Human Interest

While many countries have anti-natalist policies (policies to discourage more births), other countries with declining populations have pro-natalist policies in an attempt to increase fertility rates.  While not an exhaustive list, this list gives a few more examples that teachers can use to show how countries in stage 4 of the demographic transition are dealing with declining fertility rates.  

• Denmark
• Russia
• Japan
• Romania
• Singapore
• South Korea
• India (Parsis community)
• Italy
• Hong Kong
• Spain

Tags: declining populations, population, demographic transition model, models, unit 2 population. 

This article talks about India's plan to create "smart cities" throughout it's country. By doing this, it is helping the country become more urbanized and healthier since right now, most of India's cities run on the dirty water coming from the sewage system, and only clean water comes on for 2 hours each day. By having smart cities becoming a project in India, urbanization will increase and more people will move to cities since water to hospitals, schools, and homes will be purified and clean. As for international relations with this project, the U.S. agrees to help fund for India's project will is helping the relationship we have with them. Also, India's politics and economics will benefit from smart cites as India becomes transformed into a 21st century Utopia, which can now compete with other world powers like the U.S. I believe that smart cities are a good investment for India and it will help speed up their development process greatly.

Borders seem to be a problem whether you live in one continent or another, everyone wants power and control but not everyone can gain it. This video focuses and goes into depth about enclave and exclave borders, showing the irregularity of the borders in different areas that causes conflicts and problems. An example of a problem that the citizens have to deal with is that some villages can not leave due to the road blocks due to the borders. I can not imagine not being able to leave a certain area for all that time, I would go insane and I imagine those people are as well. International borders power has to be split somehow and not everyone can always come to an easy decision because parts of the land are claimed but the people do not have any control of it. Irregular borders cause more trouble than they are worth in my opinion. The final interesting fact about this video was that you learn that Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan are the two locations that have the most irregular border, these places must have the most conflict and problems. These borders are in places such as Germany, South Asia, China, Belgian, Sweden and Central Asia.

A fascinating look into the complexity of borders. It is always important to keep in mind when looking at maps that the borders are neither permanent or defined as it exists in reality. Borders on world maps are rough estimations of what the borders actually are for they can't depict precise details on such a large scale. Furthermore regional/local maps sometimes do not whether as to conform to the border misconception unfortunately. In Central Asia as defined int he video the border were primarily a result of the Soviet Unions attempts to divided ethnic minorities reducing their power (primarily Stalin). As a result the countries after the collapse proceeded to claim the ethnic groups which created enclaves within each-other. As long as these groups are on peaceful terms this kind of thing isn't an issue. Unfortunately it does make the peoples lives in the enclaves slightly more difficult due to having to cross the border twice to see the rest of your country. This kind of thing was even done to the Jews in the first century AD who like the Russians wanted to eliminate or at least reduce attempts at revolution by the local populace. Hopefully Central Asia has or will make the lives of these enclaves easier.

Why do Indians love Cricket? As with most modern day countries, colonialism has something to do with it. However, the British never intended to promote Cricket in India. It was the local elite of India that first pushed to incorporate the game into Indian culture. Desperate to gain the prestige that the British attached to the game, the elite began the practice of playing Cricket in India. In the years following independence, the game has spread to the other classes of Indian society. The game has become the national pastime for the nation.

this is an interesting reason for a game to spread. it was a game played by the elite, so it never really lost the appeal of being a sport of the rich.

i have tried to watch a cricket match before but it seemed so odd, i dont really fully understand the game but the people playing (especially inians) were playing more than a game, for them it seemed like they were playing for their country and it was a great honor to them. unlike a sport like soccer where people play for other countries teams.

The Golden Temple of Amristar, located in the northern Punjab region of India, is renowned as the holiest shrine in the Sikh religion. 80,000 -160,000 people come here each day to enjoy a free eatery on top of prayer. This is the largest free eatery in the world. What an unbelievable idea that this huge number of people can enjoy free food. Food is cooked up by workers in large vats in order to feed the masses. This is not a homeless shelter, there was a man in this video who said he was from a prominent family and he can to the temple because he felt peace of mind here. The temple is covered in glitter and gold hence its name.

I think this idea is excellent. Sikhism is a blend of Islam and Hinduism.  They believe that everyone is equal and strive for peace and tranquility.  The Golden Temple is, essentially, a place to go to get away from the fast-paced and cut-throat environment of everyday-life.  They accept all races and religions.  I love this model and idea.  I hope the Sikhs gain more attention and spread their simple idea of peace, love, and volunteerism.

This video provides some valuable insight into a religion that not many people know about. Sikhism combines elements of Hinduism and Islam, but rejects the Hindu concept of a caste system. It is practiced predominantly in the Punjab region of India, but practicing Sikhs can be found around the world. The Golden Temple of Amristar is one of Sikhism's most important holy sites, and adherents of any religion are welcome at the temple. There is a large community kitchen inside the temple, where volunteers produce tens of thousands of meals for temple visitors everyday. Everyone who visits the temple sits and eats together in the community eatery, as Sikhs believe all people are equal, and so they are not concerned with separating visitors by gender, race, or religion.

Sikhism and its Golden Temple are really interesting examples of cross-cultural pollination. While it is not unusual to see cultures adapt elements of fashion or music from other cultures, it is unusual to see one culture fuse its religion with another. Generally, religion is seen as a concrete ideology with immutable truths that should not be disturbed or tampered with. Sikhism sheds this rigidity and incorporates elements of two major religions into one, creating a religion of peace, equality, and tolerance. This is the ideal of any religion, and Sikhism exhibits wonderfully. The Punjab region of India acts as a melting pot for Hinduism and Islam, creating a geographic center for ideologies that reach far beyond their geographic origins. Though Sikhism is a small religion compared to Islam or Hinduism, it provides a fascinating and excellent example of how cultures can come together peacefully to create something new and positive. 

World toilet day!

Often when people are faced with a tragic fact they instantly attempt to shut it out because it makes them uncomfortable. In the same way Americans can walk past five homeless people a day and not bat and eye...its easier. Using comedy to address a dire situation such as India's sanitation standards, is an ingenious way to get people to actually listen

I think this was honestly super cool. It was interesting to see the massive size of the economies of China and India throughout history, especially coming from a background of eurocentric approaches to history in our education system. It's interesting to grow up hearing about the formidable size and power of the Roman Empire, only to discover that its power was dwarfed by two other empires, who have dominated their part of the globe for much of human history. It was stunning to see just how much the industrial revolution changed the geopolitical landscape; we learn about it and its affects in school, but I feel like the fact that it very much was a "revolution" is lost on kids. The world was completely altered by the advent of mass production, as evidenced by the swing of economic power from East to West following the revolution. It was also impressive to see just how large the American economy was in the 1950's. However, the tides have begun to turn, as we are quickly seeing the ascent of the Chinese economy once again, with India slowly getting back on track as well. With a population of over 1 billion people, India is the world's largest democracy, and has the potential to be a superpower on a scale that the world has never seen before.

i would never have thought that china and india would have dominated would economy throughout the past, now it is not that much of a suprise, but especially during the times where france britain and italy (romans) dominated the world, how is it possible that india and china were so far ahead of them economically?

Current events, course resource, could be applied to just about every unit!

This article struck me because of certain topics overshadowing really important ones. This talks about seven horrible conflicts and tragedies that have occurred that went unreported. These issues needed attention and media this day in age is focuses on unnecessary issues rather than discussing issues like these. One of the conflicts was in Pakistan. They experienced a terrorist attack on a school by the Taliban and many children were slaughtered and many of those children were the kids of military personnel. This has been an ongoing conflict and has even had numerous airstrikes involved. This terrorist outbreak has caused more problems and the fighting still continues. A second conflict is in Assam, India. This conflict has been a clash of between ethic groups. This conflict has gotten so bad, numerous people have left their homes and people have been massacred causing it to become a terrorist operation. Conflicts like these need our intention and there are way too many cases like this going unnoticed. 

It is sad to see the state of Libya following the optimism that surrounded its revolution and the toppling of the dictatorship that had ran the nation for decades. Despite the high hopes of the West and the Libyans themselves, the nation has devolved into civil war between the coalition government and an alliance of former rebel groups and militant Islamic extremists. Violence has gripped the nation ever since, a sad story of an incomplete revolution that occurred without a plan set for the future. One must only look at the Benghazi attack to not that the hopes of the US to secure another ally in the region have turned out to be entirely unfounded, as the people remain divided. The lack of coverage of this story in Western media suggests that the story is perhaps too depressing for American audiences, or that the major news networks don't want to dwell on another failure of the US in its involvement in the region. I hope that the violence ceases soon, as there has been far too much bloodshed already for the Libyan people.

I was unpleasantly surprised to learn that all these statements are indeed true. Reading about the struggles India has endured with the lack of indoor plumbing many of its people must endure made me think of a previous article I had read about the "Two Mexico's." Rapid development in certain areas for certain people has revolutionized the standard of living for some, but the persistence of corruption has lead to economic lag for many of the people of both nations, meaning significant portions of the population are being left behind during this period of development. The sanitation and plumbing systems of inca are woefully inadequate for a country of over a billion people, subtracting from the leaps that have been made in other areas. The dangers faced by women as a result of the lack of indoor plumbing was a surprise, although it does make sense. Millions of Indian women have to resort to walking to communal bathrooms, oftentimes at night on solitary trips, which leaves them vulnerable to the kids of sexual assault that have plagued Indian media. I hope for the sake of the Indian people that improvements in the rates of indoor plumbing in the country continue to be made.

One thing about this issue is the fact that most of the people living in the area dont have the proper sanitation. Many of the issues that they face are a lack of government and funding and jobs. However the issue in India is the worst within the world. China has a huge lack of sanitation but in India the situation is much worse.

Why do Indians love Cricket? As with most modern day countries, colonialism has something to do with it. However, the British never intended to promote Cricket in India. It was the local elite of India that first pushed to incorporate the game into Indian culture. Desperate to gain the prestige that the British attached to the game, the elite began the practice of playing Cricket in India. In the years following independence, the game has spread to the other classes of Indian society. The game has become the national pastime for the nation.

this is an interesting reason for a game to spread. it was a game played by the elite, so it never really lost the appeal of being a sport of the rich.

i have tried to watch a cricket match before but it seemed so odd, i dont really fully understand the game but the people playing (especially inians) were playing more than a game, for them it seemed like they were playing for their country and it was a great honor to them. unlike a sport like soccer where people play for other countries teams.

It was interesting to read about Modi's run for prime minister- I recently read a TIME magazine article about him, his original platform, and his subsequent work in office- and to see so much of Obama's run for office in Modi's struggle. Modi's support among his own caste, traditionally one that has been discriminated against in Indian society, is not at all different from Obama's support among the African American community. It goes to show that, for all our differences, people are a lot more alike then we'd care to think. Beyond that, it was interesting to see how much power the old caste system continues to hold in Indian society, much like the issues with race that Americans continue to struggle with within our own society. Appeals to different castes have been employed successfully by politicians and other forms of media; I once read that the most popular Indian films are often love stories revolving around "forbidden love" between two members of different, opposite castes. In a society that is so rich and complex, with hundreds of different languages and beliefs, it is so easy for lines to be drawn and for differences to be focused upon in a negative light. Happily for India, it has come a long way to address these problems and to move forward. While not perfect, India's future looks bright.

i dont understand how a country like india that is mostly modern and on the world scale can still have such an ancient system of labeling people be such a prominent practice in their society, i hope modi gets elected so he can start to eliminate this