Vipaasana

(Content by Aishwarya. Edited by me.)           Technology and globalisation have led to a major progress in the world although not without demerits. Advances in the field of medicine, agriculture, industry, etc. can be attributed to the technological prowess. Artificial intelligence was believed to take the place of professionals like doctors, teachers, engineers, etc. Robotics, coding and such were being taught as main subjects in colleges. The world was set to take off into a technological revolution.      After the pandemic broke out, life became unpredictable. Depression, Domestic Violence, Suicides, Frustration and in some cases death soared high among the so called "SUCCESSFUL POPULATION". Their emotional stability was tested to its upper threshold and this, questioned the norms of their lifestyle and values. Social network became the new norm of communication among family and friends. Social distancing and cleanliness norms became emp...

     It's common in this multipolar world to form relationships and alliances with many countries. The uncertainty created by multipolarity is itself enough to suggest the changing relationships between the nations. There are no permanent friends or foes in this world of diplomacy and everything seems to be fair.      The whole world has been acknowledging the Chinese aggression factor as a cause for concern to global peace and stability. China must tread along careful lines as it might be creating a sense of hatred not among the governments of the world but among the people of countries belonging to diverse socio-economic and cultural backgrounds. People's vendetta is a very dangerous concern for any nation. Lessons can be learnt from Germany of how people reacted to Versailles treaty after the First World War by supporting hitler and the rest is  history !       Many international organisations are taking note of Chinese behaviour...

    It was in 1945 that the Cold War took its root between USA and USSR which created a lot of tension and uncertainty to the global stability along with huge amount of mistrust and hatred between the two power blocks. If China and USA are moving towards this then it is a dangerous path that can lead to war if unchecked and has global consequences.      Until 1991 when the USSR disintegrated, it was a bipolar world. After 1991 the world was unipolar with only USA being a big power and holding a diplomatic upper hand on almost all issues of the world. At the break of 21st century, many developing countries have strived and lifted themselves from utter poverty and started challenging the unipolar world order. Among those China is the most successful example which today is a power to reckon and in many ways rivals the US whether it is politically, economically, militarily or diplomatically. How did an Asian country which was hitherto considered as unchanging a...

     It is in the time of crisis that we feel the pinch of everything. Small things which used to be so common to be noticed will become rare and highly invaluable. The present health care is suffering now from this type of systemic problem.     Humans like all other species are prone to different kinds of diseases which can generate both from within like genetic diseases and also can originate from the nature outside us. Broadly these can be classified into communicable and non communicable diseases. After gaining considerable control over the communicable diseases through the invention of vaccines and drugs, our focus in the post modern world was on non communicable diseases which will be individual specific. But time made us dwelve very deep into this subject that over a period we started ignoring communicable diseases. This slowly developed as a systemic problem and today we are facing the brunt of this mistake during the pandemic.      T...

    Cold War is a kind of unhealthy competition between countries in terms of technology, arms race, conquest, trade and other diplomatic ties which if unchecked can lead to an actual war leading to disastrous consequences. Today we might be witnessing a bitter Cold War between the US and China.      Each nation will have ambitions for growth and development. In pursuance of these goals, sometimes the nations lose themselves and develop an excessive egocentric approach towards other countries. This ego further aggravates into self-enduring selfishness without the concern for others. China and US are on path of degradation and moral destruction in this nuclear armed world.      The Chinese have an aggressive stand towards all its neighbours including the South China Sea claims. They are trying to increase their presence in the Indian Ocean region to have a strategic advantage over the trade. China has been using development of infrastructure a...

     Ideology is a false conception of reality. It is a process where the brain hypnotises itself to see events/things from the angle which it wants to believe. Slowly ideology builds rigidity within a person and hides the truth.      Absoluteness in this world is a myth. We all live in an imagined reality of what is right and what is wrong. Lets say that there was a parallel universe and life existed there. Would they believe in what we believe as right or wrong? Would they have a concept of god? Would they cherish the same life goals as us? Its all circumstantial. Circumstance decides the outcome. Lets say that we are taken back in time to a situation which we have already experienced in our past, would we make the same choice?      We have to realise that the world is binary. There are opposites which maintain a subtle balance in the universe. We cannot understand light if we don't know dark. What is right or wrong is decided by that parti...

    The addiction to have control over things is sanctified by power. Power gives the required control and access to resources which can be utilised in pursuance of goals. The goals depends on the vulnerability of the individual to defect from moral principles. The more the vulnerability, the more the probability of defecting and more the degree of vested interests involved in goals.      Criminalisation of politics is one of the most hideous issues in governance. The fact that almost 40 percent of the politicians in our country have criminal record is mind blowing. Politics and crime goes hand in hand and is difficult to differentiate and delineate between the criminals and politicians.      A person having a criminal background will be more prone to deviate from the morals than with the one with a clean sheet. Its not that the person with clean sheet is not corruptible over time, but there is a hope. While it is not to say that a person wit...

     A country is defined by a boundary which may consist of different cultures, religion or ethnicity but yet identify with the nation as a whole. Within its domain, national interest is what contributes to the unity, integrity and well being of a nation.      National interest is a dynamic concept which changes with respect to time and space. For example, at the time of independence there was a severe shortage of food and famines were common. So the national interest of the day was food security. National interest need not be individual and isolated. It can be a group of interests to be achieved simultaneously.      Today, national interest consists of a number of goals to be achieved keeping in view of recent trends in social, economical, political and technological developments. Handling the pandemic is one of the national interest. Then after the standoffs with China, along with handling the pandemic, protecting the border is also a nati...

     Technology has been in the forefront in human evolution. Vaccines and immunology have contributed a large part in increasing our life span. We were able to survive a series of deadly infections by bacteria and virus with a breakthrough in vaccines and drugs.      The development of vaccine and the actual availability of vaccine to the patients usually takes time which maybe months or years. But in the situation of a pandemic where the virus is able to adapt itself beautifully to all kinds of environment, the more the delay, more the panic and more the death. Vaccines need to be developed, researched and tested in order to ensure their safety and efficacy.       Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT) is the gold standard used to test the efficacy of the vaccine. RCT usually compares between a new drug and a previous drug or between two existing drugs. It usually has  samples consisting of similar groups so that the difference in the ...

     Today, we live in this capitalist, industrial, globalised, urbanised, post-modern and hyper-monetised world. The life style that we choose is essentially materialistic without giving the needed attention to the inner world. The cravings of the outer world is in a constant flux and happiness has become just a moment to enjoy with it.      As we all know that happiness is a state of mind and yet we crave happiness from outside world. We are aware that this happiness derived from external world is temporary, but yet we intend for this momentary feeling. Why do we get stuck in this never ending cycle even though we are aware? Maybe, perhaps we have not thought about it seriously as long as we can enjoy the momentary pleasure. The momentary pleasure gives a hike in the endorphin level and its impulsive. It vanishes away making us addicted to it. Even though we are aware of diminishing marginal utility where a favourite object over fed will lead to dampening...

     It is fascinating to watch a movie where a hero plays a bad cop and show off to the world how he thrives. But in real life, it is a disaster if police are dirty minded. It is not correct to say every cop behaves in the same way, but nonetheless even one is enough to tarnish the image of police in the eyes of the public.      Police are civil servants. Their job legally is to maintain law and order but as a human they need to act humanely. Being a public servant is not an easy job. Power brings responsibility and the job has to be  carried on with values such as sympathy, empathy and compassion for the general public. The police should be a role model of the society endowed with values and principles.      The training of the police along with physical fitness must embed with each individual emotional intelligence and the value of a human being. The recent horrific event of custodial death is a very serious event where the police mis...

     To have a digital infrastructure without security and privacy protection is like inviting a thief to steal from us. India along with the world is on the verge of digitising into an uncertain future where hacking, manipulating data, planting virus, malware, worms, trojans, spyware and so on becomes very common and the privacy of individuals and security of organisations including the country becomes paramount.      In this transition, we are about to witness many ups and downs concerning various issues. While some of the nations like China have developed state of the art technology like quantum computing and quantum communication using the concept of quantum entanglement, India is now toddling with supercomputers and digital communication. Due to the difference in technology; the cost, quantity and quality of any service will vary and this will give rise to a competition which we cannot compete with if we don't take steps now.      Hackin...

     In the world of diplomacy, soft power and hard power are two tools used to maintain relationship between two countries. Both of them are used together in a combined manner by each and every country. Only the ratio varies from one country to another.      Hard power includes the use of force either military or economical while soft power refers to the use of a shared culture, diaspora and a common belief system. When there is much less in common between the nations, then hard power comes to play. China, over a period of time has systematically destroyed its ancient culture and mainly rely today on hard power. As we saw in the article "Chinas path of hegemony"  https://sriroopbk.blogspot.com/2020/06/chinas-path-of-hegemony.html , China is using its hard power(economical) to control the South Asian nations using a debt trap in the name of development, trade and connectivity. It has been using hard power(military) to claim islands in South China Sea l...