The Man With The Pen

       Teenagers abound in the world today, they have great talent and potential to be unearthed, developed and cared for.    A swell in the global population of young people has the potential to transform economies for better or worse, depending on the decisions of today’s policy makers, according to a new United Nations report.     In a report released by the UN Population Fund estimates that the global population of young people between the ages of 10 and 24 has hit 1.8 billion. Great news if you fall under this age group, but, let reason dawn, to unlock your potential governments are under pressure to step up investment.    The challenges are most acute for less developed countries, where nearly 9 out of 10 of the world’s young people reside. India alone has a youth population of 356 million. The report’s authors called on governments and donors to invest in this population’s education, employment and health.   ...

India is a country with major national issues to be solved being at hand to be solved. Many of these problems are found in the mineral rich eastern parts of the country where low economic development has lead to drastic illiteracy, poverty leading to armed struggle from the tribals in the form of the Naxal movement.   The Naxalites have a huge presence in this region, controlling heavily forested areas. They  are tribals who rose up against the government in the late 1970s.The conflict goes back to the failure of implementing the 5th and 9th Schedules of the Constitution of India. These Schedules provide for limited tribal autonomy towards exploiting natural resources on their lands and land ceiling laws which limit land to be possessed by landlords, as well as distribution of excess land to landless farmers and labourers. The caste system is a big social aspect of this conflict too. The Central and State Governments have been fighting vigorously to protect innoc...

India is a country with a very diverse set of people with different cultural traditions and different ways of life so the problems faced by the country also have many components. The North Eastern corners of the country are cut off from the rest of the country due to its unforgiving terrain and the huge amount of rainfall. The people there live a very different form of life, with their diet and religious beliefs being very different as they are mostly non vegetarian and are mostly Christians by faith.  There are also many militant groups demanding separate states for each tribe. The people of this region are fed up of their being neglected by the government for so many years. Many people from this region are labelled as being 'Chinese' when they leave their homes in search of jobs to the big cities of the country.  The North Eastern community of Delhi is under great stress as there are scattered incidents of violence against them. They mostly work in the...

Another challenge for the environment is the continued disappearance of forests in Asia, Africa and South America and the continent of Australia. These forests are considered biodiversity hotspots due to the abundance of different animals and plants. These forests also house animals that are not found anywhere else in the world, for example, Lemurs of Madagascar are an ancient group of species of monkeys which aren't found anywhere else in the whole world.  Orangutans are not found anywhere else except some islands in Borneo and Sumatra, known for its distinctly orange coat, they are exceptional climbers and spend years lazily exploring trees for fruits high up from the forest floors. The Sumatran tiger is the smallest subspecies of the Tiger and is limited to the heavily forested Indonesian island of Sumatra. The forests of Northeastern Australia house some extraordinary endemic wildlife as the isolation of the continent helped these animals evolve without any predato...

The world is always on the verge of war, the last year has brought some highly volatile conflicts in the Middle East. Syria, Iraq and Yemen are at the behest of militants, the countries where all this mayhem is on are rich in crude oil and many other minerals. The poverty in most African countries has kept on increasing.  Readers might be thinking why I am talking about all this, right? Well war is a drain on the resources of the world. The amount of fuel spent on carrying out attacks in enemy territory by land, air or water is a lot. The cost of rebuilding a war torn country takes a toll on the natural resources as building whole towns and cities dries the coffers of a country where everyone is unemployed as business is crippled by the war, it's an herculean task in a poor country. The growing poverty and malnutrition is also a challenge as more and more forests are at threat to grow food and fill stomachs of the poor especially in agriculture dep...

The challenge posed by the changing environment is set to grow bigger.  But, one might ask when was it small? Well, hold your horses people! We Indians have had scant respect for the environment as we are too busy fending for ourselves and our comforts.  Well, let me ask you some small but, pertinent question. Who wants the air conditioner in summer? Can't we bear the heat and keep the fan on? The very heat has been increased by our whim to roll about town in the cozy comfort of our aircon equipped car, even for measly distances. Our air conditioners have made holes in the ever so important Ultraviolet Ray deflecting lifeline called the ozone layer increasing temperatures in the Southern Hemisphere, accelerating the melting of ice sheets in Antarctica, a vulnerable ecosystem. Add to it global warming, the greenhouse gases trap heat of the sun. Which are the greenhouse gases? Carbon Dioxide, Carbon Monoxide, Nitrous Oxide, Ozone and Water Vapour. Let me tell you another ...

After the horrific Partition, India had some good leaders but these leaders followed Socialism which was restrictive to foreign investment and made our economh almost redudant. This one directional process of thinking lead to public unrest for two decades. From 1984 to 1996, there were six different governments and also saw assasinations of two Prime Ministers. Somehow in 1991, reforms were done and as many as 24 businesses were de regulated and thus, we somehow became the 2nd fastest growing economy and kept that tag from 2004 - 2009 through a period where China and USA were slackening as recession hit global markets. But after recovering from this rut, a slew of scams brought on the brakes for 2 years and inefficient management of the economy made India really suffer. Hence, India has the third largest army, but also the third largest population of poor in the world. We have at least 20% unemployment and only 20% of our youth complete graduation. We are investing 4% of our To...

My Country India has always dreamt of being a Developed Nation. But, the high population and improper use of resources has always hampered our dreams greatly. Indians have always fought over small issues. The two biggest communities, the Hindus and the Muslims have had a fractured relationship since the British rule. The two communities had been united before the British rule started putting them against each other to forward their own goal of controlling the Nation till all its resources started draining. After the Partition, we lost precious fertile land.

The Earthquake in Nepal had been expected by geologists doing research work there.Some parts of Eastern India and Southern Nepal are categorised as Terai region which is known to be composed of soft soil and were originally wetlands. The Himalayas are the second most earthquake prone regions on Earth after The Pacific Ring Of Fire a ring of 425 active volcanoes that stretches from Japan to Canada.No presence of serious seismic activity in The Himalayan Region had scientists staring open mouthed.  But, Mother Nature had its reply in the form of this devastating earthquake. I know its cruel for me to justify such devastation. This earthquake's inevitability struck me very hard. But, the Nepal capital's buildings had been hurriedly built and were not built to withstand earthquakes of such high intensity and authorities were caught napping in the rescue operation. May the people who died Rest In Peace.