NOTES:
These points can be used in article writing and letter writing for the English Communicative
Board Examination. Feel free to cut down on certain points and add on others if you feel it is
necessary. For further understanding and context, read the sub-units these points have been
taken from.
UNIT 1: HEALTH AND MEDICINE
A- SLEEP
● It is an undisputed fact that not getting enough sleep can lead to problems in
concentrating. In fact, many sleep disorder experts think that lack of sleep is the reason
for many ailments.
● According to Dr. Michael Sole, a Canadian cardiologist, there is a higher rate of heart
failure among people with sleep disorders and sleep disturbances. He goes on to
emphasise that there is increased evidence of C-reactive protein, an indicator of heart
disease risk, in people suffering from sleep loss.
B- LAUGHTER
● Children laugh 300-400 times a day, while adults manage only 10-15 times due to
overthinking. This highlights the need for adults to embrace spontaneous joy and humor.
● Engaging in laughter stimulates the brain to produce positive neuropeptides and
hormones, which enhance well-being and rejuvenate the body. Laughter helps correct
shallow breathing, a major cause of stress-related illnesses, by ensuring better oxygen
supply to the body cells.
C- OBESITY
● Walter Hudson’s extreme weight gain (266 kg) resulted in severe mobility issues, making
it difficult for him to move. He even required assistance to perform basic activities like
using the bathroom.
● Walter Hudson’s daily routine revolved around eating, watching television, and reading,
indicating a lack of physical activity and social engagement, which can contribute to
mental health issues such as depression and isolation.
D- SPORTS
● Ashok Kumar’s journey from an errand boy to a professional golfer demonstrates how
sports instill discipline and improve physical fitness, helping individuals stay active and
healthy.
● Engaging in sports can open doors to better opportunities, leading to a more fulfilling and
stable life, as seen in Ashok’s transition from a caddie to a professional golfer.
E- NATURE'S MEDICINE
● In ancient Greece in the 5th and the 4th centuries BC, Hippocrates, the father of
medicine, was already recommending asparagus and garlic for their diuretic qualities,
poppy as a way of inducing sleep and willow leaves to relieve pain and fever. In the 1st
century AD, another Greek doctor, Dioscorides, established the first collection of
medicinal plants.
● First came the isolation of morphine from the opium poppy in 1803, then caffeine from
coffee beans in 1819, quinine from cinchona bark and colchicines from meadow saffron
both in 1820 and atropine from deadly nightshade in 1835. At last from the willow, the
first modern drug was born and, with 12000 tons of aspirin sold every year throughout
the world, it has kept its number one position.
UNIT 2: EDUCATION
A- STRUGGLE FOR EDUCATION
● When on 1st April 2010, the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act
became a reality, this historic step became the first Fundamental Right that has been
added to the constitution since India attained independence. The Act makes it obligatory
on the State to guarantee Right to Education and "ensure compulsory admission,
attendance and completion of elementary education by every child of 6 to 14 years."
● Studies in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar by Kingdon and Banerji show that children taught by
para- teachers are as good if not better than those taught by regular trained teachers. If
the RTE Act is implemented successfully, India can emerge as a global leader in
achieving the Millennium Development Goal of ensuring that all children complete their
elementary education by 2015.
B- EDUCATING THE GIRL CHILD
● Education of girls has been a high priority with the Government of India. The National
commitment to provide free and compulsory education to all children in the 6-14 years
age group is now a Fundamental Right of every child in India.
● Reaching out to the girl child is central to the efforts to universalize elementary
education. Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, or 'Education for All' programme, recognizes that
ensuring girl's education requires changes not only in the education system but also in
societal norms and attitudes.
C- INCLUSIVE EDUCATION
● Many children, like those in Babar Ali’s village, lack access to proper schooling
due to financial constraints. Inclusive education ensures that every child,
regardless of economic background, has the opportunity to learn.
● Babar Ali’s story shows that poverty prevents many children from receiving
education. Inclusive education policies can help by providing free or subsidized
schooling, ensuring that children from low-income families are not left behind.
D- VOCATIONAL EDUCATION
● There is an urgent need to respond to the growing skill requirement so that the
momentum of the economy can be sustained. By focusing on employability, our
education system can fulfill the requirements of skilled manpower. Further,
vocational education also creates more employment opportunities by equipping
learners with entrepreneurial skills. It also addresses the changing face of
technology through diversified courses.
● 46 per cent of the population between ages 18 and 50 are registered with
employment exchanges with little hope of finding work as there lies a mismatch
between the skilled manpower required and skilled manpower available. A
majority of the youth passing out of colleges do not have the specific skills
required by various sectors in the market.
UNIT 3: SCIENCE
A- RENEWABLE ENERGY
1.SOLAR ENERGY
● The average global solar radiation is around 5 kilowatt hours (KWH) per square
meter per day with the sunshine hours ranging between 2300-4300 per year.
India is in the sunny belt of the world. The country receives solar energy
equivalent to more than 5000 trillion KWH per year, which is far more than its
total annual energy consumption.
● Solar energy can be a viable source of power generation for the next 1000 crore
years. There are many technologies available for conversion of solar energy into
solar power.
2. ELECTRONIC VEHICLES
● EVs to reappear as a clean alternative to internal combustion vehicles. Electric
drive systems are virtually non-polluting and extremely energy efficient. While
internal combustion vehicles can convert about 20% of the chemical energy in
gasoline into useful work, 75% or more of the energy from a battery has
productive power in an electric vehicle.
● EVs are zero polluting, easy to handle and have low maintenance costs. EVs do
not degrade with time and they are always zero polluting unlike conventional
vehicles where the pollution increases with engine degradation, poor
maintenance and adulterated fuel.
B- PLUGGING INTO FUTURE
● The past few decades have seen an unprecedented pace of technological
evolution, leading to the obsolescence of many once-common gadgets.
● For example, Floppy disks, once a primary means of storing and transferring
digital data, have been replaced by CDs, DVDs, USB drives, and cloud storage.
The shift from physical storage media to cloud-based solutions has transformed
the way data is stored and accessed, improving convenience and security.
C- SPACE TRAVEL
● Studying astronauts like Peggy Whitson, Pamela Melroy, and Sunita Williams
provides insights into the effects of long-term space travel on the human body.
Research on zero gravity’s impact on muscles and bones helps develop
better fitness programs and medical treatments for astronauts and people on
Earth.
● Repairing space station components, like the solar wing repair mission
undertaken by Pamela Melroy, demonstrates how space missions push the limits
of remote operations and robotic repair work.
UNIT 4: ENVIRONMENT
A- PRESERVATION OF FLORA AND FAUNA
● Romulus Whitaker, a renowned herpetologist and conservationist, has dedicated
his life to wildlife preservation. He founded the Madras Snake Park, the Andaman
and Nicobar Environment Trust, and the Madras Crocodile Bank Trust. His work
includes educating people about the importance of biodiversity and setting up
conservation initiatives.
● Whitaker established research stations, such as the Agumbe Rainforest
Research Station, to study and protect endangered species. These stations
serve as hubs for conservation, research, and education, promoting sustainable
practices.
B- HEROES OF THE ENVIRONMENT
● Wangari Maathai recognized environmental degradation by observing how rural
communities struggled for basic needs like clean water, food, and firewood.
● The Green Belt Movement served as an example of how environmental
restoration can lead to societal peace. Due to her efforts, African nations are
increasingly investing in dialogue and peaceful negotiations instead of conflicts.
C- LET'S CLEAN UP (CLEAN ENERGY PRODUCTION)
● BIOTECH has succeeded in tackling the problem of the dumping of food waste in
the streets of Kerala through the installation of biogas plants that use the food
waste to produce gas for cooking and, in some cases, electricity for lighting; the
residue serves as fertiliser. To date BIOTECH has built and installed an
impressive 12000 domestic plants (160 of which also use human waste to avoid
contamination of ground water), 220 institutional plants and 17 municipal plants
that use waste from markets to power generators.
● The plants also replace the equivalent of about 3.7 tonnes of LPG and diesel
which in turn results in the saving of about 3700 tonnes/year of CO₂, with further
savings from the reduction in methane production as a result of the uncontrolled
decomposition of waste, and from the transport of LPG.
E- GEOLOGICAL HERITAGE
● The official 2001 census stated that the Hyderabad population was around 3.7
million. But today, the overflowing buses, traffic jammed streets, and expanding
city borders tell a very different story. Today, this natural legacy is giving way to
tall residential high-rises and software parks. Hills are being replaced with malls
and buildings. As the massive inflow of population continues, rocks are being
quarried round- the-clock to cater to the exponential boom in the construction
industry.
● Since 1996, a group of concerned citizens have come together to prevent
indiscriminate destruction of the rocks and protect the rocky landscapes. Their
organization 'Society to Save Rocks' (STSR) has since then been working hard
to preserve the rocky ecosystem in the city and state. Due to their dedicated
campaigning, the Government of Andhra Pradesh has added nine rock
formations in Regulation No. 13 of the Hyderabad Urban Development Authority
(HUDA) for the protection of Heritage Buildings and Precincts.
UNIT 5: TRAVEL AND TOURISM
A- INDIA: LAND OF ALL SEASONS
● India is the current tourism hot spot. The other epithets used while referring to
the nation include 'Destination of the Millennium' and 'Land of All Seasons'.
Spanning an area of 3,287,263 square kilometers, India is a vast country and
includes dry desert areas, evergreen forests, snowy Himalayas, a long coast,
and fertile plains. The natural beauty and cultural diversity of the place echo a
rich tradition.
● Last year we had 3.3 million visitors, but when you consider that Singapore gets
7 million a year, Thailand 9.6 million a year an Malaysia 11.5 million, it is a small
number. To improve this, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India has introduced
"Atithi Devo Bhavah Program"- a nation wide campaign that aims at sensitizing
key stakeholders towards tourists, through a process of training and orientation.
The endeavour is to boost tourism in India, which in turn would act as a catalyst
for India's economic growth.
B- ECOTOURISM
● The Ecotourism Society of India is dedicated to the promotion of sustainable
development in tourism and to develop responsible practices in and among the
tourism fraternity. It works towards continuous identification of new ecotourism
destinations, strengthening ecotourism and making India a preferred ecotourism
destination.
● Some of its objectives are to balance tourists and visitors' numbers and ensure
good tourism practices that would allow nature to regenerate itself and to work
with government bodies to develop policies and code of conduct for promotion of
sustainable tourism, and help implement the same.
C- THE EMERALD ISLANDS
● Floating in splendid isolation, east of the Indian mainland is the archipelago of
572 emerald islands, islets and rocks known as Andaman & Nicobar Islands.
This Union Territory is stretched over an area of more than 700 Kms. from north
to south with 36 inhabited islands.
● 29 km from Port Blair, Mahatma Gandhi Marine National Park at Wandoor covers
an area of 281.5 sq km and is made-up of open sea, creeks and 15 small and
large islands. It is one of the best in the world offering views of rare corals and
underwater marine life through glass bottom boats, scuba diving and snorkeling.
D- PROMOTING TOURISM
● Judging by published statistics earlier, our efforts to attract foreign tourists had
Judging bsistently unsuccessful. Both Malaysia and China entered the
international tourism market decades after we did. In 2009, Malaysia was ranked
ninth with 23.6 million foreign arrivals. In the same year, China was ranked 4th
with 50.9 million visitors. India did not appeared in the first 10 because it just
managed to attract less than 10 million tourists.
● Union Territories reported that more than 650 million domestic tourists had visited
them in 2009. Contrast that with the insignificant 5.11 million foreign tourists we
managed to attract in the same year. Clearly Tourism, like Charity, begins at
home.
UNIT 6: NATIONAL INTEGRATION
A- UNITY IN DIVERSITY
● India is one land embracing many and that the Indian nation has a multitude of
castes, creed, colour, conviction, culture, cuisine, costume and custom; and yet
we are one.
● All over India, festivals dedicated to seasons and harvest occur at the same time.
The people come together and display great pride for the nation during national
festivals, this exhibiting unity in diversity.
B- CHALLENGES TO NATIONAL INTEGRATION
● Socio-economic divisions and beliefs such as caste and religion present a
challenge to national integration. For example, APJ Abdul Kalam was made to sit
away from his friend Ramanadha Sastry by his school teacher as he could not
stomach a Hindu priest’s son sitting with a Muslim boy.
● Social barriers need to be broken to encourage national integration. This needs
to be done by leader figures, such as teachers. For example, Abdul Kalam’s
science teacher Sivasubramania Iyer, an orthodox Brahmin, invited Kalam into
his home and fed him with his own hands.
D- MILE SUR MERA TUMHARA
● A decade or so ago to counter the threat of the divisive forces, a catchy slogan
on buses and public places read "From Kashmir to Kanyakumari, India is one"
Incidentally, around the same time, V.S. Naipaul's India: A Million Mutinies Now
(1991) was released, visualising a strong and unified India despite its "million
mutinies" threatening its very existence.
● The concept for Mile Sur was developed in 1988 by Lok Seva Sanchar Parishad,
and promoted by Doordarshan and India's Ministry of Information. The song was
composed by Ashok Patki, co-composed & arranged by Louis Banks, written by
Piyush Pandey (then an Accounts Manager and presently the Executive
Chairman and Creative Head of Ogilvy and Mather, India). The project was
conceived and directed by Suresh Mullick (then All India Creative Director, Ogilvy
& Mather) and recorded by a group of people from all walks of life, including a
super group of popular Indians - musicians, sports persons, movie stars, etc.
ALL THE BEST FOR BOARDS!
