Globally, many Less Developed Countries(LDCs) implement anti-natal policies, the objective being to decrease crude birth rate and total fertility rate so that the population size can be brought down. Such measures are usually employed when an LDC is experiencing an unsustainably high rate of natural increase such that governments worry that the country’s carrying capacity may be exceeded. In other words, it is partly to try to improve standards of living.

Anti-natal policies range from harsh to softer methods in their range of cases. A world famous case would be the “One-child policy” of China implemented since the 1970s when they were still very much a poverty-stricken LDC and far from being the world’s 2nd largest economy. Deng Xiaoping had publicly announced that for China to reach its economic development goals by the 21st century, population size would have to be slashed to 1.2 billion. Under his ideology harsh measures like forced sterilisation and abortion were employed ruthlessly. The National Population and Family Planning Commission runs the policy and with their notorious 300,000 full-time workers and 80 million volunteers, they ensured household visits and assessments were done regularly especially in the rural villages. The policy covered about 35% of the Chinese population and contraceptives were easily available. Couples could only have one child, or in the countryside two if the first was a girl. Hefty fines of 10,000 yuan were imposed for a second and subsequent child. There were also some areas having the ‘One-child glory certificate”, entitling couples who adhered to the rule with cash bonuses, longer maternity leave, cheaper child care, preferential housing. Extra month’s salary is given until the child is 14 and discounted healthcare, cheaper fertiliser and even loans of $100,000 yuan to refurbish their houses as they wish.

Given its plethora of measures, it was expected that this policy achieved absolute success. Statistically, it has achieved the best reduction in fertility rate as from 1970 to 1979 TFR fell than more than half from 5.8 to 2.7 and subsequently preventing about 400 million births from 1979 to 2011, equivalent to the size of Europe. It was also extremely successful in urban areas like Beijing and Shanghai as it was implemented at an optimal time, when the desire to improve socio-economic conditions outweighed the desire for large families. In such urban cities, raising a child requires about 50,000 RMB for a comfortable life and many know it is not an easy decision. As a result the urban coastal cities in particular quite willingly lowered their TFR to 1.5-1.6, significantly lower than China’s national average. This led to an improvement in standards of living as carrying capacity was better able to support smaller population with existing resources. As such the trend for these cities has already been set, leading to prevalence of nuclear families and even the “little-emperor syndrome”.

That being acknowledged, many feel that this policy was a failure in intangible terms especially where morales are concerned. It is surprising that even 30 years later this barbaric experiment in social engineering is still in force. It has served to distort gender balances by contributing to female infanticide and sex-selective abortions, such that nationally, there are only 100 girls to 118 boys. In rural villages, the figure is much more worrying at 100 girls to 133 boys. It has also received widespread criticism for its complete disregard of basic human rights by forcing village women to undergo sterilization and abortions such that in some villages, up to 98% of women have had IUD implantations, often without their knowledge as they had been done when they were unconscious after forced procedures. In Bobai county in west Guangxi, officials launched a vicious crackdown and rounded up 17,000 women before subjecting them to such forced procedures, extracting 7.8 million yuan as fines, ransacking the homes of those who refused payment. Perhaps a more evident failure is the fact the policy is already causing harm to China itself as it is evidently reducing their economic comparative advantage of surplus labour and being the “factory of the world”. Labour crunches can be seen as the pearl river delta is short of 2 million workers while the Wenzhou hub is short of 1 million. Chinese wages are increasing about 4% annually and minimum wage in Guangzhou has been raised to over 1,000 yuan from a previous 860. It will be counterproductive if the policy is not controlled and ends up affecting FDI into the country.

LDCs generally are unable to implement their anti-natal policies with much success due to the inherent weaknesses in governance and national foundation that causes inability to handle various complex issues well. In Nigeria for e.g., the 1988 National Population Policy was pretty much a failure. Contraception was promoted and it has to be acknowledged, first, that perhaps the good thing was contraception and family planning services were made easily available and affordable to all, which increased contraceptive use to an impressive 50% in 5 years from a dismal 6%. Aggressive campaigns regarding eradicating discrimination against women in the workplace and at home were also conducted. However the policy was an overall failure due to its extremely fleeting success. In the long term it did not work well as more than half of Nigerians are Muslim, thus contraceptive promotion had violated religious beliefs and their rationales not understood. The policy also operated on a voluntary basis, allowing families to determine if they wanted to participate. As such many naturally chose to opt out and the final participation rate was disappointing. TFR remained relatively high at 5.70 from 2000-2005 and 5.61 from 2005-2010. Their population growth rate of 3% annually has caused them to be Africa’s fastest-growing nation, with one out of every 6 Africans being a Nigerian. This may lead to unintended consequences if the problem persists and youth dependency rises to a state that the country cannot support.

In democratic LDCs like India, their situation is quite similar to Nigeria in that being a democracy, they could not legislate the number of babies allowed per couple in their 1972 anti-natal policy. In this year abortion was legalized and contraception promoted widely, including methods like the pill and coil. Mass media was leveraged to spread announcements and posters with a globe overflowing with people and a message “limited resources, increasing population” were used in advertisements. Recently the state of Rajasthan are encouraging voluntary sterilisation by offering a car, the Indian-made Tata Nano(the world’s cheapest car) as a prize, along with motorcycles, televisions and food blenders. This will work well especially among the poorer group as these electrical appliances and household items of choice, once a luxury, are now available with sterilisation. Crude birth rate was reduced by more than half from 40.8 in 1951 to 26.4 by 1998. TFR also declined from 4.5 to 3.4 in a matter of years.

Despite the minor success, much more lies in its subtle failures. In 1978 the legal age for marriage was raised to 18 from 15 but this went largely ignored as tradition had precedence over state laws, the problem of free human choice in a democracy. Also contraception promotion was not successful with only 25% usage level despite improvements. In rural villages like Uttar Pradesh, unintended female infanticide was caused with fewer than 90 girls to 100 boys. More significantly, there were widespread complaints about many being coerced into unwilling sterilisation and abortion which led to abandonment of the campaign. With states like Uttar Pradesh adding 10 million every 3 years, India’s 1.1 billion population is expected to exceed China’s 1.3 billion by 2030, clearing showing the success of the former compared to the bleak results of the latter.

In conclusion, anti-natal policies in LDCs definitely have their own successes or failures, however in the case of an authoritative government in China, legislation takes precedence and statics will show the absolute success of the measure, though intangible morales and socio-economic aspects of life may not improve. However in most cases, we tend to see a LDC unable to handle such complexities of birth policies due to the myriad of factors needed to be considered like religious practices, acceptability and pertinence of the policy, etc. such that with other pressing priorities of alleviating poverty and achieving economic growth, LDCs generally do not have the extra capacity to deal with successful implementation.

Some people believe that the United States of America cannot win the war on Terrorism no matter what technological advances we have. These people believe that our Laser defense shield and airborne laser weapons are nothing and will not help us beat the enemy murderers who target innocent civilians. One gentleman using the screen name of Buddha came to our online think tank to tell us this and he stated;

“Technology is just a tool to help him… and the defense shield you talk about is a useless piece of republican propaganda used to try and scare the Chinese… lets not forget that propaganda is another tool of war.”

Propaganda is a tool of war and unfortunately it has gotten the best of your grasshopper. Do not believe what Al Jazeera or the BBC says about what the United States is about. The United States is the biggest gifter to the poor of the world and the most philanthropic nation in the world with personal individuals who have given more to the common good than most all other nations. I would recommend that you study up on that and further more recommend that you never forget one of the sayings we have in the United States of America;

“Do not mistake our acts of kindness for a sign of weakness”

and I will add to that;

“Because nothing on this pale blue dot, could be further from the truth”

The United States of America, will not be threatened by the world of International Terrorism and we are not a nation of weakness, we are a nation of individuals who possess power of the mind, will and inner strength and together we will be victorious on the war on terror. We will pre-emptively go after any and all nation states supporting international terrorism and will never back down. Tell your international terrorist friends; You do not know who f*cking with. Don’t play games.

And as far as China, well they are a good 20-years behind us in technology and they cannot even steal it as fast as we are creating it. They only have 2,600 spies in the US now (yes we know who they are) and we have some 1 million researchers; 250,000 of which are linked in with the Department of Defense. Check facts before you blow smog on this website Budda (fatso). And folks that is what I think of that, so if you know any international terrorists out there send them a good bye kiss for me, as their days are numbered indeed. Consider this in 2006.

Ayman al-Zawahiri is an Egyptian-born eye surgeon who will celebrate his 63rd birthday this June. That is if, indeed, he makes it to June, for he is a hunted man.

Al-Zawahiri has long figured near the top of the list of the 22 “most wanted terrorists” first compiled in 2001 after the 9/11 catastrophe, with a $25 million bounty for his capture — dead or alive. He has already had multiple close calls with death. Though he has so far personally escaped, his wife and two of their offspring paid the ultimate price for being related to him. They were slaughtered in an air strike in winter 2001.

Ayman al-Zawahiri may well be the most hunted fugitive on the planet, for he is the purported CEO of the militant Islamist terror consortium known as Al Qaeda. He is also successor to the feared and unlamented Osama Bin Laden, who was killed in Abbottabad in May, 2011 by SEAL Team Six.

The conventional wisdom, long expressed publicly and privately by U.S. intelligence sources, is that Ayman al-Zawahiri is in a spider hole somewhere in Pakistan, just as many other Al Qaeda terrorists are also. But Pakistan is a very large place; it covers some 300,000 square miles, the 37th largest nation in the world, a piece of real estate that is ten per cent larger than Texas.

Where in Pakistan might he be?

For starters, most analysts think that he is almost certainly in a place in Pakistan where there are women and children nearby so that a drone strike would be ruled out simply because of the number of innocents who would have to die with Al-Zawahiri were he to be spotted and then blown up with a missile. That rules out most of the wild and wooly Khyber Pakhtunkhwa of Pakistan, the North-West Frontier Province near the eastern edge of the iconic Khyber Pass through the Spin Gar mountains. This is a part of Pakistan where even the military often dare not venture, rocky lands controlled by tribal warlords who do not accept central government.

One would think this is the perfect place for an outlaw to hide. It is, or rather was, until the recent deployment of drones. Drones have been used there lethally and effectively for years. Hundreds of terrorists have been killed.

Far more likely, Al-Zawahiri is hiding in the urban capital of the North-West Frontier Province, the fabled city of Peshawar. Why Peshawar? For starters, it is one of the most densely populated centers in Pakistan, with nearly 40 million people squeezed into a narrow valley in the foothills of the great Himalayan mountain chain that covers about 400 square miles. Its population density exceeds that of Hong Kong.

And since it is semi-autonomous, even Pakistan’s central “law and order” authorities have limited ability to control people and events there. It is, in effect, the Harlem of Pakistan: You go there by invitation of the locals, otherwise you may not be welcome.

It is also one of the most interesting parts of Pakistan, a melting pot of cultures and people, the perfect place for a sophisticated man like Al-Zawahiri to hide without having to give up creature comforts.

Al-Zawahiri is known to enjoy dining well, and he could easily pursue this penchant in Peshawar, a city of 10,000 restaurants. And unlike OBL, who at 6 feet 5 stood out like a telephone pole walking among his fellow men, Al-Zawahiri is five foot nine and weighs a little over 150 pounds, a perfectly nondescript man. No one really knows what his face looks like, for he has sported a full, bushy beard for decades, as do many of his peers. Shave off the beard and who knows what lies beneath? He would be an easy man to disguise, to roam free in Peshawar. The only thing we might recognize are his eyes, and eyes are easily disguised with color contacts.

Given his almost certain presence in Peshawar, will he be caught? That depends how much HUMINT (HUMman INTelligence, meaning spies on the ground) the world’s spy agencies are able to muster in sprawling Peshawar to penetrate Al Qaeda’s formidable secrecy. AQ’s leaders have learned to foreswear cell phones and computer. There are no tweets or cell calls from these guys to track. They use face-to-face to communicate, or written notes on scraps of paper hidden in the soles of shoes. Spies in Peshawar take enormous risks, for if they are caught, torture and death is the likely outcome.

Much of the hunt for Al-Zawahiri is going on behind the scenes, and we are unlikely to know much of the detail of this exciting story until after the last chapter is written. But we do have a template that is suggestive of how it might go down, and that is the takedown in June, 2012 of Abu Yahya al-Libi, an event that American observers still regard as the biggest success for the United States since OBL was defanged the previous year.

Drones are capable of covering large pieces of densely packed real estate while resolving, with high power lenses, objects only inches across. Given sufficient clues — from pocket litter found in smaller takedowns to chatter absorbed by NSA over the ether — special analysts called “targeters” in the CIA at Langley and at Liberty Crossing can use drones to focus on specific locations where further visual clues may emerge.

No American commander would ever unleash Hellfire missiles on a city with a population density of 100,000 per square mile, but drones may nonetheless prove effective in complementing HUMINT intelligence by tirelessly overflying homes and other buildings where Al-Zawahiri may be hiding. Unless, like OBL, he is indoors all the time, he will almost certainly be found.

There is always the chance, too, that Al-Zawahiri will leave Peshawar to go rally the troops in the outlying boonies. That is what doomed Al-Libi. The pointers all came together and the drones, like remorseless, tireless, and powerful birds of prey, circled his location at the right moment while he was on the move, then vaporized him in a moist, pink cloud of mist with an acutely aimed Hellfire.

Death by Hellfire is instantaneous. Yet that likely gives small comfort to Ayman al-Zawahiri when he looks heavenward, surveying the skies of Pakistan, wondering when his inevitable moment of oblivion will come.

Today, there is a sense of urgency that prevails in the consciousness of many. The world is moving much faster now. The tempo of life is racing so fast there is no time for rationale thinking only reacting spontaneously to the many crisis we face. Years ago in a time of style and grace life moved much slower where the tempo of life responded with a more rationale and collective effort to solve whatever crisis there was.

For the past few years though too many of our urgencies have been manufactured, instigated and manipulated by this present administration solely for the purpose to carry out an agenda purely for capital gain. Yet, so few have seen what is actually happening. Far too many the tempo of life has blinded them from the realization that the times of our lives have been darkened by clouds of deception.

Back in the mid 20th century when the world was engulfed in war we prevailed with a collective effort in eradicating the evil intentions of a ruthless dictator. We found out soon after the seeds of more violent aggression had already been planted. History is written in the blood spilled by mans ignorance and hate. Today, the ignorance of man has manifested more violent terror all over the world.

What we should see now is that mans ignorance stems from the lack of nurturing and fostering an educated public. When people everywhere remain tied to the yolk of oppression where individual freedoms don’t exist the rule of tyranny always keeps them ignorant and humanities fear creates the divisions in societies. One thinks of the quote from FDR “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” is the catalyst for the sum of all fears. It is then that mankind continues to ignite the flames of distrust and anxiety which left unchecked the seeds of hate that have been planted by fear turns brother against brother. Until we understand that the seeds of hate have been planted by mans ignorance there can be no peace.

Ever since the mid 1970’s the United States has seen a decline in academic standards unprecedented in modern times. Far too many of our population have been through an educational system far inferior to the rest of the industrialized world. In the 1950’s through till the early 1970’s we reach academic heights. Since then standards in academics have fallen drastically. The decline in educational standards has resulted in more of our population become less tolerant and more ignorant in a way that only encourages more fear. Too many of us have become too receptive to fear.

Today, when we think about it, it is fear instilled into the public’s consciousness by this Administration in trying to convince the American public that our national security is threatened if we don’t build this boarder wall. Had many of us been more educated we would have realized that all through-out history boarder walls always fail. All this hype that the President uses in trying to convince the public that a boarder wall is crucial for our national security is all based on instilling fear.

Today, we have an Administration and leaders in government that have continued to strip away our freedoms, our liberties and our sovereign rights. Until we educate the public and are taught what our government has done to the American public in ways that seem unimaginable today we will continue to ignorant to what our own government has and is doing to the American public In the course of over 150 years our freedoms have become limited and our inherent rights have almost disappeared.

It is through education and a well informed and participating public that ensures democracy works for the people. And, when our educational system fails in striving to maintain high academic standards that we had 60 years ago has created much of the fear, intolerance and ignorance we are seeing in our society today. Whenever a society fails to reach the pinnacle in academic standards always results in the rise of tyranny and oppression. When that happens the seeds of hate planted by man’s ignorance there can be no peace.

GEDA (Guam Economic Development Authority) located in International Trade Center, Guam, has recently started desk service for all the potential investors. The services which are being offered to the prospective investors are Industry Research, Pre Visit Meeting Schedule and meeting with government entities to ensure you the best support from the Government.

To facilitate the investors, Guam has participated in U.S. Federal Government economic incentive programs like Guam Foreign Investment Equity Act, Visa Waiver Program and Immigrant Investor Visa Program etc.

Guam Foreign Investment Equity Act: Guam’s tax law is a replication of U.S. International Revenue Code. As per the code, for the foreign investors, there is a standard 30% State Income tax is applicable.

Guam Foreign Investment Equity Act, Law 107-212 was signed by Former U.S. President Mr. George Bush in the year of 2002. As per the law, foreign companies can fund 75% for overall Guam’s Commercial Development.

Visa Waiver Program: Visa Waiver Program comes under US Congress PL 98-454. The program allows investors from other nationals to stay in Guam as tourist for 15 days, without having US Visa. Currently 27 countries are being covered under this program including Andorra, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brunei, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Indonesia, Japan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Malaysia, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Nauru, Portugal, Papua New Guinea, Republic of South Korea, San Marino, Singapore, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Solomon Islands, Taiwan, United Kingdom, Vanuatu and Western Samoa.

Apart from the above mentioned countries, other countries require U.S passport and Visa.

Immigrant Investor Visa Program: Immigration Act 1990, allows all the qualified applicants to get Green card from the government (Permanent Residential Status). Minimum investment in Guam should be $1000000 that may include equipment, inventory, cash and other tangible properties.

Introduction

The mystery around the infamous Bermuda triangle has further deepened with the release of new theory in the recent past. According to this new theory, the clouds that form over this infamous region of the ocean are triangular. These odd-shaped clouds are like strong air bombs that can cause a wreck with the ship and planes that pass through the said region, the new theory further elaborate. The scientists discovered these strange hexagonal clouds with the help of radar satellite imagery. The meteorologists found these clouds to have a width range of 20 and 50 miles over water. A science channel revealed this discovery in its series “What on Earth”. In this article, we would be looking at the new revelations made by a reputed meteorologist on the mystery of the Bermuda Triangle.

Micro-bursts in Atmosphere

Meteorologist Dr. Randy Cerveny stated that the satellite imaginary produced some bizarre images when the experts focussed the satellite on the clouds in the region. He further added that the unusual appearance is due to the signals getting reflected from the hexagonally shaped clouds. He further added that these hexagonal clouds are like sitting air bombs. According to him, these bizarre clouds have come from a phenomenon called micro-bursts. Hence, these have blasts of air trapped in them that wait to release energy on short notice. However, he quickly added that this strange phenomenon in no way completely explains the disappearance of planes and ships without any trace. He had to give this clarification when many people started to question his logic on social media platforms.

Bermuda Triangle Mystery

There have been many theories that try to explain the strange phenomenon that happens to the transport vehicles which enter the Bermuda Triangle. The legend has been around since 1400. It states that those who enter into this forbidden area never return to see its other side. It is located between Miami, Puerto Rico, and the Island of Bermuda. This region has been notoriously linked to a vast number of unexplainable disappearances of ships and planes. By using this satellite imagery, some scientists tried to explain away the mystery with the help of high-energy hexagonal clouds that form in the region. They stated that the bursts of clouds release a lot of energy that can upset moving ships and planes and endanger them in the region.

People Questioning the Logic

Many people question this new theory. They claim that this theory also fails to explain the disappearance without any trace. The wreckage could not be found in the sea beds after the ships and planes that meet with the accident. Ideally, people expect the wreckage to find near the site of disappearance. The freak storms, waterspouts, and rogue waves are known to occur in this region. There were even instances of empty boats and ships floating in the region. These facts do not sync with the theories floated so far by the experts. Therefore, many people, including the experts from the field of science, do not buy this explanation also.

The humans; the so-called intelligent species on the earth has become the most foolish creature on the planet. Yeah, this is neither a funny statement nor a mindless verbal assertion. No creature dies of hunger, but when you look at the number of people die out of hunger every year; you are bound to question the legitimacy of the human intelligence.

This is an epidemic, and the world is suffering; in fact, nearly 1000 millions of people are chronically hungry; more than 5000 people die every day in India due to starvation. Have you ever thought who is responsible for this? Well, we all are responsible; hence, do help worldwide and let the humans eliminate the hunger pain out of their lives.

How to eliminate hunger?

To eliminate the problem, you have to look at the problem objectively and understand the issue; in fact, the solution lies in the problem itself, but we never look at it closely. The communists’ have their own idea of eradicating hunger from the earth, the capitalists’ have their own set of agenda and socialists’ carry their self-aggrandizing ideas.

We are caught in the battle of the ideas, not finding the solution. Can we simply donate money for needy people? They need resources and food, not our glorified ideas.

Now, every human has this tendency of throwing responsibility to someone else; we all want someone else to take care of the problem like the government, but we fail to understand that we are part of the government and society.

Do not get confused; in fact, it is simple. Are not we collectively make the society, if you look closely, you will understand that society exists as an idea but in reality, there are only humans, you see humans; you deal with humans and talk to humans; have you ever seen society as an entity? So, it is every human’s responsibility to eliminate the hunger.

Nobody is asking to give away all your money; that will be stupid, you can simply donate things for needy people and bring smiles on their lips. A packet of bread can soothe the hunger pain of a malnutrition kid.

Somehow, the humans have lost the sensitivity towards the fellow human being. We can spend a staggering amount of money on pets, but when it comes to feeding a human, we tend to have different ideas. Why do we fail to help the poor people?

The humans have gone too far in the quest of achievements and unfortunately, every human looks like a competitor to us and then, of course, we have this idea of the survival of the fittest that brought havoc. Cannot we collaborate and help the poverty-stricken people?

Do your achievements and ambitions make any sense if you cannot bring a smile and cannot understand the real problem of the world? Of course not! You might drive a beautiful car or live in mansion, but at the end of the day what matters is who you are and what you do to develop the world. So, get help worldwide and let the hunger fade away from the earth.

The moment we come to know of a COVID-19 positive case in a building or in a housing society we tell ourselves to be more careful and avoid all human contacts as much as possible. We hardly bother to think about the infected person, his/her family and the problems they must be facing. At the most we ask about the age of the person: if s/he turns out to be an elderly person, we, in much younger age-groups, feel a kind of relief or if that person had a host of co-morbidity, we, at lesser risks, feel another kind of relief surging in. Is this a deadly extension of the nuclear-family living standards of modern times? Or is this going to be the culminating point of a digital or virtual living hastened by the Coronavirus pandemic? The basic preventive approach to this highly contagious disease has been to avoid physical human contacts with individuals or groups or crowds, and slowly, coughing and sneezing started scaring us stiff: we get mortally worried if someone in a lift or in a passage or being just nearby does one of those very human actions. From a health perspective there is nothing wrong in that; we are advised to observe all such norms of social distancing and hygiene; and therein lies the problem we are worried about. We tend now to stave off all humans except for our members of family and kin, and don’t care a hoot on any humane issues.

Even getting infected by the fast-spreading virus was looked upon as some kind of a criminal act, leading often to furious objections to having infected persons in the same building and sadly, to inhuman obstructions in regard to the cremation rites of a dead patient. Families have also been getting used to having a member dying in the hospital, and allowing local authorities cremate the person without the participation of the family; or remotely located members of a family staying put in their homes ever after one of their closest members dies at a different place, due to COVID or any other illness. From a technical point of view again, there is nothing seriously wrong in having these stoic responses. However, authorities in various countries had to issue advisories to people to not consider infected people as criminals or to not obstruct funeral rites.

We are getting used to being totally immersed in our cell phones, laptops, desktops and all other forms of virtual living. We keep on scrutinizing our mobile or computer or television screens, and working from homes, participating in all virtual meetings and conferences. For socializing with our near and dear ones, well, there is the social media. Again, this new normal living is a must if we want to defeat the virus. The point of concern here is that even personal telephone calls are getting lesser and lesser: well, I’ve messaged him/her and chatted with him/her, why then to call, we think. Besides, we are already used to not having social gathering or parties or anything of that sort.

Although we have been depending almost exclusively on online shopping we cannot help going to the supermarkets and possibly malls that are allowed to reopen, for an occasional must-need physical shopping. Once in there, we look upon fellow-customers as unwelcome physical obstacles: in a craze to maintain a safe distance, we get intolerant if anyone comes closer than we think right; masked and hands sanitized, we act like robots moving around in programmed mechanics; deprived of the traditional handshake or an informal embrace we seem to have lost all ability how to greet fellow human beings; and once we have all our required rations stacked in cars or otherwise we feel complete and victorious. Technically again, we cannot find faults with such approaches to counter the pandemic spread.

A senior citizen has narrated an alarming experience. That evening he had to urgently visit the local grocery shop for a personal purchase, and he had to cross the busy highway to accomplish his mission. At the pedestrian crossing the traffic signal was not working, and there were no traffic policemen either to manage; it was altogether a different matter why that very important signal was left unattended. The elderly person waited and waited at the crossing, with a group of other men and women. The vehicles kept on whizzing past despite his continuous waving with his tiring hands. And when, finally, the vehicles slowed down a little, youngsters in their bikes made hay by achieving their short-cut crossings, almost brushing aside the pedestrians. His experience was even worse while returning, and crossing the hurdle again. A fellow pedestrian complained bitterly to him about the nonchalant, brutish and zombie-like behaviour of the car owners or drivers, refusing to inculcate any lessons from the biggest crisis that ever confronted humanity.

Are we, in fact, losing all our human values of compassion, empathy and emotions in this new frenzied virtual existence? Or as we said is this the culminating point thanks to the pandemic?

In the beginning stage of the pandemic there had been a lot of examples set by NGOs, organizations and even individuals in feeding the hungry jobless people and in providing shelters to the homeless. There had also been a spree of donation campaigns for noble humane causes. However, the bonhomie slowly eased off, possibly because of the fact that people could not go on donating forever as many of them ceased having regular income while million others lost their salaried jobs. Except for the limited haves all other have-nots have become severely suffocated and depressed with their pent-up emotions growing within the four walls. The social-cultural-economic deprivation worsened the scenario. Besides, what are those supposed to do with no access even to a virtual living?

Since the COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented crisis for humanity the long-term consequences are bound to be huge. If ever we went back to the old normal the moot question would be how people reacted to other people then! An unending saga of social-cultural-economic aloofness could spell a real doom as far as normal human emotions, compassion and empathy or sympathy are concerned. In the meantime, we must keep the spirit of hope alive and must keep the values of the fraternity of humankind very dear and aflame in our hearts.

Realist movement was a movement that appeared just after the Romantic movement. This movement was spearheaded by Theodore Gericault and Eugene Delacroix. The romantic movement concentrated on paintings that pleased the eye. Gustave brought in a fresh approach.

The world of art and painting is as old as history. From the earliest time paintings and art have dominated the ethos of man. Thus there are ancient cave paintings from the prehistoric age to the modern art of the present era. One aspect that has dominated art is painting a woman in the nude. This is one of gods greatest gift and obviously painters have tried to do justice to this aspect, by painting women in the nude.

A look at the nude paintings of almost 2000 years and even more, one can see that 99% of them were devoid of human hair. Women were presented as porcelain models who had no hair. Thus the Greek and Roman paintings including from Egypt and India depicted women without hair. The famous paintings from the Greek era show the beautiful Greek goddesses as hairless beauties. Obviously this was something unreal and a new breed of painters in France in the 19th century took it upon themselves to bring about realism in their paintings.Oone of these painters is Gustave Coubert( 1819-77). Gustav was among a new breed of painters who advocated realist approach to art. The Realist movement in art is due a lot to him and Eduard Manet who in 1863 painted Olympia. This painting when displayed in the art show in Paris in 1863 needed two guards to protect it.

What was the Realist movement? It was a movement that appeared just after the Romantic movement. This movement was spearheaded by Theodore Gericault and Eugene Delacroix. The Romantic movement concentrated on paintings that pleased the eye. Gustave brought in the realist movement where he painted nudes, landscapes and still life as seen from the eyes of man. This obviously necessitated the painting of subjects that some considered vulgar. Gustave painted the harshness of life and he also painted women as he saw them complete with pubic hair. He brought into question the age old ethics of art.

In 1866 Gustave took on the church and prudery head on by oil- painting one of his most notorious paintings. Titled the L’Oringine du Monde ( Origin of the world). The painting is presently displayed in the Musee d’Orsay, Paris. The painting is a close up view of a woman who is nude and sleeping on a bed. The painting by Gustave is a part of what he believed-realism and can be termed as erotic. Gustave used a live model for this painting, a girl named Joanna Hiffernan. She earlier had a love affair with an American painter James Whistler, but after this painting Joanna and Whistler separated.

The 19th century was a revolutionary one as art took a U-turn. The new breed of painter began to paint slums and the poor as a part of the realist movement. But we must give credit to Gustave Coubert for starting this movement. He is no more but he struck an important blow for art and truth.

Experts say that while the novel Coronavirus that hit planet earth in December 2019 created an unprecedented crisis for humankind the response to it by researchers, medical scientists and pharmaceutical companies in trying to discover a vaccine is also unprecedented. Under normal circumstances the process of discovering, testing and producing a vaccine takes from 5 years to 10 years thanks to the high failure rate associated with it. Therefore, the probability of having an effective COVID-19 vaccine within a year of the pandemic invasion is incredible news that speaks volumes about the non-stop efforts, dedication, round-the-clock supervision, utilization of special funds and global coordination put into it. As per the World Health Organization, at present there are nearly 200 vaccine candidates out of which 44 are in various stages of human clinical trials, and a few are about to be approved by the regulators. This would indeed be another crowing glory of the human quest should a safe and effective vaccine be really found and readied for public use in the coming months or even in the coming weeks.
China had been the first casualty of the pandemic, and therefore the Chinese researchers went all out for a vaccine. Their vaccine, called CoronaVac, was in fact approved for emergency use within the country in August 2020 itself, of course, without completing the Phase-3 clinical trials. Phase-2 human trial results showed that the vaccine produced antibodies that could neutralize 10 strains of the SARS-CoV-2 virus without any severe adverse reactions. This vaccine could be out for distribution anytime.
Russia became the first country to register a COVID-19 vaccine, Sputnik V, in August 2020 approving it for general use within the country, of course, without completing Phase-3 human trials. It has already claimed 92% efficacy, revised to 95% now. and the final trials are going on in several countries, Russia says the vaccine is being exported, including India.
Another major vaccine being jointly developed and tested by the US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech is in the final clinical trials and it has claimed 95% efficacy based on interim data. The firms are likely to apply for emergency use authorization from the US regulators in mid-December 2020, and the vaccine could be out in the markets later next month subject to approval.
Moderna, a vaccine by the US Pharma, is also in the final stages, and it has already claimed that it is 94.5% effective based on interim data. It is likely to apply for emergency use authorization a few days later than Pfizer-BioNTech.
AstraZeneca, a vaccine developed by the Oxford University and co-developed by the Serum Institute of India (SII), has shown an average efficacy rate of 70% for Phase-3 trials with the likelihood of this going up to 90%. The vaccine has been proved to trigger an immune response in all age-groups, particularly and more significantly in the elderly group of below and above 70 years of age. The SII-developed vaccine Covishield is already priced at around USD 13 (1000 Rupees) per two doses, and the SII has been in the process of manufacturing 100 million doses within this year.
Janssen, the pharmaceutical wing of Johnson and Johnson, is also developing a vaccine that is in the final human trials phase after a pause in October 2020 due to an illness in one of the participants. With both singe-dose and two-dose regimens the final trials of the vaccine are being conducted worldwide with participants up to 60,000, and interim data shows that the vaccine induced a robust immune response and had been well tolerated.
Covaxin, a vaccine being developed by Bharat Biotech in India in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), is also in the final phase clinical trials with the company saying that they expect at least a 60% efficacy rate in preventing the Coronavirus infection. Although the ICMR was hopeful of launching the vaccine by February 2021, Bharat Biotech sets a more practical launch date sometime in mid-2021.
Normally, a regulator approves a vaccine if it is found to be at least 50% safe and effective, and therefore, there should not be any difficulty for all these final-stage vaccines to get the authorization or approval. However, experts the world over insist that Phase-3 trial results do not necessarily indicate a safe and effective vaccine, because it is not possible for a vaccine to account for all kinds of induced side-effects across humanity whatever be the size of its volunteers. They say that it is critical to monitor the safety and efficacy of a vaccine even long after its roll-out, and there can be no certainty, for even years.
Prices and storage requirements of the rolled-out vaccines are among other concerns. Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna are highly priced at USD 70 and USD 39 for the required two doses respectively. Besides, Pfizer-BioNTech requires storage at minus 70 degree Celsius while Moderna requires -19 C. Both of these factors make these vaccines difficult to obtain for the poor and developing countries. Hopefully, AstraZeneca, and its Indian counterpart Covishield, would be cheaper and it has been confirmed that it can be preserved in normal fridge temperatures. Sputnik V is also likely to be available at much lower prices, and Russians researchers have been engaged in testing a process of turning liquid Sputnik V into a dried white mass that can be stored at normal fridge temperatures of 2 C to 8 C and administered. This method is being termed as freeze-dried doses.
Willingness of the citizens across the globe to go for COVID-19 vaccination is another factor to be considered. At the moment the figures reveal low levels of willingness. However, once a vaccine is proved to be safe and effective the willingness is bound to improve. Besides, the people in the medical and essential service sectors are always the priorities. With the second wave of the pandemic gripping several countries of the world we have no option but to hope for the best, that one of the vaccines that can arrive anytime eventually proves to be safe and effective in the long run.