War is a Hindrance To World Progress. It is Only Possible with Peace and Friendship.

“Power is of two kinds. One is obtained by the fear of punishment and the other by acts of love Power based on love is a thousand times more effective and permanent than the one derived from fear.”

                                                                                                                        - MAHATMA GANDHI

War is a term used from ancient times at various instances at the national /provincial ,social, or personal levels. War is either internal or external, whichever is there. It disturbs the peace and state of neutrality in that area. It brings actions that hinder and diverts the thought of people, working people, and circumstances of living. As Thomas Mann has said “war is only a cowardly escape from the problems of peace”. It manoeuvers people from peace and friendship to violence, conflict, and argument at a different level.

In today’s scenario war can be termed as an act of dropping a bomb costing thousands of dollar, from a machine(jet) costing millions of dollars, flying at the cost of hundreds of dollars per hour that many times kills innocent people struggling from bread and butter and deals damage to necessary institutions, wildlife, sites, centers, etc. It affects both the physical and mental health of the generation. During the world war, the nuclear war caused several medical conditions, and bad circumstances of living and affected the whole world at different tiers.

In the current scenario the internal war in southern African countries like DR of Congo, Nigeria, etc. Lead to a scarcity of food and shelter and a lack of basic facilities, and technology despite being rich in natural resources and minerals. The war between Afghanistan and Taliban, Russia-Ukraine, etc., leads to millions of refugees, and shortage of food items in the world, a hike in the price of necessary commodities, petroleum products, etc, and loss of manpower and resources.

In short, war just does not affect the parties involved in it rather it directly or indirectly affects the whole world. George W. Bush once said, “If we don’t stop extending our troops all around the world in nation-building missions, we are going to have a serious problem coming down the road”.

War is carried out due to misunderstanding, greediness or to show power to the world, but as ALBERT EINSTEIN has said “peace cannot be kept by force, it can only be achieved by understanding”. Understanding and friendship have the power to make a better world and bring people close together. Peace and friendship can help in growth and progress by contributing to each other’s development, in the economy through various means like assets, ideas, technology, etc.

Mahatma Gandhi has shown us how we can bring change with peace and non-violence and he said “In a gentle way, you can shake the world”. War can be avoided by diplomatic dialogue and friendship.

Sometimes war is necessary to protect ourselves and our people. As Kabir used to say “ATI KA BHALA NA BOLNA , ATI KI BHALI NA CHUP, ATI KA BHALA NA BARASHNA , ATI KA BHALA NA DHOOP”. It also brings a change in mentality, lifestyle, etc. In society and provide lessons to society and people. for example, Germany changed its mindset and path after the world war and now setting it up as a technology hub. Similarly, Japan learned how to tackle the hazardous situation and now developing it with a different mindset. Pakistan learned its limit after the war with India. But as MC-Millan said “War can bring social progress, but we must remember the cost” as we have to go with a lot of financial, humanitarian, and physical resource losses.

 Thus we can conclude that war is a hindrance to world progress. It Is only possible with peace and friendship.

             “An eye for an eye makes the world blind”

                                                      -Mahatma Gandhi

                             

    Written by Hemant ojha

Woman and Girls Empowerment is the Crux of Overall Progress of Every Nation

 “ To awaken the people, it is the women who must be awakened once she is on the moves, the family moves, the village moves, the nation moves” --- -- Jawaharlal Nehru

Women contribute about half of the total population of the world, but still, they suffer  disadvantage as related to men in various terms like education, the participation rate in various sectors, wages, etc, Social, economic, and political empowerment is the need of the day, as it is one only surest way of making women empowerment. Empowerment of girls & women is vital not only on the ground of social justice but also because it accelerates social transformation. Despite being a large population of women in a nation, If their participation is not in the development of the country, then this population will not get proper opportunities. No development can be imagined without the participation of this huge manpower.

A strong patriarchal society with deep-rooted socio-cultural values continues to affect the progress of women’s empowerment in the nation. It is a fact that women are built differently than men by nature yet this difference cannot be translated to mean inferiority, From the ancient time women are supposed to be not capable of various things with primitive mindsets.

In a similar context, Gloria Steinem said “Women are always saying, We can do anything that men can do; But men should saying, We can do anything that women can do”.

The need of the hour is an egalitarian society, Where there should be no place for gender superiority. Empowerment of women is a necessity for a very development of a society Since it enhances both the quality and the quantity of human resources available for national development. As Isabelle Allende said, “I can promise you that women working together- linked, Informed, and educated- can bring peace and prosperity to this forsaken planet”. Women empowerment ensures the sustainable development of the nation/region. Economic empowerment of women increases women’s agency, access to formal government programs, mobility outside the home, economic independence, and purchasing power.

“There is no tool more effective than the empowerment of women for the development of a country”.

As someone has correctly said, “You educate a man, you educate a man, you educate a woman, you educate a generation”. By educating a woman you educate the whole family. Given that a woman has the responsibilities of the whole family herself, an educated woman is better capable of taking care of her children and more so be an active agent in the social and economic development of the country. No society has ever liberated itself economically, politically, or socially without a sound base of educated women. Studies have indicated that there is a strong correlation between female education and several development indicators such as increased economic productivity, improvement in health, delayed age at marriage, lower fertility, increased political participation, and effective investment in the next generation.

In Indian culture, many empowered women like Goddess Durga, Saraswati, Lakshmi, etc. are worshiped. Even God’s names are taken with Goddess’s name like Sita-Ram, Radha-Krishna. Lord Shiva is known as Ardhnaarishwar. That signifies the value of women and girls in Indian society.

In Indian history women like Jhansi ki Rani (Lakshmibai), Razia sultan, Mother Teresa, Kalpana Chawla, Sunita Williams, etc. have shown the world what women can do.

In French Revolution, women gained quite several rights in the first years of the revolution. New Zealand provided the right to vote for women in 1893( 1st in the world). Similarly, many other territories also enfranchised women before 1893. Indian constitution also provides several rights to empower women.

As Mahatma Gandhi Said “Mahilayen, puruson se behtar sainik sabit ho sakti hain bas unko mauka dene ki jarurat hai”. Today women are doing well in every sector like defence, Policy-making, leadership, Research, Astronomy, etc. in the whole world.

Women’s empowerment has five components: Women’s sense of self-worth; their right to have and to determine choice; their right to have access to opportunities and resources; their right to have the power to control their own lives, both within and outside the home; and their ability to influence the direction of social change to create a more just social and economic order, nationally and internationally

Men often humiliate each other by questioning personal enmity jealousy and reputation, due to which their positivity becomes zero. But there are very less such cases with women. Generally, women remain away from corruption as a result they can contribute more to development work. Whenever women are active, they commit to social cohesion within their communities in local conflict resolution initiatives, in welcoming internally displaced people and survivors of gender-based violence, in educating children, and in raising awareness of non-violence and peace.

Recently Head of UN Women told that investing in women’s economic empowerment yields enormous dividends for peace and prosperity, stressing that countries, where women are economically marginalized and shut out of the workforce are much more likely to go to war. “ We know societies with more gender equality tend to be more resistant to violence and conflict” yet too often women remain excluded from decision-making.

However, women are also criticized by saying that women become dependent on male members, have a low potential of working, etc.

Thus we can say that women’s & girls’ empowerment is the crux of the overall progress of every nation.

“Women power is an integral part of a nation’s power, without which no nation can be strong without being empowered and included.”