A plot of land of an extent of 66 Arpents on State Land at Britannia will be released for the exclusive use

of bio farming projects, announced the Minister of Agro-Industry and Food Security, Mr Mahen Seeruttun
in reply to a question at the National Assembly on 14 June 2016.
This plot of land will be equipped with all production infrastructure including land preparation works,
irrigation facilities and other infrastructural facilities and will be made available to potential promoters of
bio farming food production systems.
In this context, a five module training package was developped by Food and Agricultural Research and
Extension Institute (FAREI) on the MauriGap Level 1 Standard which is the basic standard for bio farming.
Some 240 planters have so far submitted requests to follow this training programme which will start as
from this month itself, said the Minister.
He also stated that for the promotion of bio farming, measures like the Compost Subsidy Scheme and the
Sheltered Farming Scheme have been introduced. The Compost Subsidy Scheme encourages planters to
shift from the use of chemical inputs to organic ones. As at date, some 3300 planters have taken
advantage of the Scheme, Mr Seeruttun pointed out.
On the other hand, the Sheltered Farming Scheme encourages planters to undertake crop production
under protected structures. With the phenomenon of climate change, it is a fact that our crop production
systems are vulnerable to higher risks of natural calamities including outbreak of pests and diseases, said
the Minister, adding that protected structures indeed help producers to mitigate the effects of these risks
and ultimately lead to lower dependence on agro chemicals. As at date some 68 planters have taken
advantage of this Scheme.

'Women rights violation is still on the rise.' How far do you agree?
At a glance, it seems that the question is tilted towards the increasing women rights violation. But, you also have the
option to not agree with this statement because the latter part, how far do you agree? gives you that flexibility.
What you should understand is that there is no concrete answer in GP. If you say that women rights violation is
increasing with valid points to support your argument you are right. And again if you deny that statement and prove
that women rights violation is not increasing, then also you are right.
Because of the high occurrence of rape cases in India, an Indian student can agree with this question and give
answer accordingly. However, another student in some developed country, where women rights are safeguarded by
the law and the government, may argue disagreeing with this topic.
Acid attacks in India hit the headlines frequently. Such attacks lead to grievous consequences upon the victim. They
have to bear physical, mental, and psychological pain of the highest level. Their beautiful life turns ugly within the
blink of their eyes because of such cruel and inhumane acts. Such acts are the proof that the womens life is
considered worthless and can be played with brutally in some societies. Such, acid attacks and rape cases in India
are the evidences that womens rights violation has not yet slowed down and is still on the rise.
Generally womens status varies from society to society. The treatment towards women is based upon how women
are viewed in the particular society. If they are considered worthy and useful to the society, they are generally
respected. If they are considered worthless and invaluable, then they are generally not treated well.
The chances of women rights violations are high, generally, in the societies where women are considered cheap
and worthless. That is because the children are brought up and conditioned in the way that promotes gender
discrimination and low worth of women. Men in such societies are even encouraged to dominate women. In such
societies, there is no question of women rights. The problem is even more severe because women have to depend
upon their husband and sons for income.
However, in the countries where women have achieved financial independence, women no longer need to become
the slaves of their single husband. In such societies, husbands no longer feel superior because their spouses have
also earned their living and have achieved equal or similar status. Therefore, they do not try to dominate their wife.
Moreover, because of work and prestige earned through work, women are given equal or even higher status
compared to man. As a result, women are not only confident about themselves, but also emotionally strong. In such
societies, the cases of women rights violation are also rare.
Similarly, because of education, awareness level, availability of job and the resulting economic independence, and
similar other factors the cases of women rights violation are more in the villages as compared to urban areas. Even
if we hear more cases of such violation in urban areas, that is because of the reporting in the media which is high in
the urban areas. Many many cases of such violations in rural areas go unnoticed. Even the country people don't
have enough awareness to report against the crime being done upon them. That is the reason for low level of
reporting of such cases in both police office and media.
Similarly, when the culprit is from the same family, the reporting is equal to non-reporting. For instance, if a women
reports her husband for abusing her and in case fails to prove it in the court, she will have to face the additional
torture at home from her husband. And even if she is successful to prove it and imprison him, he will try to take
avenge after completing his sentence. But in many cases she wouldn't do that, because without her husband, she
will have no source of income to support herself and her children. So, she is bound to compromise her rights.
Eventually, she will have to live in the same house and with the same husband. The police case will only make the
relationship bitter, it does not ensure better quality of life.
According to the report of United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the women are twice as likely as men to be
illiterate, considering worldwide data. Similarly, "as a consequence of their working conditions and characteristics, a
disproportionate number of women are impoverished in both developing and developed countries. Despite some
progress in womens wages in the 1990s, women still earn less than men, even for similar kinds of work. Unequal
pay is also a very serious kind of discrimination. Another data relating to the gender-based violence is that it kills
and disables as many women between the ages of 15 and 44 as cancer. More often than not, perpetrators go
unpunished. And many of the countries that have ratified CEDAW (Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination
against Women) still have discriminatory laws governing marriage, land, property and inheritance.

Because of all these conditions, women rights violation still exists in many societies and is even on the rise in some
societies. However, it is decreasing as well in the other societies. Since the world is progressing towards living in
the urban areas, where both men and women go to work, we can expect the situation to improve with time. Until
and unless the women are empowered financially, their rights cannot be safeguarded.

"The ultimate goal of education is to earn money."

Discuss.
Education is meant for the all round development of a person in terms of knowledge, skills and
wisdom. In other words, it tries to make people capable and independent. Since being self-dependent
requires, among other things, some sort of income to support our life, in a way, education prepares
people to take a job in order to earn some money. However, education is also about being wise,
ethical, moral and leading a better quality of life. Therefore, we cannot conclude that the ultimate goal
of education is to earn money.
The professionals like doctors, engineers, pilots, lawyers, accountants, and so on had pursued
specific education in their undergraduate and graduate levels of study. Education had equipped them
with all the knowledge and skills required to take up such professions. Although, their profession
provides services to the people in the society, it is done in return for their service fees. Therefore, on
this ground we can conclude that educations ultimate goal is to make money.
Apart from such specific professions, other service sectors offer jobs to the qualified persons. Such
candidates are required to have certain level of educational qualifications. This is an example of
peoples perception that educated people are more suitable for job. And job is all about earning a
salary. Hence, education is about getting a job and earning a livelihood.
Besides, education makes people creative. The educated and knowledgeable people are more likely
to perform innovative works such as inventing new devices, ideas and technologies. Similarly, they
are more likely to contribute literary (poems, stories, novels) and artistic works (paintings, music,
acting, and the like) to the society. In such cases too, monetary incentive plays a critical role
especially in their dedication and motivation. Moreover, the more they earn the more successful (and
famous) they are considered in their works. Thus, education makes people capable of earning lots of
money through creative pursuits.
On the contrary, education can be useful to improve our living standard, and live a healthy life. A
more knowledgeable person can leads a better life than a naive. Even if an uneducated person has a
lot of money he might not have the knowledge about how to use the money wisely. Therefore, the
goal of education is not only to earn money alone, but to teach people how to better spend the
earned money to attain maximum advantages. From this perspective, the ultimate goal of education
is to lead a better life.
Education conditions people to work for the welfare of the human beings. Even in doing a job, an
educated person is more cautious or conscious about the impacts of what he does. An ignorant man
might not know about the adverse impacts of his activities. Even if he knows, he might not care it.
However, an educated man is likely to consider such impacts and pay heed to them. An educated
man can be more responsible and accountable in his work. Therefore, education aims to make
people accountable, ethical and moral.
In conclusion, education is not only about earning money. Even the uneducated people earn money
as it is the basis for survival. Again, people cannot live a happy life just by earning lots of money.
Moreover, the economic prosperity conflicts with leading a healthier. It is necessary to open factories,
industries and other business activities at the expense of natural environment to achieve economic
prosperity. However, such an excessive commercialization might have negative consequences upon
our health and environment. Therefore, living a balanced life is necessary if we want sustainable
happiness. The goal of education is probably to make us understand that trade-off and teach us how
to achieve such a balanced life.

Medical Dilemmas, issues of research and ethics

The medical cases where the possible alternatives are questionable can be termed as medical
dilemmas. For example, a decision regarding whether to save the mother or the child when only one
can be saved during a delivery is a simple example of medical dilemma. Whichever is chosen, one
life has to be sacrificed.
Another example of such a dilemma is euthanasia. To make a case on this, let us suppose a last
stage cancer patient. She might be receiving treatments like radiotherapy and chemotherapy, but her
death is almost certain although it can be postponed a bit further. Or let us suppose further that the
doctor has declared her condition to be incurable. Cancer is a painful disease both for the patients
and her caretaker. The patient is suffering badly and wants to die as soon as possible rather than to
wait for the natural death suffering the pain.
However, killing her is a crime by law. What should be done in such a case? Euthanasia refers to
mercy killing, and it refers to giving an injection which leads to the painless death of such dying
patients. However, should the patient be allowed to die on his own will or should she be forced to
suffer until she dies? Either option is inhumane. We, as an outsider, can neither see her in pain, nor
kill her to eradicate her pain at the soonest if we are ethical. This kind of situation is a medical
dilemma.
In short, the story in the above link reads like this: Two children were born with both sex organs and
the parents and doctors decided to remove their male genital organs by surgery and choose to make
them females. As a result, they were forced to be like a girl and act like a girl. Unfortunately, after
puberty they developed male characteristics and thus, found difficult to act like female. Consequently,
their life is almost ruined.
Now, should the parents have left their children with both male and female sex organs? or Should
they have chosen one gender for them and tried to cure their abnormalities? While at first the second
choice seems to be justifiable, it has been proved to be wrong many years later. This follows that
neither of these options are completely acceptable. And there are no other alternatives beside these
two. Thus, this issues is also the case of a serious medical dilemma.
These are the samples of many cases in which the medicine industry faces dilemmas or uncertainty
about what to do. The solutions at disposable are not the complete and satisfactory ones. Therefore,
more research is needed in such areas and acute care should be taken in policy-making. For
instance, if euthanasia is legalized, it leaves the room for its misuse and therefore, no loopholes
should be left in legislation to avoid such misuses.

Does modern business really care about the worlds

environment?
The business perspectives and approaches have changed a lot in the past few decades. The
traditional businesses had only one purpose; and that is to earn maximum profit from their business
enterprise. However, the scenario has changed quite a lot in the past 100 years or so. The modern
business however, has a newer approach and perspective in conducting their business activities. The
new concept defines business entities as a member of the society which needs to discharge social
responsibilities like human beings. Moreover, it has also raised more concern towards the green
issues. Thus, we can anticipate that modern businesses do care about the worlds environment.
Todays business organisations are required to discharge corporate social responsibility (CSR) and
show accountability to the society and environment they operate in. This means that providing quality
goods and services to the consumers only is not enough. They are expected to take proactive
instances in the social and environmental issues of the world. The corporate houses have an
obligation towards the society, for operating in the society.
As the major contributors to the global warming, the developed nations provide monetary
compensation to the undeveloped nations for producing harmful emissions of carbon compounds well
below the limit sanctioned. This process is popularly known as carbon trading. This can be regarded
as a sort of acknowledgement of the harmful consequence of their activity by the modern corporate
houses. The carbon trading has helped the underdeveloped nations economically to run
environmental conservation programmes and have also inspired them to reduce their own carbon
emissions to receive more financial reward.
The direct mixing of sewages and industrial wastes into the water bodies has been declared illegal in
many nations. This has saved the life and habitat of many aquatic animals and plants. Similarly, the
emissions of the factories are being neutralized before releasing them in the atmosphere. Similarly,
other legal provisions have been made by the governments of many countries to make the modern
businesses environmentally accountable
Some modern businesses have reduced or completely stopped using plastic for packaging their
products which is a good initiation to protect the environment. Using the bio-degradable alternatives
and recycling or re-using of the all plastic wastes will help to limit the production of non-degradable
plastic waste that has long term impact in the environment.
On the contrary, all these are the theoretical concept which is practiced by only the limited number of
corporations. The contribution of the majority of the business organizations is not satisfactory. Stricter
legislation is required to make such organizations environmentally accountable.
Some organizations claim that they use the advanced pollution free technologies only to get the
support of the environment conscious consumers and thus better market their products. Several
corporations cheat on this matter by bribing the government officials, especially in the least
developed and developing nations. Therefore, there are still many organizations which dont care
about the worlds environment.
World environment needs to be maintained well for us to ensure healthy living conditions for humans
as well as animals. Organizational perspective has changed a lot and many organizations are taking
proactive instances to protect the world environment. However, there are still many organizations
which have not left the traditional practices and the profit-only motive. Yet, with the shift of trade and
business into an IT driven globalized economy, we can expect that the modern business will be more
and more environment-conscious in the days to come.

Employment is the most important factor of every

economy. Do you agree?
From macroeconomic viewpoint, there are three important factors in an economy: national income,
general price level, and employment. Although it is difficult to say which factor is the most important
among them, there is no doubt that employment has a tremendous importance in the economy.
Moreover, these factors are interdependent. Employment influences both general price level and
national income. Ignoring the short term effect, the higher employment will result in a more stable
general price level and more stable national income. Therefore, we can consider employment to be a
very important factor of every economy.
Employment is a way for the people to earn income. That income will help them to manage their
expenditure in the necessary goods required in daily life. The surplus income can be saved or spent
in fulfilling their other wishes. Thus, employment not only prevents poverty in the people but also
helps them plan for future, and enjoy their life. Savings can help the people to build up capital which
can be used later in stocks, bonds, and other securities which can provide a regular flow of passive
income during the old age. This can prevent old age poverty.
Similarly, employment engages people in useful work for the society and reduces their involvement in
anti-social activities which might arise in the lack of employment. A significant number of criminals
commit crimes because of lack of stable income source. Poverty, resulted by unemployment, is one
of the major causes of people engaging in drug smuggling, robbery, prostitution, human trafficking,
murder, and other serious crimes. Employment can prevent this category of criminals to a large
extent, from committing crimes. As a result, employment helps to maintain peace and order in the
society.
Employment engages people in some kind of income generating activity which in turn generates tax
income for the government. That income is used to run the vital governmental bodies like Legislative,
Executive and Judiciary bodies. Apart from that, some of the income is used in infrastructural
development which facilitates the economy to grow further. Therefore, employment is important from
the perspective of collecting tax revenue for the government.
The national output or income is the sum of the income of all the people of a country. The higher the
individual income, the higher will be the national income. Again, the more the number of active
workforce, the more will be the national income. Therefore, although they are slightly different in
economic terms, the indicators of a countrys income like gross domestic product (GDP), Gross
national product (GNP), etc will be positively influenced by employment.
The higher employment will result in higher production of goods and services which is measured by
GDP. This will result in a relatively more stable price level in the long term. The stable price level will
keep the currency stable in the foreign exchange markets, which will facilitate international trade and
reduce the loss from foreign trade. The slower devaluation of a currency will make the central
monetary authority more powerful and more capable to influence the economy in case of economic
crisis.
To sum up, although we cannot rank employment as the most important factor among the economic
factors, mostly because of its interrelation with them, we can safely conclude that it is the backbone
of every countrys economy. Many strikes and revolutions have occurred because of higher rate of
unemployment creating chaos in the society and administration. Employment is, thus, a sensitive
issue when compared with other factors of the economy. Therefore, it is an extremely important factor
of every economy.

Generation Gap
Generation gap refers to the difference in the ways of thinking and perception in the people of two
different generations which results in behavioral differences and sometimes, conflict among them. In
other words, it is the difference in the thinking of the people of the older and younger generation
which is generally connoted with the lack of understanding or misunderstanding between them.
The most common example of generation gap is seen in the family between parents and their
children. It is not only because of the gap in age but also because of the way parents react to a
particular situation. Children being very young and immature do not understand the way of thinking of
their parents. In many cases, the parents, even if they are matured, do not empathize with the
changing values and thinking pattern of the modern world. This creates a communication gap
between these two generations.
Another main reason for generation gap between parents and children are parents themselves. They
do not talk openly to their children and take part in solving their problems. That behavior makes the
impression about parents as authoritative persons, in the mind of children, because they only dictate
them to do one thing or the other without understanding the problems faced by their children. As a
result, the children become mentally isolated from their parents. Some parents become too busy with
their work that they dont spend some quality time with their family which makes them completely
unaware about how their children are growing, what kind of mentality is being developed, and so on?
This ultimately creates a gap between them. They only realize it when it is too late.
Generation gap is also created in the family due to religious teachings where parents are very strict
with the duties their kids have to follow. They steal their childrens confidence that does not let them
develop and find their inner self. Kids usually reject their parents boundaries because parents do not
take their feelings into account. This directly leads the child lying to their parents, and thinking about
other ways of fulfilling their aims and desires, thus creating a generation gap.
Advancement in technology has lead to the generation gap in this modern world. Children tend to
spend most of their time with their digital devices and busy with social media that they do not discuss
their problems with their parents. The internet provides solutions to most of the worldly problems that
children instead of contacting their own parents use the help of the internet in case of any problem,
thus again reducing the communication and leading to a generation gap between them.
Generation gap occurs not only in between the parents and children but also between teachers and
students. Students are likely to enjoy the classes of an open minded teacher, who shows mutual
respect to his/her students. The teachers, who tend to keep their students under unnecessary strict
disciplines and practice hard ways to make them obey his/her orders, are usually disliked by the
students. This narrow minded thinking, especially seen in the teachers of older generation, eventually
creates a gap between the students and teacher.
Similarly, the way the teachers behave and react to a particular situation, especially by taking
unnecessary actions in case of clashes and other childlike activities of young students is another
reason for creating generation gap. They restrict students for everything instead of understanding
and explaining things positively to them. Another difference is the use of technology. Young teachers
tend to use more digital devices in class for their lectures that has a good impact on the students.
Students take more interest and participate actively in the class discussion. Whereas an old teacher
has less frequent use of electronic devices that makes lectures boring, which is not enjoyed by the
students and it instead, creates a gap between them.
In conclusion, I think the generation gap has been greatly increased these days because the time is
changing fast and people find it difficult to cope up with this change. So, to overcome this problem

parent or teachers must be close to their children. They should show interest in all their matters and
deal with them positively instead of just scolding them and leaving them alone to deal with their
problems. Giving time to the children, having open communication, and allowing the child to feel free
and not in any kind of pressure, will eventually reduce the generation gaps to a tolerable extent.

How can natural disasters be avoided or their

effect be reduced?
Natural calamities are one of the most dreadful things that happen in earth. They are
often highly dangerous and cause great devastation and destruction. They take lots of
lives sometimes as well as make the lives of the survived ones difficult by destroying
their properties. Therefore, it is obvious for people to try to avoid them or reduce their
effects.
Avoiding most of these disasters is almost impossible as they are unpredictable, and
occur all of a sudden. However, we can try to reduce their effects by taking various
precautionary measures.
The process of how to reduce the effects differs from disaster to disaster. For example,
you can reduce, or prevent to some extent the disasters like flood, landslide and soil
erosion simply by planting trees in the barren lands, roadsides, hills, and river bank.
However, the disasters like earthquake and lightening are more difficult to prevent or
avoid.
For earthquake you can reduce it's impact by building houses which are capable to
withstand earthquake, that is, building earthquake safe homes. Also the people can be
given training about how to save oneself as well as the the life of others during the
earthquake. Furthermore, the people can be trainied to act responsibly in coping with
the aftermath of the earthquake, by helping out the victims, giving the first-aid to the
wounded people, and calling the hospital if possible, and so on.
Similarly, for wind and tornadoes, one can just pray to God by sitting inside their own
home. Building strong houses, again, is one ways to reduce the damage to human
lives and property. Not going out in the windy weather can be a good decision. Also,
the government can construct strong houses for emergency uses in public places for
such occasions.
Moreover, to reduce the deaths caused by flood every year, the government can take
actions like, doing the survey of flood prone areas and passing a law that makes it
illegal to build houses (or huts) in such places. Such places usually constitute the
banks of the big rivers which get flooded during the monsoon season.
Again drought and deluge can be called disasters as their effect can be quite harmful,
especially upon agriculture. However, these can be balanced to a good extent through
afforestation programmes.
In short, education (or awareness), good governmental planning and legal provision,
afforestation, proper planning in building a strong and safe house with emergency

exits, and so on are the keys to reduce the effects of the dreadful natural disasters.
Unplanned urbanization and unplanned industrialization should be controlled
especially in the developing nations. In this way, we can reduce the harmful
consequences of the natural disasters.

"Science and technology can be more harmful than useful." What's

your view?
Whether it is the food we eat, the clothes we wear, the house we live in, or any other goods and services we
use on a daily basis, almost everything is the gift of science and technology. Our current life is impossible
without the aid of science and technology. The credit of inventing and discovering all the modern tools,
techniques and equipment goes to technology. However, the excessive commercialization of scientific
inventions and their use for destructive purposes have made human life more threatening than ever.
Therefore, whether science and technology are harmful or useful is a debate of how we use their product.
Although the size of land is fixed, the productivity of land can be increased. That is exactly what is done by the
combination of scientific knowledge and technology. The seeds quality has been improved. The fertilizers are
being used according to the requirement of the soil. The irrigation system has also been improved. As a result,
the farmers are successful to increase yields from the same area of agricultural land.
The manual work at ores and mines is risky to the labourers. However, the advent of robots and automated
machines has helped to replace the labourers in such areas. Now, the difficult and risky jobs are done by
robots automatically, thus leaving safe and easy jobs for the humans. All of this is possible because of the
advancement of science and technology.
Similarly the credit of discovering many mysterious and interesting things goes to the science and technology.
The evolution of life on Earth, the occurrence of various natural phenomena in the Earth and space, the
explanation of the causes of diseases and their treatment, etcetera are a few such things. Therefore, science
and technology has dramatically helped in the expansion of knowledge and wisdom in almost all the sectors of
human endeavour.
On the contrary, pollution, ozone layer depletion, climate change, and use of weaponry all are the
consequences of the developments of science and technology. They have serious negative impact upon our
health and living conditions which wouldn't have occurred if there was no advancement in science and
technology.
Weaponry, a product of science, is made for destructions and devastations. Guns and bombs never end or
reduce wars but promote it. Development of more sophisticated and more destructive weapon ignites a feeling
of avenge thus inducing more wars. Germany, being heavily defeated in First World War, was forced to sign
Versailles Treaty. Everyone thought that the war was over and the opponent has been sidelined when in fact
worse war was yet to come. Within two decades Germany prepared itself to avenge the unjust treaty it was
forced to sign.
Computer is also a product of science and technology. It has revolutionized everything and made tasks faster
and easier. This is a good thing. However, along with that it has created new forms of jobs and has made us
busier than ever. This has compelled us to spend a large part of our time with computers. For the advertisers,
online service providers, software developers, website designers, etc working with computers is a compulsion.
Similarly, the social networks like Facebook and Twitter have made almost every individual busy with their
computers.
The computer related jobs and prolonged stay in front of the computer are harmful from the health point of
view. For example, introduction of computers in the workplace has contributed to causing Repetitive Strain
Injury (RSI) to the workers. The mechanical compression (pressing against hard surfaces) of elbow, sustained
or awkward positions for a long duration, repetitive tasks like typing, etc cause RSI. Therefore, technology has
become curse for the workers who perform highly repetitive job by sitting in the same place for a prolonged
period of time.
In short, science and technology has both positive and negative aspects. Whether science and technology is
harmful or useful depends largely upon how we use it, and in which direction do we further research on it?
Devoting our time to create weapons, bombs, and other destructive things might bring adverse consequences

whereas improving our living conditions, creating balance in the environment, and reducing the harmful effects
of the technologies will bring positive consequences. The answer to whether science and technology can be
harmful or useful lies, therefore, depends more upon us and our activities rather than science and technology
in itself.