Travels

CORONA VIRUS OUTBREAK : A GRAVE THREAT TO THE WORLD POPULATION

Presently, the entire world is under the threat of a deadly respiratory illness, caused by a new virus named Novel Coronavirus, that originated in China. Coronaviruses (CoV) are a large family of viruses that cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV). These viruses are common in many different species of animals including Camels, Cattles, Cats and Bats. Coronaviruses are Zoonotic, meaning they are transmitted between animals and people. Detailed investigation has revealed that SARS-CoV was transmitted from Civet cats to humans and MERS-CoV from Dromedary camels to humans. Novel Coronaviruses (nCoV) is a new strain that has not been previously identified in humans. Corona virus

BUBONIC PLAGUE : THIS ONCE INFAMOUS DISEASE IS NOW COMPLETELY CURABLE

Amidst the Covid-19 Pandemic, while the whole world is struggling to come up with an effective vaccine to curb the spread of the disease, it is indeed alarming to hear about the resurgence of another infamous disease – Bubonic plague. Bubonic plague is caused by the Bacteria Yersinia Pestis. It can spread through contact with infected fleas or via animals like Rodents, Squirrels or hares. It can be passed to humans through animal bites, scratches or stings. The new case which was confirmed on July 5, was found in a herdsman living in the Northern city of Bayannur, in China. Local health authorities immediately issued a third-level alert, advising people to avoid hunting, eating or transporting animals that may potentially carry the disease. But fortunately, unlike Covid-19, in this case, there is some good news in the store. We have clear treatment for Bubonic plague and the disease is quite rare with a few cases every year found in the United States. Thus there is nearly no chance of this breaking into a pandemic, like the one in the 14th century.

CAREER COUNSELLING: CHOOSING THE RIGHT CAREER PATH IS ESSENTIAL!

Career counselling helps students/budding professionals connect to experts who have enough life experiences to share. They are role models who have accomplished much. Building a good career is a goal nurtured by majority individuals. Career is an occupation undertaken for a significant period of a person’s life and with proper opportunities for progress. The careers of today are witnessing a dynamic change. Both students and budding professionals are facing regular challenges to decide which skill sets would make them an asset in the job market. This is where a trained and certified career-counsellor can make the table turn. Career counselling is a type of advice-giving and support, provided by career counsellors to their clients to help the clients manage their journey through life, learning and work changes. This includes career exploration, making career choices, managing career changes, lifelong career development and dealing with other career-related issues. The career counselling process begins with an establishment of trust between the counsellor and the counselee.

MOBILE APPS: HOW THEY HAVE CHANGED OUR LIVES

With the technological scenario changing in a superfast speed, we are learning new things and new terms quite frequently. One such term, which has become a household name, is app. A mobile application, also referred to as a mobile app or simply an app, is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as phone, tablet or watch. Originally, when the concept of app started, they were intended for productivity assistance such as email, contact database, etc. But the constantly growing public demand for apps caused rapid expansion into other areas such as mobile games, factory automation, GPS and location-based services, order tracking and ticket purchases and so on. As a result, there are now millions of apps available. These apps have transformed communication from traditional old ways and forwarded them into today’s world. They have made our lives easier and have made communication much easier. Thanks to apps like Skype and FaceTime, we can communicate with everyone irrespective of our location. Apart from allowing users to interact with the world, mobile apps can be used for advertising. Businesses have taken advantage of the rise of number of downloaded apps. Today, mobile apps are getting more and more attention from sponsors, which ensure more free apps in future.

COTTAGE INDUSTRIES: THEY PLAY A SIGNIFICANT ROLE IN THE ECONOMIES OF DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

We are all familiar with the term cottage industry. Cottage Industry is defined as a manufacturing activity operated at home. In other words, a usually small scale industry carried on at home (or a nearby place), by family members using their own equipment, is called a cottage industry. This is a form of unorganised industry in which people are engaged in craftsmanship works such as handicrafts, pottery, knitting, handloom, etc. Cottage Industry is primarily concerned with manufacturing and includes many producers, working from their homes, who are organised through the putting-out system. The biggest contributors in this system were the merchant capitalists and the rural workers. The merchant would “put out” basic materials to the cottage workers, who then prepared the materials in their own homes and returned the merchandise back to the merchant. The term originally referred to home workers who were engaged in a task such as sewing, lace-making, wall hangings, electronics or household manufacturing

BUBONIC PLAGUE : THIS ONCE INFAMOUS DISEASE IS NOW COMPLETELY CURABLE

EMERGING CAREER OPTIONS IN INDIA: THE CHANGING JOB SCENARIO

Over the last century, Science has made unprecedented progress and machines have replaced workers in many tasks. On balance, however, technology has created more jobs than it has displaced. Technological progress has transformed living standards. Old routine-based jobs that were once popular like data entry, Book keeping, etc are becoming redundant and new professions are trending. Digitalisation, armed with emerging technologies, are changing the job scenario pretty fast. According to the world economic forum, the adoption of new technologies and structural changes in businesses are predicted to provide over 133 million new jobs in domain like Health care, STEM ( Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics ), Education and Work force management by 2022. In a developing country like ours, choosing the right career path has always been critical for students. Moreover, with several industries being impacted badly by the pandemic, it has become imperative for students to consider a profession that is not only recession-resilient, but will continue to be in high demand in the future. To choose wisely, it is essential to know about the emerging career options in India.

TIPS FOR BUSINESSES TO SURVIVE THE ECONOMIC CHALLENGES POSED BY THE PANDEMIC COVID-19

The Pandemic Covid-19 has adversely affected the economic scenario of countries all across the globe. India is no exception. Though the importance of social distancing and lockdown in curbing the spread of the virus cannot be stressed enough, yet these measures have caused huge repercussions on the economic growth of our country. This is because, the lockdown of the nation is causing significant disruption across multiple sectors, including Manufacturing, Tourism, Hospitality, Oil and Financial among others. The ripple effect of this shut down is having a key impact on India’s economy, as well as business sectors are getting affected, resulting in low revenue generation due to an eventual halt/ slump on the sale of products and/or services. Businesses are experiencing major impacts, no matter how established they are and are having to re-look at how they manage and operate their activiti including re-visitation of their business plans. Startups or relatively small businesses are finding it more difficult as they have smaller margin for managing sudden slumps. So during this testing time, entrepreneurs will have to adapt to a new set of rules and be mindful of certain aspects to alleviate risks and to survive the slowdown caused by Covd-19. Moreover, it is also very important to stay connected during this phase.

HUMAN OVERPOPULATION: HIGH TIME TO BE AWARE OF THIS THREAT TO HUMANITY!

Of the several threats that are looming large on our planet, human overpopulation is a major one. In terms of sociology, population refers to a collection of humans. In simpler terms, population is the number of people in a city, town, region, country or world. Human overpopulation is a state in which there are too many people, consuming too much, for the environment to sustain. If we delve a little deeper, we see that there are several other grave problems which are triggered by this population explosion. Actually, human overpopulation is among the most pressing environmental issues, silently aggravating the forces behind global warming, environmental pollution, habitat loss, intensive farming practices and the rapid depletion of finite natural resources, such as fresh water, arable land and fossil fuels. Over population can result from an increase in birth rate, a decline in mortality rate, an increase in immigration, social and religious factors, depletion of natural resources, etc.

STARTUP COMPANY: A BUSINESS IDEA THAT IS TAKING THE MARKET BY STORM

Of the terms that were not so popular even a decade ago but are finding place in everyone’s vocabulary in recent years, Startup is definitely one. In today’s business world, startup is a common word that we often get to hear, without a complete understanding of what it exactly means. To be precise, a startup is a young company founded by one or more entrepreneurs to develop a unique product or service and bring it to market. By its nature, a typical startup tends to be a shoestring operation, with initial funding from the founder or their friends and families. In the early stages, startup companies have little or no revenue coming in. They have an idea that they have to develop, test and market. While entrepreneurship refers to all new businesses including self-employment and businesses that never have the intention to become registered, startups refer to new businesses that intend to grow large beyond the solo founder.