Category Archives: interesting facts

INTERESTING FACTS & QUOTES EPISODE-23

June 19, 2019column, facts, General awareness & Knowledge, gk, Indian Agriculture, interesting facts, quote, quotes and lines, Uncategorizedamericans, bengaluru, bihar, bmc, buckingham palace, cartel, cash transaction, china, composer, crude oil, delhi, demonetizing, drawbridge, economy, england, eric arrthur blair, flood prone, forest, george orwell, global merchandise, gst, hasan suroor, hongkong, hyderabad, india, kamlesh tripathi, labour laws, magadha, mahabharat, mithila, motihari, mozart, mumbai, plumbing, rain fed, shravancharitymission, single, soil, sweden, talisman, umbrella movement, UN, vaishali, washington irving, watershravancharitymission

Eric Arthur Blair, better known by his pen name George Orwell, was a famous English novelist, essayist, journalist and critic. He was born in Motihari, Bihar, India on 25^th June 1903 of all the places.

Very few are lucky to be a Mozart the world famous composer of classical era who found passion for music at the age of three. The way to tell you’ve found a passionate work is when it doesn’t feel like work.

Around 30% Americans get less than seven hours of sleep per night, and among single mothers, this rises up to 47%.

India is one of the world’s most flood prone countries with 113 million (11 crore) people exposed to floods. According to a UN report India’s average annual economic loss due to disasters is estimated to be around $9.8 billion, out of which more than $7billion loss is due to floods.

Talisman is an object, typically, an inscribed ring or stone, that is thought to have magic powers, and brings good luck.

In a country with a median age of below 30, where, a million people enter the work force every month, sudden demonetizing can be devastating.

Even after a full scale up, a fully, financially, digitized economy, like Sweden, still conducts, about 20% of its money transaction in cash.

England: Running a palace is becoming tougher and tougher. It seems that London’s Buckingham Palace is in urgent need of essential repairs, mainly in the plumbing department. However, a number of British taxpayers—over 85,000 of them, who have signed a petition to that effect- are reluctant to foot the bill for the job.

Drawbridge—is a bridge that can be lifted so that ships can pass.

For far too long, emerging economies such as India have been at the mercy of a supplier’s cartel. It’s therefore time now to change the rules of the game—this is especially in the context of oil.

China and India are the second and third largest oil importers respectively. When they negotiate together their combined influence in the oil market will help them get a good deal. But will it ever happen?

The global market of merchandise exports today is approximately $15 trillion. Share of India in these exports is only 1.6% compared to that of 12% of China.

References to Bihar regions like Magadha, Mithila and Vaishali can be found in ancient texts and epics. The world’s first known republic was established in Vaishali in 6^th century BC.

The ‘Umbrella Movement’ was a political movement that emerged during the Hong Kong democracy protests of 2014. Its name arose from the use of umbrellas as a tool for passive resistance to the Hong Kong Police’s use of pepper spray to disperse the crowd during a 79-day occupation of the city demanding more transparent elections, which was sparked by the decision of the Standing Committee of National People’s Congress (NPCSC) on 31 August, 2014 that prescribed a selective pre-screening of candidates for the 2017 election of Hong Kong’s chief executive.

Soil and water are not commodities, but life-making material.

The element composition of the human body is 72% water and 12% earth.

Since most of our rivers are forest fed, the best way to resuscitate them is with more vegetation. But the organic content of soil has fallen drastically and the rapid pace of desertification is alarming.

Soil depletion in this country is so acute that nearly 25% of the Indian agricultural land will not be cultivable in the next 3-5 years.

In 40 years time, it is estimated that over 60% of our land will be uncultivable.

The only way to increase organic content of our soil is through tree cultivation and animal waste. If we destroy that our capability to generate food, will be heading towards a disaster.

Due to lack of vegetation and indiscriminate urban expansion, we are witnessing alarming cycles of food and drought. In the last 12 years, nearly three lakh farmers have committed suicide.

There are many reforms that India could carry out to become more competitive in manufacturing. These would involve changing its cumbersome labour laws, cutting corporate taxes to levels seen in East Asian countries and improving the transportation networks.

Bullet train in India is likely to cost $17 billion which is a third of India’s annual defence budget.

India was famous for having many sick industries but no sick industrialist. But I guess the trend is changing now with Mallaya and Nirav Modi in spotlight in the U.K.

Bengaluru, once a city of 2,500 lakes, boasted of an efficient storm water drainage system of interconnected lakes. If one lake overflowed water would automatically flow into another lake. But with increasing encroachment and solid wastes blocking the channels, floodwater cannot flow to the next water body. Drawing similarities are Hyderabad that has reported extinction of 375 lakes, and Delhi where 274 of 611 water bodies have dried up due to neglect and exploitation.

Not a single Indian city has drainage system that can promptly evacuate intense monsoon rainfalls that occur over short time periods.

A large part of BMC (Bombay Muncipal Corporation) revenue amounting to Rs 61,000 crore is locked up in fixed deposits and are not being deployed for civic amenities.

Almost all Indian cities are water-scarce in dry seasons and prone to severe flooding during monsoons. Cities like Delhi, that witness floods every monsoon, are also, some of the most water-stressed cities of the world.

Singapore, a monsoon country, has for the most part, solved urban drainage and water scarcity problems by installing a proper functional drainage system and collection of rainwater harvest.

When a poor man gets government money, it’s called subsidy, when a rich man gets it, it’s called incentive.

GST replaced 17 state and central taxes to make India one common market.

Vidur the royal counsellor in Mahabharat, tells the king that he should sacrifice a person for the sake of a village and a village for the sake of a nation.

The National Mental Health Survey 2016 published by NIMHANS recently showed that 13.7% of Indians are likely to have some mental illness during their lifetime.

INTERESTING QUOTES & LINES.

The worst form of democracy is a million times better than an ideal form of dictatorship.

Muslims are Islam’s biggest enemy—says Hasan Suroor, London based journalist.

All labour is precious but some are more precious than others: “Believe me, the man who earns his bread by the sweat of his brow, eats oftener a sweetener morsel, however coarse, than he who procures it by the labour of his brains—Washington Irving, American author.

Buddha said that the past is—already gone and the future is not yet here; there is only one moment when you can be fully alive, and that is the present moment.

If one’s mind is agitated, one’s breathing will not be calm.

By Kamlesh Tripathi

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

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 10^th 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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INTERESTING FACTS & QUOTES EPISODE-22

June 12, 2019beautiful lines, causerie, column, facts, General awareness & Knowledge, general knowledge, gk, interesting facts, quote, quotes and lines, snippet, Uncategorized, verses, vignetteagriculture, ambedkar, aphorism, arvind panagariya, brahminical, brahminism, china, deomocrat, eckhart, gagandeep, gdp, gk, green eyed monster, hiv, indore, interesting facts, irish, kamala devi harris, kamlesh tripathi, oeuvre, plays, ppp, presidential nomination, quote, rabindranath tagore, rauf akftar, safaigiri, shravancharitymission, sonnets, usa, water, william shakespeareshravancharitymission

Though William Shakespeare’s entire oeuvre –37 plays and 154 sonnets—is brimful with words of wisdom for every stage and situation of human existence, one of the most quoted aphorisms of his is, “Always the wrong person gives you the right lesson in life.” It may sound a bit contrary and even oxymoronic at first blush, but it’s pregnant with profound wisdom.

Purchasing power parity (PPP) is an economic theory that compares different countries’ currencies through a “basket of goods” approach. According to this concept, two currencies are in equilibrium or at par when a basket of goods (taking into account the exchange rate) is priced the same in both countries. Closely related to PPP is the law of one price (LOOP), which is an economic theory that predicts that after accounting for differences in interest rates and exchange rates, the cost of something in country X should be the same as that in country Y in real terms.

Kamala Devi Harris is the first person of Indian descent to post a credible candidacy for the Democratic Party nomination for US president. Daughter of an Indian cancer researcher and a Jamaican economics professor, for many Desi Americans she is proof that they have ‘arrived.’

Indians on an average do believe that things are getting better: 74% of them, according to a recent Ipsos-MORI poll. Indians are more optimistic than people in wealthy Western countries like those in Europe, North America and Oceania.

India has made significant improvements in reducing HIV infections—from 5.1 millions in 2003 to 2.1 millions in 2017—but it still has the world’s third largest HIV-infected population after South Africa and Nigeria.

India has the highest population of cattle in the world.

India is also the biggest milk producer in the world.

Indore is India’s cleanest city (winner of the Safaigiri Award of 2018).

Agriculture, mining, manufacturing and construction account for 45% of India’s GDP.

The global market in merchandise exports today is approximately $15 trillion. Share of India in these exports is only 1.6% compared with 12% that of China.

Nearly half of India’s farms are less than half hectare, a size too small to yield adequate living standard for a family of five—Arvind Panagariya.

I have never been to mars. What will we discover when we get there? A red landscape, quiet horizon and frozen glaciers? Probably all is as beautiful, in its own way, as the Earth was, thousands of years ago—MA YANSONG.

History is testimony that whenever the majority developed a sense of victim hood, it led to genocide of minorities.

Amongst the great man made places visible from outer space are the pyramids of Egypt, the Great-wall of China, and the Palm islands of Dubai. Now added to the list is the 600-foot figure of Sardar Patel—so tall, at dusk it casts a mile-long shadow over an enormous dry agriculture stretch. The base of the statue houses a research centre dedicated to good governance and agricultural development.

Donald trump is now arguably the most joked about US president on a parody-per-day basis.

Eckhart was once sitting alone under a grove of trees in a lonely place. A friend who was passing by went up to him and said, “I saw you sitting, lonely, and I thought I would keep you company.” Eckhart replied, “I was with myself, but you have come, and if anything, I am feeling lonely now.”

A key facet of water policy must be induction of technology to promote reuse. Recycling does take place in India but it’s nowhere close to the level needed. Elsewhere, recycling has moved to another level. Singapore recycles water for drinking.

Pre-monsoon rainfall from March to April has shown a 27% deficiency. Separately data put out by government shows that water levels in India’s major reservoirs and river basins have fallen to 21% of its average of the last decade.

Agriculture consumes most of India’s water resources.

In March 2019 the Baltic State of Estonia’s parliamentary elections saw almost half the votes cast through E-voting. That should be the vision of our future.

Nobel Prize in science are not given for R&D, they are given for fundamental discoveries.

Gagandeep Kang from Faridabad’s Transnational Health Science and Technology Institute is the first Indian woman to be made fellow of the Royal Society of London—now in the company of Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein and Charles Darwin.

All told private investment alone remains the key to sustained growth.

Current Account Deficit is simply the (investment) – (savings) gap. Therefore if savings are higher than reported, the Current Account Deficit (CAD) will be lower.

Origin of Green–Eyed Monster. The term green–eyed monster, meaning jealousy, first appears in Shakespeare’s Othello, when Iago says, “Oh, beware, my lord, of jealousy! It is the green–eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on.”

The phrase luck of the Irish is commonly thought to mean “extreme good fortune.” … “During the gold and silver rush years in the second half of the 19th century, a number of the most famous and successful miners were of Irish and Irish American birth

INTERESTING LINES

The moment I realised God sitting in the temple of every human body, the moment I stand in reverence before every human being and see God in him—that moment I am free from bondage, and I am free—Swami Vivekananda.

Rabindra Nath Tagore—‘The mind is without fear; and the head is held high; where knowledge is free; where the world has not been broken into fragments by narrow domestic walls.’

Brahminism or Brahminical are not to be understood as related to a community or caste called Brahmins as explained by Babasaheb Ambedkar himself.

Rauf Akhtar stated in his Taslees: Khud ko na kar itna majboor khud ko na kar paamal tu hi woh khuda hai jiski hai tujhe talash.

A commonly quoted aphorism says, ‘New beginnings are often disguised as painful endings.’

By Kamlesh Tripathi

https://kamleshsujata.wordpress.com

Share it if you like it

NAME OF ACCOUNT: SHRAVAN CHARITY MISSION

Account no: 680510110004635 (BANK OF INDIA)

IFSC code: BKID0006805

Our publications

GLOOM BEHIND THE SMILE

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

REFRACTIONS … FROM THE PRISM OF GOD

TYPICAL TALE OF AN INDIAN SALESMAN

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)

*****

INTERESTING FACTS & QUOTES-19

May 13, 2019article, articles, casual causerie, causerie, column, facts, General awareness & Knowledge, general knowledge, gk, interesting facts, quote, quotes and lines, snippet, Uncategorized, versesbeas, china, facts, ganjes, general knowledge, gk, global brands, indus, interesting facts, jhelum, kailash mountain, kamlesh tripathi, ladakh, lines, mansarovar, punjab, quotes, ravi, russia, shravancharitymission, sindhu, sutlej, tibetshravancharitymission

Boiling the ocean: Means to go overboard or to delve deep into such small details that a project becomes impossible. The phrase, boil the ocean, appears in business as well as other group settings. In the literal sense, boiling the ocean is impossible because there’s too much water for it to be possible.

What are brown, grey and white goods? Brown goods are consumer electronics, grey goods are computers etc., and white goods are domestic appliances. These are collective names for different types of electric and electronic equipment. These goods also include equipment powered by batteries such as computers, monitors, industrial dishwashers, ventilation units, etc.

Difference between advertising and publicity: Advertising is what a company says about its own product, but Publicity is what others says about a product. Conversely, publicity is done by a third party which is not related to any company. Whereas, advertising is under the control of the company which is just opposite to publicity.

Mumbai discharges 750 metric tonnes of plastic every day, which is a sixth of its total garbage.

Mckinsey & Company an American worldwide management consulting firm estimates that tech giants worldwide spent anywhere between $20-30 billion on artificial intelligence in 2016.

Till 1985 marijuana and cannabis, that is, ganja and bhang derivatives, were legally sold in the country through authorised retail shops in India. It is believed moderate consumption of marijuana is far less harmful than tobacco and alcohol.

An old Rabbi once asked his pupils how they could tell when the night had ended and the day had begun. “Could it be”, asked one of the students, “when you can see an animal at a distance and tell for sure, whether it’s a sheep or a dog?” “No”, answered the Rabbi. “Is it, when you can look at a tree at a distance and tell whether it’s a fig tree or a peach tree?” wondered another. Again, the Rabbi answered “No”. The impatient pupils demanded: “Then what is it?” “Well … it is, when you can look at the face of any man or a woman and see that it is your sister or brother: Till then it is still midnight.”

Although we are second to China in population, our country is adding almost an entire Australia each year.

Recently published data shows that a quarter of white extremist’s attacks, in Europe since 2015 targeted Muslims and mosques. And now you have the retaliatory Sri-Lanka terror attack.

It’s always been the nature of government that it underpays at the top and overpays at the bottom.

The latest report of the UN’s Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), released recently, states that Indian agriculture may be significantly impacted even by a 1.5 degree centigrade increase in average global temperature.

According to the Indian healthcare market research report 2016, our healthcare sector is one of the largest in terms of employment and revenue generation. Growing at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 16.5%, it will possibly be worth $280 billion by 2020. The 2017 national health policy seeks to increase government spending from the abysmally low 1.4% to 2.5% of India’s GDP.

Russia has lost more than it has won through its policy of confronting the west.

Rivers have been the lifeline of all civilizations. No wonder they are considered sacred across cultures. In India, the Ganga symbolises knowledge, Yamuna was known for love stories, Narmada stood for bhakti, knowledge and logic, Saraswati for brilliance and architecture, and India got its name from the Sindhu also known as Indus.

The name Punjab has been derived from five rivers, which are Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas and Sutlej that collectively signify “five waters” or “the land of five waters.” Starting off in the Tibetan highland of western China near Lake Mansarovar in Tibet Autonomous Region, the Indus river flows through the Ladakh district of Jammu and Kashmir.

One of the longest rivers in the world, the Sindhu also known as Indus has a total length of over 2,000 miles and runs south from the Kailash Mountain in Tibet all the way to the Arabian Sea in Karachi, Pakistan. Where, Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej—eventually flow into the Indus.

Russia has no companies in the top 100 global brands. The three most valuable companies in Russia today were also the three most valuable 10 years ago.

The brain contains 10 billion nerve cells, making thousands of billions of connections with each other. It is the most powerful data processor we know, but at the same time it is incredibly delicate. As soft as a ripe avocado, the brain has to be encased in the tough bones of the skull, and floats in its own waterbed of fluid. An adult brain weighs over 3 lb and fills the skull. It receives one-fifth of the blood pumped out by the heart at each beat.

82% of the wealth generated last year went to the richest 1% of the global population, while the 3.7 billion people who make up the poorest half of the world saw no increase in their wealth. Adding Indian dimension to the horror story of global inequity, the report, added India’s richest 1% garnered as much as 73% of the total wealth generated in the country in 2017.

India is a water stressed country with a per-capita water availability reducing from 1820 to 1545 cubic metres between 2001 to 2011.

Online retail in India is estimated to grow to $200 billion by 2026, up from just $15 billion in 2016.

Car penetration—India is around 20 per 1000 people, China is at 90 per 1000 people, and the US is at 750 1000 people.

Greenpeace International, an NGO estimated that the beverage giant Coca Cola produced 110 billion throwaway plastic bottles in 2015. Most of these go for landfills or to the ocean. Owing up to its responsibility the company recently announced that it would make all its packaging recyclable by 2030.

Tripura has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country and suffers from lack of infrastructure. Manik Sarkar of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) served as the Chief Minister of Tripura from 1998 to 2018. His reign was the longest in the state’s history.

Prices are the only thing that defy the law of gravity.

Interesting quotes and lines.

‘In depth of the winter I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer’—ALBERT CAMUS, French philosopher, author, and journalist.

‘God’s in His Heaven, All’s right with the world’–Robert Browning.

Don Marquis once joked, ‘an idea is not responsible for the people who believe in it.’

‘Everyone dies. But not everyone lives’—Shobha De.

‘Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving’—ALBERT EINSTEIN

By Kamlesh Tripathi

https://kamleshsujata.wordpress.com

Share it if you like it

NAME OF ACCOUNT: SHRAVAN CHARITY MISSION

Account no: 680510110004635 (BANK OF INDIA)

IFSC code: BKID0006805

Our publications

GLOOM BEHIND THE SMILE

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

REFRACTIONS … FROM THE PRISM OF GOD

TYPICAL TALE OF AN INDIAN SALESMAN

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)

*****

INTERESTING FACTS & QUOTES-18

May 5, 2019article, column, facts, General awareness & Knowledge, general knowledge, gk, interesting facts, quote, quotes and lines, Uncategorized, verses, word power idioms phrasesangus maddison, blue, brahma kumaris, children, colour, cyan, deloitte, employment, god, hindu mahasabha, indra, kamlesh tripathi, keynes, magenta, mahatma gandhi, mark twain, millennial, muslim league, paddy, partition, punjab, railways, rss, shravancharitymission, unemployment, vedasshravancharitymission

The difference between an enemy and an adversary. An adversary is someone you want to defeat, an enemy is someone you have to destroy. Our political leaders have started treating their adversaries as enemies which is sad.

What does the expression mutually exclusive mean: If two events are mutually exclusive, it means, that they cannot occur at the same time. For example, the two possible outcomes of a coin flip are mutually exclusive; when you flip a coin. It cannot land both on heads and tails simultaneously.

A rat’s ass: I don’t give a rat’s ass means a minimum degree of interest. The phrase is considered vulgar. Generally meaning minimum amount or degree of care or interest—usually used in the phrase don’t give a rat’s ass.

The boom barrier (also known as the boom gate) fell on gate no. 28C, of the Chunar-Chopan, railway crossing near Khairahi railway station, 180km from Allahabad, in the recent past. With this the last unmanned level crossing on Indian Railway’s 67,300-km track comes to an end.

The founder of the Brahma-Kumaris taught seekers not to renounce hearth and home, nor worldly responsibilities to get spiritual salvation but to attain it by balancing material life with the spiritual, through regular practice of soul-consciousness.

To be fair the British Raj did impoverish India. In this regard there are credible estimates available, from the leading British economist Angus Maddison that shows India’s share of world GDP shrunk from 24.6% to 3.8% between 1700 and 1952. However, Maddison also notes that in terms of per-capita GDP, India has consistently lagged behind several European nations even 2,000 years ago. By 1700, per-capita income of countries like the Netherlands and Britain was double or thereabouts that of India.

Ancient India had its time under the sun, but that is over. The modern world, led by China, is now playing a completely different ballgame. Today, China is known as the world’s factory.

The UAE launched in 2009 an ambitious 10-year plan to teach English to locals to prepare them for a future without oil, attracting English teachers from all around the world to come and teach local children. Meanwhile, the English-speaking population of the Philippines, Indonesia and Sri Lanka has already taken over India’s burgeoning BPO industry. So, India needs to wake up fast.

A huge tusker was crossing a wooden bridge. A fly was perched on his left earlobe. After they got across, the fly said, ‘Hey didn’t we really shake up that bridge?’ That sums up the human attitude today. Though we are a microscopic speck in the cosmic scale, we delude ourselves that we are the centre of creation. We think the planet is in peril when only human existence and their well-being are truly imperilled.

Though John Maynard Keynes was one of the most influential economic policy makers of the 20^th century. Keynes did not actually have a degree in economics. In fact, his total professional training came to little more than eight weeks. All the rest was learnt on the job.

Despite the Rs 1.6 lakh crore annual PDS (public distribution system) subsidy. India ranks at 103 out of 119 countries in the world Hunger Index, and 21% of Indian children between 0-5 years are malnourished. India’s touted demographic dividend could partly turn out to be a demographic time bomb.

India with the world’s youngest workforce, comprising, nearly a fifth of the world’s millennial is struggling to keep pace with changing times. Millennial or Generation Y, comprising 34% of India’s population are already 45% of the Indian workforce and by 2025 this number is expected to reach 75%.

According to a 2016, millennial survey by Deloitte, 16.8% of millennial evaluate career opportunities by good work-life balance, followed by 13.4% who look for opportunities to progress, and 11% who seek flexibility. Companies where millennial talent is a significant part of the workforce are implementing initiatives like relaxed dress codes and flexi-timing to attract and retain talent. Living in the gig economy, key skill for millennial is preparedness to move across industries and roles.

There are 1.3 million Anganwadi centres across India. Anganwadi is a type of rural child care centre. They were started by the Indian Government in 1975 as part of the Integrated Child Development Services Program to combat child hunger and malnutrition. Anganwadi means “courtyard shelter” in Indian languages.

The Greeks probably invented the idea of organised competitive sports. Where, organised team as well as individual sports came mostly from the British.

Lights are very tricky. See how they behave. When blue green and red lights combine, they produce a white light. On the other hand, intersection of magenta, (purplish red) yellow and cyan, (greenish blue) leads to black that absorbs all colours. So be careful with lights.

Two-third of the paddy procurement in India is just from 5 states led by Punjab.

US confirms 90% of addicts experience a relapse shortly after undergoing de-addiction treatment. Around 22.5% of the world’s population is tobacco-dependent and 4.9% people have alcohol use disorder.

Over 80% of India’s workforce is employed in the unorganised and informal sector.

When over 18.6 million adults remain unemployed in India, what is the reason India still employs over 10 million children.

Fascism arose in Europe as a reaction to communism.

No Hindu worships the primary God of the Vedas today. Have you seen a temple of Indra today?

In 1934, the AICC passed a resolution prohibiting Congress members from also being members of the RSS, Hindu Mahasabha or the Muslim League.

14 of the world’s 15 most polluted cities are in India.

India Pakistan partition of 1947 was an event that displaced around 15 million and killed a million.

Interesting lines & quotes:

I think Mark Twain sums it up pretty nicely: “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do then by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

Whoever, fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster—FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE, German philosopher, poet and cultural critic.

Words on the street is that elections are already over, only the polling is left.

Mahatma Gandhi once said—’there is no way to peace, peace is the way.’

Misery is the by-product of a lazy mind. Happiness is the by-product of an alert mind. Stop kicking yourself with regrets and guilt feelings. Give up feelings of being guilty. You will find yourself happy—SWAMI SUKHABODHANANDA

By Kamlesh Tripathi

https://kamleshsujata.wordpress.com

Share it if you like it

NAME OF ACCOUNT: SHRAVAN CHARITY MISSION

Account no: 680510110004635 (BANK OF INDIA)

IFSC code: BKID0006805

Our publications

GLOOM BEHIND THE SMILE

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

REFRACTIONS … FROM THE PRISM OF GOD

TYPICAL TALE OF AN INDIAN SALESMAN

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)

*****

INTERESTING FACTS & QUOTES EPISODE 15

April 4, 2019article, column, facts, General awareness & Knowledge, general knowledge, interesting facts, quote, quotes and lines, snippet, Uncategorizedasat missile, begusarai, blasphemy, china, election, facts, gk, hamlet, interesting facts, interesting lines, israel, jew, kamlesh tripathi, kanhaiya kumar, median age, modi, netanyahu, pakistan, parliament, quotes, sanctuary, scandinavia, shravancharitymission, space, teacher absenteism, tiger, tigers, votershravancharitymission

INTERESTING FACTS

Hamletian dilemma: The phrase is derived from William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet. When Hamlet, the prince of Dutch learns that his father was murdered by his uncle, he is in a dilemma as to whether he should avenge his father’s death or continue ruling the kingdom.
Begusarai was once known as the “Leningrad” of Bihar, or the “Leningrad” of East. It was recently in news again, because the Communists, are trying to field Kanhaiya Kumar from this pro Communist constituency. Leningrad as we all know is a place in Russia. The famous siege of Leningrad lasted from September 1941 to 1944. By the end of the siege, some 632,000 people are thought to have died with nearly 4,000 people from Leningrad starving to death on Christmas Day, 1941. The first German artillery shell fell on Leningrad on September 1st, 1941.
Teacher absenteeism accounts for the loss of up to one-quarter of the primary school spending. A World Bank Report estimates this loss to be about $2 billion a year in India, just at the primary level.
With a median age of 27.9 years in 2018, India’s population is quite young. By 2020, youth will make up for 34% of India’s population.
Forty-five million young people have been added to the voters list since 2014. Based on 2011 Census, about two crore youngsters turn 18 every year, even though not everyone gets registered to vote.
India has shown responsibility and restraint by targeting a satellite at 300 km altitude, as opposed to China destroying a satellite at the height of 857 km in 2007, which created a lot of risky debris. But even the Indian test has a small likelihood of creating some debris that gets thrown into the higher orbits.
One of the reasons for lesser concern with India’s test has to do with the height of the test. At 300 kilometers, the debris may survive just for months, if not weeks. At 800 kilometers, the Chinese satellite debris has already survived for more than a decade and may survive for a few more years.
India has demonstrated that it can take down satellites in Low Earth Orbits of less than 2,000 km above the surface.
There are over 22,000 artificial objects currently in the orbit that are being tracked by one government agency or another. The European Space Agency estimates that currently there over 34,000 pieces of debris in the orbit that are larger than 10 cm in size; close to a million pieces between 1 cm and 10 cm; and 128 million pieces of debris less than a centimeter in size. With reducing satellite size and the increasing frequency of space launches, this is only set to grow rapidly.
UTSAVA- is a Sanskrit word. Where, UT –means to ‘let go’ or remove and SAVA means worldly sorrows hence the complete word UTSAVA means to “let go your sorrows.”
In the Scandinavian countries without any reservations, around half the MPs are women. In India we only keep talking of 33% which is not happening.
Earth orbital safety in the 21^st century is as vital as shipping lane security was, in the 20th century.
The Lucas critique, named after Robert Lucas‘s work on macroeconomic policy making, argues that it is naive to try to predict the effects of a change in economic policy entirely on the basis of human relationships observed in historical data, especially highly aggregated historical data.
Marriage industry of India boasts about 10 million weddings a year.
There are reports that Pakistan is collaborating with China to develop a fifth-generation fighter aircraft. India too needs to double up.
In Hindu philosophy the soul is interpreted as being without a gender.
Security cooperation was one of the reasons why PM Narasimha Rao formally opened diplomatic relations with Israel in 1992, followed by purchase of India’s first IAI Searcher unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and an air combat manoeuvring system from Israel in 1996.
India is the largest single market for Israeli arms. Israeli arms sale to India is only second to Russia, having gone up by 650% in the past decade, now amounting to $715 million in 2017 alone. IAF misslies fired in Balakot reportedly used Israeli made SPICE-2000 GUIDANCE KITS.
Modi was the first Indian Prime Minister to visit Tel-Aviv in July 2017 and then came the visit of Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu to Delhi in January 2018.
Israel is virtually a ‘nation-at-arms’ country. It has always had conscription, or draft, or compulsory enlistment of people in national service. Every Israeli man (who’s Jew or Druze, excepting those with medical disabilities or religious scholars) above 18 serves in the military for 36 months, and every Israeli woman for 24 months.
The National bill of Israel passed in 2018 specified Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people. This makes Israeli state closer to a theocratic one.
Iron and steel accounts for roughly 15-20 % of the total cost in real estate.
Global warming: When Americans were experiencing bone-chilling temperatures on January 29, the world was actually 0.3 degrees warmer on an average compared to a baseline from 1979 to 2000.
Among all the 13 tiger range countries, India alone has the maximum number of tigers (70% of the global wild tiger population) and their source areas. This impressive gain is there despite the fact that our per capita forest is only 0.06 hectare as against the world average of 0.6 hectare, apart from having 60% of global livestock, 17% of world’s human population, with a forest productivity of around 1.34 cubic metre per hectare per year as against world’s average of 2.1 cubic metre per hectare per year.
It has been documented that around 67,911 hectares of forest cover has been lost in 188 districts of India between 2009 and 2011 due to encroachment.

Quotes

Earth: The soil is her flesh, the rocks are her bones, and the wind is her breath; trees and grass her hair. She lives, spreads out, and we live on her. When she moves we have an earthquake—Rabbi Ezekiel Malekar
In real life it is the hare who wins—ANITA BROOKNER, award winning novelist.
Mary Shelley projected through the character, Frankenstein. We all are threatened by the monsters we create. They don’t come into being on their own.
Every fair-minded person holding a position of authority must support the few who have stood up against the injustice being perpetrated in the name of blasphemy—ASMA JAHANGIR, Pakistani Human Rights lawyer and activist.
If you don’t have a coalition with you, you will have a coalition against you—SHIMON PERES. Israeli politician who served as the ninth President of Israel.
‘No book is perennially useful to mankind,’ says English philosopher David Hume.

By Kamlesh Tripathi

https://kamleshsujata.wordpress.com

Share it if you like it

NAME OF ACCOUNT: SHRAVAN CHARITY MISSION

Account no: 680510110004635 (BANK OF INDIA)

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Our publications

GLOOM BEHIND THE SMILE

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

REFRACTIONS … FROM THE PRISM OF GOD

TYPICAL TALE OF AN INDIAN SALESMAN

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)

*****

INTERESTING FACTS & QUOTES-EPISODE 14

March 30, 2019article, beautiful lines, column, facts, General awareness & Knowledge, general knowledge, gk, interesting facts, quote, quotes and lines, snippet, Uncategorizedamir khan, arunachal pradesh, bill gates, china, dangal, economic survey, film industry, general knowledge, gk, global trade, groundwater, india, interesting facts, kamlesh tripathi, oil, padmavaat, pk, pm2.5, pollution, quote, raazi, sanju, secret superstar, shravancharitymission, stree, UK, warrenbuffet, welfare schemesshravancharitymission

It was observed in an Economic Survey of 2016-17 that there are 950 central government welfare schemes accounting for 5% of GDP. But out of that only 11 of them account for 50% of the budget allocation. This indicates that there is a strong case to revisit the balance 939 welfare schemes which are not receiving adequate funds and are perhaps defunct.
Global Trade is $16 trillion and India’s share in that is an abysmal 1.7%. If this could grow up to 2.5%, there would be enough jobs in India. And to further improve on the job situation all jobs leaving China should come to India, and not Vietnam.
India’s film industry is now a global powerhouse. In 2018, Indians made and watched 1,776 films across several languages, garnering more than Rs 7 Lakh crore in revenues. Indian movies are also becoming a valuable export. And notable is that 60% of Bollywood’s overseas earnings in 2018 came from China.
Hindi film Dangal earned Rs 1300 crore in China, dwarfing its domestic earnings of Rs 500 crore. Dangal is the highest grossing Indian film in China. Amir Khan’s other films, ‘Secret Superstar’ and ‘PK’ were also big earners making Rs 800 crore and Rs 100 crore respectively.
Bollywood earned Rs 1800 crores from just 10 Indian films released in China in 2018. As compared to an earning of Rs 1200 crore from Indian films released in all other countries out together. The earning of Indian films in overseas markets was 2,500 crore in 2017.
Hindi movie Padmavaat was the highest revenue earner in 2018 at Rs 185 crore followed by Sanju at Rs 148 crore. The other top earners of 2018 were ‘Badhai Ho’ ‘Raazi’ & ‘Stree.’
332 Indian films were released abroad in 2018. About the same as in 2017 which was 331. Indian movies have a strong presence in at least 25 international markets, particularly Gulf, North America and Australia.
Bill Gates as compared to his mentor Warren Buffet owns a home of 66,000 sq ft estimated cost of which is $64 million which is ten times the size of the 6,000 sq ft Omaha home of Warren Buffet, bought in 1958 for $31,500.
A Mexican Standoff is a confrontation between two or more parties in which no participant can proceed or retreat without being exposed to danger. As a result, all participants need to maintain the strategic tension, which remains unresolved until some outside event makes it possible to resolve it.
Air pollution is a mix of ozone, sulphur-dioxide, nitrogen-di-oxide, carbon monoxide, and fine particles. A 2013 WHO study revealed that Delhi had the world’s worst air, in terms of its PM2.5 count- these happen to be the tiniest granules that settle deep in the lungs and bloodstream. This causes chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lower respiratory infections, heart disease, cerebrovascular disease and cancers of trachea and lungs.
India is short on oil and imports 80% of its total oil demand.
UN recommends a ratio of more than 222 policemen per one lakh of population, whereas, India has only 106.
Groundwater supplies around 70% of all our water requirement.
Women are not only getting more lead roles. In fact movies led by women are making more money. A study of the global box office from 2014 to 2017 has found that in every budget bracket, average earnings of women-led films outstripped their men-led rivals. Evidently audience viewpoints and taste are shifting such that it now makes good business sense to caste women leads.
The Union cabinet has sanctioned, Rs 4242 crore to strengthen and enhance the technology backbone of the income tax department. Once done it should make filing taxes online easier and also compress the cycle of tax refunds.
Delhi and Arunachal Pradesh are 2500 km apart as the crow flies, more than double the 960 odd km between the farthest points on the British map.
A recent analysis published in Science reported that the oceans are warming at a 40% faster rate than was estimated just five years ago. And 2018 was the fourth hottest year on record.
Roughly 70% of Indian bank loans are dispensed by government owned banks.
Indian Railways transports more than 23 million passengers and 3 million tonnes of freight every day. This makes it the economic lifeline of India. Derailments account for 50% of rail accidents, with civil engineering defects being the main culprit.
Human mind on an average has over 50,000 thoughts in a day.

By Kamlesh Tripathi

https://kamleshsujata.wordpress.com

Share it if you like it

NAME OF ACCOUNT: SHRAVAN CHARITY MISSION

Account no: 680510110004635 (BANK OF INDIA)

IFSC code: BKID0006805

Our publications

GLOOM BEHIND THE SMILE

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

REFRACTIONS … FROM THE PRISM OF GOD

TYPICAL TALE OF AN INDIAN SALESMAN

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)

*****

INTERESTING FACTS & QUOTES-13

March 24, 2019article, article on feedback, column, facts, general knowledge, gk, interesting facts, quote, quotes and lines, Uncategorizedamericans, books, british isles, facts, general knowledge, gk, gun, interesting facts, israel, kamlesh tripathi, london, Oscar Wilde, population, publishing industry, robert mugabe, scotland, shravancharitymission, swami vivekananda, United Kingdomshravancharitymission

A controversial ad for a Tel-Aviv hospital portrayed a fetus wearing a military beret, with a caption ‘recipient of the presidential award of excellence, 2038.’ The ad was later withdrawn but the idea it spoke of was very clear.

The sun never sets on the British Empire has been used to describe the vast expanse of the British Empire where there was always daylight, at least in one part of their Empire spread across the world.

England, Wales and Scotland are part of an island forming Great Britain, adding Northern Ireland across the sea makes up the United Kingdom. Add a few miscellaneous islands and the Republic of Ireland to that, and we have the British Isles.

When politicians quarrel over diverse interpretations of the constitution it shows that they, knowingly or unknowingly hold it in high regard.

Weather is the day-to-day state of the atmosphere, and its short-term variation in minutes to weeks. Whereas, climate is the weather of a place averaged over a period of time, often 30 years.

According to a 2015 Nielson report India is the second largest English language print book market in the world with over 9000 publishers producing 90,000 books annually. According to some estimates, an incredible 94% of global content passes through India at some stage of publishing.

Nearly 200 million books were sold in the UK last year and the industry is worth 5.7 billion pounds. And whilst the UK remains the largest exporter of physical books in the world, the UK Publishers Association noted last year that India has to have the most exciting publishing industry in the world.

According to the Congressional Research Service, Americans own nearly, 50% of the 650 million guns available worldwide, which would bring it to about one gun for every man, woman, and child in the country. Indeed, it is a country where many children—including man-child—do have access to guns. Nearly half of all Americans said they grew up in a house with guns, and almost four in 10 say they grew up in a home with guns.

According to the Census 2011, 41% of India’s population is under 18. Yet only 4.5% of the total budget is earmarked for them.

Have you seen or heard of a bigger glutton and despot than Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe who celebrated his 91^st birthday with elephant on menu for guests at the lavish 1-million pound bash. According to the mirror, two young elephants were shot and feasted on by the president’s 20,000 guests while the country’s poor, struggle to scrape a living. A farmer had donated the elephants to Mugabe along with a lion and a crocodile to be stuffed.

India is posed to be world’s 3^rd largest construction market by 2025.

What do the four horses of apocalypse mean: Four figures in the Book of Revelation who symbolize the evils to come at the end of the world. The figure representing conquest rides a white horse; war, a red horse; famine, a black horse; and plague, a pale horse. They are often called the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

Lakshadeep has in all 36 islands.

Indian wedding industry is now valued at 25.5 billion dollars a year.

Did you know that every person in the world with an email address receives on an average 72 emails per day?

***

Now lets come to some interesting quotes:

We are what our thoughts have made us; so take care about what you think. Words are secondary. Thoughts live; they travel far—SWAMI VIVEKANANDA

The biggest danger of this terrorism and extremism is the tarnishing of the reputation of our beloved religion … we will not allow this to happen—MOHAMMED BIN SALMAN CROWN PRINCE SAUDI ARABIA RIYADH

The promise given was a necessity of the past, the word broken is a necessity of the present—Machiavelli

What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and value of nothing—OSCAR WILDE

I believe in being strong when everything is going wrong–Anonymous

***

By Kamlesh Tripathi

https://kamleshsujata.wordpress.com

Share it if you like it

NAME OF ACCOUNT: SHRAVAN CHARITY MISSION

Account no: 680510110004635 (BANK OF INDIA)

IFSC code: BKID0006805

Our publications

GLOOM BEHIND THE SMILE

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

REFRACTIONS … FROM THE PRISM OF GOD

TYPICAL TALE OF AN INDIAN SALESMAN

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)

*****

INTERESTING FACTS & QUOTES-12

March 14, 2019article, beautiful lines, column, facts, general knowledge, gk, interesting facts, quote, quotes and lines, snippet, Uncategorizedabhinandan varthaman, acid rock, annual status of education report, article 35a, black money, blue rock, census, china, economy, election, f-16, gas connections, heavy metal band, hindus in minority, J&K, jallianwala bagh, kamlesh tripathi, kumbh, land records, london, mig-21 bison, msp, narendra modi, national war memorial, netherlands, paddy, psychedelic rock, queen elizabeth, R&D, rock music, shravancharitymission, United Kingdom, voter, war, wheatshravancharitymission

Heavy metal (or simply metal) is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom with roots in blue rock, psychedelic rock, and acid rock. The bands that created heavy metal developed a thick, massive sound, characterized by highly amplified distortion, extended guitar solos, emphatic beats, and overall loudness. The genre’s lyrics and performance styles are sometimes associated with aggression and machismo.

Around 16 crore pilgrims are estimated to have taken a dip in Kumbh—a good four crore over state government’s estimate.

Article 35A prevents outsiders from acquiring any immovable property in J&K and also denies property rights to women married to people from outside the state of J&K.

In India buying rural land is one of the major ways to invest black money.

An ageing Mig-21 Bison taking on an F-16 fighter jet is like a Maruti 800 taking on a BMW. Wg Cdr Abhinandan Varthaman shot an F-16 with his Mig-21—a feat likely to go down in the history books.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently inaugurated the National War Memorial paying homage to nearly 26,000 military personnel who have laid down their lives for the country since independence.

Agriculture: Shanta Kumar committee report says, minimum support price (MSP) benefits only 6% of the farmers and that too just in wheat and paddy.

Netherlands is the world’s second-largest food exporter. It has many farming centers of excellence focused on exports. They use glasshouses, produce pesticides free fruit & vegetables. Use 90% less water and drones to track growth of crop.

Last week over one crore small farmers were pleasantly surprised to receive Rs 2000 in their bank accounts. This was the first of the three instalments under the Pradhan Mantri Kissan Samman Nidhi Scheme.

It is a pity that even after 70 years of independence we don’t have accurate land records. Without which, direct benefit transfer to farmers account gets complicated. Most states do not have a central database of land records.

We all talk of war without realising that in the last 70 years or so, US lost 36,000 soldiers in the Korean War, 58,000 in Vietnam on just a population base of 175 million. Iranians lost anywhere up to 1,50,000 in their war with Iraq in the 1980s. China, lost 1,14,000 in the Korean war, and lost another estimated 26,000 in its brief punitive expedition to Vietnam. So think deeply before advocating for war.

In 2019 India observes the 100^th year of Jallianwala-Bagh massacre that happened in 1919 during the British Raj.

According to 2011 Census Hindus are a minority in eight states Lakshdweep (2.5%), Mizoram (2.75%), Nagaland (8.85%), (Meghalaya (11.53%), J&K (28.44%), Arunachal Pradesh (29%), Manipur (31.39%) and Punjab (38.40%). But the thing to be noticed is, it is only in J&K where Hindus have been persecuted the most under a Muslim dominated majority.

The latest Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) reveals that barely 50% of children in class 5 and 73% in Class 8 can read a Class 2 text. Only 44% of class 8 children can do simple division.

China is the world’s largest producer of solar cells, aluminium and steel. On the other hand India has not produced a single global champion or become a global power in a single new field in the last decade.

China’s R&D spending is 2.1% of its GDP, less than the US, but higher than Europe’s average. Meanwhile India’s R&D spending has stagnated at around 0.65% of its GDP for the last two decades. It lacks not just money but even quality scientists for research.

LONDON: Queen Elizabeth II has given her royal approval to a law that will make it illegal in England and Wales to take ‘upskirting’ photos. The law will make it a criminal offense to take pictures under a person’s clothes without permission.

Voter’s don’t respond to economic statistics, they respond to their lived reality and that of people they know—whether they have jobs and their aspirations are being met (or otherwise).

This year … India’s 70^th, in its existence as a republic, is also, the year, its economy is billed to overtake that of Britain in size and become the world’s 5^th largest economy.

Narendra Modi has ensured that more than 3 crore women get gas connections. And more than 6 crore toilets were constructed in India during his tenure.

By Kamlesh Tripathi

https://kamleshsujata.wordpress.com

Share it if you like it

NAME OF ACCOUNT: SHRAVAN CHARITY MISSION

Account no: 680510110004635 (BANK OF INDIA)

IFSC code: BKID0006805

Our publications

GLOOM BEHIND THE SMILE

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

REFRACTIONS … FROM THE PRISM OF GOD

TYPICAL TALE OF AN INDIAN SALESMAN

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)

*****

ARTICLE: WAS NON-VIOLENCE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR INDIA’S INDEPENDENCE OR WAS THERE SOMETHING MORE TO IT?

February 6, 2019article, casual causerie, causerie, column, interesting facts, politics, short article, short article on politics, short article- politics, snippet, story, Uncategorizedadolf hitler, allied forces, andaman, andaman island, axis forces, british raj, colonial rule, Gandhi, ina, india independence, japan, kamlesh tripathi, non-violence, republic day parade, russia, shravancharitymission, world war-IIshravancharitymission

Hello friends welcome to this edition of editorial compass. A lot has been spoken about India achieving independence through the “Brahmastra” of non-violence. But then, there also, happens to be another view-point that calls non-violence a myth.

The line between historical facts and fiction is more porous than students of history might think. It is not uncommon for countries to create self-suiting or sanitised historical narratives. As George Orwell once said, “Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.”

India’s Republic Day Parade this year featured for the first time veterans of the Indian National Army (INA) that waged an armed struggle against the British colonial rule. Four INA veterans in their 90s rode a jeep in the parade that, paradoxically, showcased the life experiences of the apostle of non-violence, Mahatma Gandhi, through 22 tableaux.

India has long embellished or distorted how it won independence. The incongruous juxtaposition of the INA along with Gandhi at the parade inadvertently highlighted that. The INA veterans participation, in fact, helped underscore the Indian republic’s founding myth—that it won independence only through non-violence. This myth has been deeply instilled in the minds of almost all Indians since their school days.

Surely, the Gandhi-led, non-violent independence movement played a critical role. Both in galvanising grassroots resistance to British rule and also in helping to gain independence. But the decisive factor was the protracted World War-II, which reduced to ruins large swaths of Europe and Asia, especially the imperial powers. The war between the Allied and Axis powers killed 80 million, or 4% of the global population of that time.

Despite the Allied victory, a devastated Britian was in no position to hold on to its colonies, including “crown jewel” India. Even colonies, where, there were no grassroots resistance to colonial rule, won independence in the post-World War-II period.

The British had dominated India through a Machiavellian divide-and-rule strategy. Their exit came only after they had reduced one of the world’s wealthiest economies to one of its poorest. Indeed, they left after they had looted to their heart’s content, siphoning out, at least 9.2 trillion (or 44.6 trillion$) pounds, according to economist Utsa Patnaik’s recent estimate.

Had the post-1947 India been proactive and forward-looking in securing its frontiers. It could have averted both the Kashmir and Himalayan border problems. China was in deep turmoil until October 1949, and India had ample time and space to assert control over the Himalayan borders. But India’s pernicious founding myth of non-violence gave rise to a pacifist country that believed it could get peace merely by seeking peace, instead of building the capability to defend peace.

Here’s the paradox: countless numbers of Indians died to the excesses of British colonial regime. Just in the man made Bengal famine of 1942-45, six to seven million starved to death (a toll far greater than the “Holocaust”) due to the British war policy of diverting resources away from India. Britian sent Indian soldiers in large numbers to fight its dirty wars elsewhere, including the two world wars, and many died while serving as cannon fodder. Indeed, the present Indian republic was born in blood in blood: As many as a million civilians died in a senseless violence and millions more were uprooted in the British-contrived partition.

Yet the myth of India uniquely charting and securing its independence through non-violence was propagated by the interiors of the Raj, the British trained “brown sahibs.” No objective discourse was encouraged post-1947 on the multiple factors—internal and external—that aided India’s independence.

The hope of Indian independence was first kindled by Japan’s victory in the 1904-05 war with Russia—the first time an Asian nation comprehensively defeated a European rival. However, it was the world war that Adolf Hitler unleashed—with imperial Japan undertaking military expeditions in the name of freeing Asia from white colonial rule—that acted as the catalyst. An emboldened Gandhi serve a “Quit India” notice on the British in 1942.

While the Subhas Chandra Bose-led INA could not mount a formidable threat to a British colonial military, overflowing with Indian recruits. The Bombay mutiny and other sepoy revolts of 1946 triggered by INA prisoners’ trials undermined Britain’s confidence in sustaining the Raj, hastening its exit. Yet, independent India treated INA soldiers shabbily with many abandoned into penury.

Against this background the rehabilitation of Bose and the INA has long been overdue. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has done well to initiate the process, however low-key, to give Bose and the INA their due, including recently renaming one Andaman island after Bose and two other Andaman islands to honour INA sacrifices. Modi even wore the INA cap to address a public meeting in Andaman on the 75^th anniversary of Bose’s hoisting of the tricolour there.

Recognising unsung heroes is an essential step towards re-balancing the historical narrative. A rule-based international order, premised on non-violence remains a worthy aspirational goal. But Indian romancing of non-violence as an effective political instrument crimped national security policy since independence. The country hewed to pacifism (with Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru publicly bewailing in 1962 that China had “returned evil for good”) and frowned on materialism (even after China surpassed India’s GDP in 1984-85).

The burden of its quixotic national philosophy has imposed enduring costs, including an absence of a strategic culture, as the late American analyst George Tanham famously pointed out. Lack of a culture to pursue a clear strategic vision and policy hobbles India’s ambition to be a great power.

Synopsis derived out of an article titled “The Non-violence Myth—India’s founding story bestows upon it a quixotic national philosophy and enduring costs by geostrategist, Brahma Chellany in TOI.

Posted by Kamlesh Tripathi

https://kamleshsujata.wordpress.com

Share it if you like it

NAME OF ACCOUNT: SHRAVAN CHARITY MISSION

Account no: 680510110004635 (BANK OF INDIA)

IFSC code: BKID0006805

Our publications

GLOOM BEHIND THE SMILE

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

REFRACTIONS … FROM THE PRISM OF GOD

TYPICAL TALE OF AN INDIAN SALESMAN

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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INTERESTING FACTS …DID YOU KNOW EPISODE 7

January 31, 2019casual causerie, causerie, column, facts, general knowledge, gk, interesting facts, quote, quotes and lines, snippet, Uncategorized20 facts, accident, central bank, england, general awareness, general knowledge, geography, gk, golden hour, history, homi bhaba, india world, indian origin, invader, kamlesh tripathi, management, nri, portuguese, shravancharitymission, spice route, swaminathan, vikram sarabhai, walter reighshravancharitymission

India has 30 million people of Indian origin living outside India

There are enough history books to note that India’s invaders were often more advanced than their local counterparts in warfare and administration. (Article ‘Time to let go’—we are the products of our past, but we don’t have to be prisoners of it by RISHI SETH, TOI dated 27.11.18)

A shocking multi-city survey has revealed that 59% of Good Samaritans—public spirited citizens who take accident victims to hospitals—were detained by the police, despite the law forbidding it. (TOI editorial dated 28.11.19)

The GOLDEN HOUR is the first hour after the traumatic injury, when doctor’s say emergency treatment is most successful.

A 2006 Law Commission report claimed that 50% of fatalities can be averted by bringing victims to the hospital within the golden hour.

In 2006 India reported 1.35 lakh fatal accidents that claimed 1.48 lakh lives and 1.21 lakh serious injury causing accidents that required hospitalization.

An Assocham study says most students below the age of 13 carry schoolbags weighing up to 45% of their body weight. This load should not exceed 10% of a student’s body weight (TOI editorial dated 28.11.19)

What we call the Spice route, ferried for hundreds of years, pepper and other condiments from what is now Kerala to Arabia, and from there to Europe.

The Portuguese brought chilies to India some 500 years ago when they landed in Goa.

An English courtier Walter Reigh introduced tobacco and potatoes from America to England in the reign of Elizabeth I.

Central banks like our Reserve Bank of India are a construct of modernity for which there is no specific ancient wisdom. The first one, formed exactly 350 years ago, was Sweden’s Riksbank, followed by the Bank of England (1791). Others soon followed including US and France.

Since the end of the cold war, the Chinese nuclear arsenal is the only one that is both expanding and modernising across the board while those of the US and Russia have dropped dramatically.

Just in the last decade, the number of Chinese missiles that can reach the continental United States has more than doubled.

Today almost 4 out of 10 children in Maharastra are stunted, an equal number are under weight. 15% are wasted or weak or extremely thin, 74% are anaemic. And more than half of infants (6-9 months) don’t even get solids or semi-solids that are needed for growth. And within all of this the tribal children are at the bottom of the heap.

The statue of liberty was unveiled in 1886. It was given to the United States by France to celebrate their enduring friendship during the American Revolution. Over the years it has symbolized the freedom and the democracy of the United States including abolishing of slavery.

You can’t make an omelette without breaking the eggs, say the French

According to the Bureau of Police Research and Development, there are 402 police stations in the country that don’t even have a phone line. Plus, more than seven years after being conceptualised the Rs 2,000 crore project to digitise crime records and connect nearly 14,000 police stations still remain incomplete.

India is the largest producer of milk in the world, with around 85% of its workforce being small farm holders.

Average internet connection speed for the South Koreans is a blazing 23.7 megabits per second, while Indians suffer at a slow rate of 1.7 megabits per second.

The names of four domain experts of India are: MS Swaminathan, who worked for the Green Revolution of India, Vikram Sarabhai’s who worked on satellites and Homi Bhaba who worked on building India’s atomic energy capabilities and Sam Pitroda who started the telecom revolution in India.

By Kamlesh Tripathi

https://kamleshsujata.wordpress.com

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Our publications

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AADAB LUCKNOW … FOND MEMORIES

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Category Archives: interesting facts

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INTERESTING FACTS …DID YOU KNOW EPISODE 7