Why self discipline is the key?

We all have heard that talent is overrated. The statement is true as we know countless stories of people with immense talent failing to achieve anything in life. This is because in most cases, the secrets to achieving anything meaningful is revealed to us by the nature when we devote certain amount of dedicated hours depending upon the magnitude of the problem. All real events are complex at the core and yet government by few basic laws.  This is the ultimate law of nature.  Moreover, the key tendency of Universe is to achieve a state of higher entropy which has higher randomness. This increase in disorder can be stopped only by apply external constructive force which helps to maintain higher energy (or low entropy state) to achieve anything. This external constructive force is nothing but state of self discipline which helps to maintain a state of high motivation and pinpointed focus towards the target.

So, self-discipline is the the utimate success mantra in this Universe, through which a person can achieve his goal through consistent effort towards a well-defined goal. This quality was the one on which our ancient rishis focussed in ancient times. But with the advent of the modern age, our generation finds it difficult to control themselves and often find themselves indulging in gambling, Non-veg food, procastination etc. and its leads to massive failures in life. Remember, a high degree of self-disciple is required to use our brain consciously for our benefit.

Crusade against superstitions

It has been around 20 years since we entered the 21st century. It's high time that we analyze our different religious practices with a critical bent of mind to remove various superstitions. The main purpose is to target our energy towards productive and right things rather than devoting our time towards destructive thought process or useless rituals.

I would like to mention the recent incident where an 18-year-old Muslim student beheaded a French teacher for showing the cartoons of Prophet Mohammed. It is an absolutely condemnable incident and the boy fully deserved the punishment as he was brutally killed by French Security Forces. There is no place for blasphemy related views in a modern civilization and this current thought process among  needs urgent reforms.

Similarly, Hindus should abstain from useless rituals and focus should be on establishing connnection with the almighty through every day generous deeds. Our focus should be on helping needy people, being kind towards animals and preserve the pristine plant life of the mother Earth. 

The reform in our religious practices is absolutely necessary so that we live a more meaningful life in full harmony with other creatures and leave a better planet for our coming generations.

Advent of Artificial Intelligence

 Artificial Intelligence has become a buzzword in recent times and has the potential to transform practically all sectors leading to a massive increase in productivity.  It involves gathering a huge amount of data about the current behaviour of a system and utilizing algorithmic framework and probabilist thinking to make the best possible decision under given circumstances. These computations are quite complex and require high computing power. For Example, the use of AI can help to decide the best possible crop combination depending on price, weather and the nature of soil. Similarly, AI can help in the diagnosis of patients based on the results of certain tests. The possibilities are just immense and the capacity of AI can be enhanced with increase in our knowledge of the nature of real world situations and the best way to replicate them through our code. Nowadays, Python, a computer language is often used in the design of AI based tools

At the fundamental level, its about making prediction based on current data set. It can help humans to increase the effectiveness of decisions which are required to be made in tough situations that involve complex set of data. It involves the use of principles from other branches of science, as two events can affect each other only when they are within a given light cone as specified by the General theory of Relativity. It also indirectly implies that we live in a causal universe with a high degree of deterministic nature, and the outcome can be easily predicted if one knows the initial condition and the laws governing the situation.

Population control laws

India urgently needs laws to check the rise in the human population that has emerged as a sort of unmitigated disaster. The rapid rise in population has led to the division of farmland into sub-optimal plots which are unviable. It has led to large scale migration of people from rural areas to cities in search of jobs and livelihood. These migrants often live in slums and face numerous hardships in the cities

The continuous rise in population has also led to the expansion of our cities and villages through the destruction of forests for developing new human settlements. It has often put humans in conflict with other animals and the entire ecosystem gets endangered. The large scale deforestation has led to rapid extinction of several species over the last several decades.

The massive population also puts pressure on natural resources such as water, air, mineral resources, wood etc.  The rate at which we have been consuming several resources like coal and crude oil would leave them completely exhausted over the next few decades. Moreover, the rising pollution in our natural environment is also due to the fact that we have been unable to manage our population growth and it has put the lives of several innocent people at risk.

Covid-19 Outbreak

This Covid-19 pandemic has forced us to think about our relationship with Nature. The old idea that we can control Nature and exploit it to our advantage will no longer work. In our pursuit of wealth, we have caused large scale damage to the environment, be it through mass deforestation or burning of fossil fuels. The time has come to reimagine our existence on this planet earth and try to adopt sustainable methods of living.

The increase in the human population can also be interpreted as if we have infected the Earth with manifold increase in our population over the last century. The large scale mining of mineral resources has damaged the flora and fauna of the Earth. Our Earth is losing species at an extremely fast pace and its life producing ability has taken a hit due to our activities. 

One positive thing out of this ongoing lockdown across the world is that the Nature has regenerated to some extent and animals can be seen roaming freely in open places. The level of pollution in our cities has come down and our rivers such as Ganga has neven been so clean in the last 40 years. We have to learn the lessons during this Pandemic and apply them to avoid such mistakes.

Covid-19-Flattening the curve

The pandemic due to the outbreak of Covi-19 has emerged as a major health emergency across the globe. Till date, around 1.2 million people, have been infected by this virus and more than 60,000 people have lost their lives. It is difficult to estimate the mortality rate on account of this illness as a large number of cases are asymptomatic and hence these cases often don't get reported but the mortality figure due to Covid-19 that is being projected in media is around 3-4%. It is widely believed that the mortality rate varies with the age group and the people over 60 years old are the most vulnerable group. Countries such as Italy have seen a higher mortality rate on account of a sheer spike in new cases that can overwhelm the healthcare system, leading to a large number of infected people unable to get proper treatment. The disease has crippled the travelling and tourism industry as people have been asked to stay at home as several countries have resorted to lockdown to prevent the disease from spreading.

It is a highly infectious disease and one person on an average infects more than 2 people per day under normal circumstances. Scientists have advised people to adopt "social distancing" as the only way to break the transmission chain of this disease. In this way, the virus can be contained within few groups and finally eliminated. We all have to come together in this fight against Coronavirus, which has emerged as a major challenge to humanity since World WAR II.

The performance of the NDA II -(2014-till date)

The NDA II assumed power on 26th May 2014 and they came with huge expectations as the Indian economy was counted among fragile 5 towards the end of 2013. The GDP growth had come down towards the end of the term of UPA II. The rising discontent against the UPA II had brought NDA II under, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to power.

The new government was expected to accelerate the reform process but instead, it followed the incremental approach of reforms. The GDP growth remained at the rock bottom level and the government changed the calculation methodology in order to show a better economic performance. However, the lack of jobs and the closure of SMEs meant that this government has not been able to deliver on its economic agenda. The ill-conceived, Demonetization, backfired and led to falling credit for small enterprises. The GST system which was implemented in July 2017, was far from satisfactory and it choked the engine of India's economic growth. 

The government seems to be more focussed on its social agenda of Ram Temple, Triple Talaq, Article 370 and the Citizenship Amendment Act. The government needs to learn from its failures and it should stop trying to divert attention from pressing economic issues.