Diplomacy in ancient times and in present days

                                

              Key words - diplomacy, kings, war, peace, negotiations

          

Diplomacy is the art of conducting negotiations between two countries to avoid confrontation culminating in a war and to maintain peaceful relations. As per ancient scriptures of India, there are instances of diplomacy used to avoid war between two groups. 

Some such instances are:

According to Hindu mythology, Sree Rama of Ayodhya kingdom deputed Hanuman to Srilanka to negotiate with king of Srilanka - Ravana for releasing Sita from his captivity. But Ravana did not agree and fighting started between the two warring groups. Similarly  as per the epic Mahabaratha, Lord Krishna acted as mediator to abandon the idea of a war between the two sides -Pandavas and Kauravas. But Duryodhana did not agree for a truce and then war started.

The main aspects of diplomacy in India were:

1.Concept of dharma(righteousness)

2.Treaties and alliances

3.Envoys and ambassadors

4.Exchange of gifts

5.Non alignment and neutrality

6.Diplomatic immunity

7.Cultural exchange

King Chandra Gupta Maurya founded Maurya empire and ruled northern India from 321 BC   to 297 BC. Chanakya served as an adviser for Chandra Gupta. He gave much importance to diplomacy. According to him, war was the last resort to attain a solution. His opinion was that for a nation to be stable, power is very essential.

Types of diplomacy according to Chanakya.

1.    Peace (sandhi)

2.    War (vigraha)

3.    Neutrality(asana)

4.    Marching(yana)

5.    Alliance(samsraya)

6.    Dwidibhava (Peace  with one and war with another)

  

            Maurya kingdom

King Ashoka, wanted to expand his kingdom further. Kalinga (modern Odisha) was the neighboring country. He sent his emissary to meet king of Kalinga. But Kalinga king refused to surrender and war broke out. In the war, a large number of people were killed. Ashoka felt very sorry and was upset in the death of many persons. He then adopted Budhism.  He  went out on periodic tours preaching dharma to the rural people. He got constructed hospitals and  rest houses in different parts of the  kingdom. More trees were got planted on way sides.

Southern India was at that time ruled by Chera, Chola and Pandya kings. They frequently waged  wars against each other.

(6 century BCE to 13 century).

   Chera,Chola, Pandya kingdoms

The country was at that time ruled by several kings in different parts. Though diplomatic efforts were being carried out, majority of time the efforts were not succeeded  and ended in wars . Some of these wars are:

Samoodiri’s administrative boundary

 Battle of Calicut – Land and sea- Portugese and Zamorin of Calicut (1503)

Anglo Mysore war – Tippu sultan & his father Hyderali and East India company assisted by Nizam of Hyderabad and Marathas – 1799.

Maratha-Mughal war – Chatrapathi Shivaji Maharaj and Mughal king Aurangazeb – 1665

An entirely different strategy was adopted in India to get freedom from British rule. Mahatma Gandhi adopted satyagraha as a non - violent tool to fight against Britishers.

Many diplomatic efforts and round table conference were held and finally on August 15,1947 India got freedom.

Three years have elapsed since the start of Russia - Ukraine war. A very large number of casualties have taken place during this period. It is estimated that the financial losses are also quite high. Diplomatic discussions are going on at different levels between Russia, Ukraine, USA, Saudi Arabia and European nations to end the war at the earliest.

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Slope stability

 

SLOPE STABILITY

           Key words:  slope stability, causes, shearing strength

Introduction

Land  slides are the downward and outward  movements of  materials on the slope. The reason for this is the lack of required shear strength. The slope materials may be composed of natural rock and soil, artificial fills. Slides can occur in natural slopes as well as man- made structures and embankments.

Great care should be taken in the selection of good construction material and also suitable construction methods to avoid sliding of slopes.

Causes of slope failures

The causes of slope failures may be external or internal.

External: Steepening of the slopes, depositing of material along the edge of the slopes and earthquakes.

Internal: Decrease in shearing resistance due to excess pore water pressure, leaching of salts, softening and breakage of cementation bonds.

The other activities which may provoke land slides are: Rapid draw down, seepage of water, erosion, heavy rainfall, excavation at the toe of the slope, excavation at the head of the slope, blocking of the drainage.

Basic concepts of stability analysis

All sloping surfaces are subjected to shearing stresses .The shear available  should overcome the developed stresses. If the shearing stresses are more, then a surface of rupture will be formed at the verge of failure.

1. Finding the most severely stressed internal surface and the connected shearing stress along the surface   Finding the shearing strength along the surface

Instead of resorting to rigorous mathematical analysis, a reasonable shape of failure is assumed and then the stability of the soil above the assumed surface is analyzed.

 

Rates of land movement

The movements associated with land slides can be grouped under four heads.

-  Creep, pre-failure movements, movements during slides, post failure movements.

Creep may range from 1 to  few millimeters per year. Heavily over consolidated clays experience post failure movements, the speed of movements ranging from 0 to 6 m per year.

Importance of the Factor of Safety on slope stability analysis.

It is a measure of limiting the stress or strain so as to ensure the safety of the structure. As such, the working stress in any earth structure is much less than the shear strength of the soil.

The Factor of Safety may be defined as the ratio of shearing resistance available  along a slip surface to the total mobilized or developed shearing stress.

Both cohesion and friction contribute to the shearing strength

 

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Human Relations

 

                       key words-  relations, work place, productivity, employees                    

Man, it is told, is a social animal. Man can’t live in this world all alone. He has to maintain relations with his family members, with his colleagues in his work place, with the members of the society with whom he is associated.

In a work place (office) there must be cordial relations between the employees, between the employees and the employer. Also there must be cordial relations  between the employee and his family members. Then only the worker will be able to put all his energies and attention on his job. This is very essential for the overall progress of the company. It is necessary to have a healthy and peaceful environment in the work place. An employee should take interest in the welfare of his colleagues. Egoism should not come in the way. On the other hand the employee should be sympathetic towards his colleagues.

If the relations among employees are not healthy, the employees will like to quit  the job at the earliest opportunity. This is a big loss as far as the management is concerned, because training a new employee is time consuming and expensive. Also the productivity will be hampered which in turn cause great loss to the company.

For enhancing the productivity, employees must be motivated. As such employees must be rewarded for initiating new techniques and also for suggesting improved methods. The management should conduct opinion surveys and get employees reactions and suggestions for increasing productivity.

The following actions will help in maintaining good relations:

-       Be friendly and helpful

-       Take genuine interest in others

-       Have a smile on face and greet others

-       Call people by their names

In short, relationships are the very foundation of our lives, whether personal or professional. The ability to understand others’ feelings and communicate effectively with the people around will  help in mitigating others problems to a large extent.

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