The word “Digitization” is very frequently used nowadays.  Just like those  100 years of  Renaissance during French Revolution, now the world has dragged itself into a race of Digitization, a total revolution in keeping and preserving their work virtually rather physically. It just means to transform into a PAPERLESS WORLD ahead

Digitization is a medium by which any transaction or any records whether it is a document, picture, sound or signal, etc. are saved in the computer as a soft copy. Thereby it reduces the space for papers in any form like bond paper, picture, photograph, books, and even cash. Subsequently, we can find a drastic change in the world which is stepping into Future Digital World. Therefore, we find that the information and communication technology has almost engulfed the entire world slowly.

In the world’s ranking for Digitization in Economy, India ranks 91^st position out of 139 countries. This shows how much India is lagging behind and how much effort should be made to at least be at a pace. The top ten countries are 1) Singapore 2) Finland 3) Sweden 4) Norway 5) United States 6) Netherlands 7) Switzerland 8) United Kingdom 9) Luxembourg 10) Japan.

Around 65 percent of Indians use cash as their primary transaction. To make a step forward for Digitization, people have to rely on non-cash payment option. Therefore the previous year, on November 8^th , 2016, The Indian Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi, had made an announcement of terminating the use of notes of old Rs500/- and Rs1000/-. The two notes which were taken back by the government had constituted 86% of cash circulation in the country. The last day to deposit the two notes was December 31^st,2016.

Thereafter two new notes; Rs500/- and Rs2000/-, were put in forth with a view to controlling the black money inflows as well as monitor the entire transactions. The whole nation had been seen queued hours together near ATMS and banks either to deposit or to withdraw money. Additionally, the money withdrawal limit was placed in order to reach each and every hand. The drastic step taken by the ruling government had accentuated several questions and opinions across the country.

Let us discuss, what are the Affirmative Views upon this suddenly implemented action upon countrymen

I have tried to jot down into points

1. The abrupt and impulsive decision has given a serious progression to change into more usage of plastic cards (debit/credit), mobile wallets and more of an internet transaction.
2. It has given a thought in each of us that we should accept digitization like other countries

3. The surprise execution has in a way pressurized many of those, to open an account that did not have a saving account in a bank.

4. It also gave a sudden blow to those who had hoarded lots of cash in the form of notes of Rs1000/- and Rs500/-. Thereby the only way which the money could be exchanged was to deposit into the banks. Thus, it is a form of their income revelation scheme where they have to claim their wealth accumulated

5. The wave effect of the initial stage has also impacted much in Small Term Enterprises (SME) and disorganized retail shops, where maximum transactions are by cash payment. This decision has given an opportunity to change into the digital transaction

6. There are reports where Hawala Transactions and counterfeit currency, i.e. fake notes, were deeply affected by this deadly knock-back. It has squeezed the pockets without much notice. Moreover, the Government has started monitoring every transaction in a much cleaner way.

7. Additionally, the outcome of demonetization has also given a set back in Terror financing as well.

8. The government claims that around 13 lakh crore has been deposited by the citizens constituting 70 percent of the countrymen. Thus now Income Tax Department could scrutinize the deposits and those who did not deposit.

9. Real Estate is under a deep vigilance where it is believed mostly erected by the business deal of black money.

10. Various forms of Donations which were made in cash transformed to the digital medium.

11. Paytm, one of the digital wallets had a sudden outpouring in transactions. As a consequence, the boost had triggered to adapt Paytm everywhere, even tea stalls, small term vendors, hawkers, vegetables and fruits sellers and all other small scale retailers.
12. Indian Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley has also given a statement that it is an effort to restrict over expenditure and also to change the current lifestyle before implementing the Goods and Service Tax.

People in queue outside Banks and ATM post announcement

Apart from the positive opinions, many have claimed it to be an attempt which is hastily taken.

Let us look into the Negative Side of this decision

1. The first and foremost issue was that though the Announcement was made, but it was badly executed. There were no prior arrangements made to curb this currency crisis. The decision was abrupt and incompetently bestowed upon the common men.
2. The sudden flush out of 86% of high – value notes in the cash circulation had deeply affected the economy of the country. Thus, it has brought in hyperinflation in the country. Inflation affects all groups, whether rich or the poor; law abiders or those who violate the law.
3. When the announcement was made, people had moved out of their home to search for ATMs. They had to be in the crawling queue for hours together either to deposit or to withdraw the money. The sudden impact was as such that people were panic-stricken and got disoriented in their schedules.
4. There was an ultimate cash dearth where many of the ATM’s ran out of cash. Furthermore, there are a few banks in the remote villages, where the cash was not accurately arranged to distribute among the people whosoever had their account. This also shows how the situation was mismanaged and non-coordinated.
5. Owing to long hours of being in the queue, several people were reported to have passed away. Those who required medical help were also deprived to stay in hospital as the hospital denied accepting the old notes.
6. We could also find how indecisive the RBI was, during the entire scenario. The sudden impact was as such that the every alternate day there was a pronouncement made at the Union and RBI. This was exceedingly affecting the common people.
7. In India, around 75 percent are believed to be literate and 22 percent of the entire population is below the poverty line. The announcement has given a setback to those helpless and vulnerable groups who are deprived of basic facilities. This merely created havoc in their meager living.
8. The main occupation of India is Agriculture. This declaration had also adversely affected Agriculture as well. The demand for perishable goods like the vegetable, fruits, milk, eggs and other agriculture products was heavily reduced. Thus, it had forced several farmers to scrap the produce on roads or dump yard due to disappointment.
9. The transportation, which is the major network connecting people also was affected as the major chunk of the payment done is only through cash. Toll junction of the highways had lots of stranded queue due to the cash crunch.
10. There was a drop in E-Commerce; thereby people opted for online payments rather cash on delivery. Thus, those companies had to face sudden cancellations of products and decline in cash on delivery.
11. The worst hit after the demonetization has been in the service sector includes trade, restaurants, transport and communication, real estate etc.
12. The value of Indian Rupee had a drop post demonetization. On January 11, 2017, World Bank has lowered the percent from its earlier estimation of 7.6% made in June to 7%.

As we all have learned no rules have been implemented without any chaos. The initial ripple effect definitely has brought several shortcomings, but it is also for future advancement. There is a saying Rome was not built in a day, clearly, approves that we have to march ahead with acceptance of new thoughts and new concepts to jump into this competitive world.

Digitized Economy would approve the gateway to the succession. The mayhem of demonetization would have affected the country’s economy, yet many are not disapproving the concept presented.

Let us be optimistic for treading the forthcoming years to reach the objective of the digitized economy.

Java is one of the most important programming languages. James Gosling, Mike  Sheridan, Patrick Naughton, who was working in the Sun Microsystems, had started the Java Project in 1991 for the consumer electronics devices. It was named as OAK  after an oak tree that stood outside their office. Later the name was changed to Green and finally in  1995 to JAVA, from Java Coffee. The language derives some of its characters from C and C++.  On 20th April 2009, Sun Microsystem and Oracle announced the agreement under which Oracle would acquire the Sun but the acquisition was completed by the 27th January 2010.

James Gosling

Java is an Object Oriented language. Java source file with the extension of .java is compiled to a bytecode format with .class as file extension, which is executable in Java interpreter.

Java when  once written can be executed on any platform so it says, ”Write once, run anywhere”(WORA) i.e, compiled bytecode can run on any platform which supports  Java without any recompilation, it is because the compiled bytecode,  Java runs on a Java Virtual Machine (JVM) regardless of  computer architecture.

The team had build Java using the following five principles:

1. Simple, object-oriented and familiar
2. Robust and secure
3. Architecture-neutral and portable
4. It must execute with high performance
5. Interpreted, threaded and dynamic

Different Versions of Java

• JDK version 1.0 released on 23rd January 1996 with the Codename OAK
• JDK version 1.1 released on 19th February 1997 with the Codename Abigail

From 1.2 version onwards JDK is renamed to J2SE (Java 2 platform, Standard Edition)

• J2SE version 1.2 released on 8th December 1998  with the Codename Playground
• J2SE version 1.3 released on 8th May 2000  with the Codename Kestrel
• J2SE version 1.4 released on 6th February 2002 with the Codename Merlin
• J2SE version 5.0 released on 30th September 2004 with the Codename Tiger

The number was changed to  reflect the level of maturity, stability, scalability and security of J2SE and it was developed under JSR 176, but the internal version number remains 1.5

• Java SE6 released on 11th December 2006 with the Codename Mustang

The version was again renamed from J2SE to Java SE and also dropped .0 . It was developed under JSR 270, but the internal version number remains as 1.6.0

• Java SE7 released on 7th July 2011 with the Codename Dolphin
• Java SE8 released on 18th March 2014

The code name was dropped from Java 8 onwards

• Java SE9 is scheduled to release on July 2017

Different Editions Of Java

Java Platform, Standard Edition/Java SE: It is used for the development and deployment of code for desktop and servers.

Java Platform, Enterprise Edition/Java EE: It is used for computing of enterprise software.

Java Platform, Micro Edition: It’s used for mobile devices.

Java  Card: It’s application (applets) that runs securely on smart cards like SIM, ATM cards.

JavaFX: It’s a software which is used to create desktop applications, as well as a Rich Internet Application (RIA) which can run on a wide variety of devices.

Java is also used in a number of places like a standalone application, web application, enterprise, mobile, smart cards, games, embedded system, robotics etc.

Social Media is a platform for the people to interact with each other and present their opinions and convey their thoughts via virtual communities and networks like Facebook, Twitter etc. Their usage primarily depends upon individual interests. Whether this incredible power of the Social Media is a Blessing or a Bane is a Big  Question. The power of social networks can be something extremely important. The Internet along with social networking websites has given people to invent their own creativity.

Social Media as Blessing

• Communication between the family and friends who are staying across the world have increased because of social media’s free messaging and calling. Now the people are able to find their childhood friends, connect with them.

• It is a huge opportunity for the company, especially -The Startups where they had to spend a lot of money on advertising previously. With the sudden outburst of social networking, changed the entire perception, thus they can initiate their business with less cost or no cost at all. Online business gives an opportunity to understand their customer well, even helps to boost their brand name and to reach many people.

• Now every passing day, every passing hour, people’s usage of the internet and social media,  has been increasing at a higher pace. Thus Digital Marketing is a new field which is under huge progression. Optimization of the search engine has begun to extend rather localizing to the particular area, which has proved to be the best entity for business.

• People are now surfacing with a whole lot of new ideas which would have sounded crazy initially, but later it turned into a huge brand and the people started it have become millionaires and billionaires in no time like Google, Facebook, Twitter. Thereby it has tremendously increased the living standard individually.

• People are able to express their views openly and understand other views which help the people to join for a particular cause.The best example, Tamil Nadu, traditional game Jallikkattu was banned, some people started the protest against it, but soon much more joined the protest later with the help of social media, which has pushed the Government to pass an ordinance to lift the ban completely.Social media benefitted during the crisis like “Superstorm Sandy “, which occurred in the US, people used online platform to inform their family about their safety and shared the details of destruction

• Even the authorities are closely monitoring all online sites, which are helpful for them to get to know the mood of the people, to catch the suspects as well. Cybercrime, which is the latest prevailing concern. But the government has prepared a separate department to closely watch and observe the activities in online. As we know that social media is the voice of the people so it has the capacity to influence the outcome of the political issues.

A coin has two sides, in the same manner, even the social media have two sides so now let's go into the negative side of it.

Social media is a Bane

• Nowadays people are involved so much in the virtual world of social media they tend to forget about the real world. The valuable personal and face to face interaction, i.e. the social life of the people are weakening. Many a time people spend time talking to people on Facebook than to someone sitting next to them because of which interaction between the family members in their own house has been reduced.

• People have lots of friends in online media, some of whom they might have never met in real life, i.e. strangers, which in turn may be a threat to some.
• We all know that the here we can openly give our views, but certain people have misused this social media as their right to abuse and bully another person.

• Now sharing the location has become a big advantage for the thief and other crime related activities.
• People spend hours on social media which has a negative impact on their health. Reduction in physical activity affects the health.Prolonged watching, adversely affecting eyes because of the glare from laptop, mobile, tablets etc.
• Hacking into the personal information creates a real problem nowadays, they fake the Id’s, get bank details, etc.  Some of the fake news has created lots of unrest in the society. The Celebrities are the regular victims of such fake news.
• Business has also tasted the side effect, consumers can post negative comments which will affect the prospects with the new client even the competitors can spread false news of the company in terms, tarnish the image of the company.
• Person’s life has become an open book to anyone who is interested in getting the personal information about a  person have become much reachable, in short, a person’s privacy is compromised.

One of the famous Scientists Albert Einstein has told,“ I fear the day when technology will suppress human interaction and the world will have a generation of idiots”.

Every man made invention have their own positive and negative side to it. Let us take a simple example of a knife, which is an essential tool in your household, kitchen, but it can also be used as a lethal weapon to hurt or even kill someone. In the same manner, social media, if used in a properly can be a boon, If not a curse. It all depends upon how we use it and how much information we share.

Floriculture

Flower farming is a type of horticulture, which involves ornamental and flowering plants are cultivated. This gives a major venture in Flower Industry for sustaining the growth appropriate procedure and corrective measures like plant breeding; watering and sowing; soil management; land allocation; adequate nutrition; irrigation according to the seasonal changes are taken.

Type of flowers used for trade

The growers usually prefer all season crop. Lilies, cosmos, zinnias, snapdragons and daisies are few who are in great demand in the market.

Cut-flowers are another type which is prevalent in global trade. The estimated growth in developed and developing countries for cut flowers is $100billion a year. The flowers which are major involved are marigold, roses, hydrangea, tulip, gladiolus, sunflower, daffodil, zinnia etc.

Flower Industry

The flower industry is the only industry which in high demand in the developed and developing countries. This industry has had a tremendous start since the 19^th century. The specific countries which are involved the world global trades are the major consumers and traders as well. This industry comprises of three major constituents; Growers; Wholesalers and Retailers. The major trade occurs in developed countries like Japan, Western Europe, Netherlands as well as North America.

Netherlands is the major exporter and importer of cut flowers in Europe

The largest producer of cut-flowers providing a wider area for crop production is India, China and United States.

The percentage of consumer markets in the countries are as follows

Germany- 22%, United States-15%, France-10%, United Kingdom-10%, Netherland-9%,  Japan-6%, Italy-5%, Switzerland-5%

In the Netherlands, this industry plays a vital role in the foreign exchange for investment for a trade. It provides employment opportunities for the improvement of livelihood.

Floriculture in Netherlands

In Kenya, the income from the flower industry provides the vital income of people. Thereby it is the second largest country for foreign investment earner. The flower industry deploys female workforce who are underprivileged, illiterate and weak workers.

Floriculture in Kenya

In Western Australia, has a noteworthy nursery industry wherein they are involved in the local market as well as export market. Major parts of the land involved in the production are land rehabilitated after mining and farms of local and state government.

Floriculture in Australia

Insects damaging Cut flower crops

Insects cause the various types of damage to these crops. Insects damaging by chewing are the caterpillar, flies (maggots), midges, beetles. Insects those damages by piercing-sucking are leaf hoppers, thrips, aphids, plant bugs, and mites. Mining insects are leaf miners.

Diseases affecting the crop

Botrytis Blight of Cut flowers

 The fungus Botrytis cinerea, often referred as gray mold, attacks the plant at any stage whether it is at tender growth or dead or aging tissues. The suitable environment for the fungal attack is several days of cool, cloudy or rainy weather.

Foliar Nematodes

Foliar nematodes; Aphelenchoides fragariae; also known as leaf and bud nematodes, attacks over crops like Begonia, Hydrangea, Dahlia, etc. They feed on the foliage damaging the aesthetic look. They usually thrive in humid climates.

Daylily Rust

 Daylilies are infected by a pathogen viz. Puccinia hemerocallidis which reflect a rust-like appearance on the upper and lower surface of a leaf. It spreads from one plant to another by the wind, air, and human touch.

Leaf Spot disease of Ornamental plants

The Leaf spot diseases are caused by fungi and bacteria. Fungus involved is Alternaria, Cercospora, etc and bacterial leaf spots caused by Pseudomonas, Xantomonas etc. The ornamental plants affected by these are Dahlia, Hibiscus, Gerbera, Begonia, Verbena, etc.

Preventive Measures Taken

• Leaf spot diseases can be controlled by decreasing overhead irrigation, lessening the leaf wetting, using pathogen free material, resistant cultivars, preventative fungicide application.
• Sanitation is the most important measure to be taken. Removing and destroying the rust affected plants would be much more effective.
• Keeping the foliage dry and reducing the humidity would sort most of the pathogen infections.

Floral Industry in India

There are three Important Aspects of Floriculture in India

• Trade and commerce, i.e. Economic
• Artistic and Alluring i.e. Aesthetic
• Community and Public i.e. Social

Trade and commerce, i.e. Economic aspect

• Floriculture is a highly progressive market, which has a deep impact in developing country like India
• The gestation period of flower crop is much less when compared to other crops
• Highly valued cut flowers in India are Rose, Gladiolus, Gerbera, Orchids, Tuberose, Anthurium, Carnation etc.
• In the southern part of India, loose flowers like Jasmine, Chrysanthemum, Aster, Marigold, etc. are in huge demand in the markets.
• The major flower cultivated areas are Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh in South, West Bengal in East, Maharashtra in West and Rajasthan Delhi and Haryana in North.
• The field of floriculture provides ample employment to the unprivileged and underprivileged group, thereby providing an income to the families.
• Apart from farming, it also helps in the deployment of various other career opportunity sectors in floriculture like farm manager, supervisor, project coordinator, research and teaching, floral designers, landscape designers, architect, floral therapist and various other self-potential fields.

Artistic and Alluring i.e. Aesthetic aspect

• This field of floriculture helps for landscape designing as well as giving a lucrative business for the economy.
• Ikebana, Japanese form of arrangement of flowers. It is said that the arrangement provides absolute silence and giving a sort of life by arranging them. This aspect is being followed in in India in various forms like a garden, or open space for a polluted free environment.
• Horticulture therapy wherein there is a treatment for psychic debility by enjoying or utilizing the garden, landscape, etc to pacify or subdue the illness.
• Bio-aesthetic horticulture is the upcoming field where it emerges as a healing tool for connecting human and surroundings. Thus we would find in the slower culture in a landscape in psychiatric hospitals, rehabilitation centers, old-age homes, prisons and schools.

Community and Public i.e. Social aspect

• A flower is regarded as a symbol of purity, beauty, peace, love, passion etc.
• India is a land of festivals, wherein flowers play a significant role in every customs in the form of garland, bouquet, flower arrangements in various functions, wreathes etc.
• Thereby Floriculture plays a crucial role in Indian Market.

Agriculture and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) helps in promoting and exporting floriculture in India  

( http://apeda.gov.in)

Sabarimala is one of the ancient Sastha temple in India and its open to all faiths, the only condition is a person who enters Sabarimala should take a strict 41 days of Vratham (austerity). People from all over India and even from aboard used to visit Sabarimala. It is situated in Kerala state in the district of Pathanamthitta at the Periyar Tiger Reserve in the Western Ghat mountain ranges of the Perunad gram Panchayat.  The temple is opened for Mandalapooja, Makaravilakku, Vishu and the first five days of Malayalam month. To enter Sabarimala pilgrim has to pass through the Pathinettaam Padi (holy 18 steps). This each steps represent desire one must conquer in order see Ayyapan. The pilgrim is addressed in general as Ayyappa or Swami to show that all are equal in the eye of the Lord. Women pilgrimage above 10 and below 50 are not allowed to enter because Ayyappan is a Brahmachari.

Travancore Devasam Board has changed the name of Sabarimala Sree Dharma Sastha Temple to Sabarimala Sree Ayyappanswamy Temple in a board meeting held at October 5^th 2016.

Sabarimala - 1942

History

The descendent of the Pandya dynasty belonging to Chempazhanattu Kovil, living in Sivagiri was given the right to rule over the Pandalam by the Travancore King. King Rajasekara was the direct descendent of this dynasty. He was a beloved ruler of the people, but the king was unhappy because he doesn’t have children. So he and the queen prayed to Lord Shiva to bless them with a kid. Once the King had gone to the jungle for hunting, he saw a kid abandoned in the forest. He takes the child happily to the queen, they will  raise him for twelve years.

The child will be named as Manikandan because when the King found him in the forest there was a chain and a bell around his neck, a Saint had appeared and told him to name child Manikandan because of the Bell in the neck. The day comes when the king came to know, Manikandan is really an incarnation of the God. When it is time for Ayyappan to leave the kingdom, King will express his desire to build a temple for him so the Lord Ayyapan has aimed an arrow where it fell, King Rajasekara construct the temple in Lord’s name.

Manikandan with tigers

Customs

Before going to Sabarimala, the devotee has to wear a special chain following the 41 days Vratham. During this period they have to follow a strict vegetarian diet, daily visit the temple more over they should not involve in any non-violence. Another important aspect of pilgrimage is Irumudikettu, it’s a travelling kit which contains twin pocket, the  Munmudi (the front portion) and Pinmudi (the rear pounch) and the middle opening. Munmudi contains the pooja articles and offerings to Lord Ayyappan and Pinmudi contain Pilgrim personal belongings. Without this Irumudikettu pilgrim is not allowed to step onto Pathinettaam Padi (the eighteen steps) at Sannidhanam.

Pathinettaam Padi

Usually the journey to Sabarimala is done in a group and in that one person will be Guruswami who prepares the Irumudikkettu and place it  to the devotee’s head. Irumudikettu has been divided into three colors; red color is taken by Kanni swami who is going first time; others use navy blue till their third year; thereafter it is saffron color. We can easily identify a person who is going to Sabarimala by their dress color because they usually wear black or saffron color and  the special chain they wear on their neck. The traditional route to the temple covers Erumeli, Kalaketti, Azhutha, Karimala, Pampa and eventually Sabarimala.

Prasadam

The Prasadamin Sabarimala is Aravana Payasam and Appam. They are prepared using rice, ghee, sugar, Jaggery etc.

Makara Vilaku

Makarajyothi

It is one of the main festivals, with lakhs of devotee gathered together. It is believed that Lord Rama and his brother met a tribal devotee named Sabari who offered a fruit to Rama after tasting it, but Lord accepted it. Then he saw a person doing Tapasya(deep meditation) so he enquired Sabari, was told he is Shasta. Rama walks towards him Shasta and he stood up to welcome the Prince of Ayodhya. Thus this day is celebrated as Makara Vilaku. It is believed that the Lord stops his Tapasya and will bless all the devotees on this day.

 During this sacred event, the ornament which to be adorned by Lord Ayyapan is brought from the Padalam Palace ceremonially, which start 3 days prior to the day of Makara Vilaku. The ornament which reaches Sannidanam by evening at this time an eagle appears in the sky. Once the Lord Ayyappan deity is decorated with holy ornaments, the Makarajyothi appears upon the adjacent hilltop.

Holy ornaments box

On this day a maximum number of devotees reach to Sannidanam to watch the holy sight. It becomes difficult for the police and the board to control the crowd Thus, many times it has ended up in chaos, leading to a stampede. 

Controversies

Sabarimala temple is not without any controversy. In Sabarimala, female devotees have certain age regulation that is age below 10 years and above 50 years are not allowed because the deity over there is a Brahmachari. There is a regulation given by the Kerala High Court in 1991, instructing the Temple Board to put a board stating the age regulation for females. There is a case which is on trial in the Supreme court which is in contrary to the rule implemented. Still, the final verdict is not yet given.

The interesting part is that the female devotees are divided in their opinions in this matter. One half is against, who are not ready to accept this regulation and the other half accept the age regulation, who says that they are ready to wait.

 Environment, Preserving Steps 

Each year, the number of pilgrims is increasing, as a result, the waste disposal is increasing as well. It has become a threat to the wildlife and forest surrounding it. In order to protect and conserve the environment, certain projects like Punyam Poonkavanam has been implemented. Some of the salient aspects of this project are:

• While taking bath in the Pamba river, we should not use soap or oil and also not to throw any clothes in Pamba.
• In Irumudikkettu should contain only bio-degradable materials, not plastic.
• The devotees have to spend at least one hour in the cleaning activities in Pamba, Sannidhaanam or the surrounding places.

Appreciation

• The Kerala police are doing an excellent job in Sannidanam to keep the crowd under control and help out the pilgrims as much as possible.
• The other department, Kerala State Electricity Board, who provides the lighting facility throughout the Pampa, entire route to Sannidanam, illuminating the within the premises as well as surrounding Sannidanam.

In India there are three National Historic Days, on the event of India’s Independence from British Rule i.e. on 15^th August 1947,  Indian Republic Day on 26^th January 1950 and Gandhi Jayanthi on 2^nd October, 1869. These dates 15^th August, 26^th January and 2^nd October have been given as National Holidays to celebrate the occasion. We all need to reminisce those days in history which gave a pillared phase of India’s forte.

Let us travel into the past and visualise the transit through this article.

The great eminent leaders; freedom fighters like Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Lala Lajpat Rai, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Rabindranath Tagore, Sarojini Naidu and many more , have victoriously struggled for decades against the dominant British rule and brought in the total Independence . Eventually, the Last Viceroy of India, Lord Mountbatten, had to compromise and agree the terms for Independence on 15th August, 1947.  Thereby India and Pakistan were partitioned and declared Independent Countries. Mahatma Gandhi, the preeminent leader of India was assassinated on 30 January, 1948 by Nathuram Godse. He fired point blank with three bullets on the chest with Beretta, 9mm pistol.

The Newspaper published on 15th August, 1947

The Prime Minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, declaring the Independence

Mahatma Gandhi with Lord Mountbatten and his wife, Edwina

Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated.

The draft of the constitution was prepared and placed by the Constituent Assembly in the year 4^th November, 1947. This assembly conducted open sessions to public for a duration of 3 years approximately. The death of the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, was mourned throughout the world. There after it created a lot of regional disputes. Therefore after the chaos subsided, on 26^th November, 1949, The First Constituent Assembly adopted the Constitution. This Day is also recognised as The Constitution Day.

The Constituent Assembly took the duration of 3 years to draft the Constitution

The Great architect of Indian Constitution is B.R. Ambedkar. The Constitution is a fundamental law of the country, which reflects fundamental principles on which the government of that country is based. It was drafted by the  Drafting Committee which leaded by the chairman Dr B R Ambedkar and Six Members; N Gopalaswamy Ayyangar, Alladi Krishnaswamy Ayyer, KM Munshi, Mohammad Saadullah, N Madhav Rao and TT Krishnachari. Initially there were 395 articles and 8 schedules, now there are 444 articles which are divided into 24 parts and 12 schedules.

Dr. B R Ambedkar

Dr. B R Ambedkar along with his Drafting Committee

The National Assembly signed the Final Hindi and English Version of the Constitution on 24^th January, 1950. On 26^th January, 1950, the Constitution was accepted, declared and put in to force. Therefore India celebrates the day as The Republic Day. Justice in social, economic and political policies, Liberty, Equality of Status and Fraternity (Unity of the Nation) are the basic objectives for being Republic. The date of declaring Republic, was also the anniversary of the Purna Swaraj Day(26^th January, 1930).Indian National Congress had demanded as well as pledged for Purna Swaraj i.e. Full Independence from British rule on 26^th January, 1930.

The Constitution gave the power to the people to choose their own governing bodies. Dr Rajendra Prasad swore in as the First President at the Durbar Hall in the Government House, thereafter the Tri Color Indian Flag was unfolded at the Irwin Stadium. Thus this day is rejoiced as the Republic Day and sends a patriotic fever in the blood of each Indian citizen.

The First Indian President, Dr. Rajendra Prasad

B R Ambedkar submitting the Constitution to Dr. Rajendra Prasad.

Signing the copy of the Constitution

Copy of the Signatories of the Constitution

The Constitution of India

The President addressing the Crowd at Irwin Stadium

India has been inviting the head of state or government of another country as the Chief Guest of honour since 1950. The First Chief Guest was the Indonesian President, Sukarno.

India had witnessed the magnificent celebration of The Republic Day  at the Irwin Stadium commemorated by the President of India.

The newspaper published about Indian becoming Republic

This year, 26^th January, 2017, India had celebrated the 68^th anniversary of the Republic Day. The momentous day commenced with the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi paying homage to the martyrs at Amar Jawan Jyothi at India Gate. The Prime Minister and the President, Pranab Mukherjee, unfurled the National Flag at Rajpath, the national anthem was also sung along with a 21 gun salute. The Chief Guest of honor was Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayad Al Nahyan, the crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and a son of UAE’s founding President. The contingent of UAE soldiers also marched in the parade for the first time.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals – PETA is a nonprofit organisation. It’s an American animal rights organisation with its headquarters in Norfolk, Virginia and led by Ingrid Newkirk, its International president. It was founded on March 1980 by Ingrid Newkirk and Alex Pacheco. Its motto is “Animals are not ours to eat, wear, experiment on, use for entertainment, or abuse in any other way”.

PETA Headquarters, Norfolk

PETA opposes any kind of cruelty against animals be it in the food, clothing, entertainment or research subjects. It has done a lot of investigation work against the animal abuse, protest, campaign and other things related to animal exploitation. PETA is one of the biggest names when it comes to animal welfare but not without controversy.

Let’s have a look into some of the controversies of PETA

• The percentages at which they euthanized or kill the animals are 81 -90 % and even more.
• In the state of Virginia, where the headquarters of PETA is situated, there is a bill against the PETA sheltering the animals as the euthanized rate of animals is very high in their shelters.
• They use cheap  stunts to promote to get publicity for their cause is well known .Some of their video ads, is being banned because of this reason. For details click here.
• They use many actors for the support of their cause but some of these actors are seen just doing exactly opposite.
• Even the children are being targeted with the inappropriate ads to advocate their cause.

In a country like India, where we have different religions, varieties of traditions and festivals, there are places where they worship animals as God in such a country PETA is  trying to stop the century old traditions. These traditions are not just celebrated for the delight of the festival. But there are many underline reasons behind it, which they are not ready to understand or accept. Instead of stopping and fighting against it, PETA should understand the people’s sentiments, culture and the greater cause behind it. Therefore instead of putting a full stop or terminating any tradition abruptly, they should regulate their firm action if there is any cruelty against the animal.

In our previous post, the Jallikattu one of the traditional game of Tamil Nadu, we had discussed where person have to catch the hump of the bull and ride for certain distance or time.  PETA is against it and there are trying to stop it completely, which has created a lot of unnecessary chaos in Tamil Nadu. Instead of completely stopping something, which is a century old tradition it is always better to regulate it with rules so that the animals doesn’t have to go through the meanness .Thus tradition also follows in a much better and preferable way without causing harm to the animals. Most of the tradition in India does have a deeper significance than just a festival so whenever a tradition being made to stop, then they should be in a position to clearly understand its real purpose.

Protest in Marina beach

 PETA as we all known that it’s an organization which has is originated outside India, where the tradition, culture and everything is entirely different from India. Therefore it will be difficult from their end to understand the sentiments, the real purpose behind it. PETA is very famous for their investigative works, so they should use it to understand and analyze the impact it would have.

 Cruelty of animals is not something which I stand for or I appreciate, but we are living in a world where animals, birds, trees, water, human being all co-exists. In a matter of fact, everything is connected one way or the other. In the present world human being are dominant than any other species so it is our duty to safeguard the other.

This tradition is also one way of preserving these species. When we take the case of the bull, it is being used for farming, as a cart, for studs other than these it doesn’t serve much purpose.  Due to increase in development in the field of agriculture, now for farming they are using tractors, bull cart has been replaced by vehicles and now only purpose of bull which is remaining is for the stud. For that we don’t need many bulls so the number of bulls will reduce considerably. Presumably one point of time, it will be listed in the extinct list of the Red Data Book. This is also another reason behind conducting Jallikattu in Tamil Nadu, Kambala in Karnataka, Bull cart in Maharashtra etc. This is the case with other animals as well.

Jallikattu in Tamil Nadu

Kambala in Karnataka

Bull Cart in Maharashtra

Similarly, there are much more incidents, we can see against PETA which has created a dilemma in the minds of the public. Thus several questions are arisen to voice against their purpose.

Whether they are the right people to fight against the cruelty of animals?

Are they doing the justice to the animals as the euthanized rate is so high?

The promotional stunts they use to achieve their goal, does it actually justify?  

Moreover we should understand the present life style and thing around us; we always need a balance in our ecosystem. As we know that we human being have destroyed it to a maximum level and still continuing. Atleast to save something for our future generation, we need this tradition to carry on with some protective regulation that will safeguard our animals and not giving a full stop.

• What is the European Union?

The European Union is the union of 28 countries who are politically and economically related. It is referred to as EU. The following 28 countries were included in the European Union.

Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

• Why was EU established?

Immediately after World War II, the peace agreement was made for the war-ridden countries. Initially, after five long years of World War II since 1939 to 1945, France and Germany came to a mutual agreement that they would not sort any war against each other. Thereby six other countries – Belgium, France, West Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, and Netherlands further joined the union. Thus now there are 28 countries in the European Union.

Thus now the European Union depicted a single market where there is a free movement in trade and commerce as well as people ultimately portraying as a single country. The European Union uses Euro as their currency.   

The following are the 19 countries which use the currency as Euro

 1) Austria 2) Belgium 3) Cyprus 4) Estonia 5) Finland 6) France 7) Germany 8) Greece 9) Ireland10) Italy 11) Latvia 12) Lithuania 13) Luxembourg 14) Malta 15) Netherlands 16) Portugal 17) Slovakia 18) Slovenia 19) Spain.

The European Union has its own parliament, includes prior set rules on the environment, transport, consumer rights and even mobile charges.

• How does EU work?

EU was originated from European Coal and Steel Community (ECS) and European Economic Community (EEC) founded by six countries.

EU consists of seven decision making bodies or the Institutions of the European Union that include the European Council, the Council of European Union, the European Parliament, the court of Justice of the European Union, the European Central Bank and the European Court of Auditors.

European Council

European central Bank

European Parliament

European Court of Justice

European Court of Auditors

• Where and how does EU spend money?

EU has created a Trading Bloc where there is a free unhindered movement of goods and services within a single market. Thereby it concentrates on reduction in regional disparities, conserves and preserve the environment, encourages human rights and education.

Britain is the biggest trading partner of EU. EU spends its funds for farmers, employment in UK, redevelopment and Education research. Thus it also provides costless travel, cheap mobile data roaming, as well as increased the water standards in Europe as a whole.

But with the increase in subsidies for farmers, there was an increase in the supply of the crops. Thus Critic analyzed the situation that EU has utilized major power from the UK. Thus Britain found the policies implemented, was much costlier and as well felt that it could sustain without them as well. Britain would be able to sign a deal with developing economies like India and China. Critics even expressed the fact that EU spends funds of taxpayers on excessive bureaucracy and administration.

• What do you mean by Brexit?

The referendum was made with the outcome of the majority voters on deciding “Whether the UK Should Remain in the European Union or Not”. On Thursday, June 23^rd 2016, the turn out of the total voters was 71.8% with more than 30 million voters. The firm agreement to leave won by 52% to 48%.

 Thus Britain Had To Make An Exit- Brexit.

• What are Soft Brexit and Hard Brexit?

There are various speculations as for how does the UK maintain the relationship with EU after their exit.  Post-EU-arrangements has been roughly categorized into “Hard” or “Soft” Brexit.

Soft Brexit-

In this form, UK will exit from EU but they try to remain in close to the arrangements which were made a prior exit.

The UK would no longer be a member of Union and would not even have a seat in European Council.

The pass porting rights would not be much affected. This means” four freedoms” of movement of goods capital and people would be existing.

Thus Soft Brexit is the deal where in the UK would observe four freedoms, though it does belong to the EU. Thereby there would be free access for European Nationals to work and settle in the UK

Hard Brexit-

In Hard Brexit, UK will exit, and arrangement would be made where UK will be a single market and have full access on customs of EU.

Moreover Britain would have a complete control over its borders, agreeing upon new trades as well apply new laws within its territory.

Theresa May, the Prime Minister of Britain

Theresa May, the Prime Minister of Britain, after David Cameroon stepped down, took a firm decision about Brexit, took a stand for a “Hard Brexit” that would take Britain out of the European Union’s single market.

 Thereby she had publicly made an announcement, “"We are not leaving the European Union only to give up control of immigration again. And we are not leaving only to return to the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice," 

 It also elevates doubts upon the forthcoming of past sporting, which permits financial service providers to trade across the EU without much hindrance.

 But there exists another issue; the government’s plan to start the formal process for Brexit is by the end of March.

It also shows Britain might make an exit from EU before 2019, but banks should have a prior plan for further sustenance ahead. Thus, the latest warning from Anthony Browne, chief executive of the British Bankers’ Association, that banks might initiate migrating jobs to Europe early next year. 

Moreover, Migration is another prevailing issue wherein the Brexiteers want to introduce work permits and visa for those who are Britain nationals    

• When will Britain Actually Leave?

In order to leave EU should invoke agreement called Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, which states that both sides require two years to slip completely and be in terms of the agreement.

 As per latest news, Theresa May claims that she intends the process by the end of March. Thus the UK would be completely separated by summer 2019, with an agreement of certain negotiations.

There is also a proposition made that they would introduce the Great Repeal Bill, which will end the dominance of EU Law in the UK.

• What would be the effect of Brexit upon the relation with emerging markets in India?

The reverberation caused by the political- financial consequences of Brexit will have an impact on Global Economy.

British has already maintained amicable relation in economic, political and cultural ties.

Firstly, financial experts claim to say that there was 8% decline of Pound against Indian Rupee. The fall in currency would give a positive impact on Indian citizens in real estate, less cost travel and less expensive study.

Secondly, As Britain was a part of EU so there was a hindrance making a free trade agreement. Thus post-Brexit, India could make new trade policy with Britain separately.

Thirdly, the roller coaster financial- political stability of Britain has given space for Indian Stock Market to destine a Foreign Investment.

Fourth, with Brexit new policies of Immigration would set up. Thus give ample space for high-skilled professionals in the UK.

The compilation awaits for the invaluable inputs, suggestions, most desired advice since I believe that it would strengthen the article much more.

Reference :- http://www.economist.com/;  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/; http://www.bbc.com/news; https://en.wikipedia.org