The World Environment Day has just been observed with the theme Beat the Plastic Menace for this year. Just as healthcare is perceived myopically in common circles as treating the sick flock with medicines, issues of environment protection seem to be limited to planting saplings, conveniently forgetting the role of earth’s life forms other than…

Aspiring to be like someone with an aura of glory in different fields of human endeavour drives some youth to dream about a particular role model. The term Role Model is credited to American Sociologist Robert K. Merton (died 23 February 2003) who hypothesised that individuals compare themselves with people bestowed society’s recognition to which…

Of the four pillars of our democracy, namely Legislature, Judiciary, Executive and Press, the first three seem to be providing stability to the fourth one while each of them is tottering in different ways for diverse reasons. The players of the first and relatively the most dominant pillar in the current dispensation have been indulging…

Portrayed as a predominantly agrarian country for long, India has lately been transformed into a global industrial power, considering its leading position in the production of steel, cement, textiles, pharmaceuticals, automobiles and many other manufacturing sectors, not to forget the land’s advances in computer software and space-related achievements, particularly production and launching of satellites including…

The ancient saying Udyogam purusha lakshanam is understood in common parlance as work is the identity of a man. Scholars have enlarged its interpretation to mean engaging oneself in higher spiritual discipline assuming the status of job. All jobs that one takes up are udyogas. For this column, it suffices to stick to the commonly…

India is touted as the world’s pharmacy, considering the production of allopathic drugs in highest levels both in their variety and monetary value. The country also has the distinction of being home to the world’s supply of vaccines. Call it a paradox or whatever else, the land has the highest number of victims of many…

The term politics is unarguably the most familiar one among the people of the land, irrespective of the tongues they speak or level of literacy or economic status or years of schooling. Also, the term totally decimates the urban-rural divide, given the deep interest the rustics are currently showing in informal politics, meaning: forming alliances,…

An idiom in Kannada which used to be cited often by old-timers conveys the message that quarrels between married couples happily ends at bed time (Ganda-Hendira jagala undu malaguva thankaka). A wit, adding pep to the time-honoured saying, averred that their wordy battles would ultimately get settled in the bed. In a certain sense, their…

Scholarly chroniclers often cite many civilisations of the distant past in glorious terms. Indus Valley Civilisation of more than thirty centuries vintage shines in the august company of Roman as well as Greek Civilisations that existed about 3,000 years, both resting in the pages of their history. Other regions of the world, including China, Japan…

Comparing cities with villages in the northern hemisphere is a different ball-game from the exercise in the southern hemisphere. So also, the relative profiles of the two regions in any country of the West present a strikingly diverse scenario from those of the East. In this context, comparing cities of India, numerically on the cusp…