Articles

Any substance that is used to create an object is referred to as material.

The magnets used by sailors in the olden days were based on naturally occurring magnets, known as lodestones which were discovered in ancient times. Later on, people found out that magnets could also be made from pieces of iron.

Food is an essential component of our daily life. India is an agricultural country with diverse soil and climate types. Various crops are grown in its different regions depending on the soil types and climatic conditions.

Every product goes through a production process before it finally reaches the consumer. This production process involves using resources or inputs required to produce the final product. The resources or inputs used in producing goods and services are hence called factors of production.

A place where people buy and sell goods is called a market. This can be at a physical place or, as is becoming popular today, online.

People exchanged goods or services for other goods and services. This system is called the barter system. Today, we use coins and notes to buy and sell things. People also use their mobile phones and computers for such transactions.

Some economic activities share similar characteristics and based on this, they can be grouped together or classified into broader groups called economic sectors. The three main types of economic sectors are primary, secondary and tertiary economic sectors.

Different types of activities are divided into two groups or categories: economic activities and non-economic activities.

India’s independence was achieved through great sacrifices by many people of the country after years of struggle against colonial rule. The citizens of a free country could now make decisions about their own governance.

Universal adult franchise is the cornerstone of Indian democracy. The right to vote is a responsibility, too. It needs to be taken seriously by every voter. Voter awareness is an important aspect of the right to vote.

The Constitution of India is a guiding book or ‘rulebook’ which protects the rights of all citizens. Citizens are also expected to follow the fundamental duties of the Constitution. It is a living document that can be improved as per the country’s needs.

A government must create necessary rules, implement them, and ensure that everyone follows these rules. These three responsibilities are known as the functions of government.

In urban areas, decentralised governance works through different urban local bodies, which fulfil various functions affecting the citizens’ lives. As with the rural context, urban local bodies have elected members who represent the local citizens.

The local government in rural areas is organised into a three-tier system. Democracy in the Panchayati Raj system works both through direct participation of people and through their elected representatives.

Human beings have been living in communities for a long time. When a large number of people live together, there can be disagreements and disorder, and rules become necessary to maintain order and harmony in the society.

Family is the foundation of human society. Ideally, members of a family support each other in their many duties and tasks.

India offers immense diversity in its landscapes, people, languages, dresses, foods, festivals and customs. Diversity is easy to perceive in many fields, but there is also an underlying unity. India’s unity celebrates diversity because diversity does not divide - it enriches.

Colonialism is the practice where one country takes control of another region, establishing settlements there, and imposing its political, economic, and cultural systems.

The Marathas are a group of people native to the Deccan plateau, more specifically present-day Maharashtra. They are identified with the language they speak - Marathi - which has had a rich and continuous literary history since the 12th century.

A new era in India’s journey began in the early 11th century. Invasions from beyond the Hindu Kush mountains reshaped India’s political map.

Sacredness is finding something of deep religious or spiritual significance, worthy of respect and reverence, holy or divine. It can be a special location or shrine that evokes such deep feelings, high thoughts or emotions.

The variety of plants and animals found in a particular region contributes to the biodiversity of that region.

‘The Proposal’’ is a one-act play, a farce, by the Russian short story writer and dramatist Anton Chekhov. It was written in 1888-89.

This poem is a conversation between a young man and a young woman.

Gautama Buddha (563 B.C. - 483 B.C.) began life as a prince named Siddhartha Gautama, in northern India. At twelve, he was sent away for schooling in the Hindu sacred scriptures and four years later he returned home to marry a princess.

This poem is written in the style of a ballad - a song or poem that tells a story. This poem is a humorous ballad close to a parody.

n this sensitive story, an eight-year old girl’s first bus journey into the world outside her village is also her induction into the mystery of life and death. She sees the gap between our knowing that there is death, and our understanding of it.

By the 3rd century CE, the Kuṣhāṇa Empire, which spread over the north and northwest of the Subcontinent, started to weaken. New kingdoms emerged, setting the stage for a fresh period of consolidation with the Gupta dynasty.

The fog comes
on little cat feet.
It sits looking
over harbour and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.

Early in the New Year of 1956 I travelled to Southern Iraq. By then it had crossed my mind that I should like to keep an otter instead of a dog, and that Camusfearna, ringed by water a stone’s throw from its door, would be an eminently suitable spot for this experiment.

The trees inside are moving out into the forest,
the forest that was empty all these days
where no bird could sit
no insect hide
no sun bury its feet in shadow
the forest that was empty all these nights
will be full of trees by morning.

Pranjol, a youngster from Assam, is Rajvir’s classmate at school in Delhi. Pranjol’s father is the manager of a tea-garden in Upper Assam and Pranjol has invited Rajvir to visit his home during the summer vacation.

Coorg is coffee country, famous for its rainforests and spices.

This is a pen-portrait of a traditional Goan village baker who still has an important place in his society.

Every child feels that she or he is controlled and instructed not to do one thing or another.

Anneliese Marie ‘Anne’ Frank (12 June 1929 - February/March 1945) was a German born Jewish girl who wrote while in hiding with her family and four friends in Amsterdam during the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II.

This humorous poem suggests some dangerous ways to identify (or ‘tell’) wild animals!

The moon was coming up in the east, behind me, and stars were shining in the clear sky above me. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky. I was happy to be alone high up above the sleeping countryside.

The young seagull was alone on his ledge. His two brothers and his sister had already flown away the day before. He had been afraid to fly with them.

The last Maurya emperor was assassinated around 185 BCE by his commander-in-chief Puṣhyamitra Śhunga. This led to a breakup of the empire - hardly half a century after Aśhoka.

This poem contrasts a tiger in the zoo with the tiger in its natural habitat. The poem moves from the zoo to the jungle, and back again to the zoo.

In this extract from his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom, Mandela speaks about a historic occasion, ‘the inauguration’.

Some say the world will end in fire
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favour fire.

The way a crow
Shook down on me
The dust of snow
From a hemlock tree

The house - the only one in the entire valley - sat on the crest of a low hill. From this height one could see the river and the field of ripe corn dotted with the flowers that always promised a good harvest. The only thing the earth needed was a downpour or at least a shower. Throughout the morning Lencho - who knew his fields intimately - had done nothing else but see the sky towards the north-east.

The word ‘empire’ comes from the Latin ‘imperium’, which means ‘supreme power’. An empire is a collection of smaller kingdoms or territories over which a powerful ruler or group of rulers exert power, often after waging war against the smaller kingdoms.

In the early 2nd millennium BCE, the Harappan civilisation disintegrated. Some of its cities were abandoned and in others, some people continued living there, but reverting to a rural or village lifestyle.

Indian culture is several millenniums old. Like any ancient tree, it has many roots and many branches. The roots nurture a common trunk. And from the trunk emerge many branches, which are different manifestations of Indian culture, yet united by a common trunk.

Civilisation began at different times in different parts of the world. In the region known as Mesopotamia (modern Iraq and Syria), that happened about 6,000 years ago, and the civilisation in ancient Egypt followed a few centuries later.

Today, the India we know is a modern nation, with defined borders, defined states and a known population. However, it was very different 500 years ago, 2,000 years ago or even 5,000 years ago.