PUBG dead or alive?
A few years back a new mobile game came into the market. Soon it was everywhere from the mouths of a young kindergarten kid to the sweaty palms of daily laborer playing the game in his free time.
It soon swept across the world like a storm. Absolutely there was none who had not heard of PUBG. Some called it PAABJIIII, some called it PEE-UU-BB-G. The full form hardly mattered until you can get some good number of kill and feast your teammates with a virtual chicken dinner.
The mobile market boomed across the world. Suddenly high technical specifications mattered to even window shoppers.
students started bunking school and colleges to make time for playing PUBG. reports of suicide occupied the corner of every newspaper.
Reports of psychological impact, accidents, addiction became a cause of world concern. Many countries tried to ban it. Soon everyone realized PUBG was no longer a game. It had become a Phenomenon.
But nowadays we hear less of this game. Some say its slowly being replaced by Call of Duty and Freefire. People are shifting to new platforms, new genres.
What do you think folks? Is PUBG dead or alive? or even if alive, is in its deathbed? Do you play PUBG? Do comment and express your views about the phenomenon called PUBG
Industrial Revolution 4.0
Fourth Industrial Revolution, Industry 4.0 encompasses three technological trends driving this transformation- connectivity, intelligence, and flexible automation.
Industry 4.0 describes the growing trend towards automation and data exchange in technology and processes within the manufacturing industry, including- The Internet of Things (IoT), The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), Cyber-physical Systems (CPS), Smart Manufacturing, Smart Factories, Cloud Computing, Additive Manufacturing, Big Data, Robotics, Cognitive Computing, Artificial Intelligence & Blockchain, etc.
This automation creates a manufacturing system whereby the machines in factories are augmented with wireless connectivity and sensors to monitor and visualize an entire production process and make autonomous decisions.
Evolution of the Industrial Revolution?
The first industrial revolution came with the advent of mechanization, steam power, and water power.
The second industrial evolution revolved around mass production and assembly lines using electricity.
The third industrial revolution came with electronic and IT systems and automation.
The fourth industrial revolution is associated with cyber-physical systems.
Impact of Industry 4.0 post-Covid - 19?
Industry 4.0 is not only as relevant as it was before the global COVID-19 emergency; it is actually far more relevant moving forward.
COVID-19 is causing radical shifts in workflow across the globe as millions practice social distancing and comply with self-quarantine recommendations.
The integration of digital infrastructure to streamline public health to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic is very crucial in the context of epidemic forecasting and decision-making,
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the value of IT and digital transformation across industries and businesses and they must utilize this time to speed up the transition.
Underwater Domain Awareness (UDA)
In the medieval period, India was global power in maritime capabilities in relation to seafarers, traders, and cultural and civilizational expansion.
With changing times, the dynamics of the world have also changed. Policymakers need to look 21st century through a different prism.
The Maritime Domain Awareness gained substantial importance worldwide post 9/11 attacks. In India, it emerged post 26/11 Mumbai terrorist attack. While MDA remained captive to strategic thinking, one of its important subset i.e. Underwater Domain Awareness (UDA) framework transcends the security discourse and integrates all the stakeholder including security apparatus, blue economic entities, environmental regulators, disaster management authorities to synergies efforts for ensuring safe, secure, sustainable growth for all in the region.
Recently Chinese behavior and incursion in the northern part of India have drawn worldwide attention. While India should also not lose sight of its surrounding waters.
Recent Issues:
· Recently Indian navy has forbidden Chinese maritime research vessels to ply on India’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). India has legislation (Act no. 80/1976) that requires foreign marine scientific vessels to seek license prior to undertaking activities.
· It is a well-known fact that the chines government uses these research vessels to gather crucial oceanographic data such as sub-sea and sea-bed conditions for its military purposes.
· Australia raised concern when a Chinese research vessel entered international waters and it was suspected that it was trying to map the routes of Australian submarines in the South China Sea.
· China has also deployed unmanned underwater drones.
Benefits of UDA
· It will help to integrate like-minded countries with similar concerns to share resources, data and move towards sustainable development of all regions in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR)
· Growing economical movement in the IOR has increased noise in the ocean leading to an irregular migrating patterns of the species. Through UDA collaboration environmental issues can be addressed
Peaceful to Aggressive - China's shifting geopolitics !!
Xi Jinping’s predecessors had assured that China’s growth won’t possess the world and its Asian neighbor’s any threat. This was termed as “Peaceful development policy”. But recent activities by china show a clear shift from peaceful development to aggressive development.
****China’ relation with the world****
****USA**** – trade disputes; USA’s allegation on china of mishandling Covid-19 issue; the USA becoming one of the founding members of Inter-Parliamentary Alliance against China.
****Taiwan**** – continuous invasion of Taiwan’s airspace using its fighter jets.
****South China Sea**** – setting up of Administrative Centre in Paracel Island
****Australia**** – Trade disputes
****Sweden**** – China for long has detained a Swedish author
****Hong Kong**** – It’s protesting against china for passing a new bill which would give china more administrative power over Hong Kong.
****India**** – Disputes over the LAC ( Naku La pass, Pangong Tso lake; Galwan valley)
****Reasons for such a shift?****
· ****Political cause****: recently due to covid-19 outbreak china has not only been facing the heat externally from various countries but also internally with repeated protest
· ****Economically****: Although china had been registering growth in the first decades of the 21st century, its population still is agriculture-dependent (almost 48%), due to the covid-19 outbreak its GDP has been shrinking continuously. Malnutrition is widespread in China.
· ****International issue****: various western countries along with the USA have formed Inter-Parliamentary Alliance to counter china; Since a long time USA-China have been embroiled in trade disputes
****China’ Aim****
· China in order to become a major power by 2049 wants to grow rapidly during the first two decades of the 21st century.
· Since Xi Jinping, 2013 China has a new slogan of China Dream and to make it great and leader in world politics.
Falling Read.Cash Funds
Today morning we all woke up to the new changed rules in read.cash. To a certain extend its a judicious and well planned decision. This would allow good quality articles to be published in read.cash .
But since morning i've noticed that read.cash funds have been falling constantly. Maybe many of the users are now not sure how things would work from now on. It also shows that most of the content creators saw read.cash only as a cash cow and way for easy money. This is not a good sign as far as i feel.. What do you think folks??
Vaccine Nationalism !!
Vaccine nationalism occurs when a country is able to enter into a pre-purchase agreement with a vaccine manufacturing company to secure vaccine dosages first for its own country before it's made available to other people and countries.
U.S.A has twice indicated that it wants to secure vaccines for Covid-19, Russia has followed the same path.
During the H1N1 outbreak, some rich countries had entered into a pre-purchase agreement with several pharmaceutical companies
Issues:
1. It deprives populations in the Global South from timely access to vital public health goods.
2. poorer countries are at a disadvantage who have less money and bargaining power
3. vaccines are provided to the population with moderate risk over the population with higher risk
4. it goes against the fundamental principle of vaccine development
5. Countries like the USA, Russia didn’t joined the Access to Covid-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator program. ACT program ensured equitable, and faster distribution of therapies, technologies, vaccines against Covid-19 to all countries
Way forward:
1. if it is used judiciously then it can provide incentives to vaccine manufacturing companies to commercialize their vaccines and also they can utilize to increase their production and also make further research
2. W.H.O must prepare guidelines on equitable distribution of vaccines for next pandemics
MSME sector new defination
MSME (Micro, Small, Medium enterprises) definition is enumerated in the MSMED Act of 2006, It was changed recently by the Govt. of India to bring it with the tune of GST.
Importance of MSME:
1. After the agriculture sector, MSME sector employs the most number of people, about 46%
2. It contributes roughly 28% to GDP of India
3. 99% MSME sectors are micro in nature
4. It produces more than 6000 types of items
5. Comprises 50% of total exports
Benefits of the recent changes
1. Now more business and industries can come under the definition of MSME and avail the benefits
2. More companies would come under the purview of GST (Goods and Services Tax)
3. By merging the definition of the manufacturing sector and service sector, confusion has been avoided
4. It would help MSME sectors to grow
Cons of recent changes
1. As more companies would now come under the ambit of MSME, the industries which were already in the micro sector would get fewer benefits as compared to earlier.
2. Turnover to Investment ratio (TIR) of Indian industry is at an average of 1 – 1.2 (which means that for every 1$ that I invest in a company, I’ll have a return/ turnover of 1.2$) therefore it is doubtful whether an investment of 1 cr. can generate a turnover of 5 cr. (cr = crore )
3. Countries like the USA, Japan, and European Union consider the definition of SME (small, medium enterprises) based on the number of employees and investment.
“Food, Feed, Fiber”.
On 17th June every year United Nations convention to combat desertification (UNCCD) observes world day to combat desertification and drought to promote public awareness of efforts to combat desertification. This year the theme was “Food, Feed, Fiber”.
Desertification is the degradation of land in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas. It does not refer to the expansion of the desert. Humanity’s relentless production and consumption are leading to land desertification, destruction, and drought. The causes are:
1. Over-exploitation of vulnerable dryland ecosystem
2. Poverty, political instability, bad grazing practices, exploitation all undermine the productivity of the land.
3. Food and clothing industry contributes to 8% of greenhouse gas emission which is set to rise to 50% by 2050
4. The food processing industry (meat industry) contributes to the release of 28% of methane and nitrous oxides which are potent greenhouse gases.
5. Release and spread of zoonotic diseases due to rampant meat consumption (ex: Coronavirus)
UNCCD in its effort tries to promote public awareness to make informed and judicious consumption. If the public shifts to more eco-friendly products, the producers have to follow the path. This would go a long way in bringing about changes.
Private sector intervention in Indian Agriculture sector
The agriculture sector in India alone employs a workforce of 48.9% but only contributes 16% to the GDP of the country.
ISSUES:
1. Excessive market regulation by the government
2. Issues with easy loans due to red-tapism
3. Farmer suicides
4. The challenges faced by the agriculture sector underlines an urgent need for innovations brought via partnerships between the private and public sectors.
5. shortcomings and challenges in the storage of food grains
India’s population is expected to grow to 160 million by 2050. Therefore robust infrastructure needs to be put in place to cater to such a huge population in the near future. It would require undertaking progressive farming:-
1. To develop disease and pest resistant varieties that require less land and area and are able to grow in harsh, dry climatic conditions as well as saline and acidic soils.
2. Bio-fortification can be used to grow nutrient-rich crops.
In order to achieve these, farmers need to use the latest biotechnology methods in addition to conventional and traditional farming methods. This could be well achieved by private sector intervention in the agricultural market.
To attract private investment India’s prime minister has announced a provision of Rs. 1 lakh crore for developing agricultural infrastructure.
Similar provisions have also been announced for the fisheries, animal husbandry, herbal farming, bee-farming, food processing, etc, sectors.
During Coronavirus crisis when the wheels of the world economy had slowed down, the Indian farmers produced a bumper crop with the resources available in the rural areas, Farmers have demonstrated that they are capable of dealing with difficult challenges.
“Burn down our cities and leave our farms, and your cities will spring up again as if by magic. But destroy our farms and the grass will grow in the streets of every city”.
— William Jennings Bryan, ‘Cross of Gold’ Speech (1896)
Benefits of Private intervention
1. High-End Technologies Development
2. Building Farmer’s Resilience to Environmental Shocks and Minimizing Risks and Uncertainties
3. Farm Mechanization
4. Productivity Enhancement
5. Economic Empowerment of Women
Delhi vs Beijing and way ahead
Recently due to rising tension between India and China over LAC issues near Galwan Valley have taken a sour turn, with casualties on both sides.
Reasons for growing Chinese dominance
1. It's being reported by Chinese state-run media that the abrogation of Article 370 last year irked the sovereignty of not only Pakistan but China as well. (it should be noted that Kashmir is India's internal matter.)
2. Kashmir, The Hunza region has been of prime importance for china for its CPEC ambitions
3. China has since long followed engagement with containment policy with India. Where it economically engages with India while tries to contain India with its military shows.
4. India’s rising influence among the western nations
5. India becoming a member of Quad to tackle Chinese growing influence in south china sea
6. India’s ties falling off with Nepal.
7. India’s construction of DSDBO road along the LAC
Historical overview
1. China occupies large parts of Kashmir, including Aksai Chin and parts of Ladakh and sits on the Shaksgam valley ceded to Beijing by Pakistan in 1963
2. Since ages, there has been dispute over Line of Actual Control (LAC)
3. China has on multiple occasions violated the Panchsheel treaty of 1954
In Recent Times
1. Starting 2014, there had been a skirmish in Chumar Valley
2. A major standoff took place in Doklam region in 2017
3. Dalai lama issue took place in 2018
Way Forward:
1. India runs a huge trade deficit with China. Which can be reduced through new Atmanirbhar programs
2. India must reorient its Foreign diplomacy and revive and follow policies of NAM (non-alignment movement)
3. Skipping the coming RUSIA-INDIA-CHINA summit (RIC) would give out a strong message to china
4. Must try to fix broken ties with Nepal
Remember Blue Whale Pestilence?
What is Blue Whale Sucide Game? A ghost, a cipher, a spectre. We all have heard the name but rare have seen. The Blue Whale impasse is perpetual and permeating. Some call it 'Blue Whale Challenge' some call it 'Silent House' , 'Sea of Whales' and the execrable game has various visages. Be it a regional newspaper or national news-hour, the fear concerning deaths caused by the game has grappled every public forum. Blue Whale Challenge has surfaced the vulnerability of life of today's teenager which once seemed innocuous. The police , the media, schools and teachers with dissertations have tried and are trying to overt this covert killing machine runned by some legion with unscrupulous machinations. But why the state machineries cowed and helpless before this game? why every morning a new death notes surfaces in various vicinities? Though the institutions are trying to do the humongous task of creating awareness, yet the crux of the awareness seems to be missing. The lacuna is the way the game is being played and penetrating into various platforms. People are still in belief that its an application based game which can be downloaded. Out of so many cases and deaths the question still remains unsubstantiated about the mechanisms being used to threaten and abet innocent children.
In order to weed out this game the institutions need to assiduously work on creating substantial awareness and the vagany of supposed victims must be monitered, informed, handled with accumen and care.
@Broker
