During this pandemic situation, getting news that can give little relief in current scenario is worth that can make your day. And yes here it is good news that New Zealand declared itself Covid-19 free on 8th June 2020, Monday. It was declared by the New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. In their recent conference they declare themselves as Covid-19 free.
However, they have also said that New Zealand’s government will lift all the restrictions probably today but the strictness with the border control will not be ease. World Health Organization also praises the New Zealand government over cautious and strict measures over Covid-19. Although being the first country to hit by this pandemic disease, they still manage to overcome from it. Further, the New Zealand Prime Minister also requested people to be safe and keeping the surroundings clean. All the private and public events could resume, government further mentioned. This can only be achieved by the New Zealand government because they have implemented strict restrictions. Due to this 75 days restriction with a strict lockdown almost all the business shut and except essential workers rest have made to stay at home.
With death rate up to 22 and infected up to 1154 according to the Health Ministry, they control the situation more cautiously as well as more appropriately. Borders security will be strictly controlled. Ms. Ardern said that she did a “little dance” when she was told that there are no more active coronavirus cases in New Zealand, while surprising her two-year-old daughter, Neve. The last person who was being monitored now declared as symptom free after being in isolation. Yet, country will be at national alert level-1 from today midnight said by Ardern this Monday.
“Our Collective results I think speak for ourselves. This was what the sacrifice of our team of five million was for- to keep one another for safe and to keep one another well.” – Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand Prime Minister
With this great news our hope for a better lives have come to a great point. We should take our safety as the first priority. Wearing masks and using sanitizer during this pandemic situation is a necessary requirement of one’s for itself. Avoiding the guidelines will only make the situation worse. Let be safe and keep the environment around yourself safe.
We always hear that it’s never too late to live our dreams and there’s no better example than Chandigarh resident Harbhajan Kaur who in true sense living her dreams. She’s indeed an inspiration to all the procrastinators. Her journey aptly defines that age is just a number and where there is will you will definitely find your way.
So let’s take a look at her tasteful journey of passion:
It all started in 2016,when one day Harbhajan’s daughter Raveena Suri asked if she had any regrets in her life to which she sadly expressed of not being able to earn a single penny over these years. This pinched Raveena lot. Aware of her mother’s cooking capabilities she now decided to motivate her and showed her the direction towards a new beginning. She asked her to make and sell her signature ‘Besan ki Barfi’ which over the years was only relished by family members.
So one day they both visited sector-18 to sell their sweet and it was very much liked by people and at the end of the day Harbhajan Kaur for the first time earned an amount of ₹2000. But what started as a weekend startup soon became on orders only enterprise. This was the time when Harbhajan Kaur was living her dream. Soon their idea took its final shape and she started selling barfis under brand name Harbhajan’s with the tagline “Bachpan Yaad Aajayega” (you’ll remember your childhood). The most interesting thing about her is that she herself manages everything on her own from roasting gram flour to cutting the perfectly shaped barfis. Her barfis are made only on orders and people collect the freshly made barfis at her residence.
Her hard work soon received plaudits when she trended on Internet after a tweet made by Anand Mahindra. He tweeted “When you hear the word ‘start-up’ it brings to mind images of millennials in Silicon Valley or Bengaluru trying to build billion dollar ‘unicorns’. From now on let’s also include a 94 year old woman who doesn’t think it’s too late to do a start – up. She’s my entrepreneur of the year.”
So now what are your views about this inspirational story? Don’t you think if she can then why not you? Wake up smell your dreams and start working to achieve them. Don’t be hesitant, don’t think about society or anyone else thinking “log Kya kahenge”. Just let it happen and feel the change.
Remember when we kicked off 2019 and greeted with the news of the cosmetic tycoon Kylie Jenner’s baby announcement. The netizens broke into an absolute frenzy gushing over an Instagram post of her baby girl’s itsy-bitsy fingers wrapped around Jenner’s finger amassing over 18 million likes and being crowned as the most liked picture on Instagram. However, the Instagram royalty was poached by a picture of an egg that set out to dethrone her post and garnered over 24.5 million likes and counting. Well it definitely managed to create a lot of hubbub but also proving the clout of Instagram likes once again.
When Instagram was launched in October 2010, it started out as a mainstream and lucid social-media platform that allowed its users to share their pictures and videos. But then as its user demography kept surging, so did the insatiable hunger for likes among Instagrammers. ‘Man is a social creature and is preceded by the society,’ even the girl who constantly posts about how ‘Quarantine is basically her daily lifestyle.’ As humans we always have this certain need for social validation and approval from others like some tribal ritual of passage; be it in reality or social media.
Now this virtual validation can seem all roseate and promising, fractionally. The Instagram likes you get, even those 11 likes on your buck-toothed school picture or that exotic beach picture of you in a dainty sarong gives you a morale boost; an assurance that people out there see you as a fashion icon, beauty guru, tech savant or a motorhead and support your passion, hobbies and interests. And as you nestle into this soft cloud of validation it becomes your driving force to broadcast yourself, as you are despite your struggles, credentials, race, complexion, gender. It helps people break free of their inhibitions and openly discuss about ‘body positivity’ ‘sexual harassment’ ‘mental health’ ‘climate change’ ‘world peace’, ‘empowerment’.
This monopoly of likes ended up paving the way for an elite clique of social media influencers. These users start out as any mundane instagrammers, but as their content and post gain attention and likes, their account grows. The encouragement motivates to post fresh and unconventional material. Then to gain the upper hand there’s shrewd use of popular hashtags. Their posts can be accessed by many people with similar interests. In succession, these influencers start rolling the ball in popular culture on different turfs, posting health and fitness regimes, composing music, food that tingles your palate, setting fashion trends etc. As much as this posse has helped in various social and humanitarian propaganda, they eventually usher in several sponsors and investors for marketing and promotional purposes. With brochures and pamphlets becoming outdated, businesses have adopted ‘digital marketing’. As popular businesses and raw start-ups have ventured into these uncharted tides, it has built up their marketing, brand promotion and networking forums.
From getting your dream freelancing opportunity to a site retailing a popular celebrity’s wedding attire you were doting on, these companies build up their online businesses through posters and ads having a good, dexterous hook and manipulate the users, increasing web traffic on their site. Further more the websites that you browse track your events, searches and interaction as cookies, out of which brands gain mileage and hence curating those Instagram ads. Lately, humble entrepreneurs hailing from modest backgrounds being a whiz in their craft but lacking resources for trade and marketing have found solace in Instagram. As they solicit likes for the samples of their work and thus, it becomes a popular profile.
Albeit the scale seems to be tipping to the positive side, one couldn’t agree more when it comes to the growing inferiority complex and the hunger for likes gnawing upon users especially teenagers. A cloud of insecurity and unhealthy competition looms over one when another individual gets more likes or has a better lifestyle, clothes or a house. It pushes society towards the brink of materialism and shallowness, followed by snide comments and slamming on social media. This insanity often drives people to depression, existentialism and in worst cases even suicidal. People often lose their individuality, putting on a facade which could make the most desirable.
In retrospect, with an ongoing pandemic, people are frantically preaching our race joining the Dinosaurs, Dodos and the Rhinos too. As much it’s inevitable, let’s tone down the melodrama and take a leap of faith. Reach out to people positively on social media, if you scroll past a random post aimlessly, probably double tap. And next time you’re out for brunch with your friends, stop taking 50 snaps of your croissant and espresso for the aesthetics; it’s time to gain a few likes and comments in reality, because it’s not always ‘#All for the gram’.
Will AI be the next big disruption in the Legal Scenario amidst COVID 19 crisis?
Artificial intelligence (AI) is a simulation of human intelligence programmed in computers to mimic human thinking and actions. Whereas, Legal Process Outsourcing (LPO) is process in which legal firms, publishing or corporate houses hire an onshore or offshore legal firm or a legal service provider company for their in-house legal works which are voluminous, reiterating, taxing and routine.
AI is the new buzzword which is slowly permeating the Indian Legal System. It is expected to have a significant impact by solving the major problem of “access to justice” in the system by mitigating the problem of inability to secure legal representation by vast majority of individuals and businesses. It will reduce costs and time involved in high-volume low-value work resulting in cheaper services.
Traditional law firm model is no longer aligned with customer expectation, hence, demand for law firm services are flat while that of legal services is still increasing. Lately, the legal industry has started to recognize the fact that technology shall be preferred over labour arbitrage. Legal expertise clubbed with process management and technology is essential for effective delivery of legal services. AI will enable firms providing LPO services to make best of everything by incorporating latest technology. It can be used in reviewing and standardizing documents, due diligence, transactional practices, cross-border contract drafting, judgement prediction, risk assessment etc. It will help in improving quality, efficiency, accuracy and cost of work by streamlining its workforce, saving money spent on providing salaries to such workforce and spending it on AI tools. It will save time spent on mundane, routine work so that lawyer’s role is limited to core functions that are beyond the scope of AI.
Legal Professionals believe that AI will replace their jobs resulting in large scale unemployment, however, it will only alter the way services are delivered by them, redefine tasks and functions as well as business models defining them. It is to be noted that it will only compress the case disposition time helping them improve client access and quality of legal solutions provided in optimum time. As rightly said by Michio Kaku, a noted theoretical physicist and futurist,
“The job market of the future will consist of those jobs that robots cannot perform.”
Michio Kaku, American theoritical physicist, futurist and popularizer of science.
Despite numerous advantages, AI is uncommon in the Indian Legal Industry as compared to other sectors and countries because it requires a comprehensive legal database which is in the nasent stages in the Indian Judicial Scenario. Another drawback is the integration of continuously developing information and digitalization of infotmation (i.e. feeding them into the system ) which is a time intensive process. Not only this, AI models have also failed to explain the outcomes predicted by it.
Every new technological idea has its pros and cons along with a section of people retaliating its implementation. What needs to be considered is whether a few disadvantages, some of which are difficult but not impossible to overcome in the current Indian Legal System, are sufficient to compromise with the greater benefits that AI has to offer in mitigating the key problem of “access to justice” in the Indian Legal Scenario.
In a time of this pandemic, everyone gets at least one hour for themselves, and that one our is your “ME TIME”. Your me-time is one of those most important moments that you’re living, this is the time when you actually understand yourself, you recognize your actual WORTH! We all are living the same traditional lifestyle since we are born, in which, we are supposed to wake up in the morning, go to school or college or for work, after coming back have food, that’s it, end of the day! This is the very first time when you have a lot of time to be who you are! To do what you love, to find yourself, to realize what you want to achieve. We are living to earn, to get a job. Did you ever think about what’s different? Why not make it different? This is the time when you got the chance to live your life in your way, just a single problem is there, that you are not allowed to go out. So what? Make yourself more productive. Give yourself time for making your career, not for just getting a job! Your career is what you actually want to do, and, a job is something you do just for the sake of money. Give yourself time, keep your mobile phones aside, put the earphones down, and, look inside you! understand what you like to do, the work, which doesn’t make you feel tired, the work, which you enjoy to do. Start discovering your personality, your strengths, and, make your strengths your power, now, understand how your strengths can help you in achieving what you want. Which activities make you feel empowered? Things which makes you feel strong, think about the tasks you do when you feel low or stressed. These activities are those what makes you the REAL YOU! Your natural talents are the things which come naturally, and, your born talent. These things are not easy for others, these are made for you, or, you are made for them. Start writing! Write what you do, what makes you stress-free, this is the best way to figure out your natural strengths. Ask your friends, people you have worked with, your teachers, what they think you are good at? Sometimes, even you don’t get what others catch about you. Ask them what your strengths are. Do not restrict yourself, Be open-minded! Never take any feedback negatively, maybe you get surprised after knowing what others think about you, take it positively. If it’s good, try to enhance, or if not, try to be better! Never think that this is THE END! We never get things served always, sometimes we get, but do not make it a habit. Don’t leave just because you didn’t succeed. Try until you get what you wanted. Realizing your worth is realizing yourself! If you overcome all the fears, all the doubts, you will never give others the chance to criticize you as you’ve already dealt with all those ups and downs. So, start making yourself more productive.
Hill stations are blessed with delightful weather. The cool climate of a hill station captivates the people with its beauty. Hence, such places are always preferred by people for a picnic or a short trip.
There are many hill stations in Maharashtra. Today, I will be talking about ‘Mahabaleshwar,’ a marvellous hill station located in the western ghats of Maharashtra.
Situated at a distance of 285 km from Mumbai, Mahabaleshwar is a lovely hill station in the Satara district of Maharashtra. It is a paradise for all the green panthers. It is one of the great tourist attractions.
People of all age groups can relish various things and different activities available in Mahabaleshwar. Small children can roam around the beautiful gardens, enjoy the rides at the amusement parks. The teenagers can go for trekking, cycling or go-karting. Shopping lovers would be pleased with a variety of thing that the local market has to offer. Elderly people can get to experience the calmness and peace found at the several popular points present over here. The huge range of places in Mahabaleshwar makes it a perfect travel destination.
Mahabaleshwar is blessed with a cool and pleasant climate. Hence, you can visit this place at any time of the year. You will definitely not regret planning a trip to Mahabaleshwar with your family or friends, because it has a lot to offer to the tourists.
Mahabaleshwar local market: The bustling local market of Mahabaleshwar draws the attention of all the people visiting this place. This market is crowded with people. There are different shops selling several food items, footwear, jewellery, clothes, handicrafts, decorative items, toys and so much more.
Beautiful places to visit: There are many pleasing places in Mahabaleshwar. One can spend time here and relax their mind and soul. You can enjoy at worth visiting places like Lingmala waterfall, Wilson point, Lodwick Point, Elphinstone Point, Venna Lake, Pratapgad fort, Mahabaleshwar temple, Mapro garden, Krishnabai Temple, Table Land, gorgeous gardens and many more. You can have a thrilling experience at the amusement parks like On Wheelz and Velocity Entertainmentz. People can have fun at several rides and play different games available here. The delightful valleys, hills, and greenery of the dense forests in Mahabaleshwar engages all the nature lovers.
Food: You can try the delicious local cuisine of Mahabaleshwar. You also get to eat fresh and juicy strawberries and mulberries here. One will definitely enjoy different types of cool icecreams and street-side hot corn. You can buy various types of flavourful jam, crushes, fudge, syrups, squashes and enjoy it with your family and friends throughout the year at your home.
So, if you live near Mumbai, Kolhapur or Pune, and are planning to have a wonderful picnic with your loved ones. Then, Mahabaleshwar hill station is definitely the best recommendation. You will love a comfortable road trip to reach this charming hill station. Once you reach here, you get to spend quality time at the heavenly place and create memories that can be cherished forever.
India is named for its multi-culture. The culture and history of the country would be the specialization and uniqueness of the country. The culture would be different from one to another country. India is a country with various cultures and great history. Indian people enjoying to follow the culture, their basic culture is to be truthful and honest. According to their states their ceremonies and festivals celebrating culture also different. From the religious and community basis the style of the celebration and other actions we’re different. Many of the foreign people had an attraction towards the Indian culture.
India has numerous religions. This also one of the reasons to call India a multi-cultured country. Basically, India is a Hindu nation. Majority of the people. Used to follow Hinduism in India. Muslims are the next majority religion in India. They are in more numbers in Kashmir, Maharashtra, Kerala, Nagaland. Some other minority religions are Christianity, Buddhism, Jainism, etc. Architecture is also different from the style of religion. Because of their religious culture and style would be seen in their works.
India has a great history of its civilization. In 1920s Indian archeology department found that cities called Harrapa and Mohenjodaro were destructed before thousands of years ago. These places are well civilized. With the evidence of things like iron and copper, architecture, expensive belongings Cotton cloths we can know the civilization.
The history behind Indian literature also a great one. The Indian epics like Mahabharata, Ramayana was World famous. Even a lot of scripts destroyed before so many years, India has not excellent participation in literature.
Covid 19 is something that the world has never expected to happen. Nobody was prepared for it. Thankfully most of the people are maintaining the lockdown but are getting bored at home. But this lockdown, one can use this time in different ways. One can really make it useful and productive.
During this quarantine period one can get back to his/her old photo albums. Memories are precious and they are a big part of a person’s life. In this busy and competitive world we hardly get time to get back to our memories. Now it is a golden opportunity to do that. One can browse through their memories ,cherish the time, and relive the moments.
Then people can also get back to their old hobbies like painting stitching, reading,writing etc. It is said that books are a person’s best friend. Those who have always been only engaged with their academic books for most of the time, can pick up their favourite genres and enjoy some quality time with short stories horror stories, novels etc.. Stitching is a fantastic hoby because it not only makes one happy but it also becomes productive when one makes something useful with it for daily life usage.There are different courses which are found online for free.. So one can actually cultivate and sharpen his/her potentials by learning new couses. Cooking is another best thing to do.
Gardening is another hobby that one can practice. In Wordsworth’s words ‘nature heals’. During quarantine it is very important that one takes very good care of his/her mental health. Moreover one might feel depressed and anxious due to the lockdown but then nature can help to maintain mental peace.By coming close to nature one can feel relaxed and rejuvenated. Different colours and the greenery contribute to keep a person healthy and mentally fit.. Even the psychologists recommend this to the patients who suffer from anxiety and stress due to this current situation.
There are also people who had started working at a very young age due to financial problems but always wanted to be writers so they can start writing now. They can pen down their emotions and feelings on a sheet of paper and achieve what they have always desired.. Many pandamics have given rise to exceptionally talented writers so one must go ahead and fulfill his/her dearms once they are given this unsaid opportunity.
Just like nature, music therapy is another good thing to pursue. There are different online apps that are now available and many people who always have the desire to learn something new can actually utilize this occasion to learn the instrument or music or dance. When it comes to cleaning most of the people hardly get time to clean their houses all by themselves. During this quarantine period one can actually get more familiar with their house by cleaning them and making then a better place to live it. It is often said in spiritual books that ‘when you clean something you actually clean your soul’Acknowledging this fact one can actually clean something and feel relaxed.This quarantine period,one can also keep some precious time for oneself.Me time is also very crutical for every individual.
Meditation is the best way to calm down and remain healthy.. In this world and life which keeps providing stess, one can actually relax by meditating.It increases concentration and makes a person more productive and energetic.Meditation ensures good mental and physical health and helps to reestore the lost energy.
To conclude we are currently in a state that has not happened in the recent past and that will not probably happen again. So everyone must utilize it in a positive way and create a vision that can lead ourselves and the nation to a better tomorrow.
As when the students from all over the country are getting notices regarding the tentative dates of examinations supposed to be held in July from their respective universities. Students are in hypertension and are worried due to conduction of exams in this unrest situation caused by COVID-19 pandemic .
HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal states that ” Universities to conduct final year exams, 1st and 2nd year students will be promoted based on the internal marks .” So the final year students from all over the country are now in chaos and anxiety for the exams supposed to be conducted in July.
Students have shown lack of faith in government and examination authorities over the issue invoking health reasons due to pandemic. And that’s why students started this #StudentLivesMatter campaign on twitter and on other social media platforms taking hue from #BlackLivesMatter.
#StudentLivesMatter became the top trending hashtag on twitter on Sunday. It was received and retweeted by more than 104,000 users.
Various national and state universities decided to take online exams . But students are pointing that they all had to unexcepedtly leave the hostels in March due to COVID-19 and so they lack proper study material . And also some students belong to rural areas where they face network issues so it’s genuinely going to be difficult for them to give exams.
Students are demanding that all students should be promoted on the basis of their internal and previous semester/year marks akin to intermediate university/college students. Amity University had already taken a notable step and cancelled its all exams.
As some Universities declared tentative dates related to conduction of offline exams , students are putting several questions on social media that what if one student will be found infected and from him/her virus can spread to many other students then who will take the responsibility of students lives and what if students get infected during their travel from their respective home cities to colleges.
Since corona virus cases are increasing day by day and when currently in India there are more than 2 lakh patients are tested positive . So is it necessary to conduct exams on putting students lives on stake ? Is taking exams more important than the life of students ( those students who are considered as future of any nation ) ?
Two weeks after Israel fully reopened schools , a COVID-19 outbreak swept throughout the classrooms which lead to 130 cases at a single school , due to which officials had to close dozens of schools where students and staff were infected. Recently , 3 departments of Utkal University sealed after employee’s contact test positive for COVID-19. Both UG and PG students from all over the country are putting their efforts through #StudentLivesMatter campaign so that their voices should be heard and government and educational institutions will take such decisions which will be in the benefit for all.
Amidst the raging Corona pandemic, another widespread form of a virus known as racism has resurfaced and come to light and is making waves amidst the global community currently under lockdown. George Floyd, a black 46-year-old man died after a white police officer Derek Chauvin put his knee on Floyd’s neck for almost nine minutes leading to his untimely death. This incident took place in Minneapolis, Minnesota leading to mass protests throughout the US and soon leading to global protests with around 50 countries like UK, Australia, Germany, Austria etc joining in the protests.
The protests are taking place whilst the corona pandemic is raging throughout the globe. People have been flouting social distancing norms with no regard for their personal safety. People have been protesting throughout the globe through mass gatherings. So the big question that needs to be answered is what do the people fight? An invisible enemy that takes lives or the grave discrimination that profiles humans based on skin colour?
Darren Sammy, a West Indies cricketer pointed out that he had been racially profiled as “Kalu” in India which he had mistaken as a compliment during his stay as an IPL cricketer. The tendency amongst humans to judge their superiority based on their skin colour is foolhardy. Kids grow up emulating those around them and observing blatant racist jibes and practices which mould them into toxic human beings from their tender years. Often black children are bullied in schools and mistreated leading to them suffer from depression, low self-esteem and some eventually succumbing to the emotional abuse through suicide.
On the other hand, over 70 lakh people have been globally infected with Covid-19 as on 8th June 2020 with over 4 lakh deaths. Thus one may question as to why people would have mass protests with thousands huddled together, flouting the social distancing norms and risk personal safety and pose a public hazard. The answer may lie in the repetitive instances of insensitive discrimination based on race and skin colour. People are frustrated with already having to deal with a deadly virus and then tolerating gruesome racist treatment from people who are no less than the human incarnation of viruses. The wrath of the people could be visible in Bristol where they pulled down the statue of a controversial slave trader named Edward Colston who worked for a company that had transported 80,000 men, women and children to America.
We need to work towards eradicating Corona from our planet yet such sad incidents like the George Floyd murder impedes our progress in doing so. The wrath and intolerance of people towards such incidents are totally justifiable yet the mass protests, devoid of social distancing may have laid seeds for an even bigger monster and may end up costing the global community more lives than just one. We need a community devoid of prejudice towards our fellow beings. We are one and black lives do matter. However, we have to be wise in fighting and combatting both these grave impediments to a flourishing global community.
While the fight against Covid-19 may have an eventual end with a vaccine but the fight against racism will continue for ages to come. The seeds of racial profiling and discrimination have been embedded in our global culture through our ancestors and put into practice by our society. A deeper psychological evaluation may lead one to discover that the constant need to feel superior from other races may evolve from deep-seated insecurity of one’s own culture and race. The big R or the invisible C? We can’t choose one over the other. We have to fight both of them wisely.
International Journal of Research (IJR) 