FIN 300 - Principles of Finance for the Private Sector 1-8 Essay

FIN 300 - Principles of Finance for the Private Sector 1-8 - Essay Example 2009). Current ratio is obtained by dividing current assets by current liabilities while quick ratio is obtained the same way only that inventory is eliminated from current assets since it takes time to convert to cash. The two ratios indicate the level of liquidity and hence they help to maintain the required liquidity for retailers (Phillips et al. 2009). The higher the ratios the stronger liquidity is. Phillips, M. D., Volker, J. X., Anderson, S. J. (2009). A behavioral comparison of financial ratios for different size privately-held retail and service businesses. Journal of Behavioral Studies in Business, 1(1), 1-7. Residual value estimated is normally the amount that can be realized if the asset was to be sold after its useful life. However, most organizations take the estimated residual value to be zero. This method allocates equal amount to each year. Present value is the current value of a given future value of money or cash flow streams (Chiu2010). Compounding is process of finding the future value when the present value is given while discounting if the process of finding the present value when the future value is given. Gollier (2010) discusses the following differences. Future value of a lump sum is higher than future value of an annuity given similar factors. This is because the lump sum amount earns interest in all the periods while not all the annuities earn interest for the entire period. Long term bonds are those ones that have a longer maturity period. Interest rates are used as discounting rates in calculating the value of a bond. An increase in interest rate therefore reduces the value of a bond and this is a risk called interest rate risk. Short term bonds have a shorter maturity period and a fluctuation in interest affects income hence reinvestment risk. The value of a corporate bond is determined through the fundamental theory, where the value is the present value of the

Aeromedical Factors Essay Example for Free

Aeromedical Factors Essay One philosophy that some persons question, including a few of our own aviation medical examiners, relates to our greater flexibility in granting special issuances to private pilots as opposed to air carrier and other commercial pilots. The arguments against such flexibility rotate around the thought that, in the event of a medical incapacitation, an air carrier or commercial pilot usually has another pilot on board who can take control of the aircraft and safely land. In contrast, the private pilot often has no such safety net and, therefore, a medical incapacitation is likely to have severe safety consequences. In the case of the private pilot, I think we can be more flexible and allow that pilot to assume some risks for him or herself that we would not permit in air carrier or other commercial operations. This philosophy is frequently challenged regarding the safety of persons who fly as invitees of the private pilot. The risk derives not only from the medical status of the pilot, but the pilots proficiency and experience as well as the airworthiness of the aircraft. One might suggest that our approach, allowing greater flexibility in the medical certification of private pilots, constitutes experimentation with safety in private operations. This suggestion might have some validity if private pilots who are granted special issuances experience a significant number of medically related accidents. Humans regard vision as their most valuable sense, yet they fail to appreciate what a remarkable and complicated organ the human eye is. The rods are concentrated in a ring around the cones. Both the cones and the rods are used for vision during daylight and bright moonlight. The pilot should consciously practice this scanning procedure to improve night vision. It is important for the pilot to maintain good physical condition. While dim red lighting has the least adverse effect on night vision, it severely distorts colors. Older pilots may experience extreme difficulty in focusing the eyes on objects inside the cockpit. In addition to night vision, the pilot should also be aware of how to cope with illusions encountered during night flight. Refer to Advisory Circulars 61-23B, Pilots Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge, and 61 21A, Flight Training Handbook, and the Aeronautical Information Manual for further information on the above subjects. The term hearing describes the process, function, or power of perceiving sound. The sense of hearing makes it possible to perceive, process, and identify among the myriad of sounds from the surrounding environment. Anatomy and Physiology of the Auditory System The auditory system consists of the external ear, ear canal, eardrum, auditory ossicles, cochlea (which resembles a snail shell and is filled with fluid), and the auditory nerve. Ambient sound waves are collected by the external ear, conducted through the ear canal, and cause the eardrum to vibrate. Sound waves are variations in air pressures above and below the ambient pressure. All sounds have three distinctive variables: frequency, intensity, and duration. Frequency is the physical property of sound that gives it a pitch. Since sound energy propagates in a wave-form, it can be measured in terms of wave oscillations or wave cycles per second, known as hertz (Hz). Sounds that are audible to the human ear fall in the frequency range of about 20-20,000 Hz, and the highest sensitivity is between 500 and 4,000 Hz. Sounds below 20 Hz and above 20,000 Hz cannot be perceived by the human ear. The decibel (dB) is the unit used to measure sound intensity. The range of normal hearing sensitivity of the human ear is between -10 to +25 dB. Sounds below -10dB are generally imperceptible. A pilot who cannot hear a sound unless its intensity is higher than 25 dB (at any frequency) is already experiencing hearing loss. Duration determines the quality of the perception and discrimination of a sound, as well as the potential risk of hearing impairment when exposed to high intensity sounds. The adverse consequences of a short-duration exposure to a loud sound can be as bad as a long-duration exposure to a less intense sound. Noise The term noise refers to a sound, especially one which lacks agreeable musical quality, is noticeably unpleasant, or is too loud. In other words, noise is any unwanted or annoying sound. Categorizing a sound as noise can be very subjective. The aviation environment is characterized by multiple sources of noise, both on the ground and in the air. Noise is produced by aircraft equipment-powerplants, transmission systems, jet efflux, propellers, rotors, hydraulic and electrical actuators, cabin conditioning and pressurization systems, cockpit advisory and alert systems, communications equipment, etc. All pilots know the sounds of a normal- functioning aircraft. The effects of pre-flight exposure to noise can adversely affect pilot in-flight performance. Types of Noise Examples: aircraft powerplant noise, propeller noise, and pressurization system noise. According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the maximum permissible continuous exposure level to steady noise in a working environment is 90 dB for eight hours. The eardrum may be ruptured by intense levels (140 dB) of impulse/blast noise. Effects of Noise Exposure Physiological Ear discomfort may occur during exposure to a 120 dB noise. Ear pain may occur during exposure to a 130 dB noise. Eardrum rupture may occur during exposure to a 140 dB noise. Temporary hearing impairment. Unprotected exposure to loud, steady noise over 90 dB for a short time, even several hours, may cause hearing impairment. This effect is usually temporary and hearing returns to normal within several hours following cessation of the noise exposure. Permanent hearing impairment. Unprotected exposure to loud noise (higher than 90 dB) for eight or more hours per day for several years, may cause a permanent hearing loss. Subjective Effects: Annoying high-intensity noise can cause distraction, fatigue, irritability, startle responses, sudden awakening and poor sleep quality, loss of appetite, headache, vertigo, nausea, and impair concentration and memory. Speech Interference: Loud noise can interfere with or mask normal speech, making it difficult to understand. Tasks that require vigilance, concentration, calculations, and making judgments about time can be adversely affected by exposure to loud no ise higher than 100 dB. How to Protect Your Hearing Limiting Duration of Exposure to Noise: OSHA-established permissible noise exposure limits for the workplace(Fiugure 2) (including the cockpit of an aircraft). Use Hearing Protection Equipment. If the ambient noise level exceeds OSHAs permissible noise exposure limits, you should use hearing protection devices-earplugs, earmuffs, communication headsets, or active noise reduction headsets. Even if an individual already has some level of permanent hearing loss, using hearing protection equipment should prevent further hearing damage. These protection devices attenuate noise waves before they reach the eardrum, and most of them are effective at reducing high-frequency noise levels above 1,000 Hz and/or for reducing noise levels to, or below, 50 dB. Earplugs. Insertable-type earplugs offer a very popular, inexpensive, effective, and comfortable approach to provide hearing protection. Communication Headsets. Active Noise Reduction Headsets. This type of headset uses active noise reduction technology that allows the manipulation of sound and signal waves to reduce noise, improve signal-to-noise ratios, and enhance sound quality. Active noise reduction provides effective protection against low-frequency noise. The electronic coupling of a low-frequency noise wave with its exact mirror image cancels this noise. * Combinations of Protection Devices. The combination of earplugs with earmuffs or communication headsets is recommended when ambient noise levels are above 115 dB. Earplugs, combined with active noise reduction headsets, provide the maximum level of individual hearing protection that can be achieved with current technology. [Editors Note: Be careful you dont muffle too much engine noise when you combine ear protection devices. Bibliography Aeromedical factors. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.free-online-private-pilot-ground-school.com/aeromedical.html Aeromedical factors. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://ntc.cap.af.mil/ops/dot/school/CAPF5_Course/aeromedical.htm Aeromedical factors: cfi lesson plan. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://cfi-lesson-plans.com/aeromedical-factors/ Aerospace medicine human factors. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://aeromedical.org/avmed_home.php Office of aerospace medicine. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/avs/offices/aam/cami/

Understanding The Russian Sphere Of Influence Politics Essay

Understanding The Russian Sphere Of Influence Politics Essay The aim of this chapter is to bring out the elements behind Russias quest to maintain a sphere of influence around itself. In doing this, one should not just look at present Russian politics and recent attempts by Russia to restore its former sphere of influence. One has to look briefly into the history of Russia from the time of the Tsars and during the Communist regime. The Tsars had always desired to create a sphere of influence which would act as a belt of protection for Russia. One has to look at Russias geography to understand this key element in Russian foreign policymaking throughout the centuries. In 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed and Russia lost various regions which were the ex-Soviet Republics. Since then, Russia has retreated progressively. NATO expanded eastward in Europe since 1994 causing Russia to be suspicious and resentful. After the September 11 attacks, the USA established military bases in Central Asian countries to support its military operations against the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and initially Russian President Vladimir Putin gave his support, though he would resent long-term American military presence in what Russia perceives its sphere of influence. In the Far East, Russia faces a rapidly rising China as a potential superpower. So, it is understandable that Russian foreign policymakers have to counterbalance all these factors. Russia is not just a European power but also an Asian power. All these factors contribute to the multivector characteristic in Russian foreign policymaking. One must not forget that Russia also has its economic interests i n the Central Asian region and not just military and political interests. The setting-up of the Eurasian Economic Community (EurAsEC) and the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) show how Russia is trying to adapt to its loss of empire. One must not forget that the collapse of the Soviet Union took place twenty years ago and that Russia is still going through what is called its imperial syndrome. This chapter has the aim of demonstrating the change and continuity in Russian foreign policy through its history to the present day. 2.1 The Tsarist roots When Russia began to expand as an empire, the Tsars always had the intention to use to newly conquered lands as belts of protection around Russia. This can be traced back to the time of Ivan III, also known as Ivan the Great. He started by what historian call the collecting of the Russian lands which was followed by wars with Poland in the West (Donaldson and Nogee, pg 18). Ivan IV, known as Ivan the Terrible, conquered lands from the Tatars and Russia reached the Caspian Sea (Donaldson and Nogee, pg 19). In 1613, Mikhail Romanov was elected Tsar, hence starting the 304-year Romanov dynasty. Under his reign and his sons reign, Russia fought eight wars with Poland and it retook Kiev, which had the capital city of the first Russian state, the Kievan Rus (Donaldson and Nogee, pg 19). So, in this time frame, one can see Muscovy expanding its territory and sphere of influence. The ascension of Peter I, known as Peter the Great and his subsequent reign (1689-1725) had a lasting effect on Russian foreign policy. He is known for his secularization and modernization of the Russian Empire along European lines (Hosking, pg 76). He too focused on expanding Russian territory and had one of his first successes when he captured the fort of Azov from the Turks, thus giving Russia access to the Black Sea (Hosking, pg 76). He then proceeded to war with Sweden and the victories he attained there such as the capture of the river Neva in 1703, Narva and Dorpat in 1704, gave Russia access to the Baltic (Freeze, pg 114). The Treaty of Nystad with Sweden in 1721 crowned Russias achievements in the Baltic and Sweden lost its place as a European great power to Russia (Donaldson and Nogee, pg 20). With these conquests, Peter the Great brought Russia closer to Europe as he had always desired and Russian foreign policy took a new dimension from then on. In 1689, there was the Nerchinsk Treaty between the Russian Empire and China where the two powers agreed to divide their spheres of influence which led to China keeping Mongolia under its dominion and Russia keeping land north of the Amur river (Donaldson and Nogee, pg 20). After the death of Peter the Great, there was the Kyakhta where Russia and China agreed to set up formal diplomatic relations and paved the way for trade between the two powers (Donaldson and Nogee, pg 20). Under Catherine the Great, Russia continued to expand its territory and this is seen in the partitions of Poland which brought Belarus (White Russia), Lithuania and Western Ukraine under the Russian realm (Donaldson and Nogee, pg 20). Russias military forays southwards resulted in two wars with Turkey and these culminated in the treaties of Kutchuk Kainardji (1774) and the Treaty of Jassy (1792) which gave Russia control of the north Black sea coastline from Azov to Odessa (Donaldson and Nogee, pg 20). After the victory against Napoleon in 1815 and the Congress, Russias Tsar Alexander I was able to demonstrate Russian power to Europe (Donaldson and Nogee, pg 21) and Russia added Finland and lands in the south and Central Asia to its dominion. Nicholas Is reign (1825-1855) saw Russia turning its attention on the Ottoman Empire which was referred to as the sick man of Europe and this is seen in the Russian ambition to take Constantinople and get naval access to the Mediterranean Sea and the base at Sevastopol (Donaldson and Nogee, pg 21). However, one can see the role of ideology behind Russias expansionism such using the protection of Orthodox Christians in the Ottoman Empire to justify its wars with Turkey, which one of them resulted in the independence of Greece (Donaldson and Nogee, pg 21). In the second half of the 19th century, Russia began looking eastwards again and started to violate the Treaty of Nerchinsk by penetrating deeper into Chinas territory. In 1860, Vladivostok was founded and in 1860, the two powers signed the Treaty of Peking where Russias new gains in the Amur region (legalized since 1858) were consolidated and China and Russia agreed on the new border along the Ussuri river (Donaldson and Nogee, pg 24). In Central Asia, Russia took Tashkent in Uzbekistan in 1865 and Merv in Turkmenistan in 1884 (Donaldson and Nogee, pg 24). To reassure Britain that it was not going to pursue its conquests south to India, Russia signed an agreement with Britain that it was going to limit itself to northern borders of Afghanistan (Donaldson and Nogee, pg 24). One must not exclude the ideology of Pan-Slavism from Russian foreign policymaking during the time of the Tsars which had considered Moscow as the Third Rome and the Tsar as the protector of all Orthodox Christians (Donaldson and Nogee, pg 25). This led to tensions with the Ottoman Empire resulting in a war in 1878. In the early twentieth century, Russia had tension with Japan over territories in the Far East and this culminated in a Russo-Japanese war in 1904-1905, which to Russias humiliation, Japan won (Donaldson and Nogee, pg 27). So, Russias ambitions in the Far East were limited to the northern part of Manchuria, the northern half of Sakhalin island and had to accept Koreas incorporation in the Japanese sphere of influence (Donaldson and Nogee, pg 27). What was the motivation behind the Tsars aim of expanding their realm? Robert H. Donaldson and Joseph L. Nogee give a variety of reasons. The geography of Eurasia may be one of the explanations for Tsarist Russia to acquire all those land to create a protective barrier around itself. Russia also wanted ice-free harbours which led to its ambitions to take harbours in the Black Sea and the Baltic as well as Pusan in modern South Korea culminating in the war with Japan in 1904-1905 (Donaldson and Nogee, pg 29). The autocratic ideology of the Tsarist system is also listed as a reason. The Tsars expressed their autocratic character by pushing for conquering of new lands and military expeditions (Donaldson and Nogee, pg 30). Even Henry Kissinger, in his book, Diplomacy, agrees with the view that Tsarist autocracy led Russia to behave in that way in the international relations of the time (Kissinger, pg 140) 2.2 Continuity under the USSR The continuity with the Tsars thinking was most clear under Joseph Stalins rule. In August 1939, the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany signed an agreement known as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact where they agreed to share Eastern Europe between their spheres of influence. Through the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, Russia regained those lands such as Eastern Poland, the Baltic states, Bessarabia and northern Bukovina (Kenez, pg 135). The motivation to expand Russias territory could not be clearer. In October1944, there was the Percentage Agreement between British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin to divide spheres of influences of their states in Eastern Europe (Dunbabin, pg 87). The element of continuity with the Tsars thinking of expansionism is clear. After the Second World War, the USSR did not make it a secret that it wanted to keep Eastern Europe under its orbit as well as export its Communist ideology throughout the world. The USSR was using the banner of Communism and proletarian internationalism to spread its influence around the globe. The West responded by the enactment of the Truman Doctrine which had the intention of containment (Best, Hanhimaki, Maiolo, Schulze, pg 220). In June 1947, the European Recovery Program, better known as the Marshall Plan was launched in order to help Europe recover and stem the tide of Communism (Best, Hanhimaki, Maiolo, Schulze, pg 222). This was part of the containment policy. On the 4th of April 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) was set up to challenge Soviet hegemony (Best, Hanhimaki, Maiolo, Schulze, pg 223-224). The Soviet response was to create the Council of Mutual Economic Assistance, COMECON in 1949 to create sociaist planned economies in Eastern Europe (Best, Hanh imaki, Maiolo, Schulze, pg 219). In 1948, the USSR expelled Yugoslavia of Jozip Broz Tito because Tito did not want to have Stalin dictating to him how to govern the country (Best, Hanhimaki, Maiolo, Schulze, pg 219). In May 1955, the USSR set up the Warsaw Pact as a response to NATO as Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev said we wanted to make an impression on the West (Dunbabin, pg 221). In 1956, Hungary under Imre Nagy rebelled because it did not want to remain under Soviet domination and left the Warsaw and the Soviets response was to send tanks to crush the uprising (McCauley, pg 340). In 1968, Czechoslavakia, under the leadership of Alexander Dubcek, attempted to create socialism with a human face, unlike the rigid Soviet communism which is known as the Prague Spring. Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev was alarmed by this since he feared it could spread and create a domino effect and the USSR would lose its sphere of influence in East-Central Europe. The USSR tried to exert pressure on Dubcek (Dunbabin, pg 568) but when it saw that it was not enough, it launched a military invasion on 20th August 1968 to crush the Prague Spring and remove Dubcek from power (Dunbabin, pg 569). This showed that the Sov iet Union feared that different interpretations of Marxism among its satellites would lead to collapse of Communism and lose its strategic sphere of influence. Due to the upheavals that took place, the Brezhnev leadership came up with the Brezhnev Doctrine which claimed that it was the sole right of the USSR and the Warsaw Pact to take action against socialist countries which deviated from Soviet Communism (Best, Hanhimaki, Maiolo, Schulze, pg 274). The message the USSR sent to the rest of the world was that it will not tolerate any changes to the political-economic system it had created in East Europe, its sphere of influence. This was because it felt highly threatened by those changes. The West gave its response in the Helsinki Final Act in 1975 where it accepted the Soviet sphere of influence in Eastern Europe but the USSR agreed to accept the human rights basket, which would have serious consequences for the USSR in the 1980s (Dunbabin, pg 571). 2.3 Post-Communist Russia and Sphere of Influence Thinking in Current Russian Foreign Policy At the collapse of the Soviet Union, many former Soviet Republics which were also part of the Tsarist Empire became independent. Russia had lost those lands which had provided a belt of protection for Russia for centuries. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991and up to the late 1990s, the newly constituted Russia began to use the term near abroad for its former Soviet republics (Donaldson and Nogee, pg 163). In this part, the setting up of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Eurasian Economic Community (EurAsEC), Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) and Russias participation in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and their usefulness to Russia in maintaining its sphere of influence will be analyzed. This part aims to put under focus Russias aims and aspirations behind the setup of these organisations. The interests Russia has in keeping Central Asian states, Ukraine, Belarus and other ex-Soviet states will be analyzed. Russia has and still claims that it uses multilateralism to achieve its aims of maintaining its sphere of influence and checking other powers such as China in the East. To analyze this in more detail, the focus will be on Russias behavior both in the institutions it is part of and leads and its behavior towards the smaller ex-Soviet republics. Russias activities in the CSTO and SCO will also be analyzed as well as its successes and failures in preserving its sphere of influence. 2.3.1 What are Russias interests and motivations, and how does it view itself and the countries surrounding it? The best way to start the subject is to look into Russias interests. Historically, the ex-Soviet republics were part of the USSR and before the October Revolution of 1917. It is not restricted to this reason though. Russia has economic interests as well as competing new powers for influence. This is most felt in the Central Asian region. For Russian political analyst Dmitri Trenin, this is sphere of interest rather than sphere of influence, as he points out in his article in The Washington Quarterly. Trenin outlines three types of interests that Russia has the ex-Soviet states. The first includes the military and security reasons, secondly, Russias economic interests and thirdly, the cultural aspect. Regarding Russias security and military interests, Trenin mentions the CSTO as a way for Russia to maintain its influence and dominance in most of the ex-Soviet republics and also to combat Islamic extremist movements (The Washington Quarterly, October 2009). Trenin goes on to refer to t he fact Russia would like the CSTO to on the same level with NATO and that this would create the new European security architecture thus leading to the legitimization of the primacy of Russia in its former Imperial and Soviet subjects (The Washington Quarterly, October 2009). Trenin maintains that Russias intention is halt US and NATO encroachment in its perceived zone of responsibility and he refers to the August 2008 war with Georgia. By taking a heavy-handed attitude towards Georgia, Trenin suggests, Russia was sending a clear message to NATO that it would accept anymore intrusion in the ex-Soviet space (The Washington Quarterly, October 2009). So, the real reason behind the war was Mikhail Saakashvilis explicit intention to get NATO membership for Georgia. Russia also thinks that the USA is using democracy encouragement in order to draw the ex-Soviet states away from Russias influence (The Washington Quarterly, October 2009). The second reason, the economic interests of Russia, also cannot be ignored. Russia has millions of foreign workers who come from the CIS member states, a factor which gives Russia an upper hand in dealing with its neighbours (The Washington Quarterly, October 2009). Another important economic factor is energy. The ex-Soviet states around the Caspian Sea are rich in energy resources and Russian energy companies such as Gazprom, the Russian state-owned gas corporation, would like to be the ones that have control over these resources especially oil and natural gas (The Washington Quarterly, October 2009). Russia has also worked towards economic integration in Eurasia and this is seen in the Eurasian Economic Community (EurAsEC) and Russia has made no secret of its wish to have a customs union with Kazakhstan and Belarus (The Washington Quarterly, October 2009). So Russia also uses economic means to preserve its influence and its interests. In the aftermath of the 2008 economic crisis, Russia has forked out billions in funds to help the economies of the former Soviet Republics to recover (The Washington Quarterly). Thirdly, there is the cultural aspect. Dmitri Trenin makes a reference towards the presence of millions of Russian inhabitants in post-Soviet countries and how the Kremlin tries to use the case of Russian minorities for its political advantage. This has been listed as one of the objectives of Russian foreign policy in the Russian Foreign Policy Concept of 2008 signed by President Dmitri Medvedev (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, 12th July 2008). This objective of Russia protecting ethnic Russians in the neighboring countries has also one been one of the first objectives of Vladimir Putin since he first came to power as Russian President in 2000, as outlined by Ingmar Oldberg in his article for the Swedish Institute of International Affairs (The Swedish Institute of International Affairs, 2010). Russia has been taking advantage of its cultural predominance to use the Russian minoriti es in the neighboring countries to preserve its influence and has used many methods to try to achieve its objective such as the media, issuing of passports and backing pro-Russian political parties in these states (The Swedish Institute of International Affairs, 2010). One has to appreciate the fact that Russian culture, especially the language is a very strong factor. 2.3.2 Organisations which Russia uses as part of its objective of preserving its sphere of influence In this section, the focus is on organisations such as the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), Eurasian Economic Community (EurAsEC) and Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). The aim of this part of the chapter is to give a short history of each of these organisations and more importantly, Russias role in them and what Russia hopes to achieve by being active in these organisations. Is Russia using these organisations as a new way to portray itself as upholding the principles of multilateralism while at the same times keeping the post-Soviet republics under its influence? Does Russia behave as an equal partner or is it the dominant member due to its military strength? The best way to answer these questions is to analyse these organisations and Russias role in them. 2.3.2.1 Commonwealth of Independent States The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) was born out of the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union. After the Soviet Union collapsed, 15 newly independent states emerged. Russia wanted to use the CIS in order for it to be able to maintain its influence in the newly independent states (Nogee and Donaldson, pg 165). It wanted to create The Baltic states kept away from joining and Georgia left the organisation after its August 2008 war with Russia. Ukraine, which in the early 1990s was under the leadership of Leonid Kravchuk did not want much integration in the CIS in order to preserve Ukraines independence (Donaldson and Nogee, pg 166). As a sign of continuity with the Tsarist and Soviet foreign policy thinking, Russia placed huge importance to the CIS as way of protecting itself with friendly countries, and this was mentioned in the 1993 Russian Foreign Policy Concept (Wilson Rowe and Torjesen, pg 154). With the establishment of the CIS, Russia was aiming for a common econ omic space, a common market, co-ordinated customs policies, cooperation in the environmental protection, developing communication and transport systems and combating organized crime (Wilson Rowe and Torjesen, pg 154). Much of these ambitions aims were not achieved and in 2005, President Vladimir Putin himself complained that the CIS did not achieve what Russia envisioned a decade earlier (Wilson Rowe and Torjesen, pg 154). Stina Torjesen, in a contribution to the book The Multilateral Dimension of Russian Foreign Policy, lists some reasons why Russia did not achieve as much as it hoped for in the 1990s regarding the CIS and CIS integration. Torjesen mentions reasons such as that coordination was not executed well, that when it came to implementing policies, Russia was either slow or didnt implement them at all, causing the other partners to be irritated, Russia in the 1990s was going through economic hardship which led to difficulty in implementing proposals and that Russias behavio r was still zero-sum instead of being a multilateral partner (Wilson Rowe and Torjesen, pg 155). Russia still sought to be the dominating party and sought primacy over other partners. So Russia deserves part of the blame for the failure to achieve the earlier objectives behind the creation of the CIS. Lilia Shevtsova, in her book Lonely Power, believes that Russia does not treat its neighbours as equals and cares about its primacy (Shevtsova, pg 90). Shevtsova makes a reference to a speech by President Dmitry Medvedev at the Council of Foreign Relations where the Russian President stated that Russia had a sphere of privileged interests (Shevtsova, pg 89). There were attempts by some post-Soviet republics to try to lessen their dependence on Russia and this is seen in organisations they set up such as GU(U)AM (Mankoff, pg 247). This consisted of Georgia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan (which left the organisation), Azerbaijan and Moldova. GUAM as organisation was first set up in October 1997 (Tsygankov, pg 126). Uzbekistan left the organisation in May 2005 (Wilson Rowe and Torjesen, pg 173). After the summit in Kiev on 23rd May 2006, GUAM had a new name: Organisation for Democracy and Economic Development GUAM (Organisation for Democracy and Economic Development GUAM). The August 2008 war with Georgia also spoke volumes about Russias efforts to preserve its sphere of influence. Moreover in May 2009, Russia sent in extra 1,800 troops into Abkhazia and South Ossetia which inflamed suspicions in the West that Russia was up to its tricks again, that pursuing its domination of its neighbours as well as punishing Georgia for the pro-Western path it had taken (The Jamestown Foundation, 6th May 2009). After all, President Medvedev had made no secret of Russia wanting to be responsible for what he described as Russias privileged sphere of influence (The New York Times, 31st August 2008). US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and US President Barack Obama did not agree with Dmitry Medvedevs position (OpenDemocracy, 20th April 2009). Russias cutting of the gas supply due to a crisis with Ukraine was interpreted as Russia using its energy resources to punish those countries which took positions against Russia such as Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, claims which Russia denied and Russia counter-attacked by claiming it was a quarrel over payments (Valdai Club, 13th January 2009). Lately, Russia has had problems over gas with Belaruss President Alexander Lukashenko but analysts claim that Russia uses its position of energy supplier to bend its neighbours to its will. This was the case with Belarus in June 2010 since Russia had been very irritated with Lukashenkos lack of recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states and retaliated by banning milk from Belarus (The Economist, 24th June 2010). 2.3.2.2 Collective Security Treaty Organisation The Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) is the military organisation Russia uses in order to maintain its influence in the post-Soviet states. One has to remember that out of all the former Soviet states, Russia is the most militarily and economically powerful and these factors do give it primacy in the CSTO. From the beginning, Russia intended that the CSTO will be used to create protection and security for Russia by having an organisation which included the former Soviet states (Wilson Rowe and Torjesen, pg 182). Before the CSTO was established in 2002, there was an agreement, the Collective Security Treaty (CST), signed in May 1992 at Tashkent by Russia, Armenia and the former Central Asian Soviet republics but Turkmenistan remained out (Wilson Rowe and Torjesen, pg 183). After the fall of the USSR, Russia and the former Soviet states began discussing how to have a single military space under the CIS (Wilson Rowe and Torjesen, pg 183). So the CST, and later the CSTO, was to work under the CIS. The objective of a creating one military structure was not achieved because each state chose to have its national army but the CST helped to bring the new states armies to cooperate when a threat emerged (Wilson Rowe and Torjesen, pg 183). Throughout the 1990s, there were discussions on what type of military organisation the CST members national armies were going to set up (Wilson Rowe and Torjesen, pg 183). The discussions were between whether there should be a decision-making structure similar to the one of NATO, which the majority of CST members wanted, or having a hierarchical structure, as Russia and Uzbekistan wanted (Wilson Rowe and Torjesen, pg 183-184). In the end a mixture of both was chosen. One can remark that the fact that Russia wanted a hierarchical structure tells much about what its role in the CST was going to be. It sought to be the leader and not an equal with the other partners. By the mid-1990s, the CST had been successful in dealing with many challenges and Russia, through its military advantage, played a central role in helping Central Asian states to safeguard their borders and training their armies (Wilson Rowe and Torjesen, pg 184). But there was still no proper organisation of a supranational nature and this was seen in the civil war in Tajikistan in 1992, when the CST members did not work together and Russia and Uzbekistan helped the Tajik government (Wilson Rowe and Torjesen, pg 184). In 1993, peacekeeping troops from CST and CIS states Russia, Kazak hstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan did come to Tajikistan aid, but Russia was the dominant partner and its actions, such as supporting militarily the Tajik government of the day, were not multilateral (Wilson Rowe and Torjesen, pg 185). In this incident, one can see Russia acting as the dominant partner and this is something which the other states took note of. So Russia had some part of the blame for the failure to develop a fully-fledged multilateral military organisation. Its actions contradicted its objective of collective action. The maintenance of its sphere of influence was what mattered most. However, in the late 1990s, there was military cooperation between the CST members which was led by Russia such as military exercises in 1999 and 2000 (Wilson Rowe and Torjesen, pg 185). In October 2000, the CST members proceeded to cooperate on the issue of terrorism and this culminated in an agreement in Bishkek between Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to create an anti-terrorist center where they could share intelligence on terrorists (Wilson Rowe and Torjesen, pg 185). On May 25th 2001, cooperation increased and this led to the creation of the Rapid Deployment Forces to deal with security in the region (Eurasianet, 25th May 2001). This increase in cooperation led to the creation of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) in May 2002 with Russia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus and Armenia being the members (Wilson Rowe and Torjesen, pg 185). In October 2002, the Charter of the CSTO was signed and it came into effect from the 18th September 2003 (CSTO Official Website). In 2003, Russia began to improve on the already existing facilities at the airbase at Kant in Kyrgyzstan, and in 2006 added more personnel at the base (Mankoff, pg 268). After the 2005 Tulip revolution, the USA had to pay $200,000,000 yearly to keep its airbase at Manas while Russia did not have pay any rent, though it did provide military hardware to Kyrgyzstan (Mankoff, pg 268). In August 2008, after the war with Georgia, Russia asked the CSTO members to recognize South Ossetia (The Times, 30th August 2008) after China and four Central Asian countries had refused to recognize South Ossetia. This is another proof of how Russia wants to use the CSTO to be on par with NATO and trying to stop NATO from encroaching in its neighbourhood. In 2009, the Kyrgyz government announced to the USA that it was going to close down Manas airbase and this was soon after Russia promised more than $2 billion in aid to Kyrgyzstan on condition that the Kyrgyz government tells the US to leave the Manas Airbase (San Francisco Chronicle, 22nd February 2009). The Russia aim to keep Kyrgyzstan under its sphere of influence could not be clearer. On February 4th 2009, at a CSTO summit in Moscow, Russia and the other member states set up the Collective Rapid Reaction Force (CRRF) and it must be pointed out that Russia was once again the dominant player because it had the greater military power and it provided all the weapons, as Aleksei Malashenko from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (Moscow) argued (Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty, 4th February 2009). This shows again how Russia uses the CSTO for its central objective of maintaining its sphere of influence. It claims that the CSTO is there to fight terrorism but Russia uses the war on terrorism to make the CSTO one of its foreign policy tools. In fact, one can see this when in the same summit, Uzbekistan demanded special concessions for itself as a condition to join the CSTO (RIA Novosti, 4th February 2009). In May 2010, Belarus decided to contribute over 2,000 personnel to the CRRF after its ratification of the Moscow agreement (RIA Novosti, 26th May 2010). Si nce then, the CRRF members have practiced military exercises in October 2010 (RIA Novosti, 22nd October 2010). However, there were some disappointments and the latest one has been during the political upheaval in Kyrgyzstan when President Kurmanbek Bakiyev was overthrown. Russia did not send peacekeeping troops as Medvedev said that Russia and the CSTO would not participate in Kyrgyzstans domestic unrest (Global Post, 15th June 2010). Russia caused disappointment by its behavior because it showed a lack of consistency and did not act with its CSTO partners to send a peacekeeping mission to Kyrgyzstan. This shows that Russia uses organisations such as the CSTO to give an image that it is working multilaterally with its partners, but in reality it does the opposite. 2.3.2.3 Using economic means to protect interests and maintain sphere of influence The Eurasian Economic Community (EurAsEC) Russia does not only create military organisations to preserve its sphere of influence, but it also uses economic means. Since the collapse of the USSR, Russia has tried hard to create customs union and foster economic integration in the CIS and recently it seems to have had some successes. Russia wants to follow the example of European integration and apply it to the CIS. The Eurasian Economic Community (EurAsEC) is Russias tool to achieve this objective. Some of the objectives behind creating the CIS were to create a common economic space and a common market and deepening cooperat

The Short Story Of Night - A C :: essays research papers

"The Short History Of Night" by John Mighton fervently seeks to expound upon the idea that societal disorder will eventually affect all levels of society despite any purposeful attempts to be detached, whether physically, using status or otherwise. Throughout many facets of the play this thought is effectively echoed, more particularly in the areas of set design, sound and light design, and character development. The utilization of levels in the set design is sensibly used in what I believe, a twofold purpose. First, and more obviously, to create various physical levels on stage with the use of the raised circular portion as in the scene with Kepler and his soon-to-be wife sitting on a hill awaiting his "prophesied" comet or with the depiction of Tycho's observatory. On the other hand, this rise in physical level also produces a platform for a higher level of observation or rationale. Kepler's wife, while standing on this upper level, would begin to ponder and question her husband on various topics possibly beyond her character's intelligence level as inferred by her husband's response. It is ironic that she is also placed at this level as she is "raving" during her interrogation on her involvement with witchcraft. Therefore, following the same train of thought, the use of this arrangement suggests that her examiners, namely the Inquisitor, are merely acting out of ignoran ce. Most tangible however, is the complete black appearance of the set that helps considerably to establish the notion that the play is a representation of place in a period of discord. The darkness of the set creates a sense of eerieness and obscurity that draws the audience into the social upheaval of this period. More interestingly, over the course of the play this "blackness" extends into the allusion of the lurking evils of the society and its possible infiltration at any time on the unsuspecting. Working in conjunction with the set, to completely produce the aforementioned effect, is the sound and lighting design. Strikingly impressive, is the use of shadows to create scenes and evoke mood, as with the shadow representation of the forest creating the setting and generating a harrowing atmosphere -- perfect for Kepler's secret journey to Tycho's observatory. The sound and music successfully accentuate the growing conflict in the play with the extensive use of tension chords, particularly during the arrival of the Inquisitor and the scene changes, creating dissonant, chaotic-sounding tones.

North American Civilization

North American Civilization Elizabeth Smith HIS 115 North American civilization began about 35,000 years ago in the time of the last ice age. A large land mass connecting Eurasia and Alaska brought the first Native American ancestors into North America. As the Ice Age ended, the sea levels rose, submerging the land bridge into the Ocean, thus leaving the ancestors of the Native Americans deserted on a remote continent. After crossing the land bridge, the Native Americans increased and shaped a mixture of cultures and several civilizations. Early North American Cultures The route from Siberia to Alaska led the first descendants as well as animals to this new land. Over many years, settlement broadened throughout America, Central, and South America of the first inhabitants (Axia College, 2010). These early American’s were nomadic. Hunting and gathering as the main source of surviving is how the first American civilizations grew and adapted to the land. The cultures of early Americans grew vastly, learning economic, social, and political skills. Early Americans adapted to the land by hunting the terrain and the water. Animals became a major source of food as well as fish and other aquatic organisms. Native Americans had to adapt to the environment to strengthen their civilization. Many families organized male members to hunt and gather food to share with the neighboring settlements. Women also contributed to society. Agriculture dominated the role of the women. Planting, harvesting, and other domestic roles helped settlements to grow and flourish in their environments. Advancements in agriculture of Mesoamerica strengthened civilizations of many early Americans such as the Mayas and the Aztecs (Axia College, 2010). Cities developed, small villages, many languages, and cultures evolved through economic, religious, and political advancements. Essentially, an empire formed through the efforts of early civilizations; however, new exploration from Europe would soon expand North American civilization. Changes in European society fueled the need to discover new and vast lands. This great conquest began with the Portuguese in the forefront of discovery. The Portuguese created much advancement in shipbuilding, which helped with successful voyages into the Atlantic Ocean (Axia College, 2010). The voyages led to the discovery of Newfoundland as well as a new trade route along the African and Asian coasts. During this time, Europeans were eager to explore new routes for trade, as well as the possibility to expand land opportunities (Axia College, 2010). With the advancement of technology, economics, and political evolution, Europeans were eager to discover new lands for expansion. Factors such as overpopulation, religion, and government politics were creating situations for Europeans to explore the possibilities of transatlantic expansionism (Axia College, 2010). Spain dominated the first efforts of exploration and colonization. Explorers such as Christopher Columbus, Hernando Cortez, and the Pizarro brothers, were the first to discover the new land of the America’s. As the Spanish continued to explore the civilizations of the Mayas and the Aztecs became dominated and conquered. Spanish colonization was easily established due to the diseases brought to the land, the Native Americans could not adapt to such sicknesses and therefore, the Spanish conquered Central and South America (Axia College, 2010). An Empire created, the Spanish soon convinced other Europeans to expand to settlement of the Americas. English expansionism became top priority of Queen Elizabeth I. English merchants, politicians, and reformation encouraged expansion and colonization of America. Many efforts took place; however, English colonization did not occur until the later in the fifteenth century. Over a span of many of thousands of years, settlers of America migrated, adapted, and flourished with great societies. Early Americans traveled to the continent through the land bridge, forming an environment that flourished with great economic, political, and religious advancements. With new, land discoveries, the Spanish, Portuguese, and English colonized and explored the America’s with the ambition to produce new wealth, land, and religious freedoms from their own lands, thus expanding and colonizing across the Atlantic. Gutierrez Map How and where are Native Americans presented on this map? Native Americans are presented on this map along the coasts of the Americas. Some were given descriptions of being cannibals, other societies were reflected as wealthy with temples and other riches, and others reflected the types of animals that inhabited the land. How might have the map’s indication of where Native Americans lived strengthen European claims of sovereignty? The map’s indication of Native American societies strengthened the European claims of sovereignty through its imperial claims. What do the Spanish and French coats of arms in the upper left hand corner of the map represent? The Spanish and French coat of arms in the upper left hand corner of the map represents the treaties of Cateau Cambresis signed between Spain, France, France, and England in 1559, which brought peace to Europe. What does the Portuguese coat of arms in the lower right corner of the map represent? The Portuguese coat of arms in the lower right corner of the map represents Portugal’s fleet off the Coast of Africa, which is dominating the southern Atlantic. Reference Axia College. (2010). Week One Overview. Retrieved February 21, 2010, from Axia College, Week One, rEsource. HIS115—U. S. History to 1865 Course Website.

Mysteries Of The World Essays - British Films, Free Essays

Mysteries Of The World Essays - British Films, Free Essays Mysteries of the World Mystery and the study of the unknown has always fascinated people. The search for truth in the "uncomprehensible" has led to many controversies. Some believe in the "supernatural", while others simply do not. Both types of people obviously have their own reasonings for believing or disbelieving in it. There are numerous world famous mysteries that are still controversial and remain "unsolved" to this day. Some of these mysteries include the Loch Ness Monster, the Abominable Snowman, and the Bermuda Triangle. The Loch Ness Monster is a legendary animal that supposedly resides in the depths of Loch Ness, a long narrow lake situated in rural Scotland. Stories concerning the monster date back to the 6th century A.D. The region was in complete isolation until a road was built alongside the lake in 1933. Then large numbers of people travelled through the region for the very first time. Over the years thousands have reported seeing something in the lake. Most reports depict a long neck surging from the water with a small head of a unknown creature. Pictures have even been taken of this "creature", but most scientists however, refuse to believe any creature of this kind lives in the Loch Ness. They claim that most reported cases are simply products of overactive imaginations, and as for the pictures, scientists say they are not lucid enough to distinguish items clearly, and some pictures are dubbed as "fake". A large number of non-scientists believe however, that the Loch Ness is the site of a b reeding colony of large unknown aquatic animals, due to the fact that Loch Ness was once an arm of the sea. Yearly summer investigations have been conducted since 1963 in attempt to unravel the mystery. Investigators have obtained films and sonar readings that indicate that there just might be some unknown animal in the depths of the Loch Ness. Evidence however, is inconclusive, and the controversy continues. Along with the Loch Ness monster, the abominable snowman shares fame as one the great mysteries of the world. The abominable snowman is a legendary creature of the Himalaya mountain region. It is reported to live in forested regions near the snow line. This creature is also known to some by the name Yeti. The abominable snowman is said to walk upright and have the appearance of half-man, half-ape. Many of the descriptions given to this creature are based upon the findings of large, unidentified foot prints in the snow, found in the Himalayas. In order to ascertain the truth behind the abominable snowman legends, countless expeditions have been undertaken, and most turned up empty. Today most experts hold the view that the "abominable snowman" is simply a "fairy tale" and don't take the matter seriously. The foot prints used to support the legends, are thought by scientists, to be prints of a bear or markings left my drifting snow and falling rocks. The legend of the abominable snowma n has been kept alive 'till this day, mostly by the Sherpa, a tribe of people living in the Himalayas. These people have always kept the belief that the abominable snowman is a true fact of life. To them he is seen as a religious figure, to be feared as well as protected. Without any concise evidence however, no one can prove this legendary animal from the mountains exists, so the mystery continues to baffle. Like the Loch Ness monster and the abominable snowman, the Bermuda triangle presents another intriguing wonder to the world. The Bermuda Triangle, also known as the Devil's triangle, is a triangular area of the Atlantic Ocean (305,000 km2) where the disappearances of ships, airplanes, and boats has led to the belief that "supernatural" forces inhabit this area of the sea. More than 200 planes, ships, and boats are believed to have disappeared in this triangle without a trace. This includes over 1,000 seamen and airmen. In most of these disappearances, it is the fact that no distress signal was ever received from the disappearing ships and/or planes that heightens the mystery of what happened to them. Although violent storms and downward air currents frequently occur in the area, scientists have not revealed anything extremely peculiar. Boundaries of the Bermuda Triangle

Illistration essay

Illistration essay Illistration essay Mr. HelgesonGold’n Plump 209 North Third Street Arcadia, WI 54612 Dear CEO Helgeson: I am writing you today to give you some more information about farm animals and what is happening to them, also to inform you a little bit about how much our health has been changing since factory farms like yours have changed what we are feeding these animals. And hopefully by the time you finish reading this you will choose to change your ways for the safety of our health and your animals. A few years ago in a Montana slaughter house a Black Angus cow awaiting execution went berserk, jumped a five foot fence, and escaped. She ran through the streets for hours until cops caught her with a tranquilizer gun, bringing her down. But her daring and challenging escape had caught the eye of many local hearts. The locals in the town started sending out telephones polls demanding her freedom. The slaughterhouses manager finally released the cow to a local farm to live out her life with joy and be worry free. She was also then given the name Molly (Mathew Scully). But unlike Molly, there are plenty of cows and other factory farm animals that don’t get a choice or are not as brave as she was. On the other hand, some cows and other farm animals just can’t wait to be taken to the slaughterhouse so they can finally escape the misery that these factory famers have been putting them through. Within the past fifty years factory farmers have changed the way they treat their animals. Most of them want to make money faster and be cheap about it, they are feeding animals to grow faster making most of them unable to stand up or even walk, also by changing what they are feeding these animals it is changing our diet too, making it unhealthy. There are many changing we have seen, one of them being: â€Å"In the 1970s, there were thousands of slaughterhouses producing the majority of beef sold. Today, we have only 13 (Robert Kenner).† With less slaughterhouses producing the meat and with more people requesting it, we have to question the quality of our food we consume and how it is affecting our health. Farmers have changed their ways over the past years to make the animals themselves so unhealthy and overweight just to get the meat produced faster. These factory farmers have been feeding their animals so they grow big fast before their bodies are able to catch up just to get food out faster. Most of these animals are not even able to get up and walk around on their feet because of this. On today’s factory farms, animals are crammed by the thousands into filthy, windowless sheds and confined to wire cages, gestation crates, barren dirt lots, and other cruel confinement systems. These animals will never raise their families, root around in the soil, build nests, or do anything that is natural and important to them. Most won’t even feel the sun on their backs or breathe fresh air until the day they are loaded onto trucks bound for slaughter. Cows, calves, pigs, chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese, and other animals live in extremely stressful conditions on these farm. These conditions range from being kept in small cages or jam-packed shed or on filthy feedlots, often with so little space that they can’t even turn around or lie down comfortably. Also, these animals are deprived of exercise so that all their bodies’ energy goes towards producing flesh, eggs, or milk for human consumption. And sadly, these factory farm animals are fed drugs to fatten them faster and keep them alive in conditions that could otherwise kill them. â€Å"Many animals become crippled under their own wright and die just inches away from water and food† (Factory Farming: Cruelty to Animals). When they have finally grown large enough, animals raised for food are crowded onto trucks and transported over many miles through all weather extremes, typically without food or water, to the slaughterhouse. Those who survive this nightmarish journey will have their throats slit, often while they are

Health, Social and Cultural Inequalities essays

Health, Social and Cultural Inequalities essays Capitalism in the global south is not only an inconvenience on traditional life; it is a deadly creation that leaves the wealth in the hands of very few elite corporations. It not only affects the fabric of typical life familiar to the people living within the global south, it also affects the health of many peasants, indigenous people, small farmers, and whole communities due to the types of chemicals, pesticides, and stressful work that capitalism from industrial agriculture imposes on them. It also exacerbates the inequalities prevalent within the social hierarchies of the global south. Many cultural norms and traditions are sacrificed for the sake of efficient methods of performing work to create the high yields desired by corporate elites. This lifestyle is unsuitable to the native individuals who are forced to change their way of life to make a living for themselves as required by the corporations that have placed them in this vulnerable situation. Large corporations like Monsanto, Syngenta and Cargill monopolize the agriculture business in the global south. Certain countries such as India, which has less political power, gets taken advantage of in this hegemonic business and the farmers are burdened with the task of utilizing a large supply of pesticides that they were forced to buy in order to maintain the upkeep and proliferation of their farms. The pesticide business is so lucrative that a typical meal in India will contain 40 times more pesticides than the typical North American meal. Since pesticides are designed to kill life, namely the insects that feed on pesticide laden foods, the pesticides also pose harm to humans who work very closely with them. In fact, in a study conducted on over 2000 couples in India of similar socio-economic statuses, who had husbands that were dispersing pesticides on their farms, tested as having lower reproductive potential. Additionally, the chemicals in the pesticides wreaked so m...

Media Ethics Case Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Media Ethics Case - Research Proposal Example Journalists are pillars of our society and they need to be ethically correct in discharging their duty to disseminate correct information to the public at large. Violation of academic trust through plagiarism, cheating, falsifying information or aiding and abetting in any of the nefarious activities are now serious offences and they are considered as totally unacceptable conduct in all areas of work, including journalism. Hence their professional honesty is crucial in promoting correct facts and interpretation on issues and topics that are socially, economically and politically relevant. During the Second Lebanon War between Hezbollah military and Israel forces, there was widespread damage to civilian infrastructure, including to the main airport of Beirut. War causalities also included killing of innocent civilians. The media had lapped up the war that had generated mass reaction all through the world. The photos of freelance Lebanese photo-journalist had generated mass hysteria against the Israel attacks which had damaged civilian places and displaced millions of the people from their home. Reuter later admitted that these photos were digitally altered (BBCNews, 2006). Altering the photographs digitally for vested interests was ethically wrong. The journalists are supposed to present the real situation to the people so the people can correlate with the event and accordingly propose a course of actions. In this case, the digitally altered photographs were meant to show gruesome and grotesque footage of war torn area and people and incite Muslims for the acts of terrorism and indirectly garner support for Hezbollah militants in their war against the Israelis. The actions of the Lebanese photo-journalist will have long term implications not only for the said journalist but the whole cadre of the journalist would become the target for vested interest and

Business Systems assignment. Implementing ERP at RMH and its Essay

Business Systems assignment. Implementing ERP at RMH and its implication - Essay Example This paper will focus on the benefits of ERP to RMH and will explore what are the Critical Success Factors that affect the successful implementation and the approach that RMH needs to follow for ERP transition. RMH’s strategic vision is to provide quality service to all the patients and hence provide patient satisfaction using best processes, skills and attitude of employees. An integrated ERP system is seen as a facilitator of the ultimate patient satisfaction due to the various benefits that it is expected to provide the hospital (Yang & Su, 2009, 722). The most prominent benefit of ERP is that it consolidates all processes, all departments and divisions into a central network (Botta-Genoulaz and Millet, 2006,204-210). This consolidation is manifested in terms of better management and controlling function, better ?nancial ?ows control, information ?ows control, increased IT infrastructure capability; and control of ?ow of goods and services (Saatcioglu, 2008, 690-706). For e xample, better management, better information flow and better control of services is initiated when there is online and accessible information available simultaneously at all relevant points as and when needed by RMH and its related medical centres. The ERP system would enable better data management for both the employees and the patients. A patient’s name and previous medical history including lab reports and past medication details to be read by the doctor even before the patient is seen. The doctor can also enter the prescription details directlty into the system from where the pharmacy can have a direct access (Hawkings, 2007, 30). In RMH, for example, the pharmacy would enter the sales into the system that will update the purchase department, from where the automated system apprises the suppliers who would release Just in Time (JIT) deliveries to the hospital (Yang & Su, 2009, ). Another benefit for RMH is that ERP implementation creates a real-time sharing of informatio n within RMH and with its patients and suppliers (Gupta & Kohli, 2006, 687). All the relevant departments and people get the information in real time and hence are able to act quickly, reducing wastages due to time delays or duplications – the doctors know first hand the case history, the pharmacies are more efficient with prescription filling and the suppliers operate in real time. Similarly, in case of scheduling people and equipment, ERP enables the hopital adminisration to view the availability and need across different departments, offices and facilities and hence make optimum use of resources (Yang and Su, 2009, 722-752). All the benefits that ERP facilitate can be presumed to be leading to better patient relationship mamagement (Forslund, 2010, 44-56). The patients receive accurate and efficient service and hence they are better satisfied (Huang, Huang, Wu & Lin, 2009, 1085-1100). It shows that there is a direct impact on the financial management, operations and admini stration of the hospital. The data is complete, accessible and leads to reduced workload, low inventories better quality decision making all across the hospitals (Gattiker and Goodhue, 2005, 561-587). In the case of RMH, the benefits are expected to extend to its external facilities and London office as well. The time different between the two countries makes the traditional postal mail

Human trafficking in the United States and is Human trafficking Research Paper

Human trafficking in the United States and is Human trafficking related or associated to poverty - Research Paper Example f a questionnaire survey, data will be collected in order to create a mathematical resource for information that will suggest correlations between poverty and incidents of human trafficking in the United States. The biggest issue in curtailing human trafficking is the inability for law enforcement to track and prosecute the incidents. The following table shows the number of suspected cases of trafficking and their type of incarceration. The second table shows the number of prosecutions between the years 2001 and 2005. Because of the difficulty in prosecuting these cases and in creating a viable system of discovering the victims and freeing them from bondage, the best course is through prevention. Through examining the causes and the reasons behind how this activity is propagated, it might be possible to diminish and eliminate the modern day slavery that occurs. As a study in human trafficking, this research will explore the ways in which poverty contributes to the issue. The purpose of the research is to identify those factors in poverty that create an environment in which human trafficking can exist. These factors will include, but not be limited to, income level in the country of origin, sex, and age. Secondary research will be used to create a foundation for the primary research, providing statistics that are relevant to the subject. The primary research will be conducted using quantitative techniques that will assess the identified three variables which increase the level of human trafficking in the United States. The proposed research will be useful for creating an understanding of the issue of human trafficking as it relates to economic and demographic factors. The research for this proposal will be conducted using theories of exploratory research. According to Stebbins (2001), using exploratory research for social science is defined by â€Å"the discovery of generalizations leading to description and understanding† (p. 3). The selected methodology for

The significant works of E.E. Cummings Research Paper

The significant works of E.E. Cummings - Research Paper Example His personal story reflected in poems such as number 34 about his father and All in green went my love riding, which relates his relationship to the female sex. He is best remembered, however, for his avant-guarde use of language Near the end of his life, Cummings wrote little i, a poem that looked back to his childhood and in a few short lines expressed the memory of a child from the point of view of his childhood home. He wrote â€Å"who are you little i/(five or six years old)/peering from some high/window; at the gold/of November sunset† (Reef, 1). Cummings began his relationship with poetry at a young age. His mother wrote poetry and encouraged her son to jot down his ideas and thoughts and put them into poetic form. Cummings once said â€Å"I did not decide to become a poet- I was always writing poetry† (Reef 5). Poetry was a part of his life from such a young age that he never knew a time when he was not writing and his prolific list of work reveals the depth to which the art form allowed for his expression Cummings, who is known for using lower case letters in spite of grammatical correctness, is also known for his overt sentimentality. His poem number 34 from his 50 Poems expresses his love for his father who had died in a car accident in 1926. The first stanza, ‘my father moved through dooms of love/through sames of am through haves of give,/singing each morning out of each night/my father moved through depths of height† (Bloom 10). This work, however sentimental, does reveal the differences between himself and his father. His father is characterized as open and loving, an attachment to the divine love that was lacking in the emotional sphere of Cummings who was more comfortable in isolation, his experience in life leaving him with the difficulty of love and the realities of death. He writes in the work â€Å"though dull were all we taste as bright/ bitter all utterly things sweet,/maggoty minus and dumb death/all we inherit . All bequeath/† as a discussion of the inevitability of death making all that is sweet in life have a bit of bitterness as it will pass into the oblivion of death. In his poem All in Green Went My Love Riding, the predatory nature of the female can be observed through the construction of the phrasing, coupled with the last line that suggests that more than once he had fallen to the hunt of a woman. Cora Robey states that â€Å"Cummings borrows from the Classic and Medieval past and evokes the method of the Pre-Raphaelite poets in exploring his theme: the lover’s vision of feminine cruelty† (Robey 23). Cummings uses imagery such as â€Å"the famished arrows† in order to continue the underlying theme of the cruelty of the exercise. The hunt is wrapped in beautiful concepts such as â€Å"the great horse of gold/into the silver dawn† which envelops the hunt in visual beauty, the emotional content rife with the fear of the consummation of that hunt - th at the speaker will fall to the wiles, his desire to do so as much apparent as his realization that he will ‘die’ from the experience (Lehman 393). In experimenting with language, Cummings used simple language and turned the sentence structure, juxtaposing the combinations in order to create interesting and unexpected relationships between them (Kidder and Oppenheim 79). In his poem, may i feel said he, Cummings explores a sexual interlude using very simple language the grinds like wheel over and over, the syntax

Risk assessment plan Math Problem Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4750 words

Risk assessment plan - Math Problem Example The paper tells that in coming up with a risk management plan, there are several steps involved. The first step is identifying the risk factors involved. In this stage, the event, probability, impact, contingency, reduction and exposure is established. The event simply means an act or incidence that might happen, probability defines the likelihood of an event occurring, impact is the consequence of an event happening. Mitigation happens to be how much the probability of an event may be reduced. Reduction is represented mathematically as the product of mitigation and contingency, whereas exposure is the result of reduction subtracted from risk. In the initial steps, the project's risk management team has to identify the risks as well as their probabilities and consequences. The risks and threats are then analyzed and a risk profile created depending on the consequence and likelihood of occurrence. The threats and risks that are involved in this project may be subdivide into three main categories based on the entity the most impact is felt. The divisions may be environmental, personnel and the public. The contractor may have to execute his task with the railway being in use. Rubble and materials used overhead are a threat to the public, while the running railway is a risk to the experts on the project. Using the profiling, collapse of the bridge during construction may be catastrophic, yet rare thus falling in the high-risk category of the assessment profile. Probabilistic risk analysis (PRA) or quantitative risk analysis (QRA) or probabilistic safety analysis (PSA) is one of the most used methods of analysing risk in project development and operation (Bedford & Cooke, 2001, p. 210). The use of this technique supports and validates the improvement of control and mitigation measures against threats. Incorporating probability in the project risk management gives the problem a wider scope and allows the stakeholders a better grasp of uncertainty and the need to impr ove on the risk control measures chosen for a given project. Incorporating probability in the development process allows in the assessment of what may happen, its likelihood and the possible consequences in the case of its occurrence. The works of Kaplan and Garrick in defining uncertainties and risk in mathematical terms aids in programming. The definition of risk as a set of scenarios Si, each with a probability Pi and a consequence Xi, generate a risk curve based on the increase or decrease in severity (Goodwin & Wright, 2003, p. 49). From this, programmers can assess inputs through the variations of the severity, consequence and frequency. The Scenario represents the probabilistic sample space in which event is contained (both favourable and unfavourable) each with a chance of occurring. However, in the probabilistic equations, the chances might be equal or biased; in the risk, assessment equality of the scenarios is hard to come by. The chances of occurrence in pure probability are equated to frequency in risk management. The ideology behind introducing the probability of frequency allows the risk analysis to be conducted based on empirical data. If a given project, in a given period, suffers a number of threats and risks the probability of a certain threat can be equated to the number of times it has

Reading and Writing about Arguments session long progect Essay

Reading and Writing about Arguments session long progect - Essay Example Therefore, coming down 6 hours later, there was no reflection on the road to warn any approaching driver and needless to say, I ended up colliding head on with the boulders surrounding the still wet culvert. As you stated earlier on, the reason for your refusal to indemnify me is that the council should be responsible for compensation of my wrecked car. However, my argument is simple, my car is insured with you, I have paid all my premiums on time and up to date, there was no negligence on my part; hence, I want to be compensated in the shortest time possible and you may want to in turn get compensated by the municipal. However, as per our agreement, I have no contractual agreement with the municipal to compensate me in case of any loss. Therefore, as far as I am concerned, you will need to honor my claim and then later you may want to settle your own case with the municipal authorities to get compensated because the case was clear cut; there was no negligence on my part (Hawken, Angela; Carroll, Stephen J; Abrahamse, Allan F; Institute for Civil Justice (U.S.), 2001). This is not a threat but a warning to you that in case this pull-and-tag war with the municipal authorities is costing me dearly and interrupting my life and I may have to sue you if this continues. Over this waiting period, I have had to use a taxi every night going home and in the morning going to work and it is very expensive. The costs have been piling up as time drags and therefore, I would much appreciate if you could honor our contractual agreement as soon as possible because this loss is deeply negatively affecting my life. That is the reason I am warning that if you do not issue me with a written promise to indemnify me in the shortest time possible, I will initiate a law suit. However, over the past five years that I have been paying my premiums, I have personally come to know your company

The significant works of E.E. Cummings Research Paper

The significant works of E.E. Cummings - Research Paper Example His personal story reflected in poems such as number 34 about his father and All in green went my love riding, which relates his relationship to the female sex. He is best remembered, however, for his avant-guarde use of language Near the end of his life, Cummings wrote little i, a poem that looked back to his childhood and in a few short lines expressed the memory of a child from the point of view of his childhood home. He wrote â€Å"who are you little i/(five or six years old)/peering from some high/window; at the gold/of November sunset† (Reef, 1). Cummings began his relationship with poetry at a young age. His mother wrote poetry and encouraged her son to jot down his ideas and thoughts and put them into poetic form. Cummings once said â€Å"I did not decide to become a poet- I was always writing poetry† (Reef 5). Poetry was a part of his life from such a young age that he never knew a time when he was not writing and his prolific list of work reveals the depth to which the art form allowed for his expression Cummings, who is known for using lower case letters in spite of grammatical correctness, is also known for his overt sentimentality. His poem number 34 from his 50 Poems expresses his love for his father who had died in a car accident in 1926. The first stanza, ‘my father moved through dooms of love/through sames of am through haves of give,/singing each morning out of each night/my father moved through depths of height† (Bloom 10). This work, however sentimental, does reveal the differences between himself and his father. His father is characterized as open and loving, an attachment to the divine love that was lacking in the emotional sphere of Cummings who was more comfortable in isolation, his experience in life leaving him with the difficulty of love and the realities of death. He writes in the work â€Å"though dull were all we taste as bright/ bitter all utterly things sweet,/maggoty minus and dumb death/all we inherit . All bequeath/† as a discussion of the inevitability of death making all that is sweet in life have a bit of bitterness as it will pass into the oblivion of death. In his poem All in Green Went My Love Riding, the predatory nature of the female can be observed through the construction of the phrasing, coupled with the last line that suggests that more than once he had fallen to the hunt of a woman. Cora Robey states that â€Å"Cummings borrows from the Classic and Medieval past and evokes the method of the Pre-Raphaelite poets in exploring his theme: the lover’s vision of feminine cruelty† (Robey 23). Cummings uses imagery such as â€Å"the famished arrows† in order to continue the underlying theme of the cruelty of the exercise. The hunt is wrapped in beautiful concepts such as â€Å"the great horse of gold/into the silver dawn† which envelops the hunt in visual beauty, the emotional content rife with the fear of the consummation of that hunt - th at the speaker will fall to the wiles, his desire to do so as much apparent as his realization that he will ‘die’ from the experience (Lehman 393). In experimenting with language, Cummings used simple language and turned the sentence structure, juxtaposing the combinations in order to create interesting and unexpected relationships between them (Kidder and Oppenheim 79). In his poem, may i feel said he, Cummings explores a sexual interlude using very simple language the grinds like wheel over and over, the syntax

Reading and Writing about Arguments session long progect Essay

Reading and Writing about Arguments session long progect - Essay Example Therefore, coming down 6 hours later, there was no reflection on the road to warn any approaching driver and needless to say, I ended up colliding head on with the boulders surrounding the still wet culvert. As you stated earlier on, the reason for your refusal to indemnify me is that the council should be responsible for compensation of my wrecked car. However, my argument is simple, my car is insured with you, I have paid all my premiums on time and up to date, there was no negligence on my part; hence, I want to be compensated in the shortest time possible and you may want to in turn get compensated by the municipal. However, as per our agreement, I have no contractual agreement with the municipal to compensate me in case of any loss. Therefore, as far as I am concerned, you will need to honor my claim and then later you may want to settle your own case with the municipal authorities to get compensated because the case was clear cut; there was no negligence on my part (Hawken, Angela; Carroll, Stephen J; Abrahamse, Allan F; Institute for Civil Justice (U.S.), 2001). This is not a threat but a warning to you that in case this pull-and-tag war with the municipal authorities is costing me dearly and interrupting my life and I may have to sue you if this continues. Over this waiting period, I have had to use a taxi every night going home and in the morning going to work and it is very expensive. The costs have been piling up as time drags and therefore, I would much appreciate if you could honor our contractual agreement as soon as possible because this loss is deeply negatively affecting my life. That is the reason I am warning that if you do not issue me with a written promise to indemnify me in the shortest time possible, I will initiate a law suit. However, over the past five years that I have been paying my premiums, I have personally come to know your company

Army Values Essay Example for Free

Army Values Essay I am writing an RBI on Respect and Disrespect. Respect is one of the seven army values. It is the third army value. AS an NCO I should live up to all army values at a standard higher then soldiers. The first army value is Loyalty means to bear true faith and allegiance to the U. S. constitution, the Army, and other soldiers. To be loyal to the nation and its heritage. I seen boxes on the side of the road, I did not think and took them. I was not loyal to me fellow soldiers that where in need of the boxes. By wearing the uniform you are expressing your loyalty an by doing your share, you show your loyalty to your unit. I did not do by share by helping the storm victims. The second army value is Duty it means to fulfill your obligations. Accept responsibility for your own actions and those entrusted to your care. Find opportunities to improve oneself for the good of the group. I accept my responsibility for taking the boxes. I know I was wrong and may have cause a family to not have the means to move their belonging because I was only thinking of myself. The third army value is Respect means to rely upon the golden rule. Do unto other as you would have them do unto you. It also means how we consider others reflects upon each of us, both personally and as a professional organization. When I took the boxes I did not treat the soldiers that lost belongings as I would have like to be treated. If what happen to them happen to me I would have thought the world was coming to an end. The decision I made shown that I had respect for them, myself or the military. My actions were disrespectfully to my unit and the military. The actions that I took that day will not happen again. I will think of others before I think of myself. Webster defines respect as an act of giving particular attention and consideration. I did not consider the wellbeing of the people that was affected by the storm or how others would view my actions. I know that I failed my soldiers and all the people that were affected by the storm. The fourth army value is selfless service it means to put the welfare of the nation, the Army, and your subordinates before your own. Selfless service leads to organizational teamwork and encompasses discipline, self-control and faith in the system. I did not follow the fourth army value. I did put the needs of the storm victims before my needs. I must always that of others before I think of myself. The fifth army value is honor it means to live to all the Army values. I did not live up to any of the army values and I have failed as a NCO. The sixth army value is Integrity it means to do what is right, legally and morally. Be willing to do what is right even when no one is looking. It is our moral compass an inner voice. I did not do what was morally right. My actions caused others to call my integrity into play. Soldiers now believe that I want do things that are right, because I did something wrong. Now I need to show soldiers that I do have integrity. The last army value is personal courage it means how we use our ability to face fear, danger, or adversity, both physical and moral courage. I have no personal courage. I would not have been able to move on if I lost what the soldiers lost in the storm. I know now what the army values are and understand how I did not act as a soldier or an NCO. I should live by the army values when I am in uniform and when I am not in uniform. I army values should be used when make all decision military and personal.

Importance Of Financial Inclusion In The Indian Scenario

Importance Of Financial Inclusion In The Indian Scenario Gandhi had once had once remarked, Our cities are not India. India lives in her seven and a half lakh of villageà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.. (Gandhi 1966:288-89). Thus to build a strong India it becomes very necessary to strengthen and build its villages. The banking and financial services in our country had been limited to a section of elite population. Despite huge demand for these services the financial structure of such services has forever been very weak. The population in these regions have to depend on the informal sector like the local money-lenders for availing finance. Thus there arises the need for Financial Inclusion. By Financial Inclusion we mean the easy delivery of financial services to large sections of the unprivileged society. It also means availing loans to the disadvantaged society at affordable cost. HISTORY AND EMERGENCE IN INDIA The concept of Financial Inclusion can be traced back to the year 1904 when Co-operative Movement took place in India. It gained momentum when 14 major commercial banks of the country were nationalized in 1969 and bank scheme was introduced thereafter. Branches were opened in large numbers across the country and even in the areas which were previously being neglected and those which needed quick recovery to escape the viscous cycle of poverty. Even after all these measures even till date a sizable portion of the population of the country could not be brought under the fold of banking system. In India the credit structure is crumbling and the availability of funds to the needy and disadvantaged is very poor. There are only a meagre number of such banks which are actually functional and really fulfilling the aim of bringing about financial equality and stability in the system. There is an immediate need for increased interaction and greater participation from state, banks and SHGs. The enactment of the Regional Rural Banks Act in the mid 1970s was the first step toward Financial Inclusion. It had lead to the geographical expansion of the credits and has made financial services accessible to the rural poor. In India the financial coverage of the rural communities by the commercial banks and the regional rural banks is only 29% and only about 17 % by the long-term and short-term rural credit cooperative societies. It is rather more saddening to see the result of these financial institutions individually servicing the villages. Presently each branch office of the Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs) services only 20 villages and the Primary Agricultural Credit Societies up to 6.4 villages. These figures itself portray the disheartening condition of the financial structure in rural India and achieving Financial Inclusion seems like a distant dream. In fact, there is a severe gap in financial access which needs special attention. IMPORTANCE OF FINANCIAL INCLUSION IN THE INDIAN SCENARIO India ranks second in the world in terms of Financially Excluded Households. In India even today loans are not available to about 135 million households. According to a report in The Hindu dated 8th December, 2012 the Deputy Governor of The Reserve Bank of India Dr K. C. Chakrabarty had remarked, India needs strong measures for the financial inclusion of the poor and the marginalized. The main reasons for financial exclusion in India, from the demand side are lack of awareness, low income, poverty and illiteracy while from the supply side is distance from branch, branch timings, cumbersome documentation and procedures, unsuitable products, language, staff attitudes etc. Thus there is an immediate need to improve on the status of Financial Inclusion in our country and this has to start from the base levels. Financial Inclusion contributes to an all round development of the society. We can show that with help of a systematic diagram:- P.T.O Financial Inclusion fulfils some economics objectives and also some social and political objectives. The economic objectives includes equitable growth of the society which implies integrating everyone in the development process mobilization of savings towards the needy larger markets for financial systems so that loans are available to the unprivileged class easily While the Social and Political objectives comprised of poverty elevation for the welfare of the general people sustainable development programs to be implemented channelizing governments programs in the right direction Thus to bring about an all round development in the society we need to have a strong financial structure. It is only possible with both government interventions and also community participation. There has to be community indulgence at a very great extent. They have to come together and collaborate with the banks and take part in their initiatives to promote financial inclusion. There are innumerable loopholes which have to focus on and dealt with to bring about equitable growth. We now concentrate on two case studies which throw light on some of the issues discussed above. CASE STUDIES We now narrow down our study and concentrate on two case studies which will help us analyse the problems of Financial Inclusion in India: Case Study 1: The Economically Backward region of Jharkhand Case Study 2: The Progressive Ras village of Gujarat Case study 1: JHARKHAND The Reserve Bank of India being the apex bank in India had given guidelines to all the commercial banks to promote financial inclusion in rural India. We take up the case study highlighting the economically backward region of Jharkhand. Poverty in Jharkhand had had a prolonged chain and this could be escaped only through financial inclusion. The main reasons for it being A very dense population A very low rate of literacy- about 53.6% Extremely poor state with the National Average of people below the poverty line being 40.2% The senior level executives in RBI were worried about the extremely low performance of the state in rural areas in Jharkhand and thus a branch of RBI was setup in Ranchi. The commercial banks were given direction to promote financial inclusion. The commercial banks tried to promote financial inclusion in this region by taking into account some other channels as involving the Self-Help Groups (SHGs), Micro-finance Institutions (MFIs), Non-Commercial Banks as National Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development (NABARD), various Non- Governmental organizations, some Non- Banking Finance Companies (NBFCs), Co-operatives and Co-operative banks. Although a large chunk of the population in Jharkhand lives in rural areas the private banks have only 13% of the total number of branches in the rural areas. The commercial banks were very reluctant to open branches here as due to poverty, less demand for financial inclusion, insufficient manpower and inappropriate technology there were high chances of incurring losses. But it was thought to be the responsibility of the banks to induce into the people a sense of financial inclusiveness. It was Bank of India who was the first to come forward and served as a backbone of the public sector banks in the light of financial inclusion in Jharkhand. Bank of India set up 385 branches in Jharkhand. Bank of India had done a commendable job in Jharkhand in terms of number of branches it had opened keeping in view the highly dispersed and dense population of the country. The products offered were Kisan Credit Card, General Credit Card, loans to run micro-finance and micro-insurance. Also a workin g group was setup by RBI to internalise NGOs and SHGs as a potential intervention tool for doing banking business with the marginalised and poor. The NABARD too came up with a massive program called the SHG Bank Linkage Programme (SBLP). According to a report there were about 5265 new savings account which were opened through SHG interventions. Though the initiative seems to be a success at a glance, but the real picture differs. The SHGs and NGOs themselves were not financially and technically sound. For successful community participation it was required to train the individuals, give them basic financial education and acquaint them with modern technologies. Thus technical empowerment could have been enabled by the commercial banks by training and development practices of banking and financial risk management. They also needed financial support. Jharkhand being largely dependent on agricultural and related occupations led to high irregularity of income. This made situations worse as in the years when agricultural and related business did not perform well all steps taken to promote financial inclusion failed. Farmers in Jharkhand do not have access to formal finance for growing crops because of the high risk associated with it. Thus there was need for creating avenues of insurance trade for the farmer to participate in the process of financial inclusion. Development of mobile banking services can be a great way in improving the condition of financial inclusion in the state. Jharkhand having very poor rate of literacy most of the masses know no other language than their vernacular language and in such situations technology based devises like ATM machines do not serve the purpose and becomes a hurdle in the way of financial inclusiveness. Thus there was a need for the RBI and the commercial banks to take up the issue with more intensive research and proper handling. Improving and better monitoring of the commercial banks by reporting at specifies intervals, it should be made mandatory for banks have to undergo a statutory audit every year apart from the internal audit system that they posses and also assessing them on their achievements in the process of promoting financial inclusion. Thus a better planning and better approach towards things were required to achieve the aimed goal. Case Study 2: RAS VILLAGE IN GUJRAT The next study concerns the Ras Village in Gujarat. This village unlike that of villages in Jharkhand is a much more developed and progressive village. The Ras Village contributes much to the revolutionary Amul Co-operative movement in Gujarat. The village had a well-functional Government Community Health Centre and branches of public sector banks. According to a report the total deposit base was 250 million dollars on 31 March 2007 where Non- Resident Indians constituted 50 % of the banks deposit base. The above village was a pretty well off and a progressive village according to the Indian standards, where the dairy activity has helped to improve the living standards of the people. Ras village more or less had some kind of financial structure and was not totally absent as in the case of villages in Jharkhand. We now focus on the data regarding presence of bank accounts and availing credit facilities in these areas: Economic Research (NCAER) The above study shows that 75.2 per cent of the villagers have bank accounts and 26.7 per cent have availed credit. According to a report by the World Bank Rural Finance Access Survey (RFAS) of 2003 which indicated that on an average only 41 per cent of rural households have bank accounts and among that only 21 per cent have some access to formal credit avenues (Bapat, 2010). Keeping that as a benchmark we can say that the Ras Village is an Ideal village as the number of people availing loans is 26.7 per cent and 75.2 per cent villagers having a bank account is a striking number in itself. The customers had a high rate of satisfaction in holding the bank accounts. The customers perceptions were based on efficiency in the functioning of the banks, adequacy, timeliness, cost, security, convenience, staff and transactions Almost 66 per cent of the villagers were inclined towards future credit facilities. The villagers were urged upon taking cattle loans, business loans and also housing loans. There was clear indication of the villagers wanting to participate in rural credit and avail loans. There has been financial penetration up to a very extent and there was ample scope for further penetration. But there is another very important aspect which existed in the Ras village which lead to these the well-developed cooperative milk collection system. They were already at a stable condition as the community had come forward and formed the milk cooperative. The banks had collaborated with them which lead to the upliftment of the village. It was profitable for the banks to enter into an agreement with the clients and the village cooperative milk-collection centre. Not only the village concerned but the whole of Gujarat has developed very rapidly on all economics terms including banking. And to achieve this goal the community and the cooperatives banks have played a crucial role. There was a significant correlation between holding bank account and their income, education, asset holding status and living conditions. The villagers in this village were economically more or less stable with moderate asset holding and thus they could easily avail loans. COMPARISONS After having an extensive view into the case studies we get a contrasting picture of the two villages in India. On one hand we have Jharkhand which is one of the poorest states in India and we see a crumbling financial structure. While on the other hand we have Gujarat, which at one point of time had aimed at 100 per cent financial inclusion, though that remains unattained but it has been is financially stable and has achieved been called a progressive state. The case studies give us an in-sight into the reasons for such glaring disparity in the same country. We now try and systematically try to analyse it in a tabular form. JHARKHAND RAS VILLAGE, GUJRAT ECONOMIC CONDITIONS Extremely poor state with the National Average of people below the poverty line being 40.2% Mostly dependent on agriculture or related activities Banks unwilling to collaborate Farmers do not have access to formal finance because of the high risk associated with it Being a rich state with a stable financial structure Economically stable and well-off The well-developed milk cooperative which made the economy flourishing The total deposit base was 250 million dollars COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION The SHGs and NGOs had tried to bring about the community together People were economically viable and no access to formal finance They had no formal training or technical knowhow to participate in the interventions Community participation more or less absent There was already existing community participation in the form of milk cooperatives The people wanted to participate based on efficiency in the functioning of the banks, adequacy, timeliness, cost, security, convenience, staff and transactions. Almost 66 per cent of the villagers were inclined towards future credit facilities. ROLE OF BANKS Banks were not willing to open up branches due to the poor economic conditions Commercial banks came forward and started working with the SHGs, MFIs and NGOs. Bank of India was the first to take such initiatives It was profitable for the banks to enter into an agreement with the clients and the village cooperative milk-collection centre Already public banks had existing branches Most people were economically aware and active EDUCATION AND TRAINING People were illiterate No economic sense No technical knowledge Insufficient manpower and inappropriate technology due to lack of educated masses Unable to reap the benefits of Kisan Credit Card and General Credit Card People were already aware of the advantages of banks and formal credit and had some amount of economic sense Already existing communities and some amount technical knowhow INFERENCE Lead to financial exclusion and failure of the government initiatives Lead to Financial Inclusion and all-round development of the village CONCLUSION Empirical evidence shows that Financial Inclusion leads to Economic Growth. To have an inclusive growth we need to bring the under-developed regions of the country at par with the developed regions. The above case studies of Jharkhand and Gujarat are an example of glaring disparity in our country which can only be bridged through initiatives from the banks and the community as well. Banks should move beyond traditional products as deposits and credits and rather introduce insurance, mutual funds and introduce better schemes for financially secluded people and have better risk managements. Also establishment of a rural infrastructure is a prerequisite for financial inclusion. There should be programs to initiate more of community participation by starting vocational training for the rural youth and have an improved workforce. Commercial banks have to draw a clear line between sound and unsound practices and chalk out a financial inclusion strategy so that it does not give rise to subp rime crisis like situation. But we know that commercial banks always work with a profit motive. Thus the aim should be to enable the poor to get out of impoverished situations and in the process simultaneously enhance their own profitability. The dream of Inclusive Growth will not be complete until millions of micro-entrepreneurs are created across the country. All budding entrepreneurs have to face these challenges and find solutions. People working in the social sector should work for filling up the deficit existing in the economic and social arena. To sum up, Financial Inclusion is the road that India needs to travel toward becoming a global player. Financial access will attract global market players in India and that will result in increasing employment and business opportunities. Inclusive growth will act as a source of empowerment and allow people to participate more effectively in the economic and social process. ******************************