Talk Shows

If social order is not a given, if it is not encoded in our DNA, then to some extent we are always in the process of producing â€Å"virtual realities,† some more functional than others. Habits, routines, and institutions are the patterns that create the â€Å"world taken for granted. † Knowledge of how to behave is contained in cultural scripts that are themselves products of human interaction and communication about the nature of â€Å"reality. † Shame, guilt, embarrassment are controlling feelings that arise from â€Å"speaking the unspeakable† and from violating cultural taboos. Society is a result of its boundaries,of what it will and won’t allow. As we watch, listen, and are entertained, TV talk shows are rewriting our cultural scripts, altering our perceptions, our social relationships, and our relationships to the natural world. TV talk shows offer us a world of blurred boundaries. Cultural distinctions between public and private, credible and incredible witnesses, truth and falseness, good and evil, sickness and irresponsibility, normal and abnormal, therapy and exploitation, intimate and stranger, fragmentation and community are manipulated and erased for our distraction and entertainment. A community in real time and place exhibits longevity, an interdependence based on common interests, daily concerns, mutual obligations, norms, kinship, friendship, loyalty, and local knowledge, and real physical structures, not just shared information. If your neighbor’s house is on fire, you are motivated to help put it out, or at least interested in having it put out, because you care about your neighbor and the fire is a threat to your own house. Television talk shows create an ersatz community, without any of the social and personal responsibilities that are attached to real life. Therapy as entertainment is the appeal of these shows. The so-called hosts rely on the cynical use of the therapeutic model for psychological sound bites. The need to educate and inform the audience is the voiced rationale for getting the so-called guests to give ever more titillating details of their misdeeds, or of the misdeeds done to them by family or friends (often not on the show). The underlying assumption — that most social pathology is the result of a medical problem beyond the control of the so-called â€Å"victim† — encourages, at least indirectly, people to come on to these shows confessing outrageous stories of anti-social behavior to millions of strangers. Rather than being mortified, ashamed, or trying to hide their stigma, â€Å"guests† willingly and eagerly discuss their child molesting, sexual quirks, and criminal records in an effort to seek â€Å"understanding† for their particular disease. Yet these people remain caricatures, plucked out of the context of their real lives, unimportant except for their entertaining problem. (In real life someone might question the benefits of publicly confessing to people who really don’t care about you or don’t have the expertise to give advice. Exploitation, voyeurism, peeping Toms, freak shows all come to mind. ) The central distortion that these shows propound is that they give useful therapy to guests and useful advice to the audience. And that they are not primarily designed to extract the most riveting and most entertaining emotional displays from participants. This leads to such self-serving and silly speeches by hosts as: â€Å"I ask this question not to pry in your business but to educate parents in our audience† (Oprah, trying to get graphic details from a female guest who claims to have been sodomized by her father) and â€Å"Do I understand, Lisa, that intercourse began with your dad at age 12, and oral sex between 5 and 12? Do I understand that you were beaten before and after the sexual encounters? (Phil, reading from prepared notes, to a crying teenager). The audience at various points in the hour has a chance to get on television too. Their questions are often rude by conventional standards and reinforce the host’s requests for more potentially entertaining details. Their advice ranges from merely simplistic, under the circumstances, to misleading and erroneous. For example, in a recent Sally Jessy Raphael Show entitled â€Å"When Your Best Friend Is Sleeping With Your Father,† the daughters on stage were advised to â€Å"just love them both and accept the situation. † The most problematic part of this is the generally nonjudgmental tenor of the dialogue. Society’s conventions are flouted with impunity, and the hidden message is that the way to get on television is to be as outrageous and antisocial as possible. The 20 million home viewers have no direct contact, physically, with the social situation in the studio. Home viewers can be listening to people recounting concentration camp horrors while popping a frozen dinner into the microwave. The ordinary, everyday world of the home audience is made bizarre by the contrasting tales of horror and woe they are only half listening to. The viewer has two basic options: He or she can, like the hero of Nathanael West’s tragic Miss Lonelyhearts, go crazy listening to these stories of hideous pain and pathology. Or he or she must become inured, apathetic, or amused, or, to use the darkly delicious German word schadenfreude, he or she may get a deep sense of glee at another’s misfortunes. People come into view, talk, cry, disappear, and in between we watch the commercials for consumer products that promise to improve our lives. Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? revolves around the seemingly out-of-place confessions by a husband and wife of their most private life together to two guests in their home who are virtual strangers. Traditional expectations of polite formalities and barriers are constantly breached within the action of the play. The husband, at one point says, â€Å"Aww, that was nice, I think we’ve been having a, a real good evening, all things considered. We’ve sat around, and got to know each other, and had fun and games.. .† Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? , however disconcerting to the audience, is just a play with actors. Television talk shows are arenas for real people. Their manipulation by â€Å"hosts,† who alternate between mocking, a patronizing cynicism (†I want to be as smart as you someday† — Phil), and a carefully constructed verisimilitude of caring (†Thank you for sharing that with us† — Oprah) must have repercussions for the â€Å"guests† after the show is over. These people may really be seeking help or understanding. Appropriate reactions seem virtually impossible under the circumstances. We the viewing audience have entertained ourselves at the disasters of real lives. This is one of the more shameless aspects of the talk show spectacle. As passive witnesses, we consume others’ misfortunes without feeling any responsibility to do anything to intervene.

Macbeth Servant Diary Entries Essay

Dear diary, as I am a servant in Thane Macbeth’s castle I have noticed a sudden change in his behaviour. I have always thought of Macbeth as a courageous, honest loyal man, however I have witnessed many events that have forced me to think otherwise. When Macbeth returned from battle, he was greeted by Lady Macbeth in the Castle. I was cleaning the floors in the room next door to ensure that everything was presentable for the arrival of King Duncan. Lady Macbeth seemed very excited to see him and Macbeth looked just as happy. They seemed to be having a pleasant short conservation. Nevertheless, whilst I was going out to fetch some clean water I overheard Lady Macbeth say something very strange to Macbeth. She said â€Å"Your hand, your tongue: look like the innocent flower but be the serpent under’t.† I replayed this over and over in my head yet I could not understand what it could have meant. Macbeth had always been loyal and truthful. What actions were he going to take that were so evil that they would reveal the serpent inside him? All these questions remained unanswered, well not for long anyway†¦ Dear diary, I went to the courtyard of the castle with Macbeth. There we met Banquo and Fleance. Banquo was feeling rather uneasy about going to sleep because he was fearing that he will dream of three, weird sisters. Macbeth persuaded Banquo to talk about the things he was seeing in his dreams with him sometime. After they had finished talking, everyone left leaving Macbeth alone in the courtyard. I decided to observe his actions therefore I hid in the shadow. Macbeth started talking to himself about how he can see a dagger before him. He seemed really confused about whether or not the dagger was really there or if it was just a vision in his mind. What was he going on about? I was standing right there as well and I could see everything in his view. There was nothing there; not a dagger in sight! What I could not understand was why he as acting so crazy all of a sudden? Normal people do not imagine seeing daggers before their eyes. Perhaps the fact that the object was a dagger may be related to something that was on his mind. I can just tell from the abnormalities in Macbeth’s behaviour that something is going on which is going to lead to tragedy. Dear diary, King Duncan has been murdered! I was startled to hear the ringing of the alarm bell this morning. I ran out of my bed and heard Macduff announce the murder. I could not believe it happened, right under our very noses. Through all the hustle bustle, I kept a close eye on Macbeth who had reacted very strangely in the situation. I would have expected him to be in deep grief as he had a great relationship with King Duncan and they were thought of as good friends. Instead he killed the servants that had supposedly murdered King Duncan and claimed he acted out of great fury and without thinking. Personally, I don’t think that the servants killed King Duncan as they had no motive whatsoever. Macbeth has become a changed man and he should be watched in everything he does. The thruth will always come out and whoever murdered King Duncan will pay the price for doing so.

GI system and science coursework assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

GI system and science coursework - Assignment Example Obtained in March, 2014 from the police.uk website, the compiled crime data base provides details of various geographical locations across England and Wales. In addition, the police.uk website has a unique interface that allows people to view and compare crime rates in any location in England and Wales. ArGIS software used in this task is an important geographical information system that offers a unique functionality for building models, creating maps, compiling geographical data and analyzing the mapped information. The use of Geographical Information System (GIS) tools in crime mapping is increasingly becoming popular among crime analysts in various law enforcement agencies across the globe. This is particularly attributed to the fact that crime opportunities are neither randomly nor uniformly organized in space and time. The underlying theories and scientific basis of environmental criminology were first devised in the early 1980s as seen in the works of scientists such as Patricia and Paul Brantingham among others. With the recent technological advancements, crime mapping has increasingly sought to incorporate modern spatial data analysis techniques in order to address some of the previous inherent limitations of spatial data. According to Andresen (2006), this enables law enforcers not only to make better decisions regarding allocation of resources and formulation of strategies but also to enhance their tactical analysis such as through improved geographical profiling and crime forecasting. Based on these theories, the proposed automated spatial function uses arcGIS software to produce interactive maps of crime rates based on a compilation of the geographical database of crime rates of the greater Manchester region. For example, the crime statistics obtained from the police.uk website and other relevant sources such as UK census data are used in conjunction with the Index of

Change Management of People Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Change Management of People - Case Study Example Thus, from this point of view use of 3rd party option would provide them high level of software development expertise and application domain expertise. Though, they are from outside of the company they lacked the local company related knowledge. 2.0 Major Problems Encountered During the Selection and Implementation Phases of the Project Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system at present situation is in huge demand by both manufacturing as well as service organizations since they provide a strong integrated result to the information system as organization needs. With ERP package an employee can be able to run their company with a single system which can incorporate the whole business process and can make an enterprise-wide view of major corporate information. ERP software is a set of functions that connect various systems in an organization such as manufacturing, sales force, human resources, financial, data warehousing and document management. It also helps the organizations to han dle task which may include order processing along with production scheduling. Companies experience huge challenges and problems at selection as well as implementation of the all stages of ERP system life cycle (Almahdi, â€Å"Introduction†). The Chief Executive Officer of Power IT decided to implement ERP system in the organization by purchasing it from the third party vendor. The staffs were not able to develop such software due to lack of domain knowledge. Thus, through tendering process the software was acquired. For the selection process the CEO, financial director and business development manager need to undergo various selection processes. An invitation was sent to the potential stakeholder by the business development manager. The tender was then reviewed properly by comparing it to the major requirements of the system and three vendors were selected. They again made presentation about the product to Power IT and desired vendors got the contract. The process of implemen ting the software throughout the organization was discussed with the vendor. Regardless of the major benefits that ERP software packages provide in incorporating and managing multi-functional procedures of business, there are several problems and barriers that can be related to such an implementation. The most important challenge is to amalgamate existing legacy method and function with the ERP system in an attempt to provide a common interface. Moreover, implementation of ERP systems is intricate, challenging, high-priced project and time consuming for every organization. The difficulties of ERP implementation assist to plan in a better way and facilitate more successful ERP implementation. The different barriers that can be raised during implementation of ERP system are organizational, technical and managerial barrier (Almahdi, â€Å"Barriers and Difficulties of ERP Implementation†). 3.0 Problems Encountered After Implementation ERP system was implemented in order to fulfil l the requirements of the business. However, after eight months of using this system it was found that the system was not performing well and it was not meeting the business

Modern Leadership Principles Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Modern Leadership Principles - Essay Example These goals indeed lead the organization to the successful heights that it had every dreamt of achieving. In the process of accomplishing these tasks, there are many obstacles that need to be addressed. The environment, under which the organization puts forth its work, plays a critical role. These goals can be achieved by executing the tasks. For successful execution of these tasks, we need to have a guideline and organizations prefer to have these goals assigned as tasks to specific personnel. These personnel are the one's responsible to lead the team/group of people in successful completion of their duties. There are various definitions to describe the characteristic features of leadership. John Maxwell sums up his definition of leadership as "leadership is influence - nothing more, nothing less. This moves beyond the position defining the leader, to looking at the ability of the leader to influence others - both those who would consider themselves followers, and those outside that circle. Indirectly, it also builds in leadership character, since without maintaining integrity and trustworthiness, the capability to influence will disappear (Teal.org, nd). An organization always looks forward to have experienced personnel as well as the personnel who exhibit leadership skills to take up important tasks to benefit the entire organization. Leadership quality is the most sort after characteristic that the organizations seek in the personnel. Leadership requires the personnel to guide the entire team/group to attain the goals. As an individual has their own point of view regarding the critical issues, it is very important to gain a certain level of understanding amongst various individuals. There might be various situations where in certain amount of conflicts arise due to individual point of view. Importance of leadership Leadership is a characteristic that has engulfed all the organizations in recent times. As there is a transfer of cultures, technology update and many more challenges coming up there are a huge number of tasks that need to be accomplished every moment at the right time. To accomplish these tasks at the right time, there has to be proper management as there are numerous tasks to be accomplished. These management issues are always achieved by a certain motive. This particular characteristic of the motive is known as Leadership (Justin Sturek, 2005). A quality that helps in executing the tasks and then achieving the assigned goals can be defined as Leadership. Leadership is a characteristic of knowing oneself, the capabilities and the potential of working things out when required to attain a particular state of action. It is about having a vision about the goals to be accomplished. The vision of accomplishing the tasks at a particular level of success is very essential to guide the team members in the right direction. Leadership also involves the primary feature of building trust among the colleagues. All these have to be attained by taking effective action to realize your own leadership potential. The quality of leadership in organizations can be defined in a different manner. It is usually defined as the characteristic

Sula Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Sula - Essay Example It begins in the year 1919 and proceeds with chapters titled 1920, 1922.1927,1937 and so on to the year 1965. Each chapter represents a particular event around which resolves the past ,present and future significance. The narrative unfolds like a firmly interwoven oral folktale. In this novel the past present and future collapse into a kind of synchronic action. The setting in Sula is an isolated neighborhood called â€Å"The Bottom†, but it is a neighborhood of recent historical past and therefore â€Å"The Bottom and its inhabitants assume, like a narrative itself, a mythological quality. They and their environment are drawn from the rich tradition of black folktale and legend. However the inhabitants of â€Å"the Bottom are not often prey to the extreme seduction of dominant culture. Patrick Bryce Bjorn in the â€Å" The Novels of Tonni Morrison: The search for self and Place within the community says that , instead they are presented as having a world of their own , and thus the delimiting of an external gaze and the valorization of black values and traditions further emphasize Morrison’s singular concern for black life†. Morrison. in all her novels likes to examine the community and its characters. It has become a familiar motif in all her novels. In Sula this motif is played conspicuously in the dialectal tension between communities as monolithic status. The novel has the family of self sustaining black female characters Matriarch, Eva Peace , her daughter Hanna and her granddaughter ,the protagonist of the novel Sula Peace, who combine to provide the oppositional energy to redefine both selfhood and black womanhood. The novel begins with the end to â€Å"The Bottom â€Å"a neighborhood once isolated from and eventually destroyed by white progress in Medallion City, Ohio . A master gave this â€Å"the Bottom to slave and it was considered as a gift given to his master to his former slave. He made them believe that the land is wor thwhile because it is closer to heaven .thus there grows a particular community. But there is a threat from the white that they decided t builds golf course there. The first living being introduced to the reader is Shadreack who returns to the Bottom. He in order to overcome fears of death invents National Suicide Day. He is a representative of who dislike war. Sula the protagonist is friendly with Nel. They are from different family set ups. Nel is from a conventional family. The theme of friendship is treated effectively in this novel. The converging point in the novel is the death of a boy Chicken Little while playing with Sula and Nel. They hide this fact. But guilt conscious arise in the mind is Sula. She considers herself as responsible for the death of the boy, She is suffering from acute feeling that she is an evil character. At the sane time Nel develops a positive attitude to life and she slowly began to move away from Sula. Soon we find that Sula’s mother dies of b urning. When Sula takes a different path of fierce independence and total disregard for social conventions Nel takes the path of a peaceful married life. Sula leaves the bottom for ten more years. During that time she makes affairs with especially white man. When she returns to â€Å"The Bottom† the people considers her as a figure of evil, particularly because of her interracial relations. She even develops relation with Nel’s husband Jude. Jude abandons Nel for that. Later when Sula dies Nel herself blames herself admits her

Assessing your Program of Study & Recommendations Essay

Assessing your Program of Study & Recommendations - Essay Example Prison populations are increasing not only because of an increase in media attention in regards to all crimes being violent, but also that in terms of a set of parameters for recidivism of violent crimes, the state and federal prisons are receiving less violent criminals and more parole violators and drug users. â€Å"Reversing a 20-year trend toward ever-tougher criminal laws, a number of states this year have quietly rolled back some of their most stringent anticrime measures, including those imposing mandatory minimum sentences and forbidding early parole† (Butterfield, 2001). Law enforcement workers can help these inmates get the services they need like rehabilitation. They can work as advocates for these incarcerated individuals, and be proactive in their advocacy. I am happy with the program generally. However, if I am to make a recommendation, it is that the courses focus more on ethics. The society in which the debate over police ethics, political and otherwise since politics is a reflection, sets the ethical code, in a sense, since it is at least theoretically there to determine a positive relationship between the individual and the society through models of good behavior that does not bring harm upon others, or socially positive behavior. The specific concept of noble case corruption refers to the tendency of police misconduct to have its origins in circumstances where the behavior in question may be justifiable, but only in the context of the means. Training in ethics, to many commentators, may be compared to some arguments about training in art—some argue that one either has artistic talent or doesn’t, and if one doesn’t, no amount of art classes are going to make them a talented successful artist. However, I donâ⠂¬â„¢t subscribe to this idea, and I think that ethics training should be a part of the curriculum.

The nature of society, social class divisions, and upward mobility in Essay

The nature of society, social class divisions, and upward mobility in Pride and Prejudice and Great Expectations - Essay Example It illustrates both convicts and lawyers who judge criminals in court hence an insinuation of the enlisted societal traits. In London prisons, Joe minds about their state. Throughout the book, imagery concerning crime with affiliations to justice has been used greatly. The institutions set in the community that the story is based are distinct, and Pip desires to live up to them. Pip decides to find a better way to life in the society out of crime (Dickens). He does this to avoid police traps, jails, and court. The statement insinuates of the extent to which crime and guilt versus innocence has penetrated the community. In addition, Magwitch together with Pip portray criminal character when they help each other to evade police in relation to the case where they both commit a crime. With reference to nature of societies, Pride and prejudice is a collection of a society with stringent norms and the entire episode revolves around love and class (Austen). Not much is said about crime or justice system like the one Dickens’ work put forward. The society here has segmented the class well adhered to and cannot be surpassed without regard to certain criteria and values. Like any society, the love stories in the piece are full of drama about the mistrust from the start proceed to complete trust and eventual marriage (Dickens). Elizabeth is a proud woman, a virtue that makes her characterize Darcy imperfectly from the onset. In addition, the same is replicated by Darcy who is of a different social class from Elizabeth and as such has a different first impression. However, as they tag along, they learn a lot from each other, and the setting enhances their standpoint enabling them to accommodate each other. The family of both steps into a relationship and they try to control their actions threatening with destroying it. The society is tight with its rules. Contrary to the Great expectations view of reputation in society, Austen’s work is all about reputation in society.

Write a comparative paper that identifies the similarities and Essay

Write a comparative paper that identifies the similarities and differences between the Crips and the Neo-Nazis - Essay Example While the Crips adopted some of the violent methods of the movement headed by Malcolm-X, it is not political in nature. So, despite its racial affiliation, the means and ends of the gang are largely anti-social. Likewise, in the film American History X, we are exposed to a dark underground cult of American society. Commonly referred to as ‘skin-heads’, the Neo-Nazis are the remnants of Hitler’s vicious Aryan supremacy movement. (Musto, 2001, p.41) It is interesting how the neo-Nazi movement came into being in America, which was totally isolated from Nazi propaganda during the Second World War. In many ways, both the Crips and the Neo-Nazis are similar in their ruthlessness. They are both identified by the lack of scruples when it comes to targeting, assaulting and eliminating perceived opposition. Blood and violence are an everyday reality for these groups. In fact the moniker ‘Monster’ was the result of Shakur’s brutal, unrelenting assault on an opponent in a street clash. The victim was punched on the face with such ferocity and repetition that his face was permanently disfigured and he went into a coma. The Neo-Nazis are not far behind in terms of readiness for violence and brutality. (Dichiara & Chabot, 2003, p.23) One area where the Neo-Nazis differ from Crips is the organization size and structure. Crips is a gang with limited members and their localities of operation are also restricted. The Neo-Nazis, on the other hand, are a widespread and ideological sub-culture. Even if their organization is not granted legitimacy by civil society, there is some form of hierarchy and structure. There are protocols to be followed and cult tenets to be adhered to. While one can debate about the veracity of their claims and the relevance of their motives, there is no lack of seriousness. The Neo-Nazis take pride in sacrificing for their cause and do not hesitate to endanger their lives for

Parenting Styles and Anxiety Sensitivity Essay Example for Free

Parenting Styles and Anxiety Sensitivity Essay Statement of the problem At the end of this study the researches aim to answer these questions: 1. Is there a significant relationship between parenting styles and anxiety sensitivity? 2. Which among the three parenting style has the highest probability of producing anxious children? 3. Which among the demographic factors affect the parenting style of the mothers? Review of Related Literature It has long been proposed that parent-child relationships (particularly a child’s perceptions of these relationships) play an important role in child adjustment and psychological development (Safford et al. , 2007).Since 1966, researchers have conducted a great deal of research evaluating parent child interactions using the prototype of parental patterns developed by Baumrind (1966 1971), i.e., authoritative, authoritarian and permissive. Baumrind (1971) grouped parent’s behavior according to whether they were high or low on parental demandingness and responsiveness. Each of these parenting styles reflected different naturally occurring patterns of parental values, practices and behaviors (Baumrind, 1991). Authoritative parents strive to provide clear, firm direction, but discipline is moderated by warmth and reason (Buri, 1991). Permissive parents are non-controlling, and they use minimal punishment. Authoritarian parents are highly directive, and they value unquestioned obedience. Authoritarian parents are characteristically less warm, they discourage verbal give-and-take, and they use punitive methods to control their childrens behavior (Gfroerer, et al., 2011). It is important then to examine the type of parenting in which the child is exposed to at such a young age because it will have impact on their lives later on. During adolescence, various biological, cognitive, emotional, and social changes take place that affect the parent-child relationship (Lerner et al., 1996). Hence, it is essential to further in some factors that have influenced parenting styles in this particular period of life (Dà ¼zgà ¼n, 1995). Suppose parenting styles play a vital role in the development of anxiety disorders, it then becomes key in understanding how overprotective parenting aggravates the development of the anxiety symptoms (Erozkan, 2012). Given the importance of anxiety sensitivity for understanding emotional problems, it is important to also gain a better understanding of the nature of anxiety sensitivity (Taylor, 1995). Because family is one of the largest environmental factors impacting a child’s life, it is important to understand how a child’s family affects the development of anxiety symptoms in children. Furthermore, since it is a child’s parents who usually create the family environment, it is essential to understand which characteristics of parents or parenting contribute to the development of anxiety (Nanda et al., 2011). Chorpita and Barlow (1998) hypothesized that early life experiences involving excessive parental control can cause an individual to believe that events in one’s life are uncontrollable and unpredictable, which then contributes to the development of anxiety. That is, children who experience excessive parental control may believe that they have no internal control over their lives, since their parents are the ones who control everything; this, in turn, can lead to the development of anxiety. Further, parents with high levels of anxiety sensitivity may intervene more often, as they observe signs of anxiety in their children, judging these symptoms as harmful (Erozkan, 2011). In accordance to this, the aim of this research is to uncover the significant relationships between anxiety sensitivity and parenting styles. In the study conducted by Chambers et al. (2004), it is said that poor parenting style has been associated with anxiety and mood disorders among children. In this study, parenting styles were divided into two dimensions which are care and control. Under the dimension of care, parents are seen as warmth and understanding, while under the dimension of control, parents are seen as over-protective or intrusive. Patients with anxiety disorders were also tested in the study and Chambers et al. (2004) found out that those patients with anxiety disorders perceived poor parenting from both their mothers and fathers, while those who have no anxiety disorders report their parents as having optimal parenting. This suggests that optimal parenting may be considered as a factor in predictive recovery of the children. The study also concluded that paternal and maternal parenting styles have an effect on children. Poor parenting from mothers was associated with having a diagnosis in male participants, while poor parenting from fathers was associated with having a diagnosis in female participants. Parents who scored high in care and high in control were seen as having positive parenting style than parents who scored low in care and either high or low in control. Based on the results of the study, it is evident that parenting styles have an impact when it comes to children’s development of anxiety and or recovery from anxiety. Children who have parental care are more likely to perceive an optimal parenting and less likely to experience anxiety. Children who are already diagnosed with anxiety disorder are more likely to recover if their parents exhibit a positive parenting style. In a different study conducted by Lindhout et al. (2009), child temperament and child-rearing are said to be risk factors in child’s development of anxiety disorders. Parents of children having anxiety disorder exhibit a parenting style which is characterized by over-control and increased criticism. Also, children whose parents show less care or more control are said to be vulnerable to anxiety. The characteristic or temperament of the child may also give rise to the type of parenting style a parent uses and in return, may also strengthen the child’s characteristics. Parenting styles may depend on the characteristic or temperament of the child and at the same time, the characteristic or temperament of the child may also depend on the parenting style of their parents. This suggests that parenting serves as a moderator between temperament and anxiety (Lindhout et al., 2004). Also, children whose parents show less care or more control are said to be vulnerable to anxiety. Similar with the study of Chamber et al. (2004), Lindout et al’s. (2009) study also mentioned that parenting styles add an interesting component to the prevention of anxiety disorders among children. Temperament (shyness) appeared to be strongly related to anxiety levels in early childhood, but parenting style which is high in control showed more contribution to the anxiety that surface in middle childhood or preadolescence, even among children who were not initially anxious (Lindhout et al., 2004). According to the study of Oort et al. (2011), anxiety has several risk factors such as family or peer influences, and factors that are proximal to the individual. This study also considered temperamental characteristics as associated with anxiety. Family factors include parenting styles with high rejection and overprotection, parenting stress, and parental anxiety and depression. In the result of the study, Oort et al. (2011) found out that some of the important risk factors in preadolescence were low self-competence, rejecting and overprotecting parenting, and being a bully-victim. These risk indicators decrease toward age 16-17 years old. The risk factors that remain stable in high levels of anxiety were temperament, parental lifetime internalizing problems, and being a victim of bullying. Based on these result, it can be said that parenting styles contribute to the anxiety level of the children and may not be disregarded. It is important to consider this factor as contributing to anxiety of children so that anxiety may be prevented and parents will be educated on this matter (Lindhout, 2009). In the study conducted by Niditch and Varela (2012), two dimensions of parenting styles were studied which are acceptance/rejection and autonomy-granting/control. Parental control is said to limit the child’s exposure to developmentally appropriate autonomous experiences and self-guided problem solving (Niditch and Varela, 2012). It was also mentioned that controlling parents lead to anxiety by reducing the child’s experience of mastery of challenges in his or her environment. According to the â€Å"transactional and cyclical† nature of the relationship between parental control and child anxiety as mentioned by Niditch and Varela (2012), the parent takes action for the child in order to relieve the child’s distress, which often leads to the child feeling anxious in more situations. Parental rejection on the other hand, parents show criticism, arbitrary blame or punishment, and withholding warmth. Parental rejection teaches children that positive outcomes a re rare and are not the result of their actions, and this often leads to anxiety. It also said that parental rejection has less contribution when it comes to developing anxiety in children than parental control. It is important to consider the developmental stage in studying the effect of parental control on anxiety since parent’s controlling behaviors tend to change or increase through late childhood and decline towards adolescence (Niditch and Varela, 2012). It is also possible that changes in parenting styles affect anxious adolescents differently from non-anxious adolescents. This result manifests because anxious adolescents may perceive normative changes in control parenting style as increasing rejection. In adolescence, rejection is more associated with anxiety than control. Results of the study also revealed that maternal rejection was a predictor of anxiety. As explained by Niditch and Varela (2012), mothers are the nurturing caregivers and they pass on unique importance on maternal emotion socialization to their children, and that disruption to this role may result to reduced sense of emotional competence, which then leads to increased anxiety. Parents play an integral role in a child’s development because it is them who first interacted with the children. According to Ryan and Lynch (1889) â€Å"secure attachment to parents fosters a healthy self-confidence in adolescents as it does in other developmental stages.† Because of this, it is essential to know the possible effects of early parenting in the child’s cognitive, social, and emotional aspects. It is widely assumed that the nature and quality of the interactions between parents and adolescents can contribute to young people’s well-being (Bandura, 1997). Diana Baumrind in 1966 was able to present three primary parenting styles that can be used to categorize the parents’ behaviour towards the children. Later on in 1983, Macoby and Martin presented the fourth parenting style called the neglectful and Lamborns et al. (1991), were able to find supporting empirical results for this. As stated by Karavasilis, Doyle, and Markiewicz, (2003), authoritative parents are highly demanding, highly responsive and the same time grants autonomy. Authoritarian parents are characterized by high demandingness, low responsiveness and low levels of autonomy granting. Parents who are permissive show high levels of responsiveness and autonomy but low level of demandingness. A neglectful parent shows low levels of demandingness, responsiveness and autonomy granting. One important area that has been emphasized as contributing to the development of childhood anxiety is parenting (Chorpita and Barlow, 1998). The parent–child relationship appears to be one contributor to the development and/or maintenance of child social anxiety. A relationship between social anxiety and a parenting style marked by overprotection (or high control) and low warmth has been repeatedly demonstrated in various age groups and within both clinical and developmental areas of psychological study. (Bruch et al. 1989). This suggests that the parenting style practiced by the parents is influential in the development of social anxiety in children. Spokas and Heimberg (2008) said that â€Å"a family environment marked by affective involvement and behavioral control (which is likely related to parental overprotection) predicted one’s sense of control over anxiety symptoms, which then contributed to anxiety.† Traditional models of childhood anxiety sought to explain the development of anxiety in terms of single main effects and focused primarily on the broad parenting dimensions of acceptance versus rejection and psychological granting of autonomy versus psychological control (Rapee, 1997). As stated by Clark and Ladd (2000), parental rejection connotes low levels of parental warmth, approval, and responsiveness. This in turn can weaken the children’s emotions that make him or her sensitive to anxiety that may lead to having anxiety problems. Parental control involves excessive parental regulation of childrens activities and routines, encouragement of childrens dependence on parents, and instruction to children on how to think or feel (Barber, 1996). Theoretical models have hypothesized that when parents are highly controlling in contexts when it is developmentally appropriate for children to act independently (e.g., attending elementary school), children may experience decreased self-efficacy, and thus, increased anxiety (Wood, 2006). Adolescent years are often portrayed as the hardest stage as a teenager, because it is both tense for the parents and the teens. As said by Kopko (2007), teens undergo a number of developmental adjustments together with the changes on becoming an adult. These are related to the biological, cognitive, emotional and social changes as a teen. To be an effective parent, it requires having methodical understanding of these developmental changes. Kopko (2007) stated that the parent’s parenting style gives a healthy outcome for the developmental changes. There are different kinds of parenting styles and different impact that can help parents with their parent-teen relationship and the teens to find smooth ways in the adolescent developmental changes. According to Kopko (2007), Baumrind (1971, 1991) has four patterns of parenting style that was based on the two aspects of parenting behavior which is the parental warmth and control. Parental warmth is how a parent accepts and responses to the child and parental control is how a parent manages the behavior of the child. There are different ways of combining the two aspects of parenting behavior and if so there are four parenting styles that come into view. But in this study the researchers will only have three of the parenting styles of Baumrind; Authoritarian, Authoritative and Permissive. Kopko (2007) explained all the four patterns of parenting style, but the researcher will mainly focus on the other three parenting styles. Authoritative parenting style is a parent that shows warmth but secure towards the child. The parent reassures that the child can be able to do anything or be independent yet should also know ones limitations and control in their decision and actions. A child that has experienced an authoritative parenting style may likely to be socially capable, responsible and independent. Authoritarian parenting style is a parent that shows a little bit of warmth and more on the control towards the child. The parents are strict and controlling, they use a disciplinary style towards their child and they insist that their directions to the child will be followed. A child that has experienced an authoritarian parenting style may likely to be rebellious or dependent. A child that turns out to be rebellious has the tendency to show aggressive behaviors and a child t hat is more passive or submissive is dependent towards the parent. Permissive parenting style is a parent that shows warmth and no control toward the child. The parent is easygoing, understanding and passive and believes that by reciprocation to the wants of the child will show their love. A child that has experienced a permissive parenting style may likely to be self-centered and have no self-control. As stated by Biradar (2006), the youth is a period of time where the maturity in physical and psychological attributes change. The youth is likely to build his or her own identity and to acquire skills for socially responsible behavior. The youth’s change to adulthood can have a smooth process enabled by the presence and guide of securing, nurturing, and understanding parent. If there will be an emotional connection or bonding and communication between the parent and the child it is enough reason that the youth can be emotionally and socially capable, responsible and independent. Taylor (2007) discussed that anxiety sensitivity is the fear of arousal-related sensations, and saying that these sensations have harmful consequences. There are three basic dimensions of anxiety sensitivity; the first dimension is the fear of publicly observable anxiety reactions, the second dimension is the fear of thinking that it is unable to control one’s behavior, and the last dimension is the fear of somatic sensations. Anxiety sensitivity contributes to the intensity of one’s emotional reactions. According to Stein (1999), anxiety sensitivity is the fear of anxiety-related sensations. In the expectancy theory, an individual may become anxious whenever a symptom is experienced by an individual may tend to avoid certain activities, events, and places that will trigger anxiety. Stein (1999) also explained that if an individual has a high level of anxiety sensitivity, it is said to be that the individual is more likely to be a threat or danger if the individual experiences anxiety symptoms. Kashdan et. al. (2008) said that anxiety sensitivity can be a variable risk factor for anxiety problems and anxiety sensitivity is uniquely have a connection to escape and avoidance behavior of an individual.

Basic Operational Features Of Grameen Bank Economics Essay

Basic Operational Features Of Grameen Bank Economics Essay I will like to focus my report on Grameen bank in Bangladesh. The patriarch culture in Bangladesh where women are treated as inferior to men restricts them from seeking wage employment. Their only source of income is self employment and they face difficulty in accessing individual lending programs. The labour force has been growing by 2.4% a year, while the agricultural, industrial and service sector can only accommodate 1.7% annual growth of the labour force. The agricultural sector which provides 78% of employment is saturated and limited due to technical constraints. The modern urban sector is too small to absorb additional labour, increasing productivity and income through self employment in the informal sector and improving human capital are the only viable ways to alleviate poverty and promote economic growth (World Bank 1997). The poverty in Bangladesh is mainly as a result of landlessness, high unemployment, low literacy and high population growth. The main determinants of so cial class in the rural areas are land ownership and command of financial resources. The Grameen bank was formally established in 1983 by Dr Muhammad Yunus, a professor in economics at the Chittagong University in Bangladesh, who instead of teaching economics decided to do something practical about it. Based on the philosophy that everyone has the right to credit, but the poor are excluded from conventional banking system. 2 BASIC OPERATIONAL FEATURES OF THE GRAMEEN BANK Lending is mainly directed towards rural poor women (97% of membership are women) with a maximum landholding of half an acre of land because the average farm size in Bangladesh is 2.4 acres (1984 figures) or non land owners. Only one member is allowed per household. These women are grouped into cells of five and they take collective responsibility for each others loan (no joint liability). This helps to substitute physical collateral with social collateral as it eliminates information asymmetry. These groups are separated according to gender, 5 to 8 groups come together to form a centre known as Kendros (between 25 to 40 women) organised by the banks staff. Weekly meetings are held at these centres where members of each groups attend to pay their weekly loan instalments, learn, practice, and discuss the rules of the program and other group activities. Members are required to save TK1 to TK2 per week (to create financial discipline). It is only of recent that the bank increased its weekly savings to TK5. A new member must have successfully saved for two consecutive weeks before qualifying for a loan and a deposit of 5% of the loan amount into a group fund (i.e. group tax). It offers interest rates for deposits between 8% and 12% and does not allow members to withdraw their savings from the group fund. However, members can borrow from at no interest from the group fund provided that all the other members of the group approve of the amount and its usage and that the loan does not exceed half of the funds total. If a borrower has been a member for 10 years, the bank will transfer total savings with interest to the savings account and the member can withdraw at will. One can argue that the lack of easy access to savings can be viewed as a short term additional fee for being a member and cannot be classified as a financial service but a down payment on a loan and a screening device. At the end of October 2009, total deposits in Grameen bank stood at TK74.55 million (US$ 1079.47 million). Deposits from its members constituted 54% of the banks total deposits. Balance of member deposits has increased at a monthly average rate of 2.29% during the last 12 months. The poor people in Bangladesh save between 2% and 12% of their annual income mainly to acquire land followed by providing family securities against unforeseen circumstances. Childrens education and their marriage and purchase of agricultural inputs are other factors. Collateral is not required to obtain a loan from the bank and the loan is repayable over 50 weeks instalment. Interest is payable at the end of the loan cycle. 20% interest for income generating loan, 8% for housing loans, 5% for student loans and 0% (interest free) for struggling members (beggars). If the loan is repaid on time, the borrower will be charged a 10% flat rate instead of 20% for an income generating loan at the end of the loan cycle. The interest charged is low compared to other government managed micro credit programs charging a fixed interest of 11% at flat rate which amounts to 22% on declining basis. The bank realised from the activities of BRAC that provisions of credit to the poor is not sufficient to alleviate poverty. In addition to credit provision, it also trains its borrowers to improve their skills and provision of other organizational inputs. All credit transactions are transparent and are openly conducted at the centre meetings. The virtue of this openness is to mitigate vested interest and constellations of power as well as deterring individuals from taking anti group actions. This peer monitoring mechanism works both within the group and at the centre, eliminating the danger of group collusion when the groups are self elected. 3 INNOVATIONS IN SERVICE DELIVERY The focus of microfinance agenda is now increasingly client or market driven as a result of the industrys focus on competition and dropouts. Competition, together with MFIs policies of encouraging clients to take larger loans each cycle has tempted some clients to take out multiple loans, far more than it exceeds their repayment capacity and they end up defaulting. The defaults were attributed to the fact that the poor do not always want to neither borrow nor automatically increase their loan size and the failure of MFIs to interact and keep contact with their clients in order to provide innovative products. Loans borrowed for microenterprise development, are mostly used to meet a multiple needs i.e. the fungibility of credit (Sebstad and Cohen, 2001) and this clearly shows the industry was not in tune with its clients. Borrowers demonstrated the imperfect nature of the products by withdrawing from the program. The high rate of drop out raised the operational cost for MFIs. Competiti on and client dissatisfaction was putting pressure on institutions to be innovative in their service delivery. Citing from the words of Hulme and Mosley (1997), they noted that the designers of the financial services for poor people need to acknowledge that the poor is not a homogenous group with broadly similar needs and the one size fits all approach will not work. However, recognising the heterogeneity of the poor clearly complicates matters for scheme designers. Homogeneity may be good for keeping the delivery cost low, but is it not necessarily good for institutional sustainability if dropout rates were kept low. Adopting the client-product nexus approach and improving the institutional-client linkages through the management information system to gather information from bottom up will help to broaden and deepen the outreach, and recognizing the financial landscape of clients for better evaluation of clients debt burden will aid better assessment of loan repayment capability of clients in order to reduce drop out rates. The bank has to some extent recognized the importance of product diversification to its clients as its financial structure and product diversification were subjected to questioning when the bank almost collapsed during the 1998 flood in Bangladesh. It decided to take up a huge rehabilitation programme by giving new loans start new income generating activities and to repair or rebuild their houses. Borrowers started to feel the pressure of accumulated loans as the new instalments sizes exceeded their capacity to repay. Another major factor unknown to donor agencies was that prior to the flood, some branch managers at the bank were giving out loans to customers who had defaulted on weekly repayments so the new loans could be used to make payments. This resulted to accumulated debts by the customers and the balance sheet statements did not reflect the true financial position of the bank. This led to the development of the Grameen Generalised System (GGS) commonly referred to as Grameen II. Under this new scheme, many rules that existed under the Grameen Classic System (GCS) were abolished or transformed. The major innovations under the Grameen Generalised System (GGS) are explained below. 3.1 Basic Loan The basic loan was introduced to provide for other unforeseen circumstances the borrower might face along the loan cycle. It provided an exit option for the borrowers. This is referred to as a flexi loan which provides an alternative route to any borrower who needs it without making her feel guilty about failing to fulfil the requirement of the basic loan. The basic loan is normally referred to as the Grameen Microcredit Highway. The logic behind the basic loan is that if a borrower keeps up with repayments (stays on the highway) throughout the loan cycle, she can borrow a larger sum (change gear and accelerate faster) on the next loan cycle and she knows ahead of time how much enhancement in loan size is coming, and can plan her activities accordingly. But if the borrower should experience some difficulties (such as natural disaster, sickness etc) during the loan cycle, she can renegotiate the loan (first detour) by reducing the instalment size that she can afford to pay by extendin g the loan period. The essence is to help the borrower overcome the problem in order to get back to the basic loan. Even if the borrower defaults further (second detour), the flexi loan will be renegotiated to another flexi loan until the borrower can comfortably keep up with the instalment payment. This flexibility was absent under the Grameen Classic System. It is important to note that once a borrower renegotiates to a flexi loan, she will loose the loan ceiling she must have accumulated over the years and can only re-enter the basic loan scheme with a loan size equivalent to a new entrant and as long as shes on the flexi loan, the borrower can only borrow the same amount for every loan cycle. Fig. 3.1: The interlink between basic loan and flexi loan Source: http://www.grameen-info.org 3.2 Custom-made Credit Service The GGS has created a methodology which can provide custom-made credit to a poor borrower. It allows a staff to be creative. He can design his loan product to make it a best fit for his client in terms of duration with the flexibility of variation from any number of months and years, timing of the loan and the size of weekly instalments can be varied. A borrower can pay more weekly when the business is doing well, and pay less during difficult times. In an extreme case, each instalment can be of different size. In the other extreme, all instalments can be exactly equal, like in GCS. 3.3 Group Fund Replaced Every new member is obliged to save 5% of the total loan amount into the obligatory savings account formally known as group tax. But now, half of the 5% is deposited into a personal savings account and the remaining half goes to a special savings account. A borrower can withdraw any amount from her personal savings account any time she desires. There is no restriction on her withdrawal. Weekly saving still continues and it goes to personal savings account. Special savings account is non withdrawable for the first three years. Then withdrawal is allowed generally once in three years keeping a minimum balance of TK2000 or half the amount in the account, whichever is larger. Under special circumstances the entire amount in the special savings account can be withdrawn. Some money from this account will be used to buy shares of the Bank. 3.4 Pension fund-Leading to Financial Self-Reliance Grameen Bank requires all borrowers with loans above TK8, 000 (US$ 138) to contribute a minimum of TK50 (US$0.86) each month in a pension deposit account. After ten years a borrower will receive a guaranteed amount which is almost double the amount she has put in for 120 months. The pension fund generates about TK 100 million ($1.75 million) per month. I find this very interesting because households in Bangladesh are large in size and it is customary for several generations to live together within a household. In such households, there is no need for retirement saving, and it can internalize many of the insurance activities that would require saving. For example members of the household can insure against health risk and old age. But this has not been the case with Grameen Bank because the benefit of the insurance package is appealing to its members and the pension pot also serves as a means of financial stability for the bank. 3.5 Other Savings The bank accepts deposits from non borrowers as well by incorporating a number of savings products into the system. Total amount of deposits account for 67% of the total outstanding loans of Grameen Bank in July, 2002, after paying back TK3.3 million (US $ 60 million) of its loans to the central bank, local commercial banks and foreign lenders, fell due the same period. 3.6 Loan Loss Provisioning and Write-off Policy If a borrower fails to pay her instalment for ten consecutive weeks or if she fails to repay the total amount she is required to pay within a six month period and she does not move into flexible loan, she becomes a defaulter. If she becomes a defaulter, 100 per cent provisioning must be made for the unpaid principal and interest. Exactly one year later, the amount must be written off. Writing off will be done on a monthly basis, rather than at a time of annual account closing. If a borrower is on flexible loan, generally the same policy will hold. Fifty percent provision must be made for the total balance amount of flexible loan and accrued interest on the annual closing date, even if the payment rate of flexible loan is 100% of the whole bank Fig. 3.2: Provisioning policy in Grameen Bank II Source: http://www.grameen-info.org 3.7 Loan Insurance Once a year, on the last day of the year, the borrower is required to put in a small amount of money in a loan insurance savings account. It is calculated on the basis of the outstanding loan and interest of the borrower on that day. She deposits 2.5% of the outstanding amount. If a borrower dies any time during the year, her entire outstanding debt is paid off by the insurance fund which is created by the interest income of the loan insurance savings account. In addition, her family receives back the amount she saved in the loan insurance savings account. 4 NATURE OF TARGET GROUPS IN TERMS OF GENDER AND POVERTY The bank targets women regarded to be very poor using the size of land ownership as the measure of poverty. As previously highlighted, the banks members are either non land owners or own half an acre of land. Based on the measure of poverty, these are very poor women. Women are generally seen as moral guardians of the household and there are perceptions that women in Bangladesh have a high repayment rate (a factor necessary for the financial sustainability for a micro lender) because it allows them to retain access to village groups, whereas men have many more opportunities for social contact. Women are more vulnerable to pressure to repay. They are easy to locate, being much less able than men to leave a locality temporarily to evade field workers and they are easier to intimidate into repayment than men who can always threaten violence. Women had limited access to credit and the banks model tries to address this limitation in order to strengthen womens social and economic worth. Ac cess to credit will empower women by improving their bargaining position, both within and outside the family. It provides a visible foundation of economic and social gain and a process that mainstreams their participation at institutional and policy levels. To successfully empower women, MFIs must provide services that will lead to economic gains for women and should also enhance their role in economic decision making. Grameen Bank has been able to empower women through the provision of basic loans with an option of switching to a flexi loan if the borrower defaults on repayment. The bank also provides other services such as education loan, housing loan and at the same time encouraging its members to save by deducting 5% of the total loan amount before disbursement. Grameen Bank also offers life insurance product for its customers to manage life risks. Empowerment must lead to greater leveraging and networking among women in the community. Grameen bank groups its members into cells. Each cell consists of five members and a total of 5-6 cells meet once a week at a centre referred to as kendros to make their weekly loan instalment payment, discuss with each other on new business ideas, help each other in their book keeping of accounts etc. These centres help women to create a sort of social network. MFIs must also provide a gender sensitive and proactive institutional framework for women where women are providing financial services to women. This will create opportunity for role modelling at all levels of the institution and also caters for the specific needs of women in microfinance and beyond. Unfortunately, most of the Grameen Banks staff that organise centre meetings are men. Access to credit is believed to empower women but there is a variation in the degree to which women borrowers in Bangladesh control their loans directly. A large proportion of womens loans are directly invested by their male relatives, who then channel the funds towards investment which are generally regarded as mens work. This problem can be eliminated if Grameen Bank can impose some restrictions on the type of investments the loan can be used for. R. Rahman (1986 Pg.33) discovered a diminishing loan control overtime, with the amount of loan borrowers themselves use falling from 86.6% of the total loan amount in the first year to 66% in the fifth year of membership in the Grameen bank. Womens high demand for loan and their ability to repay are normally seen as proxy indicators for empowerment. Unfortunately, the method for evaluating empowerment does not reveal patterns of loan controls within the household. In Bangladesh, field workers and women beneficiaries gave evidence of the p henomenon of women transferring control to men within their households. There is also the case where new members of a household in some villages in Bangladesh are forbidden to have contact with strangers, especially when the field worker in question is a male. This strengthens the case why Grameen bank should employ more women to manage these Kendros. Even though credit is very important, it must be provided with access to market and access to technology which extends beyond the neighbourhood and the community as identified by Montgomery, Bhattacharya and Hulme. It is true that access to credit will most likely reduce violence against women if channelled through the right path but it can at the same time exacerbate violence against women. According to the staff of Grameen Bank, some women who were unsuccessful in gaining loan access or who have to wait too long for their turn to get a loan are experiencing increases in domestic violence from frustrated husbands. In cases where loans have been managed by the husbands, there is the possibility of the husband refusing to repay, might have invested badly or abscond altogether with the money. The pressure is on the women to find repayment funds from their homestead activities. 5 WIDER IMPACTS The idea behind the wider impacts of microfinance is to account for the positive externalities on spheres (economic, social, political and cultural) beyond households at the local, regional and national level. Economic Impact: these types of impacts are mediated primarily through the intervention on markets. The establishment of MFIs have direct impact on individuals, households or enterprises which in turn has an affect on their participation in one or more markets and therefore affecting the outcomes of those markets. For example, if women have access to credit and markets just as men, they will become key players in the market. This will make the domestic market more competitive and eventually have an effect on the relative prices of all goods and services. The funding of small enterprises by microfinance institutions will help increase output growth and in turn create employment opportunities. Social Impact: social impact refers to changes in the social relations between individuals and between groups of individuals living in the society. Social sector variables are housing quality, education, health and sanitization. Grameen Bank offers the fewest support services for these variables of interest when compared with other leading MFIs in Bangladesh. Beyond the banks sixteen decisions about how members can manage their household and community and social justice which members are made to recite at the beginning of each group meetings. It has started however, to offer credit on special terms for investments in the quality of household life, like loans for tube wells, latrines and housing. Social relation may be rooted in ownership of tangible assets, such as land. Intervention of MFIs may change social relations either by introducing non land resources, which are now being owned by land-poor households. As explained by Rao (2001), microfinance interventions have been able to c hange poor peoples way of thinking about social expenses, such as celebrations that are less about showing off and more about maintaining links across families, building bonds and sustaining webs of obligations. Political Impact: this refers to changes in policy regimes and protection of civil rights. Several rural studies have pointed at the intimidating and coercive role of the state machineries, such as police and the land administration in rural society. MFIs should provide services that seek to address these issues. MFIs can achieve this objective by helping to establish local interest groups similar to that of the self help groups in India, to influence local politics, policies and resource allocation at the local level. Cultural Impact: MFIs should also provide services that will help address the adverse effects of cultural norms on women which is fuelled by institutionalized religion, or, may be inherited from predecessors. Other issues of interest are attitudes towards cleanliness, perception on the role of daughters, need for religious education for children, perceptions on husband wife relations, attitude toward cultural entertainments and participation of women in such programs etc. CONCLUSION MFIs have to some extent helped to alleviate poverty even though it is limited by some constraints and problems. It is important that MFIs must be innovative in their credit service delivery in order to completely meet the needs of the poor people. Considerable emphasis has been placed on providing service to women which tends to be widening the gap between financial services to poor women and poor men. MFIs should also include tailored services to poor men. It is also important that MFIs should in the future fit into mainstream financial sector such as listing itself in the capital market as an alternative source of funds to achieving self sufficiency and striking a balance between the welfarist and institutionalist approach to microfinance.

Essay --

In the 21st century, there have been many visionaries in society who aim to bring about social change. Understanding different societies and the way they evolve are a part of social change. In the films, Pleasantville, Crash, American History X, the Pianist and Cry Freedom a move towards social change is seen. The structure of family, discrimination and the breaking of social barriers are prominent factors in all these films. These arguments be seen through an anthropological, sociological and psychological perspective. The anthropological discipline views family structure as a part of culture. The term of family structure in anthropology is known as kinship. Every film highlights the family structure. According to an anthropological school of thought a functionalist explains that how family structure is important and if this structure is not proper it can affect the whole society. In the film, Pleasantville, one of the prominent themes is the family structure. According to an anthropological view family structure is strong in Pleasantville because of the way the people are raised. They are raised in a culture where they are taught to have a strong bonding. Bud was interested in watching that show because his own family life was disturbed. In the beginning of the film, when his mom plans to go out for a while, the first thing that comes into Bud’s mind is that he will get time to watch his favourite T.V show. The family shown in the film Pleasantville was a typical nuclear family following a patriarchy. In Pleasantville, George is seen romanticizing with his wife Betty which is an example of family structure, â€Å"Oh pumpkin, you sure know the way to this man’s heart†. Family structure is very in every step of life. In the film, The ... ... changes the way people thought about things. In other films, such as, The Pianist and Cry Freedom there were examples of breaking of social barriers which affected the psychology of the population who brought change in their behaviour after discontinuing the traditional practices. Conclusion Through the analysis of the films, The Pianist, Pleasantville, Crash, American History X and Cry Freedom, the dynamics within societies are shown. These dynamics can be viewed according to anthropology, sociology and psychology. Each film emphasizes the effect social change. The themes displayed in every film including discrimination, family structure and breaking social barriers are all a part of social change. Furthermore, social change displayed in American History X, the Pianist, Cry Freedom, Pleasantville and Crash all deals with revolution and movement towards change.

Search for Self-fulfillment by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Kate Chopin :: Biography Biographies Essays

Search for Self-fulfillment by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Kate Chopin      Ã‚  Ã‚   In the last half of the nineteenth century, Victorian ideals still held sway in American society, at least among members of the middle and upper classes. Thus the cult of True Womanhood was still promoted which preached four cardinal virtues for women: piety, purity, submissiveness, and domesticity. Women were considered far more religious than men and, therefore, they had to be pure in heart, mind, and, of course, body, not engaging in sex until marriage, and even then not finding any pleasure in it. They were also supposed to be passive responders to men's decisions, actions, and needs. The true woman's place was her home; "females were uniquely suited to raise children, care for the needs of their menfolk, and devote their lives to creating a nurturing home environment." (Norton, 108). However, the tensions between old and new, traditional and untraditional, were great during the last years of nineteenth century and there was a debate among male and female writers and social thinkers as to what the role of women should be. Among the female writers who devoted their work to defying their views about the woman's place in society were Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Kate Chopin.    Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860-1935) was a social activist and theorist of the women's movement at the turn of the twentieth century. She developed her feminist ideals in her novels, short stories and nonfiction books such as Women and Economics. Charlotte Perkins Gilman is best known for her short story The Yellow Wallpaper, (1892) which is based on her own experience.    As the story begins, the woman-whose name we never learn- tells of her depression and how it is being treated by her husband and brother who are both doctors. These two men are unable to see that there is more to her condition than just a stress and depression and prescribe for her rest as a cure. The narrator is taken to a summer house to recover form her condition where she is not allowed to do anything but rest and sleep. Furthermore, she cannot do one thing that she loves the most: writing. " I must put this away, -he hates to have me write a word." She spends most of her time in a room with yellow wallpaper and very little to occupy her mind with.

Fun and Murder in Lord of the Flies :: Lord Flies Essays

Fun and Murder in Lord of the Flies Lord of the Flies is a story of hardships, death and ultimately, survival. The island on which the boys are on presented many difficulties. In this situation, there was no time for fun and games, work was much more important. The group consisted completely of pre-pubescent young boys and the thing that destroyed their democratic ways was the allure of having lots of fun, swimming, feasts and other enjoyable activities. If the splitting of the groups, i.e when Ralph and Jack went their separate ways, the bloodshed would have been prevented. But when the decision came to be made, the promise of "..having fun.." from Jack was too much for most of the boys, and that decision they made turned them into the bloodthirsty savages who murdered two innocent boys. In the beginning, when the boys first met and assembled at the platform, the conch was the symbol of power. The person holding the conch always had the attention of everyone. There was a leader, Ralph, who was elected by the children. "Let's have a vote." "Yes!" "Vote for chief!" "Let's vote------" This represented democracy, a government elected for by the whole population and they lived in a classless and tolerant society. There were rules which were to be obeyed by all. Nobody was exempt from them, they were agreed on by all. A fire was lit, to attract the attention of any passing ships or planes, huts were organised to be built. There were many plans for the boys but these weren't fulfilled due to the laziness and incompetence of the small children, the "littl'uns". Huts weren't built deadlines weren't kept. In theory, it was like anarchy. This is when the groups were starting to form, the people who enjoyed living like savages, for example Roger, and those who liked the idea of leadership, having a leader and following his instructions like Piggy. This, in my opinion, is a small-scale resemblance of the real world. If there was no law enforcement, or in Lord of the Flies, adults, people would be just like that. Society would collapse into chaos. The children, although they aren’t mature, they behave exactly as adults would in an environment in which they inhabited. Selfish, greedy always wanting more for themselves and not caring for others.

Marketing Strategies of Boeing and Airbus Essay

Effective marketing strategies are considered to be the integral part of every organization. If it’s implemented in an appropriate manner than an organization can reap desired results. Every organization wishes to design its marketing strategy in a proactive manner such that it would give the organization a sustainable competitive advantage. That’s the reason why an organization stresses a lot it developing effective marketing strategies because they want to achieve their objectives and their mission. In this paper we would analyze the marketing strategies of Boeing and Airbus and how both of them are influencing the aviation industry. Introduction The Boeing Company is considered to be the world’s leading manufacturer of commercial aircrafts and as far as exports are concerned the Boeing Company is United States major exporter. The organization is quite in every attribute and it employee more than 105,000 people. Similarly, Airbus is the subsidiary of Aircraft manufacturing company EADS (European Aerospace Company). Airbus is considered as one of the leading aircraft producers of the world and the company produces around half of the world’s jet airlines. Both these organizations are considered as fierce rivals of each other and they have a strong eye on each other’s strategies. These two companies have been soaring high in the marketplace based on its level of market share and level of credibility. In fact the two companies have been improving their businesses in order to outwit each competitor by incorporating technology advances in superior designs (Campos, 2001). The rivalry between the two plane makers has already created a noise in the marketplace but the two companies are still existing and soaring higher in spite of competition. The products of Boeing are known as Boeing business jets, Boeing VIP and military jets and they are numbered as 737,747,767,777, and 787 Dreamliner. Similarly, the products of Airbus are A320, A300, A330 and A380 Family. Marketing Strategy of Boeing The marketing strategy of Boeing is quite extensive and attractive in nature. Boeing faced a huge number of manufacturing difficulties and a competitive threat from its huge rivals Airbus. Boeing had to find an efficient way of developing and building airplanes and for that reason they changed the entire production systems and they revamped their marketing strategies (Balle & Balle, 2005). Boeing’s aircrafts are a sign of prestige and comfort. Boeing marketing strategy like others is dependent on projections and forecasts. That is the reason why Boeing forecasts a $2. 6 trillion market for a new commercial airplane which is nearly over the next 20 years. The strong market demand in the airplane industry will lead the organization to a world fleet and with a significantly improved environmental performance. Boeing gives an appealing touch and it’s more preferred by the customers. The 787 of Boeing is considered to be a different version of airplanes and it has an entirely different vision. Similarly, the design of the plane is entirely different too. The conventional approach is not followed by the Boeing and it doesn’t apply the hub-and-spoke model. The vice president of sales and marketing has stressed on the design of Boeing and he believes that number of frequencies offered by the airlines has doubled. He believes that customer’s preferences about airplanes are changing and customers prefer more point-to-point flights which allow the customers to fly more frequently and on smaller planes (Newhouse, 2008).

TV Dating Show

TV Dating Show – † If you are the one† Oh, My God! There are 24 beautiful and charming young female contestants standing on a stage, each atop a podium with a light panel in front. Stand on the other side of the stage is a young male contestant who looks a little bit nervous because he is trying to impress the 24 ladies to go on a date with him. Wait, what is going on? Uh†¦ , let me tell you that is a real scene from the most popular TV dating show in China, â€Å"If You are the one. This dating show was created for the career oriented men and women between the ages of 20 to 40 a platform to meet their soul ate. It was produced by Jungian Satellite Television. Unlike the traditional way of making friends, this show reflects the men and women's idea of finding love and marriage in today's world. In the show, the 24 female contestants have 4 chances to understand the male constant through his story, career, love life and comments from friends to decide if the m ale contestant is the one whom they have been waiting for by keeping the light panel on after all 4 segments.Because of its novelty, this show attracted many young people and many parents would encourage their children to audition for the show. And Just in a short time, â€Å"Are you the one† has become a popular topic at dinner table. Everyone In China knows this show, even a 5-year old child. To some extent, in â€Å"If You are the one,† the honest and daring conversations on love and personal values between male and female contestants have aroused wide public concern. Sometimes, you may get scared hearing about some surprising Ideas.For Instance, In 2011, a female contestant named Ma Nun, expressed her love view on the show by saying â€Å"I'd rather cry In a BMW than smile on a bicycle. † Immediately after she saying that, she had become an Internet sensation and all most every audience got shocked. Many people criticized her for being selfish, they called h er â€Å"Ammonite,† which means a person only loves money. However, at the same time, People who supported Ma Nun, applauded for her honesty, because not everyone can tell what they actually thing In such a big show.At that time, every Chinese hold different opinions attitudes toward this Issue. After one year, this event ended as a dating shows sensationalists. In fact, I think â€Å"If You are the one† Is not more than a dating show, It Is Like a multi-delusional mirror that reflects today's social values ND also created a buzz about people's morality. Through this dating show, we can see ourselves as one of the contestants on the show. As Earnest Hemingway said â€Å"l know only that what Is moral Is what you feel good after and what Is Immoral Is what you feel bad after. TV Dating Show By Cindy going on? Uh†¦ , let me tell you that is a real scene from the most popular TV dating popular topic at dinner table. Everyone in China knows this show, even a 5-year o ld public concern. Sometimes, you may get scared hearing about some surprising ideas. For instance, In 2011, a female contestant named Ma Nun, expressed her love view on he show by saying â€Å"I'd rather cry in a BMW than smile on a bicycle. Immediately after she saying that, she had become an internet sensation and all most every can tell what they actually thing in such a big show. At that time, every Chinese hold different opinions attitudes toward this issue. After one year, this event ended as a dating shows sensationalistic.

Homeschooling vs. Public Schools

What is the most important thing you want your child to do in their lifetime? Most parents would answer for them to succeed greatly in their education and in their future careers. But how can parents be sure that their children will get the best education they can get through their educational careers? Well, they can ask the estimated 2 million children who are homeschooled every year on account of the benefits homeschooling has to offer to students. Homeschooling and public schools vary in quality and the benefits each one has. The vast differences between the two may determine the better choice for a particular child. Although parents might not be an expert or licensed to teach, students who are homeschooled succeed more academically compared to public school students and the parents can have a better knowledge of how their child learns the best. Homeschooling used to be the only form of schooling before public school came about. As said in Brian D. Ray’s â€Å"Research Facts on Homeschooling†, homeschooling used to be seen as an alternative mode of education just a decade ago, but is now turning into â€Å"the fastest-growing form of education in the United States† (Ray, par. ). The statistics included in Ray’s article show that in grades kindergarten through twelfth grade, about 2. 35 million children were being homeschooled in 2010 (par. 2). Homeschooling also used to be just about the schooling. Now, some parents look toward homeschooling as a chance to enlighten their children with their own morals and appreciate their role they have on them as well; being a teache r and a parent gives them the chance to connect with their child, plus be involved with their education. One of the main questions asked about homeschooling is why parents think it’s the best choice for their children? There can be many reasons why a parent would not want their children in the public school system. From the article â€Å"Homeschooling: The Sleeping Giant of American Education†, the authors, Dan Lips and Evan Feinberg, state the average reasons why parents choose homeschooling is because of dissatisfaction with the curriculum and a certain school system, the school’s environment, and religious or moral standings not being supported in the public school system (Lips and Feinberg, par. ). Parents often feel like there is no better teacher to set their children up for success than themselves, which can be true in some cases. They feel that they can teach their offspring certain values and morals, and they can teach them in a more controlled environment without having to worry about any negative influences; making it a safer environment for their childre n as well. Parents also want the control of having their child accomplish more in their academics than they would in public schools. This could benefit in how the child is well prepared for the rest of their academic career, for example, college. The possibilities on why parents would prefer homeschooling for their children can be endless, but a question still remains: why would the government support such a small percentage of Americans who home school? Government support and involvement in homeschooling has disregarded the movement because of many issues like approval of curriculum, testing, and access to public school classroom for laboratory work or textbooks. With the government focusing on issues in the public school system, homeschooling appears to be off their radar for importance, mainly since there are less homeschooled students than there are public school students in our population. [This is where I would put support to back up my claim with a source about government money going to schools]. Taxpayers also feel better about their tax dollars going to education for our future generation, instead of a private homeschooling session for a small amount of students. The government has provided the public school system for a reason, to ensure the same important knowledge gets passed on to all the students. The public school system is filled with people who have applied their lives to teaching children, but those people can’t determine how each individual student learns in the best way for them. All students learn differently, so why unify them all in one classroom? It might be easier for the government to support the public school system since every child is getting the same education, but to ensure that those certain students whose parents choose for them not to attend public school get an education, the government needs to support them as well. As said in Lawrence M. Rudner’s study, â€Å"The Scholastic Achievement and Demographic Characteristics of Home School Students in 1998†, â€Å"Home school families have a higher median income ($52,000 in 1997) than the median income of all American families with children ($36,000 in 1995)† (Rudner, par. 4). He also states that there is less of a minority percentage (6%) in the homeschooling society than there are in public schools (par. 17). If there becomes more of a diverse population as opposed to ethnicity and family incomes in the homeschooling society, government support can be an alternative as a choice for these families. Rudner describes, â€Å"The median amount of money spent in 1997 on educational materials for home school students was $400† (par. 19). We can consider this a small amount of money compared to the high academic achievement of most home schooled students. After all this being said, the government should support the homeschooling movement to give families of other diversities a chance for their children to succeed higher in their academics. Not every parent or home is stable enough to meet homeschooling requirements. According to The Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA), â€Å"10 states require no notice from homeschcoolers; 15 have â€Å"low regulation† (requiring only parental notification): 19 have â€Å"moderate regulations†: and six states have â€Å"high regulation†Ã¢â‚¬  (Lips and Feinberg 22). This means the homeschoolers in those 10 states who do not require any notice that they are homeschooling can be teaching their children any given subject without the government to approve of the curriculum. How can we reassure ourselves that the future generation of this country is getting the education they need to keep the country going if we have illiterate families who insist on teaching their own children? Parents a lso are not licensed teachers to educate their children based on their knowledge. If the parents aren’t licensed to teach and don’t have much knowledge themselves, then their children are going to grow knowing the same level of knowledge their parent has. Educating your children by homeschooling is not as effective towards the quality of knowledge they can attain as if they went to a public school here there are licensed professionals who actually knows the curriculum. Most homeschooling parents are highly educated, wealthy, and are dedicated to education. Rudner describes in his study of how, based on background questionnaires, 88% of home school parents had continued their education past high school, as an average of the nation, only 50% of parents continue their education after high school (Rudner par. 13). This study shows that the majorities of the people who are teaching their children at home are well-educated and most likely know the topic in which they are teaching to their children. With what has been said in the previous paragraph, home school families tend to have a higher income than other families in the nation. This means that they will be able to afford all the special equipment and supplies it takes to school from home. Parents are also experts when it comes to understanding their offspring. They can know what works for their child in learning new things in the curriculum or how to make them understand in a way that is effective towards the child. Also, parents who home school are dedicated towards education. Either they grew up learning to be enthusiastic about education or they just want to see their child have the highest potential they can get in succeeding in their academics. I would insert some more supporting anecdote to convey why parents are effective teachers for their children]. This exact reason is why parents will devote their time to stay at home to educate their children themselves rather than sending them off to public school for some stranger to teach them. The rate of success of homeschooled students has come up a great amount of times, but how is this success measured? Home school student’s test scores are remarkable compared to public school students’ test scores. As stated in Ray’s â€Å"Research Facts on Homeschooling†, homeschooled students scored in the 15 to 30 percentile above students in public school on academic standardized tests and score above average on the SAT and the ACT (Ray par. 7). Being educated at home allows the students to move at the rate they are comfortable at, rather than going with the strict timeline the public school curriculum has. According to Rudner’s research, â€Å"almost one in four home school students (24. 5%) are enrolled one or more grades above age level† (Rudner par. 7). Rudner then notes that the information he has provided about the average test scores of the homeschooled students are from the students who are actually enrolled into the homeschooling system with the government. We wouldn’t know the average test scores of every homeschooled students in the nation because some states don’t require regulation that children are being homeschooled. Going back to what Ray stated in his studies, home-educated students score above average on standardized assessments despite their parent’s level of education and the family household’s income (Ray par. ). This just shows that the students’ academic achievement isn’t related to whether their parents are certified teachers or not. Homeschooling our children might just be the best choice in our children’s educational careers. Home educating prepares them for further education along in their lives by teaching them, not only the approved curriculum the government p rovides, but lessons about morals and values their parents live among. By having more time to have one-on-one interaction with the teacher (which in most cases are the parents), the students are able to achieve higher academic success through above average testing scores. Homeschooling is becoming more and more popular. With this becoming a more popular trend in education, the homeschooling population is also getting more diverse, making it so the government should support more of the home school movements so more families in America can experience the joy of having their children become academically successful in every way possible.

Clean India For A Green India Essay

‘When the last tree is cut and the last fish killed, the last river poisoned, then you will see that you can’t eat money.’ -John May The CLEAN-India Programme India has a population of over one billion, of which almost 300 million live in around 600 towns and cities. Unfortunately, as a result of stressed environmental conditions, most of these towns and cities are unable to cope with the rapid pace of urbanisation. Water pollution, unavailability of drinking water, inadequate sanitation, open dumping of waste, and loss of forest cover are some of the related problems. These have serious consequences on the health of the people and are also an economic burden to the country. Similarly, water-borne disease like diarrhoea, jaundice and cholera are taking a heavy toll on both human health and economic productivity. This situation demands immediate intervention in the management of rapidly growing urban environmental problems. The quality of the environment needs to be monitored regularly and, more importantly, scientific work needs to extend beyond the laboratory and become more community centered. While the regulatory agencies continue to play their role. Programmes that are community based are required. These will help the community understand local issues and take necessary initiatives to improve their local environmental conditions and come up with new locale-specific initatives to improve their sorrounding environmental conditions. CLEAN-India (Community Led Environment Action Network) programme was launched by Development Alternatives (DA) with the vision of developing a cleaner environment for our urban centres. This nation-wide programme focuses on environmental assessment, awareness, advocacy and action on school children who are the future citizens. The underlined realisation is that ‘each one of us is responsible for the current state of are environment and we cannot wait for someone else to solve it’. CLEAN-India Mission The CLEAN-India programme aims to mobilise community responsibility for environmental assessment and improvement in all major towns and cities of India through schools and NGOs linked with governments, business, academic and other institutions. CLEAN-India Network CLEAN-India programme partners with more than 30 like-minded NGOs, 400 schools and over one million students who coordinate the activities across 78 urban centres of India. They participate in various environmental activities and programmes for a cleaner greener India. CLEAN-India Thematic Areas †¢ Water quality and conservation †¢ Sanitation †¢ Land use and biodiversity conservation †¢ Water conservation †¢ Air quality †¢ Energy efficiency †¢ Carbon footprint †¢ Climate change CLEAN-India has evolved with the experiences and learnings from the various initiatives it has taken in the past fifteen years. It is now a front runner in the field of conservation and sustainable living. CLEAN-India programme evolved from DA’s experience with the Delhi Environment Action Network (DEAN) programme, which began in September1996 with five schools. Over 4000 children have now been trained directly on environmental assessment and improvement activities. Action programmes to improve local environmental conditions have been initatiated. Solid waste management, plantation drives, energy conservation, paper recycling, etc., are some activities done by the schools, Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs), business and industrial associations and individual households. This experience indicates that when environment assessment is youth and community based, it mobilises the community to review their local environment conditions and take the requisite measures without waitin g for external support. CLEAN-India has around 30 partner NGOs who drive the CLEAN-India initiative in their urban centres. The endeavour has been well received in these areas. Many more NGOs from across the country have expressed interest to initiate the CLEAN-India programme in their own cities and towns. Over the past decade, the programme has mobilised an extensive network of environmentally conscious citizens. They have assumed responsibility and evolved solutions to their existing environmental problems. Besides the core network of 30 NGOs, thousands of  school teachers and several other citizens’ groups like RWAs, parents fora, local business associations and youth clubs participate actively in the activities. The programme covers various aspects pertaining to our environment like water, air, trees and medicinal plants, waste management (composting, waste paper recycling), checking for food adulteration, bird watching, energy conservation, eco-consumerism. The CLEAN-India Programme is: Unique – because it involves children and yougth, the future citizens as engines of change Scientific – as it is equipped with scientific tools, methods and techniques Innovative – as it has a structured framework with flexibility to address the local needs Inclusive – as it joins hands with all stakeholders Holistic – as it addresses the entire value chain from assessment to solutions Regular – in creating an environmental movement combining hands-on scientific learning with civic action Effective – because it creates Eco-Citizens for tomorrow†¦ Recognising the potential of the CLEAN-India Programme, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Development Alternatives to mutually assist and strengthen existing initiatives of community based environmental action in India. This collaboration was aimed at mobilising the school network for continuous monitoring of environmental quality and motivating communities to initiate activities for clean neighbourhoods. Similarly, CLEAN-India is partnering relationships with business and industry associations and entities like the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), Society for Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), FORD Motors and also with academic institutions like the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), and Indian Institute of Science (IISc). CLEAN-India Tools †¢ Jal-TARA Water Testing Kit helps monitor the quality of drinking water. †¢ Pawan-TARA Air Testing Kit helps assess the quality of the air we breathe. †¢ Jal-TARA Water Filter provides safe drinking water by treating pathogenic bacteria and turbidity. †¢ TARA Mini Paper Recycling Plant recycles waste paper generated in schools and communities which enable us to make our own  stationary. Achievements/ Milestones †¢ CLEAN Dindigul recieved the JCB Confederation of Indian Industries (CII)-Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (APTDC) second runner up award for excellence in solid waste management in 2011. †¢ CLEAN-India website won the Manthan-AIF Award for best e-content on environment in 2006. †¢ A CLEAN-Shillong (ex-CLEAN-India Centre) student was selected by Reuters for the Johannesburg Meet in 2000. †¢ The first DEAN – CLEAN Mela was held in 1998 and included an exhibition, competitions, quiz and a public forum †¢ CLEAN-India students participated in international conferences in Edinburgh, UK and Nairobi, Kenya in 1997 and 1998. †¢ Tony Blair, Prime Minister of Britain interacted with a CLEAN-India student in Edinburgh, UK in 1997. †¢ DA was nominated as the focal agency for ‘Earth Charter for Children’, South Asia. Few of our Resource Centres have helped us translate it into 6 regional languages also. We have released posters, brochures and one book on all the languages in ninth CLEAN-India Meet in 1995. †¢ Tree helpline started by Delhi Government. PIL in Supreme Court for protection of greens / trees. †¢ A number of projects have been catalysed with agencies such as UNICEF, Water Aid, Department of Science and Technology, MoEF and Delhi Government. †¢ CLEAN-India is a part of an International Youth Alliance ‘Be the Solution’. Support for CLEAN-India †¢ European Commission †¢ Delhi Government †¢ Ministry of Environment and Forest, Government of India †¢ Ministry of Water Resources, Government of India †¢ State Governments †¢ Central Pollution Control Board †¢ Respective State Pollution Control Boards †¢ Royal Netherlands Embassy †¢ Foundation Ensemble †¢ Ford Motors †¢ Jocknick Foundation Success Stories †¢ A Solid Waste Management Plan for Jhansi is being developed in collaboration with the Municipal Corporation of Jhansi and Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board. †¢ Ten deflouridation filters were provided by the manufacturer and 70 filters have been set up with the initiative of CLEAN members by Rural Water Supply Department, Government of Andhra Pradesh. †¢ CLEAN-India Delhi Chapter initiated and facilitated in setting up of a tree helpline. †¢ CLEAN-India Mysore Chapter has networked with Mysore City Corporation for solid waste management. They have also networked with a womens’ Self Help Group (SHG), to convert all election campaign material into mats and other decorative items. †¢ CLEAN-India Pune Chapter was successful in the Eco-visarjan campaign. The authorities banned the use of idols made of plaster of paris painted with toxic colours. Unbaked clay idols were made available and proper arrangements were made for immersions. †¢ CLEAN-India Dindigul Chapter has set up a residual recycling plant in tanneries as an outcome result of a campaign by school students. Harnessing Youth Power – Way Ahead Young people constitute a large part of the world’s population. India has the largest youth population in the world. Nearly 40 per cent of the Indian population is aged between 13 to 35 years, and are defined as youth in the National Youth Policy. A large population, especially young people and children, are particularly vulnerable to environmental risks, for example, access to clean and safe drinking water. In addition, young people will have to live with the consequences of current environmental actions and decisions taken by their elders. Future generations will also be affected by these decisions and the extent to which they have been addressed. Their concerns would be on depletion of resources, the loss of biodiversity, and radioactive wastes. Youth have both special concerns and special responsibilities in relation to the environment. Young people will engage in new forms of action and activism that will generate effective responses to environmental challenges. CLEAN-India will now focus on youth and provide them with an opportunity to associate with it. It will direct their efforts towards eliciting a positive change in urban society. In the past 16 years of its existence, CLEAN-India has traversed a long way in pursuit of its mission to mobilise community responsibility for environmental assessment and improvement, which has also earned it numerous laurels from both within as well as beyond its shores. But a greater opportunity of work and engagement still awaits our footsteps and we are committed to take it further in the days to come!