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Is there always an inherent contradiction between political pragmatismand ethics? This paper explores this through the classical Indian realist politicaltreatise, the Arthashastra, written by Kautilya. He was the key advisor to EmperorChandragupta Maurya (c. 317-293 B.C.E), credited with first consolidating theIndian subcontinent into an empire under centralized control. Kautilya is widelyagreed to be a pioneer in developing a ‘science of politics’- a great departure fromthe hitherto existing moralistic, spiritual, ascetic preoccupations and, religiousspeculations of Indian political philosophy. Kautilya blurred the distinctionbetween morality and political utility. Much of political theory tradition remainsoblivious to Kautilya’s contribution to morality in realpolitik and his continuinginfluence in non-Western societies. His treatise is a significant point of entry intoexploring the dilemmas attached to active pursuance of ethical goals while alsobalancing the imperatives underpinning political pragmatism- a concern whichhas carried on to this day.

Greener methods for the production of nanoparticles (NPs) are highly investigated to minimize the harmfulness of chemical synthetic processes. In this study, CaO (calcium oxide) NPs were synthesized using extracts of banana (Musa acuminata) leaves. The precipitate of Ca(OH)2 (calcium hydroxide) obtained from the precursor Ca(NO3)2 (calcium nitrate) was calcined at 900 °C in a muffle furnace to form CaO. The catalytic activity of the prepared CaO was studied in transesterification of soybean oil. From the 1H-NMR analysis, a high soybean oil conversion of 98.0% was obtained under the optimum reaction conditions of 8 wt% of catalyst loading, 2 h reaction time, and a 15:1 methanol to oil molar ratio at 65 °C temperature. 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR, and FT-IR spectroscopic studies of the product proved the formation of biodiesel. The CaO nanocatalyst was characterized using XRD, SEM-EDS, TEM, FT-IR, XPS, and BET analyses. The average diameter of the catalyst was determined as 46.2 nm from TEM analyses. The catalyst can be used successfully even after five active reaction cycles without substantial loss in the activity of the catalyst.

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