UPLIFTMENT OF WOMEN IN PRESENT DAY SOCIETY

India is a land of a million Gods and Goddesses. By any problem theory, out of this one million, at least half a million would be goddesses alone. Yet which demands due recognition of women’s contribution in building renewed face of our society. What is the root cause of such an attitude? Is it the male ego which is feeling threatened with ever growing role of women in all walks of life? Or is it the result of age old legacy passed on by our ancestors of present generation? Perhaps all of them the answer.

A survey of a wide cross-section of our society reveals that women are still playing the support role in a family with male member in the lead role. Young girl are seen doing vigorous house hold chores with their mother instead of going to school or doing other activities befitting their age. In some cases even in high society few women though educated are relegated to do normal house wife’s role instead of taking up decent jobs and earning. It’s time for women to liberate themselves and face the world on their own esteem. There are ample job opportunities available for them to make a healthy career and earn money. Education is must for all women as it gives lots of self confidence also. It also time for our government to create public awareness regarding equal status of women in modern society. Women are shouldering almost all the responsibilities like their male counterparts, be it armed force, medicines, IT, fashion or media blitz. Upliftment of women folks is mainly targeted at those under privileged ones who are still being dominated by merely merle on the basis of being the bread-earners of the house.

 There is no doubt in coming day ”WOMEN POWER ” will greatly contribute towards the progress of our nation.

*Be wealthy not with money but with good human qualities.

The Nizam of Hyderabad was one of the richest men in the world. He had palaces, cars, factories, jewels, money many. When he did how much do you think he took with him? Not a single coin! When we die, we cannot take any thing with us. Money, no doubt, is very useful but it is not the most important thing in life. It is not only thing that counts.

We can buy many things with money. But our greatness is shown not in having money but in the manner we use it. A farmer Once in Pune, Gopal dhavan, discovered a hidden treasure. He had found the jewels of a Maratha chieftain. Suddenly Gopal and had many friends. He came to be known as Sri Gopal Rao dhavan. His name appeared in the newspapers. He gave lavish parties. He was invited to preside over functions and he was asked to contribute to various chartable causes. Gopal dhavan delighted to get all the attention. But in one year all his money was over. He had no friends now. He became the same Gopal again.

Money should be earned through honest means. Everyone has a right to food, shelter, clothing and other necessities of life. That is the reason people work- to earn a living. But there are many people who want money the easy and wrong way. People try to get money by stealing or cheating.

When we re dishonest, we harm ourselves, hurt others, and offend god. Nobody becomes a criminal in one day. Hamid used to steal small coins from his mother’s purse. He managed to do this often, without being caught. He was greedy. He did not care for his family. He was using the money to buy sweets for himself. He used to tell other children that his parents were giving him pocket money every day. When he came to school, he began stealing the parents of his classmates. During the recess, he would sometimes take the books of other children. He would sell these things in order to get money to sow off.

One day, he stole the teacher’s pen. The whole class was punished since no one owned up. The headmaster searched everybody’s bag and he found the pen in one of Hamid books. Hamid’s parents were called to the school. His father was very ashamed of his son. No one wanted to speak a Hamid because they did not want to be a friend of a thief. Poor Hamid! He was not satisfied with what he had. He wanted more money and so he used unfair means of getting it.

Once upon a time there was a learned man called Parmanand. He went to the Maharaja of Dharampur who was a very miserly man. Parmanand said, `Look through that window and tell me what you see there,’ he Maharaja replied, ` I se many people.’ Then Parmanand took him to a mirror and said, `Look and tell me what do you see here?’ `I see myself,’ answered the Maharaja. Then Parmanand explained, `In the window there is plain glass. On the mirror there is a glass but it is covered with a silver plate to make it a mirror. No sooner a little silver is added you stop seeing others and you see only yourself. In the same way, because you have a little silver and gold you see only yourself.’ The Maharaja understood that he was using is money and power for himself.

Money cannot buy faith, hope and love. It can neither buy friends, nor are honor and truth the way we get money and the way we spend it a test of our character.

Now let us travel to the Mediterranean lands where the climate is warm and pleasant. The ancient Greek and man civilization flourished around this Mediterranean land. Today tourists flock to lands of this type partly because of the climate. It is sometimes considered the nicest place on the earth with its warm sunshine, its beautiful deep blue seas and clear blue skies, its carpet of flowers and orchards of fruits.

Winter rain and summer drought

This type of climate is referred to as Mediterranean and is found inlands that lie roughly between latitudes 30 degree cilices and 40 degree cilices, north and south of the Equator. These areas have a Mediterranean type of climate you will notice that they are on the western side of continents. Here the swing of the wind belts brings desert influences in summer. In winter, the wind belts swing towards the equator, and the westerly winds bring rain.

Here people enjoy all the four seasons- spring, summer, autumn and winter. In summer, the temperature is about 25 degrees chilies and the weather is very dry. This is referred to as summer drought. During winter, the temperature drops to about 10 degree cilices and is accompanied by rain.

Vegetation

All plants here are evergreen, although the growth of plants slows down during the summer drought. Grass does not grow well in areas, where rain occurs only in the cooler season. Most Mediterranean vegetation is adapted to survive the dry summer. For example, the cork-oak has a thick spongy bark, the vine has long roots that go deep into the soil to search for moisture and the olive has small waxy leaves to avoid loss of moisture. Trees are usually stunted. They are widely spaced, forming scrub rather than forest. Many small lands which die in summer, survive as bulbs until the winter.

The fertile soil found in this are is full of iron compounds and is red in color. So it is called terrarosa.

Grain and fruit in the Mediterranean

Wheat is the main cereal of the Mediterranean lands. It is shown in winter and harvested in early summer. Barely is cultivated in dries areas.

The grape is an important fruit of the Mediterranean lands. It supplies wine and dried fruit. The olive which supplies oil has been a staple food for centuries. Other typical Mediterranean crops are figs, almonds, peaches and apricots. Milk and butter are difficult to produce Mediterranean lands. Can you say why?

Citrus fruits such as lemons, oranges, limes and grapefruits have been brought from wetter region. The warm sunshine ripens the fruit.

In Israel, land has been reclaimed from the desert by the development of irrigation schemes. Irrigation us also changed the great valley of California into one of the world’s great fruit and vegetable growing center.

A desert is a region that gets very little rainfall. Where temperatures are high, the rate of evaporation exceeds the rainfall. The ground is dry. Such regions are called hot deserts. But there are also `cold desert’. Although these is a hardly any evaporation in such places, temperatures are so low that the little rain that falls comes in the form of snow. Plants cannot survive in such conditions. Vegetation is thus scarce in both types of deserts and the land cannot be put too much use. Desert is a kind of waste land.

Deserts cover about one –fifth of the total land surface of the world. Some deserts are like great seas of sand while some are rocky or stony deserts.

The Thar Desert is in India, Which is a hot desert because of the lack of rain. There is other hot desert in the world. You will find that the entire hot desert is found between about 15 degree cilices and 30 degree cilices north and south of the equator. These deserts are crossed either by the people of Cancer of the Tropic of Capricorn.

Another feature of the hot deserts is that they are found on the western side of the continents. Why is this? The reason is that the trade winds in this region blow across the land and carry very little moisture. The winds blow from the northeast which means that the eastern part of the continent gets the rain. By the time the winds reach the western part they are very dry. Cold currents too flow towards the equator on the western sides of the continents. Winds that blow across these currents get cooled and lose their moisture. Therefore little rain reaches the land.

Thus land becomes a dry desert. South of the equator the winds blow from the southeast.

The largest hot desert in the world is the Sahara (the Arabic word for desert) which lies south of the Mediterranean Sea and stretches right across North Africa. Smaller hot deserts are found in California in North America, in Arabia and in Central Asia. In the southern Hemisphere we find the Atacama Desert in South Africa and the great Australian desert in Central Australia.

The air in a desert is dry. During the day it is hot, sunny and cloudless. The temperature rises above 30 degree cilices. The nights are starlit, cloudless and cold. The temperature drops to about 10 degree cilices. There is little or on rain, amounting usually to less than 25 cm a year. Hot days and cold nights break up the desert rock by making it expand and contract. Thus most of the deserts are sandy and the strong winds that blow across the deserts carry the grains of sand from one place to another to form sand dunes. Sand dunes grow and often drift in the direction of the world of the wind. Sometimes entire villages have been covered by such drifting dunes.

Just as the northern part of the Thar Desert has become fertile with irrigation, so crops can be grown in all deserts where irrigation is possible.

Most of the Sahara is a plateau about 180 meters high. There are mountains in this desert but about two-thirds of the area is made up shifting sand dunes. Much of this land receives no rain for several years. Suddenly rain comes in one or two fleeting showers. This can cause flash foods, laden with sand and broken desert rock. This can cut deep gorges in the desert, called Wadis in North Africa and canyons in North America. After such storms most of the water runs off into dried up water courses called Wadis. The particles of sand carried by the wind carve the rocks into strange shapes.