Republica Federativa do BRasil: A road to independence

–By Shivam Pathak
At some point of time almost all countries had faced invasions and colonization, whether it is England (Invaded by Normans), China (Invaded by Mongolians), India (Invaded by Britishers), USA (Invaded by Britishers), etc. But in this article I would shed light only on the invasion and colonization of Brazil by Portugal. Before getting down to my topic I would like to answer one of the questions cultivating in your mind that- why it is so important to study about other countries history of independce from colonization. I will tell you why. I think scrutiny on
other countries history of independence is required for a comparative study of history. If we go deep into this topic we would uncover that the way each country fought against their enemies is quiet distinctive with each-others counterparts. For instance Mexico got indepence from Spain after a lot of bloodshed and armed conflict, but in case of Brazil, the way was rather peaceful and simple. Hope at the end of the topic you will be able to understand this topic in a laconic way.
Portugal, identical to Netherlands was a nation of seafarers and traders. So they always look for opportunities to trade. By following their underlying policy the estado of Portugal recognized that colonialism had bigger merchant capitalist elements, so in 16th century a Portuguese nobleman, Pedro Alvares Cabral hold sovereignty over the aboriginal
lands, part of what is now the territory of the Federative Republic of Brazil, under the sponsorship of the kingdom of Portugal. The expansion
of Portuguese colonization in Brazil took high pace when the monarchy of Portugal sensed constant threat of Spanish invasion of Portugal. Portugal started establishing itself in Brazil with a small trade post, which was then expanded by the considerable efforts of the Portuguese personnel. Early Brazil was divided into 15 colonies and granted to worthy elite
Portuguese. In the first century of settlement, it became evident that it was laborious to use Indians as slave labors because they were not docile, had high mortality when exposed to western diseases, could run away and hide quite easily. So the Portuguese turned to imported Africanslaves for manual labor. The ultimate fate of Brazilian Indians
was pretty like that of North American Indians. They were pushed beyond the boundaries of colonial society. In 1807 when imperial French corps and Spanish military troops invaded Portugal, Prince
Regent Joao 4th fled to Rio to escape the French invasion of the motherland. He brought about 10,000 of the mainland establishment with him- the aristocracy, bureaucracy and some of the military who set government and court in Rio and Petropolis running Brazil and Portugal as joint kingdom. In 1809, the forces under Arthur Wellesley, a British expeditionary (later the Duke of Wellington), expelled French forces from Portugal. In the meantime the status of Brazil was elevated from a
colony to a kingdom. When Portugal was liberated Joa 4th decided to return to his motherland,Portugal ,but his son Dom Pedro 1st denied to accompany him and decided to be in Brazil as its King. So, in 1822 Portuguese crown prince became the emperor of Brazil. Dom Pedro remained heir to the Portuguese throne after Portugal’s acknowledgement of Brazil’s independence in 1825, so that when his father Dom Joao died in 1826, he succeeded to the Portuguese throne. He was unable to wear both crowns according to the terms of the constitution he has vested upon Brazil in 1824. He abdicated in favor of his daughter Dona Maria and promulgated a constitution in 1826, Carta Constitucional, which he inflicted on Portugal. The Carta later marked the uncertain death of the Portuguese Empire. The Brazilian Empire became a Republic in 1889 without any fierce struggle. Later in 1831 Dom Pedro abdicated from the throne due to military takeover. Thereafter, Brazil maintained its status as a Republic.

Sources of information employed in this article entails- an article written on “Brazilian Development Experience from 1500 to 1929” by Angus Maddison, and an article on “In the shadow of Independence: Portugal, Brazil and Their Mutual Influence after the End of Empire (late 1820s-early1840s)” by Gabriel Paquette.

Republica Federativa do Brasil: A road to Independence

–By Shivam Pathak
At some point of time almost all countries had faced invasions and colonization, whether it is England (Invaded by Normans), China (Invaded by Mongolians), India (Invaded by Britishers), USA (Invaded by Britishers), etc. But in this article I would shed light only on the invasion and colonization of Brazil by Portugal. Before getting down to my topic I would like to answer one of the questions cultivating in your mind that- why it is so important to study about other countries history of independce from colonization. I will tell you why. I think scrutiny on
other countries history of independence is required for a comparative study of history. If we go deep into this topic we would uncover that the way each country fought against their enemies is quiet distinctive with each-others counterparts. For instance Mexico got indepence from Spain after a lot of bloodshed and armed conflict, but in case of Brazil, the way was rather peaceful and simple. Hope at the end of the topic you will be able to understand this topic in a laconic way.
Portugal, identical to Netherlands was a nation of seafarers and traders. So they always look for opportunities to trade. By following their underlying policy the estado of Portugal recognized that colonialism had bigger merchant capitalist elements, so in 16th century a Portuguese nobleman, Pedro Alvares Cabral hold sovereignty over the aboriginal
lands, part of what is now the territory of the Federative Republic of Brazil, under the sponsorship of the kingdom of Portugal. The expansion
of Portuguese colonization in Brazil took high pace when the monarchy of Portugal sensed constant threat of Spanish invasion of Portugal. Portugal started establishing itself in Brazil with a small trade post, which was then expanded by the considerable efforts of the Portuguese personnel. Early Brazil was divided into 15 colonies and granted to worthy elite
Portuguese. In the first century of settlement, it became evident that it was laborious to use Indians as slave labors because they were not docile, had high mortality when exposed to western diseases, could run away and hide quite easily. So the Portuguese turned to imported Africanslaves for manual labor. The ultimate fate of Brazilian Indians
was pretty like that of North American Indians. They were pushed beyond the boundaries of colonial society. In 1807 when imperial French corps and Spanish military troops invaded Portugal, Prince
Regent Joao 4th fled to Rio to escape the French invasion of the motherland. He brought about 10,000 of the mainland establishment with him- the aristocracy, bureaucracy and some of the military who set government and court in Rio and Petropolis running Brazil and Portugal as joint kingdom. In 1809, the forces under Arthur Wellesley, a British expeditionary (later the Duke of Wellington), expelled French forces from Portugal. In the meantime the status of Brazil was elevated from a
colony to a kingdom. When Portugal was liberated Joa 4th decided to return to his motherland,Portugal ,but his son Dom Pedro 1st denied to accompany him and decided to be in Brazil as its King. So, in 1822 Portuguese crown prince became the emperor of Brazil. Dom Pedro remained heir to the Portuguese throne after Portugal’s acknowledgement of Brazil’s independence in 1825, so that when his father Dom Joao died in 1826, he succeeded to the Portuguese throne. He was unable to wear both crowns according to the terms of the constitution he has vested upon Brazil in 1824. He abdicated in favor of his daughter Dona Maria and promulgated a constitution in 1826, Carta Constitucional, which he inflicted on Portugal. The Carta later marked the uncertain death of the Portuguese Empire. The Brazilian Empire became a Republic in 1889 without any fierce struggle. Later in 1831 Dom Pedro abdicated from the throne due to military takeover. Thereafter, Brazil maintained its status as a Republic.

Sources of information employed in this article entails- an article written on “Brazilian Development Experience from 1500 to 1929” by Angus Maddison, and an article on “In the shadow of Independence: Portugal, Brazil and Their Mutual Influence after the End of Empire (late 1820s-early1840s)” by Gabriel Paquette.

Ritesh Agarwal: A successful and inspiring story

Ritesh Agarwal : The founder of oyo rooms , founded by him in 2012 . It is backed more than 700 hotels under its brand . At the very young age of 18 , he started working on it later he rebranded it to oyo rooms ,network of 2,200 hotels operating in 154 cities across India – with monthly revenues of $3.5m and 1,500 employees. It has raised a total of $125million of funding in 4 rounds from 7 investors. Ritesh Agarwal has also won many awards and accolades for his work including the Business World Young Entrepreneur Award. He is a speaker at entrepreneurial conferences and institutes across the world and a fellow of the Thiel foundation. Agarwal holds a high school degree from St. Johns Senior Secondary School.

CBSE result declared -what are the positives & negatives?

13th, july, 2020, the day CBSE declared the result of class 12th board examination, which were held haphazardly, only due to the ongoing series of a pandemic called the Novel Coronavirus. Students gave their sweat and hearts to perform gloriously in the examinations, some passed away with flying colors, but unfortunately some were unable to stand up to their own and the family’s expectations.

The total passing percentage of students has been recorded an incredible increase of 5.38% compared to 2019, and it touched the parameter of 88.78%. Where girls outshine the boys.

But, it was not the end of the session, as CBSE decided not to announce the merit list, which is a great step indeed. People were still worried and dumbstruck listening about a girl getting 100% pass percentage.

Consequently, every body have their opinion about the results declared. While some applaud the efforts made by students,as well as CBSE for declaring such positive results, some other group of people reckon that, it is an unfair decision or way to promote the students, i.e. without taking any examination.

The positives –

Amid the pandemic, when everyone panicked about the completion of the remaining examinations. The Central Board of Secondary Education, decided not to mention the names of the meritorious students, in order to lower the burden of competition among students, and more importantly the parents.

Also, it has miraculously swept away the mental pressure that earlier alarmed as a bell in the students’ ears. Along with lowered burden of competition, the news have not been exposed by the media like a wild fire, consequently avoiding all the stuff that was heard from the neighbors, relatives, family members, friends, and the teachers. Let’s take in other way, the pandemic proved to them, a saviour, a Messiah, the escape from all the problems that could have possibly bumped into them, then.

The negatives –

While there were many things that made everyone very happy and light headed. The other flip of the coin has to reveal something else;since teachers were the unable to gather at the centers to check out the copies,due to the norms set up by the government, the sheets were directly sent to them at their respective homes to fulfill the same,without any eye keeping a check on them, leniency was at its best. Therefore making it easy for the students to score more than what they really deserved.

It is clear that, the earlier batches who gave their sweat and heart to achieve the highest score, but, instead, the present batch was passed without any pressure among them,doing injustice to the previous ones. Ease in the checking criteria, will definitely result in an increase in cut off in many of the top universities of the country,making it difficult for them to nail the admission criteria in the top universities of the country.

Despite there being so much hubbub about the examinations and the consequences of those, the pandemic has proven the humans that, conducting the exams, along with classes, and many other things online is a new way to live our lives.

Weed and its control

Weeds

PATTIKONDA:14/07/2020.

Weeds reduce farm and forest productivity, they invade crops, smother pastures and in some cases can harm livestock. They aggressively compete for water, nutrients and sunlight, resulting in reduced crop yield and poor crop quality.

Certain classes of weeds share adaptations to ruderal environments.soil or natural vegetative cover has been damaged or frequently gets damaged, disturbances that give the weeds advantages over desirable crops, pastures, or ornamental plants.

  • competing with the desired plants for the resources that a plant typically needs, namely, direct sunlight, soil nutrients, water, and space for growth.
  • providing hosts and vectors for plant pathogens, giving them greater opportunity to infect and degrade the quality of the desired plants.
  • providing food or shelter for animal pests such as seed-eating birds and Tephritid fruit flies that otherwise could hardly survive seasonal shortages.
  • causing root damage to engineering works such as drains, road surfaces, and foundations,blocking streams and rivulets.
Dangerous weed which reduce and drain soil nutrients.

Weed control is important in agriculture. Methods include hand cultivation with hoes, powered cultivation with cultivators, smothering with mulch or soil solarization, lethal wilting with high heat, burning, or chemical attack with herbicides.

Weed control methods vary according to the growth habit of the weeds.Perennial weeds regrow from previously established roots, dormant stolons, tubers, rhizomes, as well as the seed.important for non-chemical methods of weed control, such as plowing, surface scuffling, promotion of more beneficial cover crops, and prevention of seed accumulation in fields

Weeds unwanted plant for all.

Farming systems in india

The farming country

PATTIKONDA:14/07/2020.

Farming Systems in India are strategically utilized, according to the locations where they are most suitable. The farming systems that significantly contribute to the agriculture of India are subsistence farming, organic farming,industrial farming.Regions throughout India differ in types of farming they use; some are based on horticulture, ley farming, agroforestry and many more.

India is the second-largest producer of wheat, rice, cotton, sugarcane, silk, groundnuts, and dozens more. It is also the second biggest harvester of vegetables and fruit, representing 8.6% and 10.9% of overall production. The major fruits produced by India are mangoes,melons,papayas,sapota and bananas. India also has the biggest number of livestock in the world, holding 281 million.

Kharif crops are grown at the start of the monsoon until the beginning of the winter, relatively from June to November. Examples of such crops are rice, corn, millet, groundnut, moong, and urad. Rabi crops are winter crops that are sown in October -November months and harveted in February – March. Its typical examples are wheat, boro paddy, jowar, nuts, etc. The third type is Zaid crops which are summer crops. It is sown in February – March and harvested in May – June. Its examples are aush paddy, vegetables, jute.

Paddy and wheat.

There are four types of farmings india. Intensive commercial farming: This is a system of agriculture in which relatively large amounts of capital or labor are applied to relatively smaller areas of land.Extensive commercial farming: This is a system of agriculture in which relatively small amounts of capital or labor investment are applied to relatively large areas of land.Plantation agriculture: Plantation is a large farm or estate usually in a tropical . Commercial grain farming: This type of farming is a response to farm mechanization and it is the major type of activity in the areas

Co-operative farming refers to the pooling of farming resources such as fertilizers, pesticides, farming equipment such as tractors.This system has become an essential feature of India’s Five Year Plans. There is immense scope for co-operative farming in India although the movement is as yet in it infancy.

India always a Farming Nation.

Psychology of People Analytics

The attention to people analytics has increased enormously over the last few years. Many organizations have established people analytics teams, and several promising start-ups have developed software that can help HR with people analytics.

The assumption is that if we have access to the right data, if we have the right analysis tools and clever people to interpret the data, we will be able to predict human behavior – and that these predictions will be used in a sensible way in organizations. I have some doubts.

It is time to have a closer look at the psychology of people analytics.

Inspiration

Two books were a great inspiration, and a must-read for HR professionals and people analytics specialists.

On number one “Thinking, fast and slow” of Nobel prize winner Daniel Kahneman. Looking at the numbers that were sold of this book, you would expect almost everybody has read this book (or at least: has bought this book). When I studied experimental psychology (from 1975-1981) Kahneman was already famous. I still remember the famous article he published in 1974 with his colleague Amos Tversky: Judgment under uncertainty – heuristics and biases. I quote from this article: “The reliance on heuristics and the prevalence of biases are not restricted to laymen. Experienced researchers are also prone to the same biases when they think intuitively. For example, the tendency to predict the outcome that best represents the data, with insufficient regard for prior probability, has been observed in the intuitive judgments of individuals who have had extensive training in statistics”.

On number two “The art of thinking clearly”, written by Rolf Dobelli. His book is less scientific, but certainly a worthwhile read with many good lessons. In 99 chapters, he describes the most common thinking errors, with interesting examples.

I also used the list of cognitive biases on Wikipedia. A great and extensive list. This list inspired Buster Benson to cluster these cognitive biases in categories, which he describes in his excellent article Cognitive bias cheat sheet. Based on this article John Manoogian made a very interesting and informative infographic, the Cognitive Bias Codex.

Mobile App ‘eBloodServices’

These days when all of us are dealing with pandemic COVID-19, it has been a very hard time for all of us and we all are contributing our parts to come out of this difficult situation. All of us are doing great as fighters. With the coming of problems, we all are thinking innovative and creative to come up with solution to it. One such step was to launch mobile app ‘eBloodServices’.Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan on launched the eBlood Services Mobile Application, in partnership with the New Delhi based Indian Red Cross Society (IRCS), on 25 June 2020 for easy access to blood to fight with the critical time of coronavirus pandemic.

This application is developed by the E-Raktkosh team of Centre for Development of Advanced Computing under the Digital India scheme launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2015. The application will bring transparency and facilitate single-window access to blood services of the Indian Red Cross Society, officials said. This initiative would help the people to get the blood on time just by registering on the application. Also, people can demand up to four units of blood. Blood-related services are required by many people in the country as they face certain medical conditions in their families. With the help of eBlood Services App, four units of blood can be requisitioned at a time. Blood Bank will wait for as long as 12 hours for the person to collect it. The app will make it easy for those in need to request for blood units at IRCS NHQ.

Speaking on the occasion, the Minister said, “People who need blood can get registered on this app and know from where they will get blood.” Vardhan said, “In the last few months, I received several complaints from people facing difficulties in accessing safe blood. Many people require blood-related services regularly because of certain medical conditions in their families. Through this app, four units of blood can be requisitioned at a time and the blood bank will wait for 12 hours for the person to collect it.” At a time when the country is going through a pandemic, the mobile app will provide succour to all those who are in dire need of blood,” the health minister said. Users with this app can know the live status of blood availability at the national headquarters of the Indian Red Cross Society (IRCS) blood bank in Delhi. He appealed to people to come forward to donate blood as their contribution is required more than ever now.

All 89 IRCS blood banks and 1,100 branches across the country have collected more than 1,00,000 units of blood through in-house donations and from around 2,000 donation camps organized during the lockdown. Also, more than 38,000 blood donors registered with NHQ Blood Bank have been contacted and motivated to donate blood. The NHQ Blood Bank conducted 55 blood donation camps collecting 2,896 units of blood. Blood has been issued to 7,113 patients which include 2,923 thalassaemic patients as well as to the government hospitals like Lady Hardinge (624 units) and AIIMS, Delhi (378 Units).The IRCS has served more than 3,00,00,000 cooked meals and provided ration to more than 11,00,000 families.

“Automobile – Field For Human Investment”

Technology and it’s advancement has helped humans to make their life more easier and comfortable. All the commodities and facilities have led humans to a phase of ease to life. Automotive or automobile vehicles are one of them. Vehicles be it TWO- Wheelers or Four Wheelers  or airplanes or ships, rickshaws and many more have helped humans to travel around the world and made this world an easy to reach destination at any time. These have not only helped people to acknowledge places around the world, but even interact with people from different cultures and backgrounds.These vehicles help us send things from one place to another,carry heavy loads both men and material from one place to another and even help us feel relaxed while travelling in them. The industrial revolution and its initiation provided a boon to the automobile and aviation industries. But considering the ground vehicle, these have really proven to be beneficial for people and helped them by providing them with ease to work. 

There have been various advances in vehicles and the mode of ignition and power to them. These have been considered so as to bring much more efficiency, speed and cost effectiveness to these models. But we do see till date that these automotive models are not much safer. These have been comfortable and have made life of humans easier but still fail to provide 100% safety for the traveller travelling in it. These models are usually made through materials which do provide strength to structure but are less impact resistant. These models do resist much shock impact but still transfer most of it, which does harm the person in it. Many people lose their life every year in accidents while their automobile fails to provide them security. 

Various companies are bringing up many products and models which are safer and impact resistant but these do cost a lot for individuals.The material we still use in manufacturing these automotive are same as were used in the earlier times. This is due to the lack of companies investment in new material. Also the materials do cost more to the company which directly reduces the profits. While some new materials have been added into manufacturing of different components for these vehicles, the major structure and frame still comprises the similar material. 

Companies should invest in their research and development techniques and new ideas must be initiated and funded by both companies as well as the government so as to bring out the best and impact resistant materials and structure so as to resist any kind of damage and harm to the individual or individuals traveling in it. While the safety in two Wheeler is much less compared to that in a car, but still cars are not completely safe. The rights of customers lies in the fact of providing them type safety along with comfort and ease to operate. 

Travelling has been a part of our life and safety in it is the first priority to be taken care of. While we do invest a lot of investment in adding features to our automotives and different accessories, we should be investing in making those vehicles. More secure. Maybe we can see better alternatives and resources in future which could prove to be much secure and safer for individuals to travel through it. While there is still investment going to shift to flying cars and vehicles, we should be investing much of our resources in making any vehicle secure enough to provide better and secure travel. 

 

Indian Institute of science education and research

Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) are public research institutes of India. These are the premier institutes of India. The institutes were established by the Government of India through the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) to provide quality college education in basic sciences coupled with a taste research at the undergraduate level itself. The institutes were formally established by the Parliament of India through the National Institutes of Technology, Science Education and Research (Amendment) Act, 2010 (an amendment to the National Institutes of Technology Act, 2007). Seven IISERs have been established across the country, namely IISER Kolkata in West Bengal, IISER Pune in Maharashtra, IISER Mohali in Punjab, IISER Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, IISER Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, IISER Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh, and IISER Berhampur in Odisha. The basic idea behind establishment of IISERs was to promote research-oriented training and to promote basic sciences. Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and National Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhubaneswar has already been established to promote natural sciences but were not enough for a large country like India with enormous number of students having the potential to go ahead with research. All IISERs were declared as Institutes of National Importance by the Parliament of India in 2012, to promote them as leading institutions in the country in the field of basic sciences along with its sister institutes mentioned above.

The main degree provided by IISERs are BS-MS in any natural science stream. Since the institutes are new in India and so is the degree provided by them, many people in India, even the educated ones are not aware of what does this degree means and often mix it with BSc and Msc. The degree has already been offered in foreign countries like US, Germany, etc but was introduced in India after establishment of IISERs. BS-MS (Bachelor of Science – Master of Science) is a five year dual degree program. The program focuses to train students to pursue a career in academia, R&D institutes and science based industries. They are introduced with the idea of how to carry with the research and build up a career. The motivation is the reason why IISERs are equipped with world-class lab facilities and highly exceptional researches are carried out in these labs.

Besides the BS-MS in natural sciences, as the institute is growing and establishing new departments, some of the IISERs are offering only BS (4 years )as well, not only in natural science stream but in engineering sciences and economics as well. IISER Bhopal is the one offering BS in Engineering Sciences (Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Chemical Engineerning) and BS in economics. IISERs are said to be on the same level for research as IITs are for engineering. Now, recently, IITs have also started offering BS-MS degrees. IISERs provide a great opportunity for young, innovative and bright minds to excel in science and research. IISERs have collaborated with many foreign universities, research institutes and industries and is rapidly gaining recognition due to the work done by its student members and faculty members. The institute is expected to excel exponentially and become a very great opportunity to students.