In many parts of the world the five elements of environment Sky, Water, Earth, Air and Fire are worshipped. This in itself is an explanation of the complex phenomena called planet Earth. Till such time the mankind nurtures the environment at micro level the world will exist. The understanding of these five elements of nature will help understand the laws of nature which will help mankind to achieve greater health and happiness of the living things on the earth.

GDP measures the monetary value of final goods and services that are bought by the consumers and government produced in a country in a given period of time. A serious question which many environmentalists think of is that why GDP does not account of environmental health. Why the GDP is not reduced by soil erosion, air and water pollution and even though natural resources are depleted, their economic value or costs are excluded in the GDP calculation.

In India the natural capital is poorly categorized in GDP; natural resources are not adequately considered as economic assets; the environmental costs of depletion and degradation of natural resources are not factored in while arriving at economic growth figures. Environmental pollution, water contamination and resource depletion are omitted.  Today, we have taken the mother nature for granted because the environmental wealth does not involve transactions. In fact, letting harmful waste of chemicals into water bodies, cigarette smoking, using chemicals and fertilizers for growing soil quality, selling arms for crime, selling party drugs to the rich and celebrities, are calculated in GDP because they generate spending and they show ‘growth’ of GDP.

The business minds are not bothered about the habitat degradation and biodiversity loss which are accelerating fast. Climate disruption is getting worse; we are witnessing more frequent and damaging forest fires, floods, droughts, cyclones and tsunamis. Oceans are heating because greenhouse gases trap more energy from the sun and the oceans are absorbing more heat, resulting in an increase in sea surface temperatures and rising sea level harming the coral reefs and sea life.

Due to water and air pollutions infant health is getting disrupted. Isolating a causal relationship between pollution and health is challenging for many reasons. First, measurement error in pollution levels reduces coefficients and makes a relationship difficult to detect. There are numerous pollutants, many of which are measured infrequently or not at all. A number of baffling elements cannot be ruled out in order to interpret a relationship between environmental quality and health as causal.

Economists term mother nature as a nonexcludable or ‘public good’, thus, the benefits of environmental quality accrue to all citizens. the costs of degradation are borne by entire society other than the polluters.  The atmosphere and open oceans are common property and nobody can be excluded from using them. Think of a smoking factory chimney pouring black soot onto surrounding houses, schools, hospitals etc. Here, the polluter has an economic incentive but what about the others who suffer?

In June 2022 a portion of Deepak Nitrite’s chemical manufacturing facility in Nandesari industrial area on the outskirts of Vadodara city in Gujarat was engulfed by a major fire. Seven workers had been hospitalised after inhaling smoke, while some 700 people living in the vicinity of the factory had to be shifted to safer places.  We never think about the negative effect borne by the whole neighbourhood.

In May 2016, a blast at Probace Enterprises, a chemicals factory in Dombivli MIDC, had claimed 12 lives and left over 100 injured. The impact was so strong that window panes of Abhinav Vidyalaya, a primary and secondary school nearly 100 metres away from the site of the explosion, were scattered.

Simple prudent fact: to care for humanity, we must care for nature. During the Corona pandemic when the world was locked in house, the mother nature bloomed. The world became a quieter place in the pandemic. Cars, two wheelers and trucks were off the streets, factories closed, offices closed, silent road the air and water pollution reduced drastically. Lots of birds and animals set out from deep woods. Mother nature bloomed.

The presidents of Colombia, Costa Rica and Switzerland, joined by ministers from a dozen other countries recently launched a “High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People”, aimed at persuading governments to agree on a global goal to preserve at least 30% of the planet’s lands and oceans by 2030.

Bhutan is the world’s first carbon negative country. Mainly because of its extensive forests, covering 70% of the land, the Kingdom is able to absorb more carbon dioxide than it produces.

We live in a globalized world where countries are increasingly integrated across a variety of dimension of PESTLE—political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental. While globalization is often credited with increase in economic growth and GDP per capita, it is not without its discontents. Among these, we blindly ignore environmental issues like water and air pollution which sometimes extend beyond national borders to affect neighbouring countries. For example, few years back China’s very serious air pollution has hampered the neighbouring countries India, Pakistan, Nepal etc.  Middle East and North Africa’s (MENA) degraded sea and polluted air has bothered the neighbouring countries a lot. Its natural capital is degraded.

I conclude my thought-on GDP calculation: It does not include the environmental sustainability, the standard of health, happiness, security, and mental wellbeing of an individual, a group of people, or a nation.  Any outcome from economic activity that creates negative value for society, such as air and water pollution that harms human health and other living things health. The unsustainable economic growth is diminishing the quality of life.

A measure of a nation’s quality of life includes the income and output measured by gross domestic product. This measure subtracts out the costs of negative effects related to economic growth such as crime, environmental degradation, natural resource depletion, and the costs of climate change. Genuine Progress Indicator nets the positives and negatives of economic activity to provide a more accurate measure of a nation’s quality of life than GDP alone.

Crime against women has become a major topic to be dealt with all over world in recent years. And, the crime is on rise than ever before. Why do men behave so sickly? For ages we have believed that men are stronger than women biologically; and this notion has been used to portray never-ending inequality and the division of labour between men and women, as women having responsibility for children and the family and men being the economic providers. So women are expected to underplay their roles even if they are smarter and stronger.

Do you’ll realize that often it is difficult for a man to understand how a woman thinks? How she feels? How she evolves? Unless a man gets closely influenced by the women in his life, he really does not till end understand the fabric of womanhood. Women process things differently and in their own way. When women face challenges, they look for solutions within. They push the boundaries to find solutions. I think those men who see their mothers, sisters, aunts, grandmothers, next door girls in stronger positions and characteristically gutsy do try to understand a woman’s state of mind.  The brain circuitry for emotional processing is different in men and women. A new research suggests men really don’t understand women’s emotions.

Men suppress women because of their own insecurity. Rapes happen because some men are unsure of themselves, they are afraid of being rejected or deserted by the woman and they need to feel in control of the woman and therefore they rape. Rapes also happen because they go unpunished. Many societies hush up rape incidents. Our society believes men when they deny having raped a girl/woman and women are not believed when they shout rape. It’s appalling but true that rapes happen because rapists are secretly admired by other men who’d like to be rapists but are afraid of getting caught. Rapes happen because of rampant sexual desire, sexual frustration and the urge of men to control women. Men have this deep sense of insecurity and they are just not ready to accept women who disturb the balance of power.

Men have always blamed women after raping her. Instead of holding the rapist responsible for the rape, the society blames the victim. In court, defense lawyers can also use myths to attempt to undermine the evidence of the rape survivor; this prevents justice to the victim. The rape survivors feel too ashamed or too guilty to report the rape or to share it with friends and family. The survivor ends up isolated and does not get the support she needs to recover from the distress of the rape. Studies estimate that only one in nine survivors report rape. This means that most rapists walk freely in the midst of us, unpunished and they become habitual rapists.

There is no sure description for a rapist: a rapist can come from any social class, caste, creed, age, education or environment. It is difficult to generalize who might or might not rape based on stereotypes. There is no hard and fast rule as to who can rape and who cannot.

Nicolas Groth has described different types of rapes: in Anger Rape the rapist wants to humiliate and hurt the victim. The rapist expresses his contempt for the victim through physical violence and irreverent language. For these rapists, sex is a weapon to tarnish and degrade the victim. In Power Rape, the rapist rapes to compensate for his basic feelings of inadequacy and tries to gain mastery, control, dominance, strength, intimidation, authority and capability. The intent of the power rapist is to assert his competency. In case Sadistic Rape, the rapist gets a sadistic pleasure to see the anguish of the victim. For this rapist, sexual excitement is associated with imposing pain to his victim. In gang rape, a gang of usually young men commit the crime cause for them sexual aggression is often a defining characteristic of manhood in the group and is significantly related to the wish to be held in high esteem.

It’s observed that few men blatantly ogle at women; treating them like sex objects, staring at their lips, chest, legs, and butts and obviously undressing them with their eyes. Famous Indian movie director and screen writer Sai Paranjpye had said in one of her interviews that man undresses a woman with his eyes. When he looks at an attractive woman he thinks how hot she might be and how much fun she could be in bed instead of listening to what she has to say during a friendly conversation, a business meeting, in a seminar or even when he barely knows her. Well, some men are good at camouflaging their intentions.

Rape culture thrives in passive acceptance of female getting degraded. We should at once stop blaming the victim. Stop hyper-masculinity in our communities. We should hammer the real problem: when an instance of sexual assault makes the news and the first questions the media asks are about the victim’s soberness, her clothes, or sexuality, we should all be prepared to hinge to ask, instead, what teachings the rapist has received over their lifetime about rape and about being a man. Instead of asking the rapist what victim was doing/wearing/saying when he raped her? The right question would be ‘what made him think this is tolerable?’ Sexual violence is an invasive problem that cannot be solved by analyzing an individual situation.

We should understand this seriously that masculinity does not mean violence, brutality,   aggression and hostility. And especially masculinity does not mean torturing women.  When would men understand that rape is not a normal or natural masculine urge?

It’s high time that we globalize awareness of rape. I think men should be educated about rape right from their schooling; they should be educated about it’s after effects and the legalities. Only a small percentage of rape education programs are designed specifically for men, approximately 8%. Some programs have confirmed success in changing men’s beliefs and attitudes regarding rape and some programs have also reduced men’s self-reported likelihood to rape. There is evidence to suggest that some prevention programs might reduce men’s actual sexual aggression. Socially, our notion about when a child becomes an adult is very contradictory or inconsistent. The age of ‘major’ and ‘minor’ is defined by the law; but, at personal levels we define and re-define whatever suits us.

We must stop the abuse of child marriage, teenage pregnancy and domestic violence. Is there really a sense that boys and men are fed before girls and women, so that if there’s not enough milk to go around in a family, it goes first to the boys. In poor families boys are educated first. These double standards have spoilt things more.

 To prevent the crime rate further speedier delivery of justice will serve as an effective solution. From 1953 to 2011, rape cases all over the country went up by 873 per cent, the only way left is to deal with the problem efficiently, expeditiously and in a specific time frame. To drive home a strong message that the judiciary will respond seriously against crimes. Women are not valorized and this is common in all societies. This senseless importance given to men spoils their mentality. Legal experts point out that the notion that women are less important is widespread and accepted norm; this notion needs to be eradicated from grass root levels. A large section of society still accepts that women are there to service men, that men are justified in hitting their wives and contempt them. We can tackle the problem of rape only when we globally decide to put up with the sham that men are powerful than women.

Competent lawyers are the courtroom heroes. Law is an integral part of nearly every area of our life – from the environment, trade, education, medicines, entertainment, marriage, childbirth, sports to death. When things go wrong in society we first think of lawyers. Be it a divorce, stealing, bribery, bankruptcy, IP theft, corporate slip-ups; when fundamentals and practicalities begin to crumble, lawyers swoop in like heroes to protect their clients against the offenders. Taking help of lawyer is a simple instantaneous action, born out of necessity. People call lawyers not because they wantto, but because itnecessitates to.

Can a lawyers’ role be narrowly defined as an antidote to conflict? Are they required only to avoid or manage disputes? The common most notion of a lawyer is – the one who is skilled at finding ‘loopholes’ in the system and help his/her client escape from a sticky situation. But this is our narrow-mindedness if we define their role in such tapered frame. And, we cannot deny that to one up the law one must know the law.

Law is the way society regulates its behavior. It creates rules of conduct that are widely understood and gives us parameters for resolving disputes and defining acceptable codes of conduct. Our centralized, state, and local laws regulate everything from how we do business with each other to how we behave in public places, our duties and responsibilities in society, how we keep our surrounding to where we can park our cars. Because law is considered a technical profession not easily comprehended by the untrained, individuals and companies hire professionals-lawyers-to help them realize it and conduct the procedures it defines. The role of lawyers cannot be limited or underrated. Lawyers have enormous power, which they use daily to effect change for their clients. Without law and order we cannot live peacefully in this world. In some or the other way we permanently depend on lawyers.

Law has been one of the popular career choices for youngsters. Those who come from families of lawyers usually opt to study law. Anyone can choose to study law as long as one has the passion for it. There are many areas of specialization in law these days. Maritime Law, Cyber Law, Business Law, Civil Rights Law, Entertainment Law, Environment Law, Immigration Law, Health Law, Intellectual Property Law, International Law, Labor Law, Taxation Law and many more. I listed just few of them. Today for every action and every activity we find a specialized lawyer. Traditionally, students could specialize in either civil or criminal laws.

People who enter this demanding and comprehensive profession do so for many reasons. It is a great paying career and it is a challenging career which requires lot of research and people skills. If you love it make a career in it. To be precise, lawyers can have a broad range of responsibilities depending on the specific area of law they practice. But if you think being a lawyer mainly involves making speeches and grilling witnesses in a courtroom, think again. Even trial lawyers-those who specialize in courtroom litigation spend surprisingly little time before a judge or jury. For every hour in the courtroom, many more are spent doing research, conducting interviews, or writing documents in preparation for proceedings. Many lawyers, in fact, never set foot in court. They work in the back office.

In broad terms, lawyers apply their interpretation of the law (the codified rules of their society) to advise their employer or client on completing transactions in compliance with the law or resolving disputes based on current understanding of the law. At its most basic level, a lawyer’s role is that of a supporter and adviser. Attorneys use specialized knowledge to research and interpret the intent of the law and apply it to whatever circumstances their clients face. It’s an imperfect practice, as the interpretations of the law may vary significantly based on the circumstances of the situation.

The legal profession can be divided into two major categories: litigation and transactions. Litigation, which concerns both civil and criminal law, is the process of arguing a dispute between two parties. Transactions relate to business and personal matters that usually do not require courtroom argumentation. For example, a lawyer may counsel a client in the transactions of preparing a will, contract, or lease; to help secure venture capital for a new company; or to prepare a patent for a new technology. However, if the will is contested or if the venture capitalists sue the business owner for fraud, that would then require an attorney with litigation skill.

Depending on the type of law they practice, lawyers will spend their time on paperwork; researching, preparing for, or participating in trials and advising clients. They spend hours in law libraries, online databases, and case studies for researching legal precedents. They prepare contracts, to the point note, and other documents, assembling boilerplate paragraphs (it is the sections of code that have to be included in many places with little or no alteration) or writing from scratch. They need a sharp mind, sharp focus and razor-sharp communication skills. Humor and wit is an added advantage as it can lighten the courtroom atmosphere.

They plan and conduct depositions or interviews with witnesses. In complicated cases, these can generate thousands of pages of testimony-all of which have to be read, analyzed, and refined into usable information. They present their evidence-the information they’ve gathered about a case and about the laws relevant to a case-in a court of law, arguing before a judge and/or jury. Alternatively, they may present their research findings to clients, advising them on business or other issues.

If you want to make a splendid career in law, you need to sharpen your analytical ability, attention to detail, logical reasoning, persuasiveness, sound judgment and of course writing ability.  I want to list here one of the most essential element for the career and that is of emotional intelligence. They need to empathies with their clients, they need to respect and honor their colleagues, and most important they need to be good listeners.  Impassive, unemotional and detached lawyers are never in demand. The market does not want a lawyer who is only half a person. They also need to be tech savvy and good in time management.

If you are interested in making a career in law – you can either do a three-year law course after graduation in any discipline or a 5 years’ course after 12th class. In fact, the 3 years’ course is now giving way to the 5 years’ one which is seen as a better option. In most cases, colleges run the 3 years’ course only for those whose main discipline in graduation is something other than law, or working professionals who want to do an LLB as an additional qualification. The five year course is meant for those who want to take up law as a career – be it as a litigator, or any other kind of legal professional. For the five years course the national law entrance exam, CLAT (Combined Law Admission Test) which basically tests the student’s general English, legal aptitude, general awareness, logical skills, etc needs to be cleared.

The LLB course is regulated by the Bar Council of India which sets rules and regulations regarding legal practice in the country. Any specialization is done at masters, M. Phil or PhD stage. A higher degree helps candidates in their career advancement. It is an honorable career.

Our nation needs competent and efficient lawyers for enhanced law and order. People like Mahtma Gandhi, Dr. Amedkar, Lokmanya Tilak, Abraham Lincoln, and Nelson Mandela were some great people who had donned the Lawyer’s coat sometimes in life.