Under its Smart Cities Mission, Indian Government wants to create cities that are technologically equipped and have energy-efficient buildings. An energy efficient building offers suitable environment for offices and housing with minimal energy consumption and wastage of energy, thus minimizing energy. It offers best-in-class facilities, and efficient transportation system. The first such model city, is getting ready in Gujrat. Its work is in progress, it is called Gujarat International Finance Tec-City Co. Ltd or the GIFT City. This smart city is being developed as a central business district in Gujarat’s capital Gandhinagar. The Rs 78,000-crore project would provide residential, corporate, retail, and other facilities.  At the core this project is technology driven to ensure transport connectivity, resource management, water distribution, and even waste disposal management. It will also house India’s first International Financial Services Centre (IFSC).

GIFT City aims to be a ‘smart city’ for India’s growing finance and technology sectors. It hopes that a promise of ‘intelligent design’ and the most modern infrastructure including gas, electricity, and transport will attract businesses from other parts of India as well as overseas.

The idea of GIFT City was planned back in 2008 and became operational in 2015. The simplified regulations bundled with various tax and other advantages offer an inviting ecosystem making it a promising destination for both local and global investors. With a specific attention on financial services, it also becomes a promising landscape for both domestic and international financial giants. It provides distinguished benefits to the financial, IT/ ITeS (Information technology enabled services) companies making it a pivotal foundation at par with the various global financial and IT hubs. GIFT City is a vision of the Government of India and Gujarat aiming to serve as a centre for global banking, trade, and business.

An IFSC is a specific location within the mainland of the country treated as a foreign location with an intent to enable global business offering a worldwide regulatory regime. IFSC at GIFT City gives an opportunity to global and domestic businesses to set up a company, limited liability partnership and subsidiaries in the GIFT City under various business verticals. These include banking, insurance, stock exchange, alternate investment funds, aircraft leasing and other businesses as well such as ship craft leasing, etc. The Gift City will be giving Unified Regulator & Single Window Clearance.

IFSC in India are governed by a unified regulator named IFSC Authority (IFSCA) which encompasses regulatory powers of four financial services regulators in India namely Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI), Insurance Regulatory Development Authority of India (IRDAI), Pension Fund Regulatory & Development Authority of India (PFRDAI) enabling it to provide single window clearance for all necessary approvals under one umbrella in an easy manner.

GIFT City is declared as Special Economic Zone (SEZ). The SEZ is created to encourage exports and foreign investment especially for multinational corporations. SEZ offers benefits to the businesses operating in this zone, including duty-free imports and exports, easy regulatory processes, tax benefits. GIFT City is the first IFSC in India and to make it more attractive and enticing the Government of India also declared it as a SEZ.

GIFT IFSC has been designated as a foreign jurisdiction of a non-resident zone under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) Regulations enabling friendliness for carrying out foreign exchange transactions in liberal manner. The entities setup in the GIFT IFSC can transact in, retain, repatriate the foreign currencies without limitations which are otherwise applicable to the mainland India.

Easy movement of foreign capital

The offshore status of the GIFT IFSC bundled with various relaxations and less restrictive financial regulations makes it an attractive destination for foreign investors allowing unrestricted movement of fund invested in the form of repatriation of profits, dividends, and investments back to the home country of the foreign investors.

Liberal policies and business friendly regulatory framework

The regulatory regime of GIFT IFSC is formulated to parallel the best practices accepted globally facilitating flexibility and reduced compliance burden. Amongst the plethora of such benefits a few noteworthy relaxations include exemption to non-residents from obtaining permanent account number (PAN) or filing return of income in India in certain circumstances.

Tax benefits to the IFSC Units setup in GIFT City

The IFSC units’ setup in the GIFT City, India offers various tax benefits like exemptions on corporate tax, tax holiday for ten years, reduced Minimum Alternative Tax (MAT) for increasing the profitability and hence growth of the business houses. It also offers numerous indirect tax benefits such as no Goods and Service Tax (GST) on services received by unit in IFSC, no GST on services provided to IFSC units / SEZ units / offshore clients. If the services are provided to the Domestic Tariff Area of mainland India, then the GST is applicable under Reverse Charge Mechanism.

Tax benefits to the Investor investing in IFSC GIFT City

The investor investing in the GIFT IFSC gets numerous fiscal benefits including the benefits such as interest income paid to non-residents on money lent to IFSC units in GIFT city are exempted from tax, transfer of specified securities listed on IFSC exchanges by non-residents are not treated as a transfer and  hence gains arising from such transfers are not treated as capital gains and are taxable in India , exemption from Securities Transaction Tax (STT) , exemption from  Commodity Transaction Tax (CTT), dividend received by investor in IFSC unit is subjected to concessional rate of tax, no GST on transactions carried out in IFSC exchanges.

Various financial benefits and incentives

The Government of Gujarat provides various state incentives in the form of financial incentives support schemes to attract companies and investors to GIFT IFSC. These incentives include grants, subsidies, and reduced operational costs due to OPEX (Operating expenses) support, CAPEX (Capital expenditure) support, employment generation incentives. The government has also announced various state level incentives and subsidies to Information Technology (IT) and Information Technology Enabled Services (ITeS) Companies.

Benefits of GIFT City for startups

To promote the innovation and ideas and entrepreneurship IFSC-GIFT City provides dedicated FinTech support and requisite startup friendly environment with an aim to shape and fulfil the aspirations and ambitions of start-ups and entrepreneurs.

Conclusion

The Government of India recognizes and reinforces that tapping the global capital and global market are the key drivers for the development of businesses across the borders and plays a pivotal role in the overall economic growth and to strengthen the position of the country in the global economy.

Globally, we see such cities at Aladdin City, Dubai, South Korea, Abu Dhabi, and Saudi Arabia.

Dubai has setup on a stellar commercial project at Aladddin City that will recreate the magic of the renowned Disney’s Aladdin series. Spread across 4,000 acres, the project will boast of suspended golden walkways and three main towers that will be designed like genie lamps. The city, to be built on the Dubai creek, will house hotel and commercial spaces with ample parking space. It is also in the race of being named as world heritage site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

Songdo International Business District at South Korea is being built on a reclaimed land near South Korea’s Seoul, the estimated cost of this project is $40 billion. This is a 10-year development project, which will be a business district with 80,000 apartments, 50 million sq ft of office space and 10 million sq ft of retail space, along with hospitals, hotels, schools, and cultural amenities. It will house Northeast Trade Tower, the tallest tower in the country, and Incheon Tower, an under-construction 151-floor twin tower. The city is smart in many ways, as it will provide charging stations for electric vehicles and automatic waste collection system. All the buildings in this city will be built on a par with LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) requirements.

Yas Island at Abu Dhabi is being built on a man-made island, the city of Yas is being transformed into a business, entertainment, shopping, and leisure destination by Aldar Properties. The project is expected to cost over $40 billion and will occupy over 2,500 hectares, 1,700 hectares of which will be reclaimed land. The world-class entertainment activities will include a Formula One racing track by Etihad, Ferrari World, Marina Circuit, Yas Water world and Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, along with many restaurants. The Water world and Marina Circuit will provide a wide range of motor sports. 

Oil-rich Saudi Arabia has been slowly expanding into the petrochemical and refinery business district. After building the first Jubail Industrial City project, the Kingdom is expanding the city further by spending $80 billion. The industrial city is known to be one of the largest civil engineering projects and will house many industrial plants and an oil refinery that can produce 350,000 barrels of oil in a day. It will also have a desalination plant of 800,000 cubic meters in volume. The city will also be well-connected with roads, rail tracks and even highways. The project is expected to be completed by 2024. 

The Hudson Yards project, located in the West of Manhattan, is being developed over an operational train yard. The project, which is a joint venture between New York City Department of City Planning and Metropolitan Transportation Authority, will be a 17-million square feet mixed use project boasting of commercial, residential, retail and leisure development. The project will also have its own subway stop. The first commercial tower, which has already locked in global brands, including Coach and L’Oreal as tenants, is 52-storeys high. The entire project is expected to cost over $20 billion.

The BRICS alliance, initially formed in 2006 by Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, has experienced a transformative expansion in 2024. The BRICS grouping collectively occupies considerable economic power in the globe. The expansion of BRICS membership has further boosted its influence. The group represents a significant portion of the world’s population, Gross Domestic Product (GDP), global trade, and energy production. In 2023, Brazil’s President called on the BRICS nations to create a common currency for trade and investment between each other, as a means of reducing their dependability on vulnerable American dollar exchange due to rate fluctuations. 

Officials and economists have pointed out the difficulties involved in such a project, given the economic, political, and geographic discrepancies between Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. Brazil’s president doesn’t believe nations that don’t use the dollar should be forced to trade in the currency, and he has also backed for a common currency in the Mercosur block of South American countries. The Southern Common Market, commonly known by Spanish abbreviation Mercosur, and Portuguese Mercosur, is a South American trade bloc established by the Treaty of Asunción in 1991 and Protocol of Ouro Preto in 1994. Its full members are Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay. Right now, it’s an assumption that BRICS currency will increase payment options and reduce the vulnerabilities, of currency fluctuation.

What other BRICS leaders think? South African officials said a BRICS currency was not there on their agenda. Building a BRICS currency would be a “tough political project”, South African central bank governor announced in July 2023. He said that for getting BRICS currency they will need a banking union, a fiscal union, to some extent they will need macroeconomic merging of the BRICS nations. A lot of disciplined mechanism will be required for the countries that fall out of line with it. Most importantly, they will need a common central bank, in which country could it be located? Trade imbalances cannot be ignored. All BRICS member countries have China as their main trading partner and little trade with each other.

The potential benefits of a BRICS currency include reducing dependence on the US dollar and increasing economic cooperation among member countries. The potential benefits of a BRICS currency include a dominance in international trade and a preference from 58% of countries.

BRICS leaders have said they want to use their national currencies more instead of the dollar, which strengthened sharply last year as the Federal Reserve raised interest rates and Russia invaded Ukraine, making dollar debt and many imports more expensive. Russia’s sanctions-imposed expulsion from global financial systems last year also fuelled speculation that non-western allies would shift away from the dollar.

Last year’s BRICS summit was a tricky assignment for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who aimed to tackle several thorny issues: balancing India’s ties with Russia and the West, managing BRICS expansion, and addressing border tensions with China. Modi tackled these issues plus some more upcoming bilateral trade problems gracefully.  

India has a strong voice in the BRICS and the UN, India spoke out against policies or actions that may harm the interests of any member. For example, India turned down China’s request to allow Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Mexico to join the BRICS.

Coming back to the issue of BRICS currency: each of the BRICS countries supports the currency initiative for different reasons. Russia and China are at the forefront of the de-dollarisation move for their political interests. Russia is trying to avoid US sanctions by challenging the dollar-dominated financial system, while China is promoting the Renminbi (official currency of the People’s Republic of China) as an alternative. Since more than 17 percent of its reserves are in Renminbi, Russia has a greater preference for transacting in Renminbi. On the other hand, India, South Africa, and Brazil have their own pragmatic reasons for supporting the move. Reduced dollar dominance in international transactions will make it easier for these nations facing a dollar crunch to repay their debts owed to international organisations. A 2019 study by Global Business Review compared the regime-switching behaviour of the real exchange rates of the five BRICS nations before and after the group’s formation. It concluded that the inclusion of a stronger policy interaction in the region, especially in monetary management, shows the chance of a strong currency union amongst BRICS members.

From 1^st Jan 2024, Saudi Arabia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, and Egypt have announced to join BRICKS block. The expansion of BRICS will diminish South Africa’s significance even further because the two African states joining, Egypt and Ethiopia, are both more populous than South Africa and are experiencing higher rates of economic growth, though in much smaller economies.

More than 40 countries have expressed interest in joining, the question of whether BRICS would admit new members was finally answered during a recent group’s summit. Despite pre-summit reports of division over the potential expansion, leaders from the five-nation bloc announced that Saudi Arabia, Iran, Ethiopia, Egypt, Argentina, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) would join the group starting in 2024. Argentina was invited to join but declined the invitation.

With the addition of these six countries, BRICS now represents 42 percent of the world’s population and 36 percent of global GDP. The primarily economic bloc was originally created as an alternative to the U.S.-led international order, with the goal of offering growing countries in the Global South a to counterbalance the Western institutions.

Conclusion

The potential impact of a new BRICS currency on the US dollar remains uncertain, experts are debating its potential to challenge the dollar’s dominance. However, if a new BRICS currency was to stabilize against the dollar, it could weaken the power of US sanctions, leading to a further decline in the dollar’s value.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated a gigantic new temple in the Indian city of Ayodhya on Monday, 22^nd January 2024 by concluding a long campaign in which Hindu nationalists tore down a centuries-old mosque and replaced it with a structure devoted to the Hindu deity Ram who is India’s Guardian Deity.  Indians have immense faith in Ram that He looks after their safety and prosperity. Sanctification ceremony of Ram temple in Ayodhya is an affirmation of our faith and belief systems.

India was land of prosperity, peace, wealth, richness. One of the oldest civilizations called Indus Valley 5000 years ago. It has the oldest dharma – Sanatan Dharma. Ruins of Indian temples Hampi, Mahabalipuram, Konark speak a lot about Indian Architecture and prosperity. Water buildings in Rajashthan were built with ancient science and technology, centuries ago water harvesting, water storage techniques were invented by Indian architecture, North India faced multiple invasions who first looted temples of their wealth and then destroyed them. After Gupta rulers no Indian king could unite Indian independent regions, kings kept fighting with each other – this was taken advantage by Mogals, Afghanis, Persians, Mughals and then Britishers.  India lost its identity and its Sanatan Dharma.

Mysuru-based sculptor Arun Yogiraj has chiselled the ‘Ram Lalla’ idol. He is a fifth-generation sculptor. The idol carved by Yogiraj has been sculpted from a three-billion-year-old rock beautifully and aesthetically.

Ram Janmabhoomi temple at Ayodhya, as a project has gone through a lot of struggles that has gone on for decades will now culminate in faith and conviction. It would be right to say that after Independence in 1947, January 22, 2024, will be marked as another day of liberation, this time of the mind and liberation from fear, injustice, and colonialism. We can’t relegate Ram to a mere religious figure. Ram is beyond the religion – he is in India’s character, culture, and is the root of India’s antiquity. Ram is deeply engraved in India’s conviction.

The belief and faith in Ram surpass beyond the geographical boundaries of India and is found in various places including Thailand, Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines, and Malaysia. The religious and cultural heritage of these countries celebrates Ram. In Thailand, his mention is in Ramakien, Serat Rama in Indonesia, Yama Zatdaw in Myanmar, Maharadia Lawana in the Philippines, and Hikayat Seri Rama in Malaysia. In India, various communities honour Ram in their own ways. One such community is the Ramnami community found in Chhatisgarh, known for their distinctive way of showing devotion to Lord Ram. They ink every part of their body with the word “Ram”. This is more than just an act of devotion – it is also a tool of rebelliousness against the deep-rooted caste system.

On 22^nd Jan 2024, leading up to the temple’s consecration, public spaces around India were drumming with excitement. Ram is one of the most revered Gods among India’s Hindus, who make up about 80 percent of a total population of 1.4 billion. As the hero of the Ramayana epic, he is a king and a paragon of virtue.

The glory and grandeur of the Ram temple being built in Ayodhya was on display during the Republic Day parade in national capital New Delhi on 75th Republic Day. The tableau titled “Ayodhya Cultural Heritage” graced the grand parade in New Delhi.

Ram and the Ayodhya Ram Mandir are symbols of Ram Rajya, an ideal monarchy of truth on earth. The presence of Ram in the temple signifies the importance of personal individual effort to arrive at religious, moral perfection within one’s lifetime. With our personal effort, we can emulate Ram as this Maryada Purushottam.

Ayodhya is a city situated on the banks of the Sharayu River in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh which has been transformed significantly. From the new Maharishi Valmiki Airport to the revamped railway station, Ayodhya has been renovated ahead of the Ram temple inauguration on 22^nd January 2024. Experts predict a massive rise in spiritual tourism, with officials anticipating three to five lakh daily visitors in the coming months. India is focused on the grand “Pran Pratishtha” (sanctification) ceremony of the under-construction Ram temple in Ayodhya. Large posters bearing a symbolic image of the upcoming Ram temple, design of the new airport along with a message that hails Ayodhya as a city of “Maryada, Dharm and Sanskriti” have been put up in the temple town, including at locations near the airport and the station and the bypass road.

The hospitality industry in Ayodhya is fortunate as it will be benefited from religious tourism, with major hotel chains such as IHCL, Marriott, Sarovar and many other hotel brands planning projects in the temple town. The existing hotels are struggling to meet the demand, and there are plans for around 550 “Home Stay” centres for visitors to experience local culture and cuisine for 22^nd Jan 2024. The transformation of Ayodhya gained momentum after the Bhoomi Puja ceremony for the Ram Mandir in August 2020.

Ayodhya’s transformation from an undistinguished mofussil town to bustling city gained momentum after Prime Minister Narendra Modi presided over the Bhoomi Puja ceremony of Ram Mandir on August 5, 2020, about nine months after the Supreme Court’s unanimous verdict in favour of Ram temple on November 9, 2019.

In few months’ times, people will not only visit Ayodhya to pray and respect to Ram Lalla, but they will also come here for ceremonies and rituals. It will be one of the renowned venues for wedding destination for people with spiritual bent of minds. Not only weddings, but people would also like to perform other family functions like the mundan ceremony (tonsure) of children and birthdays in Ayodhya. The Ayodhya Development Authority, which is organizing the project, has received 600 applications for locals willing to start a homestay facility at their residence.

The Home Stay facility will be an ideal opportunity for visitors to enjoy local cuisine and culture of Avadh by staying with locals. The tourism department and the development authority will keep a check on these centres to ensure their proper functioning assures the Ayodhya Development Authority.

India is a land of religious and spiritual tourism. It refers to travel for religious or spiritual purposes, such as undertaking a pilgrimage and visiting sacred sites. Also known as sacred or faith tourism, it is one of the oldest forms of tourism. Religious tourism is a niche within the segment of cultural tourism, comprising four specialist niches pilgrimages, visiting sacred sites, church, mosque and temple tourism, and travel for the purpose of mission or worship.

The temple tour packages in India cater to the religious sites of North Haridwar-Rishikesh-Varanasi. In Central Mahakaal-Kjajuraho-Sarnath in South Chennai- Kanchipuram-Mahabalipuram-Kanyakumari and in West Pushkar-Mount Abu- Somnath- Dwarka in Gujrat. Therefore, whether a South India temple tour or a North Indian temple tour package, you will be spellbound with remarkable architecture. India comprises diverse religions, caste, and creed therefore you will find temples of Hindus and Jains, Buddhists Monasteries, Sikhs’ Gurudwaras, Muslim Mosques, Christian’s Churches. Some are in the form of prehistoric caves, which also enjoy the privileges of UNESCO World Heritage sites. Some of them include Ajanta, Ellora, Modhera Surya Temple, Khajuraho, Sun Temple of Konark, Elephanta, Taj Mahal, Bodh Gaya, Nalanda University etc.

India being part of the world’s oldest civilizations is a land of rich history, countless beliefs, traditions, and legends surrounding the religions. India takes pride in the country’s rich cultural and religious history as it is the birth land of the traditions of Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism. India is a land where people of different religious beliefs live in harmony and brotherhood. Hinduism is believed to be the world’s oldest religion. Unlike other religions, Hinduism does not have a founder but is instead a fusion of religions. Various ancient manuscripts and scholars describe the religion as a traditional way of living, a religion whose beginning and ending cannot be traced.

Indians seek spiritual support or reinforce their religious beliefs. Often, they undertake a pilgrimage for religious reasons or for the purpose of worship. Most religious tourists are very motivated to travel, so they are willing to spend more money than the average traveller. This inherent motivation also makes religious tourism less susceptible to economic lows. Believers like to travel in groups of like-minded people.

What is Religious Tourism?

When a person travels to a pilgrimage site primarily based on their religious belief, it is known as religious tourism. These travellers perform pilgrimage to worship and enjoy salvation. However, there are Muslim and Jewish travellers who go for pilgrimage because it is obligated by their religion.

Popularity of Religious Tourism

People visit the religious sites for expressing gratitude to the Almiighty, to confess their secrets and sins, to thank the deity, asking for forgiveness. For Spiritual Salvation etc. In many societies, going on a pilgrimage is seen as a mark of devotion. People also travel to religious sites to celebrate religious events, communicate with other believers. For the youngers generations and for foreigners’ new experience of spiritual travel could be the reason why they throng to temples and other religious sites. Better connectivity from major Indian cities is another significant reason people have begun to visit the pilgrim sites.

The Indian history is rich in spiritual learnings, cultural references and values that add solemnness to our actions. Today, many aspects of our lives have influenced the West. They are visiting India in search of peace and tranquillity. We Indians are blessed with the spiritual abundance.

The Paradox of the Court, also known as the counter dilemma of Protagoras goes on and on in the world without a stop. A lot of important truths in life are contradictory. And, we get used to contradictions as a part, as we live our lives. The truth is, life is often illogical, paradoxical, and just blatantly strange. Protagoras’ paradox is a paradox originating in ancient Greece. It is said that the famous lawyer and scholar Protagoras took on a pupil, Euathlus for not paying his fees. The understanding was that the student Euathlus would pay fees to Protagoras for his instruction, after Euathlus wins his first court case. Protagoras was much in demand as a law teacher. After instruction, Euathlus decided to not enter the profession of law, and Protagoras decided to sue Euathlus for the amount owed.

Protagoras argued that if he won the case, he would be paid his money. If Euathlus won the case, Protagoras would still be paid according to the original contract, because Euathlus would have won his first case. On the other hand, Euathlus maintained that if he won, then by the court’s decision he would not have to pay Protagoras. If, on the other hand, Protagoras won, then Euathlus would still not have won a case and would therefore not be obliged to pay. The question is then, which of the two men do you think is right?

Protagoras’ paradox is about dilemmas and irony. Such paradoxes occur in real life situations. Projected figures of the death toll due to the Novel Coronavirus, right from Harvard to Imperial College, are based on complex calculations beyond the grasp of most of us. Equally mystifying is the downward or upward revisions by the same institutions. It is truly an infodemic which mean an excessive amount of information concerning a problem such that the solution is made more difficult within a pandemic. While the value of a human life can never be compared or quantified with economic cost, there is enough evidence to suggest a direct qualitative and quantitative relationship of economic wellbeing with life.

Leave aside health and economic issues; the virus has played havoc on our social fabric. In India, in a small village in Sitamarhi in Bihar, a 19-year old boy was lynched to death by people of his own village. What was his crime? He had reported to the police about his neighbours who had eventually returned from Delhi, braving all odds during the lockdown. The boy was afraid the migrants who returned would infect others, that the contagion would consume him and his family. A similar incident was reported days later from central UP with the only difference being that the victim was shot and not lynched. Strange things do happen in strange times. In a small town in the UP- Bihar border, a husband turned away his wife, who had returned from her ‘maika.’ This is because small town mohallas have declared themselves a ‘no entry’ area. In Amritsar, a Padma Awardee in his death with virus was denied cremation by all crematoria of the city that was his home for 82 yrs.

Look at this paradox; richest one percent of Indians own 53 percent of the country’s wealth, the richest 5 percent own 68 percent of the country’s wealth, while the top 10 percent have 77 percent. At the other end of the pyramid, the poorer halves of our countrymen jostle for four percent of the nation’s wealth. Income inequality in India may be at its highest level. This inequality ratio that has risen rapidly over the last three decades; in the 1990s there were no Indians on Forbes’ list of billionaires; today there are more than 100.

Think of this marketing paradox: marketers often say that nostalgia branding works incredibly well, evoking positive emotions from the recall of good experiences. Difference from “sameness” interferes with this brain-based response. But companies also operate under the assumption that sticking with tradition is a death sentence, and that organizations need to innovate for consumers to see them as productive and relevant…..as a Marketing Professor, I always find it difficult to explain.

Those who think they are smart always want to be at the top. They don’t take no for an answer. But two heads are better than one, and of course, there’s no ‘’I” in team. So are we supposed to be self-focused so we can reach the top rung of the ladder, or are we supposed to use group synergy to be more productive than we could be alone?

This is about social media: the more connected we get, the more inaccessible we feel. Despite being in more constant communication than ever, research finds an increase in loneliness and depression in the developed world over the past few decades.

The more choices available to you, the less satisfied you are with each one. This is the old “paradox of choice.” Research shows that when we are presented with more options, we become less satisfied with any particular one we choose. The theory is that when we have so many options, we have greater opportunities cost in selecting each particular one; therefore, we’re less happy with our decision.

The more you learn, the more you realize how little you know. This is one of the old Socrates adages. Every time you gain a greater understanding, it creates even more questions than it answers.

And this one paradox always boggles me the most; change is constant it occurs continuously. It is really profound, but are we ready for it always???

Real kindness makes a person courageous to stand up for what is good. Kind hearted people motivate us to do good things, and become happy. The art of kindness is a scarce commodity; such people enrich the society. These people have a special sense of justice and they do what is right. Balbir Singh Seechewal (born 2 February 1962) is a Sikh who led an anti-river pollution crusade in Punjab, India. He is fondly called “Eco Baba” for his philosophy of belief in self reliance added with act of strengthening the environment. Balbir Singh is a staunch believer in the essence of the Gurbani (Sikh term, very commonly used by Sikhs to refer to various compositions by the Sikh Gurus and other writers of Guru Granth Sahib). He has restored life the 160 km long Kali Bein rivulet of Beas River in Doaba region of Punjab.

In the year 2000, Balbir Singh decided to put in efforts to stop the pollution and wastage of the water of Kali Bein River because of domestic and industrial waste. Like rest of India, rivers are considered sacred in the state of Punjab. Kali Bein had reduced to nothing but a drain because of all the waste that was being dumped in it. Some portions of the river had even dried up which resulted in enormous water problems in the surrounding farms. Balbir Singh began his campaign by educating local people the importance of cleaning of the river, many volunteers joined him  for raising funds with the help of contributions from residents living on the banks of the river which included more than 24 villages. With this amount Balbir Singh and his volunteers group could purchase equipment required for cleaning. He had to propagate again and again urging villagers to dispose sewage in a particular place and not in the river. With a clean riverbed, natural springs were restored and the river started to fill up once again.

After cleaning of the river Kali Bein, Balbir Singh developed an underground sewerage system model with the help of the Punjab government. It is a low cost model that collects sewage water from ponds and treats it in a natural way which can be used for agriculture and irrigation purposes. Eco Baba, Balir Singh’s work through all these years has been naturally appreciated by people in India and abroad. It is really commendable to note that this kind hearted man other than working for the cause of the conservation of environment has also established schools and colleges in different regions in Punjab. In the year 2016, environmentalist Balbir Singh Seechewal devised a solution for solid waste treatment in the state. A machine has been created at the Sant Avtar Singh Yadgari Technical Research Centre with instructions from the environmentalist. The ‘Short Machine’ that’s what it is called segregates the various things comprised in the garbage. The machine has been researched further for adding more features to it.

Today, the rivulet Kali Bein is cleaned up and has been gushing with pristine water. The river bank has become a picnic spot, the devotees of the Gurudwara Ber Sahib bathe in it during religious festivals. Eco Baba has now turned his sights onto the tanneries and other factories that dispose of unprocessed waste in rivers. His mission is to clean up rivers and creeks in a more systematic way across the state with help from residents and State Government. His crusade is against factories and mills which pollute rivers; he says that we have no right to kill the living creatures in water and damaging the aquatic ecosystem. Eco Baba Balbir Seechewal has proved through his selfless actions where there is a will, there are a way!!!  

Language is most important for communication. It is used to inform others, to ask them to do certain things and to express feelings, moods, ideas, information, experiences etc. Language undoubtedly has a very important social purpose because it is mainly used for linguistic communication.

It’s worth noting that Chinese is the single most spoken language in the world today with around 1.2 billion people who consider it their first language. The written origins of the language have been traced back to 1250 BC in the late Shang dynasty. Along with Tamil, Chinese is one of the oldest surviving languages in the world.

The languages of India are divided into various language families, of which the Indo-Aryan and the Dravidian languages are the most widely spoken. Indo-Aryan language is a combination with Persian, Arabic, and Turkic elements in its vocabulary, with the grammar of the local dialects. They are Assamese, Sindhi, Gujarati, Odia, Marathi and Punjabi. The two largest languages that formed from Apabhraṃśa which in Sanskrit literally mean “corrupt” or “non-grammatical language”, that which deviates from the norm of Sanskrit grammar. Apabhraṃśa literature is a valuable source for the history of North India for the period spanning the 12th to 16th centuries. They are Bengali and Hindustani. On the other hand Dravidian languages are the four most commonly spoken languages Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam. All four are official state languages of India, and Telugu, the most commonly spoken of all the Dravidian languages, is the third most common language spoken in India.

While most countries in the world have one national language, India has a different language for each of its 28 states. Each State has its Own Language

Hindi is recognised as an official language and all Union Government Records are written in Hindi and English. Other State Governments have records written in the State’s official language and English.

However, all Indian languages are phonetic. That means you can pronounce any word just by seeing it written. In every major Indian language, each syllable has a unique representation in script. It is truly “What-you-see-is-what-you-get” for the Indian language.

What’s more, many Indian languages share the same script (the written alphabet). For example, Sanskrit and Hindi are written in the same script – Devanagiri – but are still very different. Most of the Indian languages have their own script and are spoken in the respective states along with English.

Most Languages in India Follow the WYSIWYG Premise WYSIWYG implies a user interface that allows the user to view something very similar to the end result; while the document is being created. In general, WYSIWYG implies the ability to directly manipulate the layout of a document, without having to type or remember names of layout commands. The actual meaning depends on the user’s perspective, WYSIWYG is an acronym for What You See Is What You Get. WYSIWYG is a way of designing electronic documents so that content such as text and graphics is displayed on screen during editing in a way that corresponds exactly to its appearance when printed or displayed as a finished product.

Hindi is spoken as a mother tongue by about 40.22 percent of the population, mainly in the area known as the Hindi belt comprising Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.  It is the official language of the Indian Union, of the four states mentioned above, and of two other states namely, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh.

Tamil (5000 years old) – Oldest Living Language in India. Part of the Dravidian family, which comprises of some native southern and eastern Indian languages, Tamil is the most widely spoken language in the state of Tamil Nadu and is also one of the recognized national languages of India. Its spoken by at least 65 million people.

Assamese is the state language of Assam and is spoken by nearly 60 percent of the State’s population.  The origin of this language dates back to the 13th century.

Bengali is spoken by nearly 200 million people in the world – in Bangladesh and in West Bengal. It developed as a language in the 13th century and is the official state language of the eastern state of West Bengal.

Gujarati is the state language of Gujarat and is spoken by 70 percent of the State’s population.  It is Indic in origin and branched out from the Indo-European group of languages.

Kannada is the State language of Karnataka and is spoken by 65 percent of the State’s population.

Kashmiri is a language written in both Persio-Arabic and Devanagari scrip and is spoken by 55 percent of the population of Jammu and Kashmir.

Konkani, principally based on classical Sanskrit, belongs to the south-western branch of Indo-Aryan languages.  It is spoken in the Konkan region covering Goa and parts of the coastal regions of Karnataka, Kerala and Maharashtra. It is the official language of Goa, the smallest state in India.

Malayalam is a Dravidian language, spoken by the people of Kerala and Lashadweep.  It is an ancient language and is thousands of years old.

Marathi is an Indic language dating back to the 13th century.  It is the official language of the western state of Maharashtra.

Oriya, the state language of Orissa is spoken by nearly 87 percent of its population.

Punjabi is an Indic language and is spoken in the state of Punjab.  Although based on the Devanagari script, it is written in a 16th century script called Gurumukhi, created by the Sikh Guru Angad in the Indian state of Punjab and in Shahmukhi, a Persio-Arabic script in the Punjab province of Pakistan.

On top of that, there are dialects that change in every region. So, if you are in, let’s say Karnataka, a state in the southern part of India where the primary language is Kannada, you will see a variation of this language in North and South Karnataka.

What’s more, in regions close to the borders of particular states, there are completely unique languages or dialects, influenced by neighbouring states. That means, you will hear people speak a totally different language called Konkani on the border of Karnataka and Maharashtra. Note that the primary language of Karnataka is Kannada and that of Maharashtra is Marathi.

Rajasthani refers to a group of Indo-Aryan languages and dialects spoken primarily in the state of Rajasthan and adjacent areas of Haryana, Punjab, Gujarat, and Madhya Pradesh in India. 

Bhojpuri is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in northern-eastern India and the Terai region of Nepal. It is chiefly spoken in western Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh. Sociolinguistically, Bhojpuri is considered one of several Hindi dialects. 

Sindhi is spoken by a great number of people in the North-west frontier of the Indian sub-continent comprising parts of India and Pakistan.  In Pakistan, the language is written in the Persio-Arabic script, while in India it uses the Devanagari script.

Telugu is also a Dravidian language and is the spoken by the people of Andhra Pradesh.

Urdu is the state Language of Jammu and Kashmir and it evolved with Hindi in the capital of India, Delhi.  Urdu is the language adopted by the majority of the Muslims in India.  Urdu is written in the Persio-Arabic script and contains many words from the Persian language.

Sanskrit is older than Prakrit languages. However, both are Indo-Aryan languages that co-existed for several centuries. Sanskrit is not the refinement of Prakrit languages as mistakenly believed by some. It is the refined and codified version of archaic Vedic language. It’s worth noting that when groups evolved at a habitat certainly there was some kind of communication perhaps Sanskrit and Tamil dominated from the History of India since 3000 BC.

As we grow up in age, our world changes. We become busy in activities related to our career, profession, family, children, parenting, maintaining our social status etc, etc. Our responsibilities pile up and in the journey we tend to forget our friends. Our best friends become our distant friends and our distant friends become a faint memory. Life moves on while our memories of our friends slowly begin to fade away. Reminiscing over past days becomes painful. But, we all crave for friends……and social media recognizes this innate craving of us and therefore the concept of virtual friendship has caught up. 

A bigger world may mean a world with more opportunities, but it goes without saying that profitable gain is not the only standard by which to judge a potential relationship. Dunbar’s number is a suggested cognitive limit to the number of people with whom one can maintain stable social relationships in which an individual knows who each person is and how each person relates to every other person. Robin Dunbar is a British anthropologist, who found a correlation between primate brain size (for a given body size, have brains 5 to 10 times as large as the formula predicts) and average social group size. By using the average human brain size and extrapolating from the results of primates, he proposed that humans can comfortably maintain 150 stable relationships. Dunbar explained it informally as “the number of people you would not feel embarrassed about joining uninvited for a drink if you happened to bump into them in a bar.” So, Dunbar’s Number is based on an idea that 150 is the number of individuals with whom any person can maintain stable relationships.

Dunbar and his team also have performed research on Facebook, using factors like the number of groups in common and private messages sent to map the number of ties against the strength of those ties. When people have more than 150 friends on Facebook or 150 followers on Twitter, Dunbar argues, these represent the normal outer layer of contacts or the low-stake connections: be it 500, 1000 or 1500. For most people, intimacy may just not be possible beyond 150 connections. In his opinion, various digital media are really just providing us with another mechanism for contacting acquaintances.

Dunbar says there is a consistent pattern, and it scales roughly by a factor of 3 each time: 5 Intimates, 15 Good Friends, 50 Close Friends, 150 Friends. He supposes that the numbers continue beyond that – 500 acquaintances and 1500 people who you could put a name to a face.

Factually, Dunbar’s own research suggests generational differences in this regard. Those aged 18–24 have larger online networks than those aged 55 and above. And the dominance of physical contact in the social brain hypothesis may apply less to young people who have never known life without the Internet, for whom digital relationships may be just as meaningful as analogue ones.

Plus, online groups like 100s under 100 aren’t going to last forever; initially envisioned group would dissolve within a few years. Without the pressure for longevity, ideal community size may be less relevant. It makes sense that there are a finite number of friends most individuals can have. What’s less clear is whether that capacity is being expanded, or constricted, by the ever-shifting ways people interact online.

Isn’t it hard to cry on a virtual shoulder? Can you compare an online conversation to personal meeting? Does that give that closeness feeling? Virtual friendship does not last, it’s literally fragile says Dunbar.  Even the possibility of anonymity online doesn’t seem to be substantially different to the offline world to Dunbar. He compares anonymous internet interactions to the use of confessionals in the Catholic Church. It isn’t a close relationship, but it is one that recognises the benefits of confidentiality among quasi-strangers.

Weak ties, on the other hand, are not generally part of the same world. You find more of cheats on social media.  Strong ties make the world smaller; weak ties make it bigger. 

And, as you grow older, your maturity and experience of life gives you a chance to evaluate, sieve and settle for true friends who you know will stay no matter what, no matter how circumstances change. These true friends love you for who you are, not for what you have. And you love them in the same way. Stay with friends who prioritize you and love you for what you are.  You enjoy their company and they enjoy yours. Your conversations are great; you’ll laugh together, share drinks and eat together. It’s really hard to find true friends like these so maybe there are just two, three or maybe four, if you are lucky. It’s never an entire gang. And that’s the way I’m sure we like it because it take less effort to maintain true friends than ten on-and-off buddies.

A close friend is someone you rely on and can trust, but a best friend is a person with whom you share everything. The key distinction is that level of friendship shared by two best friends is greater than two close friends. He or she is always there in difficult times and cares for the friend. Whether one or two or five friends, spending time with friends is fun. It yields a multitude of long-term physical and emotional health benefits. Studies show that healthy relationships make aging more enjoyable; it lessens grief, and provide camaraderie to help you reach personal goals, among other things.

Biologically women have more resistance power, they are more flexible and they evaluate problems in a different way.  They solve problems by uncovering every reason or hint at what would and would not solve the problem. They tend to look at a problem from every angle while speculating what might work. In the year 2001, Harvard researchers found that certain parts of the brain were differently sized in males and females. The study found that parts of the frontal lobe, responsible for problem-solving and decision-making, and the limbic cortex responsible for regulating emotions, were larger in women. That’s why may be women tend to make everything personal and leading with her emotions in a quest to see how she would feel about each possible solution.

Jacinda Ardern, the Prime Minister of New Zealand could practically eradicate Covid 19 by end of March 2020. She gives the credit to the spirit and efforts of her citizens.  Germany, led by Angela Merkel, has lowest death rates than other Euro Nations. Sanna Martin, the young Prime Minister all of 34, of Finland governs with a coalition of four female-led parties, has had fewer than 10 percent as many deaths as compared to Sweden. And, Tsai Ing-wen, the President of Taiwan, has presided over one of the most successful efforts in the world at containing the virus, using testing, contact tracing and isolation measures to control infections without a full national lockdown. Katrín Jakobsdóttir, Prime Minister of Iceland has successfully brought down the death rate by Covid-19 in Iceland. In Norway, Prime Minister Erna Solberg is using technology to the fullest use to track isolated patients. The patients don’t feel lonely.  The current Prime Minister of Denmark is Mette Frederiksen closed her country’s borders on 13 March. A few days later she closed kindergartens, schools and universities and banned gatherings of more than 10 people. This decisiveness appears to have spared Denmark the worst of the pandemic: its death toll stands at less than 250, and the number of patients being treated in hospital for Covid-19 is falling drastically.

Women are right-brain oriented and therefore faster at grasping computational and verbal data and they are also intuitive. They are more flexible and find it easier to multitask. Men are usually left-brain oriented.  That often makes them better at solving abstract equations and problems.

There are stupid stereotypes that often create difficulties for women in politics. People feel that leaders should be aggressive dominating. But if women demonstrate those traits, then they are seen as unfeminine and abnormal. This eccentricity does not allow women to stay in politics.

But, Jacinda Ardern’s approach to fighting the pandemic was altogether different than the traditional archetype. But on this new kind of crisis, her cautious leadership has proved successful. She took decision of shutting down the economy quite early which was a risk-averse strategy. Nobody then knew what was going to happen, but, she took a chance as she gave priority to life first. Her cautious leadership has proved successful.

After New Zealand began its lockdown March 25, Ardern addressed the nation via a casual Facebook Live session she conducted on her phone session after putting her toddler to bed. She played her mother’s role first. Dressed in a cosy-looking sweatshirt, she empathized with citizens’ anxieties and offered apologies to anyone who was troubled or alarmed by the emergency alert that announced the lockdown order; she approached the topic with empathy.

So many researchers have concluded that women tend to have more of a desire to build than a desire to win. Women are more willing to explore negotiate and to solicit other people’s opinions.  By contrast, men often think if they ask other people for advice, they’ll be perceived as unsure or as a leader who doesn’t have answers; they therefore tend to avoid advice coming from anybody. They empower others; they encourage openness and are empathetic to their co-workers.

Male leaders can beat gendered expectations, of being dashing and aggressive, and many have. But these women did what it takes to protect their nation very politely, with compassion because at heart their priority was welfare of their nations.   It takes lot of caution may be women can be ridiculed for being so, and it may be politically costly for women to do so because they do not have to violate perceived gender norms to adopt cautious, defensive policies.

Women Heads of states can underplay their roles when demanded. Women as head of states are becoming increasingly precious. As the world has become more and more vulnerable to climate change, natural disasters, wars, water shortage, gender bias, education, and malnutrition and economically weaker sections increasing we can only wish that more and more women come forward and take charge of more and more nations in world as empathetic leadership is need of the hour.