Does privacy actually exist online

Google is set to make a major change to their Terms of Service that will allow the company to use the user name and profile pictures of its Google Plus account members in reviews, advertising, and â€Å"other commercial contexts. † This, coupled with Facebooks recent announcement that they are removing a setting that previously allowed users to be undiscoverable through their Graph Search, raises the question†¦ oes privacy actually exist online? In the case of Google, the company says it plans to only share user names and profile hotos in conjunction with content users have chosen to help curate. For example, they may use the +1 you gave your favorite local bakery in an ad that the bakery runs through Google, or your rating of an album on your favorite band's Google Play page may she shared with those in your Google Plus circles.Although users will be able to opt out and control whether their image and name appear in ads via the Shared Endorsements setting, this is a majo r change for the platform that puts it more closely in line with Facebooks much scrutinized privacy policies. It's also a move that s likely to perturb users who flocked to Google from Facebook because of privacy concerns and raises the question of what Google may be planning for the future.Not to be outdone, Facebooks announcement that everyone will be searchable after the removal of an old privacy setting is raising many eyebrows†and rightfully so. â€Å"We're removing the setting because it isn't as useful as it was before,† read an announcement from Facebook when I recently logged in to my personal account. So, naturally, choosing to remove the setting altogether is better than attempting to mprove this tool which would enable account holders to control who can view their profiles? Apparently so.Both companies seem to be using the argument that users are in control of what they share, and therefore are presenting an implied endorsement of sorts that they believe the y have the rights to use for monetary or promotional gain. While it is true that status updates about a restaurant you like, a snapshot at an event you went to, or what you're listening to, watching, or reading are put there by the users themselves, shouldn't it also hold true that the information we hare about ourselves should still remain our information?Although there are laws, both state and federal, currently in place that are supposed to safeguard internet users, these controls are not assurance that we are sheltered from companies using our personal information in ways we did not intend. Frequently these laws, and most frequently the privacy policies of internet companies, put an increasing amount of control in the hands of internet users, who unfortunately, often have inadequate training in and knowledge of the digital landscape.This puts teens, the elderly, and other marginal web users at risk, as they are uninformed and uneducated to make the appropriate choices needed to protect their personal information on the internet. Even for more advanced internet users such as myself, it often difficult to understand my online privacy rights†not to mention that internet companies are not always transparent. As social media becomes more, well, social, companies like Google and Facebook should be taking the needed steps to make their privacy measures easier to comprehend and user friendly.In the example of Facebooks most recent privacy privacy shortcuts. † Okay, sure, but how? With the ambiguous nature of online privacy now and the Jargon of its top providers, digital literacy is an increasing must. Who should be responsible though? Should the command be placed on internet companies? Should it be left to the online user? Without a precise solution, the future of online privacy is clouded and the sole fix for the time being is to stay enlightened and precautious†otherwise your semi-private musings may turn up in a not-so- private place.

Form of education Essay

â€Å"Education is the key to success†. Everyone knows about it. Education come in many forms, that’s why many people are speaking and writing about it, some with authority and some are ordinary. But does everyone knows the real meaning of Education? How can we say that we are already educated person if we don’t know exactly the real definition of the word Education? And how can we apply it in our daily lives? Education is a stage of such a process which develops your knowledge to learn different things or simply it is the field of study that deals mainly with methods of teaching and learning in schools. There are three forms of Education. It can be Education of Heart, Education of Norm and at last Education of Dominion. The Education of Heart tackles about the education for the perception of the Individual. While, Education of Norm is all about for the perception of the Family and lastly the Education of Dominion (Intellectual, Technical, and Physical Education) it is the education for the perfection of the Nature of Dominion. Education is the most important thing in our life. It is a gift from above which cannot be taken away from us and can bring us to the top of our dreams. Education is not only by going to school, it can happen by a lot of ways. And it is important specially for those people who can’t afford to go to school, because of their status in life. And they believed that through education, one person’s knowledge can be enhanced and improve. The greatest treasure that everyone must have is Education. It’s like planting a rice; at first you need to execute more efforts, time and skills. Then, wait for the right time to harvest. Education is an important tool that is applied in the modern world to succeed, as it lessen the challenges or obstacles which are faced in life. For some people they compared Education as a special ingredient for a cooking recipe. They’ve said that any kind of dishes will never become delicious if it doesn’t have a complete and satisfying ingredient. The foundation of the society is based on Education, since it brings social and economic prosperity. Education offers a setting in which language, tradition, culture and values of the society are developed. Education has played a major role in the modern life to all individuals in the society and also in the industrial world. Employment is based on education, as employees must have the required skills that correspond with the technology to do their different tasks. As the technology keeps improving , more and more people using it in their lives. Therefore, education grown bigger because people nowadays are learning different things from this technology. Education can mold a personality of an individual. It can help one person to further to his or her own future. A good quality education is not only choosing a good school, it’s choosing a school that can handle different attitudes of students and still can teach them the right path to be a good citizen. There’s no young and adult in education as long as you want to reach your goals and your prepared enough to fight for it. Learning is an education and experience is an education too. But sometimes learning something new can be a scary experience. Specially for those times that you have been facing your fears. But it doesn’t mean that we should be afraid to overcome our own fears and mistakes because we can learn a lot from this things and sometimes it can be our guide to become a better and more stronger one. Although we already know that education is an important thing that everyone must have, but for others it still have disadvantages. Knowledge is power; though it is widely accepted that it is essential for growth and development of an individual, but sometimes it is the reason for some discrimination. Some forms of education blindly impose ideas upon young minds instead of teaching them to think for themselves. A lot of people gathered their knowledge based in their experience for which there is no substitute. An education system is very helpful in developing and improving the quality of human life. Living in this contemporary world is very hard to succeed. That’s why it is better to have a good quality education. Education will be our open doors to attain the training and learning experiences for career opportunities that we need to fulfill in our dreams. Through education we can learn how to enhance life skills such as critical thinking skills, a healthy living lifestyle and self-confidence. It also helps to build our personality to learn how to use good manners, and having respect for others. We learn healthy and productive ways to grow into socially active adults.

Bridger Teton

Bridger Teton National Forest 12/03/2010 Conservation is the use and exploitation of the land in a sustainable way, or one might say to manage. Preservation is the protection of the land that limits use, in order to maintain a pristine condition or to protect. After my research, I do believe that humans can actually harvest forest resources in an environmentally friendly way. Does that mean we should? In my opinion, I think that each situation is different, based on the use of the land and what the condition of the land is that is trying to be used.In the case of the Bridger Teton National forest, I do feel that it should be left in its natural state. For so many years this land has been untouched, untamed and undiscovered. To take land of this nature for drilling, building roads and pipelines are not worth it. To the people of Wyoming it is more valuable than what you can get out of it from oil and gas. New technology should allow other ways to give us freedom for foreign oil. I rea lly thought it was odd that the politicians were already calling â€Å"Management Area 71† which does not scream environmentally friendly.In my research I did come across a reading that stated conservation was good in some instances to keep wild life under control and allowed for controlled hunting. I’m not sure if I can consider that environmentally friendly. Humans are changing the environment by fragmenting landscapes, and by removing species from their habitats. Preservation should remain for the Bridger Teton National Forest, and should only be preserved if and only if it is not maintaining a pristine condition on it’s own.

BUSINESS ETHICS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

BUSINESS ETHICS - Essay Example In many societies, it is evident that whenever a company or a group records increase in performance and eventual success, the credit usually goes to the top management such as the CEO, branch among other leaving out the real ground engines behind that success (Painter-Morland and Bos, 2011:18). These issues of partiality and selective identification when it comes to remuneration, job promotion, awarding among others activities aimed at reinforcing personnel is an ethical debate that has sparkled many arguments with different perspective either supporting or detesting the remuneration process reached at through merit credibility (Deckop, 2006:89). It is, therefore, prudent enough to critically analyse this, debate about it and take a stance based on the presented propositions (Cannon, 2008:56). This argument aims at broadening the outlook into ethical matters of fairness and equality when it comes to reinforcements at the work place as it seeks to support the essay question asked in t he title. The essay has two sides by under which a person can stand on by either admitting that it is just and fair or it is not for remuneration to be given based on performance and rank of the employee. Among the key tasks of the employers or people at the managerial positions at work places are to ensure that there exist mechanisms that enable justice and fairness when it comes to rewarding their employees so that ethical standards of equality and sprite is met (Brink, 2011:35). They do this through evaluating the merits of their employees and compensate them according to their efforts that they have made in seeing the success of the organisation. However, this action has met a lot of criticisms and arguments have been raised concerning what the critics describe as ‘equality and fairness under trial’ claiming that it’s unreasonable to leave out or award lowly those who make less contributions to the success of the organisation (Lewis,

Rotana Hotels Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Rotana Hotels - Essay Example By understanding the direction the business is to take long-term, it can make decisions that always lead to goal attainment. Rotana’s stated goals of increasing the number of Hotels to 100 within a specific time period shows that the business understands how to develop strategy properly. The goals as they are written give Rotana focus and give the chain a sense of purpose about what direction to take moving forward. By setting two to three years as the basis of expansion, it gives the organization a very clear time-frame regarding what efforts need to be undertaken to get there. In some ways, this can be considered part of the vision as it gives everyone in the organization a sense of direction and know where the business is trying to head. As to whether they meet the criteria of well-written goals, the answer would have to be no. Well-written goals have specific accomplishments listed about the long-term strategy. They should include objectives on how the business intends to succeed all the way through the entire management process from planning, to organizing, to leading and controlling. This is just a broad goal without specific strategies listed. â€Å"To be the Leading Hospitality Management Company within the Middle East and Africa operating a comprehensive range of products and brands that aim to meet all the requirements of our guests† (Rotana, 2011, p.1). organization is actually in business and what is it trying to achieve as well as where it wants to go in the long-term. It tells that it is a customer-focused business that devotes most of its efforts into marketing and guest services. Like most visions should, it should motivate Rotana workers to achieve the goals of providing these guest services and inspire innovators in the company to develop new product variety. Rotana’s values are founded on its LIFE principles, which are long-term, innovation, friendly and ethical.

Chinese Painting- Qi Baishi Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Chinese Painting- Qi Baishi - Essay Example Qi painted Lotus flower with cicada with great independence that few artists portray. He used swift, sure and spontaneous brush strokes to depict the nature and appearance of the lotus flower. It is imperative that Qi’s greatness in using a brush to draw swiftly thin lines that seem to mature with old age helped in designing lotus flower with cicada paint. Moreover, it is essential to note that Qi perfected his ability to use the brush in designing strokes that depict tiny shapes of flowers and insects during his old age. It is indispensable that Qi’s spontaneous ability to use brush effectively in making perfect thin strokes made him the most celebrated artist in China. He combines simplicity, forceful brush, and a strong sense of naivety to design the most powerful image of Lotus flower that gives the viewer a natural feeling. In addition, Qi’s powerful use of the brush in painting tiny diagrams depicts the beautiful image of brown hairy nature of lotus seed like parts. He perfectly designs the brown hairy parts in such a manner that they reflect a mature flower. Qi then paints a tiny cicada insect on the surface of the brown hairy part, a design that gives the painting natural coexistence. Lotus flower with cicada painting is invaluable in depicting the great style and commitment Qi Baishi showed on his works. The paintings’ natural feeling that results from the close interaction between cicada and lotus flower enable the viewer to reflect on Qi’s feeling and mood while meditating on natural coexistence.

Child support maintenance Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Child support maintenance - Research Proposal Example The inefficiency of the Child Support Agency in administering child support has hardly made the work easier for stakeholders in the child support industry. One of the most controversial issues is having the parents with care in the child support maintenance. There is a new legislation that is supposed to abolish this, but even though it is in place, its provisions have not yet started being enforced. It begs the question of whether the UK’s system that has parent with care in child support maintenance is correct in doing so. This paper answers that question along with explaining the reason for the existence of that situation. Table of Contents Abstract†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦2 Research Title†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦4 Background†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦...4 Statement of the Problem†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..5 Objectives of the Study†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦6 Research Questions†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦...6 Literature Review†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..7 Methodology†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦11 Research Philosophy†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.11 Data Collection methods†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..12 Data Analysis†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦13 Ethical Issues†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦13 References†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦15 Child Support Maintenance Title The tentative research title for this research will be ‘Child Support Maintenance in the UK: Explaining Parent with Care Perspective.’ It is tentative and, therefore, subject to change as the objectives of the research will direct. Background Child support maintenance has been around in the UK for a very long time. It is one of those areas of interest that has raised so much heat in the legal and legislative arenas. Child maintenance involves providing financial help for a child’s everyday living costs which include food, clothes and a home for the child (Wikeley, 2006). This situation usually arises when there are parents who have divorced or separated such that only one of them remains with the custody of the child or children. The parent who takes the responsibility of providing the full care for the child is the one defined as the parent with care under s. 3(3) of the Child Support Act 1991 (Heaton, 2013). The couple may decide to arrange a private family-based arrangement where the parents agree on the terms of maintaining the child. Alternatively, they may decide to go the statutory way; the child maintenance service. Before 30th November 2013, the Child Support Agency established under the Child Support Act 1991 was the body tasked with determining and remitting of the maintenance contributions. However, it was found to be inefficient as the resources it was using to run and administer its services were more than the monetary value of its benefits (Heaton, 2013). The Child Support Act is the main legislation that is used to govern child maintenance in the UK. It provides the legal framework for the payment of child maintenance (Gov.uk, 2014). It also explicates the importance of paying child maintenance and points out that it supports the child’

Old Habits Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Old Habits - Essay Example My own family members have become the greatest examples of these phenomena in my life. To comprehend this procedure or perceive the power of the cosmic force which is beyond our comprehension, the trajectory of my life consisted of the actions which fell into close counter, begins with the story of my brother Matt. Matt is my sibling and he is a great lover of adventure. This love of his life suddenly changed his entire life. However, it was not his destiny alone that was shaped with the deeds for which he was responsible. There were people around him like my mom, Deb and my dad, Steve and me whose lives were greatly affected by the transition in Matt’s life. As a family the lives of each member is closely related and influenced by the actions and lifestyle of other members in the family. Actually, this feeling itself gives a feeling of coherence. A family is like a complete picture where each member and their life is a fragment of the jigsaw puzzle. A single fragment missing would never allow completing the puzzle and the story. Matt and my life are not an exception in this regard and the fate of our parents proved fatal for us to a great extent. There was a time when my mom and dad were almost on the verge of losing their job. Threat of financial crisis is greatest in today’s materialist world. ... I mentioned the fact earlier that every integrated bit, every single member complements and completes the picture of a happy family. One day we all went together for hunting and very unfortunately at the dusk, we lost one of our dogs and never saw him again. This is why I repeatedly keep stressing on this factor. I am well aware with the consequence of a missing member in the prevalent picture perfect concept. The three different stories evolve out from the same platform called family. The three different incidents might seem fragmented incidents of life. They may seem bizarre. But all these events are united at a plane which greatly effect, move and influence the lives of all the members of the family. I want to give a very clear and in-depth introspection to this very simple and mundane factor which often escape the attention of the human mind. But the fact that neither it is mundane nor is it unimportant attracts a close attention. And this fact at times can bring forth an entire different set of actions which can alter the fate of a family or a generation altogether. Matt was a victim of this socio-economic change. His actions were not guided solely by his own will. At times, I sincerely feel that external conditions were responsible to a great extent for the predicament which he had to meet. I watched Matt through the glass door made for the visitors to watch the critical patients at the I.C.U. Matt was lying on the hospital bed. His blue-colored uniform reminded me the fact time and again that he loved blue. He wanted to wear something blue at the prom-night in his high-school graduation party. He was fortunate to get that touch of blue; but alas it was the I.C.U uniform. Matt was looking handsome. I could see only his face but that vision was

Anti-War Movement & Women Liberation Movement Research Paper

Anti-War Movement & Women Liberation Movement - Research Paper Example The fear had arisen due to communist victory in countries neighbouring Vietnam. Moreover, the country considered France weak in stopping the influence of communism in the region. Therefore, the administration viewed that France needed help to overcome the influence of communism from countries such as Japan and USSR (King Web). Moreover, the achievement of Vietnam independence in 1945 was seen as a threat of French existence. Initially, Ho Chi Minh had led the Vietnamese people to gaining independence from French and Japanese occupation (King Web). However, the French was not satisfied but willing to regain the lost colony. However, due to various challenges, the French sought the help of United States. In the speech, King notes,† Even before the French defeat we encouraged them with massive financial and military supplies to continue the war even after they had lost the will† (King Web). On the other hand, the government impression was that Vietnamese people were not prep ared for independence (King Web). As a result, the government was against the establishment of a genuine form of government established out of revolution. The government had been established without the assistance of China but indigenous forces and remnants of communists. The peasants had faith in the new leadership in implementing land reforms. On the other hand, the United States intended to control the administration of Vietnam. In fact, United States had a notion that Ho was not fit to unite the already divisive country. Therefore, United States ensures installation of their man Premier Diem (King Web). Diem became authoritarian, non-reformist, and failed to accept oppositions. Consequently, there were various revolts against the rule. As a result, the troops came in the country to quell the revolt against their chosen person. Moreover, military dictatorship of the United States continued after the toppling of Diem from power. However, in the United States, people were promised that military intervention was furthering the course of democracy and land reforms. Most, the message was delivered in terms of leaflets to the people. Additionally, United States deemed National Liberation Front as communist. As a result, the revolution was viewed as an enemy of the United States. Moreover, United States linked the death of Diem with communist activities in the region. Therefore, military advisors were sent to quell the groups of communism in south as well as the rebel movement. Moreover, the involvement was meant to curtail â€Å"aggression from the north† (King Web). In the 1960s, there was a rise of a new generation of students. Most of the students developed a culture of non-conformist. In fact, they resisted most of the ideal of America. One of the significant forms of resistance was organised in Berkley students against the House Un-American Activities Committee (Kitchell Web). They were against United States oppression of political freedom. There was also establishment of a radical student movement known as SLATE to inform Student on various issues regarding the country. As a result, there was increased interest in politics. Moreover, student participated in off-campus issues such as civil rights, nuclear production, and apartheid. Civil rights inspired student activism and helped students with rigorous objection. This was prominent among student of Morehouse College as opined by King (King Web). Victory in free speech and civil rights encouraged the student

Genomics, Vaccines & Weaponization Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Genomics, Vaccines & Weaponization - Essay Example The second step is to produce the recombinant proteins in E.coli bacteria, and this may range to about 350 proteins. These proteins are then purified and used in mice. The immune sera so obtained would be collected and would be assayed to determine their binding capacity with the proteins on the N. meningitides B bacteria to observe any kind of bactericidal activity in vitro. A few numbers of proteins can be taken that have a high titer in all the assays. Here the protein sequence variability was being studied in the isolates of N. mengitidis B bacteria and from these the final candidates would be 2 vaccines that met all the criteria should be selected and had no sequence variability. This can undergo phase 1 clinical trial (Fraser 23-33). Robert Stevens was dying from inhalation anthrax and was dying from the disease, in September 2001 following the 911 attacks. He had received a letter containing some strange powder and following coming in contact with this powder became ill. His b ody was taken to Northern Arizona University wherein biologist Paul Keim had invented a molecular biology technology of distinguishing one strain of anthrax from another. Keim had collected about 88 strains of anthrax and tried to compare them with each of these. He compared the DNA (genome) of the bacteria and located for various genetic markers specifically 8 in number, and found that it had matched one that was used by the US Army for its vaccine studies as it was a highly virulent bacterium and could be used in bioterrorism. This strain was known as the Ames Strain and was first isolated from a cow in Texas in 1981 and was sent to the USSAMRIID for research (US Department of Justice ). The bacteria had passed several hands of various laboratories. They later studied the difference between the Ames anthrax bacteria and the bacteria that killed Stevens. They compared 5 million chemical letters present in 5000 genes. After doing all these studies, they found that the genome of the bacteria that was present in Stevens’s body was the same as the Ames strain, and they could not identify specifically from which lab was the sample smuggled out and used by the terrorists. Mutations that the bacteria would undergo after being passed from one lab to another was being studied, but the scientist did not find any differences. Finally they found that the genome of morph D of the bacteria did contain a large portion that was missing and this was caused by an altered chemical letter in the DNA. They zeroed down to 8 out of the 1000 samples collected and this was traced to an army laboratory USAMRIID and the researcher involved was Bruce Ivins who had committed suicide after he was declared the prime suspect (PBS). Biological warfare is the use of biological agents or their toxins in order to destroy human, animal and plant life and would be an act of terrorism or war. These biological organisms are capable of reproducing on the hosts or are able to release toxic sub stances on the host, cause disease and finally kill or cause critical illnesses in the host. Some of the biological weapons may actually be lethal, whereas other may be non-lethal but may have a disastrous effect. Further, by using infectious agents, the effect is even more disastrous and disease rapidly spreads from one individual to another, and drugs and vaccines that are required may not be immediately available. Most of such biological warfare agents are transmitted on contact or through

Transactional and Transformational Leadership Assignment - 1

Transactional and Transformational Leadership - Assignment Example Transformational and transactional leadership relate to trait theory, skills approach, and the behavioral perspective in a number of ways. The trait theory primarily dwells on the fact that leader’s personality influences their levels of performance at the workplace (Laureate Education, 2012). Thus, as a leader may be applying his innate skills of leadership he can choose to incorporate the transformational approach. The transformational approach comes in through motivation of the employees to working hard towards ensuring that the overall objectives set are achieved (Danforth et al., 2010). The leader can also use the transformational approach to make his subjects likeminded and aligned towards achieving the set objects. As well, the transactional theory may be used in the traits theory to offer supervision and controlling of employees. This approach can be adopted when the leader is seeking to find quality results by supervising the manner in which the employees work. The skills approach takes into account the knowledge and skills of the leader. Most of this knowledge is obtained from learning and experience from previous work. Looking at the skills approach vis a vis the transactional and transformational approach, it is evident that the two styles can be used together to enhance the productivity of the employees. A skillful leader may adopt the transformational approach in encouraging and motivating the employees to work hard towards achieving the intended objectives. Relatively, the transactional approach can be adopted in the skill theory when the leader intends to supervise the manner in which the employees work (Eliyana, 2010). The transactional leadership, therefore, enables the leader to take control of the work environment and monitor closely what the employees are doing. The behavioral perspective of leadership can also be used together with the transformational and transactional leadership.

Are Women Better Parents Than Men Essay Example for Free

Are Women Better Parents Than Men Essay Bringing up the children has been the mother’s duty since time immemorial. However, things are changing fast as there are single persons opting for adoption and couples unwilling to tide it through together who are opting to take up the job single handed. There is much to support the mother’s role as the primary caregiver of the family and the young ones, especially through reasons embedded in tradition as well as convenience. However, there have been many examples of single men coming forward, with the nurturing spirit surfacing strongly. Would they fare equally well as any woman or would they be at sea, if confronted by the daunting task of caring for a real child 24/7? The external responsibilities that a male usually carries out in a family—set up as the breadwinner and the protector—give him a tough aura that comes in the way of visualising him performing the mother’s role. However, this cannot be used as a benchmark to determine whether the man is capable of providing children with equal, if not more, tenderness, love and care. The perception that precedes any male when it comes to parenting may well have become redundant now, or is it still the same? Are men likely to fare badly at parenting, or have they become more sensitive to the needs of children in a changed environment? In fact some would rather believe that they better than the mothers as well. So do men actually make better parents than women? All individuals are different from one another and may respond or perform at different levels as per their individual capabilities. However, if a generalist idea has to be formed it would be so that women generally make the better parents as they have the innate maternal instincts that allow them to take the best care of their children. Women would have subconsciously built a bond with the child even before it is born. Carrying a child in the womb for nine month is sufficient for strong emotional ties to be formed that are beyond understanding of average human relationships. Nature has implanted the nurture and care automatically in women. Bringing up life in its first few years is extremely important and to ensure safety and survival the women are attuned intrinsically to this need. For the men this part might be the difficult bit. They are seen largely making valuable contributions in a child’s development after he/she has achieved control over bodily functions and has reached a certain level of comprehension. However, there are certain ways in which a father or a male can contribute in the upbringing of children that women cannot do complete justice to. Men are generally rational and logic driven and decisions/choices and actions are based on sound reason. The way a father can allow a child to go all out and grow up would not be possible with mothers, who are more protective and would be daunted by the slightest crunch in the heart. Of course, the exceptions are always there but the go getting spirit, courage and fierce determination can be imparted very well by the male only. It is important as it makes the child more worldly wise and equipped with a skill that will not be taught in any school as a part of the curriculum. An initial advantage that lies with the woman is that she is the one who is physically and mentally programmed naturally to do a better job of parenting. Women generally are more sensitive and attentive to even the smallest needs exhibited by the children. They are inherently good listeners, blessed with more patience to deal with hours of bawling. It can be very challenging to keep comforting little children as they are not able to express or communicate at times about what bothers, pains or frightens them. Mothers are usually patient at such time and are willing to put aside hours to calm and reassure them. The important part worth taking notice of is that the young years are really crucial in the formation of a self-confident and a secure individual. If the children are neglected and ignored, they are likely to shape up as insecure somewhere and no matter how much of inputs and care are given after they grow up, that deficit cannot be made up for. I personally think that women are more capable of adding this tremendous value to a child’s life. However, in the light of recent developments I would like to differ and cite the alternative point of view. The equations in today’s world are changing and the women are actively seeking employment and pursuing very challenging careers. Though the idea of motherhood is very fascinating, the actual process of bringing up a child can be very demanding. And here is where the male’s rational, organised and practical outlook counts. They can make it tick even in such a very demanding situation and hence men are capable of being better parents. I would still say that there is no doubting the fact that mothers make better parents as they are known to be more balanced, especially in crunch situations. If we were to take a neutral scenario where the financial pressure and the emotional mess of a broken household are absent, women are capable of dealing superbly with the task. Usually, the women are projected as emotional wrecks, poor decision makers and incapable of providing a secure future only in situations where they are not educated enough to go out and earn. Other than that, there are ample examples where independent single women have done a splendid job of parenting. I feel that the women are capable of a healthy left brain- right brain activity balance and create and nurture life adeptly. I do agree that there are some very valuable skill sets that may be the exclusive domain of women, but there is much that men may be capable of doing. Men are usually not known to be very expressive about their ideas or their feelings. They are more of the doers. The fact that I really appreciate about fathers is that they are capable of imparting many critical life lessons to their children without actually making them look like lessons. Children emulate their elders. A practical parent would teach the child to evaluate situations without really reacting at the drop of a hat. Men are good at controlling their emotions and by exhibiting more of the controlled reactions in crisis situations teach them calm, analytical approach. Then, there is the general conduct adopted toward the various people that instils etiquette, politeness and fist lessons in people skills. The other issue with the females is that even when the child has grown up, they may still be clinging on somewhere. Men will not be so edgy about letting go. I really feel that men are better parents as they are capable of a more hands off approach. TIt comes across as a logical conclusion of this debate that the role of both man and woman is equally significant as parents and it is not necessarily so that women make better parents. Most women make good parents as they are better listeners and tend to be more attentive to one’s needs. Being more sensitive than males, women can forge a closer relationship with their children. Father is commonly seen as the rationalist, but this is not always true. Some fathers can make better parents than mothers; and this could be largely attributed to an individual’s personal upbringing, the childhood he or she experienced and the values that they believe in. If one has had a loving family unit and an environment that made him/her feel loved, it inspires a quite confidence and self-assurance which further gets translated into further parenting. Therefore, it is really immaterial as to whether men or women make better parents. Anyone, with a more mature and balanced outlook is likely to do a better job of parenting—being hands off when required and involved when desired.

Pecola Breedlove In The Bluest Eye English Literature Essay

Pecola Breedlove In The Bluest Eye English Literature Essay What could he do for her à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ Ã¢â€š ¬ever. What give her. What say to her. What could a burned-out black man say to the hunched back of his eleven-year-old daughter. If he looked into her face, he would see those haunted loving eyes. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦How dare she love him? Hadnt she any sense at all? What was he supposed to do about that? Return it? How? What could his calloused hands produce to make her smile? (Morrison 127) In the above excerpt it seems nothing unusual that a father is musing on how best he could make his daughter feel loved, but what is most unusual is the outcome it yielded. In Toni Morrisons The Bluest Eye it is this point in the novel that the protagonist Pecola Breedlove is raped by her father Cholly, a most unexpected thing to do and the events in her life take the worst turn. Considering this to be an incident where there is a reversal of action, this paper would focus on Pecola and the discovery or recognition that comes post the reversal as in Aristotles Poetics. According to Aristotles definition of tragedy and the tragic elements, the devices required to make an effective (complex) plot structure are peripeteia and anagnorisis, translated as reversal and recognition. F. L. Lucas paraphrases Aristotles illustration in the like manner: A peripeteia occurs when a course of action intended to produce result x, produces the reverse of x. Thus the messenger from Corinth tries to ch eer Oedipus and dispel his fear of marrying his mother; but by revealing who Oedipus really is, he produces exactly the opposite result. (111) The peripeteia that Aristotle talks of brings about the anagnorisis, the realization of the truth, the opening of the eyes, the sudden lightning-flash in the darknessà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦the flash may come after the catastrophe, serving only to reveal it and complete it, as when Oedipus discovers his guilt. (Lucas 114) Another translation of Aristotles work reads it as: a change from ignorance [agnoia] to knowledge [gnosin]. (Aristotle 54) Electras recognition of Orestes or Oedipus recognition that he himself is his fathers murderer is suggestive of the fact that this recognition revolves round the politics of identity which would include the struggle for recognition. In lieu of this, the paper takes into consideration Pecolas predicament as an eleven year old black girl whose sole wish is to have blue eyes and thereby her negotiation with the identification process. Pecola prayed each night, without fail (Morrison 35) for blue eyes. Morrison has stated that the reason for Pecolas desire for getting blue eyes must be at least partially traced to the failures of Pecolas own community: she wanted to have blue eyes and she wanted to be Shirley Temple à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ because of the society in which she lived and, very importantly, because of the black people who helped her want to be that.(Morrison 32) Pecola symbolically occupies the interstitial space that in other words: has no specified place, and she floats on the peripheries of the community she longs to enter like a wraith looking for its missing body. She is constantly outdoors, never able to integrate herself into the community, always left on the peripheries, literally moving from house to house searching for a fixed place of comfort and security. Pecola has become homeless because her drunken father has destroyed their home, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¢and everybody, as a result, was outdoors. (Morrison 12) Morrison in the Foreword writes that she is specifically interested in the far more tragic and disabling consequences of accepting rejection as legitimate, as self-evident (Morrison à Ã¢â‚¬  ) It is necessary to point out here that in Aristotles illustrations of anagnorisis as in Electras recognition of Orestes, it is by means of footprints and a lock of hair which suggest that external features are necessary for identification, so are her eyes necessary for Pecola. But for Pecola blue eyes is something she does not possess, the symbol of the culmination of beauty as per the hegemonic culture and thus feels deprived and her existence splintered. The eyes symbolize her wholeness which is an impossibility just as the eyes themselves are and her inability to locate or position herself vis-à  -vis the normative discourse. Hence her mark of identification is not with a feature that is present but with the absent blue eyes. Barbara Christian points out that: The beauty searched for in the book is not just the possession of blue eyes, but the harmony that they symbolize. (24) But this harmony is what eludes her. Pecolas obsession with her eyes necessitates the presence of the leit motif of the mirror: Long hours she sat looking in the mirror, trying to discover the secret of her ugliness. (Morrison 34) The mirror and her quest for her identity lead us inevitably to Lacanian analysis. In the mirror stage, which is a forbidden realm for real image, we come into an image, which that world gives us, not a complete one, but fragmented, distorted image, which leads us to misrecognition(Bertons 161). Lacan believes identity which we acquire from the other is a form of fantasy and misrecognition. (Bertons 162) So, we become ourselves by way of others perspectives and others view of who we are. Kim describes it this way: Morrison explores the interplay of eyes as windows for gazes from the outside and for ones perception of the outside world (113-14). Lacan believes that the crucial point at which the child gives up the mother as love object and attaches to the father marks his exit from what he term s the imaginary and entrance into the symbolic order. In Pecolas case, Cholly Breedlove, her father, is unsuccessful in taking up the symbolic function, because he is deprived of phallic power by white culture, the ruling other in youth, and psychologically castrated, and his absence as the father figure ensures that Pecola continues her maintenance in pre-Oedipal moment, which results in lack of voice and hence the silence. Since Cholly couldnt take up the symbolic function in Pecolas post-mirror subjectivity, as a psychic subject, Pecola ultimately remains in the imaginary. Her failed attempt at gaining a unity or identifying with her father, after he rapes and abandons her, creates a void in her life. Indeed, the void in Pecolas psychic life can never be fulfilled in the domain of the symbolic. So, what Pecola does is to take the imaginary for the real. She keeps looking at her blue eyes in the mirror, and worries that her eyes are not the bluest. Pecola, as Claudia describes, lo oks like a winged but grounded bird, intent on the blue void it could not reach (Morrison 162). The moment of Chollys raping and abandoning her is crucial as Morrison writes of it in the Afterword: the silence at its center: the void that is Pecolas unbeing. (Morrison 171) F. L. Lucas opines that: the deepest tragedy occurs when their [the protagonist, here Pecola] destruction is the work of those that wish them well, or of their own unwitting hands. (112) Pecolas quest to establish the legitimacy of her identity is hindered by her father, resulting in her fragmentation, the metaphorical splintered mirror, a term which Morrison herself uses. Tragic recognition scenes are often moments of catastrophic loss as in Oedipus or that of Pecola. Contemporary theories and practices of recognition are grounded in more fundamental, ontological misrecognitions-that is, misrecognitions of the identity as well as of certain fundamental features of the social and political world and our place in it, says Stephen White.(10) Tragic anagnorisis would then involve not only in getting ones identity right, in a change from ignorance to knowledge, but also involves acknowledging often under the weight of failure, the limits to the possibility of doing so. An ontological discovery that is made by Pecola is that the one and only identity that she could have was by regressing into her childhood fantasy. In this she also acknowledges her powerlessness to contest or rather wrench her identity from the stifling, strangulating grip of the hegemonic culture codes. Morrison in the Afterword writes: She is not seen by herself until she hallucinates a s elf. (171) A critic writes that: Chollys deranged act of love was that terrifying, brutal blow which finally compelled her into madness. (Cormier 120) It is only the imaginary self, to whom Pecola converses, who actually recognizes her pair of blue eyes that the others envy. Shoshana Felman suggests as she writes that: Mental illness is a manifestation both of cultural impotence and political castration. This behaviour is itself part of female conditioning, ideologically inherent in the behavioural pattern and in the dependent and helpless role assigned to the woman as such. (119) Pecolas ontologically threatening encounter excluded her from the community in beauty and harmony and condemned her to psychic disintegration. Morrison tells the reader that It had occurred to Pecola some time ago that if her eyes, those eyes that held the pictures, and knew the sights-if those eyes of hers were different, that is to say, beautiful, she herself would be different hence her fervent desire for those blue eyes. (46) But Pecola by her subversive desire was both under and over (but really simply outside of) the sphere of cultures hegemony as Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar would say (27) and it is the sacrilegious fiendishness of what William Blake called the Female Will' (28) that ushers in her un-being. The manner in which Oedipus determinedly searched for the murderer of the King that led to his un-being, Pecola too struggles to pursue her identity. But insanity is what awaits her as it does to all those mysterious power[s]à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦who refuse to stay in her[their] textually ordained place' (Gilbert 32) For a postmodern self as Pecola the possibility of and the desire for a unitary self is absurd. The inconsistent, heterogeneous being that constitutes a subject Pecola is revealed in the end when she converses with her other: Why didnt I know you before? You didnt need me before. Didnt need you? Just because I got blue eyes, bluer than theirs, theyre prejudiced. Thats right. They are bluer, arent they? Oh, yes. Much bluerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ What? What will we talk about? Why, your eyes. Oh, yes. My eyes. My blue eyes. Let me look again. See how pretty they are. Yes. They get prettier each time I look at them. They are the prettiest Ive ever seen. (154-59) Cormier-Hamilton states, For Pecola, beauty equals happiness, and it is difficult to fault a young girl for the misperception; certainly both white and black communities in her world seem to support the idea (115). It is this misperception that paradoxically leads her to her misrecognition. The void that her father created in her could not have been fulfilled but by her un-being, hence this is an anagnorisis as anagnorisis undone or to use Darko Suvins phrase cognitive estrangement.(22) Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar write: Either way, the images on the surface of the looking glass, into which the female artist peers in search of her self, warn her that she is or must be a Cypher, framed and framed up, indited and indicted. (36) It is this apparently calm surface of the normative that Pecola challenges and threatens from the margins to which she is relegated. Her discovery or recognition, anagnorisis in Aristotelian terms is that her psychological wholeness (Cormier 111) is in her slivered state, hence a peculiar case of anagnorisis undone. Word Count 1915

Child Education In India Education Essay

Child Education In India Education Essay Education has continued to evolve, diversify and extend its reach and coverage since the dawn of human history. Every country develops its system of education to express and promote its unique socio-cultural identity and also to meet the challenges of the times. There are moments in history when a new direction has to be given to an age-old process. That moment is today. The country has reached a stage in its economic and technical development when a major effort must be made to derive the maximum benefit from the assets already created and to ensure that the fruits of change reach all sections. Education is the highway to that goal. Issues Prevelance of Child labour: All non-school going children are child workers in one form or the other. Agricultural child labour constitutes the core of the problem. Child labour policies and education policies have to be formulated and operated in tandem. Parents do want to send their children to be educated and poverty as a limiting factor is highly over-rated. Motivation and availability of infrastructure rather than poverty are the key factors. The paper underlines the strengths of formal education in eradicating child labour and forcefully argues for a legislation to provide for compulsory education.   The main argument against child labour and compulsory education is that it is necessary for the wellbeing of the poor as the state is unable to provide relief. The second argument, is that education would make the poor unsuited for the kind of manual work that is required to be done. The third argument is that certain industries would be forced to close down if they did not have the facility of the low wage child labour. The last argument against banning child labour and enforcing compulsory education is that the State should not be allowed to interfere in the parents rights who know what is best for their children and families. Lack of Coverage: Despite the regular expansion of the ICDS, the coverage of children for ECCE is still as low as 20 percent. This is an issue of both inadequate access and inadequate quality of service delivery. With ICDS continuing to be the main vehicle for ECCE, the GOI is proposing to expand the service further and universalize it within the next few years. While this is a welcome proposal, the risk is of expanding too fast and compromising on quality. Girl Child Education: The Indian government has expressed a strong commitment towards education for all; however, India still has one of the lowest female literacy rates in Asia. In 1991, less than 40 percent of the 330 million women aged 7 and over were literate, which means today there are over 200 million illiterate women in India. Laws Relating to Child Education in India Constitutional position of education in India While considering the various aspects of education with regard to state obligation, judicial interpretations, given to this obligation by various jurists are the primary source of learning. In the good old times, education was essentially an act of charity or philanthropy. Then, it was thought of as an occupation. Judicial dicta went so far as to consider it as an industry. Whether or not to perceive education as a fundamental right or not has been debated for a long time. The establishment and the administration of an educational institution for the imparting of knowledge to students is an occupation, protected by Article 19(1) (g) and additionally by Article 26(a), if there is no element of profit generation. Imparting education has come to be a means of livelihood for some professionals. It is considered as a mission in life for some altruists. Education was a State Subject in view of the following Entry 11, placed in List II State List:- 11. Education including universities, subject to the provisions of entries 63, 64, 65 and 66 of List I and entry 25 of List III. By the Constitution (42nd Amendment) Act 1976, the above-said Entry was directed to be deleted and instead Entry 25 in List III Concurrent List, was directed to be suitably amended so as to read as under:- 25. Education, including technical education, medical education and universities, subject to the provisions of entries 63, 64, 65 and 66 of List I; vocational and technical training of labour The Constitution of India has laid a directive before the state to make a provision of free and compulsory education for children below the age of fourteen years. 45. Provision for free and compulsory education for children: The State shall endeavor to provide, within a period of ten years from the commencement of this Constitution, for free and compulsory education for all children until they complete the age of fourteen years. However, the government has not been successful in providing adequate facilities of education for the under privileged children, located in the rural areas. The Supreme Court in the case Unnikrishnan vs. State of Andhra Pradesh (1993) ruled that the right to education is a fundamental right that flows from the right to life in Article 21 of the Constitution. Following this ruling, the 86th Constitution Amendment Act, 2002 added Article 21A, stating, The State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of six to fourteen years in such manner as the State may, by law, determine. The 86th Amendment also modified Article 45, which now reads The State shall endeavor to provide early childhood care and education for all children until they complete the age of 6 years. The state recently enacted the Right to Education Act, seeking to effect the 86th Constitutional amendment Judiciary and Education In the judgment of Unnikrishnan, a Constitution Bench of this Court framed a scheme that governs admissions to professional colleges. The main objective was to ensure that merit prevails in the matter of admissions, both in respect of what were called free seats as well as in respect of payment seats. This judgment was rendered on February 4, 1993. The scheme was to be effective from the Academic Year 1993-94 onwards. Review Petitions were filed by several institutions against the said judgment. They were dismissed by the Constitution Bench. The judgment of P.A. Inamdar and others vs. State of Maharashtra was a landmark in the field of educational law. Law reports are replete with rulings related to the education in its several aspects. Until the T.M.A Pai Foundation case, there were four oft- quoted leading cases concerning the field of education, namely, (i) Unni Krishnan v. State of Andhra Pradesh (1993) 1 SCC 645 (ii) St. Stephens College v. University of Delhi (1992)1 SCC 558 (iii) Ahmedabad St. Xaviers College Society v. State of Gujarat (1974)1 SCC 717 and (iv) Re: Kerala Education Bill, 1957, (1958) SCR 995. Right to Education Act The Right to Education Act seeks to give effect to the 86th Amendment of the Constitution of India. Salient provisions: The State shall ensure a school in every neighbourhood Every school shall conform to certain minimum standards, defined in the Bill Government schools shall provide free education to all admitted children Private schools shall admit at least 25% of children from weaker sections; no fee shall be charged to these children Screening tests at the time of admission and capitation fees are prohibited for all children Government schools will be managed by School Management The National Commission for Elementary Education shall be constituted to monitor all aspects of elementary education including quality. The Right to Education Act prescribes the Rights of Every Child as follows: Every child between the age of 6 and 14 years has the right to full-time free and compulsory education in a neighbourhood school. Non-enrolled children, of age group 7-9 years, have the right to be admitted in an age-appropriate grade within one year of the commencement of the Act, and children, of age group 9-14 years, have the right to be provided special programmes that will enable them to attend such grade within three years. Children with severe or profound disability, who are unable to attend a neighbourhood school, have the right to be provided education in an appropriate environment. A child cannot be held back in any grade or expelled from a school till Class VIII. Any expulsion requires an order of the School Management Committee (SMC), which will be given only after all other corrective measures have been exhausted, and parents/guardians have been heard. The local authority will take steps to enroll such a child in another neighbourhood school. The Act also prescribes the responsibility of the State as follows: The State shall ensure availability of a neighbourhood school for every child within three years. In case of non-availability, free transport or free residential facilities shall be provided. The state/UT government shall determine every year the requirement of schools, facilities, and their locations; establish additional schools as required; deploy teachers and create facilities for their training. The State shall develop a mechanism to monitor enrolment, participation and attainment status of every child, and take corrective steps wherever required. Information in this regard will be made available in the public domain, including on an on-line basis. School Admissions No school can conduct any screening procedure of any child or parents at the time of admission. Children will be selected for admission in a random manner. Capitation fees are prohibited. Provisions concerning School Management: All non-government schools have to be recognized by a Competent Authority or they must shut down. The Act specifies certain norms (such as teacher-student ratio, physical infrastructure etc.) to be fulfilled by all schools as a pre-requisite for being recognized. All State and aided schools are required to form School Management Committees (SMCs) with at least 75% of the members being parents/guardians, and the other members representing teachers, the community and the local authority. SMCs will manage the school, including the sanction of leave Provisions regarding Content and Process Schools and academic authorities formulating curriculum shall conform to the values enshrined in the Constitution. Schools should operate in a child- friendly and child- centred manner. No child shall be required to appear at a public examination before completing Grade VIII. Policies and Schemes Prominent Policies in the Context of Provision of Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) in India National Nutrition Policy (1993) which recognized children below six years as high-risk groups to be given high priority. National Policy on Empowerment of Women (2001), supported provision of childcare facilities, including crà ¨ches at work places. India also ratified Convention on Rights of the Child in 1992 and reaffirmed its commitment to children, which resulted in formulation of policy framework to prepare a National Charter for Children. National Commission for Children has also been set up. The Commission as visualized would protect/safeguard the rights of children with a strong legal base. National Plan of Action for Children (2005) included universalisation of ECCE as one of the goals. It specified care, protection and development opportunities for children below 3 years and integrated care and development and pre-school learning opportunities for 3-6 year olds. National Curriculum Framework (2005f emphasized two years of pre-schooling and considered ECCE as significant for holistic development of the child, as a preparation for schooling and as a support service for women and girls. It advocated play-based developmentally appropriate curriculum Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) India has the distinction of having conceptualized and floated perhaps the worlds largest program for children, modeled on the definition which says that working with children means a more holistic view one of its components is child education, as early as in 1975. Known as the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), this program targets children, pregnant and lactating mothers and adolescent girls from a lifecycle perspective Non-formal preschool education has been one of its core components. Other Policies and Schemes à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ National Policy on Education, 1968 à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ National Policy on Education, 1986 à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ National Policy on Education, 1986 (As modified in 1992) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ National Common Minimum Programme of the UPA Government, announced in May, 2004 Extracts relating to Education à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ National Curriculum Framework, 2005 à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ National Commission for Protection of Child Rights à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Jawahar Bala Arogya Raksha à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Incentives to Girls for Secondary Education à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Information and Communication Technology in Schools (ICT @ Schools) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Primary Education Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan Suggestions Decentralized and holistic planning for children: Given Indias diversity and scale the planning process and designing of interventions for children have to be contextualized. This can only be possible through a decentralized and participatory approach to planning and implementation. The Education sector already has experience of this approach to some extent and the programs /services for younger children would need to learn from this experience and reach out to children in a more targeted and local specific mode. Priority to and Ownership of ECCE: Very recently, the total responsibility of ECCE has been shifted from Department of Education within the Ministry of Human Resource Development to a newly created Ministry of Women and Child Development. Though, it is too early to comment upon the implications of this decision, however, it is likely to generate a lot of discussion and debate about the issue of ownership and its logistic location with the education sector. Prescription vs. Practice: While, a favourable policy framework and appropriate curricular guidance is available in the country for ECCE; the reality is that there is a large gap between what is prescribed or suggested and what is practiced. In a study conducted by the NCERT (1998) it was found that almost all the ICDS centers observed adhered to teaching of 3 Rs ( reading, writing and arithmetic) and there was a virtual absence of any play activities. Typically, the activities of preschool education under ICDS are conducted for a period ranging from 45 minutes to two hours duration daily, with minimal play and learning material support and that too, largely in the absence of sufficient outdoor and indoor spaces, basic infrastructure facilities and competent workers. Preschool education in private/ public nursery schools, again, is largely a downward extension of primary education curriculum, with teachers often having no ECCE training. Training Inputs and Institutional Support: Effective preparation of teachers/service providers for ECCE is another issue, which is expected to determine quality. Corresponding to the range of ECCE programs and initiatives in India there is a variety of training provisions in ECCE, as well. These range from the two year integrated Nursery Teachers training program (NTT) which aims at preparing teachers for preschool stage (3-6 years) and for the first two grades (6-8 years) of the primary stage, In addition, the curriculum of higher/ senior secondary stage of education (+2) in Central Board of Secondary Education, National Institute of Open Schooling and many State Education Boards have also included early childhood education as an area of vocational education. Public Spending on Children: For the very first time, in the year (2004-05), the Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) in Government of India undertook a child budgeting exercise to look at provisions and expenditures for children more holistically. This portends well for a more comprehensive approach towards planning and budgeting for children in the future. The public funds allocated to children are classified under four heads in the child budgeting exercise: ICDS Nutrition, Education, Health and Child Protection and others. As per the Constitution of India, child related provisions are in the concurrent list of responsibilities with the States having a prominent role in service delivery. However, most of the states spending are on recurrent items of expenditures, it is the funds which are made available through the Centrally Sponsored Schemes that provide for reform and quality improvement. Overall, there has been an increase in expenditure on children as a percentage of GNP from 2.66 % in 1993-94 to 3.26% in 2001-02 (DWCD, Annual Report, 2004-05). As indicated in Figure 13 below, in terms of relative contributions, both the central and State contributions show steady increases over time, especially since 1997-98, with the states contribution being significantly more dominant. Still the overall public expenditure is far less than it should be.

Unreachable Dreams in The Catcher in The Rye :: Catcher Rye Essays

Unreachable Dreams in The Catcher in The Rye      Ã‚   Many people find that their dreams are unreachable.   Holden Caulfield realizes this in J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye.   As Holden tells his story, he recounts the events since leaving the Pencey School to his psychiatrist.   At first, Holden sounds like a typical, misguided teenager, rebellious towards his parents, angry with his teachers, and flunking out of school.   However, as his story progresses, it becomes clear that Holden is indeed motivated, just not academically.   He has a purpose: to protect the young and innocent minds of young children from the "horrors" of adult society.   He hopes to freeze the children in time, as wax figures are frozen in a museum.   After interacting with Phoebe, his younger sister, Holden realizes that this goal is quite unachievable. Holden wants to be the Catcher in the Rye, then realizes it is an unreachable ideal.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Holden begins his story misguided and without direction.   After flunking out of the Pencey School, Holden decides to leave early.   Before he leaves, though, he visits his teacher, Mr. Spencer.   Mr. Spencer and Holden talk about his direction in life: "'Do you feel absolutely no concern for your future, boy?' 'Oh, I feel some concern for my future, all right. Sure. Sure, I do.' I thought about it for a minute. 'But not too much, I guess,'" (14).   After leaving Pencey, he checks into a hotel where he invites a prostitute up to his room.   He gets cold feet and decides not to have intercourse with her, though.   Later, Holden decides to take his old girlfriend, Sally Hayes, to the theater.   After taking her to the theater, Holden formulates a crazy plan which entails running away with Sally, getting married, and growing old together.   Sally thinks that he is crazy, and she decides to go home.   During his stay away from home, Holden drinks and smokes, showing even more misdirection.   However, when Holden returns home and talks to his sister, Phoebe, his direction becomes clear.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Holden wants to be the Catcher in the Rye to protect children from the world in which he is forced to live.   While talking with Phoebe, she asks Holden what he would like to be.   He responds saying:

What is a Distribution Channel? :: Organizations, Production, Shipping

A distribution channel is organizations joined together in the process of making products available to consumers. An effective distribution channel can help improve company sales while lowering costs. An ineffective distribution strategy can be very costly to a company and might even cause financial troubles. This paper will take a look at the logistics, production and shipping strategies of Colgate-Palmolive. This paper will also discuss the marketing channels and areas the Colgate Company can improve on. Logistics, Production and Shipping Having an effective logistics, production and shipping strategy can give companies an advantage over their competitors. Producing and getting products to customers can be costly. Having an effective strategy can help reduce costs and increase profits. Colgate works closely with suppliers in order to increase quality, cost effectiveness and innovation. The company only chooses to work with suppliers that share the same values as the Colgate-Palmolive company (Colgate, 2011). Over the years Colgate-Palmolive has had to take a look at the number of plants the company had and where those plants were located. The company sells products in over two hundred countries and has plants located in different regions around the world. Since 2004 Colgate reduced the number of plants they operated worldwide (Colgate, 2011). The company started to use contract manufacturing rather than doing its own manufacturing (Trunick, 2011). By making these changes the company has been able to control costs more and become more profitable. Products need to find a way from manufacturing plants to the customers. Colgate uses several ocean containers, truckload shipments and smaller truck shipments (Trunick, 2011). Shipping costs can be very costly. With some plants closing travel miles from the plant to the customer grew. Rising gas prices along with the extra miles caused costs to rise (Trunick, 2011). Marketing Channels According to Berry (2010) â€Å"in its most simplistic form, a marketing channel performs the work of moving goods from producers to consumers.† According to Quelch and Laidler (2011) â€Å"In 1987, traditional food stores sold 75% of oral care products, but by 1992 they accounted for only 43% of toothbrush sales and 47% of toothpaste sales.† The distribution strategy for Colgate is through large retail stores, grocery stores, drug stores, dentists and plastic surgeons. Colgate has been very successful in positioning Colgate products in store locations where they would gain customers attention (Khurana, 2010).

John Wilkes Booth and the Politics of Assassination

The reading assignment from chapter 27 from our text entitled, â€Å"John Wilkes Booth and the Politics of Assassination† written by James W. Clarke discusses the authors belief that Abraham Lincoln’s death was brought on by political ideologies and not because of mental health issues as some have widely claimed. The author believes that what were happening at that period in time were the breeding grounds for Booth’s drive to assassinate Lincoln.Clarke writes, â€Å"political context of the assassination facts such as Lincoln’s unpopularity in the North as well as in the South, the vicious opposition within his cabinet and Congress along with the controversy surrounding his re-election of 1864† (306) were the true reasons behind his motives. Clarke uses examples from Booth’s childhood as everyone viewing him with a positive view and that view was shared by many including his friends and family. He points to his happy and health childhood as f act to his mental stability.Booth’s education was exceptional and along with his aspirations of following in his fathers footsteps into acting made him a very stable and intellectual man. He was considered to have gaiety and a passion for life. Clarke goes on to discuss how at 14 Booth lost his father and soon after, 3 years, he began acting. But when he began he had very harsh reviews that were critical of his ability in acting or his inexperience. Clarke believes he took these in stride and pushed forward in earnest to make a name all his own.Because the South seemed to praise his acting abilities more than the North, some theorize that this changed his attitude and he began to favor Southerner in lifestyle and beliefs that directed him to assassinate. Clark contends that although Booth did favor Southern audiences, the Northern audiences soon began to appreciate the actor’s abilities. Clarke asserts that women loved him and men from all walks of life wanted his frie ndship because they saw him as a man with wit and magnetism.The author maintains that this is the evidence for his motives being political instead of being pathological. Political events of 1864 such as the Civil War and the horrors of that bloody war along with the hatred the nation felt for Lincoln motivated the actor. So this sympathy for the South and because of his passions of justice and duty gave way to Booth’s actions. I find this very difficult to swallow. In my eyes and from what I read, Booth was a very self centered person and a very passionate actor that helped to make him feel invincible.The proof was in Clarke’s article when over and over he kept discussing Booth’s physical attractiveness and popularity among women as well as men. I believe that in Booth’s mind the assassination was a performance and felt he would gain even more popularity by his actions. I believe Booth did have some mental issues because anyone who kills another, for what ever motives has to have some level of mental illness. I’m sure that many at the time considered killing Lincoln, but only one person actually did the act.Charlie Manson was politically motivated when he told his followers to kill, but that didn’t diminish the fact he was totally insane. The same I holds true for Booth. Many can put excuses to another person’s actions, and especially when that person has been dead for quite sometime, but the fact remains that murder is an abnormal act in society; it’s against the societal norm and anyone who kills for whatever reason has mental health issues. Reference: Roberts, R. & Olson, J. S. (1986). American Experiences. Glenview, Ill. : Scott, Foreman.

A Positive Approach to the Future

A Positive Approach Towards the Future The issue of mandatory school uniforms has taken on several debates over the past decade; it is believed that this issue will plague public schools for decades to come. Students who wear uniforms feel a sense of being superior with their fellow classmates. This feeling of being part of a group boosts morale and individual confidence, thus leading to higher grades. Children will be more focused in a uniform classroom. There is no more distraction as to what the other kids are wearing or who has the name brand shoes. Girls will be dressed appropriately and clothing will fit properly. This adds to the learning experience. There is no more competition. There is no more rivalry and the children are able to focus on their schoolwork and not on the latest trends ( Bodine 67-69). Former President Clinton made a state of the union address in 1996; in that address, the subject of mandatory school uniforms was mentioned. â€Å"If it means that teenagers will stop killing each other over designer jackets, then our public schools should be able to require their students to wear uniforms† (Williams). In fact, that year in Long Beach, California, the first district to implement mandatory uniform policies, assault dropped by sixty-seven percent, vandalism by eighty-two percent, and robbery by thirty-five percent. Overall crime was reduced by seventy-three percent the first year the policy was in place (Williams). This was a direct reflection of the uniform policy. Students were more disciplined and behaved in a more mature manner. These students took pride in themselves and others. With the lack of material items to fight over, students no longer felt the need to use aggression towards others, proving that school uniforms do in fact improve student behavior. Also when it comes to crime, a student wearing a school logo, is less apt to commit a crime outside of school while in uniform because it would be easier to track him based off of the school information on the uniform? This lowers the crime rate for the general public as well as the in school instances. Not only do mandatory uniform policies for public schools offer the potential for higher educational benefits and improved student discipline, school uniforms dissolve social boundaries between classmates. Students are no longer judged based off their appearance but by who they are on the inside. There is no more competition between social classes that these students may have otherwise felt and they work together as a team and share a common pride. All students will feel a sense of belonging. No longer will lower income children be labeled as poor based off of their clothing. All children will appear as equals in the classroom and will be treated as such. However, some may argue that uniformity takes away from the student's individuality. Many children, especially teens, express themselves through their personal styles and the way they dress. Sometimes children need to feel special or unique and dressing a certain way is how they accomplish this. Uniformity takes away from the First Amendment by taking away freedom of expression. If we take away the freedom of expression, we are taking away our children's creativity and conforming them into a society where free thinking is not accepted. However this is not the case. The uniform does not change who the child is on the inside or how he thinks creatively. Students will still be able to focus creative energy through activities such as art, music, writing or sports. There are several creative outlets besides the choice of clothing options. When it comes to our economy, we as Americans must pinch our pennies where we can. Many parents are faced with the dilemma of outfitting their children in the latest trends or putting money towards more important things like saving for their children's college education. Some families are unable to afford the popular named brand clothing that their children desires, which make the children, feel inadequate in school when they are forced to wear lesser brand clothes or second hand outfits. School uniforms would take away that hassle of finding bargains to ensure that their children feel confident in their attire. Uniforms are generally more durable than the average street clothes. Granted, the cost may be a bit more substantial in the beginning, but the uniforms will last longer which means there is less out of pocket expense for replacement articles. With uniforms, the parents may only have to purchase two or three sets compared to several pairs of bottoms and tops. Uniforms are more durable and can be washed more frequently compared to regular clothes. This makes them the better option not only for lower income families, but all families in general (Romero C4+). Critics claim that uniforms will cost the families more money in the long run because parents will be forced to buy the uniforms and regular clothing for their children to wear when they are not in school. The cost for parents may double that of just buying traditional school clothes. Although this is partly true, that yes, parents will be faced to make additional purchases for their children, in reality, they really won't be spending that much more money if any. Since uniforms are more durable, the parents only need to buy a limited supply and since the children will only be wearing their regular clothes outside of school, parents will not have to buy as many outfits. Most children wear out their clothes while in school. Since this is not an issue with the uniforms, the traditional street clothes will last longer, hence saving the parents money in the long run. Also without the constant competition in schools, children may not feel the need to have the latest brands and styles as they would if they were wearing the clothes to school on a daily basis around other social classes (King 3-5). With all of the advantages and disadvantages of implementing mandatory uniform wear into our public schools, there needs to be a compromise. Some schools have decided that it is best to make minor changes to the dress code policy. When it comes to school uniforms, there is a never-ending debate as to what the right approach and the wrong approach may be for our public schools. Works Cited Bodine,A.. aâ‚ ¬? School uniforms, academic achievement, and uses of researchaâ‚ ¬?. The Journal ofEducational Research 19 Feb. 2008: 67-73. Print. King, K. A. Should school uniforms be mandated in elementary school?. 2010: 3+. Print. Romero, E. aâ‚ ¬? School uniform countdownaâ‚ ¬?. Daily News Record, 16 Aug. 1999, C2+. Print. Williams, D. aâ‚ ¬? School uniforms: The raging debateaâ‚ ¬?. n. d. Web. 5 Aug. 2011.

Lust is Illusive Essay

Susan Minot’s short story, â€Å"Lust,† shares a tale of sexually pervading adolescent girl. The unnamed protagonist victimizes herself in fragmented recollections of sexual encounters with multiple partners. Debauchery down spirals her into a realm of self- languish. The narrator begins as a morally bankrupt adolescent and the text unravels a severely ambivalent sad teenage girl. The more of yourself that you passively give away the less of yourself you become. The protagonist is not developed by physical features. She is created by her relationships with others. Her feelings and actions also allow the reader to dig deeper into what kind of person she is. As a dynamic character she undergoes inner conflict. Once she recognizes her conflict with impulsive sexual conduct she possesses the power of change. At the beginning of the story she is emotionally vacant. When sharing she chose the objective style of storytelling. It was not the tradition style that bursts with details. With the minimal detail the narrator’s voice strengthened. Though her words are short it makes the readers anticipation grow. The quick to the point delivery gave the reader the general idea of her lifestyle. She distances herself from experiences. The narrator inconsistently tells the story in first and second person. Separating herself from the actions takes the blame off her. Dissociation shows when she describes her feelings after sex. â€Å"You make out the dim shape of the windows and feel yourself become a  cave, filled absolutely with air, or with a sadness that wouldn’t stop.† It may be possible that the narrator wants to feel nothing at all rather than sadness. Being empty with just air or with sadness is inevitable. Her hollowness engulfs all the regretted decisions. She victimizes herself to her partners. All the acts are initiated by the guys. Every guy that she mentions has the upper hand. It is about their likes and dislikes. It is never what she wants; she only wishes to please them. â€Å"You wait till they come to you [†¦] you’d do anything for them.† (282) She would do anything for them even be critiqued about her body appearance. When guys pursue her in a disrespectful manner she feels obligated to give them attention. She chooses to entertain them despite her knowledge of their intentions. She is overly dependent on males. She continues to self- victimize She does not realize that happiness is internal and to experience external happiness you have to be right within. There is a constant reference of peer pressure. She wants so badly to belong. Upon the transition of a new school everyone would like to be accepted. She is only fifteen and expressing her rebellion. She parties with the kids from school and they get into delinquent activities. She smokes cigarettes and goes and gets drunk. There is sadness the seeps through her text. She does all this as a coping mechanism to block out the spurts of sadness. With each guy there was a part of her that is lost. Male dominance is present. She compared a boy with multiple partners and a girl with multiple partners. The guy had a bright look and bloomed after every girl. He would proudly gloat about his stories and everyone would support it. There would be guys encouraging him to lure more girls for his endless stories. A girl is different, there is no shine. There is only regret. It once grew into a proud beautiful blossomed flower. Now after each boy the petals would be plucked. The flower left in sorrow hunched over surrounded with rotted petal. You were not yourself anymore. Her identity is lost. Her voice is lost. It is obsolete. The narrator is a sympathetic character. The generation of these adolescent  girls could very well identify with her. She evokes a little hope that there can be resurrected after disaster. Her actions are the reflection of an epic phase that will continue to be a struggle for generations to come. Though at first she takes no responsibility for her action she has realized that maybe she is the cause of her dissatisfying life. This story is a great coming of age example of arbitrary conquests and its outcome on teenage girls. She puts the nonchalance attitude to the side and voices her thoughts. Towards the end of the story the paragraphs become emotionally synced and detailed. Now you know her thoughts and she feels used, tired, cheated. The reader is left without a denouement of satisfaction. The narrative is concluded with unsettling sentences of the disappearance of herself. There is only speculation that she resigns after the conscious discovery of her tragic emotional state.

Recession in India Essay

We have compiled the said report which helps in understanding what corrective steps were taken which helped the banks to emerge out of the turmoil. Financial Crisis The financial crisis of 2007 to the present is a crisis triggered by a liquidity shortfall in the United States banking system caused by the overvaluation of assets. It has resulted in the collapse of large financial institutions, the bailout of banks by national governments and downturns in stock markets around the world. In many areas, the housing market has also suffered, resulting in numerous evictions, foreclosures and prolonged vacancies. It is considered by many economists to be the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s. It contributed to the failure of key businesses, declines in consumer wealth estimated in the trillions of U. S. dollars, substantial financial commitments incurred by governments, and a significant decline in economic activity. Many causes have been suggested, with varying weight assigned by experts. Both market-based and regulatory solutions have been implemented or are under consideration, while significant risks remain for the world economy over the 2010–2011 periods. The collapse of a global housing bubble, which peaked in the U. S. in 2006, caused the values of securities tied to real estate pricing to plummet thereafter, damaging financial institutions globally. Questions regarding bank solvency, declines in credit availability, and damaged investor confidence had an impact on global stock markets, where securities suffered large losses during late 2008 and early 2009. Economies worldwide slowed during this period as credit tightened and international trade declined. Critics argued that credit rating agencies and investors failed to accurately price the risk involved with mortgage-related financial products, and that governments did not adjust their regulatory practices to address 21st century financial markets. Governments and central banks responded with unprecedented fiscal stimulus, monetary policy expansion, and institutional bailouts. | Background and causes The immediate cause or trigger of the crisis was the bursting of the United States housing bubble which peaked in approximately 2005–2006. Already-rising default rates on â€Å"subprime† and adjustable rate mortgages (ARM) began to increase quickly thereafter. An increase in loan packaging, marketing and incentives such as easy initial terms and a long-term trend of rising housing prices had encouraged borrowers to assume difficult mortgages in the belief they would be able to quickly refinance at more favorable terms. However, once interest rates began to rise and housing prices started to drop moderately in 2006–2007 in many parts of the U. S. , refinancing became more difficult. Defaults and foreclosure activity increased dramatically as easy initial terms expired, home prices failed to go up as anticipated, and ARM interest rates reset higher. Share in GDP of U. S. financial sector since 1860 Low interest rates and large inflows of foreign funds created easy credit conditions for a number of years prior to the crisis, fueling a housing construction boom and encouraging debt-financed consumption. The combination of easy credit and money inflow contributed to the United States housing bubble. Loans of various types (e. g. mortgage, credit card, and auto) were easy to obtain and consumers assumed an unprecedented debt load. As part of the housing and credit booms, the number of financial agreements called mortgage-backed securities (MBS) and collateralized debt obligations (CDO), which derived their value from mortgage payments and housing prices, greatly increased. Such financial innovation enabled institutions and investors around the world to invest in the U. S. housing market. As housing prices declined, major global financial institutions that had borrowed and invested heavily in subprime MBS reported significant losses. Falling prices also resulted in homes worth less than the mortgage loan, providing a financial incentive to enter foreclosure. The ongoing foreclosure epidemic that began in late 2006 in the U. S. continues to drain wealth from consumers and erodes the financial strength of banking institutions. Defaults and losses on other loan types also increased significantly as the crisis expanded from the housing market to other parts of the economy. Total losses are estimated in the trillions of U. S. dollars globally. While the housing and credit bubbles built, a series of factors caused the financial system to both expand and become increasingly fragile, a process called financialization. Policymakers did not recognize the increasingly important role played by financial institutions such as investment banks and hedge funds, also known as the shadow banking system. Some experts believe these institutions had become as important as commercial (depository) banks in providing credit to the U. S. economy, but they were not subject to the same regulations. These institutions as well as certain regulated banks had also assumed significant debt burdens while providing the loans described above and did not have a financial cushion sufficient to absorb large loan defaults or MBS losses. These losses impacted the ability of financial institutions to lend, slowing economic activity. Concerns regarding the stability of key financial institutions drove central banks to provide funds to encourage lending and restore faith in the commercial paper markets, which are integral to funding business operations. Governments also bailed out key financial institutions and implemented economic stimulus programs, assuming significant additional financial commitments. The crises culminated on Sept. 15th 2008 with Lehman Brothers filing for bankruptcy. It has been reported that JP Morgan helped drive Lehman into bankruptcy and kicked off the credit crises by forcing it to give up billions in cash reserves on the afternoon of Friday September 13, 2008. Growth of the housing bubble Main article: United States housing bubble A graph showing the median and average sales prices of new homes sold in the United States between 1963 and 2008 (not adjusted for inflation) Between 1997 and 2006, the price of the typical American house increased by 124%. During the two decades ending in 2001, the national median home price ranged from 2. 9 to 3. 1 times median household income. This ratio rose to 4. 0 in 2004, and 4. 6 in 2006. This housing bubble resulted in quite a few homeowners refinancing their homes at lower interest rates, or financing consumer spending by taking out second mortgages secured by the price appreciation. In a Peabody Award winning program, NPR correspondents argued that a â€Å"Giant Pool of Money† (represented by $70 trillion in worldwide fixed income investments) sought higher yields than those offered by U. S. Treasury bonds early in the decade. Further, this pool of money had roughly doubled in size from 2000 to 2007, yet the supply of relatively safe, income generating investments had not grown as fast. Investment banks on Wall Street answered this demand with the MBS and CDO, which were assigned safe ratings by the credit rating agencies. In effect, Wall Street connected this pool of money to the mortgage market in the U. S. , with enormous fees accruing to those throughout the mortgage supply chain, from the mortgage broker selling the loans, to small banks that funded the brokers, to the giant investment banks behind them. By approximately 2003, the supply of mortgages originated at traditional lending standards had been exhausted. However, continued strong demand for MBS and CDO began to drive down lending standards, as long as mortgages could still be sold along the supply chain. Eventually, this speculative bubble proved unsustainable. The CDO in particular enabled financial institutions to obtain investor funds to finance subprime and other lending, extending or increasing the housing bubble and generating large fees. A CDO essentially places cash payments from multiple mortgages or other debt obligations into a single pool, from which the cash is allocated to specific securities in a priority sequence. Those securities obtaining cash first received investment-grade ratings from rating agencies. Lower priority securities received cash thereafter, with lower credit ratings but theoretically a higher rate of return on the amount invested. By September 2008, average U. S. housing prices had declined by over 20% from their mid-2006 peak. As prices declined, borrowers with adjustable-rate mortgages could not refinance to avoid the higher payments associated with rising interest rates and began to default. During 2007, lenders began foreclosure proceedings on nearly 1. 3 million properties, a 79% increase over 2006. This increased to 2. 3 million in 2008, an 81% increase vs. 2007. By August 2008, 9. 2% of all U. S. mortgages outstanding were either delinquent or in foreclosure. By September 2009, this had risen to 14. 4%. Easy credit conditions Lower interest rates encourage borrowing. From 2000 to 2003, the Federal Reserve lowered the federal funds rate target from 6. 5% to 1. 0%. [31] This was done to soften the effects of the collapse of the dot-com bubble and of the September 2001 terrorist attacks, and to combat the perceived risk of deflation. [32] U. S. current account or trade deficit Additional downward pressure on interest rates was created by the USA’s high and rising current account (trade) deficit, which peaked along with the housing bubble in 2006. Ben Bernanke explained how trade deficits required the U. S. to borrow money from abroad, which bid up bond prices and lowered interest rates. Bernanke explained that between 1996 and 2004, the USA current account deficit increased by $650 billion, from 1. 5% to 5. 8% of GDP. Financing these deficits required the USA to borrow large sums from abroad, much of it from countries running trade surpluses, mainly the emerging economies in Asia and oil-exporting nations. The balance of payments identity requires that a country (such as the USA) running a current account deficit also have a capital account (investment) surplus of the same amount. Hence large and growing amounts of foreign funds (capital) flowed into the USA to finance its imports. This created demand for various types of financial assets, raising the prices of those assets while lowering interest rates. Foreign investors had these funds to lend, either because they had very high personal savings rates (as high as 40% in China), or because of high oil prices. Bernanke referred to this as a â€Å"saving glut. † A â€Å"flood† of funds (capital or liquidity) reached the USA financial markets. Foreign governments supplied funds by purchasing USA Treasury bonds and thus avoided much of the direct impact of the crisis. USA households, on the other hand, used funds borrowed from foreigners to finance consumption or to bid up the prices of housing and financial assets. Financial institutions invested foreign funds in mortgage-backed securities. The Fed then raised the Fed funds rate significantly between July 2004 and July 2006. This contributed to an increase in 1-year and 5-year adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) rates, making ARM interest rate resets more expensive for homeowners. This may have also contributed to the deflating of the housing bubble, as asset prices generally move inversely to interest rates and it became riskier to speculate in housing. USA housing and financial assets dramatically declined in value after the housing bubble burst. Sub-prime lending U. S. subprime lending expanded dramatically 2004-2006 The term subprime refers to the credit quality of particular borrowers, who have weakened credit histories and a greater risk of loan default than prime borrowers. The value of U. S. subprime mortgages was estimated at $1. 3 trillion as of March 2007, with over 7. 5 million first-lien subprime mortgages outstanding. In addition to easy credit conditions, there is evidence that both government and competitive pressures contributed to an increase in the amount of subprime lending during the years preceding the crisis. Major U. S. investment banks and government sponsored enterprises like Fannie Mae played an important role in the expansion of higher-risk lending. Subprime mortgages remained below 10% of all mortgage originations until 2004, when they spiked to nearly 20% and remained there through the 2005-2006 peak of the United States housing bubble. A proximate event to this increase was the April 2004 decision by the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to relax the net capital rule, which permitted the largest five investment banks to dramatically increase their financial leverage and aggressively expand their issuance of mortgage-backed securities. This applied additional competitive pressure to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which further expanded their riskier lending. Subprime mortgage payment delinquency rates remained in the 10-15% range from 1998 to 2006, then began to increase rapidly, rising to 25% by early 2008. Fannie Mae, the nation’s biggest underwriter of home mortgages, has been under increasing pressure from the Clinton Administration to expand mortgage loans among low and moderate income people†¦ In moving, even tentatively, into this new area of lending, Fannie Mae is taking on significantly more risk, which may not pose any difficulties during flush economic times. But the government-subsidized corporation may run into trouble in an economic downturn, prompting a government rescue similar to that of the savings and loan industry in the 1980s. A 2000 United States Department of the Treasury study of lending trends for 305 cities from 1993 to 1998 showed that $467 billion of mortgage credit poured out of Community Reinvestment Act (CRA)-covered lenders into low and mid level income borrowers and neighborhoods. Nevertheless, only 25% of all sub-prime lending occurred at CRA-covered institutions, and a full 50% of sub-prime loans originated at institutions exempt from CRA. While the number of CRA sub-prime loans originated were less than non-CRA sub-prime loans originated, it is important to note that the CRA sub-prime loans were the more â€Å"vulnerable during the downturn, to the detriment of both borrowers and lenders. For example, lending done under Community Reinvestment Act criteria, according to a quarterly report in October of 2008, constituted only 7 percent of the total mortgage lending by the Bank of America, but constituted 29 percent of its losses on mortgages. Economist Paul Krugman argued in January 2010 that the simultaneous growth of the residential and commercial real estate pricing bubbles undermines the case made by those who argue that Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, CRA or predatory lending were primary causes of the crisis. In other words, bubbles in both markets developed even though only the residential market was affected by these potential causes. Predatory lending Predatory lending refers to the practice of unscrupulous lenders, to enter into â€Å"unsafe† or â€Å"unsound† secured loans for inappropriate purposes. A classic bait-and-switch method was used by Countrywide, advertising low interest rates for home refinancing. Such loans were written into extensively detailed contracts, and swapped for more expensive loan products on the day of closing. Whereas the advertisement might state that 1% or 1. 5% interest would be charged, the consumer would be put into an adjustable rate mortgage (ARM) in which the interest charged would be greater than the amount of interest paid. This created negative amortization, which the credit consumer might not notice until long after the loan transaction had been consummated. Countrywide, sued by California Attorney General Jerry Brown for â€Å"Unfair Business Practices† and â€Å"False Advertising† was making high cost mortgages â€Å"to homeowners with weak credit, adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) that allowed homeowners to make interest-only payments. â€Å". When housing prices decreased, homeowners in ARMs then had little incentive to pay their monthly payments, since their home equity had disappeared. This caused Countrywide’s financial condition to deteriorate, ultimately resulting in a decision by the Office of Thrift Supervision to seize the lender. Former employees from Ameriquest, which was United States’s leading wholesale lender,[60] described a system in which they were pushed to falsify mortgage documents and then sell the mortgages to Wall Street banks eager to make fast profits. [60] There is growing evidence that such mortgage frauds may be a cause of the crisis. [60] Deregulation Further information: Government policies and the subprime mortgage crisis Critics have argued that the regulatory framework did not keep pace with financial innovation, such as the increasing importance of the shadow banking system, derivatives and off-balance sheet financing. In other cases, laws were changed or enforcement weakened in parts of the financial system. Key examples include: * Jimmy Carter’s Depository Institutions Deregulation and Monetary Control Act of 1980 (DIDMCA) phased out a number of restrictions on banks’ financial practices, broadened their lending powers, and raised the deposit insurance limit from $40,000 to $100,000 (raising the problem of moral hazard). Banks rushed into real estate lending, speculative lending, and other ventures just as the economy soured. * In October 1982, U. S. President Ronald Reagan signed into Law the Garn–St. Germain Depository Institutions Act, which provided for adjustable-rate mortgage loans, began the process of banking deregulation, and contributed to the savings and loan crisis of the late 1980s/early 1990s. * In November 1999, U. S. President Bill Clinton signed into Law the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which repealed part of the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933. This repeal has been criticized for reducing the separation between commercial banks (which traditionally had a conservative culture) and investment banks (which had a more risk-taking culture). In 2004, the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission relaxed the net capital rule, which enabled investment banks to substantially increase the level of debt they were taking on, fueling the growth in mortgage-backed securities supporting subprime mortgages. The SEC has conceded that self-regulation of investment banks contributed to the crisis. * Financial institutions in the shadow banking system are not subject to the same regulation as d epository banks, allowing them to assume additional debt obligations relative to their financial cushion or capital base. This was the case despite the Long-Term Capital Management debacle in 1998, where a highly-leveraged shadow institution failed with systemic implications. * Regulators and accounting standard-setters allowed depository banks such as Citigroup to move significant amounts of assets and liabilities off-balance sheet into complex legal entities called structured investment vehicles, masking the weakness of the capital base of the firm or degree of leverage or risk taken. One news agency estimated that the top four U. S. banks will have to return between $500 billion and $1 trillion to their balance sheets during 2009. This increased uncertainty during the crisis regarding the financial position of the major banks. Off-balance sheet entities were also used by Enron as part of the scandal that brought down that company in 2001. * As early as 1997, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan fought to keep the derivatives market unregulated. With the advice of the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets, the U. S. Congress and President allowed the self-regulation of the over-the-counter derivatives market when they enacted the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000. Derivatives such as credit default swaps (CDS) can be used to hedge or speculate against particular credit risks. The volume of CDS outstanding increased 100-fold from 1998 to 2008, with estimates of the debt covered by CDS contracts, as of November 2008, ranging from US$33 to $47 trillion. Total over-the-counter (OTC) derivative notional value rose to $683 trillion by June 2008. Warren Buffett famously referred to derivatives as â€Å"financial weapons of mass destruction† in early 2003. Increased debt burden or over-leveraging Leverage ratios of investment banks increased significantly 2003-2007 U. S. households and financial institutions became increasingly indebted or overleveraged during the years preceding the crisis. This increased their vulnerability to the collapse of the housing bubble and worsened the ensuing economic downturn. Key statistics include: * Free cash used by consumers from home equity extraction doubled from $627 billion in 2001 to $1,428 billion in 2005 as the housing bubble built, a total of nearly $5 trillion dollars over the period, contributing to economic growth worldwide. U. S. home mortgage debt relative to GDP increased from an average of 46% during the 1990s to 73% during 2008, reaching $10. 5 trillion. * USA household debt as a percentage of annual disposable personal income was 127% at the end of 2007, versus 77% in 1990. * In 1981, U. S. rivate debt was 123% of GDP; by the third quarter of 2008, it was 290%. * From 2004-07, the top five U. S. investment banks each significantly increased their financial leverage (see diagram), which increased their vulnerability to a financial shock. These five institutions reported over $4. 1 trillion in debt for fiscal year 2007, about 30% of USA nominal GDP for 2007. Lehman Brothers was liquidated, Bear Stearns and Merrill Lynch were sold at fir e-sale prices, and Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley became commercial banks, subjecting themselves to more stringent regulation. With the exception of Lehman, these companies required or received government support. * Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two U. S. Government sponsored enterprises, owned or guaranteed nearly $5 trillion in mortgage obligations at the time they were placed into conservatorship by the U. S. government in September 2008. These seven entities were highly leveraged and had $9 trillion in debt or guarantee obligations, an enormous concentration of risk; yet they were not subject to the same regulation as depository banks. Boom and collapse of the shadow banking system In a June 2008 speech, President and CEO of the New York Federal Reserve Bank Timothy Geithner  Ã¢â‚¬â€ who in 2009 became Secretary of the United States Treasury  Ã¢â‚¬â€ placed significant blame for the freezing of credit markets on a â€Å"run† on the entities in the â€Å"parallel† banking system, also called the shadow banking system. These entities became critical to the credit markets underpinning the financial system, but were not subject to the same regulatory controls. Further, these entities were vulnerable because of maturity mismatch, meaning that they borrowed short-term in liquid markets to purchase long-term, illiquid and risky assets. This meant that disruptions in credit markets would make them subject to rapid deleveraging, selling their long-term assets at depressed prices. He described the significance of these entities: In early 2007, asset-backed commercial paper conduits, in structured investment vehicles, in auction-rate preferred securities, tender option bonds and variable rate demand notes, had a combined asset size of roughly $2. trillion. Assets financed overnight in triparty repo grew to $2. 5 trillion. Assets held in hedge funds grew to roughly $1. 8 trillion. The combined balance sheets of the then five major investment banks totaled $4 trillion. In comparison, the total assets of the top five bank holding companies in the United States at that point were just over $6 trillion, and total assets of the entire banking system we re about $10 trillion. The combined effect of these factors was a financial system vulnerable to self-reinforcing asset price and credit cycles. Paul Krugman, laureate of the Nobel Prize in Economics, described the run on the shadow banking system as the â€Å"core of what happened† to cause the crisis. He referred to this lack of controls as â€Å"malign neglect† and argued that regulation should have been imposed on all banking-like activity. Financial markets impacts Impacts on financial institutions 2007 bank run on Northern Rock, a UK bank The International Monetary Fund estimated that large U. S. and European banks lost more than $1 trillion on toxic assets and from bad loans from January 2007 to September 2009. These losses are expected to top $2. 8 trillion from 2007-10. U. S. banks losses were forecast to hit $1 trillion and European bank losses will reach $1. 6 trillion. The IMF estimated that U. S. banks were about 60 percent through their losses, but British and eurozone banks only 40 percent. One of the first victims was Northern Rock, a medium-sized British bank. The highly leveraged nature of its business led the bank to request security from the Bank of England. This in turn led to investor panic and a bank run in mid-September 2007. Calls by Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor Vince Cable to nationalise the institution were initially ignored; in February 2008, however, the British government (having failed to find a private sector buyer) relented, and the bank was taken into public hands. Northern Rock’s problems proved to be an early indication of the troubles that would soon befall other banks and financial institutions. Initially the companies affected were those directly involved in home construction and mortgage lending such as Northern Rock and Countrywide Financial, as they could no longer obtain financing through the credit markets. Over 100 mortgage lenders went bankrupt during 2007 and 2008. Concerns that investment bank Bear Stearns would collapse in March 2008 resulted in its fire-sale to JP Morgan Chase. The crisis hit its peak in September and October 2008. Several major institutions either failed, were acquired under duress, or were subject to government takeover. These included Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Washington Mutual, Wachovia, and AIG. Credit markets and the shadow banking system TED spread and components during 2008 During September 2008, the crisis hit its most critical stage. There was the equivalent of a bank run on the money market mutual funds, which frequently invest in commercial paper issued by corporations to fund their operations and payrolls. Withdrawals from money markets were $144. 5 billion during one week, versus $7. 1 billion the week prior. This interrupted the ability of corporations to rollover (replace) their short-term debt. The U. S. government responded by extending insurance for money market accounts analogous to bank deposit insurance via a temporary guarantee and with Federal Reserve programs to purchase commercial paper. The TED spread, an indicator of perceived credit risk in the general economy, spiked up in July 2007, remained volatile for a year, then spiked even higher in September 2008, reaching a record 4. 65% on October 10, 2008. In a dramatic meeting on September 18, 2008, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke met with key legislators to propose a $700 billion emergency bailout. Bernanke reportedly told them: â€Å"If we don’t do this, we may not have an economy on Monday. † The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act, which implemented the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), was signed into law on October 3, 2008. Economist Paul Krugman and U. S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner explain the credit crisis via the implosion of the shadow banking system, which had grown to nearly equal the importance of the traditional commercial banking sector as described above. Without the ability to obtain investor funds in exchange for most types of mortgage-backed securities or asset-backed commercial paper, investment banks and other entities in the shadow banking system could not provide funds to mortgage firms and other corporations. This meant that nearly one-third of the U. S. lending mechanism was frozen and continued to be frozen into June 2009. According to the Brookings Institution, the traditional banking system does not have the capital to close this gap as of June 2009: â€Å"It would take a number of years of strong profits to generate sufficient capital to support that additional lending volume. † The authors also indicate that some forms of securitization are â€Å"likely to vanish forever, having been an artifact of excessively loose credit conditions. While traditional banks have raised their lending standards, it was the collapse of the shadow banking system that is the primary cause of the reduction in funds available for borrowing. Global effects A number of commentators have suggested that if the liquidity crisis continues, there could be an extended recession or worse. The continuing development of the crisis has prompted in some quarters fears of a global economic collapse although the re are now many cautiously optimistic forecasters in addition to some prominent sources who remain negative. The financial crisis is likely to yield the biggest banking shakeout since the savings-and-loan meltdown. Investment bank UBS stated on October 6 that 2008 would see a clear global recession, with recovery unlikely for at least two years. Three days later UBS economists announced that the â€Å"beginning of the end† of the crisis had begun, with the world starting to make the necessary actions to fix the crisis: capital injection by governments; injection made systemically; interest rate cuts to help borrowers. The United Kingdom had started systemic injection, and the world’s central banks were now cutting interest rates. UBS emphasized the United States needed to implement systemic injection. UBS further emphasized that this fixes only the financial crisis, but that in economic terms â€Å"the worst is still to come†. UBS quantified their expected recession durations on October 16: the Eurozone’s would last two quarters, the United States’ would last three quarters, and the United Kingdom’s would last four quarters. The economic crisis in Iceland involved all three of the country’s major banks. Relative to the size of its economy, Iceland’s banking collapse is the largest suffered by any country in economic history. At the end of October UBS revised its outlook downwards: the forthcoming recession would be the worst since the Reagan recession of 1981 and 1982 with negative 2009 growth for the U. S. , Eurozone, UK; very limited recovery in 2010; but not as bad as the Great Depression. The Brookings Institution reported in June 2009 that U. S. consumption accounted for more than a third of the growth in global consumption between 2000 and 2007. â€Å"The US economy has been spending too much and borrowing too much for years and the rest of the world depended on the U. S. consumer as a source of global demand. With a recession in the U. S. and the increased savings rate of U. S. consumers, declines in growth elsewhere have been dramatic. For the first quarter of 2009, the annualized rate of decline in GDP was 14. 4% in Germany, 15. 2% in Japan, 7. 4% in the UK, 18% in Latvia, 9. 8% in the Euro area and 21. 5% for Mexico. Some developing countries that had seen strong economic growth saw significan t slowdowns. For example, growth forecasts in Cambodia show a fall from more than 10% in 2007 to close to zero in 2009, and Kenya may achieve only 3-4% growth in 2009, down from 7% in 2007. According to the research by the Overseas Development Institute, reductions in growth can be attributed to falls in trade, commodity prices, investment and remittances sent from migrant workers (which reached a record $251 billion in 2007, but have fallen in many countries since). The has stark implications and has led to a dramatic rise in the number of households living below the poverty line, be it 300,000 in Bangladesh or 230,000 in Ghana. By March 2009, the Arab world had lost $3 trillion due to the crisis. In April 2009, unemployment in the Arab world is said to be a ‘time bomb’. In May 2009, the United Nations reported a drop in foreign investment in Middle-Eastern economies due to a slower rise in demand for oil. In June 2009, the World Bank predicted a tough year for Arab states. In September 2009, Arab banks reported losses of nearly $4 billion since the onset of the global financial crisis. U. S. economic effects Real gross domestic product — the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States — decreased at an annual rate of approximately 6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008 and first quarter of 2009, versus activity in the year-ago periods. The U. S. unemployment rate increased to 10. 1% by October 2009, the highest rate since 1983 and roughly twice the pre-crisis rate. The average hours per work week declined to 33, the lowest level since the government began collecting the data in 1964. Effects of Recession on India There is, at least in some quarters, dismay that India has been hit by the crisis. This dismay stems from two arguments. The Indian banking system has had no direct exposure to the sub-prime mortgage assets or to the failed institutions. It has very limited off-balance sheet activities or securitized assets. In fact, our banks continue to remain safe and healthy. So, the enigma is how can India be caught up in a crisis when it has nothing much to do with any of the maladies that are at the core of the crisis. The second reason for dismay is that India’s recent growth has been driven predominantly by domestic consumption and domestic investment. External demand, as measured by merchandize exports, accounts for less than 15 per cent of our GDP. The question then is, even if there is a global downturn, why should India be affected when its dependence on external demand is so limited? The answer to the above frequently-asked questions lies in globalization. First, India’s integration into the world economy over the last decade has been remarkably rapid. Integration into the world implies more than just exports. Going by the common measure of globalization, India’s two-way trade (merchandize exports plus imports), as a proportion of GDP, grew from 21. 2 per cent in 1997-98, the year of the Asian crisis, to 34. 7 per cent in 2007-08. Second, India’s financial integration with the world has been as deep as India’s trade globalization, if not deeper. If we take an expanded measure of globalization, that is the ratio of total external transactions (gross current account flows plus gross capital flows) to GDP, this ratio has more than doubled from 46. 8 per cent in 1997-98 to 117. 4 per cent in 2007-08. Importantly, the Indian corporate sector’s access to external funding has markedly increased in the last five years. Some numbers will help illustrate the point. In the five-year period 2003-08, the share of investment in India’s GDP rose by 11 percentage points. Corporate savings financed roughly half of this, but a significant portion of the balance financing came from external sources. While funds were available domestically, they were expensive relative to foreign funding. On the other hand, in a global market awash with liquidity and on the promise of India’s growth potential, foreign investors were willing to take risks and provide funds at a lower cost. Last year (2007/08), for example, India received capital inflows amounting to over 9 per cent of GDP as against a current account deficit in the balance of payments of just 1. 5 per cent of GDP. These capital flows, in excess of the current account deficit, evidence the importance of external financing and the depth of India’s financial integration. So, the reason India has been hit by the crisis, despite mitigating factors, is clearly India’s rapid and growing integration into the global economy. The contagion of the crisis has spread to India through all the channels – the financial channel, the real channel, and importantly, as happens in all financial crises, the confidence channel. India’s financial markets – equity markets, money markets, forex markets and credit markets – had all come under pressure from a number of directions. First, as a consequence of the global liquidity squeeze, Indian banks and corporates found their overseas financing drying up, forcing corporates to shift their credit demand to the domestic banking sector. Also, in their frantic search for substitute financing, corporates withdrew their investments from domestic money market mutual funds putting redemption pressure on the mutual funds and down the line on non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) where the MFs had invested a significant portion of their funds. This substitution of overseas financing by domestic financing brought both money markets and credit markets under pressure. Second, the forex market came under pressure because of reversal of capital flows as part of the global deleveraging process. Simultaneously, corporates were converting the funds raised locally into foreign currency to meet their external obligations. Both these factors put downward pressure on the rupee. Third, the Reserve Bank’s intervention in the forex market to manage the volatility in the rupee further added to liquidity tightening. The transmission of the global cues to the domestic economy has been quite straight forward – through the slump in demand for exports. The United States, European Union and the Middle East, which account for three quarters of India’s goods and services trade are in a synchronized down turn. Service export growth is also likely to slow in the near term as the recession deepens and financial services firms – traditionally large users of outsourcing services – are restructured. Remittances from migrant workers too are likely to slow as the Middle East adjusts to lower crude prices and advanced economies go into a recession. Beyond the financial and real channels of transmission as above, the crisis also spread through the confidence channel. In sharp contrast to global financial markets, which went into a seizure on account of a crisis of confidence, Indian financial markets continued to function in an orderly manner. Nevertheless, the tightened global liquidity situation in the period immediately following the Lehman failure in mid-September 2008, coming as it did on top of a turn in the credit cycle, increased the risk aversion of the financial system and made banks cautious about lending. The purport of the above explanation is to show how, despite not being part of the financial sector problem, India has been affected by the crisis through the pernicious feedback loops between external shocks and domestic vulnerabilities by way of the financial, real and confidence channels. Effect on Banks The actual effect of recession was only realised in February 2008 in Banking Industry. Before this there were lot of questions and queries regarding whether the U. S. recession will have any impact on India or Indian banking sector. In Feb 2008, the markets suddenly crashed the actual picture came in front. The effects which came across the banking sector are as follow * Credit Card and loan settlements. As soon as the impact of recession was realized by the banking sector, the Indian banking system came into the mode of consolidation. Each and every bank started reviewing their NPA’s and the amount of lending they have done which is yet to be recovered. Bank concentrated more on retail loans and Credit Card payments. The first priority for bank was to recover such amount which was unpaid from their customers. The banks hired external agencies for calling up clients and requesting them to settle their respective dues. This in turn created a panic in the customers mind. The banks in order to recover their dues and make the process fast provided attractive offers to its customers. For e. g. By settling the entire amount by cash there were discounts which were given amounting to about 5% of the entire due amount. * Call money market. In the initial stages of recession there was lot of demand for short term cash amongst the bank as the bank needed to fulfil the requirement of CRR and SLR. The money which was lended by the bank were taking time to recover and therefore there was a sudden requirement of short term money. The interest rate which were use to be at 5-6% grow up to 14-15% for a time period of 11-15 days. These requirements by few banks were enchased fully by other banks which were low on lending. The banks like ING Vysya bank, Yes Bank, IDBI Bank were amongst the few who were lending through call money market to other banks. * Fixed Deposit Rates Before recession hit the market FD rates were at a sky high level. Lot of private sector banks as well as public sector banks were offering interest rates in long term period upto 11-12%. When the recession kicked in the money demand for long term had almost finished. This was because of the reason that banks were in the mode of consolidation and did not want to lend further till the time most of the money was recovered. The bank deposit rates came down to a level of 6-7% as there was ample liquidity in the banking sector because of funds being not given ahead as loans. * Private banks became unpopular. During recession looking at the bankruptcy of foreign banks there was panic in the mind of investors even in india. There were lot of question that were raised whether the private sector banks who take exposure in foreign securities are safe in investing or not. During this period only there was a news which came for ICICI Bank. ICICI Bank had taken direct exposures in securities which issued by Lehman Brothers and Merill Lynch. In fact even few of public sector banks had taken similar exposures but since public sector banks were backed up by the government, there was a comfort factor amongst the investors. If we look at what happened with ICICI Bank, the liquidity was ample and it was just a few percentage of exposure that has gone as bad debt but other private marked players like HDFC Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank encashed on these opportunities and placed their canopies next to each and every branch and ATM of ICICI Bank. There was a lot of panic which was created within the investors and they wanted to park their funds in a safer bank. Many of them shifted to nationalized banks and others were diverted to other private banks. This not only hampered the image of ICICI Bank but also created a bad image of Indian Private Banks. They were much difficulties which were faced by these banks to get additional deposits from investors and even retain theri clients who were shifting toward nationalised banks. * Diversifying and churning of funds. While the recession was impacting the country and the banking system there were informations that were given to the investors that the government insures on Rs. 1 lakh for any particular individual. This was misinterpreted by lot of investors in what they believed was with respect to one particular bank. With these being public diversification started. Each investor to safeguard his/her money started opening many accounts in different banks and keeping the funds equal in all. There was a lot of churning which happened from private sector banks to public sector banks as there were lot of uncertainity about funds being saved in a private sector bank. Investor created portfolios in different nationalised banks because of which private sector banks faced decline in their interest earnings as well as corpus and faced losses. After a while this myth was broken by RBI governor that the government only ensures Rs. lakh in totality no matter how many banks an investor has. * Lending Choked. The banks private sector as well as public sector were uncertain with what more negative impact were forthcoming. This resulted in, banks not at all lending to retail and corporate which were related to infrastructure or real estate. The cycle of churning of funds had suddenly stopped. Many projects which were about to start or were half way completed we re forced to put their projects on hold as no additional funds were being provided. This created commotion in real estate market which resulted in decline of prices. Even on retail side many of the housing loans were rejected which propelled the negativity more. Even for Large Cap companies the banks were demanding additional securities in cash apart from normal tangible assets. Even for processing loans for investors who had excellent credit history, the banks put ahead lot of extra conditions and terms. This further created panic and investors postponed their financial goals and loans were not applied for. After a while many loan divisions of banks were shut down and the employees were shifted to other departments were asked to leave. This even further increased the liquidity with banks. * Banks Investment Primary earning for any bank is through lending. Loans were not being processed and since the banks were uncertain of what more negative impact will come the banks were desperately looking out for other avenues to make money. The most safest option available with banks was to invest in G-Secs (Government of India Securities). Many banks started heavily into govt. Securities and bonds. These securities were traded quite highly at that period. Other sources including were through reverse repo and short term lending to different banks. During this time period much more focus was given to income from wealth management as markets has been corrected and banks insisted on educating the investors to park their funds in the equity market. Though the banks were heavily investing in G-Secs and other bonds it was not enough for their survival. Sooner or later the banks had to lend where they make the maximum profit. * Unemployment During the time of recession many jobs were lost in all the sectors. The similar effect was seen in banking but it was not in totality but few departments specific. The maximum hits were taken by two divisions which suffered most during the recession time. The first being the Wealth management division of banks. Though the feeling was correct that the markets have come down and valuations are excellent, it was very difficult convincing the investors. This resulted in many job losses in wealth management department of all the banks as revenue was expected which was not possible to generate. The next division which suffered was the loan division. The lay off’s happened more as the departments closed down and were not functional at all. Most of the bank had outsourced the servicing part as it was cheaper compared to keeping the existing team operational. Close to 1100 jobs were lost in the matter of 3 months in the entire banking sector. There were lot of apprehensions in the mind of new jonnies and soon working for a retail bank became unpopular. * Nationalised Banks popularity During all these events the only player in banking who were waiting to claw back the market shares were the nationalised bank. There was enough panic in retail investor’s regarding their funds being safe and sound, which the nationalised banks encashed fully. Maximum number of promotional activities and advertisement were given by them in the news paper and new channels. Even the investors responded to them equally and more than willingly because the backing up of the government was more than enough to provide a relief factor. Even in terms of employment, soon the nationalised banks became very popular and the people who were asked to leave from private banks where looking out for safe options to enter again. They were not willing to take any more risk. With this the bank got best of the aggressive talent in cheap prices. What corrective measures were taken? Decrease in CRR and repo rates. RBI again cuts repo rates ; CRR to inject additional liquidity of Rs 20,000 crore January 2, 2009: On a review of current global and domestic macroeconomic situation, the Reserve Bank has decided to take the following further measures: Repo Rate To reduce the repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) by 100 basis points from 6. 5 per cent to 5. 5 per cent with immediate effect. Reverse Repo Rate To reduce the reverse repo rate under the LAF by 100 basis points from 5. 0 per cent to 4. 0 per cent with immediate effect. Cash Reserve Ratio To reduce the cash reserve ratio (CRR) of scheduled banks by 50 basis points from 5. 5 per cent to 5. 0 per cent from the fortnight beginning January 17, 2009. The reduction in the CRR will inject additional liquidity of around Rs. 20,000 crore to the financial system. It is expected that the reduction in the policy interest rates and the CRR will further enable banks to provide credit for productive purposes at appropriate interest rates. The Reserve Bank on its part would continue to maintain a comfortable liquidity position in the system. Background to announcement of present monetary stimulus by RBI: The global financial situation continues to be uncertain. Since the official recognition of recession in the US, the UK, the Euro area and Japan, the downside risks to the global economy have increased. Concomitantly, the policy initiatives in the advanced economies are geared towards managing the recession and defusing potentially deflationary trends. The US has reduced the Federal Funds Rate to 0 – 0. 25 per cent. Several other advanced and emerging economies such as Japan, Canada, Republic of Korea, Hong Kong and China too have reduced their policy rates. India’s financial sector has remained resilient even in the face of global financial turmoil that is so deep and pervasive. Our financial markets continue to function in an orderly manner. India’s growth trajectory has, however, been impacted both by the financial crisis and the follow-on global economic downturn. This impact has turned out to be deeper and wider than earlier anticipated. Concurrently, because of global developments coupled with supply and demand management measures at home, inflation is on the decline. Reflecting these developments, the Reserve Bank has adjusted its policy stance from demand management to arresting the moderation in growth. In particular, the aim of these measures was to augment domestic and forex liquidity and to ensure that credit continues to flow to productive sectors of the economy. Notably, since mid-September 2008, the Reserve Bank has reduced the repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) from 9. 0 per cent to 6. 5 per cent, reduced the reverse repo rate under the LAF from 6. 0 per cent to 5. 0 per cent and the cash reserve ratio from 9. 0 per cent to 5. per cent How it helped? With these measures of RBI there was ample liquidity which was created in the market which forced the bank to lend out to companies as the funds in the banks were lying ideal and making no money for the bank. This actually started the lending process of the banks. * Role of fiscal stimulus package by government. There is a relationship between budget deficits and the hea lth of the economy, but is certainly not a perfect one. There can be massive budget deficits when the economy is doing quite well – the past few years of the United States being a prime example. That being said, government budgets tend to go from surplus to deficit (or existing deficits become larger) as the economy goes sour. This typically happens as follows: 1. The economy goes into recession, costing many workers their jobs, and at the same time causing corporate profits to decline. This causes less income tax revenue to flow to the government, along with less corporate income tax revenue. Occasionally the flow of income to the government will still grow, but at a slower rate than inflation, meaning that flow of tax revenue has fallen in real terms. 2. Because many workers have lost their jobs, there is increased use of government programs, such as unemployment insurance. Government spending rises as more individuals are calling on government services to help them out through tough times. 3. To help push the economy out of recession and to help those who have lost their jobs, governments often create new social programs during times of recession and depression. FDR’s â€Å"New Deal† of the 1930s is a prime example of this. Government spending then rises, not just because of increased use of existing programs, but through the creation of new programs. Because of factors one, the government receives less money from taxpayers, while factors two and three, the government spends more money. Money starts flowing out of the government faster than it comes in, causing the government’s budget to go into deficit. * How it helped? With the government spending more the government securities started declining in performance. As more and more securities were being issued the interest rate on securities started rising which has a direct impact on the gsec return. This again closed one more avenue of investment for banks as they were investing heavily into them instead of lending it out to corporate. This in all diverted the funds of the bank to the needful and thus started the lending process again. Future outlook In India there is evidence of economic activity slowing down. Real GDP growth has moderated in the first half of 2008 / 09. The services sector too, which has been our prime growth engine for the last five years, is slowing, mainly in construction, transport and communication, trade, hotels and restaurants sub-sectors. For the first time in seven years, exports have declined in absolute terms for three months in a row during October-December 2008. Recent data indicate that the demand for bank credit is slackening despite comfortable liquidity in the system. Higher input costs and dampened demand have dented corporate margins while the uncertainty surrounding the crisis has affected business confidence. The index of industrial production has shown negative growth for two recent months and investment demand is decelerating. All these factors suggest that growth moderation may be steeper and more extended than earlier projected. There are also several structural factors that have come to India’s aid. First, notwithstanding the everity and multiplicity of the adverse shocks, India’s financial markets have shown admirable resilience. This is in large part because India’s banking system remains sound, healthy, well capitalized and prudently regulated. Second, our comfortable reserve position provides confidence to overseas investors. Third, since a large majority of Indians do not participate in equity and asset markets, the negative impact of the wealth loss effect that is plaguing the advanced economies should be quite muted. Consequently, consumption demand should hold up well. Fourth, because of India’s mandated priority sector lending, institutional credit for agriculture will be unaffected by the credit squeeze. The farm loan waiver package implemented by the government should further insulate the agriculture sector from the crisis. Finally, over the years, India has built an extensive network of social safety-net programmes, including the flagship rural employment guarantee programme, which should protect the poor and the returning migrant workers from the extreme impact of the global crisis. RBI’s policy stance Going forward, the Reserve Bank’s policy stance will continue to be to maintain comfortable rupee and forex liquidity positions. There are indications that pressures on mutual funds have eased and that NBFCs too are making the necessary adjustments to balance their assets and liabilities. Despite the contraction in export demand, we will be able to manage our balance of payments. It is the Reserve Bank’s expectation that commercial banks will take the signal from the policy rates reduction to adjust their deposit and lending rates in order to keep credit flowing to productive sectors. In particular, the special refinance windows opened by the Reserve Bank for the MSME (micro, small and medium enterprises) sector, housing sector and export sector should see credit flowing to these sectors. Also the SPV set up for extending assistance to NBFCs should enable NBFC lending to pick up steam once again. The government’s fiscal stimulus should be able to supplement these efforts from both supply and demand sides. What Industry experts think? Mentioned below is what the senior experts in banking think of how the banking sector survived the crisis. 1). Mr. Anil Kumar Gupta (Vice President) Wealth management division- North and east region ING VYSYA BANK LTD. â€Å"The banking sector is very strong in India. Especially with the help of a governing body like RBI monitoring all the banks in Indian. † â€Å" I would say that step’s that were taken by the RBI in terms of rate cuts made so much liquidity in banking system that they were compelled to lend out to corporate. The recession gets more dangerous if the spending cycle by the people of the country or the lending cycles by the banks are put on a hold. † 2). Mr. Manavjeet Awasty (Senior Vice President) CITI BANK LTD- North â€Å"The ratio’s that the banks need to maintain because of RBI like CRR and SLR are the life savers for any banking firm. During financial crisis the condition of bankruptcy comes only when liquidity is crunched. The ratio’s which are maintained makes sure that enough liquidity is available in the system. † When the turnaround comes Over the last five years, India clocked an unprecedented 9% growth, driven largely by domestic consumption and investment even as the share of net exports has been rising. This was no accident or happenstance. True, the benign global environment, easy liquidity and low interest rates helped, but at the heart of India’s growth were a growing entrepreneurial spirit, rise in productivity and increasing savings. These fundamental strengths continue to be in place. Nevertheless, the global crisis will dent India’s growth trajectory as investments and exports slow. Clearly, there is a period of painful adjustment ahead of us. However, once the global economy begins to recover, India’s turn around will be sharper and swifter, backed by our strong fundamentals and the untapped growth potential. Meanwhile, the challenge for the government and the RBI is to manage the adjustment with as little pain as possible. Conclusion To conclude, we would say that the Indian banking sector is very strong in terms of its maintaining the said regulations and to follow the rule implied by its governing body which is RBI. The necessary steps were taken during the financial crisis which helped the banking sector to emerge out of the crisis without any major disturbance.