a nation ,education in urban as well as rural areas plays a huge role in growth of country . Although education in urban areas of india has progressed rapidly , there are places where still education is not a priority.
It is mandatory for the government to teach people about the importance of education,about the benefits of education and why it should be enforced even in most remote places.

Benefits of education :-

1. In political system of rural india,it is necessary for rural people to be educated so that they can understand the programs and principles in a much better way and hence elect worthy representatives.
2. Villages in india plays major part in the economical growth of the country by producing agricultural, industrial as well as other goods.For this it is necessary to have an understanding of the global economy as it is the international price movement of goods which regulate their quantity and price.for that its important for rural masses to be educated.
3. With time and introduction of modern gadgets culture is also advancing at a rapid rate. To handle and utilize the benefits of these advanced gadgets whether it is for agriculture or daily life education is a prequisite.For example,a rural farmer must be educated in order to learn how to use harvesters , fertilizers, threshers etc. Education can affect the intellectual life of people and make them contribute in the advancement of society.
4. Indian constitution provides several rights and principles to citizen such as right to education,right to speak,right to information . To understand the significance and functioning of these right modern education becomes must.

Thus we can understand that rural education not only helps in the rural development but it helps in the overall progress and development of the nation.

Thus many steps were taken time to time in order to enhance level of education by the government.many programs were organised to enlighten the people,many schemes were launched in order to attract people of rural areas having low income .
Scheme launched by indian government :-

1. Samagra shiksha is an scheme launched by indian government to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education
2. Since the inception of erstwhile centrally sponsored scheme in 2001, 3.18 lakh school building,18.8 lakh additional classrooms,2.3 laks water facilities were constructed.
3. Mid day meal was started to attract poor families and encourage them fo send their children to schools.
4. Based on national achievement survey,2017 was conducted to identify and design strategies to reduce the gaps. 5.section of 23(2) of the RTE Act has been amended to extend the period of untrained in-service elementary teachers.

6.NIOS has been entrusted to organise trainings as well as D.El.Ed was started to ensure quality of teachers.

What is Child labor?

The term child labor is used when a child is involved into doing a work which is mentally, physically , socially or morally harmful and dangerous to a child and also deprives them of a better childhood and schooling opportunities forcing them to leave the opportunities they have and mature earlier than they should.

The Child Labor Act 1986:

Government has enacted the Child Labor (Prohibition & Regulation) Amendment Act, 2016 which came into force. The Amendment Act completely prohibits the employment of children below 14 years. The amendment also prohibits the employment of adolescents in the age group of 14 to 18 years in hazardous occupations and processes and regulates their working conditions where they are not prohibited. The amendment also provides stricter punishment for employers for violation of the Act and making the offence of employing any child or adolescent in contravention of the Act by an employer as cognizable.

The main objective of this act was to ensure, no involvement of children who have not completed the age of 14 in certain occupations.

The Act also prohibits employment of child in about 13 occupations and 51 processes. The constitution of India in the article 24 under right against exploitation also mentions for prohibition for employment of children in factories and other unorganized sector.

A lot of efforts were put in by PN Bhagwati and V.R. Krishna Iyer to get this litigation into running and in action.

The Path-breaking and Landmark Case of MC Mehta V. State of Tamil Nadu:

The case started with a PIL which was filed by Mr. MC Mehta, alleging that many children were being employed in several hazardous industries more particularly in the firecracker and matchstick industry in Sivkasi in Tamil Nadu.

What held in the court:

A committee was appointed by the Supreme Court of India to visit the site and to prepare a report keeping all the different aspects in concern.

The committee after the submission of the report on November 11,1991 , gave suggestions that the state of Tamil Nadu should be directed that no child should be employed in hazardous and damaging industries of any kind. They also suggested another premise for them to not work more than 6 hours. Proper transport and education facilities should be provided in or around the factory.

It was also recommended to start a national commission on children’s welfare to prepare a scheme for the abolition of child labour.

The case is a landmark case and is so important because it introduces a lot of reforms and amendments in the child labor act 1986 and the case threw light on Child labor as a major issue.

Some of the provisions after the MC Mehta Case are:

The provisions introduced as an after effect of the case were:

Article 24 – Prohibition of employment of children in factories, etc. – No child below the age of fourteen years shall be employed to work in any factory or mine or engaged in any other hazardous employment. 39€. That the health and strength of workers, men and women, and the tender age of children are not abused and that citizens are not forced by economic necessity to enter avocations unsuited to their age or strength.

Article 39(f) -Children should be given opportunities and facilities to develop in a healthy manner, in conditions of freedom and dignity and childhood should be protected against exploitation and against moral and material abandonment.

Article 41 – Right to work, to education and to public assistance in certain cases.- The State shall, within the limits of its economic capacity and development, make effective provision for securing the right to work, to education and to public assistance in cases of unemployment, old age, sickness and disablement, and in other cases of undeserved want.

Article 45 – Provision for free and compulsory education for children.- The State shall endeavor to provide, within a period of ten years from the commencement of this Constitution, for free and compulsory education for all children until they complete the age of fourteen years.

And many other more reforms.

 Reference: lawtimejournal ( for the prvisions)

Ahh!! Books I just love to read them whether it be based on any genres I just love them. Are you one from these types of people’s, if yes then you have landed on the right article. Here, we are going to talk about books, books and just book mainly based on different genres.

– Fantasy

• The Arabian nights
• Five children and It
• A game of thrones
• The way of kings
• A wizard of Earth sea
• The lies of Locke lamora
• The night circus
• Vampire academy
• The lost hero
• Throne of glass

– Science fiction

• The blazing world
• The stars my destination
• Solaris
• The moon is a harsh mistress
• Frankenstein
• Dune
• Ice
• Foundation
• A scanner darkly
• Hyperion

– Horror

• House of leaves
• Lord of the flies
• Rosemary’s baby
• Blindness
• The haunting of hill house
• Carrion comfort
• Dead beautiful
• We need to talk about Kevin
• Ring
• Night flim

– Mystery

• Gone girl
• In cold blood
• And then there were none
• Woman in white
• The big sleep
• Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
• The postman always rings twice
• The girl with the dragon
• Anatomy of a murder
• The Da Vinci code

– Romance

• It ends with us
• Pride and prejudice
• Vision in white
• Gone with the wind
• Call me by your name
• A long petal of the sea
• Beautiful disaster
• The hating game
• The proposal
• The notebook

– Thriller

• Fragile
• Sixteen horses
• The hiding place
• Black 13
• Red wolves
• People like her
• The imposter
• Magma
• A gambling man
• Saint X

– Drama

• The girl who know too much
• Jane Eyre
• Therese Raquin
• The red and the black
• The vampire lestat
• Before we were
• Les miserables
• Absalom, Absalom!
• Anna Karenina
• Hamlet

Rural Women are re a resourceful economic agent, who work day and night for the family and their growth in every form economic as well as emotional level. They do businesses; they work in farms; they contribute in family businesses. There are rural women who work for others but are also self employed.

They have a very unequal access to the resources and also go through a lot of discrimination. They also have to suffer through gender norms which needs to be addressed. They also have to work at home unpaid for the huge amount of work for their family.

Some general facts about Rural women in daily discrimination:

• Most rural women workers are unpaid family workers or self employed and exposed to precarious jobs and low pay.
• Rural women are paid on an average 25% less than men. They are considered to be less efficient because of low physical strength and sometimes are not even paid for the same work done by men.
• Rural women also work for longer hours than men. They are expected to look after family and children needs along with work. The society thinks of the woman’s real job to be looking after the family needs and being independent for a woman in these cases is generally considered secondary.
• Most of the rural women are unpaid family workers and their work is generally just considered as a contribution to the family rather than actual work which requires a pay.
• Many times a woman’s entrepreneurship is not accepted by the society and they are not supposed to dedicate all their time into some growth or business.
• Women in rural areas also get less or sometimes no access to education. Sometimes they are just told to leave it halfway because their fate is already decided and hence studying will only increase the burden on the family.

Condition of women in Indian rural society specifically:

Employment Creation and how to do it for rural women: Employment creation mean coming up with new industries and ideas which can and will provide employment to a lot of people which will give them stable income and a stable life. Creation of more sector which require the skills of rural women and can help them excel can prove to be a big boon in the society.

Creating employment: Creating employment can be

• Rural work programmes should be encouraged and women training should be encouraged. Rajasthan had one of the highest no. Of women businesses from home. For example: Lijjat Papad. They should be provided with exposure for their promotion and the brands should be encouraged more than the imported brands.
• And increase in women friendliness and a change of attitude towards working women.
• Providing capital for the women to kick start their business ideas and then paying it with small installments.
• Social protection should be improved that is, creating more awareness about women sanitary pads and other basic needs and creating trusted rural brands for all the basic needs so that they don’t feel on being introduced to something foreign but they should learn using the things made by them only. Giving them more trust on the brand and creating awareness among them about them the better living standards in low costs.
• It is never too late to start new. Their access to technological reforms should be increased. They should start learning more about internet and technology through different organizations whose main job is to educate them. These small jobs will also create employment opportunities.

Since the decline of communalism, Globalization has become one of the most controversial and debating issues among people around the World. Globalization has a different definition to different people, and whether it has a positive impact today or was better for yesterday is still questionable. Although a part of the population questions its existence, it has significantly impacted both developed and developing countries’ economies. Globalization cannot simply be related to being political as it has had significant effects on cultural, ideological, and social aspects of people around the World.

To understand the impact of Globalization, it is important to know what it is. One of the popular political scientist, James Rosenau, described the term as a currently popular label and accounted for people’s norms, goods, ideas, services, activities, and currencies that are localized and practiced in a confined area. As per World Health Organization, Globalization is defined as the interdependence and interconnection of people in a local place with the people around the World. The two main elements that need to work here is the ease of flow of goods, services, and activities of people from one place to another and the incorporation and change in policies that allow the easy flow of exchange around the areas.

Globalization is a complex procedure that includes the trends and tendencies of the economic, cultural, and social spheres of the people and places around the World. The process is huge and not easily predictable but organized as well. The liberation of investment and trade, Social networks worldwide, technological innovation, and entrepreneurship are the four major factors of Globalization.

Many political scientists believe that the two major forces that make Globalization effective are technological innovation and entrepreneurship. However, it is impossible to prove that the process works without the intervention of other factors. With the adoption and evolution of market-related laws and policies in local and international fields, the governments have played a significant role by allowing economic integration of special activities and giving major independence to welcome the outside World. Globalization’s financial aspect is the major force that acts as a driving agent for both the political and social parts. Due to the colonization by Europe in various countries, some of the practices and cultural lifestyle is adopted by the people deep inside the African villages.

Globalization has made way for the countries to develop rapidly. However, the development is not even because some countries are growing quickly in comparison to others. The interconnection between the countries helped decrease poverty, but it does not equally support global community members. The developing countries lie in a depriving position while the developed countries enjoy all the interconnection benefits. However, when we take a close look at the impact of Globalization worldwide, we can conclude that it has both positive and negative effects on both developed and developing countries.

Globalization has proven to make a positive impact on the quality of life of people in developing countries. Funding from foreign countries and industrialized nations are helping many developing countries to decrease poverty. These funds are spent on improving the social, health, transport structure, and education of developing countries, helping them with a standard of living.

Today, the developing countries can openly communicate and trade through transport, labor, technology, management, and other benefits from other industrialized countries.

The impact of Globalization around the World

Globalization has its backdrops that dually affect both the developed and developing countries. However, considering the positive side to be heavier, people still believe it to be beneficial and aim for a better standard of living for all the poor people around the Globe.

The concept of a smart city aims to investigate the implications of smart solutions for sustainable development and smart solutions in the city. These solutions mainly concentrate on the core area of the city’s administration, education, health, transportation etc.

The idea of a smart city has been introduced to highlight the importance of Information and Communication Technologies ( ICT’s) in the past 20 years for the quantitative and qualitative analysis of industrialization. In literal terms, the smart city is used to specify a city’s ability to cater to the needs of citizens. Development of city and quality of life are profoundly influenced by the core systems of a city: transport, education, and government services; public safety and health. Research has focused on these four areas, which identity having high priority.

The literature review highlights that various criteria referring to improve life in a city are mentioned in connection to the terms of a smart city. The most important area for starting to transform a city into a smart one in the system of communication; thus, this area prioritizes the use of modern transport technologies. Smart transformation system works as a highway between the development of city and modern technologies.

The term smart city is also used in the literature regarding the education of its citizen. Therefore, a smart city has smart inhabitants in terms of its educational criterion. The intelligent system represents the future processes of education. This system will affect how the information is received, used, understand, and learned by users. In other, the literature the term smart city is also referred to the relation between the city’s governance or public administration and its citizen.  Good governance is a communication for the citizens, e.g. “ e-governance” or “ e- democracy”.

The health system is like a good solution for a smart city snd this implies to use modern technologies to better the results. The smart health system ensures timely diagnosis thus improving the life of the patients. The concept of the ubiquitous city has been developed into huge international research. It is also known a U-city . a model of a smart city is based on the usage of computer systems to exchange data such as cloud computing, open data etc.

The term smart city has attracted a lot of attention in these recent years. Since the end of the last century, many cities have initiated smart city planning. The first step for the establishment of the smart city is based on the physical telecommunication network infrastructure. The second layer constitutes applications that improve operation in the city like traffic control, etc., the third is based on connectivity and unity of all.

There are a lot of advantages to this new system: energy and other natural resources are spent more efficiently, and the tasks of synchronization are much easier to accomplish. We are now able to identify a lot of smart city in different levels of development, and this concept can be used to define urbanization based on modern technologies.

Sports is such an activity that it can be taken up by anyone; at any age and any point in life. Adults, children and elders – everyone alike can take part in sports. Many regard sports as a mere co-curricular or extra-curricular activity in schools. However, in reality, sports play an equally important role as does education in a person’s life. To achieve overall and all-round development in life, one should be well-versed in both sports and culture. While training sharpens the mind, sports sharpens the body and fitness. Thus, both are essential.

There are numerous advantages of involving oneself in sports. First and foremost, as known by all and very definitively, competitions increase the physical fitness of an individual. Additionally, sports also contribute to building stable mental well-being of a person. Various researchers show that people who are in the daily practice of sports in any form record better mental as well as physical health. Moreover, sports also eliminates the risk of a person catching diseases or facing any bodily interruptions. Competitions increase immunity and increase people’s stamina.

Sports also influence the life expectancy of people, increasing the potential years to live of an average human individual. All of us are associated with games somehow or the other in our lives. While at schools and as kids, we were exposed to sports in various forms. However, since many institutions do not make it obligatory to pursue sports in higher academics, some of us are dissociated from its practice. However, a lot of people take up games further, on their own accord. Some people even decide on pursuing a career in the field.

A lot of people take up a lot of different kinds of sporting activities. There are many outdoor sports; these include cricket, badminton, football, hockey, volleyball etc. Indoor sports such as various board games, table tennis, chess etc. are also popular. One can choose from a large variety. While outdoor sports contribute heavily in building the physical aspect of one’s being, indoor games have a more psychological impact. However, none of the activities can be categorised in a hard and fast way. Every sporting activity contributes to the well- being of a person, both physically and mentally.

Sports also builds several characteristics and personality traits in a person. Sports instils a sense of confidence and enthusiasm in an individual’s attitude. People who are involved in regular sports practices show qualities of leadership, team-work and excellence in their personalities and behaviour. Sports makes one competitive, however in a healthy manner. It also helps us to deal with failure and enables us to work hard in achieving our respective goals.

These are all just a few good qualities that sports brings us into our lives. There are many other attributes that games have. Hence, we should all engage actively and more frequently in sports and other physical activities. It instils discipline in us, makes us active, energetic and increases our mental, emotional and physical state.

The Taj Mahal is the materialized vision of love and marks a perfect indelible remark on it’s Mughal Architecture. This historical monument is the mausoleum of Emporer Shan Jahan’s beloved wife, Empress Arjuman Banu Begum, most commonly known as Mumtaz mahal. The Taj Mahal is a complex comprising of the astonishing vision Ustad Isa Khan of Turkey, the chief architect of this historic monument.

The Taj Mahal now holds a renowned place in UNESCO’s World Heritage Site. The tomb contains a 17-hectare centerpiece. The Taj Mahal is located 2.5 km away from the famous Agra Fort and is a renowned masterpiece of the world holds a special place as the 7th wonders in the world.

About Taj Mahal, The conventional story behind the stunning 17th-century marble mausoleum is Emperor Shah Jahan’s eternal for Mumtaz, who died in childbirth. Historians believe that Shah Jahan remained heartbroken over the Empress’s death and ordered his court into mourning for two whole years.  To treasure all memories of his beloved wife, Shah Jahan undertook the task of building the world’s most treasured beautiful monument as a symbol of love. The construction of the imperial structure took almost 22 solid years with the labor of 22,000 workers. However, there are a few debates that question the construction of the Taj Mahal as a monument of love or guilt.

To invoke the memories of the Mughal era,  a 10-day annual event called the ‘Taj Festival’ is celebrated in February, in front of the Taj Mahal.

The grandeur of the Taj Mahal despite decades after construction resonates as the most attractive human-made tourist spot of the world. The Taj Mahal unveils five major structural components- the Darwaza or the main entrance, the Bageecha or gardens, the Masjid or Mosque, the Naqqar Khana or the rest house, and Rauza, the central mausoleum.

The Taj Mahal’s main chambers consist of pseudo-tombs perforated marble screens. Beneath this lies the shadowy burial crypt that homes the tombs of both the Empress Mumtaz and the Emperor Shah Jahan. The perforated screens transmit light into the grave and is a structure of typical Mughal mausoleum. The tombs hold semi-precious stone linings, and calligraphic inscriptions are found to be inscribed on the sides on Mumtaz’s monument, reveal ing the ninety-nine names, Allah. The Taj structures add great artistic wonder and architectural realm to the place.

Located on banks of the sacred river Yamuna, in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, the Taj Mahal is a royal artwork of multiple talented artisans and artists. The area surrounding the Taj holds many decorative elements such as grass lawns and trees that increase the fragrance of the environment. A few feet apart, at the foothills of the entrance pathway lies a fascinating fountain gleaming with water. However, due to the growing pollution, the white Taj marbles have reacted, leaving yellow-tinged surfaces. To protect the Mahal from further damage, the Indian government has enforced around 4,000-square-mile Taj Trapezium Zone, with strict emissions standards. This beautiful marble masterpiece gives immense pride to all Indians and is considered as a devout symbol of love.

Our mothers are like a security blanket to us because she saves us from all problems. She never regards her own problems and listens to us all time. In order to give her respect, the second Sunday of May month has been dedicated to her to celebrate mother’s day. This event is of great importance to us and our mothers. On this day we should keep our mothers happy and never make them sad. We should always obey her and do work properly. She always wants to make us a good human being in life.

A big program is organized in our school every year on mother’s day to celebrate it conjointly. Our teachers help us in getting prepared for the mother’s day occasion. We learn lots of poems, rhymes, essays, speeches on Mother’s day, conversations, etc for the celebration of this occasion. We are really blessed by God with a caring and loving mother. Without mothers our lives are nothing. We are so lucky as we have a mother. We give lots of special gifts to our mother and she gives us lots of love and care. Out teachers give us an invitation card to invite our mother to school and be the glory of the occasion.

Mothers do lots of activities in the classroom like dancing, singing, poem recitation, speech, etc for our happiness. We too take part in the celebration and show our talent (such as poem recitation, essay writing, speech, dance, singing, etc) in front of the mother and teacher. Our mothers bring a lot of delicious dishes with them to school. At the end of the celebration, we all enjoy eating those delicious dishes together with our teachers and mothers. We are served a variety of dishes by our mothers.

Our mothers are very special. Even after being tired she always smiles for us. She tells us different poems and stories while sleeping in the night. She helps us in preparing our project works and home works and helps us during exam time. She takes care of our uniform and school dress. She teaches us to eat anything only after proper hand washes with soap and water. She teaches us good manners, etiquette, morality, humanity, and helping others always in life. She takes care of my father, grandparents, and my small sister. We all too love her too much and take her outside weekly with all family members.

Alexander the Great was a king of Macedonia who conquered an empire that stretched from Balkans to modern-day Pakistan. He was born on July 20th, 356 BC in Pella, which was the administrative capital of Macedonia.

Alexander was the son of Philip II and Olympias, one of Philip’s eight wives. He was brought up with the belief that he was of divine birth. From his early days, Olympias had encouraged him to believe that he was a descendent of heroes and gods. Nothing he had accomplished would have discouraged him from believing. The personality of Alexander the Great was a paradox. He had great charisma and force of personality, but his character was full of contradictions, especially in his later years. However, he had the ability to motivate his army to do what seems to be impossible.

Alexander was a visionary. His ability to dream, plan and strategize on a large scale allowed him too many battles, even when he was outnumbered. It also helped motivate his men, who knew they were part of one of the greatest conquests in history. Alexander could be inspiring and courageous, continued Abernethy. He was devoted to training his mean, rewarding them with honours and spoils, and going into battle beside them, which furthered their devotion and confidence. The fact that Alexander was young, beautiful and empathetic only helped to increase his influence on his soldiers and subjects.

His father was often away, conquering neighbouring territories and putting down revolts. Nevertheless, King Philip II of Macedon was one of Alexander’s most influential role models. Philip ensured Alexander was given a noteworthy and significant education. He arranged for Alexander to be tutored by Aristotle himself. His education infused him with a love of knowledge, logic, philosophy, music and culture. The teachings of Aristotle would later aid him in the treatment of his new subjects in the empires he invaded and conquered, allowing him to admire and maintain these disparate cultures.

Alexander watched his father campaign nearly every year and win victory after victory. Philip remodelled the Macedonian army from citizen-warriors into a professional organization. In early 324 BC, Alexander reached the city of Susa in Persia. Wanting to unite the Persians and Macedonian and create a new race loyal to him, he ordered many of his officers to marry Persian princesses at a mass wedding. He also took two more wives for himself.

The Macedonian army resented Alexander’s attempt to change their culture, and many mutinied. But after Alexander took a firm stand and replaced Macedonian officers and troops with Persians, his army-backed down. To further diffusion the situation, Alexander returned their titles hosted a huge reconciliation banquet.

Many conquered lands retained the Greek influence Alexander introduced, and several cities he founded remain important cultural centers even today. The period of history from his death to 31 BC, when his empire folded, would come to be known as the Hellenistic period. Alexander the Great is revered as the most powerful and influential leaders in the ancient world ever produced.

In 334 BC Alexander III of Macedon better known as Alexander the Great set out on his grand campaign of conquest against the Persian Achaemenid Empire, aged just 22. Benefitting from the conquests, diplomacy and military reforms of his father, Philip II, Alexander has inherited a powerful professional army that utilized the Phalanx formation.

He would go on to forge one of the largest empires the world had yet seen, conquering the mighty Persian Empire and marching his army as far as the Beas River in India. Alexander won four victories against the Persians: the Battle of the Granicus: May 334 BC, The Battle of Issus: 5 November 333 BC, The Battle of Gaugamela: 1 October 331 BC, The Battle of the Persian Gate: 20 January 330 BC. His ability to dream, plan and strategize on a large scale allowed him too many battles, even when he was outnumbered.

Mental health is crucial and integrates a component of health. Mental health includes an individual’s psychological, emotional and social well-being. Proper mental health results in the proper mental functioning that result in being productive in activities, healthy and fulfilling relationships with other people and having the ability to cope and adapt to adversity.

Proper mental health is essential in every stage of life – from childhood and teenage to adulthood. Throughout a lifetime, an individual can experience mental health issue at any point. This affects not only their mood and behaviour but also changes their way of thinking, of looking at life and facing challenges.

Even though mental health is a highly personal thing, what affects one person may or may not affect the other person; however, some significant factors contribute to mental health problems. These factors include life experiences such as trauma or abuse, biological factors such as genes or chemistry of the brain, and even the family history of mental health problems can affect an individual. Poor mental health is also linked with stressful work conditions, rapid social changes, gender discrimination, gender discrimination, social exclusion, physical illness and human rights violation.

Mental health problems are common, but for the longest time, people have avoided the entire concept of it and taken mental health for granted. At one point, mental health was considered taboo, and anyone seeking help was labelled as mentally ill. Mental health and mental illness are not similar things.

For a long time, mental health has been defined as the absence of mental illnesses such as anxiety and depression. Mental illness typically refers to all the diagnosable mental disorders – health conditions that are characterized by alterations in mood, thinking and behaviour associated with impaired functioning or distress.

Mental health and mental illness together go hand in hand. Individuals having optimal mental health conditions can also face mental illness, where people who have no mental illness can also have poor                 mental health. In recent times, people have started taking mental health seriously and taking proper steps in dealing with any mental health issues. Help is available out there; people with mental health problems can get better by seeking help.

People suffering from mental health issues show various symptoms such as little or no energy, pushing away people and pulling themselves back from regular activities, loss of sleep or the will to eat, smoking, drinking or doing drugs, feeling helpless, yelling and fighting, losing temper very quickly, harming themselves and many more.

Taking care of mental health not only is getting help from professionals when needed but also connecting with other, getting involved in physical activities, helping others, getting enough sleep and staying positive that there is a way out. Positive mental health allows people to realize their full potential, cope with stress in life, work productively and make meaningful contributions to the community. Various factors in people’s lives such as intrapersonal relations, physical factors, childhood trauma and many other conditions can disrupt mental health conditions. Taking care and looking after one’s mental health preserves an individual’s ability to enjoy life.

Mental health is not only the psychological and emotional well-being of an individual but also it is the state of well-being where an individual can use their emotional and cognitive abilities to meet the demands of everyday life and contribute to the society. Mental health is essential in every stage of one’s life, starting from childhood to adolescents up to adulthood.

Every year October 10th is observed as world mental health day. It was started as an annual activity by the world federation by the deputy secretary-general of UNO (United Nations Organisation) at that time for mental health.

Mental health resources in every country are different. At the same time, developed countries of the western world provide mental health programs for every age group. In third world countries where it becomes a struggle to find the basic needs of the families, not much importance is given providing proper mental health aid.

Foreigners often remark that India is a land of temples, shrines and sacred places. With the history of India are intertwined many stories that are religious, legendary and social. Right from Kashmir to Kerala, we come across temples of many Gods and Goddesses.

One of the biggest temples of India is the newly built Lakshmi Narayan temple (Birla Mandir) in Delhi. This temple was built by late industrialist Shri G.D. Birla.

As we approach the temple, we see a majestic and magnificent construction. It covers a wide area having the front wall artistically built with gates in it. At the back of this temple, lie the hilly mounds. The trees give it a very natural and fascinating look.

The entire temple has been built with marble. Inside the temple, there is the statue of Lord Krishna that lies in the central precincts. There are engravings and murals on the walls of the inner temple that depict the stories of The Ramayana and The Mahabharata. There are green lawns inside the temple and parks having many swings and slides on which the children can play. The figures of cow, camel, bear and many other animals, have been carved in stone. The fountains and water coming out of a tiger’s mouth attract people.

On one side of the temple akhand-kirtan or non-stop singing goes on in praise of the Lord. People going to the temple listen to it with full attention. Devotees, saints and sages are seen reciting the sacred hymns of the holy Bhagwad Gita.

The Lakshmi Narayan Temple wears a grand and decent look on the days of Janam Ashtami and Ram Navami, i.e., the birthdays of Lord Krishna and Lord Rama, respectively. Thousands of visitors visit this temple on these days. There is a great rush of people during these days. The temple-tops are illuminated with fancy electric bulbs and it presents an exquisite sight.

Pujas are performed. This sacred place hums with activity during the festivals. The entire temple is lit-up with electric bulbs and lights on the day of Deepawali. If we visit this temple on Deepawali, when it is decorated with glittering lights and adorned by the flowers and other decorative things, we derive great mental satisfaction and solace.

 journey by train is always an interesting experience. In the winter of 2009,1 happened to attend the marriage of one of my friends. My friend lived in Amritsar. I got a seat reserved in the first-class compartment from Delhi to Amritsar in a super-fast train and its a winter season.

When the train crossed the platform, it began to pick up speed. Soon, it ran very fast and after some time, reached Panipat. I was carrying some novels, tit-bits, magazines and a newspaper with me. For some time, I read but I soon got bored and gazed outside. A peep through the window of the train showed me a charming sight. I saw lush green fields, trees, groves and forests from the window of the running train. I also saw farmers ploughing the fields. Then my train reached Ambala at 4.50 p.m. Here I had my evening tea at the tea-stall on the railway platform. There was a lot of rush. The hawkers and vendors were selling a variety of foodstuffs. Soon, the train whistled. I got into my compartment and the train left the station.

From Ambala, a foreigner couple boarded my compartment. The couple seemed nice and friendly, so I enquired about their country. The man at once quipped that he belonged to Norway. Then both the husband and wife began to narrate the facts about Norwegians. They also compared the same with the facts and information about India. His wife spoke highly of Indian womanhood. She praised their beauty and behaviour. She also praised the culture, civilisation and places of historical and religious interests in India. Both were deeply impressed by the grandeur of Punjab. Its folklores and festivals were highly appreciated by them. This chat with the foreigner couple was quite interesting for me.

It was night. There was darkness outside. The chilling wind began to blow. My train was nearing its destination. The train halted at Jalandhar. The engine was also changed there. The train then steamed off and ran at full throttle. The piercing wind was penetrating through the open window panes. At 9 p.m. the train reached Amritsar. The platform was lit up with lights. I got down from the train. I met my friend who had come to receive me at the railway station. We both then drove to his home. It was a pleasant journey by train in winter. It added to my experience and knowledge.

I was a bit apprehensive at first by just seeing that the premise of this show was based on superheroes. I didn’t think that they would have the budget to deliver the level of VFX that Marvel and DC have been managing to. Although they get around this issue by spacing out action set pieces and largely constraining to hand to hand combat when they do get to the larger action scenes involving computer effects and stunt coordination they are able to deliver on a large scale.

In many ways, this did not feel like a TV show at all. It felt like an 8-hour movie that was just split into 8 halves. There are no instances where the show seemed to drag for the purpose of producing more episodes, it did not also pander to less interesting side characters to pass the time. The whole show seems very cohesive and consistent with the logic in its universe. It also adroitly uses its soundtrack at appropriate places only when it is necessary. The show also manages to balance humor and its dark tone quite well.

I found this show extremely mature, not only in the sense of its visual presentation which is extremely gory and ultra-violent but also in terms of the ideas and themes it is trying to convey. It touches on many topics like religion, fame, capitalism, nihilism, and loss. All these ideas are eloquently carried out throughout the show in such a way that they do not impede the actual story development. The color pallet of this show is also very dark and grainy, which I am not always a fan of but it actually works here because unlike other films or shows who use their R rating unwittingly and sporadically, this one uses it with the purpose to show the reality of the world.

By far my favorite aspect of this show is its characters. Every character in this show has multiple dimensions. They are not just completely evil or noble, even some of our main characters have questionable morals. They all have a strong background and motivation and they definitely do justice in further developing these characters as the season moves along. I found the character of Billy Butcher, played by Karl Urban, the most interesting. This is because several aspects of his life are lightly alluded throughout the season, making the audience want to know more about this character.

I know this is not the first of its kind to make a show about morally compromised heroes but it is also a lot more than that. It has a lot to say about society and huge cooperations running our lives. It just uses superheroes as a medium to convey all those ideas. My only gripe with this show is its plot convenience and misplaced exposition. I strongly recommend checking it out.

History of Amazon:

The company was created as a result of what Jeff Bezos called his “regret minimization framework”, which described his efforts to fend off any regrets for not participating sooner in the Internet business boom during that time. In 1994, Bezos left his employment as vice-president of D. E. Shaw & Co., a Wall Street firm, and moved to Seattle, Washington, where he began to work on a business plan for what would become Amazon.com.

On July 5, 1994, Bezos initially incorporated the company in Washington state with the name Cadabra, Inc. After a few months he changed the name to Amazon.com, Inc, because a lawyer misheard its original name as “cadaver”. In its early days, the company was operated out of the garage of Bezos’s house on Northeast 28th Street in Bellevue, Washington. In September 1994, Bezos purchased the domain name relentless.com and briefly considered naming his online store Relentless, but friends told him the name sounded a bit weird. The domain is still owned by Bezos and still redirects to the retailer.

Introduction:

Amazon  is an  American  international  e-commerce  company.  It  was started by Jeffrey P. Bezos  in the  year 1994. And  it was  launched in

India in June 2013. Three years back, Amazon had no infrastructure in

India, and now it dominates the Indian markets. At the very start it was

perception of investors that in India It will not go long like China as   in

the    2004  when  Amazon  entered  in  China  it  hasn’t  seen  much

success there with Alibaba, its Chinese competitor, dominating the e-

commerce market. After its bad run in China, Bezos is going all in for

India. 

Fact  behind formation of  Amazon  in  India was  its huge  number  of headcounts i.e.  1.25 billion four  times as  big  as the  U.S.’s  and  more.

than  doubles  . Of these  500 million around  35  are

Internet users. As per researches the yearly growth rate of internet users is  highest  in  India  around  six  million  users  join  every  month. Researchers expect  the online shopping  market  in India  to reach $15 billion by 2016 up from only $35 million in 2014.

Objectives Of Business Model:

• To look into the strategy of Amazon to assess and be prepared for  the foreseen challenges of running Am
• To understand Amazons expansion strategy in detail.

  Amazon India Business model:

 Amazon targets the middle class & upper class people who  have hands on experience in technology but don’t have much  time  to  do  shopping  from  the  physical  outlets.  Taking  this  into  consideration  Amazon  has successfully positioned itself as a Glocal (Go global Act local) e-commerce giant where one can buy anything & get it delivered at any remote locations. Using the catchphrase Aur Dikhao its most recent campaign in India, it has further helped them carve a distinct space in the consumer’s mind.

 Company  acquired  many  IT  &   e-commerce  start-ups  like  pets.com,  audible.com,  Junglee.com,  IMBD.com,

Zappos.com,  Woot  etc. for    providing  high value  to their customers  using existing  technology of the  acquired

partners at low cost.

Company’s  CRM  records  data  on  customer’s  buying  behavior.  It enables them to  offer individual items,  relaconsumers or bundle them as an offer, based upon preferences demonstrated through purchases or items visited. Revenue model defines how a firm aims to generate higher return on investment and profits. Important e-commerce

revenue models include advertising, subscription, transaction fee, sales, and affiliate revenue models (Laudon and

Traver, 2009). Market opportunity gives description of possible revenue a company is likely to generate from its

proposed marketspace. 

 .

In the U.S., by contrast, Amazon holds and sells its own inventory of toys, books, and more in addition to selling

goods from third-party sellers. The Indian Government, however, plans to allow foreign companies that manufacture their products in the country to sell them directly to consumers over the Internet. But Amazon would have to start making its products in India to take advantage of the change in the  law. Amazon’s model in India differs slightly .

As we discussed earlier that major foreign ownership to operate retail locations having their own inventory . Because of which amazon serves with warehousing and shipping goods

Amazon is an American international e-commerce company. It was started by Jeffrey P.  Bezos in the year 1994.

And it was launched in India in June 2013. Three  years back, Amazon had no  infrastructure in India, and now it dominates the  Indian markets.  So main objective of the case is  to study the  challenges  faced  by Amazon India during initial years and what strategy it followed to overcome the challenges. This case will also study the business model of amazon in India

Amazon entered in China it hasn’t seen much success there with Alibaba its Chinese   the

commerce market. After its bad run in China, Bezos is going all in for India. 

Fact behind formation of Amazon in India was its huge number of headcounts i.e. 1.25 billions.

Researchers expected the online shopping market in India to have reached 15 million by 2016.

Amazon is known for knowledgeable products

Note: References taken from different websites as the data was number based.

-Medha Singh

The Rule of law and its origins:

The rule of law is a concept that describes the supreme authority of the law over

governmental action and individual behaviour. It corresponds to a situation where both

the government and individuals are bound by the law and comply with it. It is the

antithesis of tyrannical or arbitrary rule.

The rule of law is the product of historical developments over centuries and is linked to

the rise of the liberal democratic form of government in the West. The rule of law is the

subject of competing theories.

For some, the concept has a purely formal meaning.

Under this concept of the rule of law, the state must act in accordance with the laws it has

promulgated and these laws must meet a certain number of minimum characteristics. For

others, the concept has a wider, more substantive, meaning that incorporates ideals of

justice and fairness. Further meanings can also be ascribed to the concept according to

various political ideologies.

Although it is generally accepted that the extent to which a government adheres to the

rule of law is indicative of the degree of legitimacy of its actions, the divergent use of the

term illustrate that the concept is far from having achieved a universally accepted

meaning. Indeed, while some declare the concept to have attained the status of a new

universally-accepted political ideal following the end of the Cold War.

The rule of law has evolved over centuries and is inextricably linked to historical

developments that have led to the gradual emergence of liberal democracies and their

underlying modes of governance and legal systems.

The role that law plays in society was the subject of philosophical discussions in Greek

and Roman antiquity. In one of his last dialogues, The Laws (circa 360 B.C.), Plato is

credited with positing the idea that the government should be subservient to the law. The

idea was further refined by his student Aristotle in his work The Politics (circa 350 B.C.)

in which he contrasted the rule of law, reason, with the rule of man, passion, to explain

why the government should be bound by law as means to prevent arbitrary rule and the

abuse of power.Both philosophers agreed that laws must be promulgated for the

common good.  These Greek works had a notable influence on Roman legal thought,

most notably on Cicero, who emphasised in De Legibus (circa 54-51 B.C.) that the law

must be for the good of the community as a whole, thereby subjecting law to ideals of

justice. The fall of the Roman Republic at the hands of emperors gave way to autocratic

rule. During the reign of Emperor Justinian I, Roman law was codified.

Meaning Of the Rule of law:

For some, the concept has a purely formal meaning, in which the rule of law requires the

state to act in accordance with the laws it has promulgated and these laws must meet a

certain number of minimum characteristics. However, for others, the concept has a wider,

more substantive, meaning that incorporate ideals of justice and fairness and respect for

fundamental rights.

Under formalistic theories – termed by some as the “thin rule of law” or “rule by law” –

the government must operate within the confines of the law, whatever those laws might

be. Contemporary formalistic theories tend to share the liberal view of the rule of law as

being equivalent to formal legality. From this perspective, the rule of law is therefore not

concerned with the content of the laws, but rather the optimal functioning of the legal

system with a view to providing individuals with a certain degree of predictability as

regards the legal consequences of their actions. Formal theories of the rule of law tends to

be the most widely accepted and are embraced by international development agencies,

because they are capable of universal appeal regardless of whether certain countries

recognise fundamental rights or democratic values.

In The Morality That Makes Law Possible (1964), Lon Fuller explained that, in order to

act as a proper guide to behaviour, the law must be characterised by the existence of a

system of rules that meets a certain number of characteristics. Although Fuller

acknowledged that the occasional and partial absence of any of these criteria was

unavoidable because a balance has to be achieved between legal certainty and society’s

ability to change laws, he also stressed that the complete absence of one or more criteria

would result in complete failure of the law. Although these criteria were not directed at

providing a definition of the rule of law but rather a definition of law itself, Fuller’s list of

characteristics has been incorporated one way or another in contemporary definitions of the rule of law.

Criticisms of the Rule of law:

It is undeniable that the rule of law forms an integral part of the liberal form of

democratic government worldwide. It goes without saying that “freedom under the rule

of law” is an oft-repeated mantra of Western liberal democracies. In this sense, adherence

for the rule of law therefore appears to carry with it a number of connotations of a social

and political nature. Seen in this light, the rule of law is not necessarily a politically

neutral concept.

For instance, some argue that a model of government based on the welfare state is

incompatible with the rule of law. In a later edition of Introduction to Study of the Laws

of the Constitution, Dicey had deplored what he saw as the decline in the rule of law

owing in part to the emergence of the welfare state and the adoption of legislation that

gave regulatory and adjudicatory powers to administrative entities without recourse to

judicial review by the courts. This concern has been shared by liberal commentators over

time. Like Dicey, Hayek argued that the welfare state was incompatible with the rule of

law. Nonetheless, it could be argued that these concerns have been tempered by the rise

of administrative law as a distinct area of law in common law countries, where the

ordinary courts have developed an elaborate body of case law that has placed limits on

administrative discretion, some of which has been codified into legislation. Dicey

criticised as being incompatible with the rule of law the existence in France of separate

administrative laws that deal with relations between government and the governed and

which did not fall within the jurisdiction of the ordinary courts. However, it is now

recognised that the establishment of administrative courts that are distinct from the civil

and criminal courts in countries following the civil code tradition has ensured to a large

extent that discretionary actions taken by the government do not go unchecked.

Moreover, it is undeniable that certain countries that follow the civil law tradition – for

example Belgium and Sweden – which pride themselves on having a political system that

embraces social welfare, are also widely accepted as adhering to the rule of law.

Natural Law and it’s Definition:

It is undeniable that the rule of law forms an integral part of the liberal form of

democratic government worldwide. It goes without saying that “freedom under the rule

of law” is an oft-repeated mantra of Western liberal democracies. In this sense, adherence

for the rule of law therefore appears to carry with it a number of connotations of a social

and political nature. Seen in this light, the rule of law is not necessarily a politically

neutral concept.

For instance, some argue that a model of government based on the welfare state is

incompatible with the rule of law. In a later edition of Introduction to Study of the Laws

of the Constitution, Dicey had deplored what he saw as the decline in the rule of law

owing in part to the emergence of the welfare state and the adoption of legislation that

gave regulatory and adjudicatory powers to administrative entities without recourse to

judicial review by the courts. This concern has been shared by liberal commentators over

time. Like Dicey, Hayek argued that the welfare state was incompatible with the rule of

law. Nonetheless, it could be argued that these concerns have been tempered by the rise

of administrative law as a distinct area of law in common law countries, where the

ordinary courts have developed an elaborate body of case law that has placed limits on

administrative discretion, some of which has been codified into legislation. Dicey

criticised as being incompatible with the rule of law the existence in France of separate

administrative laws that deal with relations between government and the governed and

which did not fall within the jurisdiction of the ordinary courts. However, it is now

recognised that the establishment of administrative courts that are distinct from the civil

and criminal courts in countries following the civil code tradition has ensured to a large

extent that discretionary actions taken by the government do not go unchecked.

Moreover, it is undeniable that certain countries that follow the civil law tradition – for

example Belgium and Sweden – which pride themselves on having a political system that

embraces social welfare, are also widely accepted as adhering to the rule of law.

Natural law’s Origin:

It is undeniable that the rule of law forms an integral part of the liberal form of

democratic government worldwide. It goes without saying that “freedom under the rule

of law” is an oft-repeated mantra of Western liberal democracies. In this sense, adherence

for the rule of law therefore appears to carry with it a number of connotations of a social

and political nature. Seen in this light, the rule of law is not necessarily a politically

neutral concept.

For instance, some argue that a model of government based on the welfare state is

incompatible with the rule of law. In a later edition of Introduction to Study of the Laws

of the Constitution, Dicey had deplored what he saw as the decline in the rule of law

owing in part to the emergence of the welfare state and the adoption of legislation that

gave regulatory and adjudicatory powers to administrative entities without recourse to

judicial review by the courts. This concern has been shared by liberal commentators over

time. Like Dicey, Hayek argued that the welfare state was incompatible with the rule of

law. Nonetheless, it could be argued that these concerns have been tempered by the rise

of administrative law as a distinct area of law in common law countries, where the

ordinary courts have developed an elaborate body of case law that has placed limits on

administrative discretion, some of which has been codified into legislation. Dicey

criticised as being incompatible with the rule of law the existence in France of separate

administrative laws that deal with relations between government and the governed and

which did not fall within the jurisdiction of the ordinary courts. However, it is now

recognised that the establishment of administrative courts that are distinct from the civil

and criminal courts in countries following the civil code tradition has ensured to a large

extent that discretionary actions taken by the government do not go unchecked.

Moreover, it is undeniable that certain countries that follow the civil law tradition – for

example Belgium and Sweden – which pride themselves on having a political system that

embraces social welfare, are also widely accepted as adhering to the rule of law.

August 1st, 2019, I knew my world had changed, for one thing, I loved biology with all my heart, and the other was I was standing at the admission center of Sahyadri Engineering college. I was put into a whole different world from what I had previously planned up for myself. Till that day of my life, the only thing I knew was that I wanted to be a Doctor.

Maybe because all my life, I was around my cousins who were doctors too. But when I genuinely asked for their opinion, they asked me one thing, Studying MBBS and being a doctor is no joke, there will be times where you will be frustrated because there will be too much to study, you won’t be able to get proper sleep or even time for yourself, Do you still want to be a doctor? Well it was at that time something clicked in me, so even before I knew it, I had suddenly backed out. I wanted to do something different, at the same time I also wanted a bit of freedom, where I had time to concentrate on myself too. So now one thing was sure that, there was no turning back, no matter how hard it gets I will have to stick up with my choice of stream.

In A New Place And New Environment

In the beginning, It was hard to open up with strangers, but the Induction program gave me a chance to speak with people, where I came to know some were in similar condition as mine. Then I met one of a senior, and she turned out to be my biggest blessing there. She introduced me to her friends. One of the many things we had in common was dancing, so she introduced me to a dance group from our college. I met some amazing dancers there. All the rehearsals kept me busy and didn’t give me a chance to think twice as to why I chose engineering. Without even knowing I had already blended in and made some friends. And formed our small group of friends of five people. Those who still are close to my heart.

An Unforgettable Experience

In the following month of October, we saw a notice was put up on the notice board of each class. It was a chance for us to go, participate, and attend events that were being held at different colleges in a different place, while with full attendance in each subject. Our class people were soon divided into two teams. One to go to BITS Pilani, Hyderabad, and the other one to Thapur University, Punjab. I was in the first team, of Hyderabad. We were a total of twenty-two people along with two mentors to guide us. Our team was named ‘The Hawx’. We had around two weeks to prepare all our bots. We stayed at college late nights, for work. It was a new experience too. Along with work we bonded and enjoyed while having dinner together in college.

I also caught a glimpse of what a team and teamwork actually were. Because in this field you can do things alone, but when in a team, be it the idea or the end product it comes a lot better than what you usually do alone. You learn to be understanding of each other and respect their opinions too. And also learn that some misunderstandings or problems can be solved by simply sitting and discussing, what and where things went wrong, then brainstorming ideas, and come up with an even better solution. And even then if things seemed very unsatisfying, we knew there was always someone to guide us, like our mentors who have already gone through with all the process and also know how to make the best of the worst situation that we may face during the competition.

Taking The Initiative

As all these events were going on, simultaneously every first-year student had an additional more practical subject called SIP – Social Innovative Program. Where we were divided into teams of five, every class was given a topic to work on, as for our class we were given the topic of ‘Horticulture’. We were asked to form a problem statement by asking them, what all problems they faced, as well as come up with a project as its solution. We interviewed farmers, shopkeepers, chemists, lecturers, This program taught me to be alert and also increased my level of curiosity. As it was teamwork, it also improved my team-building skills and initiation-taking skills. As the interview was to be done in a formal manner, it also helped me improve my soft skills, and my teammates also helped me boost my confidence.

Overall the whole year, I discovered my new sides that I didn’t even know existed. I had a great year filled with both sweet and some bitter memories. Even though I don’t know what the future holds for me, this time I will be looking forward to it!

About the book

Inferno is a 2013 mystery thriller novel by American author Dan Brown and the fourth book in his Robert Langdon series, following Angels & Demons, The Da Vinci Code and The Lost Symbol. The book was published on May 14, 2013, ten years after publication of The Da Vinci Code (2003), by Doubleday. It was number one on the New York Times Best Seller list for hardcover fiction and Combined Print & E-book fiction for the first eleven weeks of its release, and also remained on the list of E-book fiction for the first seventeen weeks of its release. A film adaptation was released in the United States on October 28, 2016.

Important character

Robert Langdon: An American professor of symbology at Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts and protogonist of the novel.

Sienna Brooks: A doctor and Zobrist’s former lover who works for The Consortium and secondary antogonist. She helps Langdon find the virus Zobrist created, but her past relationship with Zobrist makes her loyalty to Langdon suspicious until the end of the novel. She was a loyal disciple of Zobrist until she reads his last letter and decides to get his new technology before it can fall into the wrong hands. She believes the World Health Organization will cooperate with other government agencies to use Zobrist’s new virus for weapons. She uses The Consortium and Langdon to follow the Map of Hell and get to ground zero before everyone else, but realizes that Zobrist had set off a futile search as he released his virus well beforehand.

Bertrand Zobrist: A transhumanist genius scientist who is obsessed with Dante’s Inferno and a primary antagonist of the novel. He is intent on solving the world’s overpopulation problem by releasing a virus.

Elizabeth Sinskey: The head of the World Health Organization who hires Langdon to find Zobrist’s virus. She became infertile after taking steroids to help with her childhood asthma attacks and as such is emotionally invested in Zobrist’s method of controlling world population.

Cristoph Brüder: Head of the SRS team (part of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control) who is ordered by Sinskey to find Langdon after she loses contact with him.

The Provost: The head of The Consortium. He tries to bring to fruition Zobrist’s wishes by securing the location of the virus from Langdon and Sinskey and scheduling to release to the media a video Zobrist made before his death. When he learns that he was helping Zobrist in a bio-terrorist attack, he helps the World Health Organization to search for the weapon. He is eventually arrested for his part in the events.

Vayentha: The Consortium’s agent in Florence who has orders to follow Langdon but is later disavowed after failing her mission. She falls to her death after a confrontation with Langdon and Brooks in the Palazzo Vecchio.

Jonathan Ferris: An agent of The Consortium who pretends to be in league with the World Health Organization. He used fake eyebrows and a mustache to act as Dr. Marconi in the beginning of the novel.

Marta Alvarez: An employee at the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence who assists Langdon with Dante’s death mask. She is pregnant with her first child.

Ignazio Busoni: The obese director of Il Duomo in Florence, nicknamed “il Duomino”, who assists Langdon with Dante’s death mask. He succumbs to a heart attack prior to the events of the novel.

Ettore Vio: The curator of St. Mark’s basilica in Venice.

Mirsat: A tour guide of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul.

Story plot

Harvard symbolism professor Robert Langdon wakes up in a hospital in Florence, Italy with a head wound and no memory of the last few days. Dr. Sienna Brooks, one of the doctors tending to him, reveals that he is suffering from amnesia. When Vayentha, an assassin, shows up in the hospital and kills one of the doctors, while attempting to kill Langdon, Brooks helps Langdon escape, and they flee to her apartment.

Langdon finds a cylinder with a biohazard sign in his jacket and decides to call the U.S. consulate. He learns that they are searching for him, but, prompted by Brooks, claims to be across the street from her apartment, to avoid getting her more involved. Soon, Langdon sees Vayentha pull up to the location he gave the consulate, deducing that the U.S. government wants to kill him. Langdon opens the container and finds a small medieval bone cylinder fitted with a hi-tech projector that displays a modified version of Botticelli’s Map of Hell, which is based on Dante’s Inferno. A trail of clues leads them toward the Old City.

He goes there with Brooks, but they find that a secretive team of soldiers, and the Florentine Carabinieri searching for them. They flee, and Langdon examines the “Map of Hell” again, noticing several changes to the layers. Langdon discovers a phrase from the painting The Battle of Marciano by Vasari, located in the Palazzo Vecchio. They manage to evade the soldiers and get into the Old City using the Vasari Corridor.

At the Palazzo, Langdon meets the director of the museum, Marta Alvarez, who recognizes him, having met him and Ignazio Busoni, the director of Il Duomo, the previous night, when she showed them Dante’s death mask. Langdon asks to see the mask again, to retrace his steps, but they find the mask gone, and security footage shows Langdon and Busoni stealing the mask. Fleeing, Langdon and Sienna listen to a message left by Busoni, referring to “Paradise 25”.Vayentha murderes Ferris with the squib breaking his ribs.

Langdon and Brooks escape the guards, but the soldiers arrive, and chase them across the attic. Vayentha also arrives, and in a confrontation with Langdon, Brooks pushes her to her death. Langdon connects the phrase “Paradise 25” to the Florence Baptistry, where they find the Dante mask along with a riddle from its current owner, a billionaire geneticist named Bertrand Zobrist. Brooks explains that Zobrist was a geneticist who advocated the halting of humanity’s growth, and that he was rumored to be working on an engineered disease to do so. Ferris, claiming to be from the World Health Organization (WHO), helps them escape the soldiers. Ferris had been ordered to detain Brooks. They follow the riddle to Venice. Ferris collapse was due to Brooks punching him in his damaged ribs, with Brooks claiming he is suffering from massive internal bleeding, causing Langdon to suspect Ferris has been infected with Zobrist’s plague. Langdon is captured by a group of soldiers while Brooks escapes.

Langdon is taken to Dr. Elizabeth Sinskey, the director-general of the WHO. She explains that Zobrist, who committed suicide the week before, had supposedly developed a new biological plague that will cause infertility in a third of the worlds’ population, in order to solve the problem of the world’s impending overpopulation, citing the Doomsday Argument. Sinskey raided Zobrist’s safe deposit box, found the cylinder and flew Langdon to Florence to follow the clues. However, he stopped communicating with Sinskey after meeting with Alvarez and Ignazio and the WHO feared he betrayed them and was working with Zobrist. The soldiers were the WHO’s emergency response team, and not meant to kill him.

Zobrist had paid a shadowy consulting group “The Consortium” to protect the cylinder until a certain date. He also left a video filled with disturbing Dante imagery, and then showed a picture of the plague itself, kept in a hidden underwater location, within a slowly dissolving bag. The video claims that the world will be changed the following morning. When Sinskey retrieved it, the Consortium abducted Langdon and staged every event up to this point, to motivate him to solve it.

Brooks goes rogue and The Consortium realizes she was a secret supporter and lover of Zobrist. She learned where the plague was being kept after Langdon solved the riddle and acquires a private jet to get to it. Langdon, the WHO and The Consortium team up to stop her. After watching Zobrist’s video, they conclude that the bag containing the plague will be fully dissolved by the date the video specifies and that Zobrist’s clues point to its location: the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. They find the plague is in the Cistern but discover Brooks already there. The bag that held the plague had already been broken, presumably spreading to the outer world via visiting tourists. Brooks runs out of the Cistern, causing panicked tourists to stampede, while Langdon gives chase.

Despite almost escaping, Brooks returns, and reveals that the bag had already dissolved one week earlier. The date specified in Zobrist’s video was the mathematical calculation of when the entire world would be infected, which has already happened. The plague that Zobrist created is revealed to be a vector virus that randomly activates to employ DNA modification to cause sterility in one third of humans. Brooks reveals that she was trying to stop the virus herself, distrusting the WHO, fearing the virus would be weaponized if they found it. The leader of The Consortium tries to escape WHO custody, but is caught later. Brooks receives amnesty in exchange for working with the WHO to address the crisis, since she has extensive knowledge of Zobrist’s research and work