Compare Romeo and Juliet Essay

Romeo and Juliet and Pride and Prejudice are two of the most admirable and exquisite works ever written about the struggling love of two opposing forces. The novels have had a great literary importance and give us a sense of love and marriage on its most bewildered journey during the Elizabethan Era and the Napoleonic wars. Even though these two novels are from two different eras and are quite divergent as a result of it, this essay will argue that both Romeo and Juliet and Pride and Prejudice are indubitable similar in the concern of love and marriage. Firstly, this essay will present a short amount of background regarding love and marriage during the Elizabethan era and in the turn of the nineteenth century. Secondly, the essay will talk about the comparison and distinction in love and marriage present in the novels. Thirdly, this essay will discuss and hopefully conclude with the chosen thesis. During the Elizabethan era women were subservient to men and they were raised not to consider otherwise. They were expected to marry whomever the father would hold appropriate. The Scottish protestant leader John Knox wrote â€Å"†Women in her greatest perfection was made to serve and obey man.†( Alchin, L.K. â€Å"Elizabethan Women.) The marriages were arranged to create alliances with other powerful families which becomes the obvious environment in the play about Romeo and Juliet. Love was not significant between a man and a woman. Instead the importance of financial security and a life in everlastingly safety was prioritized through the marriage of a wealthy suitor. In the play by Shakespeare Romeo and Juliet, Juliet is being arranged to marry Paris, a kinsman of the prince, a well suited husband for her despite of her disapproval. As Paris speaks â€Å"God shield I should disturb devotion!—Juliet, on Thursday early will I rouse ye.(kisses her) Till then, adi eu, and keep this holy kiss.† ( Romeo and Juliet, 4.1 William Shakespeare) This is not a marriage for love and this typical prejudice of marriage is also highly present in Jane Austen’s book Pride and Prejudice. One of the characters Charlotte amongst other, is utterly convinced of a socially ideal marriage which was the most common way to unite in the turn of the nineteenth century. â€Å"I am not romantic, you know; I never was. I ask only a comfortable home; and considering Mr. Collins’s character,  connection, and situation in life, I am convinced that my chance of happiness with him is as fair as most people can boast on entering the marriage state.† (Chapter 22. Page 193.† Pride and Prejudice. N.p.: Planet Pdf). Most women decided to marry rather than depend on other family members for financial support. Due to this choice or lack thereof, love and passion were presumed to be less essential in people’s lives. Charlotte’s quote expresses more or less the plight woman had throughout the turn of the nineteenth century. It’s very likely that the Author of Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen intentionally tried to reveal woman’s position in love and marriage as they were. Shakespeare on the other hand probably had a slightly different agenda which was mainly to please the audiences. All though it is important to not e that Shakespeare presumably wrote about this social decay because he did not approve of what was going on at the time. We might say that this includes the social condition of women and their meager rights in love and marriage. â€Å"Get thee a good husband, and use him as he uses thee.†(All’s Well That Ends Well 1.1.212-13) In Romeo and Juliet the matter of love dominates the play.† My bounty is as boundless as the sea, My love as deep; the more I give to thee, The more I have, for both are infinite. (Romeo and Juliet 2.2, William Shakespeare). Love in this play is simply not one-sided. There is puppy love or shallow love which is the love Romeo has for Rosalie, merely drawn to her appearances’. This view of love is also present in the novel Pride and Prejudice. One of the main characters Mr. Darcy speaks of the woman who later becomes his wife â€Å"She is tolerable; but not handsome enough to tempt me;† (Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice,Planet Pdf p.14 Ch. 3) Romeo and Juliet and Pride and Prejudice are both acclaimed love stories which center around a man and a woman and their love for each other. The other characters seem to play their important role converging upon these lovers or lovers to be. In both stories we see a strong opposing love due to a distinctness of social class as occurring in Pride and Prejudice between the middle class, the Bennett’s and the Aristocrats Darcy’s and new money the Bingley’s. In Romeo and Juliet the antagonistic love is more defined as a feud between tw o powerful families who will not by any circumstances find peace with each other. â€Å"Two households, both alike in dignity, In fair Verona, where we lay our scene, From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.† (Romeo and  Juliet, Prologue p.7 William Shakespeare). The House of Montegue and the House of Capulet are the two families who are sworn enemies, never to reconcile until Romeo and Juliet’s deaths. Nevertheless both the novel and the play have in common the opposing forces set in the story. These two main characters should not be together in love as a result of society’s rules. They both defy society’s instructions and give in to love rather than reason. This way of writing was probably intentional by Shakespeare considering the Renaissance period was also about universal order as in Humanism which was a significant factor in general in Shakespeare’s plays.( â€Å"Renaissance Humanism and Shakespeare†.) Both Romeo and Juliet and Pride and Prejudice paint marriage as one of life’s most important choices. Even though this is the case, it is considerably important to envision that Pride and Prejudice has a slightly closer focus on family over husband whereas Romeo and Juliet leans more toward love for husband over family in my opinion. The reason for this is the personalities of the women in the Novel and the Play. Both Juliet and Elizabeth are strong female characters who are being presented as very respectable human beings despite their flaws. In a way we can say that both authors, Jane Austen and William Shakespeare speak for the women at that time and their difficult situations in love and marriage. Passion, love and hate is also a common denominator in these stories. These three words as a whole provide us with an overall understanding of these books. Passion as source of consistency, love as a diversity present in different elements, and hate as an opposition to love to create balance. All though there are quite a few similarities between the novel and the play, there are also a few contrasts present in the books which are important to consider in an analysis of love and marriage. The play Romeo and Juliet has an overwhelming amount of overpowering force of love in it which supersedes everything. The love Romeo and Juliet has for each other is almost obsessive, and self-destructive as a result of it. (â€Å"Love is a smoke raised with the fume of sighs; Being purged, a fire sparkling in lovers’ eyes; Being vex’d a sea nourish’d with lovers’ tears: What is it else? a madness most discreet, A choking gall and a preserving sweet.† ( Romeo and Juliet, 1.1, William Shakespeare.) Romeo speaks of love as he has read in books, but unlikely experienced. Romeo’s passionate feelings develop into a deadly love at the end of the play when the couple’s  tragic destiny prevails and they both die by their own hands. Pride and Prej udice do not have this uncontrollable intense love. The novel focuses more on the achievement of marriage and stability in life, financial and the image of respectability rather than the passionate lusty love. It is important to remember that love is also one of the themes of Pride and Prejudice and that the love in which the main characters Darcy and Elizabeth have for each other at the end of the novel is some of the reasons why this book is so successful. Even though the excessive love is more present in the play about Romeo and Juliet as a result of their lawless passion as archetypal lovers, it is relatively different than what we see in Pride and Prejudice. Both stories have a background of society’s expectation in love and marriage such as Juliet’s arranged marriage to Paris and Elizabeth’s friend Charlotte’s marriage to Mr. Collins an overbearing, and ridiculous heir to the entailed Bennett’s estate. In the play about Romeo and Juliet they are being referred to as star-crossed lovers â€Å"Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. From forth the fatal loins of these two foes .A pair of star-cross’d lovers take their life; Whose misadventur’d piteous overthrows. Doth with their death bury their parents’ strife.( Romeo and Juliet, the Prologue. p.7, William Shakespeare,) The stars functions as an opposition to Romeo and Juliet’s destiny and is there-for an indicatio n of a not intended universal love as we can see clearly at the tragic end of the play followed by the death of the two young lovers. Pride and Prejudice have a slightly different ending. It has lot more satisfying completion where the two main characters finally can live a fulfilled life together despite the society’s heavy burden of commandment which the reader of the novel was most likely able to anticipate through-out the novel. We see that Romeo and Juliet and Pride and Prejudice have an evident distinction at the end of the two books towards the consideration of meaning. Clearly Romeo and Juliet is a forced equation whereas Darcy and Elisabeth are more likely to be predestined. By analyzing some of the similarities and contrasts in love and marriage in the two books I find the similarities no more substantial than the contrasts. This might be a result of the underlying elements that keep on grasping the connections as we see it. Some of the leading aspects of this influence are the love against all odds in Romeo and Juliet versus the more  predestined version in Pride and Prejudice. Another important element is shallow love which presents it-self in both books through the ignorance of the characters. We see similarities in the society’s established rules of marriage and the characters capability to oppose to these â€Å"decrees†. Then again there is an over-powering and obsessive force of love in Romeo and Juliet which is not accounted for in Pride and Prejudice. Due to these almost completely balanced analogies and divergences I cannot conclude with the chosen thesis and instead I accept the equity of exceptional authorship. Work cited Alchin, L.K. â€Å"Elizabethan Women.† Elizabethan Women. Www.elizabethan-era.org.uk, 16 May 2012. Web. 13 Feb. 2014. Shakespeare, William, Barbara A. Mowat, and Paul Werstine. The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2011. Print. Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. N.p.: Planet Pdf, n.d. Http://www.planetpdf.com/. Planet Pdf. Web. 13 Feb. 2014. â€Å"All’s Well That Ends Well: Entire Play.† All’s Well That Ends Well: Entire Play. Http://shakespeare.mit.edu/allswell/full.html, n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2014. â€Å"Renaissance Humanism and Shakespeare.† Http://www.saylor.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/SAYLOR.ORG-ENGL401-RENAISSANCE-HUMANISM-SHAKESPEARE.pdf. The Sailor Foundation, n.d. Web.

Transforming India

Transforming INDIA By empowerment of the people of INDIA Through Relevant Education & Vocational Training By Krishan Khanna Supported By Printed in India by Sheetal Prints, 211, Pragati Industrial Estate, Dr. N. M. Joshi Marg, Lower Parel East, Mumbai – 400 011. Published in India by Manifest Publications, 308, Olympus, Altamount Road, Mumbai – 400 026, INDIA. Copyright  ©Krishan Khanna 2012 First Published in India in 1993 ISBN 978-81-906621-0-9 Transforming INDIA was first published by i Watch in 1993 and subsequently it was revised and enlarged every year till the present edition.See details on page 8 of this book. This book is also printed in 12 other Indian languages such as Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, Assamese, Oriya, Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu Printed in India by Sheetal Prints, 211, Pragati Industrial Estate, Dr. N. M. Joshi Marg, Lower Parel East, Mumbai – 400 011. Published in India by Manifest Publications, 308, Olympu s, Altamount Road, Mumbai – 400 026, INDIA. Copyright and Reproduction All content in this book, such as text, graphics, logos, images, data compilation are the property of i Watch, as well as other information providers.This book or any part thereof should not be reproduced, duplicated, published, circulated or exploited. No part of this book can be transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical or electronic, without the prior permission and written consent of i Watch. Transforming INDIA By empowerment of the people of INDIA Through Relevant Education & Vocational Training 1. This is a book and not a magazine. Especially formatted to look like a magazine for easy reading. Very few wish to read a 200 page book! 2.This book and this work are meant for the Youth of INDIA and the 460 million people who work in the MSME's and for those men and women who are working for the empowerment of the youth and especially women and the girl child. 3. To understand and appreciate the context of this book, page7 needs to be read first as this page is the essence of this effort. 4. History of evolution of this book, page 8 5. Immortal Inspiration, page 9 6. A Citizen's effort page 10 7. Aim of this book, page 10 The above pages 7, 8, 9 and 10 are suggested reading before you get into the main sections of the book General www. wakeupcall. org 1Contents Contents Foreword Sustaining Economic Growth History of evolution of this book Immortal Inspiration A Citizen’s effort & Aim of this book What can we do for you? i Watch Focus areas Citizen's response to i Watch About i Watch Principles, Mission, Goals 2 4 7 8 9 10 11 12 14 16 18 Section 1 Governance The INDIA you may not know Agenda for Transforming India Economic & business reforms Governance & Administration Country of INDIA Good governance can transform India into a superpower Good governance + Effective Administration = Zero Corruption World class requires hard work How to achieve world class efficiency?T hree Questions for the world Leaders 19 21 23 24 25 26 27 28 31 33 Section 2 Education & Human Resource Development Tale of three countries after 1947 The importance of education Learn to read and write any Indian language in 40 – 60 hours Vocational education & training, VET – the winner! Enterprise Skills Development, ESD & Vocational Education, VET ‘Education Matrix’ of INDIA Make India an international hub for higher & technical education Making INDIA a Knowledge Economy The population bomb that must be diffused Paradox INDIA Three Proposals for Empowering the youth Youth Counseling – Who am I? www. wakeupcall. org 34 35 36 37 39 41 43 44 47 49 51 52 General Section 3 Economy & Enterprise Difference between Poor & Rich The real & virtual India Poverty Line & related data How to plan for World Markets? A checklist MSME’s – Backbone of any economy India must become an International Hub for business GDP analysis of the Economy  œ Importance of SME’s China – India comparison chart†¦.. Catch me if you can? World, USA, BRIC, Selected Countries 56 57 58 59 61 63 65 66 67 Section 4 Employment Generation 68 69 70 72 73 75 76 79 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 90Importance of Education & Skills HRD – Employment & Unemployment ‘Employment Matrix’ of India Employment Generation Thru’ SME’s Categories of MSME’s, US-SBA classification Employment Generation Thru’ VET Classification of Vocational Education & Training, VET courses Implementation of VET for Employment Generation Definitions used in the area of Education & VET Vocational Training, VET & Economy in China Vocational Training, VET & Economy in Germany (EU) Vocational Training, VET & Economy in USA Vocational Training, VET & Economy in India India’s labour productivity Relevant Education and Training Agriculture: Advantage IndiaGeneral General Information References i Watch in national committees Abbreviations used in this book i Watch publications available in 13 languages Action Plan for GDP growth rate of 10% to 15% per year i Watch Projects Planned for 2012 – 2013 Sponsors About the Author General 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 100 Wake up Call for INDIA 3 Foreword This presentation has been structured for the benefit of the citizens of India, eg. , politicians, farmers, officials, professionals, teachers, students, scholars, doctors, businessmen, housewives, engineers, lawyers, consultants, NRI’s, PIO’s and the youth of India.This is a book and not a magazine! It has the easy and friendly style for comfort reading. Most of the articles are in one or two pages. Very few articles are in three pages. Wherever required the text is supplemented with simple graphics in order to cut down as far as possible unneccessary text, unless it is absolutely essential. The material within this book is divided into four sections. The bottom of each page classifies each type of article. The interconnection of these themes is highlighted whenever relevant.Section Section Section Section 1 2 3 4 covers covers covers covers articles articles articles articles on governance. on education and human resource development. in the selected areas of economy & enterprise. in the domain of employment generation. This book is meant for anyone who may have studied upto class 8th and beyond. As hardly 7% of all Indians really understand English, this book is also available in all major Indian languages such as Marathi, Gujarati, Urdu, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Oriya, Bengali, Assamese and Punjabi.The matter furnished herein has been updated to take into account current available data, wherever possible. The reader is requested to consider the contents of these pages in the spirit in which they have been written, to mobilize thought and action for the people of India. it is not a sermon, rather a statement of facts, to facilitate further awareness and action within the country, with the sole purpose to benefit the People of India. Each note is a ‘stand alone’. Any one of them can be read, at any time.If you ask me a pointed question about the five most important areas where we need to concentrate for bringing the maximum benefit to the people of India, I would say education, education, education, governance and primary healthcare. The first ‘education’ stands for funtional literacy and pre-primary, primary, secondary education. The ‘Right to Education Bill’ was introduced in parliament only in 2005 and passed in 2009. Thank God that after 63 years of Independance we realize the need for education! The second ‘education’ stands for vocational education and training (VET) and skills building.The importance of VET has finally been recognized at the level of the Prime Minister who had directed a Task Force in November 2006 to draw out milestones for uplifting our young Indians into productive employment by empowernment and training. 4 www. wakeupcall. org General In the 11th plan period the National Skills Council and the National Skills Devlopment Corporation have been setup in 2009. The Government of India has planned additional 1500 ITI's/ITC's and 50,000 skill centers in the 11th plan. The work on modernizing the existing 5,500 ITI's is also in full swing.The third ‘education’ stands for complete decontrol and deregulation of all forms of medical, higher and technical education. This alone can generate innovation, excellence and make us World Class. We have had reservations in steel, cement, cars, scooters, etc. Only increased capacity and free markets have solved the issues of price, quality and availability. ‘Licence Raj' in all forms of education especially in higher, medical and technical education must go! Education as an enterprise is nearly five times bigger than I. T. and software. It is therefore a much bigger employment generat or than software and I.T. The reader will have to look elsewhere for data and solutions in the area of primary healthcare. Good Governance has been highlighted by giving a number of examples of bad governance and the negative effects therefrom. It is difficult in a democracy to have good governance untill the electorate has been empowered with relevant education. Hence the emphasis on relevant education. It has taken our country 59 years after independance and a lot of discussion and debate to recognize the true potential of micro and small medium enterprises (MSMEs). The bill on MSMEs was passed only in 2006.Probably 80% of our GDP is here! 99. 7% of organizations in this world, including India, are MSME’s. This is the true ‘dynamo’ and ‘heartbeat’ of any nation. Out of a workforce of 490 million people, only 6% is the ‘organized sector’ and the balance 460 million or 94% is the ‘unorganized sector'. It is estimated that the total number of MSME's are 100 million. 80% in agriculture and plantations and the balance 20% in service and manufacturing sectors. The importance of Vocational education & training or VET and MSME’s for employment generation has been highlighted and explained.As per the latest CII – BCG – Prof. C. K. Prahlad Project [email  protected], the Nation requires 500 million world class skilled people and 200 million world class graduate by 2022. The history of evolution of this book has been dramatic, please see page number 8 for details. The only constant has been change. It is for you the reader to decide wether it was for better or for worse! Krishan Khanna Mumbai, India August 2012 Disclaimer The information mentioned in this book has been collected from various sources in India and outside, during the last 20 years. Watch does not take any legal responsibility for the accuracy of the data provided. We do not recommend that investment and business decisions be taken , based on the data provided in this book. Most of the sources of information as well as references are detailed on page 92. For the latest data and information the reader is advised to see the current websites and handbooks as mentioned on page 92. General Wake up Call for INDIA 5 Dear Reader, Welcome to i Watch. Based on the feedback from readers, we suggest that the following pages may be read first :1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7, 8. 9.Page 12 †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ Focus of this book Page 14 †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ Citizens response to i Watch Page 21 †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ Agenda for Transforming INDIA Page 34 †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ Tale of 3 countries Page 47 †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢ € ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ The Population Bomb Page 56 †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ Difference between Poor & Rich Page 59 †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ How to plan for World Markets? Page 61 †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦MSME's – Backbone of any economy Page 66 †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ China – India comparison 10. Page 75 †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ Employment generation through VET 11. Page 87 †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ India's Labour Productivity 12. Page 90 †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢ € ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ Agriculture: Advantage INDIA 13. Page 93 †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ i Watch in National Committees 6 www. wakeupcall. org General Sustaining Economic Growth Through Relevant Education & Vocational Training The above theme needs to be continued forever, as far as India is concerned.The following two example will strengthen the importance of human resource development, relevant education and skills acquired through vocational training for sustainable development of the economy. I was invited in October 2007 by the Ministry of Education, S. Korea, to chair a session on ‘Vocational Education & Training (VET) for Developing Countries'. This was part of the Global HR Forum which was attended by nearly 1,200 educational experts from 50 countries. The only other Indian attending this forum was Prof. Ananth, Director of IIT-Madras. The deputy prime minister of South K orea was inaugurating the Global Forum.About 50 years ago the people of S. Korea were as poor as Indians. South Korea Looked at Japan and Germany who had very little mineral wealth such as ores, coal or energy in the form of gas, oil other hydro-carbons, just like S. Korea (but unlike India) but were developing very fast, in spite of the complete destruction in the 2nd world war! South Korea realized that the main reason was relevant education and skills building through vocational training. South Korea created a position of a deputy prime minister, whose main responsibility, I believe, is human resource development, education and skills building.General Wake up Call for INDIA 7 Today, after 50 years, an average South Korean has an income of nearly US$ 23,823 per year compared to US$ 1,530 for an average Indian. Is there a message in this for us in India? Let us Look at the 2nd example which is current. Where should we as a Nation be by 2022? Or in the year of our 75th Independence or [email  protected]? The Confederation of India Industry or Cll along with the world renowned management guru, late Prof. C. K. Prahlad had planned for [email  protected] Out of the 74 national committees of the CII, the ones on Education, Skills & HR and the Youth are primarily working on this initiative.Prof. Prahlad was very clear that only by empowerment of the people; especially the youth of India, through education and skills building and vocational training will ensure us as a Nation to attain our major our goals by the year 2022. The plan is to have 500 Million skilled people in different skills and 200 million world class graduates from different fields by 2022. More information about education, economy, governance and employment generation in India available at www. wakeupcall. org or in our book titled ‘Transforming INDIA by empowerment of the people of India through relevent education & vocational training'.History of evolution of this book In 1993 we started with a 4 page booklet. In 1997 it grew to 8 pages, which were also translated into 10 Indian languages. In 1999 the book had expanded to 16 pages, in 2001 to 24 pages, in 2002 to 28 pages, in 2004 to 32 pages, in 2005 to 36 pages, in 2006 to 48 pages and in January 2007 to 56 pages. In July 2008 the book was further expanded to 88 pages and in January 2009 was further expanded to 92 pages and in October 2009 to 96 pages. In February 2011 it was expanded to 100 pages. The current August 2012 edition is finally expanded to 104 pages.This book ‘Trannsforming INDIA' is available in English and 12 Indian language, viz. , Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu. The focus has always been in the same four areas: Governance †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚ ¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. India 1st Education and Human Resource Development †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. Education 1st Economy and Enterprise †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. Economy 1st Employment Generation †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..Employment 1st Economy 1st and Employment 1st, as mentioned 1 2 3 4 i Watch has four divisions, namely India 1st, Education 1st, total of fourty seven notes and observations. above. The first three subjects have ten, twelve and nine articles each while the fourth has sixteen, a To assist the reader, the bottem of each page mentions the classification of the text, in one of the above four categories. Where it does not fit any of the four above, we have classified the same under â₠¬ËœGeneral’ category. 8 www. wakeupcall. org General Immortal Inspiration Nobel Laureate – Rabindranath TagoreINDIA can become a Nation, which is best described in the words of Rabindranath Tagore Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high; Where knowledge is free; Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls; Where words come out from the depth of truth; Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection; Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit; Where the mind is led by thee into ever widening thought and action– Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.Gitanjali, verse XXXV. General Wake up Call for INDIA 9 A Citizen’s effort A citizen, an IIT engineer’s effort at starting and giving momentum for Transforming INDIA through relavant education, vocational training and human empowernment. All of us have a duty, many realize and many don’t. What is important is a clear understanding of what we need to focus on. The rest follows†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..A non-political, non-religious, non-sectoral effort where the only mission is to bring about awakening of the people and then alone can they decide and understand the latent potential of the People of India; what we missed out on and the importance of this work. There is much more to India than we typically may think. This work is only a seed; the growth will come through many hands, of which yours is also one. Aim of this bookThe biggest challange is to impart relevant education in the form of 100% functional literacy, vocational education and training a nd to expand multifold, the existing infrastructure of all forms of pre-primary, primary, secondary, higher, medical and technical education and make India an international hub for education, like it used to be. India needs to empower its youth with relevant education and training as soon as possible. The average age of an Indian is 26 years Priority number one is the education and empowerment of the girl child and women. 10 www. wakeupcall. org GeneralWhat can we do for you? 1. Publications Dear Reader we can assist and help you in the following areas:- Starting with this book. Please see details of other list of publications as detailed out on page 95. We request you to look at the inside cover page to note that this book of 104 pages is also available in 12 Indian languages such as Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, Assamese, Bengali, Oriya, Gujarati, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada & Malayalam. English is only understood by 7% of the Indian population. 2. Interactive Workshops We conduct int eractive workshops in the following topics as detailed on page 91. Relevant Manufacturing Policy for India’, ‘Relevant Educational Policy for India’, ‘Globalization and how India can grow at +10% per year’, ‘Good Governance and how it benefits the citizen’, Employment Generation for 10 million people per year’, ‘How to make Money after leaving College’, Transforming India through Education’. 3. Mind-Set-Change of teachers, Parents & the Youth Kindly see the projects I and 2 as detailed on page 97 Not only are the Projects described but the positive impact of these Projects are also explained in detail. 4.Providing Relevant Data Kindly refer to our website at www. wakeupcall. org, all our publications as mentioned under item I, list of references as detailed out on page 92 and you will see that we have extracted a lot of relevant data for you the reader and formatted the same for easy reading and understanding. All our data is updated, as far as possible, once a year. 5. Setting up Vocational Education & Training Centres We work with a few large organizations within India who collectively train large number of people per year. We are their knowledge partners.By use of technology, by use of actual training centres, by use of integrating such training centres with business and industry in each local area, by providing trained Trainers & Mentors’ for actual training, by conducting assessments, exams and certification of trained persons, by providing counseling before training and placements after training, we add a lot of value for the youth in any geography or district of India. Currently we are concentrating on VET courses in the areas of Healthcare, Hospitality, Tourism, Education and setting up centres in all parts of India. Details on request.General Wake up Call for INDIA 11 i Watch Focus areas Education We work on this issue because†¦ 1. Drop-out rate between KG to Class 10 +2 is 87% to 93%, includes those who have never attended school. 2. ‘License Raj’ and regulation in Higher, Medical and Technical education, restricting growth, R&D, quality and capacity. 3. Cash out-flow of about Rs. 50,000 crores or US$10 to $12 billion per year for Indian students leaving India for foreign Universities, because of lack of seats and quality education within India. These funds enough to build 50 IIM’s & 30 IIT’s per year!It is estimated that about 153,000 students leave every year for foreign studies. 50% opt for a two year Masters course and the balance 50% for a four-year Undergraduate course. 4. Functional literacy expected to be about 33% against Government’s figure of about 67%, but China close to 93%. 5. Inadequate skills development. Hardly 0. 5% of the work force are being trained at any given, in the organized sector, versus the required 7% to 10%, as in China and other developed countries 6. India has 27,000 foreign stude nts while Australia has 400,000 foreign students 7.India has 1. 7 million schools vs 2. 5 million in China 8. India has 563 Universities vs 1100 in China 9. Pre-Primary not given impoftance. 90% of the human brain developed between the age of 1 to 6. 2. Why is FDI stock into India hardly US$ 121 billion vs US$ 1920 billion for China + Hong Kong? 3. Tourist traffic into India is only 6 million per year vs 80 million per year into China? 4. World trade is about 2. 2% against 8. 0% for China. 5. Agriculture productivity in India is 40% as compared to that of China. 6. Life expectancy is 67 years vs 74 years in China. 7.Electrical loss due to transmission and other losses from electricity boards vary from 25% to 50% in India vs 6% to 8% in China. 8. Foreign exchange reserves about US $ 295 billion for India vs US$ 2199 billion in China. 9. HIV/AIDS affect about 5 million people in India vs 0. 85 million in China. 10. 40% of all fruits and vegetables are damaged or destroyed due to poor farm management. 11. India receives a lot of rain but because of poor water management we get floods or drought. Economy We work on this issue because†¦ 1. Labour Laws do not allow level playing field for Indian organizations within present Global Economy. . Employment generation suffers because we look at Capital Intensive businesses rather than Labor Intensive ones. 3. India has only 2. 6% of world GDP. Buying power is low, but demand is high due to high population of 17%. Exports is the answer. Enough emphasis not given so far in 66 years. SEZ’s need to grow faster. 4. Infrastructure is very inadequate for 1,210 million people. Lot of talk but very little implementation. Governance We work on this issue because†¦ 1. Rs. 3,600 crores or US$ 0. 72 billion spent everyday by the 35 states and UT’s of India to run the country.Are the citizens happy? < 1 million = 10 lacs> 12 www. wakeupcall. org General 5. India needs to cash in the advantage of purchasing powe r parity, (PPP) for it’s World Trade. 6. I. T. and software is only 5% of the Indian economy and 3% of world economy. India must look at the balance 97% of the world economy and make it World Class. 7. Advantage of SME’s not fully understood. Present definition not as per Global Standards as in EU, USA, Japan, China, etc. This is a big disadvantage to Indian business as 99. 7% of all organizations in the world are MSME’s.SSI’s are only 5% of India’s GDP while MSME’s would be close to 70% to 80%. Ministry of Industry focus should change from Industry to Economy. 4. Vocational education is directly connected with employment and wealth generation, unlike normal education and knowledge improvement. The benefits of VET for the common man, benefits to organizations who use skilled and trained manpower and benefits to the nation to make it globally competitive will only come about when nearly 80% of the youth, after the age of 15 years opt for VET and not for the normal college education which is B. A, B. Sc or B. Com! 5.The Demographic dividend of supplying young skilled manpower to the world markets must be seized by future Indians by using VET. 6. The present work force of 490 million can be divided into 30 million in the organized sector and 460 million in the unorganized sector. The biggest challange facing us is to provide world class VET for the 460 million in the unorganized sector! 7. Most of the SME’s are in the unorganized sector. SME’s are the real ‘Dynamo’ of the economy. Dovetailing SME’s with Vocational Education & Training will create one of the biggest pool of young, talented and trained manpower in the world!This will propel India forward as an economic power. 8. In contries like Switzerland & Austria there are 5000 VET centers each only for a polulation of 8 million each! These contries are land locked and have no mineral wealth or energyi but because of high quality human resorseas have GDP nearly 33% and 23% of respectively of India! 9. The present â€Å"Apprentice Act† is not in line with the country's present needs. It requires to be completely overhauled so that nearly 10% of the workforce could be apprentices being trained and working at the same time. Employment Generation We work on this issue because†¦ . India has 43 million registered unemployed and probably another 260 million who are underemployed or unemployed in the age group of 18 to 50 years but not registered. 2. The average age of an Indian is 26 years, compared to a Chinese who is 34 years and a European, American or Japanese who may be 40 to 45 years in age. India is a very young country. We need to skill our people so that we can take advantage of so many ‘Young Indians’! 3. While China spends nearly 2. 5% of GDP on Vocational Education & Training (VET) in 500,000 VET centres covering nearly 3000 vocations. India ardly spends 0. 1% of its GDP in VET in 850 0 centres covering about 400 vocations. The actual expenses in VET are more but data is not available! ; 1 million = 10 lacs; General Wake up Call for INDIA 13 Citizens respond to i Watch Feedback and Response received from Indian organizations and individuals, during the last ten years has been documented, based on letters and communications received. A selection of some of these communications has been compiled into a dossier and available for inspection at our office in Mumbai. Some of the feedback is mentioned in the pages below.In short, we are quite happy about the mindset change and action plans initiated in different parts of India, based on the above strategy adopted by i Watch, action plans, assisting and networking with various stakeholders in the actual implementations of plans towards Educational Reforms and Transforming India. Sushma Berlia, President, Education Promotion Society for India †¢ They have set out to create a framework for achieving high and sustainab le growth for India. For this they are working to build consensus and influence policy changes.This is indeed a very unique strategy designed to have a far-reaching impact. Rajiv Kumar, Chief Economist, CII I hope to use some of the wisdom gleaned from your paper in the formulation of my policies of corporate governance. N. R. Narayana Murthy, Chairman & Chief Mentor, Infosys †¢ †¢ i Watch is doing a wonderful job in making the people understand and specify relevant policy changes required and the importance and need of Good Governance to benefit the people of India. Dr. B. P. Dhaka, Secretary General, PHDCC †¢ The Chamber appreciates the good work i Watch has been doing for the benefit of the citizens.P. N. Mogre, Secretary General, Indian Merchants Chamber †¢ The mission of i Watch has been the Mission of Krishan Khanna to innovate and transform where ever he was involved in work or life. Dr. P. S. Rana, Chairman & Managing Director, HUDCO †¢ As an educati onist and HRD consultant I strongly believe that the plan of i Watch for training 95% of the youth in 3000 areas of Vocational education is most innovative. If implemented, it would prove to be a major solution for the unemployment problem in India Prof. Rooshikumar Pandya, International Management Guru We interact with more than 500 NGO’s and we must say that we have found i Watch a unique and innovative NGO. Vinay Somani, Managing Trustee, Karmayog. com †¢ I have read with interest your book titled, Transforming India, and would like to convey my compliments to you for the very useful studies and suggestions contained in this. I have no doubt that the issues raised and the recommendations made are of immense value. B. N. Yugandhar, Member Planning Commission We believe in the ideas and suggestions of i Watch to bring the policies to optimum benefit for the people of India.Anupam Mittal, President & CEO, People group †¢ †¢ I have not heard of any NGO like i Wa tch which has such a holistic plan for Transforming India. Maj. Gen. D. N. Khurana, Director General, All India Management Association. Regarding Good Governance, I look forward to having detailed discussions with you to follow-up on some of the suggestions contained in your book, Transforming India. M. Damodaran, Chairman & Managing Director, IDBI †¢ †¢ I really appreciate i Watch’s endeavour in creating awareness, suggesting solutions and 14 www. wakeupcall. org I am aware of the good work being done by i Watch.I have noted your views regarding good governance, training and employment. M. Venkaiah Naidu, President, BJP †¢ General †¢ Please keep up the good work. Dr. Natarajan – Chairman, All India Council for Technical Education well as focusing on the areas where we need to give greater attention. M. V. Rajasekharan, Minister of State for Planning, Planning Commission †¢ I was very impressed with your whole program and your efforts to elevat e India. Babu Khalfan, NRI based in USA †¢ The vision with which i Watch has been set up is indeed a very timely effort for better governance.We would be glad to be associated with your foundation. Deepankar Sanwalke, Executive Director, KPMG †¢ We would deeply appreciate it if you could kindly spare the time to participate in the Conference on NRI—Civil Society Partnership and guide its deliberations. Dr. Abid Hussain, Chairman, Group for Economic & Social Studies At the outset, let me congratulate you on all your presentations and I feel happy and honoured that you have shown interest in our working together on vocational education and training. I can see the potential. Prof. Rupa Shah, Vice Chancellor, S. N. D. T. Women’s University †¢ I would like to thank you for your support. It has helped us grow into a strong and vibrant organization. Padmini Somani, Director, Salaam Bombay Foundation Your publication makes an interesting reading. I very much app reciate the simplicity and practicality of your approach. K. L. Chugh, Chairman Emeritus ITC Ltd. †¢ We welcome you as a founder member of the IC Centre for Governance. The executive committee members of the Centre are impressed by the choice of your core issues and the action plans outlined. Prabhat Kumar, Former Cabinet Secretary & President, IC Centre for Governance †¢ Watch is doing a wonderful job and the research work you are doing shall give us a lot of inputs for the movement. Sudesh K. Aggarwal, Secretary General, All Indians Foundation †¢ Reference your discussions with our Chief Secretary, we will be glad if you hold interactive sessions on Good Governance & Effective Administration for all senior and middle level officers, numbering about 450 of the government of NCT, at the Delhi Secretariat. Prakash Kumar, AR & IT Secretary, Govt. of NCT †¢ †¢ I must admit that this is really a very painstaking job and you have amassed a lot of valuable statist ics and data.I assure you that with my limited capability I shall try to project your data to all possible forums. P. N. Roy, Chairman, Indo-Asahi Glass Ltd. †¢ i Watch is invited as a part of the expert panel to comment and suggest on the â€Å"India and the World 2025† scenarios at the interactive workshop organized by the World Economic Forum and CII. Confederation of India Industry †¢ Your effort to shortlist the maladies looming ominously on our socio-cultural-economic spectrums deserve mention. R. S. Agarwal, Joint Chairman, Enami Group of Campanies †¢ Please accept my congratulations for the good work which you have done.I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all the best in your work and I am sure your publications will bring about awareness and as well play a very educative role in highlighting the issues and as General †¢ I critically studied your ‘Governance & Administration of India’ paper and came out very deeply impres sed and also agitated. It is powerful enough to make everybody sit up and think. It hits the right cord. You have precisely pointed out what ails India. Prakash Almeida, Director, Institute for Study of Economic Issues Wake up Call for INDIA 15 About i WatchI am sure this book will set all those who receive it thinking and from thinking at least some will go on to take some action to realize the vision you have sketched. N. Vittal, Central Vigilance Commission, CVC †¢ What is i Watch ? i Watch, is a citizens movement for Transforming INDIA. ‘i’ means India, Indians, you and me. ‘Watch,’ means that we are ‘watching' what is happening in the country and reporting to the citizens in order to create awareness for the sake of improvement. The ‘i’ is small since our gurus have always taught us that only with humility can we perceive the truth.We focus on Human resource development, governance, economy, enterprise and employment generation and the relevance of their interconnection. i Watch is a registered charity with the head office located in Mumbai, India. Donations to i Watch, qualify for 80G income tax benefits for indian organizations and citizens. The FCRA approval for foreign donations has been received in January 2009. Your perception is superb, ideas are original and some of the statistics are mind boggling. I wish your ideas get a much wider coverage through the all-India media. H. N. Dastur, Executive Director, Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan When awareness is there, the action will also take place and in this crusade I and many Indians are with you. Keep it up. Sushil Gupta, Past District Governor, Rotary District 3010 †¢ I assure you that I will continue to do whatever is within my power to pursue the one point agenda as in your letter. George Fernandes, Defense Minister, Government of India †¢ We feel privileged on account of your having favoured us with your valuable experience. Air Commodore Amrit La l, Executive Director, Indian Society for Training & Development †¢ How do we plan to transform INDIA? i Watch, functions in three stages. . Create awareness Publications such as Making INDIA a Knowledge Economy, The INDIA you may not Know and Action Plan for INDIA are used for the purpose of creating awareness. 2. Solutions and Action Plans This is achieved by our website, interactive workshops and our 104 page book, Transforming INDIA. 3. Actual Implementation For this purpose, we assist and network with government, public, private organizations and NGO’s. †¢ I appreciate your viewpoints expressed in the note and would invite more ideas and pragmatic exercises which can help to develop society in the right direction.Suresh Prabhu, Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha 16 www. wakeupcall. org General What has i Watch achieved ? In 1992, when we started on the journey of Transforming INDIA, we had no clue as to the focus we should take. It took us nearly 4 years of resear ch and travel to come to some basic conclusions as to the areas of focus for transforming India. This we achieved by 1996. Real work started in 1997. The focus finally watered down to the following four key areas:1. HRD, Vocational education & Employment Generation 2. Governance & administration of India 3.Policy changes regarding, SSI, MSME and relevant labour laws 4. Economy, Enterprise, eg. emphasis on exports and other sectors of the economy such as retail, wholesale, manufacturing, travel and tourism, healthcare, infrastructure and agriculture. i Watch has had some success in all four areas as we have been able to change the mindset of a large cross section of the decision making population by the use of:1. Interactive workshops, seminars & articles 2. Publications, Making INDIA a Knowledge Economy, The INDIA you may not know and Action Plan for INDIA 3. 02 page book, Transforming INDIA 4. Website at www. wakeupcall. org 5. Participation in the National Committees of the MHRD, Planning Commission, Chambers of Commerce, CII, FICCI, Ministry of IT, etc. As member’s of CII, FICCI, ASSOCHAM, PHDCC&I, IMC, MEDC, BCC&I and discussions with IBA, RBI, and MOF we were able to influence the meaning of SME’s and understanding the limited relevance of SSI’s. The only constant in life is change Recognized by the Europen Union, EU, for a joint project on employment generaction and vocational education and training in ten states of India.In the area of Governance we have been consulted by state governments such as the Delhi NCT to suggest and advice on Governance and Administration. In Educational Reforms, our thought process regarding vocational education and training, have been considered by the Ministry of HRD, Planning Commission & IGNOU. Thrust on Deregulation of Higher and Technical Education is gaining acceptance through initiatives with the CII, FICCI, ASSOCHAM, EPSI, PHDCC&I and others. In the areas of Economy & Enterprise, we are called fo r our feedback and inputs by think tanks such as the World Economic Forum, WEF.In the last 20 years we have distributed more than 600,000 copies of our book, Transforming INDIA, conducted a large number of interactive seminars and hosted all our ideas and thoughts on our website. Our publications are available in 13 languages, in English, Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi, Bengali, Assamese, Oriya, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Punjabi, Urdu and Malayalam. Only 7% of Indians understand English. General Wake up Call for INDIA 17 i Watch principles, mission, goals Guiding Principles 1. Positive attitude Believe that real change is possible. 2. Research Don’t hit the road without detailed home work. 3.Effective communication Use communication tools to reach out to all. 4. Belief in the power of the community Recognize that the central means of all actions is a collective assertion. From an inclusive community comes a collective strength. 5. Constructive engagement Engage in the spirit of partn ership. Build alternative modules or change the rules. 6. Non partisan culture No political affiliation 7. Pro-political approach Politicians are victims of the vicious cycle, not villains 8. Respect for political process Recognition that the politics is the central to democrac and the true politics is a noble endeavour 9.Political alternatives There is no alternative to democracy—the alternative to democracy is a better democracy 10. Professionalism Deliver on individual roles and responsibilities at the highest degree of commitment and capability at all times. namely good governance & effective administration, how it influences the economy and how to achieve it? The importance of relevant Human Resource Development. Removing the present ‘Licence Raj’ in education! The need for policy changes such as scrapping the existing limited definition of small scale industry, SSI’s, and expanding it into micro, small and medium enterprises or SME’s.The cryin g need of relevant labour and administrative reforms to bring India at par with other Asian Tigers and to provide a level playing field to our business leaders and managers. Why exports and tourism must be expanded by 1000% of the present levels! In a democracy people have to get involved. Change is possible and more creditable if communication is ‘bottom up’ rather than ‘top down’. Our presentation is therefore designed for the common man or the ‘citizen of India’. Goal To make India, a land, which is truly world class. With 1210 million people, India has a very large demand, but where is the buying power?We must export more to build up buying power! India’s future lies in becoming a resource base for the world, in manufacturing, trading and services, since 97. 4% of world trade and 97. 8% of world buying power is NOT within India. A bird’s eye view shows:†¢ India needs to emulate the successful examples of information techn ology, software and diamond exports, for all other sectors of the economy. †¢ With a high purchasing power parity (PPP of Rs. 16 = US$1), India has immense scope to export goods and services. Good governance and effective administration are necessary to achieve these goals for India! Politicians and officials in China ‘Talk Economics & Walk the Talk’, that is why non-resident Chinese and foreign investors have confidence in China! Fortunately, the preception about India is now in positive territory! General Historical Background The focus was always constant in the areas of Human resource development, governance and the economy. The importance of the interdependance of HRD-Governance-Leadership-Economy & Enterprise-Infrastructure on each other needs to be understood. Each depends upon the other in many ways.It is not possible to look at them seperately without causing harm and lowering the efficiency of the country. Mission To create awareness for the citizens of I ndia in areas which are vital for the future of the nation, 18 www. wakeupcall. org The INDIA you may not know of 50,000 or more private I. T. training centers spread across the country. 9. I. T. & Software are only 2. 0% to 2. 5% of the world’s GDP. India’s present share is about 5% of GDP. For rapid economic growth and employment generation we need to concentrate on the balance 95% of the economy and enterprise and make it world class! 10. 00 million unemployed of employable age* and only 44 million have actually registered with employment offices with little or no hope of getting employment (our estimates)*. 11. Of all new employment generated, 1% are government jobs, 2% are in the ‘organized sector’ and the balance 97% in the ‘unorganized sector’. 12. Out of our 490 million workforce, 94 % work in the ‘unorganized sector’ and about 6% in the ‘organized sector’. Nearly 55% to 60% are self employed. 13. 2. 5% of the entire population, viz. 19 million people work for the central and state government; another 11 million work in the ‘private organized sector’.A small part of the population work in the organized sector. 14. All Labour Laws are made to protect, at any cost, the above 2. 5% of the Indian population. Article 311 of the Indian constitution needs relevant revision since it over protects employees of the Government even at a cost to the nation. 15. While MP’s, MLA’s and Municipal Councilors and the village panchayats, can only be elected for a maximum of 5 years, the officials, babus, and government employees enjoy life long benefits of employment, in spite of their performance. 16.We have 600 million illiterate people based on the international definition of the 3R’s (reading, writing and arithmetic or education at least up to primary level of class 5) 17. The Indian definition of literacy is based on a survey of people— â€Å"If you can write your name, you are literate†; nobody has seriously ever challenged this definition! 18. 290 million live below the Government of India’s definition of the poverty line of Wake up Call for INDIA 19 1. 71% or 840 million people are below 35 years of age. Indians are young. 2. 28 million people are born every year, 10 million die per year, population increase 1. % per year 3. 88% to 92% drop out rate of children between kindergarten and 10+2. This includes those who have never been to school. 4. 10% are the ones that cross the 10+2 stage, Educational ‘Line of Control’, which is our so called educated youth, go in for a regular college degree which may not be very relevant in today’s context for the sake of employment generation and national GDP enhancement. 5. 62% of all graduates from the 37,000 colleges are Arts graduates. Balance 38% in science, commerce, medical, engineering, I. T. , law, management and special subjects. 6.While 80% of the world you th between 15 to 35 years of age learn a vocation, a skill or a trade, with a choice of 3000 vocational education and training (VET) programs, in 15,000 modules, we in India have only identified about 400 courses after 66 years of Independence and hardly 2% to 2. 5% of the population goes for formal VET training! 7. We can get engineers and MBA’s in India but no carpenters, plumbers, drivers, repairmen and other skilled personnel as per international standards in the other 2,500 vocational trades. 8. Information Technology, software or I. T. are the only exceptions.Perhaps because India 1st Rs. 26 (rural India) to Rs 32 (urban India) per day! this is based on being able to buy enough rice and wheat from the Public Distribution System, PDS system and ration shops, which has food value of 2200 kilo calories per day. 19. Nobody has ever challenged this definition of ‘Poverty Line’. How can one expect people to live with a few kilos of raw uncooked wheat or rice? As human beings, don’t we need more? How about one set of clothes to cover our bodies, a set of chappals for our feet, some vegetables, milk and fruit, in our diet? How will we cook without any energy and fuel? 0. 450 million* live below the poverty line definition of the World Bank's old definition of @ US$1 (Rs. 50) per day per person, or US$ 365 per year. 800 million* people live below the poverty line definition of the World Bank's new definition of @ US$ 2 (Rs. 100) per day per person, or US$730 per year. (our estimates)* 21. Average Per Capita of an Indian is about US$ 1530 per year per person (1. 21 billion people and a GDP of US$ 1853 billion). Average earning of an Indian is US$ 4. 10 per day. 22. India has only 2. 6% of the World GDP and has 17% of the world population.Demands are high but buying power is low. Hence we will need to increase our export related activities by 10 times, as the foreign markets are 60 times bigger than the Indian market. Our share of world m arkets or foreign trade is 2. 2%, down from 33% 1000 years ago, down from 27% when the British landed in India and down from 3% in 1947. 23. Only 7% of all Indians understand English, yet most of the websites of the government of India, state governments and public institutions are in the English language! 24. While English is a language used in countries which account for about 38% of the world GDP, viz. USA + UK + old British colonies, yet in India, while we talk of globalization, we are not serious about learning the other languages of the world, eg. , Japanese, German, Spanish etc, unlike the Chinese youth who are doing so otherwise. 25. India is probably at the bottom of the heap, as far as the human development index is concerned such as infant mortality, child care, malnutrition, women’s health, sicknesses, disease, health, clean drinking water, etc. 26. Democracy is to the people, for the people, by the people. If we have to succeed, the citizen has to get involved an d participate in governance. 7. Unlike other countries, we have 22 official languages, 2,600 dialects, all religions of the world, and due to low human and economic development, emphasis on SC, ST, dalits, caste, religion, sects, minorities, regions, ethnic groups, etc. 28. Employment generation is restricted due to existing policies which do not encourage â€Å"Labour Intensive† enterprises. Relevant labour reforms in line with prevailing practices in other countries of Asia are required for a level playing field for Indian organizations. 29. The size of Enterprises cannot be decided by officials in the central government.They are decided by technology, process, international market forces and competitive pressures. Reservation for small scale industry, SSI, needs to be scrapped and SME’s should be encouraged. SSI’s are 5% of the Indian GDP. 99. 7% of all organizations in the world are SME’s. 70% to 80% of the Indian GDP are SME’s. We need to unde rstand the meaning of ‘E’ in MSME (small and medium enterprises). 30. As per www. loksatta. org, about Rs. 3,200 crores are spent every day, to govern India at the centre and state levels, both on revenue as well as on capital account. Is this transparent? Is the money well spent?Citizens need to use The Right to Information, RTI bill, and also take part in the governance of India, through citizen groups. 31. About 800 members of parliament in the lok sabha and rajya sabha and 4,210 members of the state legislature assemblies control this expenditure of Rs. 3,200 crore per day. You may download a sample of the contents of this book, Transforming India, from our website in English, Marathi, Gujarati, Urdu, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Oriya, Bengali, Assamese and Punjabi. < 1 million = 10 lacs> 20 www. wakeupcall. org India 1st Agenda of Transforming INDIA nto an Economic Power & Developed Nation Priority 1 Relevant HRD, deregulate H&T education & Vocational training 1. 100% Primary Functional Literacy Learn to read and write any Indian language in 40 to 60 hours @ 1 hour per day for 5 days a week. Nearly 500 million people need to learn the 3 R’s which are reading, writing and arithmetic. As per the government of India, the average literacy rate is 64%, based on the indian definition, if you can write your name. If one uses the international definition, like minimum primary education as the criteria, the actual literacy rate would come down to 40%!We need to achieve 100% functional literacy in the next 10 years! 2. Primary & secondary education The dropout rate of 90% in schools, from kindergarten to class 12th, must be reduced to less than 10%. This includes children who have never attended school. 3. Enterprise Skills Development or ESD. We suggest that this should be started from class 5th right upto class 12th. ESD is ‘about enterprises and how the real world works’. Helps decide future choice of profession for the youth. Builds confidence in ourself. Only two hours per week are required. 4. Vocational Education & Training or VET.VET teaches the youth a skill or a competence or a trade. One learns to do some skilled job! In developed countries, 80% of the youth from age of 14 to 35 should go in for VET. This would mean about 50 million people per year. 5. Except for I. T. , which is 2. 5% of world’s GDP, where there may be 50,000 private training centres operating in India; where are the training centres to run the balance 97% of the skills, trades, competances required to run the nation? India 1st 6. Liberalize Education Decontrol and privatize all forms of education like business was in 1991!Make India an International Hub for Education 7. The I. T. business, ever since inception, has been outside the control and regulation of the central and state governments. Market forces, fierce competition, and constant innovation has allowed Indian I. T. education to be world class. 8. Priv ate and NRI participation in education Government should concentrate up to high school only, from class 1 to 10 only. The rest they should leave to the private sector 9. Entrepreneurship Institutes in each Block Entrepreneur promotional institutes, in all the blocks of the states. 7% of new employment is in the unorganized sector and SME’s. We need skill sets for the youth. 10. India will only prosper when the Goddess of Learning, ‘Saraswati’ is unshakled and unchained as was the Goddess of Wealth ‘Lakshmi’ in 1991. Priority 2 Good Governance Benefits of leadership and good governance are highlighted in ten different articles. If one looks at the contents page, one will notice that nearly 81% of our articles are ‘People Dependant’, ten on Governance and twelve on Human Resource Development and Sixteen on Employment Generation!One can understand Good Governance, only if we understand the effects of bad governance. Many such examples have been given in our articles for this very reason. Wake up Call for INDIA 21 Focus on HRD, governance, economy and employment generation Priority 3 Central government policy changes 1. Removal of SSI (small scale industry) reservation. Reservation does more harm than good. 2. Amend Labour and Employee Laws and give local enterprises and organizations a level playing field on par with other developing Nations of Asia and Latin America. 3.Encourage â€Å"labour intensive† technologies for employment generation. 4. Recognize the meaning and importance of ‘MSMEs’ (micro, small medium enterprise) and not ‘SSIs’ (small scale industry). We must understand the importance of the ‘M’ and the ‘E’ in SME’s as ‘MSMEs’ account for 80% of the Indian economy against 5% in SSI. While the MSME Bill was passed in 2006. Indian MSMEs still have to align themselves to global standards. Large organizations subcontract most of the ir non-core business to highly productive and cost- effective MSMEs. 1. Trading, wholesale & retail, are 15 times bigger than I.T. (big employment and GDP generator) 2. Manufacturing, as an enterprise, is 11 times bigger than I. T. (generates about 75% of government revenues) 3. Health Care, as an enterprise is 4 times bigger than I. T. (big employment and GDP generator) 4. Travel & Tourism, as an enterprise is 6 times bigger than I. T. (big employment and GDP generator) 5. Education, as an enterprise is 4 times bigger than I. T. (big employment and GDP generator) Priority 5 Funding infrastructure – US$ 1500 Billion ‘Special’ – Infra Bonds Infrastructure needs funding at 6% to 8% per year, rate of interest.The tenure of borrowing needs to be extended to at least 10-15-20 years, since it takes nearly 5 years for ‘building’ and another 5 years for ‘Gestation and break-even’. These bonds should be of low-interest but with incentives and tax breaks. Priority 6 Awareness program for the above 5 priority areas By the use of our 102 page book, Transforming INDIA through education, awareness with relevant solutions and action plans are our prime objective. Our book is a step in that direction. It has 47 articles and notes on Governance, Human Resource Development, Enterprise & Economy & Employment Generation.Our website at www. wakeupcall. org details out much more than this book. Besides English, the Hindi, Urdu, Gujarati, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Bengali, Oriya, Assamese and Punjabi versions of some relevant portions are available. Only 7% of Indian understand English, therefore Indian languages are required. India 1st Priority 4 Export activities of the economy, other than software Software and I. T. is 2. 5% of the World’s GDP, we need to look at the balance 97. 5% of the economic sector in the world markets!The five areas of economic activity, mentioned below, are only some examples, t here are many others. 22 www. wakeupcall. org Economic and business reforms After 66 years of Independence, where are we? After 66 years of Independence, if we bench mark India against other countries of the world, especially with those in Asia, we note that though a lot has been achieved by us, a lot more needs to be done. We need to learn from our past and move boldly into the future. India has achieved many milestones, but not enough to eradicate poverty, illiteracy and other vital issues, for the 1,210 million people of India.In spite of India’s glorious past history and present outstanding world class quality of our human capital, which not only is responsible for running many organizations, in manufacturing, trading and services sectors, around the world but also responsible for advising many countries on this planet, we have not been able to put our own ‘house in order’ to world class standards. We are not able to always use the best effective human capita l for running the country, both for the public as well as the private sectors! This needs to be suitably amended.In the first instance, we need to start taking some simple and effective measures which are for the good of the majority of the people of India. We should plan to become a resource base for world markets since 98. 2% of the world’s buying power and 99. 0% of the world’s trade is not with India! Good Governance is the ‘Golden Key’ Good governance can unlock India’s latent potential! We have been analyzing India’s problems based on years of research, analysis and personal interviews with thousands of Indian citizens as well as NRIs and PIOs.India needs to improve it's governance and administration to world class standards, as soon as possible. We firmly believe that India would be rated as the No. 1 country in the world, as far as potential vs performance is concerned! Let us unleash this latent power and energy for the benefit of th e 1,210 million Indians, and for the benefit of mankind on our planet. India needs a new and innovative paradigm shift in thought process and planning for achieveing a 10% to 14% GDP growth rate per year 1. Why can’t we have 100 zones on our coastline, each one equivalent to a Dubai, Singapore or a Hong Kong?These 100 zones will in effect increase the GDP of India by 500% in 15 to 20 years! China has more than 500 Special Economic Zones (SEZ’s)! 2. Our suggested ‘Relevant Manufacturing Policy’ for India can also enhance the GDP to double digit growth. We can achieve high growth rates of the Asian Tigers, including China, provided we follow such policies! See our website www. wakeupcall. org and this book for details. 3. The existing educational policy, on human development, caters mostly for higher education. About 25 million people of different age groups, enter the system every year.About 3 million make it in higher education, the balance 22 million â₠¬Ëœdrop off’ at various stages. We need to change the policy to benefit these 22 million. 4. Make ‘some part or parts’ of coastal India as ‘tax free zones’, Use the best examples of Mauritus, Isle of Man, Sychelles, UAE, Bermuda, Luxumberg, Monaco and Lichtchenstien. Tourism, exports, FDI, investment, employment generation, education, vocational training, infrastructure, law & order, reduction of corruption, improvement of health services and GDP can improve at a faster rate with education good governance and effective administration.Wake up Call for INDIA 23 India should learn from the best! We should either try to teach the world, if we are better than them, or be humble enough to learn from the best around us, other options are irrelevant! W. Edwards Deming, one of the world’s greatest management and quality gurus, when asked, what his one point recipe for nations and organizations was, said, â€Å"People are important†. Experience o f other countries! Alan Greenspan, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of USA, once remarked that â€Å"lack of labour rigidity is the key to success in the US†.The US has benefited much more than Europe and Japan because American businesses enjoy the freedom to hire and fire and only keep the best human resources. S. E. Asia and China have greatly benefited due to flexible and fair (for the masses), human resource policies. India 1st Governance & administration Primary duty of politicians and officials 1. Rate of growth Due to reforms in the last decade we consider 8% to 10% as the ‘New rate of growth’ of the economy. India needs to grow at 10% to 14% per year, to meet the well being and aspirations of its people. This goal is achievable with Education, Good Governance and Effective Administration. . Democracy – what does it mean? 2. Cost of Governance in India As per www. loksatta. org, an NGO based in Hyderabad, the expenditure on ‘Governance of India’, by the 790 politicians at the Centre, the 4,120 in the 35 States and Union Territories and the 19 million employees of the Central and State Governments use about Rs. 3,200 crore per day or Rs. 1,168,000 crore per year, both on capital and revenue accounts. About 1. 87% of Indians govern 1,210 million people! This comes to about US$ 234 billion or nearly 14% of India’s Gross domestic product or GDP! Are Indian citizens getting their money’s worth?Only you the Indian citizen can give the actual and final answer. You be the judge of your own country and decide. Our study clearly indicates that the people of India desire and deserve much better Governance and Administration. Democracy is of the people, for the people and by the people. Citizens must play an active role. As President John F. Kennedy said, â€Å"ask not what the country has done for you, but what you have done for the country†. In a world of globalization and keen competition, Indi ans will have to

Noise Pollution and Mitigation in Urban Developments Essay Example

Noise Pollution and Mitigation in Urban Developments Essay Example Noise Pollution and Mitigation in Urban Developments Essay Noise Pollution and Mitigation in Urban Developments Essay When the topic of pollution comes about, most people usually attribute it to air pollution. Air pollution is usually the first thing people think of because it is the highly debated form of pollution that occurs in most urban settings. What some people may not realize is that it is only one form of pollution that takes place. Pollution also exists in soil, water, light and noise. While these topics are known, some are not as readily discussed as much as the others. Noise pollution is often a topic not mentioned though is a problem in a lot of cities in the world. Through many years, many cities have seen the problem and have either added to it or made solutions to contain or reduce it. Noise pollution, while not always the most prevalent form of pollution discussed, is an important factor in the sustainability of a city and its citizens. In order to begin to discuss how noise pollution is important to the city it has to be defined. The definition of the word â€Å"noise† according to the Merrian-Webster’s dictionary is â€Å"any sound that is undesired or interferes with ones hearing of something. So for something to be polluted of noise is for it to be disturbed by sounds from someone or something. You can attribute the phrase â€Å"noise pollution† to just about anything. If you are in a crowded room with everyone talking, the room is being polluted by noise. This same concept comes when you are defining noise pollution to a city. What in a city causes it to be surrounded by noise? In reality, almost everything in a ci ty in one way or another contributes to noise pollution. Around the world, most major cities have tried their best to add all the things that most other major cities have and sustain it as best as possible. Things like public transportation, land usage, businesses, and highways are just certain factors that are made to create a city into a striving place that can prosper and be a model to other areas of interest. All these things bring the problem that most major cities face, including noise pollution. So what are the biggest factors that contribute to air pollution? The biggest contributors are when cities are nearby highways with traffic, airports, railroads, manufacturing plants or factories, areas of construction or destruction and even things like open concert venues Mayntz). Most cities have these structures centralized in their areas or very close to the area. Something these parts of the city have in common is amount of noise they produce. Vehicles in highways are making noise while they drive, planes with huge engines leaving and entering airports have high rates of sound, construction and destruction is noisy, trains are loud, factories usually have some noise from machinery a nd concerts are meant to play loud music. All these factors combined create in themselves a single loud noise that can surround their area. Though noise is a daily occurrence in most people’s lives, it is important that we see why it is a problem amongst people and a city as a whole. What some people don’t realize is that noise pollution is like air pollution and water pollution. It can have effects on the health and mental state of people living in and around cities that have issues with it. There have been many studies that have linked noise pollution with different type of health issues. Many people who live near cities that have high amounts of noise pollution often incur stress related illnesses, high blood pressure, hearing loss, sleep reduction, and even speech interference (EPA 1). Perhaps the most evident health issue that people have Noise Induced Hear Loss, or NIHL. Though many things in someone’s life can lead to a reduction in their hearing, many connections have been made toward noise pollution in cities have made the likeliness of it more prevalent (Suter 14). While noise pollution will not cause these things in everyone who lives near city or goes to one a lot in their life, the many connections made in many cities around the world to people who have some of these issues is very evident. By causing health and mental issues to the people, it then goes on to affect how a city is built and ran, or how it would have to change how it is going to stop it. The first part in how noise pollution is important to a city is on where it is created. As stated earlier, a large contributor to noise problems are highways. When creating a city that wants to be highly impacted by those who commute from places like suburbs or the countryside, there will need to be some sort of highway to get people there. That’s why most major cities have multiple highways or freeways that are nearby or even pass through them. With the amount of traffic the highways could endure, noise eventually rises. Poor planning on a city is how they maintain the noise pollution that comes from a highway. Reducing speed limits has shown to make a gradual decrease in noise. The problems that cities face when trying to reduce speeds is in more traffic congestion, which leads to poor transportation and air pollution. Many cities still seem to support the call for the end to noise pollution. Recently, many people who are living in cities near highways in Switzerland are lobbying heavily to make regulations on noise pollutions from highways stricter. They are calling for more sound-proof barriers along the highways, which is also something done to reduce noises from traffic. It is quite staggering how much people are willing to stop noise pollution at all cost. There have been many countries in Europe that have even been willing to pay more on their taxes to have their money go towards efforts that would reduce noise pollutions in their cities. In 2005, residents in urban developments near Spain were willing to pay four Euros per decibel a year to reduce noise in their neighborhoods (Viladrich-Grau 1). This not just meant highway reduction but also railroad noise and airport traffic. This leads into another problem with poor planning in cities and noise pollution: neighborhoods. Many large cities have begun to build more residential areas in the area of the downtown metropolitan areas. Housing in the area is made to cut some commuting for some people. The tradeoff can be that they must endure the noise pollution that the city can cause. Most suburbs aren’t even that safe from the causes of noise pollution. Looking at just here in Los Angeles County there are many cities that reside next to highways and railroads. There are even some that are within miles of airports, such as Bob Hope Airport in Burbank. Burbank is a city north of Los Angeles that has many residential areas and other cities with residential areas. There are many examples of areas that have these problems, especially dealing with the sounds coming from loud jets in airports. Tons of residents in the cities surrounding London’s Heathrow Airport made complaints of problems from jets, but little has still been done to change the effects from it. Road and airport noise are the biggest concerns when it comes to noise pollution. When cities begin to grow, we eventually grow into people living near or using these things every day. Cities have to deal with noise pollution no matter what. There have been some very famous cases of residents or local governments trying to fight noise pollution and the effects it has. Most new cities cannot avoid having noise problems, it is something that is almost inevitable with cities as they try to become more modernized and offer more to their citizen and those who wish to visit. In terms of vehicle noise, more has been done to reduce this in cities than other forms of noise pollution. Since most cities have to have roads and highways to be accessible, this is the number one concern to most people. Cities have begun to plan strategies to reduce noise pollution in all its form. This is called noise mitigation. Most cities have been helped in reducing noise pollution thanks to the introduction and growing popularity of the hybrid car. Though a big help, the hybrid car is still not even close to being used by most commuters. To help reduce noise on the road, places have made changes to their speed restrictions, road materials, and even technology in barriers that reduce sound. The city of Melbourne, Australia has had a very unique approach to reducing their noise pollution from highways that are close to communities near the Flemington area. The highway passing through this area is covered by a barrier made of bars. The design, while looking stylish, is made to reduce the sound made from vehicles passing through the road. The sound tube has successfully made noise from the road less heard by the people living near it. Melbourne has plans to add more noise reducing structures to their highways soon. It is plans like this that help the people living in areas around Melbourne to not worry about the effects of sound pollution. While commuter vehicles are a cause of noise pollution, so is city maintained public transportation. Many cities have made sure that routes for their bus or rail systems are following sound levels set by their governments and other programs. Dating as far back to the 1970s, computer models have allowed city public transportation authorities to plan out their routes and lines to make sure that they keep sound to lower levels (Kutz 1). The Boston Metropolitan Transportation Authority, San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit, Houston Light Rail system, and Portland’s Beaverton light rail line have used this technology to have their buses and light rails reduce their noise levels and avoid areas where it can affect people the most. Road noise is the most common of the noise most cities face. As mentioned before, there is also the problem of airlines and airports. This however is more difficult to maintain as trying to reduce noise from an aircraft requires the companies that make the jets and airplanes to drastically change the way they build their machines. It has come to a point that no company would seek to drastically renew their engines for the sake of sound. The only way that airplane noise can be reduced is by city planning, flight time regulations or residential sound proofing (Suter 22). In terms of city planning, the idea is to have the developments of your city a good distance from airports. While a central business district may not be affected as much, it should still be a good distance from areas of that sort. The main concern is residential areas as they have the more population that are permanent and therefore can be affected by the problems associated with noise pollution. If neighborhoods were able to be a good distance from airports, the effects of their sound pollution would decrease or even be nonexistent. Unfortunately as cities expand, they go into whatever area was trying to be maintained to be a cushion from airport sounds. As cities expand or are near airports, regulations to come into place to soundproof the homes in the area. Here in the United States, the government took measures into seeing that the cities and towns surrounding airports would soundproof homes and businesses. The Federal Aviation Administration began projects in 1979 to insulate buildings so that they would be able to reduce noise from nearby airports. Over many years, the program created many soundproof residential areas that made homes and buildings with things like window glazing, fireplace baffling, and caulking construction seams (ASNAA 1). Canada has also made neighboring city developments to soundproof the area if it is in certain proximity to an airport using Noise Exposure Forecast (NEF). As mentioned with the London Heathrow Airport, the problem persist as homes are too close to airport landing sites that it is almost nearly impossible for the cities to greatly decrease the noise pollution problems. What some cities don’t realize that while the noise mitigation is useful for their citizens, it is also helpful to the environment that may surround them. The term â€Å"going green† is popular now as fears of global warming and dwindling resources are a reality. What most people don’t realize is that noise pollution is also something that needs to be taken care of when â€Å"going green. † Many cities across the world have made efforts to help the environment, and what they don’t realize is that though noise pollution seems like a problem just for humans that it is also an nvironmental issue. Many groups around the world have fought for cities and even countries as a whole to maintain themselves when it comes to noise issues. Most major cities in the U. S. and other countries have groups that are dedicated to reducing the noise pollution in their area or areas close to nature. The reason why they fight for noise mitigation near nature is that just as humans are affected by noise pollution, so are animal wildlife. Studies have shown strange activity from many species of animal when presented to areas that have issues with noise pollution. The Los Angeles area has a group named Citizens Against Noise whose motto, according to their website, is â€Å"To fight all kinds of noise pollution. To educate the public about the connection between noise and stress, and how it lower the quality of life and damages both your physical and mental health. To lobby lawmakers and pressure the authorities to solve the problem of excessive noise. † The group is also dedicated to helping areas around nature to reduce their noise pollution even more. There are many more groups that have the same goal, such as Alaska’s â€Å"Quiet Rights Coalition,† British Colombia’s â€Å"Ban the Canon Initiative† and Hong Kong’s â€Å"Hush the Bus Movement. † All these groups are helping cities find the balance to make sure noise pollution doesn’t affect their lives and nature anymore. This is how everything eventually fits into how planning and sustaining a city. All types of pollution are tied into each other. Most air pollution is contributed from traffic congestion and emissions from factories and plants. These emissions from factories and plants can also cause water and soil pollution if it is close to the source. These things can also have an effect on light pollution as traffic and a building’s lights are ongoing. The one thing that these things will always seem to have in common is the characteristic of noise. When it comes to making a city run well, you have to try and keep these things nonexistent or to the lowest possible point of affecting anyone. It would seem that the dream of developers is to try to make themselves a city that can be sustainable and profitable. Cities seem to be made to centralize business, pleasure, and home. The problem with cities though is that sometimes they are planned to be something and then eventually over time becomes something else. Cities begin to grow into different areas; they can sometimes see an increase in population that may not be able to handle it and even can unforeseen events that cause distress. With noise pollution, it seems that it is something that can’t be avoided to make a city run with many things that create the issue. So as it becomes almost necessary to bring in different types of pollution, it leads the solution to be brought up by the cities itself. Just like the current situation in Switzerland, regulations for noise pollution may be passed by the government but if something else is not regulated it then something should be done about it. Luckily, citizens of cities who are affected by the issue are taking a stand and demanding that something be done to reduce the noise. They are striving to make their city more sustainable. By attempting to create some sort of noise mitigation, they help the citizens of the area and also to whatever else it could possibly be affecting, i. e. nature. That is why so many groups are active in trying to bring forth the subject of noise pollution. It is unwanted and unhealthy for many. A city that reduces this problem will be more desirable to live in or work in. With more people doing that, it creates an effective chain of work that could eventually lead to other parts of the city such as other forms of pollution and sustaining things like transportation, business, and human activity. Noise mitigation is an essential part to making a city sustainable. Cities that have been planned poorly or are crumbling to the effects of it show a lack of sustainability. Many examples have shown that some minor and major changes to structure or regulation are all that it takes to make a difference in reducing noise issues. Most people should be concerned about this issue as health and mental states are at risk. We also have to think about how it is affecting nature. Some cities have taken the initiative to try and mitigate the problem, but some who have serious issues with it have not done a thing or failed at their attempts. Though the issue may be lack of resources or funds to create projects for noise mitigation, it should still be seen as a concern as cities continue to expand and populations grow. With no sustainability with noise, the growing population and nature will be dealing with more issues than those of greenhouse gasses and violence. : Aviation Safety and Noise Abatement Act of 1979. 1979. Web. 24 Apr. 2011. . CITIZENS AGAINST NOISE (C. A. N. ) Los Angeles, California. Free HOA Websites, Neighborhood Websites, Homeowners Association Websites, Condo Websites, and Community Websites Neighborhood Link. Web. 21 Apr. 2011. . Kutz, Myer. Handbook of Transportation Engineering. New York, NY [u. a. : McGraw-Hill, 2004. Print. Mayntz, Melissa. Types of Pollution. Major Environmental Issues | Going Green. Web. 24 Apr. 2011. . Melbourne Planning Proposals. Melbourne: VicRoads. Web. 22 Apr. 2011. . Noise Pollution | Air and Radiation | US EPA. US Environmental Protection Agency. Web. 25 Apr. 2011. . Open Directory Society: Issues: Environment: Noise Pollution. ODP Open Directory Project. Web. 21 Apr. 2011. . Suter, Alice H. Noise and Its Effects. Rep. Administrative Con ference of the United States. Web. 25 Apr. 2011. . WRS | Noise Pollution Persists despite Federal Rules. World Radio Switzerland. 27 Apr. 2011. Web. 28 Apr. 2011. .

sexual consequences in adolesc essays

sexual consequences in adolesc essays Sexual activity hurts adolescents. Sadly, large numbers of children are placing themselves at risk by engaging in sexual activity early in their lives. Health risks are not the only consequences however. Sexually promiscuous lifestyles bring with them heavy responsibilities and commitments that young people cannot handle. Young adolescents do not have the capacity and maturing to endure the social, emotional, and psychological responsibilities that accompany their sexual choices. Sadly, the consequences include unwanted pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases, and broken relationships, to name a few. The purpose of this essay is to investigate and discuss some of the research surrounding early sexual activity in adolescents. We will examine the findings of several academic journals, identify some of the current trends in sexual activity in adolescence, and examine the implications that follow. Lets begin by looking at some statistics regarding sexual promiscuity in adolescents. The statistics are frightening. According to the Alan Guttmacher Institute, about 80% of teenagers engage in sex by age 19 and most experience intercourse an average of 8 years before marriage. Roughly 1-in-4 sexually active teens acquires a sexually transmitted disease by age 20. Ten percent of all women become pregnant by their late teens, 78% of which are unwanted. For every ten teen pregnancies, four will be aborted. Of all rape victims, one in every two is a teenager. (Guttmacher, 1999). These statistics are overwhelming and frightening. Next, we will discuss 3 research articles that engage the teenage sexual crisis. Lets examine an article by Shaughnessy and Shakesby (1992). The authors were interested in the effects of sexual activity on the emotional and social development of adolescents. Their article comes from an academic journal entitled, Adolescence, Vol. 27, Issue 106. The conclusion drawn from their research in...

Impacts of Credit Crunch on Ryanair Research Proposal

Impacts of Credit Crunch on Ryanair - Research Proposal Example In February 2008 Reuters reported that global inflation was at historic levels (Reuters 12 02 2008) Ryanair, the first Low Cost Carrier in Europe, it was founded in 1985 (Ryanair.com History 2008). Ryanair began operations with a staff of twenty-five and a single 15-seat airplane flying connecting Waterford and London. In 1986 Ryanair got authorization to begin flying four flights a day on the Dublin-London route. Utilizing the opportunity, they broke the monopoly of British Airways and Aer Lingus with fares that were much lower. Ryanair's strategy (initially) was to offer simple, low-cost fairs and exemplary customer service. During the later part of the 80s Ryanair continued to compete vigorously with British Airways and Aer Lingus while adding additional routes and airplanes (Creaton 2004). In 1990 Ryanair suffered a 20 million loss and was forced to completely restructure. A new CEO - Michael O'Leary - was charged with making the airline profitable. O'Leary visited the USA to study the 'low fares/no frills' model being used by Southwest Airlines. O'Leary promptly determined th at the key to low fares was to implement quick turn-around times for aircraft, "no frills", and no business class, as well as operating a particular model of aircraft (Ryanair About Us n.d.). Regardless of the decline in overall airline traffic, Ryanair made a profit of 293,000 for the year and carried 651,000 passengers. In 2000, they announced the launch of 10 new European routes for the summer and the company launched their new online booking site and in just 3 months the site was taking over 50,000 bookings a week (Ryanair About Us n.d.). After the tragedy of 9/11, the whole air transportation industry suffered a drawback and airline companies had to modify their strategies in order to adapt to the new situation that led to an increase in oil prices and a downturn in traffic (Gloomy Ryanair 2008). Ryanair, instead of cancelling thousands of flights, adapted the opposite strategy (DG TREN - ANALYSIS OF THE EUROPEAN AIR 2001). The company took advantage of empty slots in the airports, which were until the date the biggest constraint in European airports. In 2008 Ryanair is the 3rd largest airline in Europe; it has 31 bases and carries 50.9 million passengers annually (Ryanair Annual Results 2008). The firm's whole story is built on ambitious growth targets.

Alarm Systems Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Alarm Systems Paper - Essay Example 87) Fay, on the other hand, defines an alarm system as â€Å"tools that make security incident response possible†. (2007, p. 258) Due to its critical nature in safeguarding the resources of the organization, this paper is written with twofold objectives: (1) to present the mechanics on how the alarm system works and (2) to present the rationale for using different types of alarm systems. Alarms are either electrical or mechanical devices. In its simplest form, an alarm system is nothing but one or more sensors connected to some sort of siren. The very simplest alarm would have a switch on the door, window, vent, or skylights and it would be wired so that if someone opened the any of the areas specified, the siren would start wailing. You could implement this alarm with a switch, a couple of pieces of wire and a siren. However, this does not end here. An alarm system would only be effective with appropriate monitoring. Four methods of monitoring are noted by Morris (2007, p. 87), to wit: local monitoring, central station monitoring, direct fire or police monitoring and propriety monitoring. Depending on an organization’s resources and requirements, the appropriate method of monitoring is applied. Finally, an operator is required to interface with the alarm system. The operator sets, resets and responds immediately to the alarm system. Morris (2007) averred that â€Å"a basic alarm system is divided into three layers: perimeter protection, area protection, and spot protection. Perimeter protection is the first line of defense to detect a potential intruder. Alarm sensors on the perimeter are typically Area protection, on the other hand, is utilized to protect the interior premises of an organization. Accordingly, â€Å"these devices provide coverage whether or not the perimeter is penetrated and are especially useful in detecting the