International Organizations, Defence, Books & Authors, World History

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The International Court of Justice is the judicial organ of the U.N.O. It has its headquarters at The Hague (Netherlands). It is composed of fifteen judges elected by the General Assembly and the Security Council for nine years. Its main function is to solve the legal disputes of the member states of UNO.

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Seven rounds of negotiations occurred under the GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade). The eighth round – known as the Uruguay Round — which began in 1986 and concluded in 1995 established the WTO. The main aim of World Trade Organization is to increase international trade by promoting lower trade barriers and providing a platform for the negotiation of trade.

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Lala Lajpat Rai (1865-1928) authored “England’s Debt to India,” published in 1917 in New York. The book critiques Britain’s fiscal policy in India, asserting that Britain owes a debt for the exploitation of the country and its people.

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Jagdish Chandra Bose, on 10 May 1901, proved that plants are like any other life form. He proved that plants have a definite life cycle, a reproductive system and are aware of their surroundings. On the basis of experiments, he showed that plants had a sensitive nervous system like animals, and that their responses to external stimuli could be measured and recorded.

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Palaeontology is the study of fossils to determine the structure and evolution of extinct animals and plants and the age and conditions of deposition of the rock strata in which they are found. Body fossils and trace fossils are the principal types of evidence about ancient life.

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Leo Tolstoy, the renowned Russian novelist, is the author of “Anna Karenina.” First published in serial installments from 1877 to 1878 and then in book form in 1878…

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Doris Lessing, a Nobel Prize-winning novelist, authored “The Golden Notebook,” known for its innovative structure and exploration of women’s psychology and social issues.

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‘Why Not Me?’ is an essay collection written by popular Indian writer Chetan Bhagat. First published in 2014, the essays explore love, career, self-improvement, politics and takes on Bhagat’s own life journey overcoming failures to becoming a bestselling author.

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Haroun and the Sea of Stories’ is a fantasy novel written by Salman Rushdie and first published in 1990. It explores the Indian oral tradition of storytelling through a young boy’s adventures to restore his storyteller father’s gift of speech.

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‘Annihilation of Caste’ is an undelivered speech written in 1936 by B.R. Ambedkar, an Indian social reformer who criticized the caste system and inspired the Dalit Buddhist movement.