Articles

When our sports-persons win and our national anthem is played don’t we struggle to hold back our tears? How do we get this feeling? Do our parents, relatives and other people around us keep giving us lectures about nationalism all the time? I don’t think so? Who has the time? In fact we keep lamenting all the time about the problems that India faces as a developing country. We see garbage everywhere, poor sanitation, shortage of water, load shedding, corruption, bad roads, rising crime etc. Yet, despite all this, we love this imperfect country and want to do something for this great nation. This, is the result of our nationality or national identity.  A nation is a large body of people united by common descent, history, culture, language, inhabiting a particular country or territory. Nationality on the other hand, means the membership of a nation.  According to definition, nationality can be acquired by being born within the jurisdiction of a ...

"The moment I have realized 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, everything that binds vanishes, and I am free." These words clearly reflect Swami Vivekananda's belief that 'Religion is the manifestation of divinity already in man'. Swami Vivekananda or Narendranath Dutta, was born in Calcutta, on the 12th of January 1863. His father Vishwanath Dutta was an attorney and was considered to be a generous man who believed in social equality. His mother Bhuvaneshwari Devi was a very religious lady and she was the one who initiated Swamiji into the world of religion. His boyish imagination was captivated by the life of Shri Ram. He started meditating playfully but sometimes he became so engrossed that he lost all awareness of the world around him. From a very young age he had a great sense of equality and interacted with people of different...

“No man should bring children into the world who is unwilling to persevere to the end in their nurture and education. If a man neglects education, he walks lame to the end of his life. The direction in which education starts a man will determine his future in life.” Plato In India Education continues to face stern challenges. Despite growing investment in education, 25% of its population is still illiterate; only 15% of Indian students reach high school, and just 7% graduate. Women have a much lower literacy rate than men. Far fewer girls are enrolled in the schools, and many of them drop out. Concerted efforts led to improvement from 15.3% in 1961 to 28.5% in 1981. As of 2008, India's post-secondary high schools offer only enough seats for 7% of India's total college-age population. 25% of teaching positions nationwide are vacant, and 57% of college professors do not have either a Masters or PhD degree. World Bank statistics found that fewer than 40 percent of adolescents i...

Crane Bedi: Use education as key to empowerment

If the principle of gender equality is enshrined in the Indian Constitution, then why are Indian women treated as second citizens in their own country? The Constitution officially grants equality to women and also empowers the State to adopt measures of positive discrimination in favour of women. However, the varied forms of discrimination that women in India are subject to are far from positive. It is claimed that from the Fifth Five Year Plan (1974-78) onwards, there has been a marked shift in the approach to women’s issues from welfare to development. Where is the development? Yes, the status of the urban woman has shown some improvement but the changes in their lifestyle were not coupled by changes in the general mindset of the people in our patriarchal society. Thus, some laws should have been framed for the protection of the newly emancipated and urbanized Indian women. What is the percentage of urban women in India , anyway? What about the rest? These privileged few...

Since time immemorial, Indian women have suffered at the hands of men. They have been subject to all forms of mental, physical, psychological and emotional torture. However, due to the hard work and dedication of feminists and social reformers, there has been a considerable improvement in the status of women in urban India . Education has helped the urban woman to understand the rights that have been accorded to her by the constitution and she is learning to make full use of it. Besides, she is now financially independent and does not need a man to support her. So she does not need to tolerate any form of torture and has the confidence to fight for her rights. Women have stopped sacrificing their dreams for the happiness of others. They choose to remain single as long as they want to and the divorce rate in India has reached an all time high. Thus, there are a large number of women in our society who are single. But does our society accept single women? The answer is a definite ‘No...

After globalization, many western brands opened their outlets in India . It was followed by the large scale advertising of these products. Advancements in technology and new satellite links enabled the transmission of Western Television Channels, in India . People were exposed to a whole new world. This was followed by the BPO Boom. The unemployment rate of the educated people, living in the metros, came down drastically. The disposable income of people went up and the new range of lifestyle products and brands were hard to resist. The fashion obsession in the West was transferred to India . Every individual is expected to look his/her best today. Packaging is as important as the product, but in case of women, it seems more important. India is a multi-cultural and multi-racial society and people of different regions and across the social classes, have different beliefs. So those who haven’t been able to adapt to the changing lifestyles, are looked down upon. Advertisements play a...