Quotes and Anecdotes (Eng) - Part-02-1

Quotes & Anecdotes 1
Essay course-Part_02
Abraham Lincon
On the side of Lord
During the early period of the American Civil War, a minister exhorted Lincoln, ‘Let us have
faith, Mr President, that the Lord is on our side in the great struggle.’
To this Lincoln quietly replied, ‘I am not at all concerned about that, for I know that the Lord
is always on the side of the right; but it is my constant anxiety and prayer that as I am, this
nation may be on the
Lord’s side.
Bearing the anger of a valuable man
Old Dennis Hanks was once sent to Washington by these people who wanted to have the
men accused of being copperheads released from jail. They thought Old Dennis might
have some influence with the president.
President Lincoln heard Dennis’ story and then said, ‘I will send for Stanton. It is his
business.’
Secretary Stanton entered into the room, stormed up and down and said that the men
ought to be punished more than they were.
Lincoln sat quietly in his chair and waited for the tempest to subside, and then quietly said
to Stanton that he would like to have the papers the next day.
When he had gone, Dennis said, ‘Abe, if I was as big and ugly as you are, I would take him
over my knee and spank him.’ The president replied, ‘No, Stanton is an able and valuable
man for this nation, and I am glad to bear his anger for the service he can give to the
nation.’
Abraham Lincoln’s failures
Here is a list of the failures of Lincoln
•Lost job, 1832

•Defeated for legislature, 1832
•Failed in business, 1833
•Elected to legislature, 1834
•Sweetheart (Ann Rutledge) died, 1835
•Had nervous breakdown, 1836
•Defeated for Speaker, 1838
•Defeated for nomination for Congress, 1843
•Elected to Congress, 1846
•Lost re-nomination, 1848
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•Rejected for Land Officer, 1849

•Defeated for Senate, 1854
•Defeated for nomination for Vice-President, 1856
•Again defeated for Senate, 1858
•Elected President, 1860
Alexander
Alexander and Diomedes
Diomedes was a notorious pirate who had finally been captured and brought before the
emperor for sentencing. Because of the pirate’s many criminal deeds, everyone expected
that Alexander would sentence the pirate to death. Before he passed judgment, however,
Alexander decided to interview the pirate. ‘What could possibly give you the right to sail
the seas, taking by force things that do not belong to you?’ Alexander asked the pirate.
Diomedes boldly replied with some questions of his own. ‘O emperor,’ he said, ‘what could
possibly give you the right to travel the whole world, taking by force things that do not
belong to you? What gave you the right to occupy the land of Egypt? Who made you king
of Persia? By what authority did you invade the land of India?’
Alexander stared at the man in amazement, and Diomedes went on speaking. ‘Because I
only use my own boat,’ he said, ‘I am called a pirate. You, however, use your army and
your navy, and so you are proclaimed an emperor. If you ask me who the greater criminal
is, I can’t say. I do know, however, that if I had such weapons at my disposal, I would be an
emperor too.’
Alexander was so impressed by this reply that instead of punishing the pirate, he let him
go, praising him for his boldness and insight
Anna Hazare
In 1962, events in South East Asia meant that large-scale army recruitments were being
undertaken. Despite not meeting the physical requirements, eighteen-year-old Anna was
selected, as emergency recruitment was taking place. While in the army, he
contemplated suicide owing to the tough life and the constant state of deprivation of his
family and village. He even wrote a suicide note, but decided against this, as his sister’s
wedding had to be fixed. A vehicle in which he was travelling was hit by a bomb, but he
survived. This led him to dwell on the purpose and meaning of life and death.
In a book stall, at the New Delhi station, he came across a small booklet by Swami
Vivekananda, titled, Call to the youth for nation building. He realised that saints sacrificed
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their own happiness for that of others, and that he needed to work towards ameliorating
the suffering of the poor. He led the greatest anti-corruption fight in India, and today, he
is one of the most respected leaders of India.
His name is Anna Hazare.
Mahatma Gandhi
Eating Goat Meat
A Muslim friend of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi used to persuade him to eat meat.
"No," Gandhi would answer him. "Hindus don't eat meat, especially my caste. My ancestors
never ate meat." But the friend insisted. "If you don't eat meat, you will remain weak. You
have to eat meat if you want to be physically strong."
Gandhi very much wanted to be physically strong. "Are you sure it will make me strong?"
he asked. "Yes," replied his Muslim friend.
Since Gandhi was very weak, one evening he tried some goat meat. That night he dreamt
that the goat was crying inside his stomach. It was miserable.
Gandhi cried, "I can't eat meat anymore! I have seen the goat crying inside me." And he
gave up eating meat forever.
Gandhi goes to killer
In March 1930, Mahatma Gandhi, along with his select band of followers, was on his way
to Dandi to break the Salt Law and thereby launch the famous Civil Disobedience
Movement in India. A man living near Bharuch, who was opposed to the Gandhian way of
ahimsa, threatened to kill him at the first available opportunity.
The news reached the Mahatma. Two to three days passed. In the meantime, the
Mahatma ascertained the name and address of that ill-willing person, and one day, in the
early hours, he reached his home and announced, ‘Brother! I am Gandhi. You want my
life? Take it soon, none will know.’ But the man of ill will was so taken aback, he could not
meet Gandhi’s eyes, and went on to became a follower of the Mahatma.
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How Gandhi Transformed Boys
Dr. Rabindranah Tagore once admitted "What I could not accomplish in years, Gandhi ji
did in a few days," when asked to what Mahatma Gandhi actually did during his stay at
Shantiniketan in Bolpur, Bengal.
He said:"I always held that the boys of my school should themselves clean their rooms,
make their own beds, cook their meals and wash their dishes. But our boys came from
such high caste families that I could not make them do these things. The trouble was that
I did not clean my own room, nor make my own bed, nor cook my own meals, nor wash
my own dishes. Consequently the boys did not care to take me seriously. I simply lectured;
so the boys just listened.
"But when Gandhiji came he at once won the hearts of our boys. He mixed with them as
one of them. He told them that it was improper to have servants do the work they
themselves should be doing. And he himself cleaned his own room, made his own bed,
washed his own dishes and he even washed his own clothes.
"The boys were ashamed of themselves; and they at once began doing all these tasks
most joyously. I at once knew how Gandhi won the hearts of the students.
"In the meantime Gandhi asked the scavengers not to do any work for a few days. The
high caste boys could never think of doing the work of untouchable scavengers. Life in the
school became almost impossible with the odour of night soil.
"Then Gandhi himself carried the pots on his own head to distant fields and buried their
contents under- ground. This superman act was contageous. Soon the boys of the highest
castes and rich families were vying with one another to have the honour of doing the work
of the outcaste scavengers.
Socrates
Triple Filter Test
One day an acquaintance met the great philosopher Socrates and said, ‘Socrates, do you
know what I just heard about your friend?’
‘Hold on a minute,’ Socrates replied. ‘Before telling me anything, I’d like you to pass a little
test. It’s called the Triple Filter Test.’
‘Triple Filter?’
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‘That’s right,’ Socrates continued. ‘Before you talk to me about my friend, it might be a
good idea to take a moment and filter what you’re going to say. The first filter is Truth.
Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?’
‘No,’ the man said, ‘actually I just heard about it and….’
‘All right,’ said Socrates. ‘So you don’t really know if it’s true or not. Now let’s try the second
filter, the filter of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my friend something
good?’
‘No, on the contrary...’
‘So,’ Socrates continued, ‘you want to tell me something bad about him, but you’re not
certain it’s true. You may still pass the test though, because there’s one filter left: the filter
of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my friend going to be useful to me?’
‘No, not really.’
‘Well,’ concluded Socrates, ‘if what you want to tell me is neither true nor good nor even
useful, why tell it to me at all?’
Vivekanand
Vivekananda explained Idol Worship
During his wandering days, Swami met the Dewan of the State of Alwar, who introduced
him to the Maharajah who was very anglicised in his views and manners, and held most
Hindu religious practices in contempt. Once the Maharajah raised the topic of image
worship with the Swami and spoke disparagingly about it.
Pointing to an oil painting of the Maharajah on the wall, the Swami asked the Dewan to
spit on it. The Dewan exclaimed that such an act would be insulting the Maharajah. The
Swami thereupon asked him how it would be an insult to the Maharajah, since it was only
some canvas and paint.
Then turning to the Maharajah, he pointed out that just as the picture was by association
of ideas identified as him, a believing devotee identifies an idol as the deity itself.
TULSIDAS
Wife’s Criticism Transformed His Life
Tulsidas was excessively attached to his beautiful wife, Ratnavali. Once, Ratnavali went to
her father’s house for a few days. Tulsidas missed her so much that he journeyed in the
dark and reached her place stealthily at night.
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Ratnavali was exasperated by her husband’s behaviour and told him that if he cultivated
a similar love for Lord Rama, he could easily overcome the sorrows of life.
Tulsidas was a devotee of Lord Rama since early childhood, so these words affected him
deeply. He left his home and family to become a wandering mendicant in search of the
abiding love of his Lord.
He went on to become a great saint and wrote the story of Lord Rama
named Ramacharitmanas, which is one of the most popular books for Hindus today.
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LAL BAHADUR SHASHTRI
Facts & Anecdotes

Honesty
1. The motto Satyameva Jayate, which means 'Truth Alone Triumphs', is part of the
State Emblem of India.
2. When Lal Bahadur Shastri was imprisoned by the British, his daughter fell seriously
ill.
He was granted 15 days parole to take care of her but she passed away soon after
he got home. Shastri performed the last rites and returned to jail before the period
of parole ended.
3. When Abraham Lincon was working as a store clerk, He once walked 3 miles to
return 6 cents that he had mistakenly overcharged from a customer.
4. Yudhishthira was such a paragon of virtue that his chariot glided above the ground.
But when he deceived Dronacharya about Ashvathama’s death, his chariot
immediately touched the ground.
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Compassion
1. Mother Teresa, Nobel Peace Prize winner (1979), founded the Missionaries of Charity.
It has 758 missions in 9 countries and provides shelter and care to the destitute,
free of cost and regardless of their background.
2. Raja Ram Mohan Roy’s fight against the practice of Sati was inspired by the
experience of seeing his own sister-in-law being forced to commit Sati.
3. APJ Abdul Kalam was working at DRDO when he saw some workers fixing broken
glass on top of a boundary wall as a safety measure. He asked them not to do so,
because it would hurt birds that tried to perch there.
4. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, since his days as CM of Gujarat, auctions the gifts
that he receives and donates the proceeds to charity.
5. Lebanon, which has a population of 68 lakhs, is home to 15 lakh refugees from Syria.
This is almost 20% of its total population. Lebanon itself has faced a 15-year civil war
between 1975-1990, has high rates of unemployment, and 50% of its population
lives below the poverty line. This makes their humanitarian efforts even more
remarkable. Turkey similarly has granted refuge to 43 lakh people
Courage
1. On 12 Sept. 1897, 21 Sikh soldiers of the British Indian Army fought against 10,000
Afghan soldiers, in the Battle of Saragarhi. Despite being heavily outnumbered, they
did not yield their post and fought till the last man.
2. Abraham Lincoln’s firm conviction that the ideals of freedom and equality could not
be realized without abolishing the practice of slavery. Despite stiff opposition, he
strove hard to work for the abolishment of slavery.
3. During the Dharsana Satyagraha (May 1930), Indian protesters braved merciless
beatings with steel-tipped lathis at the hands of the British but did not turn violent
themselves. This was due to their belief in the principle of Ahimsa and peaceful civil
disobedience. It was this incident that turned world opinion against the British
empire.
4. Sri Lankan Cricketer Marvan Atapattu, in his debut Test cricket match, scored 0 in
his first innings and a 0 in the second innings too. He was dropped from the team.
He went back to first-class cricket and practised hard. 21 months later, he was given
another chance in the Test team-this time, he made 0 in the first innings, 1 in the
second. He was dropped again, practised again. 17 months later, he was called for
the Test team again. This time, he made 0 and 0. 3 years later, he got another
chance. This time, he scored well. And in an illustrious career thereafter, Marvan
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went on to score over 5000 Test runs for Sri Lanka. This included sixteen centuries
and six double hundreds and the captaincy of his team. All this despite taking over
6 years to score his second run in Test cricket! Six years of trying, and failing. He
must have been tempted to just give up. But he didn’t. And that made the
difference.
5. At the Battle of Longewala during the Indo-Pak War of 1971, 120 Indian soldiers
successfully held off 2000 soldiers and 40 tanks of the Pakistani Army.
6. Despite many difficulties, Raja Ram Mohan Roy worked tirelessly to abolish
inhuman practices within Hinduism. Similarly, Dadabhai Naoriji exposed the British
exploitation and loot of Indian economic resources, in the ‘drain of wealth’ theory.
7. Scientists and inverntors such as Newton, Einstein, Edison, Steve Jobs and Elon Musk
have always faced criticism and ridicule when they first proposed their ideas.
However, they have stuck to their convictions and toiled to make their vision a
reality.
8. Helen Keller, despite being deaf and blind, was a prominent American author,
disability rights advocate and political activist. She wrote 14 books and was
awarded the US Presidential Medal of Freedom.
9. Dashrath Manjhi’s wife died because she could not get medical aid in time, since
the road to the nearest hospital went around a mountain. He toiled alone for 20
years, with just a shovel and spade, to cut a road through that mountain, so that
nobody would have to suffer again.
FOREGIVENESS
1. Jesus Christ, when he was being crucified, said “Father, forgive them, for they know
not what they do.
2. Lord Rama forgave his step-mother Kaikeyi for sending him into exile, considering
it to be his duty to honour his father’s promise.
3. Anne Frank witnessed untold horrors during the Jewish Holocaust. Yet, in her diary
she wrote, “I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart”.
4. India is witnessing a rising incidence of cases where the family members of
patients attack doctors if the treatment is not successful
5. India released 93,000 captured Pakistani POWs after the 1971 war, instead of using
the as leverage in the future
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MOTIVATION
1. Many people want to bring a positive change in the world but do not know where
to begin or how to proceed. For instance, many people would want to share their
learning and wisdom with others but lack a platform. In Oct. 2021, Delhi Govt.
launched the “Desh ke Mentors” program, under which interested citizens can
adopt children studying in the city's government schools and mentor them by
providing guidance over the phone for just 10 minutes each week.
2. Many people want to enable others to bridge the digital divide in India but do not
know how to do so. Amazon India has started the “Delivering Smiles” initiative under
which the company will provide 20,000 digital devices to underprivileged youth. The
initiative also has provisions for people to donate their old digital devices, which the
company will refurbish and distribute to those in need.
3. Angelina Jolie has distinguished herself by leveraging her popularity as a
Hollywood star to bring about far reaching changes in the lives of others as a
humanitarian. She joined the UN’s refugee agency in 2001 as a goodwill
ambassador, which has enabled her to take 50 field missions to countries like Iraq,
Syria and Pakistan. She has used her global influence to bring attention to women
rights issues in war-torn countries and other humanitarian challenges.
Health & nutrition

1. NITI Aayog in its 2022 Health Care Strategy advocates the co-location/integration
of AYUSH services in 50% of Primary Health Centres (PHC), 70% of Community
HealthCentres (CHC), and 100% of district hospitals.
2. Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY) is the world’s largest health
insurance/assurance scheme fully financed by the government. It aims to provide
financial protection for secondary and tertiary care to about 40% of India's
households (10.7 crore families). It provides a cover of Rs. 5 lakhs per family per year
for hospitalization across public and private empanelled hospitals in India.
3. POSHAN Abhiyaan, or the National Nutrition Mission, has a vision to improve
nutritional outcomes and ensure attainment of a malnutrition-free India by 2022.
4. The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has proposed
a “pandemic risk pool” to address various risks which have been triggered by the
Covid-19 pandemic and offer protection to individuals as well as corporates in case
of a similar crisis in the future.
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Economic
1. The Code on Wages Act (2019) mandates a minimum wage across the country. It
ensures timely payment of wages and prohibits pay-discrimination on the basis of
gender. However, it mandates a universal minimum payment of only Rs. 178 a day,
which is half of the Rs. 375 a day recommended by the Labour Ministry, as also the
Rs. 700 fair wage that the 7th Central Pay Commission had arrived at.
2. Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, which is a national mission for financial inclusion
to ensure access to financial services, namely, a basic savings & deposit accounts,
remittance, credit, insurance, pension in an affordable manner. The benefits
include an accident insurance cover, life insurance cover, Direct Benefit Transfer
etc.
3. Insurance schemes in India- Aam Aadmi Bima Yojana (Rs. 200 annual premium,
for an insurance cover of Rs. 30,000), PM Suraksha Bima Yojana (one-year
accidental death and disability insurance scheme), Atal Bima Yojana etc.
4. Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) was started on 1st January, 2013. JAM (Jan Dhan,
Aadhaar and Mobile) are DBT enablers and as on date, more than 22 crore Jan
Dhan Account, more than 100 crore Aadhaar and about 100 crore Mobile
connections provide a unique opportunity to implement DBT in all welfare schemes
across country.
5. The proposed National Employment Policy (NEP) aims at formalisation of the
country’s 500 million workforce including migrants to ensure job and social
security. It recommends the establishment of a National Employment and
Entrepreneurship Mission along with a National Employment Fund that may also
serve as a sovereign fund to support job generation initiatives.
6. Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme, which is a credit linked
subsidy program, for generation of employment opportunities through the
establishment of micro enterprises. The focus is on bringing together traditional
artisans and unemployed youth and giving them opportunities for self-
employment.
7. Atmanirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana, which provides subsidies for two years towards
the employment of individuals who lost their jobs due to the COVID pandemic.
8. National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) is a poverty alleviation project which
focuses on promoting self-employment and organization of rural poor. The basic
idea is to organize the poor into Self Help Groups and make them capable for self-
employment.
9. Pradhan Mantri Rojgar Protsahan Yojana(PMRPY), whereby the Govt. of India
incentivizes employers for generation of new employment, by paying the full
employer's contribution towards EPF & EPS both for the new employment. This
scheme has a dual benefit- on the one hand, the employer is incentivised for
increasing the employment base of workers in the establishment, and on the other
hand, a large number of workers will find jobs in such establishments.
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10. ASPIRE (A Scheme for Promotion of Innovation, Rural Industries and

Entrepreneurship), aims to set up a network of technology centres and to set up
incubation centres to accelerate entrepreneurship and also to promote startups
for innovation in agro-industry. The main objectives are to create new jobs and
reduce unemployment, promote a culture of entrepreneurship in India, facilitate
grassroots development etc.
11. Udyami Mitra Scheme which facilitates technology up-gradation in MSEs by
providing an upfront capital subsidy of 15 per cent for induction of well-established
and improved technology.
12. Mudra Yojana (Micro Units Development & Refinance Agency), which provides
loans up to Rs. 10 lakh to non-corporate, non-farm small/micro-enterprises. It
provides funding to the non-corporate small business sector through various last-
mile financial institutions like Banks, Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs)
and Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs).
13. Startup Village Entrepreneurship Program, which aims to help the poor emerge
from poverty by assisting them in setting up enterprises and supporting them till
the enterprise stabilizes. The fundamental objective is to stimulate economic
growth, reduce poverty and generate employment.
14. Startup India is an initiative for generation of employment and wealth creation. The
goal of Startup India is the development and innovation of products and services
and increasing the employment rate in India. Benefits include simplification of work,
financial support, ease in government tenders, networking opportunities etc.
15. Laghu Udyami credit card scheme provides borrower-friendly credit facilities to
small ventures.
16. Credit Guarantee Fund Trust Scheme for Micro and Small Industries- it guarantees
free credit facility to new and existing Micro and Small Enterprises.
17. National Equity Fund Scheme (NEF) provides equity-type finance to visionaries for
setting up new businesses in the tiny or small industrial sector.
18. Make in India, an initiative to encourage companies to manufacture in India and
incentivize dedicated investments into manufacturing. The focus is on creating a
conducive environment for investments, develop a modern and efficient
infrastructure, and open up new sectors for foreign capital. The initiative targets 25
economic sectors for job creation and skill enhancement with the intention to
transform India into a global design and manufacturing hub.As a result, India has
jumped to 63rd place out of 190 countries in the World Banks' 2019 Ease of Doing
Business Index from 130th in 2016.
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Agriculture
1. To mitigate the advance impact of drought, State Governments are advised to
initiate advance remedial action e.g. constructing water harvesting structures
under MGNREGA and other such schemes, promoting agronomic practices for
moisture conservation, promoting cultivation of less water consuming crops and
restoring irrigation infrastructure by desilting canals, energizing tube-wells and
replacing/repairing faulty pumps.
2. States have been advised to keep aside about 5 to 10% of fund allocated under
Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) for undertaking appropriate interventions, if
the situation so warrants, to minimize the adverse impact of an aberrant monsoon
on the agriculture sector.
3. The Central Government implements Centrally Sponsored Schemes such as
Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY), the Rainfed Area Development
Programme (RADP), National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP), etc. which
contribute towards drought proofing.
4. Kisan Portal subsumes all mobile based initiatives in the field of agriculture and
allied sector.Officers, Scientists and Experts from all organizations and Department
of the Government of India and State Governments are using this Portal for
disseminating information (giving topical & seasonal advisories and providing
services through SMSs to farmers in their local languages) on various agricultural
activities to registered farmers.
5. The govt. has tied up with IBM to provide farmers real time access to data related
to weather conditions, expected rainfall, input and output prices etc. to help
improve agricultural productivity and farm incomes.
6. The Jal Shakti Abhiyan (JSA) is a time-bound, mission-mode water conservation
campaign. During the campaign, officers, groundwater experts and scientists from
the Government of India will work together with state and district officials in India’s
most water-stressed districts for water conservation and water resource
management.
7. The Inter-ministerial Committee (Ashok Dalwai) constituted to examine issues
relating to “Doubling of Farmers Income” by the year 2022 suggests seven sources
of income growth viz., (i) improvement in crop productivity; (ii) improvement in
livestock productivity; (iii) resource use efficiency or savings in the cost of
production; (iv) increase in the cropping intensity; (v) diversification towards high
value crops; (vi) improvement in real prices received by farmers; and (vii) shift from
farm to non-farm occupations.
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SOCIAL JUSTICE
1. Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), which aims to encourage homeownership
amongst women, making it mandatory for a family to have at least one woman
member registered as the owner of a new house. Besides this, women borrowers
can avail interest rate concessions in borrowing from banks, get partial waivers on
stamp duties, and tax benefits.
2. The National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) conducted a Time-Use Survey during
the time period Jan-Dec 2019. The TUS reveals that women perform 10 times more
unpaid care work than men. Unfortunately, this backbreaking unpaid labour is
neither recognised nor accounted for in systems of national accounting.
3. Rajiv Gandhi National Creche Scheme, which provides day-care facilities to
children of working women and other deserving women based on their net annual
income.
4. In India, every second woman is anaemic, every third woman has low body mass
index (BMI) and every fourth child is born with low birth weight.
5. A study conducted at AIIMS Delhi examined the records of around 24 lakh
outpatients who visited the hospital from January to December 2016. It found that
only 37% of women got access to health care, as compared to 67% of men.
6. POSHAN Abhiyaan has a vision to improve nutritional outcomes and ensure
attainment of a malnutrition-free India by 2022.
7. Article 39 of the Constitution envisages that all states ideally direct their policy
towards securing equal pay for equal work for both men and women, and also
ensuring that men and women have the right to an adequate means of livelihood.
8. Stand Up India, a scheme that facilitates bank loans between 10 lakh and 1 Crore to
at least one Scheduled Caste (SC) or Scheduled Tribe (ST) borrower and at least
one woman borrower, at the lowest interest rate of the bank. The proposed
enterprise may be in manufacturing, services or the trading sector.
9. Microfinance, which particularly benefits women. Microfinance services lead to
women’s empowerment by positively influencing women’s decision-making power
and enhancing their overall socio-economic status. As such, microfinance has the
potential to promote sustainable livelihoods and better working conditions for
women.
10. Other Initiatives: Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana, National Skill Development
Mission, The Code on Wages Act (2019), Maternity Benefit Act (2017), Pradhan Mantri
Jan Dhan Yojana, Support to Training and Employment Program (STEP), Mahila e-
haat, Rashtriya Mahila Kosh etc.
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MEDIA
1. In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in India, the media irresponsibly
targeted the Tablighi Jamaat as being solely responsible for the spread of the
pandemic in the country. The reporting of the incident often used vocabulary that
vilified the entire Indian Muslim community. For instance, Muslims who were stuck
in the Nizamuddin mosque were described as “hiding in the mosque”. In contrast,
Hindu pilgrims at Vaishno Devi or Sikhs at Majnu ka Tila gurudwara were described
as “stranded” or “trapped”.
2. Sudarshan News is a Hindi news channel which has often been criticised for
broadcasting content that is blatantly communal, glorifies hate speeches and
promotes anti-social propaganda. In Sept 2020, one of its shows made the
unimaginable claim that the UPSC Civil Services Exam was being “infiltrated” by
Muslims, leading to a ban on the telecast of the remaining episodes of the show by
the Supreme Court itself.
3. Sucheta Dalal, working for the Times of India, had adequate indications that
Harshad Mehta was involved in some wrongdoings. Yet, she did not print her
speculations until she was able to corroborate her suspicions from senior bank
officials. And even then,she did not explicitly name Harshad Mehta in her article,
referring to him only by his nickname, The “Big Bull”.
4. Pradyuman Thakur was a 7-year old student at Ryan International School in

Gurugram. His body was found with injuries to the neck outside a washroom at the
school in September 2017. Initially, a bus conductor who was seen carrying the
injured Pradyuman was suspected of being guilty. The conductor was arrested and
presumably coerced into confessing to the murder because of tremendous media
pressure. However, a subsequent investigation by the CBI found that the conductor
was innocent and had only been trying to assist the injured boy. An unnamed 16-
year old student from the same school has since been charged with the murder.
5. During the Covid-19 pandemic, social media platforms and even mainstream
media outlets promoted bizarre cures. In India, this took the form of suggesting
ayurvedic herbs, mustard oil and even cow urine as potential cures for the virus. In
Brazil, 24 hours of fasting was advocated as a cure; in the US, the use of the un-
tested antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine; in Venezuela, the drinking of a herbal
tea.
6. Social media platforms and mainstream media outlets displayed a similar lack of
scientific temper following the demonetization exercise of 2016. Perhaps in an
attempt to generate support for the unplanned move, a rumor was circulated that
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the new Rs 2000 notes were embedded with Nano-GPS chips, which gave precise
location coordinates of the currency in order to allow every note to be tracked
7. The positive power of social media was witnessed in Delhi in 2020. Kanta Prasad, an
80-year old man, ran a small eatery which in normal days generated just enough
money to ensure his sustenance. But the Covid-induced lockdown meant that the
eatery stopped getting business and he had to struggle for his survival. A good
Samaritan made a video, in which Kanta Prasad breaks down while expressing his
helplessness. Within a few hours, the video had gone viral. And within days, there
were lines of people thronging the eatery to assist in its revival.
8. In June 2018, people living in Rainpada village of Maharashtra’s Dhule district

started receiving Whatsapp videos that showed photos of lifeless children laid out
on the ground. A voiceover warned parents to be vigilant and be on the lookout for
child snatchers. On 01 July, 5 men arrived in Rainpada to attend a Sunday market.
They sat under a tree to eat some food and, as they ate, handed a biscuit to a
young girl. The men’s interaction with the girl quickly attracted attention. Soon, a
crowd began to gather with people demanding answers from the men. The
questioning escalated into a quarrel and soon, the men were being beaten by the
crowd. They were taken to the panchayat office by some concerned bystanders for
their own protection. But, over the next 40 minutes, the mob outside the building
swelled into the thousands. Before the police could arrive, all 5 had been lynched
to death.
9. The Dharasana Salt Works Satyagraha happened in May 1930. Gandhi told the
Viceroy that the Indians would raid the salt works but would not use violence. The
police, armed with steel-tipped lathis, were waiting for the Indians at the gates of
the factory. As the Indians approached, they started raining lathis on them,
wounding them grievously. But not one Indian raised his arm to even block the
blows. Nonviolent insistence.
An American journalist, Webb Miller, witnessed this incident and wrote:
“I heard the sickening whacks of the clubs on unprotected skulls. Those struck
down
fell unconscious or writhing in pain with fractured skulls or broken shoulders. In two
or three minutes, the ground was quilted with bodies. Great patches of blood
widened on their white clothes. The survivors without breaking ranks silently
marched on until struck down. When every one of the first column was knocked
down, stretcher bearers rushed up and carried off the injured to a thatched hut
which had been arranged as a temporary hospital. The blankets used as stretchers
were sodden with blood”.
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Miller’s report received global coverage and became a major catalyst in turning
world opinion against the British Empire.
10. P. Sainath, the Rural Affairs editor of The Hindu, was awarded the Magsaysay Award
for Journalism in 2007. His work was focused on illustrating that the acute misery in
India was not caused by droughts but was rooted in India’s structural inequalities
in poverty, illiteracy and caste discrimination. These factors were further
aggravated by economic reforms that favored foreign investment and
privatization. Sainath exposed the shocking rise in suicides among India's debt-
pressed farmers. He revealed that at a time when officials boasted of a national
grain surplus, 250 million Indians were suffering from endemic hunger, and that in
districts where government storehouses were stacked with food grain, tribal
children were starving to death
11. The J&K government has given itself the power to take action against journalists
and media houses over what the govt. believes are “fake reports”. This seems to be
an attempt to tighten the grip on the flow of news from the troubled region. Under
the “Media Policy-2020”, government action could include filing legal lawsuits
against journalists or stopping advertisements to specific media organisations. The
policy authorises the govt. to “examine” the content of print, electronic and other
forms of media for “fake news and unethical or anti-national activities”.
12. In 2019, journalist Pawan Jaiswal filmed children eating roti and salt in the mid-day
meals served in a primary school in Mirzapur district of Uttar Pradesh. He was
booked by police for trying to defame the government and was charged with
criminal conspiracy, cheating and providing false evidence
13. Social media platforms such as Facebook, Whatsapp, Twitter etc. make it easy to
disseminate information which is user-generated, not necessarily true, and which
discredits all other sources of information. This echo chamber effect is used to
generate support for contentious political proposals such as “One Nation, One
Language” or avoid deliberation on growing intolerance in the country by coining
the term “Award Wapsi”.
14. The former US President Donald Trump not only earned a notorious reputation for
bullying the media into submission, it was also alleged that he was favoured by
select media outlets who made visible efforts to conceal his mistakes and highlight
even trivial accomplishments. On the other hand, there were also many media
outlets that were not cowed into submission and fearlessly demanded answers
from him regarding the functioning of his administration.
15. The positive role of social media was witnessed in the Black Lives Matter movement.
It was social media that emphasized the fact that a black American has a much
higher risk of getting discriminated or hurt than a white American. Around 23% of
17 | P a g e
Americans admitted that it was the information that they received on social media
regarding the BLM movement that made them reconsider their views on other
important issues too
HEALTHCARE
1. NITI Aayog in its 2022 Health Care Strategy advocates the co-location/integration
of AYUSH services in 50% of Primary Health Centres (PHC), 70% of Community
Health Centres (CHC), and 100% of district hospitals.
2. The ultimate goal of Mission Indradhanush is to ensure full immunization with all
available vaccines for children up to two years of age and pregnant women. The
government has introduced Intensified Mission Indradhanush 2.0 to accelerate
immunization coverage and ensure greater coverage of all available vaccines.
3. ASHA or Accredited Social Health Activist, refers to a trained female community
health activist. Selected from the village itself and accountable to it, the ASHA
workers are trained to work as an interface between the community and the public
health system.
The National Health Policy 2017 advocates optimum use of existing manpower and
infrastructure available in the health sector. This can be achieved through
collaboration with non-government sector for delivery of health care services.
Health services can be linked to a health card to enable every family to have access
to a doctor of their choice from amongst those volunteering their services.
Further, it advocates using a combination of public hospitals and purchasing of
services from private care providers in health care deficit areas.
4. The National Medical Commission is empowered to impose punishment of up to
one year imprisonment and upto Rs 5 lakhs as fine on any individuals found
practicing medicine without a license.
5. POSHAN Abhiyaan, or the National Nutrition Mission, has a vision to improve
nutritional outcomes and ensure attainment of a malnutrition-free India by 2022.
Each year, the month of Sept. is celebrated as Rashtriya Poshan Maah. It focusses
on Social Behavioural Change and Communication (SBCC). The broad themes
include antenatal care, anaemia, growth monitoring, girls’ education & diet, right
age of marriage, hygiene and sanitation, eating healthy food etc.
6. Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) is a government programme which
provides food, primary healthcare, immunization, health check-up and referral
services to children under 6 years of age and their mothers.
These services are delivered in an integrated manner at the Anganwadi, or
childcare centre. Each centre is run by workers who undergo three months of
institutional training and four months of community-based training
7. “Health for All”, a WHO initiative, aims at promoting better health and an enhanced
18 | P a g e
quality of life. This encompasses elements such as regarding health as an objective

of economic development, promoting universal literacy, removing obstacles to
health such as malnutrition of lack of clean drinking water, improving access to
medical services etc. It is a holistic concept, which focusses on improvements in
agriculture, industry, education, housing, and transportation, just as much as in
medicine and public health.
8. The Swasth Nagrik Abhiyaan is in line with the “Health for All” approach. It identifies
coordinated action on seven priority areas:
a. Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.
b. Balanced, healthy diets and regular exercises.
c. Addressing tobacco, alcohol and substance abuse.
d. Yatri Suraksha – preventing deaths due to rail and road traffic accidents.
e. Nirbhaya Nari –action against gender violence.
f. Reduced stress and improved safety in the work place.
g. Reducing indoor and outdoor air pollution.
9. The Health and Family Welfare Department conducts health and family welfare
education through various communication methods at the grassroots such as
organising population education in schools and adult education centres,
integrating population education in the school curriculum etc.
Panchayati Raj Institutions provide help in the organisation of camps, motivation
and community involvement in the family health care education.
10. Fortis Healthcare created a thought-provoking campaign to promote organ
donation in
India. The ad film shows a young couple visiting their family on Eid, letting viewers
believe a son is meeting his mother after a long time. However, the man in question
is actually an organ receiver. The parents fondly recall the time spent with their son
who decided to donate his organs. The campaign emphasizes the need for organ
donation and also helps mitigate any taboos associated with the practice.
11. BaatTohKaro” campaign, which encourages people to talk about health issues
that are often stigmatized by society. The campaign includes a series of videos
which depict the emotions that individuals go through while dealing with mental
and physical health issues such as pregnancy and depression. The whole idea
behind the campaign is to break the societal taboos and create a safe space
where people can discuss their problems without inhibitions
12. One Health System, which is a collaborative effort where multiple stakeholders work
in tandem to attain optimal health for people, animals, and the environment.
In India, the govt. is working towards a ‘One Nation, One Health System’ by
2030,which would integrate modern and traditional systems of medicine like
allopathy,homoeopathy and Ayurveda in medical practice, education and
19 | P a g e
research. The policy aims to formulate an Integrative Health System, under which
patients would get treatment from any medicinal system, depending on what ails
them.
MISCALLENEOUS QUOTATIONS
1. The Earth has enough for every man’s need but not enough for even one man’s
greed. – MK Gandhi
2. If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are
dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities. –
Abraham Lincoln
3. I complained that I did not have new shoes, till I met a man who had no feet.
4. Compassion is the basis of all morality.
5. He who seeks revenge should first dig two graves. – Confucius
6. It is very simple to be happy but it is very difficult to be simple. Rabindranath Tagore
7. The world is changed by your example, not by your opinion - Paulo Coelho
8. Our unity is our strength and diversity is our power. – Kamala Harris
9. Life isn’t worth living if it isn’t lived for someone else. – Albert Einstein
10. True genius lies not in doing extraordinary things but in doing ordinary things
extraordinarily well.
11. If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.
12. The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.
13. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. – Martin Luther King
14. It takes an entire village to raise a child. – African proverb
15. Whatever is begun in anger ends in shame. – Benjamin Franklin
16. Integrity is the ability to hold your values in full regard even if the world is indifferent
to them. - Immanuel Kant
17. All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently
opposed.Third, it is accepted as being self-evident. - Arthur Schopenhauer
18. Your destiny can't be changed, but it can be challenged. - Martin Heidegger
19. The secret to happiness is freedom and the secret to freedom is courage. –
Thucydides
20. Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. – Seneca
21. Nobody made a greater mistake than him who did nothing because he could do
only a little. -Edmund Burke
22. An unexamined life is not worth living. – Socrates
23. Courage is the mother of all virtues, because without it you cannot consistently
perform the others. – Aristotle
24. True compassion means not only to feel others pain, but also being able to help to
relieve it.- Daniel Goleman
25. Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. - Socrates
20 | P a g e
Quotes on S&T and Environment

1. The science of today is the technology of tomorrow. - Edward Teller
2. Scientific advancement should aim to affirm and to improve human life. – Nathan
deal
3. The saddest aspect of life is that science gathers knowledge faster than society
gathers wisdom. - Isaac Asimov
4. Everything is theoretically impossible, until it is done. - Robert A. Heinlein
5. Science never solves a problem without creating ten more. - George Bernard Shaw
6. One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of
one extraordinary man. – Elbert Hubbard
7. It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our
humanity. –Albert Einstein
8. Humankind has the science and technology to destroy itself or to provide
prosperity for all. But while science offers us these opportunities, science will not
make that choice for us. Only the moral power of a world acting as a community
can. –Margaret Beckett
9. Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and
misguided men. – Martin Luther King
10. Science and technology are what we can do; morality is what we agree we should
or should not do. – E.O. Wilson
11. QUOTATION ON POVERTY
Quotations on Poverty
1. Poverty is the parent of revolution and crime. — Aristotle
2. Poverty is the worst form of violence. — Mahatma Gandhi
3. Poverty is like punishment for a crime you didn't commit. — Eli Khamarov
4. In a country well governed, poverty is something to be ashamed of. In a country
badly governed,wealth is something to be ashamed of. — Confucius
5. The opposite of poverty is not wealth; the opposite of poverty is justice. — Bryan
Stevenson
6. Extreme poverty anywhere is a threat to human security everywhere. — Kofi Annan
7. The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of
those who do nothing. — Albert Einstein
8. When a poor person dies of hunger, it has not happened because God did not take
care of him orher. It has happened because neither you nor I wanted to give that
person what he or she needed.— Mother Teresa
9. There are people in the world so hungry that God cannot appear to them except in
the form of bread. — Mahatma Gandhi
10. If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are
rich. — John F. Kennedy
21 | P a g e
11. Child labour and poverty are inevitably bound together and if you continue to use
the labour of children as the treatment for the social disease of poverty, you will
have both poverty and child labour to the end of time. — Grace Abbott
12. Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is the protection of a fundamental
human right, the right to dignity and a decent life. — Nelson Mandela
13. It would be nice if the poor were to get even half of the money that is spent in
studying them. —William E. Vaughn
14. Just because a child’s parents are poor or uneducated is no reason to deprive the
child of basic human rights to health care, education and proper nutrition. — Marian
Wright Edelman
15. Poverty is not an accident. Like slavery and apartheid, it is man-made and can be
removed by the actions of human beings. – Nelson Mandela
16. Money cannot eradicate poverty, only education can. – M.F. Moonzajer
17. If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one. – Mother Teresa
18. Poverty is not being without money, but being without hope.
19. Education is not a way to escape poverty, it is a way of fighting it. – Julius Nyerere
20. There are people so poor that the only thing they have is money. – Rodolfo Costa
21. Poverty does not create our social problems, our social problems create our
poverty.-Marco Rubio
22. The root cause of poverty is social injustice and the bad government that abets it.
– Colin
23. Powell
24. God does not create poverty; we do, because we do not share. – Mother Teresa
25. Poverty is multidimensional. It extends beyond money incomes to education, health
care,
26. political participation and advancement of one’s own culture and social
organization. –
27. Atal Bihari Vajpayee
28. Poverty is not just a lack of money; it is not having the capability to realize one’s full
29. potential as a human being. – Abhijit Banerjee
Quotations on Education
1. Education breeds confidence, confidence breeds hope, hope breeds peace. –
Confucius
2. If you are planning for a year, sow rice; if you are planning for a decade, plant trees;
if you are planning for a lifetime, educate people. – Chinese proverb
3. The highest result of education is tolerance. – Helen Keller
4. Education is one thing no one can take away from you. —Elin Nordegren
5. Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed
him for a lifetime. —Maimonides
22 | P a g e
6. Education’s purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one. —MalcolForbes

7. Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school.
—Albert
ABOUT US
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Quotes & Anecdotes 1

On the side of Lord

Bearing the anger of a valuable man

Abraham Lincoln’s failures

Here is a list of the failures of Lincoln

•Lost job, 1832

•Rejected for Land Officer, 1849

His name is Anna Hazare.

Eating Goat Meat

Gandhi goes to killer

How Gandhi Transformed Boys

LAL BAHADUR SHASHTRI

Facts & Anecdotes

Health & nutrition

10. ASPIRE (A Scheme for Promotion of Innovation, Rural Industries and

4. Pradyuman Thakur was a 7-year old student at Ryan International School in

8. In June 2018, people living in Rainpada village of Maharashtra’s Dhule district

quality of life. This encompasses elements such as regarding health as an objective

Quotes on S&T and Environment

6. Education’s purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one. —MalcolForbes

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