Precis

Answer : Everyone must have had at least one personal experience with a computer error by this time. Bank balances are suddenly reported to have jumped into the millions, appeals for charitable contributions are mailed over and over to people with crazy-sounding names at your address, department stores send the wrong bills, utility companies write that they’re turning everything off, that sort of thing. If you manage to get in touch with someone and complain, you then get instantaneously typed, guilty letters from the same computer, saying, ‘Our computer was in error, and an adjustment is being made in your account.’

These are supposed to be the sheerest and blindest accidents. Mistakes are not believed to be part of the normal behaviour of a good machine. If things go wrong, it must be a personal, human error, the result of fingering, tampering, a button getting stuck, someone hitting the wrong key. The computer, at its normal best, is infallible.

I wonder whether this can be true. After all, the whole point of computers is that they represent an extension of the human brain, vastly improved upon but nonetheless human, super-human maybe. A good computer can think clearly and quickly enough to beat you at chess, and some of them have even been programmed to write obscure verse. They can do anything we can do, and more besides.

It is not yet known whether a computer has its own consciousness, and it would be hard to find out about this. When you walk into one of those great halls now built for the huge machines, and stand listening, it is easy to imagine that the faint, distant noises are the sound of thinking, and the turning of the spools gives them the look of wild creatures rolling their eyes in the effort to concentrate, choking with information. But real thinking, and dreaming, are other matters.

On the other hand, the evidence of something like an unconscious, equivalent to ours, are all around, in every mail. As extensions of the human brain, they have been constructed with the same property of error, spontaneous, uncontrolled, and rich in possibilities.

Mistakes are at the very base of human thought, embedded there, feeding the structure like root nodules. If we were not provided with the knack of being wrong, we could never get anything useful done. We think our way along by choosing between right and wrong alternatives, and the wrong choices have to be made as frequently as the right ones. We get along in life this way. We are built to make mistakes, coded for error.

We learn, as we say, by ‘trial and error. Why do we always say that? Why not trial and rightness’ or ‘trial and triumph’? The old phrase puts it that way because that is, in real life, the way it is done.

A good laboratory, like a good bank or a corporation or government, has to run like a computer. Almost everything is done flawlessly, by the book, and all the numbers add up to the predicted sums. The days go by. And then, if it is a lucky day, and a lucky laboratory, somebody makes a mistake: the wrong buffer, something in one of the blanks, a decimal misplaced in reading counts, the warm room off by a degree and a half, a mouse out of his box, or just a misreading of the day’s protocol. Whatever, when the results come in, something is obviously screwed up, and then the action can begin.

The misreading is not the important error; it opens the way. The next step is the crucial one. If the investigator can bring himself to say, ‘But even so, look at that t then the new finding, whatever it is, is ready for snatching. What is needed, for progress to be made, is the move based on the error.

Whenever new kinds of thinking are about to be accomplished, or new varieties of music, there has to be an argument beforehand. With two sides debating in the same mind, haranguing, there is an amiable understanding that one is right and the other wrong. Sooner or later the thing is settled, but there can be no action at all if there are not the two sides, and the argument. The hope is in the faculty of wrongness, the tendency toward error. The capacity to leap across mountains of information to land lightly on the wrong side represents the highest of human endowments. (750 words)

Ans: By now, I'm sure everyone has dealt with a computer glitch at least once in their lives. These are meant to be the most random mishaps as errors aren't thought to be a natural element of a good machine's activity. Since the computer is flawless, any mistakes that occur must be the result of human error. I doubt that this is possible. After all, computers are just the human brain on a larger scale. Although it would be challenging to discover, it is unknown whether a computer has its own awareness.

On the other hand, there is ample proof that there is a similar unconscious to our own. As extensions of the human brain, they were built with the same capacity for error, which is spontaneous, unplanned, and full of possibilities. Errors are at the very core of human intellect, and if we were not given the skill of being incorrect, we could never do anything worthwhile. Trial and error is how we all learn.

There is an amicable understanding that one side is right and the other wrong when two sides are discussing in the same mind. The issue gets resolved sooner or later, but without the opposing sides and their disagreement, there can be no action at all. The potential for error, or the faculty of wrongness, is where the hope lies. The highest human endowment is the ability to leap over mountains of information and land on the incorrect side.

Answer : Recent decades have witnessed an upsurge of literature on Indians settled abroad. Mainly three types of writings can be distinguished: historical, diplomatic and anthropological. The historical works provide an account of the phases of emigration of Indians and their early life situations in foreign lands. The diplomatic works read like country reports on the status and problems of Indians beyond seas. The anthropological works are in the nature of ethnographic accounts with their accent on cultural continuity and change.

Varieties of writings apart, the existing literature shares three notable features in common. One, much of it is in the form of country-specific profiles. Cross-country comparisons are few and far between. Two, most of it is descriptive, with analytical ideas and imaginative hypotheses in short supply. Three, for most part, it tends to project the problem in a colonial perspective.

There are broadly two ways in which the problem of Indians abroad has been looked at the colonial and the nationalist. The colonial way maintains that Indians went abroad driven by their domestic economic compulsions, or greed or avarice; that they were 'heathens', lazy, cunning and quarrelsome; that they tended to cling tenaciously to their culture in order to make up for the loss on economic front or to cope with their status loss on the social front; that they were so carried away by their desire to grab wealth and power that they had no compunction at throwing the natives out of employment and power in the latter's own lands; and, that their difficulties in foreign countries were largely of their own making. All this is clearly indicative of the way colonialists and their ideologues look at the problem and would have us look at it.

As against this, the nationalist way contends that in most cases Indians did not go abroad on their own, but were indeed taken, taken under various arrangements as instruments of colonial domination; that they were not led by their own predatory instincts, instead they were lured and duped by colonial designs; that they did not plunder the country they went to, instead they served its development needs and worked hard to better the lot of its residents; that they were not lazy but industrious, not cunning but thrifty, not indolent but enterprising; that they had been tolerated only as long as they were prepared to play second fiddle to the natives, but once they began to assert their rights they were pushed out; and, that their difficulties in foreign lands were not of their own making, but of the making of neo-colonial powers which keep playing political games in the Third World countries.

In the study of Indians abroad it is the functionalist orientation that predominates. This is evident from the fact that the existing literature is preoccupied with the question of the cultural identity and integration, to the relative neglect of the question of class and power. It is a pity that no systematic attempt has been made to look at the problem in terms of other perspectives.

Indians are not the only people who have ventured out of their homeland in such vast numbers. Their number looks small when compared to overseas Chinese and overseas British. Their relatively lesser numbers notwithstanding, Indians form large enough numbers outside India and significant enough groups in several countries to merit serious research attention as well as civil concern.

Spread over most parts of the world, Indians are found more in some regions than in others. They are concentrated in South, Southeast and Southwest Asia, in South Africa and East Africa, in Western Europe, North America and the Caribbean. Taking 1,500 as the minimum figure, overseas Indians are found in as many as 53 countries. They form a majority in at least three foreign countries: Mauritius (74 percent), Fiji (49 percent) and Guyana (53 percent). They are close to the majority in Trinidad and Tobago where they are 40 percent as against 43 percent of the blacks.

In respect of their regional derivations and settlements there are noticeable some broad interesting patterns. There is a preponderance of South Indians, particularly Tamils, in South and Southeast Asia and South Africa, of East Indians in West Indies, of Punjabis and Gujaratis in Africa, Europe and North America. This is not to underestimate the presence of Indians of other regional origins in these parts of the world, but just to indicate that there are some perceptible regional linkages between the regions of origin and of settlement. (745 words)

Ans: Literature on Indians who have emigrated overseas has been more prevalent in recent decades. One such literature is in the form of country specific profiles. The problem of Indians abroad can be looked in two ways- the nationalist and the colonial, with the former saying that Indians were taken abroad as instruments of colonial domination while the latter contends that they went because of their own economic compulsions.

Functionalist attitude is prevalent in research on Indians overseas. This is clear from the fact that the existing research is focused mostly on issues related to cultural identity and assimilation, while largely ignoring issues related to class and power. It is unfortunate that no organised effort has been undertaken to examine the issue from different angles. There are other people who have left their country in such large numbers besides Indians. In comparison to overseas Chinese and abroad British, their population appears to be modest.

Despite their relatively lower numbers, there are enough Indians abroad to warrant major scientific interest as well as civil concerns. Indians are dispersed over most part of the world; however, certain areas have more of them than others. They are mostly found in Western Europe, North America, the Caribbean, South, Southeast, and Southwest Asia, South Africa, and East Africa. If 1,500 is taken as the minimum number, then there may be Indians living abroad in 53 different nations.

There are some obvious patterns in terms of their regional origins and colonisation. South Indians, especially Tamils, predominate in South and Southeast Asia and South Africa, as do East Indians in the West Indies, Punjabis, and Gujaratis in Europe, North America, and South and Southeast Asia. This is only to highlight that there are some noticeable regional ties between the regions of origin and of settlement, not to minimise the presence of Indians from other regional origins in various regions of the world.

Answer : Ashoka set an extraordinary example by making himself available at all times for consultation, whether he was relaxing, say, in the palace gardens, or even while being massaged. By hearing and settling disputes he kept in touch with the details of administration. The disputes over water rights and grazing rights, and the problem of money-lending were all familiar to him. To complete the picture of how the emperor and his people lived, it is essential to consider the castes which were already forming in India’s first great empire. In Ashoka’s empire there was first the priestly caste who lived as monks or holy men and performed the rites at the temples. They regarded themselves as superior to all others and their influence was so great that it was sometimes a threat to the power of the emperor himself. Next in importance came the three largest castes, the herdsmen, cultivators and craftsmen; while the soldiers, officials and councillors, who were less important, were relatively few. Finally there were slaves and others outside the caste system altogether.

Thus the life of the emperor and his people can be made out from the legends and scraps of writing which have be en preserved. It was the extraordinary empire that Ashoka crafted with new ideas which grew from his study of Buddha and his followers.

Gautam, the Buddha, had lived nearly three hundred years earlier. Little is known with certainty about him as he grew up, but innumerable legends have formed around his life. Some of these are common to many religious leaders in Asia, such as a capacity for walking on water or multiplying food. Buddhism taught Ashoka the importance of the right way to live. According to a legend, talking to a victorious king, Buddha asked:

“What would you do if you were told that a landslide was about to destroy you and your city?”

The king replied: “I would live righteously. There would be nothing else to do.”

Gautam further asked: “Old age and death are rolling down upon you. What are you going to do?”

The king smiled and answered: “Live righteously.”

Gautam Buddha taught that the aim of life was to escape from the petty hopes, fears and hatreds which make people little-minded, and to become serene and happy by rising above them. Nothing was written down about him or his sayings until shortly before Ashoka’s time, but then the tales began to accumulate as they were recounted in Buddhist monasteries where the monks gathered and lived. Gradually the Buddhist religion separated itself from Hinduism and spread to other countries – and Ashoka to an extent was responsible for this.

He was alert to new religious ideas and he must have met and talked to Buddhist followers. However, his conversion was not sudden, like St. Paul’s on the road of Damascus, nor did he have an experience such as Gautam had when the right way to live became suddenly clear as he sat meditating one day under a Banyan tree. The great event in Ashoka’s reign was the Kalinga War. The Kalinga War was to Ashoka what the Banyan tree was to Gautam Buddha. Most men, when victorious, become so drunk with power that they will listen to good advice neither from statesmen nor prophets, but Ashoka was appalled at the contradiction between the cruelty he saw and the lessons of Buddhism he had learned. Ashoka’s greatness can be measured by what he caused to be written on rocks after the victory. He got the inscriptions engraved so that any sons or great-grandsons that he might have would not think of gaining conquests but would live in peace and contentment. Ashoka denounced fame and glory and announced that to him the only glory was following Dhamma.

Towards the end of his reign, he kept contact with a large number of Asian countries, but instead of sending only the usual sort of envoys, he sent missionaries to explain Dhamma in the countries they visited. His influence as a wise ruler was therefore spread far more widely than if he had marched with his victorious armies. Later, Buddhism spread to Burma, Thailand and China, where a standard of humility for great rulers and a belief in serenity, goodness and a reverence for life, were accepted and have still not died out. It is doubtful whether there can ever be peace between countries unless this first lesson is learned: the power of rulers must be guided by kindness and wisdom.

Although Emperor Ashoka appeared to be a failure, since his subjects gave up Buddhism and within fifty years his empire fell to pieces; he was a man whose influence, like that of Jesus’ or Socrates’, was extended by his death. (792 words)

Ans: Ashoka made himself available at all times for hearing and settling the affairs of administration. To understand about the life that he and his subjects lived, it is essential to understand about the caste system that was emerging in his time. The first caste was the priestly caste who lived as monks or priests and performed the temple rites. Their influence was so great that sometimes it became a threat to the emperor himself. Next in line, came the herdsmen, cultivators and craftsmen. Then the soldiers, officials and councilors and at the end came the slaves. Ashoka’s empire is synonymous with the teachings of Buddha and it was in his time that Buddhism grew popular and spread rapidly to other countries. But Ashoka’s conversion to Buddhism was not sudden. The Kalinga war became a turning point in his life, where he grew appalled at the contradiction between the cruelty that he saw and the teachings of Buddhism that he had learnt. He denounced fame and glory and proclaimed that the only glory was following Dhamma. He got the teachings engraved and sent missionaries to other countries to explain Dhamma. As a result his influence spread to Burma, Thailand and China and this influence just like Jesus or Socrates was extended even after his death.(214)

Answer : In Hind Swaraj (1909), a text which is often privileged as an authentic statement of his ideology, Gandhi offered a civilisational concept of Indian nation. The Indians constituted a nation or praja, he asserts, since the pre-Islamic days. The ancient Indian civilisation -”unquestionably the best” - was the fountainhead of Indian nationality, as it had an immense assimilative power of absorbing foreigners of different creeds who made this country their own. This civilisation, which was “sound at the foundation” and which always tended “ to elevate the moral being”, had “nothing to learn” from the “godless” modern civilisation that only “propagated immorality” Industrial capitalism, which was the essence of this modern civilisation, was held responsible for their enslavement, as they embraced capitalism and its associated legal and political structures. “The English have not taken India; we have given it to them.” And now the railways, lawyers and doctors, Gandhi believed, were impoverishing the country. His remedy for this national infliction was moral and utopian. Indians must eschew greed and lust for consumption and revert to village based self-sufficient economy of the ancient times. On the other hand, parliamentary democracy - the foundational principle of Western liberal political system and therefore another essential aspect of modern civilisation - did not reflect in Gandhi’s view the general will of the people, but of the political parties, which represented specific interests and constricted the moral autonomy of parliamentarians in the name of party discipline.

So for him it was not enough to achieve independence and then perpetuate “English rule without the Englishmen”; it was also essential to evolve an Indian alternative to western liberal political structures. His alternatives was a concept of popular sovereignty where each individual controls or restrains her/his own self and this was Gandhi’s subtle distinction between self-rule and more home rule. “Such swaraj”, Gandhi asserted, “has to be experienced by each one for himself.” If this was difficult to attain, Gandhi refused to consider it as just a “dream”, “To believe that what has not occurred in history will not occur at all,’’ Gandhi replied to his circle, “ is to argue disbelief in the dignity of man.” His technique to achieve it was satyagraha, which he defined as truth force or soul force. In more practical terms, it meant civil disobedience - nut something more than that. It was based on the premise of superior moral power of the protesters capable of changing the heart of the oppressor through a display of moral strength. Non-violence or ahimsa was the cardinal principle of his message which non-negotiable under all circumstances.

It is not perhaps strictly correct to say that Gandhi was rejecting modernity as a package. Anthony Parel notes in his introduction to Hind Swaraj that this text is presented in the genre of a dialogue between a reader and an editor, “a very modern figure”, with Gandhi taking on this role. Throughout his career he made utmost use of the print media, editing Indian Opinion during his South African days, and then Young India and Harijan became the major communicators of his ideas. And then Young India and Harijan became the major communications of his ideals. And he travelled extensively contesting the moral legitimacy of the Raj that rested on a stated assumption of superiority of the West.

It will be, however, misleading to suggest that Gandhi was introducing Indians to an entirely new kind of politics. And so far as mass mobilisation was concerned, the Home Rule Leagues of Tilak and Annie Besant prepared the ground for the success of Gandhi’s initial satyagraha movements. Indeed, when in 1914, Tilak was released from prison and Annie Besant, the world President of the Theosophical Society, then stationed in Madras, joined the Congress, they wanted to steer Indian politics to an almost similar direction. But although Tilak was readmitted to congress in 1915 due to Besant’s intervention, they failed to reactivate the party out of its almost decade-long inertia.

Gandhi succeeded in uniting both the moderates and extremists on a common political platform. In the divided and contestable space of Indian politics, he could effectively claim for himself a centrist position, because he alienated neither and tactically combined the goal of the moderated with the means of the extremists. He adopted the moderates’ goal of swaraj, but was “delightfully vague” (to borrow Nehru’s expression) about its definition, as any specific definition, he knew, would alienate one or the other group.

So each group could interpret it in their own ways. His method of satyagraha looked very much like the passive resistance of the extremists; but his insistence on non-violence alleviated the fears of the moderates and other propertied classes, apprehensive of agitational politics. There was also a rift in the Muslim community around this time, between the Aligarh Old guards and the younger generation of Muslim Leaders. Gandhi aligned himself with the younger leaders by supporting the khilafat issue. He highlighted its anti-British aspects and underplayed its pan-Islamic tendencies, and thus for the first time united the Hindus and the Muslims in a combined battle against the British. (882 words)

Ans: In Hind Swaraj, Gandhi offered a civilizational concept of Indian nation and said that it was unquestionably the best because of its immense assimilative power. This civilization, unlike the godless modern civilization, had a sound moral foundation. Industrial capitalism was responsible for all the ills of the modern civilization. Gandhiji said that Indians were responsible for their enslavement and if they wanted to be free, then they should return back to the village life. He was of the view that parliamentary democracy did not reflect the will of the people but the will of the political parties. So an alternative to western political structure, like popular sovereignty should be evolved, where everyone controlled their own self. To achieve it, he gave the technique of satyagraha or civil disobedience. Non-violence was the underlying principle of this, where the protesters changed the heart of their oppressor through moral strength. Gandhi did not reject the whole package of modernity and made utmost use of print media, editing Indian Opinion, Young India and Harijan. He contested the moral legitimacy of the ‘Raj’ that rested on the principle of modern superiority. It is misleading to state that Gandhi was introducing Indians to a new kind of politics. Home League Rule of Tilak and Annie Besant prepared the ground for the successful mass mobilisation for his satyagraha movement. Gandhi succeeded in uniting the moderates and the extremists by combining the goals of the moderates with the means of the extremists. He adopted the moderate goal of ‘swaraj’ but was vague about its definition as it could alienate either of the two groups.

When there was a rift between the Aligarh old Guards and the younger generation of muslim leaders, Gandhi aligned himself with the younger leaders by supporting the Khilafat issue. He was successful in uniting the Hindus and the Muslims for the first time, by highlighting the anti-British aspects and underplaying the pan-Islamic tendencies of the Khilafat movement.(323)

Answer : The Renaissance in India was not like the Renaissance in Europe. It was not a return to India of the past. It was essentially a matter of spirit, which produced striking changes in the realm of religion, society and culture along with a demand for natural regeneration. There arose a new self-consciousness among the people of India. The soul of India began to unfold itself and break the shackles of the past. It is maintained that the Renaissance in India stirred the Indian soul to its very depths and Modern India owes everything to the Renaissance which was followed by reformation movements all over India. It also paved the way to national regeneration.

The spirit of Renaissance and the subsequent reform movements affected almost all the aspects of national life. There were new developments in religious, social and political life. There were new trends in the fields of education, literature, fine arts and science.

The view of Sir Jadunath Sarkar is that the Indian Renaissance was at first an intellectual awakening which profoundly affected our literature, education thought and art. In the next succeeding generation, it became a moral force and reformed the Indian society and religion. In the third generation it brought about the economic modernisation of India and ultimately political emancipation.

In his book entitled, “The Renaissance in India”, Sri Aurobindo has attempted an analysis of the Renaissance in India. He points out that the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries in India were periods of political decline, defeat and anarchy which practically killed the creative spirit in religion and art. India began to imitate Europe and forgot her own achievements in the past. However, the life-breath of the nation moved as a subordinate undercurrent in the religious movements of Bengal and Punjab, in the political aspirations of Maharashtra and the literary activity of Bengal.

Sri Aurobindo points out that the Renaissance in India in the nineteenth century had three aspects. In the first place, it aimed at a recovery of the old spiritual gospel contained in the sacred books of the country.

The researches of European Indologists helped the people in the West and India to understand and appreciate the achievements of the Indians in the past. Philosophers and thinkers like Schopenhauer Emerson, Thoreau and Royce highly praised India’s wisdom in the past. Indian saints and mystic leaders in India also helped the same process.

Secondly, this re-invigorated spirituality inspired fresh activity in the fields of philosophy, literature, art, etc. Thirdly, an attempt was made to deal in an original way with modern problems in the light of the new inspiration.

Sri Aurobindo did not compare the Indian Renaissance with the European Renaissance of the fifteenth century. He compared it with the Celtic Renaissance when Ireland wanted to go back to the older culture after a long period of British domination. In his analysis of the Indian Renaissance, Sri Aurobindo put great emphasis on the recovery of the spiritual tradition and heritage of the past. According to him, the establishment of new religious sects in India was a central event in the Indian Renaissance.

The Brahmo Samaj, the Arya Samaj, Ramkrishna Paramhans and Vivekananda, the neo-Vaishnavism of Bengal and the Renaissance in Islam tried to go back to the past and recover the light of old wisdom. Sri Aurobindo referred to the cosmopolitanism, eclecticism, religious rationalism and logic of the Brahmo Samaj. Of all the leaders of the Renaissance in India, Dayananda appealed most to Sri Aurobindo. He considered him as a unique personality which created a Vigorous Aryan manhood in India.

Aurobindo found a national instinct in the reliance of Dayananda on Vedic wisdom. To quote Aurobindo, Dayananda “brings back an old Aryan element into the national character”. Aurobindo gave credit to the Theosophical Society for getting some recognition in the West for some of the psychic, occult and esoteric achievements of the old Hindus. According to Aurobindo, Ramkrishna Paramhans was “the man who had the greatest influence and has done the most to regenerate Bengal”.

Vivekananda proclaimed to the world that India was awake not only to exist but also to conquer. In India itself, Vivekananda was a leader who wanted “preservation by reconstruction”. Aurobindo also referred to the achievements of J. C. Bose and Rabindranath Tagore in the field of Indian Renaissance.

Aurobindo believed that the spiritual and intellectual advance of India was bound to come. To quote him, “The Renaissance in India is as inevitable as the rising of tomorrow’s Sun and the Renaissance of a great nation of three hundred millions with so peculiar a temperament, such unique traditions and ideas of life, so powerful an intelligence and so great a mass of potential energies cannot but be one of the most formidable phenomena of the modern world.” (795 words)

Ans: The Renaissance of India was unlike that of Europe as it produced changes in the realm of religion, society and culture along with demand for natural regeneration. With the rise of new consciousness, people started breaking shackles of the past. Renaissance ushered in the beginning of modern India and triggered various reformation movements all over the country. With it also came a wave of new developments in various aspects like national movement, religious, political and social life, education, etc.

Sir Jadunath Sarkar has delineated the effect of Renaissance in stages which began with literature, education, thought, and art, and moved onto become a moral force transforming Indian society and religion. Subsequently it modernized Indian economy and ultimately led to political emancipation.

Sir Aurobindo in one of his books has analyzed the impact of Renaissance on India. He opined that in eighteenth and early nineteenth century India was witnessing political decline, defeat and anarchy, which badly affected religion and art.

However, still some undercurrents were alive through the religious movements of Bengal, Punjab, political aspirations of Maharashtra and literary activity of Bengal.

Sri Aurobindo pointed out three aspects of Indian Renaissance. First aspect was to recover old spiritual wisdom of India and the works of various European Indologists were helping this cause. Second aspect was reinvigoration of activity in the fields of philosophy, literature, art, etc. Thirdly, an attempt was made to deal in original way with modern problems with the advent of new inspiration.

Sri Aurobindo instead of comparing Indian Renaissance with European Renaissance compared it with Celtic Renaissance of Ireland. He put great emphasis on recovery of the spiritual tradition and heritage of the past. According to him establishment of new religious sects like Brahmo Samaj, Arya Samaj, teachings of Ramkrishna Paramhansa and Vivekananda and renaissance in Islam were central events of Indian Renaissance.

The teachings of Dayanand Saraswati and his reliance on Vedic wisdom impressed him immensely. He also gave credit to Theosophical Society for increasing the stature of Indian cultural practices in the West. He spoke about the contributions of Ramakrishna Paramhansa in reviving Bengal and Vivekananda’s values of ‘preservation by reconstruction’. He also spoke about the achievements of J.C. Bose and Rabindranath Tagore in Indian Renaissance.

He truly believed in intellectual and spiritual advancement of India through the collective strength of varied traditions and ideas of life, which were part of the Indian milieu.

Answer : The work of a lawyer or a politician must contain in a more delectable form a great deal of the same pleasure that is to be derived from playing bridge. Here, of course, there is not only the exercise of skill but the outwitting of a skilled opponent. Even where this competitive element is absent, however, the performance of difficult feats is agreeable. A man who can do stunts in an aeroplane finds the pleasure so great that for the sake of it he is willing to risk his life. I imagine that an able surgeon, in spite of the painful circumstances in which his work is done, derives satisfaction from the exquisite precision of his operations. All skilled work can be pleasurable, provided the skill required is either variable or capable of indefinite improvement. If these condition are absent, it will cease to be interesting when a man has acquired his maximum skill. A man who runs three-mile races will cease to find pleasure in this occupation when he passes the age at which he can beat his own previous record. Fortunately there is a very considerable amount of work in which new circumstances call for new skill and a man can go in improving, at any rate until he has reached middle age.

In some kinds of skilled work, such as politics, for example, it seems that men are at their best between sixty and seventy, the reason being that in such occupations a wide experience of other men is essential. For this reason, successful politicians are apt to be happier at the age of seventy than any other men of equal age. Their only competitors in this respect are the men who are the heads of big businesses.

There is, however, another element possessed by the best work, which is even more important as a source of happiness than is the exercise of skill. This is the element of constructiveness. In some work, though by no means in most, something is built up which remains as a monument when the work is completed. We may distinguish construction from destruction by the following criterion. In construction, the initial stage of affairs is comparatively haphazard, while the final state of affairs embodies a purpose; in destruction, the reverse is the case : the initial state of affairs embodies a purpose, while the final stat of affairs is haphazard, that is to say, all that is intended by the destroyer is to produce a state of affairs which does not embody a certain purpose. Destruction, is of course necessary very often as a preliminary to subsequent construction; in that case it is part of a whole which is constructive. But not infrequently a man will engage in activities of which the purpose is destructive without regard to any construction that may come after.

Frequently he will conceal this from himself by the belief that he is only sweeping away in order to build afresh, but is generally possible to unmask this pretence, when it is pretence, by asking him what the subsequent construction is to be. On this subject it will be found that he will speak vaguely and without enthusiasm, whereas on the preliminary destruction he has spoken precisely and with zest. This applies to not a few revolutionaries and militarists and other apostles of violence.

They are actuated, usually without their own knowledge, by hatred; the destruction of whatthey hate is their real purpose, and they are comparatively indifferent to the question of what is to come after it. Now I cannot deny that in the work of destruction as in the work of construction there may be joy. It is a fiercer joy, perhaps at moments more intense, but it is less profoundly satisfying, since the result is one which little satisfaction is to be found. You kill your enemy, and when he us dead your occupation is gone, and the satisfaction that you derive from victory quickly fades. The work of construction, on the other hand, when completed, is delightful to contemplate, and moreover is never so fully completed that there is nothing further to do about is. The most satisfactory purposes are those that lead on indefinitely from one success to another without ever coming to a dead end; and in this respect it will be found that construction is a greater source of happiness than destruction. (735 words)

Ans: This is a very common pattern that most of us have — we try to find happiness in people and things around us, instead of finding it within. And of course, the pleasure we get from these things is not constant, only temporary, and so our happiness goes up and down depending on whether these things are giving us pleasure right now or not. Again, there’s nothing wrong with working, nor is there anything wrong with doing work we enjoy or even love. We do it, and we get satisfaction from it. But we should pay attention to what happens when we are not working — is there a feeling of withdrawal, do we crave going back to it, is it the place where we are seeking happiness? If so, then we will only be happy when we are working, and unhappy when we are not working.

To find out where else we can go for happiness, we have to look at what might be more constant — external sources of happiness aren’t constant, and will be available some times and not available other times.

So what’s more constant? And they are awesome. We should learn how to find the power of their awesomeness in every moment, and how this one skill will change everything. Moreover positive thought and constructive approach always give us happiness and satisfaction. It hardly matters what exactly we do. We may get more satisfaction in construction work than we get in white collar jobs.

Answer : India is essentially a land of knowledge and it must rediscover itself in this aspect. Once this rediscovery is done, it will not require much struggle to achieve the quality of life, strength and sovereignty of a developed nation.

Knowledge has many forms and it is available at many places. It is acquired through education, information, intelligence and experience. It is available in academic institutions, with teachers, in libraries, in research papers, seminar proceedings and in various organizations and workplaces with workers, managers, in drawings, in process sheets and on the shop floors. Knowledge, though closely linked to education, comes equally from learning skills such as those possessed by our artists, craftsmen, hakims, vaidyas, philosophers and saints, as also our housewives. Knowledge plays a very important role in their performance and output too. Our heritage and history, the rituals, epics and traditions that from part of our consciousness are also vast resources of knowledge as are our libraries and universities. There is an abundance of unorthodox, earthy wisdom in our villages. There are hidden treasures of knowledge in our environment, in the oceans, bio reserves and deserts, in the plant and animal life. Every state in our country has a unique core competence for a knowledge society.

Knowledge has always been the prime mover of prosperity and power. The acquisition of knowledge has therefore been the thrust area throughout the world. Additionally, in India, there has been a culture of sharing it, not only through the traditions of guru-shishya but also by its spread to neighbouring countries through travellers who came to Nalanda and other universities drawn by their reputation as centres of learning. India is endowed with natural and competitive advantages as also certain distinctive competencies, But these are scattered in isolated pockets and the awareness of these is inadequate. During the last century the world has changed from being an agricultural society, in which manual labor was the critical factor, to an industrial society where the management of technology, capital and labor provide the competitive advantage. In the twenty-first century, a new society is emerging where knowledge is the primary production resource instead of capital and labour. Efficient utilization of this existing knowledge base can create wealth for us in the form of better health, education and other indicators of progress. The ability to create and maintain the knowledge infrastructure, to enhance skills and increase productivity through the exploitation of advances in various fields will be the key factors in deciding the prosperity of this society.

The knowledge society has two very important components driven by societal transformation and wealth generation. The societal transformation is in respect of education, heal there, agriculture and governance. These will lead to employment generation, high productivity and rural prosperity.

The task of wealth generation for the nation has to be woven around national competencies. The TIFAC task team has identified core areas that will spearhead our march towards becoming a knowledge society. The areas are: information technology, biotechnology, space technology, weather forecasting disaster management, telemedicine and tele-education, technologies utilizing traditional knowledge, service sector and infotainment which is the emerging area resulting from convergence of information and entertainment. These core technologies, fortunately can be interwoven by IT, a sector that took off only due to the enterprising spirit of the young.

Thus there are multiple technologies and appropriate management structures that have to work together to generate a knowledge society. With India carving a niche for itself in information technology, the country is uniquely placed to fully capitalize on the opportunity to quickly transform itself into a knowledge society.

The Planning Commission has taken a lead in generating a road map for transforming India into a knowledge society.

Evolving suitable policy and administrative procedures, changes in regulatory methods, identification of partners and most important, creation of young and dynamic leaders are the components that have to be put in place. In order to generate wealth, which is the second component for establishing a knowledge society, it is essential that simultaneously a citizen-centric approach to shaping of business policy, user-driven technology generation and intensified industry-lab-academia linkages have also to be established.

A knowledge society has a two-dimensional objective of societal transformation and wealth generation, and a third dimension emerges if India is to transform itself into a knowledge superpower. This is knowledge protection and it entails a tremendous responsibility. It is very important that our communication network and information generators are protected from electronic attacks through surveillance and monitoring. There should be a focused approach to intellectual property rights and related issues, and our ancient knowledge and culture too are part of our resource base and need to be protected as such. (776 words)

Ans: India has been the land of knowledge. Here knowledge is defined as information and understanding about a subject which a person has or which all people have. Knowledge can be found in books, information systems, data systems, organizations, in the new media, in social activities, in cognitive structures, in all kind of products and in social systems. Every day we combine, generate, protect, create, transfer, codify and save knowledge. Knowledge based society is a society whose processes and practices are based on the production, distribution, and use of knowledge. The formation of a knowledge-based society is a global process, and elements of a knowledge-based society develop in a country regardless of its capabilities and resources. India is not an exception to it. Knowledge has become a vital commodity to countries, businesses and individuals in the 21st century - age of the knowledge based society.

When a society becomes knowledge-based, it faces challenges on a variety of levels. How and why knowledge is produced and shared, where it is produced, how knowledge spillovers affect new knowledge creation and parameters of use, changes in strategic decision making in knowledge-based environments and how public policy of planning commission can and should adapt all are crucial issues. The challenges for society are formidable and will require substantial information, knowledge, wisdom, and above all collaboration between the scientific community, policy makers and the public. The enthusiasm of our policy makers is promoting efforts to create new knowledge societies.

Tangible evidence suggests that knowledge and information are capable of helping nation to achieve developmental goals. To capitalize on the knowledge revolution to improve their competitiveness and welfare, developing countries need to build on their strengths and carefully plan appropriate investments in human capital, effective institutions, and enterprises. In a new knowledge-based society, all citizens must have access to an inexpensive, world-class communications infrastructure and a wide range of services. Every citizen must be equipped with the skills needed to live and work in this new information society. (245)

Answer : The means may be equated to a seed, the end to a tree; and there is just the same inviolable connection between the means and the end as there is between the seed and the tree. I am not likely to obtain the result flowing from the worship of God by laying myself prostrate before Satan. If, therefore, anyone were to say; ‘I want to worship God; it does not matter that I do so by means Satan’, it would be set down as ignorant folly. We reap exactly as we sow.

If I want to deprive you of your watch, I shall certainly have to fight for it; if I want to buy your watch, I shall have to pay you for it; and if I want it as a gift, I shall have to plead for it; and according to the means I employ, the watch is a stolen property, different results from three different means. Will you still say that means do not matter?

Let us proceed a little further. A well-armed anger argue that you want to punish that rogue the good of your neighbours; you have collected a number of armed men, you want to take his house by assault; he is duly informed of it, he runs away; he, too is increased. He collects his brother-robbers, and sends you a defiant message that he will commit robbery in broad daylight. You are strong, you donot fear him. You’re prepared to receive him. Meanwhile, the robber pesters complain before you. You reply that you are doing all their sake, you don’t mind that your own goods have been stolen. Your neighbours reply that robber never pestered them before, and that he commenced his depredations only after you declared hostilities against hi. You’re between Scylla and Charybdis. You’re full of pity for the poor men. What they say is true. What are you to do? You’ll be disgraced if you now leave the robber alone. You, therefore, tell the poor men: ‘Never mind. Come, my wealth is yours. I will give you arms. I will train you how to use them; you should belabour the rogue; don’t you leave him alone.’ And so the battle grows. The robbers increase in numbers; your neighbours have deliberately put themselves to inconvenience. Thus the result of wanting to take revenge upon the robber is that you have disturbed your own peace; you are in perpetual fear of being robbed and assaulted; your courage has given place to cowardice. If you patiently examine the argument, you will see that I have not overdrawn the picture. This is one of the means.

Now let us examine the other. You set this armed robber down as an ignorant brother, you intend to reason with him at a suitable opportunity; you argue that he is? After all, a fellow man; you do not know what prompted him to steal. You, therefore, decide that when you can, you will destroy the man’s motive for stealing. Whilst you are thus reasoning with yourself, the man comes again to steal. Instead of being angry with him, you take pity on him.

Henceforth, you keep your doors and windows open, you change your sleeping place, and you keep your things in a manner most accessible to him. The robber comes again and is confused as ail this is new to him; nevertheless, he takes away your things. But his mind is agitated. He enquires about you in the village, he comes to learn about your broad and loving heart; he repents, he begs your pardon, returns you your things, and leaves off the stealing habit. He becomes your servant, and you find tor him honourable employment. This is the second method.

Thus, you see, different means have brought about totally different results. I do not wish to deduce from this that robbers will act in the above manner or that all will have the same pity and love like you. I only wish to show that fair means alone can produce fair results, and that, at least in the majority of cases, if not indeed in all, the force of love and pity is infinitely greater than the force of arms. There is harm in the exercise of force, never in that of pity.

Ans: The purpose of taking this example is to show that at least in the majority of the cases, the force of love and pity is infinitely is greater than the force of arms. There is harm in the exercise of brute force. But there is no such harm in the pity. During all this process of solving issues through nonviolent technique, one has to remember that “he is expected not to be angry with one who has injured him. He will not wish him harm; he will wish him well; he will not wear at him; he will not cause him physical hurt. He will put up with all the injury to which he is subjected by the wrong does” It is with an open mind that one will enter in to a dialogue and debate with the enemy. One will restrain from saying or doing anything that is likely to hurt the opponent in thought, word or deed.

Answer : If this century has, in the famous phrase, made the world safe for democracy, the next challenge is to make a world safe for diversity. It is in India’s interest to ensure that the world as a whole must reflect the idea that is already familiar to all Indians - that it shouldn’t matter what the colour of your skin is, the kind of food you eat, the sounds you make when you speak, the God you choose to worship (or not), so long as you want to play by the same rules as everybody else, and dream the same dreams. It is not essential in a democratic world to agree all the time, as long as we agree on the ground rules of how we will disagree. These are the global principles we must strive to uphold if we are to be able to continue to uphold them securely at home.

We want a world that gives us the conditions of peace and security that will permit us to grow and flourish, safe from foreign depredations but open to external opportunities. Whether global institutions adapt and revive will be determined by whether those in charge are capable of showing the necessary leadership. Right now many of us would suggest that there is a global governance deficit. Reversing it would require strong leadership in the international community by a number of powers, including the emerging ones. India is an obvious contender to provide some of that leadership. India should aim not just at being powerful - it should set new standards for what the powerful must do.

This is a huge challenge, and one to which India must rise. An analogy from another field is not encouraging; many would argue that India has not acquitted itself well when given the chance to have global impact in one domain - that of the sport of cricket, where India accounts for more than 80 percent of the game’s revenues and perhaps 90 percent of its viewership, giving it an impact on the sport that no country can rival. Clearly, international opinion does not believe that in its domination of world cricket, India has set new standards for what the powerful must do. Broadening the analogy to global geopolitics, one could well say : India, your world needs you.

So India must play its due part in the stewardship of the global commons (including everything from the management of the Internet to the rules governing the exploitation of outer space). We can do it. India is turning increasingly outward as a result of our new economic profile on the global stage, our more dispersed interests around the world, and the reality that other countries, in our neighbourhood as well as in Africa, are looking to us for support and security. India has the ability and the vision to promote global partnerships across the broad range of its interests; it only needs to act.

The world economic crisis should give us an opportunity to promote economic integration with our neighbours in the subcontinent who look to the growing Indian market to sell their goods and maintain their own growth. But as long as South Asia remains divided by futile rivalries, and some continue to believe that terrorism can be a useful instrument of their strategic doctrines that is bound to remain a distant prospect. We in South Asia need to look to the future, to an interrelated future on our subcontinent, where geography becomes an instrument of opportunity in a mutual growth story, where history binds rather than divides, where trade and cross-border links flourish and bring prosperity to all our people. (603 words)

In global affairs India can play in addressing many issues such as: India as a driver for peace in the region and the world; second, India as a champion of human rights; and third, India as a leader on clean development that is clean sustainable development.Those are three issues that cover all the spectrums of human beings.In this century India has a great deal to contribute and stands to benefit enormously.

The world is looking to India to help advance peace, stability and prosperity in South Asia.A secure regional environment will also help India reach its ambitious development goals.Regional stability requires engagement and collaboration.As the world’s largest democracy, India has important lessons in South Asia and for others also.

Across the region, political leaders must put aside long-standing grievances and seek new ways to peacefully end old disputes in South Asia. India’s leaders to remain invested in helping Afghanistan to develop, including through education exchanges.Afghanistan’s security challenges cannot be solved only through military efforts.A political process focused on peace and reconciliation is essential and it needs regional support like from India.

India should work with its neighbours on the Strategy’s four pillars: addressing conditions that allow terrorism to spread; preventing and combating it; building States’ capacity; and ensuring respect for human rights and the rule of law.

Answer : Honesty in business dealings or in other areas is not the only measures of morals and values. The strength of character of a person is also measured by uncompromising aversion to cowardice, intrigue, envy, ambiguity, falsehood, disloyalty, treachery, in short, all undignified actions. There are, in reality, few human beings endowed with a truly spotless character. This is because an almost immaculate character does not exist until the last lives in human form. Educated individuals are not necessarily endowed with good morals and values. In fact, some of them use education and their intellect as a tool for deceit. However, the advantages and the need for education and culture cannot be denied. They contribute largely for the development of intellectual ability and the power to reason, which are the means by which the spirit analyses, compares, infers and arrives at conclusions in the search for truth about the meaning of life. The most precious assets of the soul are its morals and values, but they are not easy to build. The character of each person requires longer periods of thoughtfulness, reasoning and the practice of those values, during many reincarnations, in the course of which, ideas sink in under life experiences.

It is only after enduring much disillusionment, grief, injustice and ingratitude for many successive corporeal lives, that a person will be able to measure, in the innermost recesses of his soul, the extent of human moral misery. Then, disgusted, he rebels against it and opens the door to a more ethical and honourable life. Thus, having known and experienced suffering, the spirit, in countless reincarnations, gradually frees itself from evil actions and, through enlightenment and conviction follows the rigid tracks of a flawless conduct. It is of great significance to talk about morals and values but it is also crucial to define the lines of character that everyone should consider in their lives. Some of the most important ones are: good judgement, fairness, common sense, punctuality, loyalty, courage, magnanimity, dignity, gratitude, politeness, faithfulness, moderation, truthfulness, self-respect, respect for others, etc. All these qualities, if properly cultivated, compose a prime set of dignifying virtues which accounts for a refined character. For example, we all make mistakes and to err is human. However, once an honest person is advised and becomes convinced of his mistake, he should admit it and try not to repeat it. Unfortunately it is common practice to conceal one’s mistakes, instead of avoiding them.

This is very detrimental to spiritual growth. Most people seldom use impartiality and justice in the innermost evaluation of their own actions. Even those who are too harsh in the judgement of other people’s actions, for whom they always have words of criticism and reproach, do not escape the usual tendency.

When their own faults are concerned, they find a full, lenient, absolvent justification. In this way, not only it denotes lack of character, but mistakes often end up incorporated to human habits. By acting this way, an individual loses his self-respect and his sense of character and dignity and becomes corrupted. What everyone should do, is to face up his mistakes and avoid new mistakes, by improving his sense of morals and values, with the help of his will-power. (537 words)

Ans: Moral and code of conduct are of high importance in determining the nature of a society or a culture. In other words, it determines if a society corrupt or corruption free.

Morals define personal character and refer to the beliefs that a person practices when he interacts in personal and social relationships. The conduct exhibited by the person in personal-social behaviors gives a correct evaluation of his morals. Morals identify the way a person lives.

Morals more strongly are based on social values of good and bad. A person with good morals is involved in good deeds and always knows it inside. Most of the times, it is experiences and the way a person is brought up that decide his actions and hence his morality and ethics.

If we want to see a corruption free society where all humans can live safe, we have to look into what and how we do. We have to take the responsibility of making our society and in turn our earth a beautiful place where all humans can live a life of respect and dignity with no fears in their mind. (190 words)

Answer : People write and publish autobiographies and autobiographical sketches for a number of reasons. One of these reasons is to put on record the events of a famous or influential career. But not all autobiographies, not even the autobiographies most frequently and widely read, are by famous or extraordinary men. Another reason is to hand on to others, wisdom won through experience and hard labour. Yet many fine autobiographers seem to have little concern to teach or to persuade. A third reason is to distill from past experience events, persons, and situations which hold a firm place in memory, and to put true values on them. In this sense, autobiography is, as Somerset Maugham has said, a ‘summing-up’, and its first utility is to its author himself.

Whatever its purpose or the fame of the man who writes it, autobiography is a thing created out of the recollections of life. It is not life itself. Whether it be valuable or useless depends upon whether it is well- or ill- made. Good autobiographies can be mined from inconspicuous lives.

For autobiography is the inclusive and summary form of what we call `themes of experience’. It may contain reminiscences, descriptions of places, of animals, of people, the identification of characteristic preferences and prejudices, and other matters as well. It has the traits of all these minor forms.

An autobiography is objectively true, but is not indiscriminately inclusive. It presents a selection of detailed episodes with sufficient fullness to preserve their essential qualities. It is usually written within the framework defused by a consistent point of view. It presents its subject in more than two dimensions, fusing the person and his actions with setting, manner and purpose.

One further trait of autobiographical writing raises a few special problems: by its nature autobiography tempts its author to proceed chronologically. The events sort themselves by the calendar, and it is a natural impulse of every autobiographer to begin with the words “I was born on ….”

Strict chronological arrangement poses a discipline of some force. It is by no means easy to “begin at the beginning, go until you come to the end, and then stop.” Considerations other than the calendar have a way of forcing their way to notice. With due care, however, a chronological autobiography can be accomplished.

It is important to remember that chronology is not the only principle by which autobiography can be organized. Benjamin Franklin, whose procedure in his autobiography is basically chronological, does not hesitate to recognize the Philadelphia girl who laughed at him as the very one who subsequently became his wife.

Joseph Conrad prefers the pattern of walking tour to that of the calendar, and his richly imaginative account is stored with pertinent associations of the past with the present and future. Often, to the autobiographer, it seems that life does not pass so much as it accumulates.

Qualities emerge as identities independent of time. For this reason, we should not as we write feel compelled to maintain a steady rate of advance through the time marks of our stories. Like Hazlitt on his journey, we linger over a choice adventure or a valued friend, and then, if we choose, we skip a few years to catch up. (541 words)

Ans: Unlike a biography, which is a true account of someone else’s life, an autobiography is a writer’s own account of his or her life. This literary genre, usually appearing in book form, is in the nonfiction category.

An autobiographical essay is a brief account of the writer’s life told from the writer’s own point of view. Writing it in the first person ‘I’ makes it easier for the writer to interject reflections, thought, and perspective in his or her accounts.

Autobiographical essays can be an abbreviated summary of the entire life, but they usually focus on a certain moment, experience, or accomplishment. The purpose of the essay is to educate, entertain, or demonstrate lessons learned retrospectively.

The autobiographical essay is expected to be an accurate portrayal of and by the writer. Though they are nonfiction, the essays are still expected to be creative and expressive in order to make sure readers remain interested. Readers will only care about the writer’s life if the writer makes it sound relevant and establishes their emotional investment. (173 words)

Answer : Taking into account the compelling and inescapable reality of an increasingly resource constrained world, India needs to link the aspirations of the people and its prospects for accelerated growth to what I would call a “resource-frugal” instead of a “resource-intensive” strategy of development. I believe that such a strategy would enable India to sustain a high rate of growth over a more extended period of time, delivering affluence without waste, and current welfare without sacrificing the welfare of future generations. I will touch upon just a few illustrative examples.

The notion of frugality is current in some sectors of our economy and has been successful enough to attract international attention. “Frugal manufacture” is already acclaimed as Indian industry’s contribution to innovate production processes; this involved the stripping down of complex machinery or devices, to their most essential applications without frills. An example is the cost-effective, easy to use, hand-held ECG machine, which is a major contribution to public health.

The other is the use of the mobile telephone to deliver information, services as well as funds on a low-cost and widely spread platform. Even in agriculture, there have been significant successes in promoting production process which are dramatically economical in the use of water dispense with the use of costly and still deliver high agricultural output, ensuring food security. This is frugal agriculture.

What should be appreciated is the these innovations, by making products affordable, lead to significant market expansion, This in turn economies of scale, further lowering of cost and generating even greater demand in a virtuous, self-reinforcing circle.

The hallmark of any modern society is its ability to deliver rapid affordable and efficient means of mobility to its people. Enabling people to exercise their right to mobility is a critical state responsibility. However, mobility is linked to the use of energy and the use of scarce land, both of which are in short supply in our country. It follows, therefore, that we must have a transport strategy that ensures the most economical use of these resources. The continued expansion of private vehicular transportation is not sustainable. If the density of private car ownership in India were to approach U.S. or European levels, we would be using liquid fuels far in excess of the total consumption of all such fuels globally today. Just as the space required for parking a billion cars and constructing highways for them to run on, would occupy land on a scale that would leave little space for any other activity.

Therefore, shifting resources from private transportation to public transportation and investing in the latter to make them convenient, comfortable and cost-effective is another essential component of a “resource-frugal” strategy.

Greater mobility ensures a more productive population and a more efficient distribution of goods and services. This is what can ensure a sustained and high rate of growth.

If frugal process is what India is good at, it can add value to each of the sectors of its economy by leveraging its proven strength in information and communications technology. The system which make modern economics run whether these are the power supply networks, the transportation system, the distribution of goods and services, the water supply system, to name only a few are being transformed through the use of modern data analytics. The placement of sensors at critical points in any economic process generated massive and continuous mass of real time data, which high powered computers, using sophisticated software can analyze in considerable detail and propose what are called “smart” solutions. This reduces waste to the minimum, eliminates redundancies in processes and improves efficiencies all around. This, too, is an example of “resource frugality”. It is India which can provide the biggest market for such as a multiplier across the board in a range of sectors in the Indian economy.

What is important to appreciate here is that such services are really the hallmark of a flat world because they can ass value in developing societies as they can in advanced ones.

The purpose of providing these examples is to ass some substance to the overall optimism I retain about our future as a plural, democratic and innovative society, despite the seeming gloom around us.

What is more, each of these innovations enable inclusive growth, because they empower the poor; they profit from leveraging the power of numbers. What we need is to upscale these successes from the margin to the mainstream, from the local to the national level.

Ans: In rethinking growth, we need to focus on the current reality of a resource constrained world. During their period of rapid economic growth, the small cluster of western economies had access to the resources of the entire world. Technological progress further extended such access.

Today, with the “rise of the rest,” in particular the rapid development of continental size and highly populous countries like India and China, the demand for resources of every kind, has been rising exponentially.

We are entering an era of finite resources where the production and consumption patterns typical of the advanced western economies are no longer sustainable. Resource intensive and, in particular energy intensive processes will need to make way for more efficient and resource frugal development strategies if we are to avoid an economic dead end or a world in which only a small elite is able to enjoy affluence in the midst of a sea of poverty.

Environmental degradation is, in essence, a symptom of wastage of resources and the pursuit of short-term profit over long-term sustainable development. In India, we face a crisis in agriculture because it is land, energy and water intensive and all three resources are becoming increasingly scarce. In order to fully reap the benefits of the demographic dividend and support a return to high and more inclusive growth, India needs to renew its commitment to sound macroeconomic policy and implementation of reforms. Rapid economic growth in India in the past two decades has brought tremendous benefits, yet it has also accentuated the demand for energy and natural resources. Making growth more inclusive and addressing widespread poverty is a key challenge for India.

Answer : ‘While all the religious teachers tell us that compassion gives us a motive for existence, a guide for action and a reason for courage and help us to diminish the sum of human suffering, in the very name of God, who is all compassion, abominable crimes have been committed in the world.

It is not enough to believe in God of love but we must love. The rains that make the lower plains fertile are formed in the upper layers of the atmosphere. The saints are the masters who are not stained-glass figures, remote and ethereal in their sanctity. There is nothing in them, which we would like to spread everywhere in the world. It is there but what it is, we cannot say. It is there in their blood and bones, in the breath of their speech, in the lights and shades of their speech, in the lights and shades of their personalities, a mystery that can be lived but no spoken in words. On the rock of moral law and not on the shifting sands of political or economic expediency can be built a civilized society with individual freedom, social justice and political equality. Truth, freedom and righteousness are essential to peace. The Evangelist tells us how’ the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them. And saith unto him, ‘All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me’ Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan; for it is written, Thou shalt worship thy Lord, Thy God and Him alone shalt thou serve’.

In the new society we need a new universal religion. By it we mean not a uniform religion but a religion of awareness and love of wisdom and compassion, prajna and karuna. Of truth and love. Religion must be cured of their provincialism and made to reveal their universality. This does not mean spiritual vagueness or ambiguity. Tolerance implies an elementary right belonging to the dignity of every man.

The right to believe like the right to live a free, unfettered____is fundamental to the concept of both----we have had in our country peaceful co-existence of different religions. It is not passive co-existence but an active fellowship, a close inter-relation of the best of different religions. Co-existence is the first step and fraternity is the goal. We have not adhered steadfastly to these ideals and have suffered often. Yet the ideal has been kept in view and support by great leaders like Ram Mohan Roy, Ramakrishna, Tagore and Gandhi. The view of tolerance is based on the conviction that all transcendental use of the logical categories, all attempts to submit the transcendent to the finite are wrong. Nature and history announce God’s presence but do not disclose his whole nature. Religions are cut off from one another by mutual incomprehensiveness. We are born or trained in certain traditions of religion. Loyalty to tradition does not mean imprisonment within it. We adopt different symbolic representations of the supreme determined by our age, circumstances, and upbringing and by narrower loyalties of caste, class, race or nation. Whatever progress we make at the expense of those values is morally wrong. The seers of all religions affirm that the various peoples of the world form a community with a common purpose and a common destiny. It is said that the whole world is the fatherland of a noble soul. The application of this universality of spirit requires us to look upon our common enemies not as monsters of evil but as misled by their obsessions and as capable of change.

Ans: There is nothing that has brought to man more blessings than religion, yet at the same time, there is nothing that has brought more horror than religion. Nothing has made more for peace and love than religion; nothing has engendered fiercer hatred than religion. Nothing has built more charitable institutions, more hospitals for men, and even for animals, than religion and more than that nothing has deluged the world with more blood than religion.

Different social organizations are representing different needs of the man, and they endeavor to practice humaneness in society. Religions, on the other hand, represent the spiritual aspirations and struggles of mankind. The unpleasant reality, however, is that various world religions have been indulging in mutual criticisms, vilification, and persecutions.

Answer : In many respects Sakuntala is comparable to the more idyllic comedies of Shakespeare, & Kanva’s hermitage is surely not far from the Forest of Arden. The plot of the play, like many of the Shakespeare plot, depends much on happy chances and on the super-natural, which, of course, was quite acceptable to the audience for which Kalidasa wrote. Its characters, even to the minor ones, are happily delineated individuals. Kalidasa makes no pretence to realism, but his dialogue is fresh and vigorous.

In fact the dialogue of the better Sanskrit plays generally seems based on vernacular, and is full of idiomatic expressions. Indian playgoers did not demand the conflict of feelings & emotions which is the chief substance of serious European drama, but Kalidasa was quite capable of portraying such conflict effectively. His beauties & merits are tarnished by any translation, but few who can read him in the original would doubt that, both as poet and dramatist, he was one of the great men of the world.

There were many other dramatists. Sudraka, probably kalidasa’s approximate contemporary, has left only one play “the little clay cart” (Mricchakatika). This is the most realistic of Indian dramas, unraveling a complicated story, rich in humor & pathos & crowded with action, of the love of a poor Brahman, Carudutta, for the virtuous courtesan Vasantasena; this story is interwoven with one of political intrigue, leading up to the overthrow of the wicked king Palaka, and the play contains a vivid trial scene, after which the hero is saved from execution at the last moment. It is notable for its realistic depiction of city life, & for its host of minor characters, all of whom are drawn with skill & individuality. It has more than once been performed in translation on the European stage, and, to a western audience, is certainly the most easily appreciated of Indian plays.

Vishakadutta was the dramatist of politics. His only complete surviving play, “the ministers signet ring” (Mudrarakshasa) deals with the schemes of the wily Chanakya to foil the plots of Rakshasa, the minister of the last of the Nandas, & to place Chandragupta Maurya firmly on the throne. The plot is exceedingly complicated, but is worked out with great skill, & play is beautifully constructed to lead up, like “the little clay cart”, to a pathetic scene where one of the chief characters is saved from death by impalement at the last movement.

Second only to Kalidasa in the esteem of the critics was Bhavabhuti , who lived at Kanyakubja in the early 8th c. three of his plays - Malati & Madhava , deeds of the great hero (Mahaviracharita) & the later deeds of Rama (Uttararamacharita). The first is the love story with the pseudo-realistic background, full of incident of an exciting or horrific type, in which the heroine is more than one rescued from death, while the two latter plays tell the story of Rama. By western standards as a dramatist Bhavabhuti falls short of those we have mentioned earlier. His plots are weakly constructed & his characters lack individuality. His greatness rests on his deep understanding of sorrow; in his treatment of the pathetic & the terrible he perhaps excels Kalidasa.

Ans: Abhijnanasakuntalam is the first Indian play ever to be translated into western languages. Easily comparable with Shakespear’s drama Kalidasa’s Shakuntala has been universally acknowledged as the highest star in the firmament of Indian Poetry. Tenderness in the expression of feeling and richness of creative fancy has assigned to Kalidasa a lofty place among the poets of all nations.

Sudraka’s Mrichakatika or ‘The Little Clay Cart’ is in ten acts, depicting the love between the Brahman Charudatta, a merchant impoverished by his generosities, and Vasantasena, a courtesan attracted to him because of his virtues. Sudraka depicts the originality in this play of combining the political and love intrigue, which gives a special value to the play. Each of the minor characters in the drama has been given individuality that is rare in Indian theatre. Sudraka’s work has been played and well appreciated by the western audiences.

Answer : There are, of course, many motivating factors in human behaviour, but we would claim that nationalism is particularly worthy of study. Why is it particularly significant? Its significance lies in its power to arouse passionate loyalties and hatreds that motivate acts of extreme violence and courage; people kill and die for their nations. Of course it is not alone in this: people are driven to similar extremes to protect their families, their extended families or ‘tribes’, their home areas with their populations; and their religious groups and the holy places and symbols of their religions. However, these other loyalties are often rather easier to understand than nationalism. Parents making supreme sacrifices for their children can be seen as obeying a universal imperative in life forms, the instinct to protect one’s own genetic material.

This instinct can also be seen at work in the urge to protect one’s extended family; but then the extended family, or on a slightly larger scale the ‘tribe’, can also be seen, in perhaps the majority of circumstances in which human beings have existed, as essential for the survival of the individual and the nuclear family. The nation is not generally essential to survival in this way. Of course, if the entire nation were to be wiped out, the individuals and their families would die, but the disappearance of the nation as a social unit would not in itself pose a threat to individual or family survival: only if it were to be accompanied by ethnic violence or severe economic collapse would it be life-threatening, and such cataclysmic events are not an inevitable consequence of the loss of political independence.

Conversely, there is no logical connection between the gaining of political independence by a subject nation and increased life chances for its citizens. In many, perhaps the vast majority, of modern nations there is likewise no evidence that in defending the nation one is defending one’s own genetic material; the notion that the citizens of modem nations are kinsfolk, while the citizens of (potentially) hostile neighbours are aliens, makes no sense in view of the highly varied genetic make-up of most modern populations,’

Devotion to one’s religious group, like support for one’s nation, is much less obviously to the individual’s advantage than is defence of the family, but we would maintain that it can be more comprehensible than nationalism. It can be seen in ideological terms as the defence of a world view and its symbols, against rival world views, which are considered to be fundamentally erroneous and which, if successful, would force the conquered to act in ways abhorrent to their beliefs. While the defence of one’s nation has often been seen as the defence of one’s religion, and while modern hostilities between nations frequently do have a religious dimension, there are many serious national conflicts that have no clear religious element;

the two world wars were fought in Europe with Catholic France, Protestant Britain, and Orthodox Russia opposing Germany with its mixed Catholic and Protestant population. Thus, while modern nationalisms may be linked to religion, many cases can be found without any clear religious dimension. Not only do modern nationalisms lack a religious element: there is often (to outsiders) no obvious ideological difference between rival nations.

Hence, while defence of one’s religion can be seen as defence of an entire system of beliefs, a world view, it is difficult in many cases to claim that this is true of the defence of one’s nation. There is in fact a good case for seeing nations as ‘imagined communities’, and such would be the view of some commentators.

Such imagined communities could not, of course, exist unless they fulfilled a need. We can postulate that the need to belong to a community of some kind is a fundamental human characteristic, and that nations have arisen to fulfil this need, as earlier more primary communities - local, ‘tribal’, and religious - have lost their significance through economic and social change. But why should this need be fulfilled by nations, rather than some other type of unit? There is strong support in the literature for a view of nations as products of particular social and economic conditions operating from around the mid-eighteenth century, as products of ‘modernization’.

Ans: Of the many motivating factors, nationalism is the most significant as it inspires the people to kill and die for the nation. The motivation to protect one’s family, tribe, religious groups and holy symbols and places seems easier to understand than nationalism. The universal instinct to preserve their own genetic material is seen in parents protecting their children. This may further stretch up to one’s extended family or tribe. Nation as a social unit, on the other hand is not directly related with the survival of individuals or communities. The wiping out of nations by means of ethnic violence or economic collapses, however, poses a threat to lives of its citizens together with a loss to the political independence of those nations. On the contrary, gaining political independence does not increase the life chances of the citizens of the subject nations. In the highly varied genetic modern society, the notion of universal kinsfolk does not hold good.

Defence of a family assumes more importance as compared to defence of a religion. For the nations, however, the clash is among different world views. It is presumed that defending nationalism is synonymous to defending religion.

Yet, looking at the nature of the two world wars, it can be said that they were not fought over religious ideologies given that the allies in these wars were catholic, protestant and orthodox and who were opposing the catholic-protestant (Germant). Thus the modern nationalism lacks the aspect of religion.

Answer : Make a precis out of the following passage in about one-third of its original length. It is not necessary to suggest a title. Failure to write within the word limit may result in deduction of marks. The precis must be written on the separate precis sheets provided for the purpose; they must then be securely fastened inside the answer-book:

Love of play is the most obvious distinguishing mark of young animals, whether human or otherwise. In human children, this is accompanied by an inexhaustible pleasure in pretence. Play and pretence are a vital need of childhood, for which opportunity must be provided if the child is to be happy and healthy, quite independently of any further utility in these activities. There are two questions which concern education in this connection first, what should parents and schools do in the way a view to increasing the educational usefulness of games?

Let us begin with a few words about the psychology of games. This has been exhaustively treated by Gross. There are two separate questions in this matter: the first is as to the impulses which produce play, the second is as to its biological utility.

The second is the easier question. There seems no reason to doubt the most widely accepted theory, that in play the young of any species rehearse and practice the activities which they will perform in earnest later on. The play of puppies is exactly like a dog-fight, except that they do not actually bite each other. The play of kittens resembles the behaviour of cats with mice. Children love to imitate any work they have been watching, such as building or digging; the more they like to play at it. And they enjoy anything that gives them new muscular facilities, such as jumping, climbing, or walking up a narrow plank-provided the tasks is not too difficult. But although this accounts, in a general way, for the usefulness of the play-impulse, it does not by any means cover all its manifestations, and must not for a moment be regarded as giving a psychological analysis.

Some psycho-analysts have tried to see a sexual symbolism in children’s play. This, I am convinced, is utter moonshine. The main instinctive urge of childhood is not sex, but the desire to become adult, or, perhaps more correctly, the will to power. The child is impressed by his own weakness in comparison with older people, and he wishes to become their equal. I remember my boy’s profound delight when he realised that he would one day be a man and that I had once been a child; one could see effort being stimulated by the realisation that success was possible. From a very early age, the child wishes to do what older people do, as is shown by the practice of imitation. Older brothers and sisters are useful, because their purposes can be understood and their capacities are not so far out of reach as those of grown-up people. The feeling of inferiority is very strong in children; when they are normal and rightly educated, it is a stimulus to effort, but if they are repressed it many become a source of unhappiness.

In play, we have two forms of the will to power: the form which consists in learning to do things, and the form which consists in fantansy. Just as the balked adult may indulge in day-dreams that have a sexual significance, so the normal child indulges in pretences that have a power-significance. He likes to be a giant, or a lion, or a train; in his make-believe, he inspires terror. When I told my boy the story of Jack the Giant-Killer, I tried to make him identify himself with Jack, but he firmly chose the giant. When his mother told him the story of Bluebeard, he insisted on being Bluebeard, and regarded the wife as justly punished for insubordination. In his play, there was a sanguinary outbreak of cutting of ladies heads. Sadism, Freudians would say; but he enjoyed just as much being a giant who ate little boys, or an engine that could pull a heavy load. Power, not sex, was the common element in these pretences. One day, when we were returning from a walk, I told him, as an obvious joke, that perhaps we should find a certain Mr. Tiddliewinks in possession of our house, and he might refuse to let us in.

After that, for a long time, he would stand on the porch being Mr. Tiddliewinks, and telling me to go to another house. His delight in this game was unbounded, and obviously the pretence of power was what he enjoyed. Answer: As a child grows; the games can become more involved, focusing on early learning and social skills. Games can be fun, educational and involve the entire family.No matter what age your child may be, there are plenty of games to help enhance their education and develop social interaction with other individuals. For children in grade school and middle school, games might focus on certain skills, such as math and reading.

Games create courage and inspire your child to prove himself as the best at what he does. It teaches him how to make quick decisions and how to work well under pressure. Games teach your child about what is good and bad and gives him a chance to learn more about people, animals and countries.

Games have much significance in healthy child development. Games allow and encourage kids to process information and to make sense of their own world. It also makes them feel strong and powerful.

Some games are completely based on fitness. Through these games your child learns how to keep fit and healthy. He can also learn about skipping, walking and kicking. Some games create a sense of construction. Recreational games such as board games increase mental and physical skills.

Games that involve physical activities are perfect for toddlers. Children who are at their toddler age love to do physical activities. Imaginative play and role-playing are particularly powerful kinds of play that help the brain develop in more functional and positive ways. Children who engage in these kinds of play have a more sophisticated level of interaction with others and with their environment than those who do not.

Answer : What part should reading play in our lives? It should certainly not be a substitute for action, not for independent thinking, nor for conversation; but it may be a help and stimulant to action; thought and talk; and it is capable of providing almost infinite pleasure. There on our bookshelves or on summons from a library are wits, wisdom, and adventure, romance from all ages and from all over the world. Is there any wonder that our eyes sometimes stray wistfully to the bookshelves and away from a dull visitor, or that we shirk a tiresome duty for an exciting book?

Books or people? Reading or conversation, listening in to a broadcast or watching a television programme? Which is the better way to gain knowledge or to spend your leisure? Some fortunate people seem always to find time for both and to enjoy both almost equally. My great friend, Arthur Wanchope, a fine soldier, an able administrator and a very gifted personality, was a constant reader; yet always ready to lay aside a book for talk.

The advantages of reading over talk are, of course, many. We can select the book that suits our mood, can go at our own pace, skip or turn back whereas we cannot turn over two pages of a tedious companion or close him or her, with a bang. But reading too has its own drawbacks. It lacks the human touch, the salt of life, and is therefore a dangerous substitute for thought or action. Bacon in one of his essays observes that reading maketh a full man; conference (that is talking) a ready man; and writing an exact man. One would like to be full of knowledge, ready in speech and exact by training. What short of books have impressed me and what books have found a permanent placeon my bookshelves?

To begin with my profession-soldiering. I do not believe that soldiering, a practical business, in which human nature is the main element, can be learnt from text-books. But for those who have grasped the principles of war and have understood that the human factor is the most important element in it. There is military reading that is quite fascinating and valuable. Real and re-read the campaigns of the great commanders, said Napoleon. I would venture to put it differently and would say that the lives and characters of the great commanders are what students of war should examine, since their campaigns are only incidents in them; and that the behaviour of leaders and of their men in the field is the real subject for study.In my general reading history, biography and travel occupy a prominent place; and since I have spent a considerable proportion of my life in the East there are a good number of volumes on India and the Middle East. There is plenty of poetry on my shelves and a good deal of it is in my head. Poetry should dance in the mind, and blow one a kiss; or gallop to adventure with a cheer; or whisper gently of things past; not shuffle or slouch past with dark incomprehensible mutterings. Perhaps I am getting old, anyway I prefer the old poets.

Lastly comes what is sometimes called ‘escapist literature, the books we read with no other aim, than to rest or amuse the mind; to forget the day’s chores and the morrow’s anxieties. This is perhaps the most pleasant form of reading for most, and I suspect the only form of reading for many. The volume chosen may either be a thriller or soother - a thriller to bring sense of adventure into the dull daily routine or a soother to rest tired nerves. Our grandfathers in their leisurely days were content with the stately, comfortable three volume novel, but that had passed before the beginning of this century. You will choose your books as you choose your friends, with taste and discrimination; I hope; because they can tell you something of your profession and interests, because they are wise and helpful, because they can stir your blood with tales of adventure, or because they are gay and witty. I can only wish you will get as much pleasure from them as I get from my books. (Words: 703)

Ans: Our goal should be to read more because reading is a valuable way of self educating ourselves and an excellent way of filling in time. As young children our mind is fed with stories and information but sadly as we become adults we far too often neglect one of the most important tools in life.

Reading is the best way to improve our mind and if we want to get smart and stay smart so you can have the edge over the average person we need to learn new things and reading is one of the best ways to learn and expand your knowledge. Read a variety of books to suit our personal preferences including fiction books, educational, mysteries and suspense thrillers, science fiction, history, novels, self help books and health related articles, because reading is a great way to feed our mind and spirit.

Because the human mind is a never ending processing machine that is always seeking information and reading will help to nourish and stimulate our mind and keeps it engaged which will divert your mind from negative thinking and worrying. Reading can also help to keep our mental faculties sharp and intact as it will gives our mind a mental workout which will help us to develop your mind instead of allowing it to become stale, dormant and unused

Answer : We all show our feelings on issues by the way we look and react. This has been referred to as body language. We tend to lean forward, hand on chin when we are interested, or turn away when disinterested. Our hands and arms can indicate we are open to what is being said by being relaxed, or show that we are not by being clenched or crossed. We are, therefore, making body pictures of what we feel and think all the time. Indeed people who are taking to us can often get as much information from our body posture as from what we say of how we say it. We might calmly but show we are anxious by moving from foot to foot or by blushing. It is hard to control one’s behavioural reactions, for it is more of a stimulus response reaction than the words we use.

Nevertheless through training it is feasible to portray the image you want to others. With the advent of television as a major political medium there is a lot of effort going into grooming representatives of organizations and particularly chief executives to control their gestures and gesticulations. All this may sound as if you need to be a good actor in order to be successful at conversation control.

The answer is, in one sense you do. There is no use in saying one thing and doing another. The actual visual behaviour of shaking your head, for example while saying yes will deafen the words. Those who are effective at conversation control act in a congruent way. Their behaviour matches their words. You can see they mean what they say. They present an authentic picture because their visuals match their verbals.With practice it is possible to improve performance in conversation without adding any more words. The improvement can come because you improve your visual gestures and gesticulations. For example, you can encourage another person by smiling when he/she says something that pleases you. Indeed the smile is a very powerful gesture. It can switch people ‘on and off’ if done at the appropriate time.

Psychologists refer to the laws of conditioning and reinforcement. To be skilled in conversation control you need to know and apply these laws. Conditioning means having an effect on someone’s behaviour by introducing a condition that either encourages or discourages that behaviour. For example, we have all been conditioned to stop when we see a red light at a traffic intersection, and to proceed if we see a green light. People can be conditioned in conversation by such visual cues. For example if you want someone to continue talking, smile and nod at regular intervals. The smile sets up the green light permission as a condition for the other person to speak. The nod reinforces what is being said and gives the unspoken permission to continue. People are very sensitive to such permission cues and clues. If you stop smiling and head nodding, they will usually stop and you can then contribute. Likewise you can influence the attention of people with whom you are talking by the way you use your eyes and hands, particularly when you are addressing a group. To exercise control it is important to make eye contact with one or more people.

If it is a group, move your eye contact from time to time so that each person is being conditioned to the fact that it could be their turn next for you to speak to them.

Body language and the gestures and gesticulations you make are key aspects of conversation control. Many books have been written on the subject of how our body very often tells others what we are thinking before we have spoken. The visual clues get through much more quickly than the verbal ones. Also use your hands to emphasize a point or get them to direct the listener’s gaze where you want it to concentrate. The pointed finger or the open palm tells the story. Our task is to line up what we say with what we do and vice versa, if you do clench your fist and are angry, then your words should reflect this. If you are relaxed, happy and smiling, they say no. (words: 705)

Ans: Body language is a way of nonverbal communication. It expresses thoughts, intentions, or feelings by physical behaviors, such as facial expressions, body posture, gestures, eye movement, touch and the use of space.

Nonverbal communication accounts for the majority of information transmitted during interpersonal interactions. It helps to establish the relationship between two people and regulates interaction.

Law of conditioning and reenforcement work a lot in conversation. One may have a control over conversation if one know when and how to use his body language while interaction with others.

In other words while talking to anyone we may either encourage or discourage him the way we want. We can always use our hands, eyes and facial expressions to convery what we like and what we do not.

Moreover it is also possible to put a good image before staff and subordinates. There may be a proper training for executives of big houses so as to teach them how to control represent themselves. Thus gestures and gesticulations may not be arbitrary if one wants them to be controlled and organised.

Televison has proved to be good medium in grooming the people to act and behave in unison. In fact our body language should conform what we say. If it is not so then what we do is nothing more than acting. Therefore our body language should go by whhat we say.

Answer : Gautama, the Buddha, has suffered as much as anyone from critics without a sense of history. He has been cried up, and cried down, with an equal lack of historical imagination. Buddhism came to be widely known in the west in the latter part of the 19th century when a wave of scepticism spread over the world as a result of the growth of science and enlightenment. Positivism, agnosticism atheism and ethical humanism found wide support. In much of the literature of doubt and disbelief, the name of Buddha is mentioned with respect.

The humanists honour him as one of the earliest protagonists of their cause-the happiness the dignity, and the mental integrity of mankind. Those who declare that man cannot know reality and others who affirm that there is no reality to know, use his name. Agnostics quote his example.

Social idealists, ethical mystic’s rationalist prophets are all attracted by his teaching. Great as is the value of the Buddha’s teaching for our age, we cannot hope to understand its true significance without reference to the environment in which he lived.

This effort of historical imagination is not easy. To view the Buddha as a thinker of the sixth century B. C. living, moving and teaching in its peculiar conditions, is a task of extreme difficulty and delicacy; and the work of reconstruction can never be complete. But we may be reasonably certain that it yields a picture which in its main outlines, at least, must correspond fairly well to the reality. The supremacy of the ethical is the clue to the teaching of the Buddha. His conceptions of life and the universe are derived from his severely practical outlook. The existence of everything depends on a cause. If we remove the cause, the effect will disappear. If the source of all suffering is destroyed, suffering will disappear. The only way in which we can remove the cause of suffering is by purifying the heart and following the moral law. Man is not divine but is to become divine. His divine status is something to be built up by good thoughts, good words, and good deeds.

The ego consists of the feelings that burn us, of the passions we brood over, of the desires that hunt us and of the decisions we make. These are the things that give life its dramatic character. There is nothing absolute and permanent in them. That is why we can become something different from what we are.

The reality of the person is the creative will. When we deny the clamour of emotions, stay the stream of things, silence the appetites of body, we feel the power of self within our own being. For the Buddha, the impulse to dharma, to justice and kindliness is operative in things, and its efficient activity will mean the reduction of disorder, cruelty and oppression. Dharma is organic to existence and its implication of karma or right action is the builder of the world.

There is not in the Buddha’s teaching that deep personal loyalty, passion of love, and intimate dialogue between soul and soul resembling closely in its expression of earthly love. And yet the essence of religion, the vision of a reality which stands beyond and within the passing flux of immediate things, the intuitive loyalty to something larger than and beyond oneself, and absolute active in the world, is in him.

We find in Gautama, the Buddha, in powerful combination, spiritual profundity and moral strength of the highest order and a discreet intellectual reserve. He is one of those rare spirits who bring to men a realization of their own divinity and make the spiritual life seem adventurous and attractive, so that they may go forth into the world with a new interest and a new joy of heart.

While his great intellect and wisdom gave him comprehension of the highest truth, his warm heart led him to devote his life to save from sorrow suffering humanity.

The greatness of his personality, his prophetic zeal, and burning love for suffering humanity made a deep impression on those with whom he lived; but his true greatness stands out clearer and brighter as the ages pass, and even the sceptical minded are turning to him with a more real appreciations a deeper reverence and a truer worship. He is one of those few heroes of humanity who have made epochs in the history of our race, with a message for other times as well as their own.

Ans: Though Gautam Budhha and his philosophy have had many critics in Europe, budhhistphilosophy has been admired by one and all, be it agnotics, positivists or sceptics.

Buddha seeks a middle way between the extremes of dogmatism and skepticism, emphasizing personal experience, a pragmatic attitude, and the use of critical thinking toward all types of knowledge. In ethics, the Buddha proposes a threefold understanding of action: mental, verbal, and bodily.

In metaphysics, the Buddha argues that there are no self-caused entities, and that everything dependently arises from or upon something else. This allows the Buddha to provide a criticism of souls and personal identity; that criticism forms the foundation for his views about the reality of rebirth and a liberated state.

Buddha explains human identity without a permanent and substantial self. The doctrine of non-self, however, does not imply the absolute inexistence of any type of self whatsoever, but is compatible with a conventional self composed of five psycho-physical aggregates, although all of them are unsubstantial and impermanent. Selves are thus conceived as evolving processes causally constrained by their past.

It would be simplistic to dismiss all supernatural aspects of the Buddha’s life as false and consider historically true only those elements that are consistent with our contemporary scientific worldview. However, this approach towards the Buddha’s life was prevalent in the nineteenth century and a great part of the twentieth century.

Answer : There is some similarity between Italy and India. Both are ancient countries with long traditions of culture behind them, though Italy is a newcomer compared to India, and India is a much more vast country Both are split up politically, and yet the conception of Italia, like that of India, never died, and in all their diversity the unity was predominant. In Italy the unity was largely a Roman unity, for that great city had dominated the country and been the fount and symbol of unity. In India there was no such single centre or dominant city, although Benares might well be called the Eternal City of the East, not only for India, but also for Eastern Asia. But, unlike Rome, Benares never dabbled in empire or thought of temporal power.

Indian culture was so widespread all over India that no part of the country could be called the heart of that culture. From Kanyakumari to Amarnath and Badrinath in the Himalayas, from Dwarka to Pune, the same ideas coursed, and if there was a clash of ideas in one place, the noise of it soon reached distant parts of the country. Just as Italy gave the gift of culture and religion to Western Europe, India did so to Eastern Asia though China was as old and venerable as India. And even when Italy was lying prostrate politically, her life coursed through the veins of Europe. It was Metternich who called Italy a “geographical expression”, and many a would-be Metternich has used that phrase for India, and, strangely enough, there is a similarity even in their geographical positions in the two continents.

More interesting is the comparison of England with Austria, for has not England of the twentieth century been compared to Austria of the nineteenth, proud and haughty and imposing still, but with the roots that gave strength shriveling up and decay eating its way into the mighty fabric. It is curious how one cannot resist the tendency to give an anthropomorphic form to a country. Such is the force of habit and early associations. India becomes Bharat Mata, Mother India, a beautiful lady, very old but ever youthful in appearance, sad-eyed and forlorn, cruelly treated by aliens and outsiders, and calling upon her children to protect her. Some such picture rouses the emotions of hundreds of thousands and drives them to action and sacrifice. And yet India is in the main, the peasant and the worker, not beautiful to look at, for poverty is not beautiful.

Does the beautiful lady of our imaginations represent the bare-bodied and bent workers in the fields and factories? Or the small group of those who have from ages past crushed the masses and exploited them, imposed cruel customs on them and made many of them even untouchable?

We seek to cover truth by the creatures of our imaginations and endeavour to escape from reality to a world of dreams. And yet, despite these different classes and their mutual conflicts there was a common bond which united them in India, and one is amazed at its persistence and tenacity and enduring vitality. What was this strength due to? Nor merely the passive strength and weight of inertia and tradition, great as these always are. There was an active sustaining principle, for it resisted successfully powerful outside influences and absorbed internal forces that rose to combat it.

And yet with all its strength it could not preserve political freedom or endeavour to bring about political unity. These latter do not appear to have been considered worth much trouble; their importance was very foolishly ignored, and we have suffered for this neglect. Right through history the old Indian ideal did not glorify political and military triumph, and it looked down upon money and the professional moneymaking class. Honour and wealth did not go together, and honour was meant to go, at least in theory, to the men who served the community with little in the shape of financial reward. The old culture managed to live through many a fierce storm and tempest, but though it kept its outer form, it lost its real content. Today it is fighting silently and desperately against a new and all-powerful opponent - the bania civilization of the capitalist West. It will succumb to this newcomer, for the West brings science, and science brings food for the hungry millions. But the West also brings an antidote to the evils of this cut-throat civilization -- the principles of socialism, of cooperation, and service to the community for the common good.

Ans: Italy and India represent two different countries having some common characteristics. Indian civilization is rather old and a bit different from Italy in the fact that Italy has a centre (Rome) representing ‘culture of Italy’ but India has such centres more than one in number. But a common idea bind all such cultural centres in India making India unique in itself.

Though Indian society is stratified, its endurance and resilence has kept India united til date. In other words conflicts of class and varna has not weakened India thanks to Indian culture and tradition working as a binding force. India has not attached much importance to material gains and prosperity nor has it asserted its political or military dominance. Peasants and labour class have been the backbone of Indian society making Indian strong since the beginning of the Indian civilization. Yet service to manking is the prime motive of the Indian culture.

Now a time has come now when outsiders with business as their religion is about to dominate India. There are adavantages attached with these outsiders as they may bring with them technology to produce more something India is in need of. But there may be some side effects of such technologies may be netralised by the progressive ideas coming with the west. Such ideas include service to humanity and concept of cooperation and community honourship.

Answer : Some wars in the past were quite as disorganizing and as destructive of the civilization of devastated areas as was the Second World War. North Africa has never regained the level of prosperity that it enjoyed under the Romans. Persia never recovered from the Mongols nor Syria from the Turks. There have always been two kinds of wars, those in which the vanquished incurred disaster, and those in which they only incurred discomfort. We seem, unfortunately, to be entering upon an era in which wars are of the former sort.

The atom bomb, and still more the hydrogen bomb, has caused new fears, involving new doubts as to the effects of science on human life. Some eminent authorities, including Einstein, have pointed out that there is a danger of the extinction of all life on this planet. I do not myself think that this will happen in the next war, but I think it may well happen in the next but one, if that is allowed to occur. If this expectation is correct, we have to choose, within the next fifty years or so, between two alternatives. Either we must allow the human race to exterminate itself, or we must forgo certain liberties which are very dear to us, more especially the liberty to kill foreigners whenever we feel so disposed. I think it is probable that mankind will choose its own extermination as the preferable alternative. The choice will be made, of course, by persuading ourselves that it is not being made, since (so militarists on both sides will say) the victory of the right is certain without risk of universal disaster. We are perhaps living in the last age of man, and, if so, it is to science that he will owe his extinction.

If, however, the human race decides to let itself go on living, it will have to make very drastic changes in its ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving. We must learn not to say ‘Never! Better death than dishonour’. We must learn to submit to law, even when imposed by aliens whom we hate and despise, and whom we believe to be blind to all considerations of righteousness. Consider some concrete examples. Jews and Arabs will have to agree to submit to arbitration; if the award goes against the Jews, the President of the United States will have to ensure the victory of the party to which he is opposed, since, if he supports the international authority, he will lose the Jewish vote in New York State. On the other hand, if the award goes in favour of the Jews, the Mohammedan world will be indignant, and will be supported by all other malcontents. Or, to take another instance, Eire will demand the right to oppress the Protestants of Ulster, and on this issue the United States will support Eire while Britain will support Ulster. Could an international authority survive such a dissension?

Again: India and Pakistan cannot agree about Kashmir, therefore one of them must support Russia and the other the United States. It will be obvious to anyone who is an interested party in one of these disputes that the issue is far more important than the continuance of life on our planet. The hope that the human race will allow itself to survive is therefore somewhat slender. But if human life is to continue in spite of science, mankind will have to learn a discipline of the passions which, in the past, has not been necessary.

Men will have to submit to the law, even when they think the law unjust and iniquitous. Nations which are persuaded that they are only demanding the barest justice will have to acquiesce when this demand is denied them by the neutral authority. I do not say that this is easy; I do not prophesy that it will happen; I say only that if it does not happen the human race will perish, and will perish as a result of science.

Ans: The impact of science on society is very visible. In spite of all this progress, the consequent development of technology and industry, and the conveniences, comforts and power we have got through this knowledge, in no part of the world are human beings happy, at peace with themselves, living without violence.

It was hoped that the development of science would usher in an era of peace and prosperity, but that has been belied. On the contrary, if we look at the level of violence throughout the world we realize that it has left disaster and destruction. History shows that man has used it and is still using it primarily for destruction rather than for construction, bringing our planet and our lives to a level of danger which never existed before. Scientists are pointing out that the third world war would be the last, if it takes place. Time has come when we need to learn to live together leaving other meaningless considerations.

Answer : N.B.: Marks will be deducted if your précis is much longer or shorter than the prescribed length. (75)

“What is the use of a house if you haven’t got a tolerable planet to put it on?” asked Henry David Thoreau. More than century later the Earth seems to be literally falling to pieces - recent environmental set-backs include billions of tonnes of ice shelves breaking off in the Antarctic and unusually warm temperatures in different parts of the world. Panic reactions range from predictions of sinking islands to the lamenting the ill-effects of global warming induced by release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. The trouble is that we are too much obsessed with the problem of climatic Change to even acknowledge the fact that the state of the planet hinges on much more. Climatic change is at best a symptom of a far more complex malaise, just as a fever is most often only an Indicator of something that’s gone awry in our body. It is time for a complete and comprehensive planetary health check that will examine the impacts of change in land use, loss of biodiversity, use of fertilizers and pesticides and consistent pollution of water bodies. This would overcome the limitations of evaluating how ecosystems work by reacting to just one major environmental concern as is happening in the case of global warming. These considerations have been responsible for the setting up of an international panel, the Millenium Ecosystem Assessment. Financed by four major international bodies, including the UNO and the World Bank, the eco-panel was set up without much fuss last June (2001), and is expected to determine, over a period of four years and at a cost of $ 21 million, the state of the Earth’s ecosystems.

The eco-panel will have source inputs from more than 2,000 natural and social scientists the world over. Put simply, the Earth will go through the equivalent of a thorough physical analysis, so that biological, economic and social information can be collated to help scientists arrive at a final diagnosis. What is crucial, says one of the scientists, and is that “no one has previously tried to work out how all of these conflicting pressures interact.” The other important factor is how well we can orchestrate trade-offs and interactions in order to maintain ecological balance. Scientific bodies like the international Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have access to vast amounts of baseline data relating to the subject - although critics points out that the information available is mostly from the North, leaving the concerns of the south largely unrepresented. The newly-constituted eco-panel will have to take all these aspects into account. For instance, it will have to ensure that data collection is more representative of the regions of the world. Today, we have the advantage of sourcing data from remote sensing satellites as well. The information thus gathered would have to be sorted out and analyzed by specialists and also by generalists before the panel comes out with specific periodic predictions, prescriptions and warnings. The healing process can begin only if all the scientific evidence and direction is made available to a wide audience and not just restricted to policy makers. Rather than depending solely upon governments to listen to and take corrective action, the focus should now be on convincing individuals and communities whose collective or individual action will eventually make the difference between regression and recovery.

Ans: When it comes to the health of the planet-earth, it’s not only global warming we should hinge upon. There are several other factors we should take in to account while making assessment of the earth.

The fact is that nearly two-thirds of Earth’s life-supporting ecosystems, including clean water, pure air, and stable climate, are being degraded by unsustainable use. It’s true that level of global warming has sent shock waves all across the world. But environmental assessment on the basis of rising temperature is not enough to understand the whole picture. Use of fertilizers and loss of biodiversity and the likes are some major issue.

With this purpose in view an eco-panel was set up in 2001. It will collect data on a massive scale to reach a conclusion as to how to maintain ecological balance.

At the same time there is no denying the fact that we are the significant force behind much of the change to Earth’s systems, those effects can come back and impact us through our health and changing environmental conditions that we must adapt to.

Data taken from different sources including satellites can give feedback so valuable for us. Some scientists say that we have already reached the limits of what our planet can support and that we need to curb population growth for the health of our species and the planet.

Answer : No amount of improvement and reconstruction in education will bear much fruit if our schools and colleges are undermined by indiscipline. An impartial examination makes it clear that students and teachers alike need more of the spirit of discipline. If proper education is to be given, acts of indiscipline prevalent in our educational institutions have to be checked. Indiscipline may take the shape of group indiscipline or individual indiscipline.

Group indiscipline is the worse of the two. While as individuals many of our students are as good as students elsewhere, the tendency to group indiscipline has increased in recent years. Many causes have led to this group indiscipline. For various reasons under a foreign regime, acts of indiscipline became frequent, often necessitated by the political activities, which were launched against a foreign government. While there may have been justification for such indiscipline under different political circumstances, we feel that there is no justification on for such acts of indiscipline after the attainment of independence.

The democratic constitution which the country has adopted permits the redressing of grievances through democratic machinery. It would be against all principles of democracy if such acts of indiscipline were to continue.

The real purpose of education is to train youth to discharge the duties of citizenship properly. All other objectives are incidental. Discipline, therefore, should be the responsibility of parents, teachers, the general public and the authorities concerned. There are some positive factors promoting discipline. The Indian student’s natural tendency is to be disciplined. It is only when forces act strongly on him that he may sometimes be led astray. He appreciates rules and is normally inclined to abide by them. Much can be done to encourage this trend in school and college life. Personal contact between teacher and pupil is essential. Emphasis is also to be laid on the role of the class teacher or tutorial guide in promoting general discipline and the welfare of the pupils. Further a greater responsibility should devolve upon the students themselves in the maintenance of discipline.

Nothing is more calculated to develop a proper sense of self-discipline and proper behaviour than their enforcement, not by any outside authority with any symbol of punishment but by the students themselves. They should choose their own representatives to see that proper codes of conduct are observed.

Another important method of bringing home to pupils the value of discipline is through group games. It is on the playing fields that the virtue of playing the game for its own sake and the team spirit can be cultivated. Such extracurricular activities as Boy Scouts, Girl Guides, the National Cadet Corps, Junior Red Cross and Social Service activities will promote a proper spirit of discipline. The building up of a truly harmonious and united form of community life should be the endeavour of all progressive educational institutions.

Besides these positive factors, certain negative factors also promote discipline. The discipline of the youth of any country depends upon the discipline that is exercised by the elders. It is a well - known fact that in all democracies election time is a time of feverish activity not always conducted in the healthiest spirit, and the utilization by politicians of immature minds like students for purposes of electioneering campaigns, with or without slogans attached thereto, is not calculated to promote sound discipline among students. It should be considered an election offence for any member or party to utilize the services of pupils under the age of 17 in political or civic campaigns.

Besides, while the educative value of leading politicians addressing our students from time to time may be readily admitted, the tendency often is for the leaders not to speak to the audience before hem but to a wider audience whose attention they wish to attract through the press. It is not necessary that every speech made by a politician should be a political speech. Lastly, discipline among students can only be promoted if there is discipline among the staff. The teacher and the educational administrator should realize that their activities are all being watched by their pupils. To what extent, therefore, both in their personal conduct and in their general attitude to all problems concerning their country, they have to realize that there are limitations within which they must act for the best interests of education. Ultimately, it is the school or college atmosphere and the quality of the teachers there that ensure proper codes of conduct and discipline among our students.

Ans: Discipline is the key to success - this saying holds true for all times and for all people of all age groups. But for students it holds a great value. Schools are responsible for instilling in our youth the behaviors that are required to sustain society.To achieve this goal, schools must identify what is acceptable behavior and what is unacceptable behavior. The latter would be incomplete without also specifying what consequences these bring. To a great degree, the level of effectiveness of this approach determines how successfully a school can teach academics.

Safe, orderly high achieving schools require the collaboration and support of students, staff, parents, and the community. Thus staff, and parents should also play a part in this exercise.

This parent component may be coordinated with other programs as a part of the school’s overall plan for involving parents. At a student’s level, where there is cut-throat competition and time is extremely precious, these can prove to be real obstacles to overcome. Therefore self-discipline is something students should aim to achieve.

Environment in schools also matters a lot for students and obviously responsibility lies on the school administration an also teacher-student relationships. School discipline practices are generally informed by theory from psychologists and educators. And accordingly positive approach is grounded in teachers’ respect for students. It instills in students a sense of responsibility by using youth/adult partnerships to develop and share clear rules, provide daily opportunities for success, and administer in-school suspension for noncompliant students.

Answer : It has been estimated than the human population of 600 B.C. was about five million people, taking perhaps one million years to get there from two and a half million. The population did not reach 500 million until almost 8,000 years later-about 1650 A.D. This means it doubled roughly once every thousand years or so. It reached a billion people around 1850, doubling in some 200 years. It took on1y 80 years or so for the next doubling, as the population reached two billion around 1930. We have not completed the next doubling to four billion yet, but we now have well over three billion people. The doubling time at present seems to be about 37 years. Quite a reduction in doubling times: 1,000,000 years, 1,000 years, 200 years, 80 years, 37 years.

One of the most ominous facts of the current situation is that roughly 40% of the population of the undeveloped world is made up of people under 15 years old. As that mass of young people moves into its reproductive years during the next decade, we’re going to see the greatest baby boom of all time. Those youngsters are the reason for all the ominous predictions for the year 2000. They are the gun-powder for the population explosion.

How did we get into this bind? It all happened along time ago, and the story involves the process of natural selection, the development of culture, and mans swollen head. The essence of success in evolution is reproduction.... for reproduction is the key to winning the evolutionary game. Physiological process or pattern of behaviour that leads to greater reproductive success will tend to be perpetuated.

The entire process by which man developed involves thousands of millenia of our ancestors being more successful breeders than their relatives. Facet number one of our bind-the urge to reproduce has been fixed in us by billions of years of evolution.

Of course, through all those years of evolution our ancestors were fighting a continual battle to keep the birth rate ahead of the death rate. That they were successful is attested to by our very existence, for, if the death rate had overtaken the birth rate for any substantial period of time, the evolutionary line leading to man would have gone extinct. Among our apelike ancestors, a few million years ago, it was still very difficult for a mother to rear her children successfully. Most of the offspring died before they reached reproductive age. The death rate was near the birth rate. Then another factor entered the picture - cultural evolution was added to biological evolution.

Of course, in the early days the whole system did not prevent a very high mortality among the young, as well as among the older members of the group. Hunting and food-gathering is a risky business. Cave men had to thrive very impressive cave bears out of their caves before the men could move in. Witch doctors and shamans had a less than perfect record at treating wounds and curing disease. Life was short, if not sweet. Man’s total population size doubtless increased slowly but steadily as human populations expanded out of the African cradle of our species.

Then about 8,000 years ago a major change occurred - the agricultural revolution. People began to give up hunting food and settled down to grow it. Suddenly some of the risk was removed from life. The chances of dying of starvation diminished greatly in some human groups. Other threats associated with the nomadic life were also reduced, perhaps balanced by new threats of disease and large scale warfare associated with the development of cities. But the overall result was a more secure existence than before and the human population grew more rapidly. Around 1800, when the standard of living in what are today the developed countries was dramatically increasing due to industrialization, population growth really began to accelerate. The development of medical science was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Ans: The pre-agricultural period is the first period of human population growth. This period is considered anything before 10,000 years ago. During the pre-agricultural period, human population growth was very slow, and it took tens of thousands of years for the human population to double. The agricultural period is the second period of human population growth. This period ranges from 10,000 years ago to about 1,000 years ago. During this time period, the human population started to grow more rapidly due to advances in agriculture.

The industrial period was the third period of human population growth. This period is from 1,000 years ago to current day and is characterized by advances in technology.As a result of the technological advances of the industrial period, the human population grew at a rapid pace. Although the most commonly discussed characteristics of a population have to do with births and deaths, there is one important characteristic that combines these statistics. This characteristic is the population’s age structure, which is the distribution of the population based on age categories. Population of this age structure is large in developing countries-an obvious reason of population explosion.

By the way it is the development in the field of medical science that has contributed to the rising pace of population growth. At the same time the role of the psychological angle or the behavior pattern in the growth of population cannot be ruled out.