What can we do to eradicate poverty?

Points to be known:-

• In 1991, there are 150 million Indians who claim themselves to be of the poor. In 2001, the number rises up to 230 million Indians.
• According to UNICEF “Every 3.6 seconds one person dies of starvation”.
• In India if the family's income is not at least $1 per day, they are considered as poor.

Causes:-

• Increase in population.
• Illiteracy.
• Unemployment.
• Big families.
• Lack of motivation.
• Spending their little money for drinking, smoking instead of saving.
• Some people cannot work. For example old aged, Some handicapped person.
• Natural disasters such as floods, cyclone and drought.
• Laziness.
• Some rural areas have less communication with cities due to lack of transport facilities.
• Instability of Govt.
• Corruption.
• Poor health.
• Unequal distribution of land and resources. 
• Gambling.

Solutions:-

• Education must be free of cost in rural areas.
• We should motivate them to start self-employment, and to utilize their skills( Govt. is already providing free training programs to improve skills) etc.
• Through medical and health programs.
• Govt. must provide water facilities, roads in the rural areas.
• It's better to not encourage them to be lazy, by donating money to them. There is a saying that "The worst thing you can do to eradicate poverty is start giving the poor people free rides".
• Increase in number of jobs.
• Govt. must pass a rule for having a limit to the land owned by the family.
• Govt. must increase the number of training institutes in rural areas. Because “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”
• Through awareness programs about reducing population. Some poor people are remaining in poverty because of more no. of children.
• Awareness programs about the consequences of smoking and drinking, and about saving money. Money saved is the money earned.
• We should not encourage child labor.
• Awareness programs about conserving rain water.
• The black money which is in swiss bank at present, must be taken by Govt. and it should be utilized for eradicating poverty.
• we should not encourage beggars.

Conclusion:-
               
             Poverty can be be totally eradicated, if govt. and as well as we have a strong will to do so.

We are not serious about saving Wildlife/Environment.

Causes:-

• Pollution.
• Deforestation.
• Dumping industrial wastage in water leading to water pollution.
• Almost everyone know how to protect environment. But only some of them are practically following.
• Increased plastic usage.
• Hunting.
• Reduction of resources because of population growth.
• Negligence of some municipality officers.
• Usage of fertilizers having chemicals for crops.

Results:-

• So many animal and bird species are losing their existence. Next species which is going to lose its existence is human beings.
• We are breathing polluted air and we are taking polluted food.
• New diseases.

Solutions:-

• Planting trees and protecting trees, which are already there.
• Increase in the number of wild life sanctuaries and maintaining them properly.
• Afforestation. Govt. should take action on those, who are causing deforestation, hunting and smuggling.
• Every municipality dept. must work honestly.
• Spreading about the methods of water conservation and usage of natural fertilizers for crops.

Conclusion:-

            Everybody and also Govt.must have a will to save our environment. We should remember that environment is not only trees, water and air but also all animal species together makes environment.

Voting rights to illiterates in India is illogical because it is widely misused.

In Favor:-

• Illiterate people can easily mis-leaded by some politicians, who pay for the vote.
• Illiterate people have more chances to be mis-leaded by the false promises given by some political leaders.
• Some illiterate people don't know about voting, and some don't go for voting even if they know about it. So, chances for rigging is increasing.

In Against:-

• India is a democratic country. Everybody should be treated equally. So, Voting Right should be there for illiterate too.
• Even though they are illiterate, they know who are concentrating to increase their standard of living and who are just concentrating on power.
• Even educated people may be mislead by false promises given by some political leaders.
• If there is no voting right for illiterate, they may feel as neglected and there are chances of forming anti- govt. groups which are a threat for country.

Conclusion:-
             Voting right should be there for every major as everybody has equal rights. We are all living in one society. So, they can understand what is right and what is good. But some people may be mislead. The best solution for this is to create political awareness in illiterate.

Should euthanasia / mercy killing be legalized?

Points to be known:-

• Euthanasia means the painless killing of a patient suffering from an incurable and painful disease or an irreversible coma.
• Euthanasia is of two types, one is active and another is passive. Passive Euthanasia means stopping the treatment which is of no use and allowing the patient to die peacefully. Active Euthanasia means injecting the poison to make the patient die.
• Determining Euthanasia has two cases. One is the person is able to express his willingness to die because of unbearable pain. And the second case is the patient is being in coma and unable to express his views, in that case patient's relatives and doctors have to take the decision.
• In Netherlands, both active and passive euthanasia are legalized. In United Kingdom, only passive euthanasia is legalized. In remaining countries, it isn't legalized.
• Earliest story of euthanasia is found in the Talmud (Avoda Zara 18). One of the ten martyrs, Rabbi Hanina ben Teradyon, was burnt at the stake holding a Torah scroll. His students stood around and said to him, “Rebbe, open your mouth. Let the flames and smoke enter your body and choke you so that you will die quicker and not suffer this terrible torture.” He said, “No. God gave me my soul. Only He should retrieve it from me.”

In Favor:-

• It should be allowed, if there is no hope of life and the pain is so high. And It should be decided at least two qualified doctors. 
• It should be legalized to the patients who are in 'persistent vegetative state' ( the state of patients who are living through ventilators and there is no ray of hope).

In Against:-

• Science and technology is increasing rapidly, there is a chance of inventing medicines for incurable diseases too.
• If euthanasia is legalized, some doctors won't think of alternatives for living.
• By legalizing this, many people may think as suicide is legalized. They easily go for suicide even for small difficulties.
• If the patient is not in a state to express his/her views, his/her relatives may choose euthanasia for him/her for their selfish reasons.

Conclusion:-

                 It should be legalized if the pain of the patient's pain is intolerable and there is no chance to survive, but with strict rules like more than two doctors conformation and the patient's family acceptance. However, Doctors should try for their life up to maximum possibility. Because Life is a gift of God. It should not be taken by us.

Should agricultural subsidies be stopped?

Points to be known:-

• Agricultural subsidies are the financial assistance to farmers through government-sponsored price-support programs.
• Agricultural subsidies are started to reduce the volatility of prices for farm products and to increase, or at least stabilize, farm income.

In Favor:-

• It's becoming a burden for government.
• Agricultural subsidies distort free trade, damage the local environment.
• A lot of agricultural subsidies go into corn-based bio-fuels instead of fruits and vegetables. Corn-based bio-fuels are not good for environment and health.
• Subsidizing diesel for agriculture encourages excessive tillage and discourages to improve soil and moisture conservation.

In Against:-

• 60% of Indian economy is from agricultural based industries. So, we should give more importance to agriculture.
• It will be difficult for farmers to keep the total investment for crop. As a result farmers may change their career. It'll be a biggest disadvantage for India.
• Because of agricultural subsidies, the price of food products will be in control.
• United States and Europe countries have subsidies for agriculture. So, if India stops agricultural subsidies, then there will be a risk of importing under-priced food from these countries.
• Through agricultural subsidies, more numbers of fields will be utilized. So, the Indian economy increases.
• There are so many cases of suicide of farmers which we are seeing regularly because of lack of support from government.

Conclusion:-
                  Agricultural subsidies should not be stopped, because many farmers can't handle the burden of total investment. It'll be nice if government provide these subsidies to the farmers, who deserve it not to the rich.

Social networking sites - Boon or Bane?

Points to be known:-

• There is no need to say about social networking sites(SNS) to the present generation. Everyone is much aware about Facebook, Orkut etc which are the examples of social networking sites.
• Social networking was started on the internet in the form of generalized online communities to group the people having same interests and to share their ideas.
• The first recognizable social networking site is SixDegrees.com which was launched in 1997.
• Till now, there are more than 200 social networking sites are in the internet.
• In 2011, based on research, the global average of who access daily the social networking sites accounts is 46%.
• Facebook, launched in 2004, has become the largest social networking site in the world.

In Favor:-

• We can keep in touch with friends in today's busy world.
• We can improve ourselves by sharing our ideas,information and knowledge and by discussing with the people, who have same interests, even if they are so many miles away from us.
• Teachers and professors are making groups to extend classroom discussion to posting assignments, tests and quizzes, to assisting with homework outside of the classroom setting.
• Many companies are developing interactive communities that connect individuals to share business needs & experiences.
• Students are making a network with professionals for job opportunities and internships.
• We can find our friends easily, if we lost contact.
• Generally social networking sites have a positive atmosphere. For example, Facebook sends notification, if they are on the top their friend's lists, but it don't send notification, if they were removed as a friend by another person. So there is a least chance for the person to know that.

In Against:-

• Many people are getting addicted to the social networking sites that they are preferring online conversation rather than face-to-face. It'll effect communication skills, relationships and even mental health.
• Some children are playing games on social networking sites with their friends, and they are not at all concentrating on the physical activities. It'll have a effect on their physical and mental health.
• Privacy is an important issue in the drawbacks of SNS. Some people are using other person's personal information for variety of purposes.
• There is a high risk for children and teenagers to be mislead by SNS.
• Gossips and rumors spread soon.
• Spending in front of computer for long hours creates so many health problems.

Conclusion:-

               

                   Social networking sites are a boon in today's world. And it completely depends on us how we use them, whether to improve ourselves or to degrade. But children and teenagers must be guided by their parents and well-wishers as they don't know what is good and what is bad. And everyone, who are using SNS should take care about their personal information. Life will be great, if we spend less time on social networking sites and more time in the real world.

Role of UN in Peace keeping.

Points to be known:-

• The United Nations is an international Non-governmental organization founded on 24 October 1945 after the Second World War by 51 countries committed to maintaining international peace and security, developing friendly relations among nations and promoting social progress, better living standards and human rights.
• Peacekeeping is one among a range of activities undertaken by the United Nations to maintain international peace and security throughout the world. It began in 1948 and led by the 'Department of Peacekeeping Operations' (DPKO), and works to create the conditions for lasting peace in a country, torn by conflict.
• It has participated in 64 peacekeeping missions in total, around the world.
• The UN played a role in bringing about independence in more than 80 countries that are now sovereign nations.
• As of 28 February 2011, UN workforce consisted of
  • 84,342 serving troops and military observers.
  • 14,521 police personnel.
  • 114 countries contributed military and police personnel.
  • Over 5,500 international civilian personnel.
  • Nearly 13,700 local civilian staff.
  • 2,387 UN Volunteers.
• The UN does not have its own military force. It depends on contributions from Member States (192).
• There are currently 15 UN peace operations deployed in four continents.
• There are more than 10,000 peacekeepers. Among them 118 are Indians.
• In addition to maintaining peace and security, peacekeepers are increasingly charged with assisting in political processes, reforming judicial systems, training law enforcement and police forces, disarming and reintegrating former combatants, supporting the return of internally displaced persons and refugees. 
• Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish are the UN official languages.
• However, UN is facing criticism regarding corruption and abuse and some other things.

Conclusion:-

                  UN has a great effect on international peace. But, there are some arguments regarding contribution of military forces from different countries. To change the world, it need to change itself too. It's better if it has it's own military force.

Role of NGOs in India

Points to be known:-

• A Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) or Non-Profit Organization (NPO) is a legally constituted organization which is operated by legal persons who act independently from any government.
• NGOs have volunteers and employees working towards ideological, rather than financial ends.
• NGOs wok for a wide variety of causes that aims to bring about the change in the life of people for a greater cause.
• Different NGOs work for different causes in different ways.
• NGOs  work for increasing literacy and helping poor people to increase their quality of life, and helping the people who are attacked by environmental hazards, guiding people about their rights and for many other good causes.
• The number of internationally operating NGOs is around 40,000.
• In India number of national NGOs is around 3.3 million.
• After the Independence Mahatma Gandhi made a plea for transforming the 'Indian National Congress' to 'Lok Sevak Sangh' (Public Service Organization). But this plea was not accepted. Later, Gandhi followers started voluntary agencies to work on social issues. Thereby NGOs were started in India.
• The no. of NGOs increased in the time of 1960s as people felt that the government projects are inadequate to deal with the development of deprived sections of India.
• In 1980 in Sixth Five Year Plan (1980-1985), the government identified new areas in which NGOs as new actors could participate in development. They are,
  • Optimal utilization and development of renewable source of energy.
  • Family welfare, health and nutrition, education.
  • Health for all programs.
  • Water management and soil conservation.
  • Social welfare programs for weaker sections.
  • Implementation of minimum needs program.
  • Disaster preparedness and management (i.e. for earthquakes, floods, cyclones, etc).
  • Promotion of ecology and tribal development.
  • Environmental protection and education.
• In the next Five year plans, a greater emphasis has been laid on the role of voluntary organizations in rural development and poverty.
•  International NGOs started around the year 1839. It has been estimated that there were 1083 NGOs by the year 1914. But the phrase 'Non Government Organizations' only became popular when 'United Nations Organizations' was established in the year 1945.
• The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are eight international development goals that all 193 United Nations member states and at least 23 international organizations have agreed to achieve by the year 2015. The Govt and NGOs together making progress to achieve these goals. The goals are
  • Eradicating extreme poverty and hunger,
  • Achieving universal primary education,
  • Promoting gender equality and empowering women
  • Reducing child mortality rates,
  • Improving maternal health,
  • Combating HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases,
  • Ensuring environmental sustainability, and
  • Developing a global partnership for development.

Conclusion :-

         

                The involvement of NGOs in social challenges has a great effect on developing countries. The more financial support and the more no. of volunteers will greatly help in achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

Relevance of Gandhi in modern world.

Why Gandhi is relevant in modern world?

• In modern world violence is increasing rapidly.
• Nuclear weapons and terrorism are becoming common in this modern world.
• So many people are getting more and more divided into national, religious and ethnic compartments.

                         We need guidance and the direction to save the world from this desperate situation. In this situation, Gandhi is becoming more and more relevant because of his ideology,non-violence and so many good things, which should be learned by all.

Things we should learn from Gandhiji:-

• Non-violence:- Gandhiji practically proved that anyone can win through non-violence.
• Speak truth always.
• Let your life be your message:- Live your life the best way you can. Improve yourself by learning from your mistakes.
• Do the right thing and Fear Nobody.
• Lead a simple, stress-free life:- Gandhiji used to ware simple dresses and simple things, which are required to live peacefully. he lead a simple and stress-free life.
• Learn from your mistakes.
• Eat simple food:- Gandhiji used to take a balanced diet and he is a pure vegetarian.
• Keep trying and do not lose confidence in yourself. 
• Equality:- Gandhiji used to say that everyone must be treated equally regardless of their place, religion, sex and money.
• Do not submit to injustice from anyone.
• Unity is strength:- Gandhiji is the leader of the masses. He used to talk with people directly and he used to say 'Let's fight together'.
• Be the change you wish to see in the world.
• Stand for an idea:- If you believe in something, just stand for that in whatever situation. 
• Believe in yourself.
• Forgive:- An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind.
• Do not bear ill will toward anyone.
• Reduce, reuse and recycle:- “There is enough in the world for everyone’s need, but not for everyone’s greed”.
• Be humble, whichever position you have.
• Start today:- “The difference between what we do, and what we are capable of doing, would solve most of the world’s problems”.
• Accumulate little:- By possessing fewer things our life automatically becomes simpler.

Conclusion:-

               To the Indians, Gandhi gave a democratic nation. And to the world he showed that how the politicians should be. He practically proved that we can win without doing violence. He taught so much to the world. We should learn from Gandhiji's principles. Let's learn the good things from Gandhiji and lead a peaceful and successful Life.

Privatization will lead to less corruption.

Points to be known:-

• Privatization is the incidence or process of transferring ownership of a business, enterprise, agency or public service from the public sector to the private sector.

In Favor:-

• Employees of private companies are given high salaries, so they are much more motivated to work, and less interest on corruption.
• Private companies take immediate action on those who take bribe. This creates fear in employees to take bribe.
• If we take private airports, they take more care to keep them clean and to provide more facilities.
• Private companies have competitive spirit. So, they offer more features to public.
• Through privatization, our country's GDP increases from the taxes.

In Against:-

• There is no guarantee that privatization leads to less corruption, because there are some companies in the news which did scam.
• The cost of products increases by privatization.
• If we take private petrol bunks, even though they keep petrol bunks clean, they charge high than the bunks under government control.
• Our rights of demanding decreases by privatization.

Conclusion:-

                 Corruption does not depend on whether it's private or government, it completely depends on individual's attitude. But by privatization, we can reduce corruption up to some extent.

Present Education System in India

Drawbacks :-

• Present education system focuses more on scores rather than knowledge.
• It's having 90% theoretical subjects. Even remaining 10% practical subjects are of limited experiments and of expected output.
• There is no scope for students to do experiments on their own.
• Some colleges are not conducting practicals. Instead, they are giving full marks and allotting that time to mug up theoretical subjects.
• In the end, students are coming out of schools and colleges only having bookish knowledge in the mind as the method of learning doesn't connect to reality.
• There is so much meaningless pressure on students because of the too much competitive spirit in between private institutions.
• Children in school are not being guided well about careers. They hardly know about what the options available in career except doctors and engineers. Because of that they are taking courses of their parent's choice (mostly) after coming out of schools. They even don't know what career options available with that course.
• Many schools are not concentrating on extra curricular activities. This may lead to the false assumption in children that only education is important in life.
• Some teachers are giving marks based on the no. of papers rather than the content. Thereby students will try to fill papers instead of focusing on to write the actual answer. 

Solutions :-

• Teachers must say the purpose of education to the children of school level.
• Teachers must encourage the children to understand the concept and to write it in their own words in exam.
• Every theoretical subject must have practicals if possible.
• Communication skills and reasoning must be a subject from school level.
• There must be seminars and projects from schooling to make students understand the subjects rather than mugging up.
• Personality development classes and extra curricular activities must be compulsory.
• Jobs should be provided based on knowledge rather than percentages.
• In practical examinations, marks should be given for the process rather than output.
• The method of teaching and lessons in subjects must be modified. They must be in a way to understand real world.
• Career guidance must be there in schooling.

Conclusions :-
                  
                        Govt. must concentrate on modifying the education system to give wonderful life for students. There is a role of educational institutions too to improve the method of teaching.

Nuclear Energy in India - Boon or Bane?

Points to be known:-

• Nuclear power is the fourth-largest source of electricity in India after thermal, hydroelectric and renewable sources of electricity.
• There are 442 nuclear reactors in the world. And some more nuclear plants are in construction.
• As of 2010, India has 20 nuclear reactors in operation in six nuclear power plants, generating 4,780 MW, while 5 other plants are under construction and are expected to generate an additional 2,720 MW.
• India plans to increase nuclear power output to 64,000 MW by 2032. It aims to supply 25% of electricity from nuclear power by 2050.
• Six nuclear power plants in India are located in Kaiga in Karnataka, Kakrapar in Gujarat, Kalpakkam in Tamil Nadu, Narora in Uttar Pradesh, Rawatbhata in Rajasthan, Tarapur in Maharashtra.
• India involved in ITER ( International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor ), which consists European Union, United States, Japan, China,  South Korea, Russia as other members.
• Indo - US nuclear deal was done on July 18th, 2005, under which India agreed to separate its civil and military nuclear facilities and place all its civil nuclear facilities under International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards and, in exchange, the United States agreed to work toward full civil nuclear cooperation with India.

In Favor:-

• Nuclear fission produces energy equal to 10 million times of the energy produced by burning of an atom of fossil fuel or hydro or wind power.
• Through Nuclear plants, we can save our planet from Global warming as there is no release of greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane, ozone, chlorofluorocarbon) during nuclear reaction.
• By burning fossil fuels, poisonous CO2 releases.
• Uranium is obtained from open-cut mines, which is not expensive. And Currently, the high reserves of uranium found on Earth, are expected to last for another 100 years.
• Nuclear fuel is inexpensive and easier to transport.
• Nuclear Energy can be produced in large quantities over short periods of time.
  
• When compared to the fossil fuel waste, the nuclear waste which occurs due to the production of nuclear power is small in quantity.
• We can save oil reserves which are going to be run out at some point. 

In Against:-

• Nuclear plants are dangerous if it explodes. Thousands of people suffered in the nuclear accident happened in Chernobyl in 1986. Recently, on march 11th, 2011, four nuclear reactors exploded in Japan due to earth quake. And there are 17 nuclear plant explosions happened in the world till now.
• Nuclear power releases radiation, which causes severe health problems to the people in it's surroundings. The radiation released by this, lasts for tens of thousands of years in the environment.
• In Japan, at the place of nuclear reactors which are exploded, high radio activity was found in water, leafy vegetables, sea food, and in the people, who are working for reconstruction those power plants now.
• Nuclear reactors last for about 40 to 50 years.
• Terrorists may take advantage of this and may produce nuclear weapons, which is a great risk for entire world.
• Even though it produces small amount of waste, it is highly hazardous. And the long-term storage of this waste is too difficult.
• Nuclear plant is highly expensive.
• Uranium is not renewable. If the resources of uranium are completely used, there isn't any more.

Conclusion:-

            

                   It's definitely a bane as it is highly dangerous. What is the use of this power, when people are suffering from severe health problems. It's not too difficult to live without power, but it's difficult to live without good health. Growth of Technology should not be a danger for human survival. We should work more on alternatives such as solar energy and hydroelectric energies etc.   

Multinational Companies: Are they devils in disguise?

In Against:-

• The main advantage of MNCs is reducing of unemployment.
• India is a developing country. MNCs helping India to become developed country.
• They are helping us to connect with whole world, which is highly necessary for developing countries in present generation.
• Some MNCs are including in social activities.
• They are introducing new products of cost effective.
• The employees of these companies are having high salary.
• Economy of India increases.

In Favor:-

• India has many intelligent people. But the intelligence is not used by India, and using for the development of the other countries.
• Many talented people are settling in foreign countries to work for MNCs.
• The stress of MNC employees is more compared to others. There are many cases of mental health problems in these employees.
• The pay scale of Indian employees of these companies is less compared to foreign employees of the same companies.
• Employees of these companies are working like robots, and not spending their valuable time with their family.
• Some young people are attracted by the high salary and moulding their career wrongly for luxury life.
• In these companies there is least scope of using creativity. Mostly, employees are just following instructions of their superiors.
• By MNCs, local companies are having losses.

Conclusion:-

                 Multinational companies are not disadvantage to our country. India need MNCs to become developed country. But employees of these companies should not take responsibility for overloaded work just for high salary. So that, there can have fulfilment of passion and also fulfilment of personal life.

Media is a mixed blessing/How ethical is media?

Points to be known:-

• Media is about all the ways you can get information — books, e-media, magazines, newspapers, radio, and television.
• In present generation media is playing a very important role.
• Media is a freedom of speech especially in democratic countries.

In Against:-

• Media played a big role in getting independence to India as it created awareness in people.
• Through media, we can know the happenings around us.
• It is the communication from the country to country.
• We can know the jobs available and products available through advertising.
• It helps people to realize their duties.
• It helps citizens realize how people in the army lay their lives to save ours.
• It helps the country fight against issues like terrorism.
• It helps to punish the criminals soon.
• Media is reducing corruption by creating fear to take bribe as it is showing the pictures of the people who are taking bribe.

In Favor:-

• In Mumbai attacks (26/11), media caused increase of the problem. Terrorists were able to see what's happening there, and threw greneds at the commandos.
• Media creates a hype of everything.
• Through media rumors are spreading on celebrities.
• Most of the times their allegations are not true. This puts lives of many people and their career at stake.
• News channels want to create a sensation in order to gain audience attention instead of giving the actual information to the people.
• News channels are showing people, several ways to kill, and rob etc. By this number of criminals is increasing day by day.
• Some politicians are using news channels to show news in their favor. People cannot able to know the actual truth as different channel says the matter differently.
• It is making criminals as celebrities.

Conclusion:-

               Govt. should limit the no. of news channels and must regulate the channels which are already present. Media must be ethical enough to preserve our traditions and culture and Indian values. We can accept Media until it doesn't cross it's limits.

Is WikiLeaks a bane or a boon?

Points to be known:-

• WikiLeaks is an international non-profit organisation that publishes submissions of private, secret, and classified media from anonymous news sources, news leaks and  whistleblowers.
• The website of wikileaks launched in 2006 under The Sunshine Press organization.
• Wikileaks claimed a database of more than 1.2 million documents within a year of its launch.
• Wiki means user-editable software. In the starting, wikileaks allowed to edit its data by users. But later they changed as they will accept data, and it will be published only if they accept. Means they will finalize it.
• Wikileaks's director is Julian Assange, an Australian.
• WikiLeaks founders are of Chinese dissidents, journalists, mathematicians, and start-up company technologists from the United States, Taiwan, Europe, Australia, and South Africa.
• In April 2010, WikiLeaks published gunsight footage from the 12 July 2007 Baghdad airstrike in which Iraqi civilians and journalists were killed by an Apache helicopter, as the Collateral Murder video.
• In July 2010, WikiLeaks released Afghan War Diary, a compilation of more than 76,900 documents about the War in Afghanistan not previously available for public review.
• In October 2010, the group released a package of almost 400,000 documents called the Iraq War Logs in coordination with major commercial media organisations.
• In November 2010, WikiLeaks began releasing U.S. State department diplomatic cables.

In Favor:-

• WikiLeaks has won a number of awards, including The Economist's New Media Award in 2008 and Amnesty International's UK Media Award in 2009.
• Transparency of government is possible.
• freedom of speech.

In Against:-

• Leakage of sensitive government information.
• National security will be in danger.
• Criminals may take advantage of this.
• The leading newspaper of Jamaica, Jamaica Observer, writes in its Editorial: “It is unlikely that the world will remain the same, if WikiLeaks is allowed to prevail in its quest to expose government secrets."

Conclusion:-

               By wikileaks common man knows about government. It's helping to create a better society. But it should not leak some confidential documents which is a threat for the country.

Is the Patents Bill Good for India?

Points to be known:-

• A patent is an exclusive right granted for an invention, which is a product or a process that provides a new way of doing something, or offers a new technical solution to a problem. A patent provides protection for the invention to the owner of the patent for a limited period, generally 20 years.
• The first legislation in India relating to patents was the Act VI of 1856. The objective of this legislation was to encourage inventions of new and useful manufactures and to induce inventors to disclose secret of their inventions.
• In 1952 an amendment was made to provide compulsory license in relation to patents in respect of food and medicines, insecticide, germicide or fungicide and a process for producing substance or any invention relating to surgical or curative devices.
• Indian patent act changed 9 times till now and the latest amendment is in 2005.
• Indian companies that are now producing generic versions of drugs for which patent applications were submitted between the signing of the WTO (World Trade Organization) agreement in 1995 and January 1, 2005 will be allowed to continue doing so only if they pay a “reasonable” royalty to the patent holder. This is an all but ironclad guarantee that the prices of such drugs will increase and increase sharply.
• The latest Amendment (2005) enabled Patent Act to grand Product patent for Pharmaceutical substances and brought deletion of exclusive marketing rights from the act to Meet WTO Treaty. By this, most new medicines (patentable in 1995 or later) will be priced out of reach of the great majority of people in India.

In Favor:-

• Through patent law, the inventor will have a recognition and right over his product. So, this inspires them and also many people to invent something useful.

In Against:-

• If any other person invents the same thing independently but a few days later, he won't have right over that as the person, who already invented it can file a case against him.
• By applying patent law on health related products such as medicines testing equipments, common man suffers as he have to pay extra price.

Conclusion:-

                  In my view patent bill is good for not only India but for every country as it is doing justice for the inventors. But this patent bill should not become an extra burden to common man.

Is Globalization Really Necessary?

Points to be known:-

• Some world historians attach globalization big bang' significance to 1492 (Christopher Colombus stumbles on the Americas in search of spices) and 1498 (Vasco da Gama makes an end run around Africa and snatches monopoly rents away from the Arab and Venetian spice traders).

In Favor:-

• Through Globalization developing countries can become developed countries.
• We can share technologies and inventions.
• We can sell our products all over the world.
• India has resources of skilled manpower. So through globalization other countries invests money in India. And by that our economy increases.
• We can share the medical inversions which helps the patients of dangerous diseases.
• We can exchange resources such as petrol, coal etc.
• People are communicating with the world through their own languages as we can translate everything to our own language. So, their mother tongue will survive.
• We can study fantastic books of foreign authors. 

In Against:-

• Through globalization, poor becomes poorer.
• There is a chance of culture.
• Non-globalized human societies will become extinct species.
• There may be a chance of forgetting their own mother tongue.
• Diseases like swine flu are spreading to other countries through the travelers.
• Due to Globalization unemployment may increases. For example, The people of USA are facing unemployment, because so many people of different countries from all over the world are migrating to USA and doing jobs there.

Conclusion:-

            There are more advantages compared to disadvantages. Nothing is perfect in this world. So we should see the positive side. In today's world Globalization is necessary.

Is FDI good for India?

Points to be known :- 

• Full form of FDI is 'Foreign Direct Investment'.
• FDI can be defined as 'one company can invest on physical means such as lands, factories and mines in another company of another country to acquire lasting management interest'.
• The host company and the company, which is investing together form a 'multinational corporation' (MNC).
• Through FDI, the company, which invests will have control over the host company.

In Favor :- 

• FDI helps in the economic development of the host country (where the investment is being made).
• For origin and host countries, FDI provides access to new technologies, products, skills and organizational and management strategies.
• Employment increases in the host country.
• Origin country (the country which makes the investment) also develops economically.
• Competition increases. So that, with the competitive spirit, every company improves to its best.
• Through FDI in production companies, price reduction is possible.
• FDI is a boon for the small companies to become more actively involved in international business activities.
• Agriculture related people get good price for their goods as middle men will be eliminated.

In Against :-

• With the FDI in retail sector, small companies and merchants will suffer a lot.
• Inflation (the rise in prices over a period of time) may be increased.
• Technological dependence on foreign technology sources.

Conclusion :-

             FDI is good for any country to develop economically and also technologically.

Is dependence on computer a good thing?

In Favor:-

• We can easily store and retrieve data without much risk.
• We can store a lot of information and we can keep authorized access too.
• We are sharing innovations between countries because of computers and internet. The world is developed faster because of computers.
• Computers save a lot of time and money.
• Because of computers and internet one can take any course in any institute through e-learning.
• Books are digitalized and more convenient to carry.
• We can solve complicated problems of maths in just a few seconds.
• We can easily create documents effectively.
• We can make effective presentation to explain a topic.
• We can easily book tickets for travelling and for movies etc.
• We can easily organize files in computers than the hard copies.
• We can watch movies and we can play video games.

In Against:-

• The main disadvantage by depending on computers is taking risk about health. Working with computer most of the day causes stress, visual problems etc.
• Some are living in virtual world because of computers.
• Because of computers unemployment is increasing.
• Information may be stolen by hackers.
• Because of video games in computer, many children are addicted to computer and are being distant from real games.
• We are becoming lazy by depending too much on computers and are being distant from physical activities.
• Writing skills are degrading as many people don't want to write on a paper.
• People are not utilizing their their thinking capability because of computers.
• Crimes also increased because terrorists are also making use of them.

Conclusion:-

            Without computers it wouldn't be possible for the world to become a global village. Computer are a boon for us. We should utilize technology to compete with this fast world. But too much dependency on anything is good for nothing. Every coin has two sides. It's up to us to receive good and to leave bad.