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Hong Kong The First 21st Century Colony

At the height of the protests in Hong Kong there were fears that the Xi administration would send in the troops, that we might see a 21st century rerun of Tiananmen Square. But Beijing is not so stupid. The last thing it wants is images of chaos and bloodshed to be sent around the world. Its solution to what it sees as the problem of Hong Kong has therefore been administrative. The new National Security Law came into force at 11pm last night, and criminalises a wide range of ‘subversive’ activities (in effect making it easier to punish the slightest form protest). With Beijing having sole control over how the law is interpreted, it has legally, publicly, and effectively killed Hong Kong. No matter that Hong Kong’s rights and freedoms were guaranteed for 50 years from 1997 under the Sino-British Joint Declaration of 1984. That was publicly torn up years ago, when China forbade British parliamentarians from visiting the Special Administrative Region in 2014. Since then Chinese officials ...

ODISSI OF ODISHA

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ODISSI: ORISSA,one of the earliest dance form . It is referred as "mobile-Sculpture" as it is a graceful sensuous and lyrical , Odissi is a dance of love and passion touching on the divine and the human, the sublime and the mundane. The Natya Shastra mentions many regional varieties, such as the south-eastern style known as the Odhra Magadha which can be identified as the earliest precursor of present day Odissi..  ODISSI Archaeological evidence of this dance form dating back to the 2nd century B.C. is found in the caves of Udayagiri and Khandagiri near Bhubaneshwar. Later, innumerable examples of the Buddhist sculptures, the tantric images of dancing Yoginis, the Nataraja, and other celestial musicians and dancers of early Shaivite temples bear testimony to a continuing tradition of dance from the 2nd century B.C.E to the 10th century C.E. These influences found synthesis in an unique philosophy - the dharma or faith of Jagannath. With Hinduism taking roots in O...

THE CLASSICAL DANCE KUCHIPUDI

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KUCHIPUDI:--Kuchipudi is one of the classical styles of Indian dance. Around the third and fourth decade of this century it emerged out of a long rich tradition of dance-drama of the same name. Yamini Steps in Kuchipudi In fact, Kuchipudi is derived from the name of a village " kuseelavapuri "/ kuchelapuram Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh. Kuseelavas were groups of dancers who used to perform by going village to village. Andhra has a very long tradition of dance-drama which was known under the generic name of Yakshagaana. In 17th century Kuchipudi style of Yakshagaana was conceived by Siddhendra Yogi a talented Vaishnava poet and visionary who had the capacity to give concrete shape to some of his visions. He was steeped in the literary Yakshagaana tradition being guided by his guru Teerthanaaraayana Yogi who composed the Krishna-Leelatarangini. a kaavya in Sanskrit.. A step in Kuchipudi Kuchipudi step   In compliance with this command Siddhendra Yogi c...

BHARATNATYAM

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BHARATNATYAM :---- The name is said to have been derived from Bharat's natyashastra. It Is Bha, Ra,Ta, stands of or bhawa, raga and tala respectively. A Dancer performing Bharatnatyam Bharatnatyam  Dance is considered to be over 2000 years old. Several texts beginning with Bharata Muni's Natya Shastra (200 B.C.E. to 200 C.E.) provide information on this dance form. The Abhinaya Darpana by Nandikesvara is one of the main sources of textual material, for the study of the technique and grammar of body movement in Bharatnatyam Dance( Among others are Maheshwar Mahapatra's Abhinay Darpan and Jadunath sing's Abhinay Prakash ). There is also a great deal of visual evidence of this dance form in paintings and stone and metal sculptures of ancient times. On the gopurams of the Chidambaram temple, one can see a series of Bharatnatyam poses, frozen in stone as it were, by the sculptor. In many other temples, the charis and karanas of the dance are represented in sculpture and ...

GLOBAL WARMING

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CLIMATE CHANGE AND OCEANS Water has a very high specific heat capacity. This means that a lot of energy is needed to increase its temperature. As the Earth is 71% water, energy from the sun causes only small changes in the planet's temperature. This stops the Earth getting too hot or too cold and makes conditions possible for life. Heat is stored by the ocean in summer and released back to the atmosphere in winter. Oceans, therefore, moderate climate by reducing the temperature differences between seasons. Rising temperature The largest carbon store on Earth is in sediments, both on land and in the oceans, and it is held mainly as calcium carbonate. The second biggest store is the deep ocean where carbon occurs mostly as dissolved carbonate and hydrogen carbonate ions. About a third of the carbon dioxide from fossil fuel burning is stored in the oceans and it enters by both physical and biological processes: 1. Physical Process: Carbon dioxide dissolves more easily i...

DEVELOPMENT INDUSTRY

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DEVELOPMENT  PROCESSES & THE DEVELOPMENT INDUSTRY:--- The  development industry  involves international organisations, government departments, big international charities and social movements, who are all working to fight against the causes of poverty and inequality. Development industry Ever since independence, development of the country and the community has always been the top priority of the government. The Constitution of India mandated the Government to establish an egalitarian social order by securing to the people social, economic and political justice. And, the nature of the state was to be a welfare one. Hence, the country embarked onto a path of planned socio-economic development to attain the goals of justice. However, the paradigms of development have changed over time based on experiences. The thrust in the development process has also shifted accordingly. While the experiment with development continues, real development seems to be elusive ev...