Understanding economic and social issues
- from global poverty to women's rights -

Plastic is an amazing material, lasting hundreds of years. So why are we mass-producing it on an insane scale - for an average use time of just a few minutes? We're calling for a global change to clean things up and bring about sustainable, non-toxic alternative materials.

I sit writing this article when the situation in West Asia seems to be somewhat in control. The Islamic State or Daesh is reported to have fallen and lost its strongholds from much of Iraq and Syria. The question however is, “Does the Islamic State losing its territorial hold necessarily imply a complete elimination of the threat of Islamic terror, or is it merely a break before it metamorphoses into an organized power that is deadlier?”

Linked to the social ritual of marriage in India is also the sense of fulfillment of “familial obligation” towards one’s children in “getting them married” at the right time. It would not be wrong to see marriages in this light as no less than a “necessary” social security investment at the “right time” for perpetuation of one’s legacy.

“Entrepreneurship” by definition is an attitude to create something new, through an activity which creates value in the socio-economic system. This attitude primarily stems from a state of mind which develops naturally as a product of one’s surroundings and experiences. It all comes down to looking at life and career a certain way.

The dramatic increase in violence against women in India in the past decades has been all too well reported in domestic and international newspapers. Although the statistics speak for themselves, it's nevertheless important to understand that the issue is more global than local. Crimes against women in India will serve here as merely case studies for this persistent social plague which afflicts nearly half of the population of the world.

With gender bias becoming an increasingly hot topic, the number of those fighting gender discrimination against women in India is growing every day. But is it enough to change traditions and customs rooted centuries of prejudice and unfair treatment?