Grade 12 (Age 17-18 years) on Pitara Kids Network

Mohandas Karamchand (Mahatma) Gandhi

Sun, 18 Nov 2001 05:47:10 +0000

Thinker, statesman and nationalist leader, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi not only led his own country to independence but also influenced political activists of many persuasions throughout the world with his methods and philosophy of nonviolent confrontation, or civil disobedience.

Born in Porbandar in Gujarat on October 2, 1869, his actions inspired the great Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore to call him “Mahatma” (“great soul”). For him, the universe was regulated by a Supreme Intelligence or Principle, which he preferred to call satya (Truth) and, as a concession to convention, God.

Mao Zedong

Thu, 30 Mar 2000 05:19:58 +0000

Mao Zedong was chairman of the Communist Party of China and the principal founder of the People’s Republic of China. Along with Karl Marx and V. I. Lenin, he is regarded as one of the three great theorists of Marxian communism. Mao’s greatest achievements were the unification of China through the destruction of Nationalist power, the creation of a unified People’s Republic, and the leadership of the greatest social revolution in human history. This revolution involved collectivisation of most land and property, the destruction of the landlord class, the weakening of the urban bourgeoisie, and the elevation of the status of peasants and industrial workers. As a Marxist thinker and the leader of a socialist state, Mao gave theoretical legitimacy to the continuation of class struggle in the socialist and communist stages of development. Although Mao was criticized after his death for the failure of his economic policies and the revolutionary excesses of his later years, his basic foreign policy was continued and his theories, particularly those on the revolutionary potential of the peasantry, remained influential in the nonindustrialised Third World.

Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini

Fri, 06 Aug 1999 21:12:22 +0000

The Ayatollah (Arabic, “Reflection of Allah”) Ruhollah Khomeini became leader of Iran in 1979 by forcing the overthrow of the shah and Prime Minister Shahpur Bakhtiar. Born in Khomein, Iran on May 27, 1900, the son of an ayatollah of the Shiite sect, he studied theology and by 1962 was one of the six grand ayatollahs of Iran’s Shiite Muslims. Exiled in 1964 for his part in religious demonstrations against the shah, he was expelled from Iraq in 1978 and moved to France, where he emerged as the leader of the anti-shah movement. In January 1979, after the shah left Iran, he returned to lead the country, becoming faqih (supreme religious guide) for life of Iran’s Islamic republic in December.

Prized Skeleton in Museum Closet

Thu, 14 Mar 2002 14:15:18 +0000

September 23: A newcomer has joined the exhibits at Delhi’s prestigious National Museum. She is all of 5000 years old, from the time of the Harappan Valley civilisation, and in skeletal form.

Discovered from Rakhigarhi, in the northern Indian state of Haryana, the skeleton is
remarkably well-preserved. Even the shell bangles in her left hand, are still intact, says a report in ‘The Hindustan Times’. Several pots were found arranged around her, hinting that the Harappans may have believed in life after death.

Plans to shut Guantanamo Bay prison

Sat, 24 Mar 2007 03:23:37 +0000

Where: Guantanamo Bay, Cuba

December 19, 2008: The controversial prison camp, Guantanamo Bay Detention Center, may finally be closed. US Defense Secretary Robert Gates has ordered that plans be made to close the prison that houses “alien combatants” accused of supporting terrorist activities against the United States.

Often colloquially referred to as Gitmo (a spoken version of GTMO, which stands for Guantanamo), the Guantanamo prison was set up just after the September 11, 2001 attacks in which terrorists hijacked planes and crashed them into the World Trade Center buildings in New York, the Pentagon in Washington, and one plane that crashed because passengers tried to overcome the hijackers.

'Ibuki' : Japan's 'Green' Monitor Orbits the Earth

Sun, 25 Feb 2007 01:02:42 +0000

Where: Tokyo, Japan

January 23, 2009 : A space centre in Tanegashima, a remote island about 970 kilometers southwest of Tokyo, today launched the first satellite designed to monitor carbon dioxide emissions. It is named ‘Ibuki’, which means ‘breath’. The satellite has sensors which can measure light reflected from earth, and gauge the density of carbon dioxide and methane. These two gases are the biggest contributors to global warming,

Ibuki will circle the globe every 100 minutes, and will monitor the levels of carbon dioxide and methane from 56,000 locations for the next five years. At present the sites that measure these emissions are land-based, and they are unevenly distributed over the globe. Ibuki’s capabilities will make it possible to monitor levels all over the world, especially in developing nations where there are no facilities.