Tag Archives: Awareness

Education, Guest Post, Social Studies

Human wildlife conflicts: A complex problem

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How would you react to a wild cheetah in your backyard or an elephant in your garden?

The rapidly growing human population and urbanisation has led to Human wildlife conflict (HWC) to its pinnacle. Human wildlife conflict (HWC) arises when animals cause a direct and reiterate threat to the safety or the livelihood of the people, leading to the persecution of that species.

Water tank destroyed by elephants in HWC, Namibia

These conflicts have posed a question that can human and wildlife coexist together? 

However, this is not a new storyline – the human and wildlife have coexisted for millennia but the situation is more frequent and aggressive than before. Becoming a global concern for conservation and development to go hands in hand. The need for development requires a lot of natural resources that put the lives and existence of many wildlife species into danger. 

HWC mostly affects large or carnivores from whom the humans feel threatened. Elephants, bears, big cats, primates, sharks, seals and many more. HWC also severely impacts the livelihoods, lives and security of the people from whom we ask to conserve the wildlife. There are many immense challenges around the HWC because the causes of these are very complex and poorly perceived. A single HWC has many socio-cultural, political and economical factors that need to be considered. From research and studies for a long time it has been clear that every HWC problem is different from the next and cannot be solved by the same methods used beforehand. Thus understanding the root cause of the conflict is much needed to mitigate the effect of such incidents. Efforts to address the situations without fully understanding the deep rooted causes and effects often leads to temporary solutions or worse exacerbate the situation in hand. 

HWC are substantially “human-human” conflicts as the heart of the conflict is between the different stakeholders. Sometimes there are several groups assessing different interests and needs. 

Even in some cases the success in species recovery has led to another HWC. For example where carnivores have recovered and expanded a huge population they pose a threat to villagers nearby and their livestocks. 

The reports by UNEP says that it is impossible to completely eradicate the HWCs but a systematic approach can be devised to minimise the effects of these conflicts. The policymakers have to devise policies that can reduce the conflicts and create an ecosystem of coexistence between people and animals. Such steps needed careful studies on prevention, mitigation, response and rehabiltalation with the apt support of the local communities and tribes. 

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Education

Positive impact of coronavirus

‌India’s covid-19 recovery rate crosses 61 percent , which is more than world average 52.4 percent.

‌World’s largest covid center built in Delhi : World’s largest covid center,10,000-bed named Sardar Patel’s COVID Care Centre and Hospital (SPCCCH) inaugurated at Radha Soami Satsang Beas in Chhatarpur area by LG Baijal.

‌Air quality Index ( AQI ) has improved in this lockdown period, there has been a massive improvement in AQI of the country.

‌The Himalayan Range get visible after 30 years . Due to the Lockdown, Air pollution get reduced , now the folk of punjab can see Himalayan Range after 30 years from more than 100 miles away.

‌The number of deaths decrease from various other diseases.

‌Togetherness . As whole universe are facing this crisis, there is another positivity of togetherness. Communities are coming together to ensure the healthy lives of each other. No matter, what person they actually are, from a farmer to a celebrity, from a student to a teacher each one is facing this pandemic but still showing their positive lives via online and entertainment and ensures the Happiness and positivi impact on millions of people.

‌Improving awareness towards health and hygiene. Now people are more aware about the hygiene, health care and their immune system. This is another a good thing that has been the extensively being a part of people lives.  People are washing their hands on repeated basis as advised by governments to contain the spread of the virus, and on the whole being more cautious of their personal hygiene.
      

Education

RACISM: A TERMITE TO SOCIETY

While Racism is often thought of a problem that does not exist in today’s world, we forget that Apartheid was only abolished in South Africa in 1994, which was less than 30 years ago.

Slavery was abolished in the US in 1865. Yet, Racism extends beyond slavery and exists in every form of discrimination against a particular Race.
Racism is still very much prevalent in the United States. This led to the rise of the Black Lives Matter or #BLM movement.
While one needs to understand why Racism is still prevalent, it is also important to not confuse this social evil with colourism.
Racism is discrimination against a particular race, while colourism is discrimination based on your skin tone or colour of your skin.
Racism in America is often confused with colourism as the people discriminated against are from the African American community and have darker skin.

When you picture modern-day racism in the States, you picture a person screaming the n-word at an African American. But Racism exists in different forms. It’s there in your head every time you grip your purse tighter while passing by a Black man.
It’s there when white people walk around with semi-automatic rifles, without facing any consequences, but 911 is dialled when 9-year-old Ahmed made a clock that looked “similar” to a time bomb.
It’s there when the police do not take any action against white people protesting against the much-needed lockdown, but shoots rubber bullets at Black people protesting against police brutality.
It’s there when a white man in uniform is allowed to murder a black man in broad daylight by putting his knee down on his neck as he mutters again and again helplessly that he can’t breathe.

Racism exists in the justice system of the USA too.

The CGTN reported that “The U.S. is notorious for putting more people in prison than any other country: its prison population accounts for over 20 per cent of the world’s total, according to the Prison Policy Initiative.

And African Americans are incarcerated at a much higher rate than anyone else.

For every 100,000 black residents, 1,134 were in prison, compared to 218 for whites.”

According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, about 40% of African Americans are homeless in the US, while they make up roughly 13% of the population.

While I’d love to focus more on the USA and dismantle systemic Racism for you but, unlike what American Sitcoms believe, there are other places in this world besides the United States.

Let’s move to Libya. If you thought slavery was not legal worldwide, you thought wrong. While it has been abolished in almost all countries, it still isn’t criminalised in as many as 94 countries.
In November 2017, a CNN investigation shocked the world, as they exposed actual slave auctions.
In 2016, 1.130% of the Libyan population lived in modern slavery.
According to a report by Time, many refugees attempting to flee war and poverty and reach Europe by sea get caught in Libya and are kept in “horrific” detention centres where they are vulnerable to being beaten, raped, and sold as slave labour.

In the UK, systemic Racism is very much prevalent today.
According to, Police powers and procedures, England and Wales year ending March 2019, Black people were six times more likely to be stopped and searched by the police, than white people.
The Independent reported that “Stop-and-search rates between 2018 and 2019 show that black people are now nearly 10-times more likely to be stopped and searched by the police than white people. This has contributed to far higher arrest rates for black people than for white people.”

The UK’s Annual Population Survey revealed that black people are also paid less on average than white people.

According to a report published by Oxygen, “India is home to the largest number of enslaved people in the world. An estimated 18,354,700 people, or 1.40% of the population, are reportedly living in modern slavery, which includes intergenerational bonded labour, forced child labour, forced marriage, and commercial sexual exploitation, among other forms.”
Free the Slaves reported that poor villagers, in particular, are vulnerable to being enslaved due to debt bondage and bonded labour.
According to Oxygen, “India’s intelligence agency advised Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discredit the September 2017 report by the International Labour Organization (ILO), the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and Australian rights group Walk Free Foundation. The United Nations defended its research, according to Reuters. (Walk Free Foundation published a separate report earlier about India estimates — ILO did not single out countries.) The labour ministry vowed to rescue 18 million bonded labourers by 2030.” Similar problems exist both in Bangladesh and Pakistan.

According to The Wire, despite multiple criticisms, Uttar Pradesh, the state with the highest population in India, is in the process of “promulgating the Uttar Pradesh Temporary Exemption from Certain Labour Laws Ordinance, 2020 that suspends the operation of all labour laws applicable to factories and manufacturing establishments in the state for three years, with the exception of the Bonded Labour System”, in an attempt to lure foreign investors by providing cheap labour, to strengthen the falling economy.

But India’s racism problem extends beyond modern-day slavery. North-East Indians and South Indians often fall prey to this social evil in India. While North East Indians are compared to the Chinese and fall prey to violence whenever International Relations go south with the Chinese government, South Indians are mostly discriminated against for belonging to a complex culture and social background and a darker skin tone.

While to many, Racism presents itself to be the root problem, lurking in its shadows is White Supremacy – The belief that White people are superior to people of other races. Systemic Racism thrives in the US because the system allows it to. The system was designed by White Supremacists, and (surprise-surprise) most of them owned slaves. The system is not broken. It’s working exactly as it was designed. Systemic Racism allows White people to hold power over African Americans, both socially and economically.
The belief that a certain race is superior to others is what leads to discrimination and in many cases genocide.
We see examples of this throughout history, like what happened to Jews in Nazi Germany, or what happens to Bahujans in India.

The Black Lives Matter movement made a great impact only because it threatened to dismantle the very system that allowed George Floyd to be murdered in broad daylight by men in uniform. The protesters made sure they were heard even in the middle of a pandemic. The movement soon spread across the globe and people started demanding accountability from the police and to defund the police.
While the movement did not meet all of its goals, George Floyd’s killers are in prison today and are facing second-degree murder charges.
Someone says that whenever you call out racism, it’s like taking two steps forward and moving one step backwards. And it’s true; many people were injured during the protests.
But isn’t that what they want you to do? To give up? To stop speaking out? To make their jobs easier?
As Detective Santiago in the popular sitcom Brooklyn99 said, “Two steps forward and one step backwards, is still one step forward.”

Education

How can students add up to the social movement for nature’s safety???

Why should we protect nature? Earth is our home and we have to love it. In earth are things humans needed but they destroy them and never worry about it. “Many animals are in extinction because of earth destruction.” Animals are disappearing since people don’t save nature. “Flora and fauna is destroying because we don’t take care of it.” Flora and fauna hurt because of all the damages we have done to it. “Global warming is happening over and over but no one think about it.” (Protecting the home we lice in) Global warming is occurring all over earth but we don’t care about it. All this is happening because we never worry about our home and its problems. All of us don’t save the beautiful paradise god gave us.

Biodiversity is a problem for scientists and it makes flora and fauna be affected”. All humans makes biodiversity destroy and also make flora and fauna start disappearing. Biodiversity is important to all plants and animals but we destroy so, plants and animals die. We start destroying one thing of nature and everything starts to destroy gradually. We never worry about destroying one little thing of our environment because we never think how things can start disappearing. Biodiversity, it’s needed by flora and fauna but while humans destroy it, flora and fauna also destroys. We don’t realise that we also need biodiversity. We are affecting the food chains.

“Global warming also makes disease spread all over many countries so many people die. It makes increase the intensity of heat waves and cause hurricanes or tornadoes.” Global warming makes diseases spread through out the world and kill many animals. It also affects heat so animals start dying because they don’t adapt to the environment, plants and humans, too. Global warming has many effects in humans and in nature. The diseases and heat make nature destroy little by little and also make some geographic accidents like hurricanes or tornadoes. All the diseases damage all living things and some times all nature. This is one of the biggest reason of climate change.

“It also happens because we waste water.” We also waste water in things we don’t really need and global warming starts advancing. Water is important but we don’t realize the importance and waste it always. People never take care of the things they need and that only nature can give them. All humans need water but everyone ignores that and starts wasting it in silly things. We ignore the things we need for surviving specially water and we don’t realize that ignorance all of us have.

We should protect nature because we destroy our home and other’s home. Earth is our home and we have love it and caring it. If we take care of it, nothing will be damage and many people, animals , and plants could live better . Global warming and extinction will not happen when we worry about earth and take care of it. Flora and fauna will not be destroy and disappear forever. Anything will be contaminated and we will not die soon and suffer any bad disease. We will have the best home ever and will be beautiful. Nature help us a lot in things we need like water and food but by destroying nature all that things will disappear and we could die or starve .

Things we can do to protect the nature:-

  1. Engage in environment saftey movemets.
  2. Spread as much awareness as you can.
  3. Everyone should realise that it is the need of the hour.
  4. Plant trees, don’t waste water and electricity.
  5. Start home composting.
  6. Start small gardens at home.

Refrences:-

https://brainly.in

Education, Law and Order, Public Administration, Social Studies

SAY NO TO DRUGS

On International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, we should be more serious about this hazard, that destroys the lives of millions including youngsters.the theme for this year’s anti-drug abuse day Is “Better Knowledge for Better Care”. The main idea behind this theme is to stress upon the need of improving the understanding of the world drug problem.

The day is also marked as an expression of its determination to strengthen action as well as cooperation and achieve the society which is free of drug abuse.Around 35.6 million people across the world are victims of drug abuse, according to the World Drug Report 2020 published by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime. Young adults and teenagers account for the largest share of those using drugs and most of them suffer from HIV, Hepatitis C and other related diseases. Only one out of eight people who need treatment and rehabilitation are able to get it, according to the report.

So many people want to quit but they can’t due to lack of awareness and social stigma. We need to take a step to secure our life and future, this is our responsibility being a citizen of a country .

Education, Public Administration, Social Studies

June 18 : Autistic Pride Day

Autistic Pride Day Originally an Aspies Freedom (AFF) Initiative, AFF is solidarity and campaigning group that aimed at raising public awareness of the autism movement

Autism Pride Flag

AFF provides support for the autistic community and protests attempt to cure autism. On June 18 every year AFF organizations around the world celebrate Autistic Pride Day,

The aim of AFF is to educate people around the world, to connect with one another through events and demonstrate to allistic people (those not on the autism spectrum). Autistic people are unique it shouldn’t be seen as a case for treatment. Autism is a neurological developmental disability that hampers normal brain development, affecting communication, social interacting, cognition, and behavior. People, who have an autistic spectrum condition that they can experience the world very differently to others, till now many people can’t understand what is autism? They just try to avoid an autistic person, autistic people have a problem to adjust in social life but sometimes they can’t do that as other people don’t accept them naturally. They just need help and time to adjust to a new place.

Celebrate the difference, make sure you bring a smile to an autistic individual’s face.

Education

KEEP BREATHING

“If you want, You can talk with me……from yesterday all are giving status and send messages to their friends family that if you want to share something, express yourself. I feel so good that my friends and family care for me. I think we should be express our feelings with ourselves and of course with near ones. We all have different lifestyles, different kinds of problems in our life. It’s really a blessing you have someone who really listens to you. But I notice sometimes when I need people to talk, they are not there for some of their issues. I am not complaining about that every person has his or her own Life. So I just want to tell you that when you are feeling alone just spending time with your self, you can do the things you like, cooking, drawing, listening to music, exercise, a little walk, reading books. I really prefer drawing colors really make me happy, don’t be sad, cheer up yourself, tell your self YOU CAN DO

Make yourself happy, Do the Things you like

There is some situation came when we avoid people as we don’t want to, on that we really need to cheer up ourselves and should spend time with our friends and families as sometimes things are getting better just spending time with some special people in our life, life is for express. So don’t miss the opportunity to spend time with your old friends, families .

Little chitchat, hanging out with friends and family really freshen up our mood

If you really feel depressed, you feel something wrong with yourself you feel uneasy, uncomfortable, wrong thoughts coming to your mind please get treatment contact with a psychiatrist, doesn’t avoid it, Mental health really an important thing.

Don’t take pressure too much, life is not only all about success and failure,

From the movie CHICHORE

Culture and History, Social Studies

The Musical Change

Throughout the centuries people have talked about pertinent social issues either through their novels, poems, movies or through music. The 21st century has seen the music industry talking about grave social issues that have taken a firm hold over society. While early novelists and dramatists used to subtly talk about social dynamics which they disapproved of, the current generation is blunter while talking about the social issues.

The pop stars, the rappers have unabashedly addressed some social evils and issues that needed catering and to generate awareness and weed out some evils. Pop stars like Lady Gaga, Alessia Cara and rappers like Logic, Childish Gambino, Dax have talked about social acceptance, ruthless violence, racism and prevention of suicide.

Lady Gaga through her song, “Born This Way” talks about the LGBT community and being comfortable in one’s own shoes no matter who they are for everyone is beautiful in their own way.

“No matter gay, straight, or bi
Lesbian, transgendered life
I’m on the right track baby
I was born to survive
No matter black, white or beige
Chola or orient made
I’m on the right track baby
I was born to be brave”

Lady Gaga, a rape survivor, has opened up about the post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) she had to suffer after being “raped repeatedly” at the tender age of 19.  Her song, “Till It Happens To You” speaks about the gruesome effect of rape on the victim and the trauma which they have to go through. The song was an attempt to raise awareness against sexual assault which received critical acclaim.

“You tell me it gets better, it gets better in time
You say I’ll pull myself together, pull it together
You’ll be fine
Tell me what the hell do you know
What do you know
Tell me how the hell could you know
How could you know
Til it happens to you, you don’t know
How it feels“

The song “1-800-273-8255”  by  Logic ft. Alessia Cara and Khalid raise awareness about mental health. The video talks about the social stigma and disapproval that the LGBT community has to face from their own families.

“I’ve been praying for somebody to save me, no one’s heroic
And my life don’t even matter, I know it, I know it
I know I’m hurting deep down but can’t show it
I never had a place to call my own
I never had a home, ain’t nobody callin’ my phone
Where you been? Where you at? What’s on your mind?
They say every life precious but nobody care about mine”

Childish Gambino through the music video ” This Is America” raises awareness about the gun violence, racism and brutality of the police authorities in the USA.

“This is America
Don’t catch you slippin’ now
Look at how I’m livin’ now
Police be trippin’ now
Yeah, this is America
Guns in my area
I got the strap
I gotta carry ’em
Yeah, yeah, I’ma go into this
Yeah, yeah, this is guerilla, woo
Yeah, yeah, I’ma go get the bag
Yeah, yeah, or I’ma get the pad
Yeah, yeah, I’m so cold like yeah
I’m so dope like yeah
We gon’ blow like yeah”

“Black Lives Matter” by Dax talks about racism and the ruthless homicide of George Floyd by white police officer Derek Chauvin

“See nobody’s born racist man it’s something you learn
Deep-rooted in your brain from the day of your birth
I think it’s time that we repair All of the bridges we’ve burned
And let love out of our hearts onto cheeks we turn
Spread love, show love, let’s get rid of this curse,
Don’t wait for anyone to act man you go first
400 years wasted let’s get rid of this hurt cause that’s the only way we’ll ever see peace on earth”

These popular songs are just a few of the many social awareness songs available. Artists are representing the socio-political situation and various social evils that need to be weeded out from society through the power of music. Music is such an influential tool and big artists talking about their personal experiences like sexual assault is instrumental in bringing about a gradual and influential change in society. Bricks are laid one at a time and music is healing and reforming the world one brick at a time.

Law and Order

Legality of the Lockdown

On 24 March, 2020, our hon’ble Prime Minsiter Narendra Modi declared 21 days lockdown which kept on extending further as the number of COVID 19 cases in India kept on increasing. Certain guidelines were laid down at both, centre and the state levels. As you would have observed that there were instances where some state governments issued guidelines in addition to what was issued by by the central government. Ever wondered whether imposing such a lockdown was legal or not? Well, by the time you get to the end of this article you will have a basic understanding of how it works. So keep reading.

The legality of such actions taken at different levels can be derived from the Disaster Management Act, 2005 (DMA) which aims “to provide for the effective management of disasters and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.”

The Act provides for the establishment of Disaster Management Authorities at the Centre, State and District levels of which the Prime Minister, Chief Minister and the District Magistrate/Collector/Deputy
Commissioner respectively shall be the ex-officio Chairperson. Such authorities have the responsibility for laying down the policies, plans and guidelines for ensuring timely and effective response to disaster. But how does the law define the term “disaster”? Is the term “lockdown” defined in Indian Law? If yes, what does it mean and if no how and who gets to decide what it means? These are some of the obvious questions that might arise.

It is to be noted that, although, the term “Lockdown” has not been defined under Indian Law, it can be elucidated from the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1987 which “gives power to centre and state governments to take necessary actions to contain the outbreak of an epidemic even if such steps are not mentioned in the law practice or theory.” As we all know that scientists from around the world have still not found a credible vaccine for the same and considering India’s health care facilities, there would not have been enough resources to treat people if the number of people affected would have become large. Since the novel coronavirus is contagious, lockdown was a need of the hour to contain its outbreak.

But as mentioned earlier, the lockdown was inposed under the Disaster Management Act, 2005 , so it is essential to understand the meaning of the term “Disaster” which is defined as

“a catastrophe, mishap, calamity or gave occurrence in any area arising from natural or man made causes, or by accident or negligence, which results in substantial loss of life or human suffering or damage to, and destruction of, property, or damage to, or degradation of, environment, and is of such a nature or mangnitude as to beyond the coping capacity of the community of the affected area.”

Section 2 (d), Disaster Management Act, 2005

Technically, if one goes by the definition, COVID-19 does not fall within the definition of “disaster” as per the Act, as it is a pandemic, not any calamity, mishap or catastrophe. So, as per the definition, lockdown which was imposed to contain its outbreak, cannot be imposed under the Act. But that happened; it was imposed under the Disaster Management Act. You might be by now contemplating as to how did that happen? How is that legal?

This was possible because the Ministry of Home Affairs declared COVID-19 as a “notified disaster” thus bringing it within the purview of section 2(d). This was done to increase the scope of its administrative powers so that quick actions could be taken.

You might also be aware that any action taken by the government must be in consonance with the Indian Constitution and some of you might have suffered from the restrictions on movement as a consequence of the lockdown. You might already have some idea about the fundamental rights that are guaranteed to every citizen by the Constitution of India. Yes, you are right! I am talking about Article 19 in Part III of the Indian Constitution. Many might have felt that the lockdown infringed their right to assemble peacefully wothout arms [Article 19 (1) (b) )] ; right to move freely throughout the territory of India [Article 19 (1) (d)] ; right to practise any profession, or to carry on any occupation, trade or business [Article 19 (1) (g)]. Many of you might thus say that its against the constitution, hence, illegal. But it is important to note that, these rights aren’t absolute, they are subject to reasonable restrictions as per the latter part of the Article. Hence, lockdown being a reasonable restriction, for public health and safety, is legal.

Law and Order, Science and Technology

Artificial Intelligence in Legal Process Outsourcing

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.