Articles

As per the World Health Organization (WHO), health is defined as a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease.

The human eye can only see objects that are above a certain size. For a long time, many tiny things around us remained unknown.

The Earth spins (or rotates) on its own axis in space. The Earth’s axis of rotation passes through its geographic North Pole and the South Pole. The Earth completes one rotation in about 24 hours.

The Sun gives out or emits its own light and is the main source of natural light on the Earth. Stars, lightning, natural fire, and certain animals also emit their own light.

plants require both sunlight and water for their growth.

Life processes such as nutrition, circulation, respiration, excretion, and reproduction are essential for the survival of living beings. These processes are collectively called life processes.

Humans got interested in keeping track of time long ago. They started noticing that many events in nature repeat themselves after definite intervals of time.

There are three ways in which heat is transferred from one place to another - conduction, convection, and radiation.

The journey of life of a human can be divided into different stages - infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and old age. Each person experiences these stages at their own pace, and the duration of each stage may vary from one individual to another.

The changes could be in the size, shape, smell, or other property of the substance or object.

Metals are generally hard, lustrous, malleable, ductile, and good conductors of heat and electricity.

Electricity is generated in multiple ways - by windmills, by using wind energy, by solar panels capturing the Sun’s energy, by falling water and by using natural gas or coal. The electric supply from these sources reaches homes and factories via wires.

Substances around us may be classified as acidic, basic, and neutral in nature.

At night, when you look up at the sky, you see many stars. Some stars are bright and others are dim. Stars shine with their own light.

Resources required for our survival are provided by nature. Resources provided by nature are called natural resources. Some important natural resources are air, water, energy from the Sun, forests, soil, rocks, minerals and fossil fuels.

All living beings share some common characteristics. For example, all living beings show movement, they need food, and they grow. They also respire, reproduce, excrete, respond to stimuli, and eventually, die. Absence of any of these features indicates that they are non-living things.

The method of picking by hand from a mixture (when two or more substances are mixed) such as small stones and husk from wheat and rice is called handpicking.

Ice and water are the two forms of the same substance. These forms are also called states. These different states of water show many differences in their behaviour. Water flows but ice does not. Water splashes but ice does not.

Some bodies are hotter than others. For example, during summers, the tap water may be hotter than the cold water from a matka (earthen pot) or a refrigerator. You can realise this by merely touching the two samples of water.

Hand spans and other similar units, such as length of hand, foot, fist or fingers, differ from person to person. Thus, there is a need for such a unit for which measurements of the same length made by different people do not differ.

Any substance that is used to create an object is referred to as material.

The magnets used by sailors in the olden days were based on naturally occurring magnets, known as lodestones which were discovered in ancient times. Later on, people found out that magnets could also be made from pieces of iron.

Food is an essential component of our daily life. India is an agricultural country with diverse soil and climate types. Various crops are grown in its different regions depending on the soil types and climatic conditions.

Every product goes through a production process before it finally reaches the consumer. This production process involves using resources or inputs required to produce the final product. The resources or inputs used in producing goods and services are hence called factors of production.

A place where people buy and sell goods is called a market. This can be at a physical place or, as is becoming popular today, online.

People exchanged goods or services for other goods and services. This system is called the barter system. Today, we use coins and notes to buy and sell things. People also use their mobile phones and computers for such transactions.

Some economic activities share similar characteristics and based on this, they can be grouped together or classified into broader groups called economic sectors. The three main types of economic sectors are primary, secondary and tertiary economic sectors.

Different types of activities are divided into two groups or categories: economic activities and non-economic activities.

India’s independence was achieved through great sacrifices by many people of the country after years of struggle against colonial rule. The citizens of a free country could now make decisions about their own governance.

Universal adult franchise is the cornerstone of Indian democracy. The right to vote is a responsibility, too. It needs to be taken seriously by every voter. Voter awareness is an important aspect of the right to vote.

The Constitution of India is a guiding book or ‘rulebook’ which protects the rights of all citizens. Citizens are also expected to follow the fundamental duties of the Constitution. It is a living document that can be improved as per the country’s needs.

A government must create necessary rules, implement them, and ensure that everyone follows these rules. These three responsibilities are known as the functions of government.

In urban areas, decentralised governance works through different urban local bodies, which fulfil various functions affecting the citizens’ lives. As with the rural context, urban local bodies have elected members who represent the local citizens.

The local government in rural areas is organised into a three-tier system. Democracy in the Panchayati Raj system works both through direct participation of people and through their elected representatives.

Human beings have been living in communities for a long time. When a large number of people live together, there can be disagreements and disorder, and rules become necessary to maintain order and harmony in the society.

Family is the foundation of human society. Ideally, members of a family support each other in their many duties and tasks.

India offers immense diversity in its landscapes, people, languages, dresses, foods, festivals and customs. Diversity is easy to perceive in many fields, but there is also an underlying unity. India’s unity celebrates diversity because diversity does not divide - it enriches.

Colonialism is the practice where one country takes control of another region, establishing settlements there, and imposing its political, economic, and cultural systems.

The Marathas are a group of people native to the Deccan plateau, more specifically present-day Maharashtra. They are identified with the language they speak - Marathi - which has had a rich and continuous literary history since the 12th century.

A new era in India’s journey began in the early 11th century. Invasions from beyond the Hindu Kush mountains reshaped India’s political map.

Sacredness is finding something of deep religious or spiritual significance, worthy of respect and reverence, holy or divine. It can be a special location or shrine that evokes such deep feelings, high thoughts or emotions.

The variety of plants and animals found in a particular region contributes to the biodiversity of that region.

‘The Proposal’’ is a one-act play, a farce, by the Russian short story writer and dramatist Anton Chekhov. It was written in 1888-89.

This poem is a conversation between a young man and a young woman.

Gautama Buddha (563 B.C. - 483 B.C.) began life as a prince named Siddhartha Gautama, in northern India. At twelve, he was sent away for schooling in the Hindu sacred scriptures and four years later he returned home to marry a princess.

This poem is written in the style of a ballad - a song or poem that tells a story. This poem is a humorous ballad close to a parody.

n this sensitive story, an eight-year old girl’s first bus journey into the world outside her village is also her induction into the mystery of life and death. She sees the gap between our knowing that there is death, and our understanding of it.

By the 3rd century CE, the Kuṣhāṇa Empire, which spread over the north and northwest of the Subcontinent, started to weaken. New kingdoms emerged, setting the stage for a fresh period of consolidation with the Gupta dynasty.

The fog comes
on little cat feet.
It sits looking
over harbour and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.

Early in the New Year of 1956 I travelled to Southern Iraq. By then it had crossed my mind that I should like to keep an otter instead of a dog, and that Camusfearna, ringed by water a stone’s throw from its door, would be an eminently suitable spot for this experiment.