Aryabhatta: The man who invented Zero

Aryabhata, the name each Indian feels proud to take and hear, obviously needs no introduction. He is one of the first great mathematicians and astronomers of the classic age of India. Though facts about time and place of his birth and death are not confirmed but according to 'Arbhatiya' he was born in Kerala, south India in 476 but later lived in patliputra, modern name patna. Though different theories state different facts about him but actually that does not make any sense. We should be interested in learning what he left behind to explore instead of researching about his birth and death. So in this article my sole purpose is to mention few of his discoveries that made India and people of india proud. Here we go:

1. Place value system and Zero: The place value system, first seen in the 3rd century Bakhshali Manuscript, was clearly in place in his work. While he did not use a symbol for zero, the french mathematician Georges Ifrah argues that Knowledge of zero was implicit in Aryabhata's place value system as a place holder for the powers of ten with null coefficients, Thus confirmed that Aryabhata knew the zero before the whole world knew it.

2. Algebra: Aryabhata is known to have contributed significantly to Algebra. In a mathematics treatise Aryabhatiya composed by him Aryabhata provided elegant results for the summation of series of squares and cubes.

3. Trigonometry: Aryabhata had defined sine, cosine, versine and inverse sine back in his era, influencing the birth of trignometry. The signs were originally known as jya, kojya, utkram-jya and otkram jya respectively. In his book a sine table was also found.

4. Approximation of π: Aryabhata worked on approximation of pi and got the result accurate up to 5-significant digits and concluded that it is irrational which was quite impressive as the irrationality of pi was proved in Europe only in 1761 by Lambert.

5. Aryabhata is also said to have contributed in solution of quadratic equations and indeterminate equations.

6. Aryabhata contributed to astronomy significantly. He supported heliocentric theory. He advocated an astronomical model in which earth rotates on its own axis. His model also gave corrections for the speeds of the planets in the sky in terms of the mean speed of the sun.  

7. Solar and lunar eclipses were scientifically explained by Aryabhata. He explains eclipses in terms of shadows cast by and falling on earth instead of the prevailing cosmogony in which eclipses were caused by rahu and ketu, two evil planets.

8. Aryabhata contributed to the motions of the solar system. He correctly insisted that the earth rotates about its axis daily and that the apparent movement of the stars is a relative motion caused by the rotation of the earth contrary to then-prevailing view that the sky rotated.

9. Aryabhata is also reputed to have set up an observatory at the sun temple in Taregana, Bihar.

10. India's first satellite Aryabhata and the lunar crater Aryabhata are named in his honour. 

                                                Thank you.

Ajit Kumar Doval : Words are not enough

For some people, age is just a number. One such person is Ajit kumar doval, former Indian intelligence and law enforcement officer and current National security Adviser (NSA) to Prime minister Narendra Modi. He is 71 years old but still very active and enthusiastic in national security matters, this claim can be backed with the fact that he can be seen almost always with PM modi in his foreign visits. Since Mr. Doval is a spy so not a lot is known about him, but here my motive is just to highlight some of his unique achievements and qualities. So here we go:

1. This man is considered as one of the greatest spies or arguably the greatest spy India have.

2. Lt. General J.F.R. Jacob (war hero of 1971), once said that Ajit Doval is the bravest man he has ever met.

3. He graduated with a master's degree in economics from the University of Agra obtaining first position.

4. He joined the IPS in 1968 in Kerala cadre and was actively involved in anti-insurgency operations.

5. Doval was a highly decorated police officer. He was the youngest officer to get the police officer for his meritorious service. He got it just after six years of service. He also got President's police medal.

6. Doval was awarded with one of the highest Gallantry awards, Kirti Chakra. He is first police officer to recieve a medal previously given only as a military honor not for the uniformed services.

7. Doval was one of the three negotiators who negotiated the release of passengers with the hijackers of Indian Airlines flight IC-814 in Kandhar in 1999.

8.  Uniquely, Doval has the experience of being involved the termination of all 15 hijackings of Indian Airlines aircraft from 1971–1999.

9. In 2009, Doval was appointed the security advisor to the government of Karnataka.

10. He was the man who worked behind curtains to ensure safe return of many indians from Iraq in june,2014.

11. Doval was able to win over six Laldenga's seven commanders during the Mizo National Front (MNF) insurgency and spent years clandestinely with the Mizo National army in the Arakan in Burma and inside the chinese territory.

12. Doval also played a key role in merging Sikkim state with India.

13. During operation Black Thunder, Doval was inside the Golden temple. He masqueraded as a pakistani agent and met the khalistani militants. He is said to be the man behind the success of this operation and the rescue of Romanian diplomat Liviu Radu who was kidnapped by sikh militants.

14. He was posted in the Indian High Commission in London, UK as a minister.

15. He was the director of Vivekananda International Foundation, a think-tank with centre-right learnings. Doval is also Known to keep his opinion against pakistan very vocal.

If one had to sum up Mr. Doval in One line. It would go something like this:
If you mix James Bond and Henry Kissinger, what do you get? Ajit Doval.
                   Very proud of you sir...
                             Jai Hind

14th June: World Blood Donor Day

Share life, Give Blood

Very few of you may know that today it is world blood donor day. People in many countries around the world celebrate world blood donor day on 14th June, on the day of birth anniversary of Nobel prize winner American biologist Karl Landsteiner, who first distinguished the main blood groups thus enabling the transfusion of blood without endangering the life of the patient.You can read more about Karl Landsteiner here.

World blood donor day has been celebrated annually since 2004 by World health organisation (WHO), with the aim of improving the safety and adequacy of national blood supplies by promoting a substantial increase in the number of safe, voluntary, unpaid donors who give blood regularly. This year the host country for world blood donor day is Netherlands with the theme 'Blood connects us all' . 

Transfusion of blood and blood products helps save millions of lives every year. It can help patients suffering from life-threatening conditions live longer and with higher quality of life, and supports complex medical and surgical procedures. It also has an essential, life-saving role in maternal and perinatal care. Access to safe and sufficient blood and blood products can help reduce rates of death and disability due to severe bleeding during delivery and after childbirth.In many countries, there is not an adequate supply of safe blood, and blood services face the challenge of making sufficient blood available, while also ensuring its quality and safety.An adequate supply can only be assured through regular donations by voluntary unpaid blood donors. The WHO’s goal is for all countries to obtain all their blood supplies from voluntary unpaid donors by 2020. In 2014, 60 countries have their national blood supplies based on 99-100% voluntary unpaid blood donations, with 73 countries still largely dependent on family and paid donors.

Though most of the people in modern time are aware of facts about blood transfusion but still some people do not consider blood donation a healthy practice. So I am presenting some facts on blood donation and transfusion:

1. A person above 18 years and below 60 years, meeting other health criteria can donate blood.

2. A healthy person can donate blood with minimum gap of 3 months in each donation.

3. One should have a good meal low in fat and high in iron at least four hours before blood donation.

4.On the day of blood donation one should avoid arduous exercise and weightlifting and remember to      drink plenty of fluids. It is also an good idea to avoid caffeinated and alcoholic beverage as they            dehydrate body.

5. Some people believe that donating blood make them feel weak but the truth is that it takes a day or       two to replenish the fluid volume.

6. One can easily resume their normal day to day activities after donating blood but should take care of     following:

• Drink at least 10-12 glasses of water including juice within 24 hours of donating blood.
• Avoid smoking for next 4 hours.
• Avoid alcohol for next 24 hours.

7. Some people think that there are plenty of donors, why should they bother? but fact is only 9 million       units of blood are collected annually while the need is for 12 million units.

Here I would like to conclude that anyone meeting the criteria can donate blood and should donate the blood because donating blood is one of the best ways to save someone's life.

                                THANK YOU.

5 C's That can make you a good person.

In past decades population of world has grown explosively which generated many problems like- poverty, natural resources depletion, fall in living standard of people, child labor etc. Unemployment is also one of them. Especially in developing countries like India, this problem has raised its ugly head as an obstacle in path of development. Since every recruiter knows that there is no lack of aspirants having qualification degree, so why to compromise, I should hire the best person whom I can trust, who can take the organisation to new heights. Not only in this field but in almost each and every field of life one needs a good person like- A child needs good parents who can take care of him, a student need a good teacher who can guide him on the right path, a girl need good husband with whom she can spend her life, even a corrupt politician needs a good secretary who can take care of his accounts and other stuff etc. But when it comes to us, we ask ourselves how to be a good person. So as an answer to that question I am presenting to you some qualities a good person must possess :

1. Character: This is the most important of all qualities. Once Billy Graham quoted- "When money is lost, nothing is lost. When health is lost, something is lost but when character is lost everything is lost." That's the importance of a good character. Will you say a person good if in the light of the day he talks very gently to each and every one , helps poor but at night robs the people? will you say a person good if he takes care of his own children very well but does not help a poor children on the road? Will you say a person good if he does not smoke in public place but as soon as he find a secluded corner starts smoking? Absolutely NOT, because character of the person is not good. Having a good character means doing the right thing just because it is right to do what is right. Character is 'Who we are even when no one is watching.'  So having a good character insures the person in front of us that he can trust us. Once Abraham Lincoln said "Reputation is the shadow. Character is the tree."

2. Courage: Here courage in not used in context of any adventures activity but I have used it to indicate that a good person has enough strength to raise voice against injustice. For example, suppose you are walking on the road and suddenly you notice that a gang of 4-5 people are beating a boy badly and instead of saving him you just ran away as you have not seen anything. That's not the right thing to do. In such situations we should ask a question to ourselves that did we react in similar way if the boy was our brother? So instead of running we should help him. Well it doesn't require to fight them alone you can either call the police or can gather people that will be enough.

"Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear."

3. Courtesy: Courtesy is showing politeness in one's attitude and behaviour towards others. In this machine age, no one wants moral language everyone just want to communicate in monetary language. A child thinks that his parents are not doing anything special for him , what they are doing is their duty, even when parents are bringing him up by more than they can afford. A student thinks that it is duty of teacher to teach so why to respect him? etc. And this leads to a terrible future where a person has no ethics, he can do anything to make profit. Thus one should has courtesy. Let me give you an example, suppose one night you get call from one of your relatives that some emergency has happened and you got to go there but you don't have any personal vehicle and in night public transport is not available. And then you see a auto-rickshaw and take it. After reaching the destination you are asked to pay a little more money due to additional night charges. In such condition you can either argue with driver or can pay him amount by considering the fact that he gave service at time when there was no other option and say him thanks for that. I can assure you that the second choice will not only make him satisfied but you will also feel happy.

4. Confidence:  Confidence is the quality that distinguishes a normal person from a successful person. Confidence can be described as one's belief in itself to perform a task. Confidence comes from feeling of well being, acceptance of one's body and mind (self-esteem) and belief in one's own ability, skills and experience. Confidence is not something that can be learned like a set of rules; confidence is a state of mind. positive thinking, knowledge and talking to other people are some ways to improve confidence. 

"What you think of yourself is much more  important than what others think of you."

5. 'Communication skills : Today biggest misconception people are having in their minds is that good communication skills means speaking fluent English. Actually as the name suggests communication skill means the skill to communicate with others, language does not matter. And it is an essential factor of a attractive personality. Suppose you are having very good knowledge of a topic but when you are asked to give a presentation on that topic you could not make people understand what you wanted to say, all your knowledge is of no worth. So you should always try to improve your communication skills.

''Let your words be purrs instead of hisses.''

                                                        THANK YOU.

Why RBI governor Raghuram Rajan is hailed as 'James Bond' of World economy?

Dr. Raghuram Govind Rajan
RBI governor

About him :  Raghuram Rajan is the 23rd governor of the RBI (Reserve bank of India). Earlier in September,13 he was appointed on this post for a span of 3 years, which is going to complete in September,16. This was his second assignment in India, earlier he was appointed the chief economic adviser to  the UPA govt. for almost one year. Before coming to India he was economic counselor and director of research at IMF (international monetary funds) from 2003 to 2007. You can find his detailed CV here. 

The major reason of the fact ' he is called james bond of world economy' is the presentation in which he predicted that global economy was at risk of a collapse. Few took him seriously, until in 2008, when the global meltdown began and was triggered by the very factors that Rajan had predicted. Ever since, he has earned worldwide respect as an economist with deep understanding of global monetary system.

When Dr. Rajan took over this post from D. Subbarao , he had major challanges at hand like- the economy was at its lowest point in over a decade, the rupee had weakened to record levels- depreciating 11% that year, FIIs were pulling out money, FDI was becoming scarce, and worst of all investor confidence in the the UPA govt. was at its lowest. But he has been trying since his appointment to make the situation better. Though it has not been smooth sailing all the way, despite intense political pressure, he has been able to maintain RBI's autonomy and functioning. The best proof of success of Dr. Rajan's policies, especially during the NDA regime is the fact that GDP in the last quarter has grown up by 6.9%. Here are some of his policies which make him a successful personality:

1.Lean on predecessors and strong team mates:

             A good leader is as good as his team. RGR co-opts not just the present but also past achievers to support him in his (grand) endeavour. An outsider to the system, RGR knows he cannot navigate it alone. Calling on colleagues within the RBI, setting up committees with known and respected thinkers and doers to lead them, RGR already has a program in place even before he starts work. This is what the starting block must look like, and RGR shows that he and his team mean business. He leans on the shoulders of giants, shepherding them to his vision while giving them their space and the respect due to their previous achievements. As with every good team, they will hold him up, and if they fall, they fall together. With so many of them supporting different parts of his vision, something has to go right at every point of time. The lessons of a diversified portfolio are well applied here.

2.Think straight- details and people:

                     Professor Rajan’s key strength is his analytical ability. There are three levels at which one can analyse issues - the country, the company and the individual. Within his mandate, RGR speaks to all three, creating a matrix with the issues and their impact on these levels. Having analysed them, with typical clarity he zones in to the top three problems and highlights them. Inclusion is key. With a large portion of the system unbanked, and another chunk in the grey market, the impact of the RBI is limited. For his policies to work, he needs to be able to reach those who churn and multiply the rupee. He states that as a priority. 

3.Acknowledge the tough choices but not dwell on them:

                   RGR does not shy from speaking of the elephant on the table - NPAs. The hollow nature of bank balance sheets has been an area of concern for a few years, with little being done to remedy the problem. Even if it becomes one of his intractable, the intent is stated upfront, and, at the very least shows willingness to tackle a tough problem. The honesty in including the CPI as an index for measuring inflation rather than the - ahem- more stable- WPI price index again shows willingness to tackle the real problems. Smartly, of course he does not dwell on them and moves swiftly to proposed solutions, consolidating the goodwill he gains today.

4.Look ahead - plan for the years beyond the current doldrums:

                   As a good leader should, RGR focuses on the long term. Having spoken of specifics in the near term and created enough of a shake up to move the ship out of the doldrums, he leads the conversation to the time when all problems are solved and we can look forward to changes that are necessary. Not only does he reiterate the commitment to liberalisation (which was expected, thus discounted), he speaks of how things should be - painting an idealistic vision of the future with an internationalised rupee, seamless money transfers, inflation indexed investments and mobile based transaction systems.

5. Step up and be firm:

                      For a nation starved of leaders, here was one who stepped up and claimed his space. This was the right thing to do for a leader. He also used the chance to set his agenda before the forces of consensus, negotiation and circumstance began to weigh in on his actions. This is what he means to do, this is what he wants to do - even if it breaks from tradition. Seemingly contradicting himself while he has the support and freedom to do so - he lay claim to both predictability and the element of surprise, tacking the strategic and the tactical challenges with ease expected of a leader. 

                                                  That's all. Thank you.

    

Some Facts Indians should be proud of...

India is One of the most ancient civilized countries. She has a glorious past which consists of many extraordinary personalities like- great economist- Chanakya, whose teachings are still found useful, Great warriors- Ashoka the great, Maharana pratap, who were unbeatable at their time, great scholars and researchers - Aryabhatt, Sushrut , Great freedom fighters- Shahid bhagat singh, Netaji Subhash chandra bose to name a few. Youth generation should be proud of these icons and work harder to take country to new heights but the bitter truth is that in the rat race of westernization we have totally ignored our values, our culture, which has damaged the image of our country a little bit and should be repaired. I am also trying little for this purpose by presenting some proud facts about India to you. So here we go: 

1. Though in India Muslims are minority (compared to Hindu community), India has more mosques than any other nation in the world.( About 3,00,000)

2. The Golden temple (Sri Harmandir sahab or sri darbar sahib, a sacred place of Sikhs, located in Punjab,India) provides food to over 1 lakh people everyday.

3. About 49% of tech-startups in silicon-valley and Washington D.C. are possessed by Indians or Indian-Americans.

4. The largest reflecting telescope of Asia is in kavalur(India) observatory. It is an ingenuously built  93 inch telescope.

5. Indian Land army is world's second largest army in terms of military personnel and third largest in terms of active manpower.

6. The gathering of Kumbh Mela is so huge that it is visible from space. It is considered as largest gathering on the earth in the world

7. By volume of pills produced Indian pharmaceutical industry is the world's Third largest pharmaceutical industry.

8. The world's first university was established in Takshila (now in Pakistan) in 700 BC. This was center of learning for more than 10,500 students from all over the world. More than 60 subjects         were taught here.

9. Many Indians head global tech companies like- Sundar Pichai, CEO, Google, Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft, Shantanu narayen, CEO, Adobe. etc.

10. India is the only country other than USA and Japan to have built a super computer ingenuously. (The first supercomputer made was PARAM 8000).

11. India has the largest number of second language speakers of English.

12. India has the third largest pool of Scientists and Engineers in the World after USA and USSR.

13. India is the world’s largest, oldest, continuous civilization.

14 .May 26 is celebrated as science day in Switzerland in honour of the former president of India Late Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, because on the day kalam visited the country.

15. Chess was invented in India.

16. India is world's largest democracy with 1.2 billion people.

17. India has largest number of post-offices in the world.

18. Until 1896 India was the only source of diamonds in the world.

19. India has never invaded a country in her history.

20. Algebra, trigonometry, and calculus were originated in India.   

                                                 Jai Hind 

How to identify a genuine 1000 rupee from a fake one?

Easily recognizable security features( In Mahatma Gandhi series)

Hello friends, I am back with an article about security features on a currency note. Hope you will enjoy it....

In this era of Cut-throat competition, every one wants to be rich with minimum efforts but some of them choose the path of crime to earn their living. Problem of counterfeit notes is also one of them. As a solution to it RBI(reserve bank of India) provides some security features on every note. Criminal minds try to imitate it but as the saying goes - 'No thief can be perfect', It is almost impossible to create exactly same currency note so they create a similar note. Since most of the people are unaware of security feature provided they are be fooled and have to incur monetary losses. So here are the features:

2. Hidden portrait of Mahatma Gandhi, the multi directional  lines & an electrotype mark showing the numeral 1000

appear in this section. It can be seen better when viewed

against light. 

3. Optically variable ink, the color of numeral '1000' appears green when banknote is held flat, but will change blue when tilted to an angle.

4. Fluorescence, the banknote series, number panel, security thread and few particles (scattered in a note) will glow when exposed to ultraviolet light.

5. Security thread, It will have 'BHARAT' ,'RBI' , and '1000' written on it and the thread will change color from green to blue when viewed from different angles. The thread is visible as a continuous line from behind when viewed against light.

6. Intaglio printing, the portrait of Mahatma Gandhi, the reserve bank seal and 'ek hazar rupiye' are printed in Intaglio (raised ink), which can be felt by touch.

7. Latent Image, the vertical band on the extreme right of the bank note contains a latent image of numeral '1000' which can be seen when the note is held at the eye level.

8. Micro lettering, the letters 'RBI' and '1000' can be viewed with the help of a magnifying glass in the zone between Mahatma Gandhi portrait and the vertical band.

9. Identification mark, Diamond with Intaglio print which can be felt by touch helps the visually impaired to identify the denomination.

10. Year of printing, year of printing appears on the reverse of the banknote.

11. See through register , the floral designs printed at front and back, fit into each other and appear as one when seen against light.

                                      THANK YOU.

Great quotes by 'The greatest' Muhammad Ali that will inspire you to push your limits

Muhammad Ali (1942-2016)
A boxing Legend

About Muhammad ali: He was an American professional boxer. Early in his career, Ali was known for being an inspiring, controversial and polarizing figure both inside and outside the boxing ring. he began training when he was 12 years old. At 22, he won the world heavyweight championship from sonny liston in an upset in 1964. In 1967, three years after winning the heavyweight title, Ali refused to be conscripted into the U.S. military, citing his religious beliefs and opposition to American involvement in the Vietnam war. He was eventually arrested and found guilty of draft evasion charges and stripped of his boxing titles, which he successfully appealed in the U.S. supreme court where, in 1971, his conviction was overturned. Due to this hiatus, he had not fought again for nearly four years — losing a time of peak performance as an athlete. Ali's actions as a conscientious objector to the war made him an icon for the larger counterculture generation.Ali remains the three-time lineal world heavyweight champion; he won the title in 1964, 1974, and 1978. Ali retired from boxing permanently in 1981. Here are some of his best quotes:

Thank you.