INDIA AFTER 60 YEARS

A Mathematical Mind:

• Algebra originated in India: Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi learned the technique of Indian mathematics and introduced it to the world through his famous book on arithmetic text, the Kitab al-jamwal tafriq bi hisab aI-Hindi ("Book on Addition and Subtraction after the Method of the Indians"), around 780-850 A.D The first use of algebraic transformation was described by Brahmagupta in his book Brahmasphutasiddhanta, where he first proposed solution of Linear Algebra and Quadratic Equation.
• The ancient Indian mathematicians were also very familiar with Trigonometry. Aryabhata in 499, gave tables of half chords which are now known as sine tables, along with cosine tables. He used zya for sine, kotizya for cosine, and otkram zya for inverse sine, and also introduced the versine.
• The largest numbers the Greeks and the Romans used were 106 whereas numbers as big as 10 to the power of 53 with specific names were used in ancient India.
• The Place Value System' and the 'Decimal System' were .developed in India in 1 00 B.C.

The Peace Loving Country:

• India never invaded any in her last 1000 years of history.India provides safety for more than 300,000 refugees originally from Sri Lanka, Tibet, Bhutan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, who escaped to flee religious and political persecution.

India's Sporting Spirit:

• The game of Snakes & Ladders was create in Industry the 13th century poet saint Gyandev. It was originally called 'Mokshapat'. The ladders in the game represented virtues and the snakes indicated vices. The game was played with cowrie shells and dices. In time, the game underwent several modifications, but its meaning remained the same, i.e. good deeds take people to heaven and evil to a cycle of re-births. It is also widely believed that some forms of Martial Arts were first created in India, and later spread to Asia by Buddhist missionaries. Yoga has its origins in India and has existed for over 5,000 years.

Challenges To India's Democracy

Divisive tendencies:-

• In a country of over a billion people, Indian nationalism has for long survived the divisive tendencies of caste, crass, religion and languages. But recent past growing violence in the name of religion and sub nationalism has posed a great threat to the smooth functioning democracy in India.

Extremism:-

• There is an organized attempt by forces inimical to freedom and peace in our region to destroy Indian democracy by striking at the every roots of our nationhood. Over a period of time there has been a systematic effort to spread communal disharmony and conflict in India
• Unemployment The employment growth in organized sector, public and private combined has declined during the period between and 2006 and the situation has got aggravated during the last year due to the global financial crisis.

Regionalism:-

• This is the main weakness of Indian democracy today. A large part of the Indian politics has been reduced to 'Identity politics, be it caste, religious or regional identities, ~ and this brings divisive forces to play.

Illiteracy:-

• Literacy in India, says UNESCO, is an indispensable means for effective social and economic participation, contributing to human development and poverty India is one of the countries (along with the Arab states and sub-Saharan Africa) where the literacy levels are still below the threshold level of75% hut gigantic efforts a on to achieve that level. Without literate and well inform 'Citizens, no democracy can be participative in the true sense.

Corruption and nepotism:-

This is another major problem in our country today. Many of us have simply accepted it as sad reality. But unless we are able to fight corruption, the benefits of development can never be shared equitably and democratically.