Actor Abhishek Nigam, who hails from Prayagraj, shared that he generally used to go to Anand Bhavan, the historic house museum in the city that focusses on the Nehru Family, in the evening of November 14 every year, since the date marks the birthday of India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

“Since Children’s Day is celebrated as a tribute to Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, we usually went there. We also had celebrations in the school. I still remember, on Children’s Day, we used to get sweets. We were always given a packet of two laddoos after our morning prayer and then our class teacher would give us a samosa treat,” he said.

The best part for him was when the teachers would allow them to have fun in the classroom.

“That one day, we all wanted to stay at school for as long as we could. I miss those days and wish I could go back. If I were given an opportunity to be a child again, I would want to open my lunchbox during classes and have it with my friends quietly. To add to it, I would want to stay carefree and play as much as I can with my friends from school,” said the actor.

Actress Bhavika Sharma also remembers the day as the time they had less of studies and more of fun.

“I remember we used to have a half day of celebration at school, with dancing and eating. So, I used to dance a lot because I love dancing. I wish to become a child again, because that life is without stress, no need to think too much about anything. Childhood is a period when you just need to have fun, play and a little bit of studies. I was a little studious in my childhood but if I get a chance to become a child again, I will definitely use it to be a very notorious one this time. I might also use that opportunity to try all those things, sports, and subjects that I feared as a child,” said the actress.

Actress Gulki Joshi recalls the sweets and good food when she thinks of Children’s Day.

“I think Children’s Day instantly takes me back to the school days when we would get sweets, good food and teachers would be really nice with us that one day. Those were some fun days and I think I still have a child in me and I will never let it grow. Earlier, I also used to go to NGOs for underprivileged kids on Children’s Day and spend time with them but due to tight shoot schedules, I don’t get the time to do that now,” said Gulki.

Looking back at her school days, actress Ashi Singh said on Children’s Day, her teachers used to perform a play and students got chocolates and sweets.

“It used to be so much fun to be pampered by all the teachers that day. I would love to go back to those days and be a child again. If I get a chance to be a child again even for a day, I will utilise the opportunity to live the day to the fullest, without caring or worrying about anything else in this world,” said Ashi.

“It is important to keep the child in us alive because that takes you through some of the tough days. I think this Children’s Day everyone should promise to bring the child within them out and enjoy that feeling to the fullest,” she added.

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Dissatisfaction is an important component that leads to development. A desire to do better, achieve more and have more leads to actions in the concerned direction. However, the definition of development has varied across different ages in different cultures.

According to the World Bank development, it is a process by which people are provided with better lives- physically, economically, environmentally and socially. According to Amartya Sen’s “capability approach” development is a tool which enables people to reach the highest level of their ability.

However, both may not lead to happiness or contentment.

India is a country where people believe that ‘Karma’ is the central part of human life. True liberation comes from detaching oneself from the compulsive need to please your “indriyas” or sense organs. The culture teaches us that what we get in life is a result of our “Karma” in this life as well as those of our previous lives. “Daan” or giving away of alms can redeem our misfortunes to some extent, and so we must be content with our lot in life.

The world is a place where people come and go. Thus, contentment or “santosha”, an ethical concept central to Indian philosophy means being satisfied and comfortable with one’s circumstances in life. It also means understanding and accepting oneself and one’s environment leading to a joyful spiritual state.

In a culture like this, creating awareness about what people lack or emphasizing dissatisfaction to achieve physical and economic development is a herculean task. The question is: What is a better life?

Attainment of physical and economic wellbeing may not hold a lot of charm for people whose culture has inculcated “santosha” in them.

Economic development has led to an increase in urbanisation and higher standards of living all around the world. When technology and infrastructure improve, rural areas become more accessible and diversified and the living environment further improves. However, in a country like India, the philosophy of contentment or “santosha” creates a major hurdle in the path to development.

In a labour surplus country, we are short of labour: a labourer getting Rs. 200 per day under the National Rural Guarantee Program will work for a few hours and be content to stay where he is. He will make no effort to improve himself, earn more and do better for his family as long as his basic needs are met. In spite of the difficult odds that they face, they make huge compromises and are content with them. This attitude of making do with bare necessities has also added to the problem of population in India – in a recent television interview a man from Dharavi – Asia’s largest slum – proudly proclaimed himself to be the father of twelve children.

The problem has been accentuated by the various schemes of the different governments offering grains and other necessities at highly subsidised rates leading to the attainment of the “santosha” level rapidly. Such schemes have been enacted by all political parties for electoral gains – in fact they have all tried to outsmart each other in the process.

The National Food Security Act enacted in July 2013 by the UPA government under the Prime Minister of Dr Manmohan Singh entitled the beneficiaries of the Public Distribution System to five kgs of cereals – at Rs 3 per kg for rice, Rs 2 per kg for wheat and coarse grains at Re 1 per kg. Pregnant women, lactating mothers and certain categories of children are eligible for daily free cereals also.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced a monthly pension of at least Rs 3000 for workers of the unorganised sector after the age of 60. The Direct Cash Transfer Scheme for farmers announced by the Modi government in 2019 aims to transfer Rs 6000 to farmers who have agricultural holding of less than two hectares.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s free electricity and water (free electricity for people consuming 200 units per month and 20,000 litres of free water per month for every household) has been very rewarding electorally.

The outcome of these policies has led to the creation of unproductive labour which is detrimental for the economy.The need to exert oneself to do better does not arise because the level of contentment has been reached. The supply curve starts bending backwards very early as people start substituting leisure for labour leading to losses in production and degradation of skill. The environment thus created is not conducive either for entrepreneurship or hard work.

At some point, the government and the political parties will have to differentiate between welfare schemes and populist policies. They will at some point have to realise that these schemes make citizens irresponsible and lazy and that it is a never-ending trail. The poor will also at some point realise that the corrupt will wipe away the benefits meant for them and that they will continue to suffer as before.

For welfare schemes, rational debates should happen and experts should be called in to help promote the efficient utilisation of scarce public resources. For the betterment of the economy, however, schemes that promote self help and work culture are needed.

We have in India the shining example of Gujarat, a state ravaged by a massive earthquake on January 26, 2001. Though aid poured in, the industrious people of the state helped build back the economy in record time. The work culture was so strong that a little aid went a long way. This is the need of the nation today. With a population of 138 crores a strong work culture may not only make us a super power, it may make us tremendously happy and contented as well. So, let us look at ways to strengthen and promote a strong work  culture and environment.

Dr Misra is Associate Professor at BSNV(PG) College, Lucknow

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The intent and the purpose of the event were to instill moral values and ethics in the young generation and thus create socially responsible Indian citizens. Five schools from the Chandigarh vicinity participated. The students performed spectacularly narrating their stories using creative props, voice modulation and impressive expressions. Story Tellers won everyone’s heart and were applauded. The Chitkara International School Chandigarh bagged first position as their story titled “Gajapati  Kulapati” left everyone spellbound. Further, Second Position was bagged by The British School Chandigarh, with their story titled ‘The Tailor of Gloucester’ followed by The Saint Soldier School, Chandigarh who won the third position with their story involving the Dragon who really wanted to change the color highlighting the theme sharing is caring.

The first, second and third position holders were given trophies and certificates. Participation certificates were also given to the non-winning teams. Chief Guest Mr. Vijay Kapoor , a proud receiver of Sahitya Akademi award praised the earnest efforts of the teachers and students. This entire event left a sparkling and a lasting impression on the audience making everyone realize and imbibe the importance of storytelling and listening highlighting the zeal to participate as fair competitors.

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While economists have previously called that as an error in rationality, a new Canadian study found that an important part of inconsistent choice-making is due to idiosyncratic activity in the brain areas that assess value.

“If the value of a Coke is higher to you than a Pepsi, then you should choose the Coke every single time,” explained study’s co-author Ryan Webb, an assistant professor at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management. “But because of these ‘noisy’ fluctuations in neural activity, so often, the Pepsi is better than the Coke.”

Prof Webb, Vered Kurtz-David, Prof Dotan Persitz, and Prof Dino Levy from Tel Aviv University were able to observe the phenomenon by getting research volunteers to play a series of lotteries while lying inside a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanner. The fMRI monitors neural activity by detecting changes in blood flow to different parts of the brain.

The volunteers had to choose between different combinations of tokens directed towards two simultaneous lotteries, each with a 50 per cent chance of being the winner. Each volunteer played the lotteries multiple times in quick succession while inside the fMRI.

The studies showed that the areas of the brain that were most active during the most inconsistent choices were the same areas responsible for evaluating value. In other words, the brain areas that usually make rational choices sometimes make irrational ones too suggested the study published in Nature Communications. This contradicts previous theories that have suggested rational and irrational decision-making are influenced by activity in separate parts of the brain, or by different thinking processes, an idea popularised in Daniel Kahneman’s book, Thinking Fast and Slow.

The results suggest that occasional inconsistent choices are fundamental to how a typical brain works, regardless of efforts to ensure people stick religiously to their usual preferences.

Previously, a 2004-study suggested how brain battles itself over short-term rewards and long-term goals and what could be the implications right from economic theory to addiction research. The US study involved researchers at four universities who through brain imaging of 14 Princeton University student participants, studied how they made choices between small but immediate rewards or larger awards that they would receive later.

‘For example, people who are offered the choice of $10 today or $11 tomorrow are likely to choose to receive the lesser amount immediately. But if given a choice between $10 in one year or $11 in a year and a day, people often choose the higher, delayed amount’, the study mentioned.

The study grew out of the then emerging discipline of neuroeconomics, which investigated the mental and neural processes that drive economic decision-making.

It showed that decisions involving the possibility of immediate reward activated parts of the brain influenced heavily by neural systems associated with emotion. In contrast, all the decisions the students made — whether short- or long-term — activated brain systems that are associated with abstract reasoning.

In classic economic theory, such a choice is irrational because people are inconsistent in their treatment of the day-long time delay. While some argue that the brain has a single decision-making process with a built-in inconsistency, and others argued that the pattern results from the competing influence of two brain systems.

The Correspondent Bureau

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Kindle is a small hand-held device which has a collection of numerous books. In kindle books a found in soft form which has now replaced the hard form book. People are more interested in carrying a kindle rather than a hard cover book in their hands. The smell of pages and feel of crispy bound paper has turned into the light of a 7.5-by-4.7 inch screen tablet screen.

Here are some comparisons between kindle and books compare it and decide what is better:

Kindles change the way you remember any information

If you read a book then text slows your mind down which allows you time to think critically on any topic which cultivates empathy and perspective. These factors allow an individual to absorb details and memorize them for a long time.

On the other hand when you read a book through kindle you do it quickly which provokes multitasking and skimming. By this method reader gets the general idea of book but he will not remember the crucial plot of it. He has to reread the book if he gets confused at any point.

Both affect your eyes

In print as the font size is firm so it is hard to adjust book according to our need. Long time book reading can result into headaches, dry eyes, and general discomfort.

In kindle if you have 20-20 vision then the zoom in and out feature is beneficial for reader but kindle release a blue light which is bad for an individual’s eyes. The light emitted from screens can make falling asleep more difficult.

Now time for comparing cost

In kindle you only have to purchase it after that the e-books you will get will be cheap and sometimes free too. You will also get many classic books which are very expensive in hard copy.

But in books also you can get the second hand book to read in cheaper price. You will get many shops exclusively selling second hand books. But if you want to purchase first hand book then it will prove costly for you.

Storage

In Kindle you can store approx. 200 books in just a tiny memory card but for storing hard cover books you will need a big room. You cannot carry many books with you every time but if you have soft copy of book then you can carry as much books as you want to.

Longevity

Books are not as durable as e-books are. Either ink of pages will fade away or the pages will tear apart but in e-books they are safe unless they get deleted and after deleting there will be a backup also from where you could restore you e-books

As a reader I would like to prefer books because yeah they are harmful for our eyes, they are expensive but the smell of paper will get finished if everyone started choosing kindle. The author would rather prefer to release a book online instead of going through the hard process of publishing and after sometime it would become hard to find any books.

But there is no doubt in the fact that some debates like these are endless. Nothing matters unless and until you are enjoying the reading part. Remember, it’s the content which matters not the medium. So do give a try for both of them and decide it for yourself.

The Correspondent Bureau

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“The results are available on the board’s website and students can check it using their admit card IDs,” a senior official said.

The results have been announced within 28 days of the last date of the examination.

The Class 12 examination began on February 16, earlier than previous years. The results, which is usually announced by the third week of May, is also being announced earlier than scheduled.

Around 13 lakh students appeared for the examination.

The Correspondent Bureau with inputs from agencies

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