2021

A Look at China’s 14th Five-Year Plan On March 11, the National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s top legislature, concluded its annual session. In this meeting, the lawmakers approved, besides many other plans and policies, the Outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) for National Economic and Social Development and the Long-Range Objectives Through the Year 2035. The Plan, which includes …

Seven Piece of Land Asia Asia is the largest and most populous continent of the world. It covers an area of 29.5 percent of the land area and has about 60 percent of the world’s population. It has an area of 44,579,000 square kilometres and consists of 47 countries. The highest point in Asia is Mount Everest, Nepal, and the …

Catfishing What you need to know about this form of cyberbullying What is catfishing? Catfishing is the act of pretending to be someone else to deceive people or to entangle them into fake relationships and later exploit them. It refers to the practice of creating a false identity by setting up a fictitious profile. A catfish gets a hold of …

Promotion of Mother Languages The Case of Punjabi These figures ring the alarm bells and if we do not pay heed to this, we may fail in saving Punjabi from extinction. The gravity of the situation can be gauged from another angle; a large number of people who consider Punjabi their mother tongue do not converse in it with members …

Faqir Chand Kohli Faqir Chand Kohli, who passed away on 26 November 2020, is known as the ‘Father of Indian IT Industry’. A recipient of the Padma Bhushan, FC Kohli was the founding chief executive of sector leader TCS. He pioneered the country’s ‘Technology Revolution’ which helped India build its USD 100 billion IT industry. FC Kohli was born in …

Economic Statecraft The concept of ‘economic statecraft’ is defined by Princeton’s Prof. David A. Baldwin as using economic means to meet foreign policy goals. China is, perhaps, the best example in this regard. China owes its historic rise to its economic statecraft. By owning and embracing the concept, China, today, is the world’s second largest economy and is projected to …

Conflict and Food Security If you don’t feed people, you feed conflict! On March 11, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) started an open debate on the impact of conflict on food security with the concept note inviting members to discuss the worsening food security environments, relevant obligations under international humanitarian law, and challenges in mobilizing resources for assistance. In …

7 Wealthy Mentalities of Successful People Everyone wants to be successful. Most want to be wealthy. So why don’t we ever end up getting there? Although most of us face detours to our big dreams, it’s typically not external factors keeping us from achieving our dreams. It’s internal barriers that stop us. If you want to build wealth and be …

World in Focus ( FEB-MAR 2021) National & International International Feb. 16: Canadian singer-songwriter Raymond Levesque, whose 1956 classic “Quand les hommes vivront d’amour” was an international hit, died at the age of 92. Feb. 16: Iran armed forces launched ‘Maritime Security Belt Exercise’, a joint naval drill with Russia in the north of the Indian Ocean. Feb. 16: France’s …

Social Media and the Dying Art of Conversation Has Technology Killed Our Ability to Talk Face-to-Face? To experience a sense of belonging, to be seen, valued and heard, is one of the most fundamental desires of human beings. Yet, life in the 21st century — running around chasing heavy schedules, meeting targets and deadlines — has sabotaged meaningful connections in …