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Shoot the breeze—to have a casual conversation or to spend time talking about things that are not important.
Cut the cackle and come to the horses—to get down to business. Leave out the non-essentials and come to the part that matters. Agatha Christie was quite fond of this idiom and she has used it in some of her novels.
Not turn a hair—to remain unmoved or unaffected.
Shakespeare—arguably is the greatest wordsmith in the history of English language. Americans loved the Bard because they saw in him a pioneer: an inventive wordsmith who coined new words and expressions—some 1700 by one estimate.
Running the Parliament costs Rs 2.5 lakhs per minute or Rs 2 crore a day. MPs get Rs 2000 per day to attend Parliament. But does the country get the real worth out of the Parliament is the big question.
China has increased its investments enormously in the US in the last decade, employing 1,00,000 US workers compared to 10,000 in 2006.
Wang Jianlin is China’s richest man and the largest Chinese investor in the US.
A joint secretary in the Government of India is the administrative head of a department and has critical influence on its efficacy.
IPL ranks in the world’s top five sporting leagues.
A recent study by UNICEF on the economic impact of sanitation has estimated that in an open defecation free village, each family saves over Rs 50,000 per annum on account of avoided medical costs.
The ministry of law and justice has admitted that as of July last year, 24 high courts were functioning with only 615 out of the total sanctioned strength of 1079 judges. Where, center and state governments account for nearly 70% of cases in courts.
According to RBI data, total debit cards in India went up from 623.67 million (about 62 crore) in November 2015 to 867.35 million (about 87 crore) in September 2016 (a 39% jump, even if many people have multiple cards). Similarly, payments through pre-paid instruments like m-wallet or PPI cards went up from 62.66 million (more than 6 crore) in November 2015 to 97.07 million (that is more than 9 crores) in September 2016 (a jump of 54.9%).
There are 250-300 million or say 25-30 crore Indians with a smart phone.
The stark fact is that in a country of 1.2 billion people, we currently have only 2.50 lakh ATM machines.
I am told there is a magnificent archaeological site in western Africa—the vast ruins of Djenne in Mali. Apparently, this was a city of over 1,00,000 people one thousand years ago—a world class metropolis in the first millennium. A visitor to the site observed: “Its art was stunning. Its architecture reflected a complex society … what struck me the most, however, was the fact that it had been completely ignored by western archaeologists for decades, because they found no evidence of military constructions! The Djenne civilisation did not find its strength through military conquest or intimidation of its people, but through cooperation. It was a great city built not on fear, but friendship.
Stubble burning: Labour has become expensive, therefore mechanical harvesting is done for big fields. But the machine for harvesting leaves 25% of the stem during the harvest. This again, has to be cut, by another machine. So, burning the crop residue is easier and that is called stubble burning. There is an imposition of a maximum fine of Rs 15,000 for stubble burning for farmers.
India occupies 2.4% of the world’s land area and supports over 17.5% of the world’s population. India has more arable land area than any other country except for the United States, and more water area than any other country except Canada and the United States. Indian life therefore revolves mostly around agriculture and allied activities in small villages, where the overwhelming majority of the population live.
As per the 2001 census, 72.2% of the Indian population lives in about 638,000 villages and the remaining 27.8% lives in more than 5,100 towns and over 380 urban agglomerations.
In 1901 the world population was 1.6 billion. By 1960, it became 3 billion, and by 1987, 5 billion and in 1999, 6 billion. Currently, one billion people are added every 12 – 13 years.
When we see the population growth in India we find the population of the country was 27.13 crore in the year 1900, from where it decreased to 26.31 crore in 1925 which sounds impossible and then from there it increased to 35.04 crore in 1950 and 36.23 crore in 1951. From here onwards the population growth took exponential proportions of growth to 43.88 crore in 1961, 54.79 crore in 1971, 68.52 crore in 1981, 84.39 crore in 1991, and 102.70 crore in 2001.
With over 1 billion people, India is currently the World’s second largest populated Country. India crossed one billion mark in the year 2000 that is one year after the World’s population crossed the six billion threshold. It is expected that India’s population will surpass the population of China by 2030 when it would have more than 153 crore of population while China would be number two with a population of 146 crore.
Since 1947, the population of India has more than tripled which has resulted in increasingly impoverished and sub-standard conditions in the growing segments of the Indian population. In 2007, India ranked 126th on the United Nation’s Human Development Index, which takes into account social, health, and educational conditions in a country.
Britian is already the largest investor in India among the G20 countries and India invests more in the UK than in any other country.
Gotra—is the male bloodline that links Hindus with a range of ancient sages.
The value of rupee has changed from Rs 17.50 per dollar in 1990 to Rs 74 per dollar today.
Interesting quotes and lines:
“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do”—Steve Jobs.
Alexander the great might just be right. “I’m not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep; I’m afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion.”
“Virtue has a veil, vice a mask”—Victor Hugo.
“To error is human; to forgive divine”—Alexander Pope, English poet.
“The first requisite of civilisation is that of justice”—Sigmund Freud.
“Man is not worried by real problems so much as by his imagined anxieties about real problems”—Greek philosopher, Epictetus.
By Kamlesh Tripathi
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https://kamleshsujata.wordpress.com
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Shravan Charity Mission is an NGO that works for poor children suffering from life threatening diseases especially cancer. Our posts are meant for our readers that includes both children and adults and it has a huge variety in terms of content. We also accept donations for our mission. Should you wish to donate for the cause. The bank details are given below:
NAME OF ACCOUNT: SHRAVAN CHARITY MISSION
Account no: 680510110004635 (BANK OF INDIA)
IFSC code: BKID0006805
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Our publications
GLOOM BEHIND THE SMILE
(The book is about a young cancer patient. Now archived in 7 prestigious libraries of the US, including, Harvard University and Library of Congress. It can also be accessed in MIT through Worldcat.org. Besides, it is also available for reading in Libraries and archives of Canada and Cancer Aid and Research Foundation Mumbai)
ONE TO TANGO … RIA’S ODYSSEY
(Is a book on ‘singlehood’ about a Delhi girl now archived in Connemara Library, Chennai and Delhi Public Library, GOI, Ministry of Culture, Delhi)
AADAB LUCKNOW … FOND MEMORIES
(Is a fiction written around the great city of Nawabs—Lucknow. It describes Lucknow in great detail and also talks about its Hindu-Muslim amity. That happens to be its undying characteristic. The book was launched in Lucknow International Literary Festival of 2014)
REFRACTIONS … FROM THE PRISM OF GOD
(Co-published by Cankids–Kidscan, a pan India NGO and Shravan Charity Mission, that works for Child cancer in India. The book is endorsed by Ms Preetha Reddy, MD Apollo Hospitals Group. It was launched in Lucknow International Literary Festival 2016)
TYPICAL TALE OF AN INDIAN SALESMAN
(Is a story of an Indian salesman who is, humbly qualified. Yet he fights his ways through unceasing uncertainties to reach the top. A good read not only for salesmen. The book was launched on 10th February, 2018 in Gorakhpur Lit-Fest. Now available in Amazon, Flipkart and Onlinegatha)
RHYTHM … in poems
(Published in January 2019. The book contains 50 poems. The poems describe our day to day life. The book is available in Amazon, Flipkart and Onlinegatha)
(ALL THE ABOVE TITLES ARE AVAILABLE FOR SALE IN AMAZON, FLIPKART AND OTHER ONLINE STORES OR YOU COULD EVEN WRITE TO US FOR A COPY)
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Shravan charity mission 