SOME IMPORTANT ESSAYS

IMPACT OF GLOBAL ECONOMIC RECESSION – HOW TO OVERCOME

In the language of economics, recession is a negative growth of Gross Domestic Product of an economy for a certain period of time. In simple words recession means a period of stress and strain when the businessmen find it difficult to meet their commitments. As the economic system is revolving around the trade cycle, recession is a part of the economic cycle.

When we enquire the background of this contemporary recession, it can be seen that the roots were grew first in U S A and it showed it’s symptoms in September 2008. In 2005, Bush government in U S A brought a policy to meet the aim that there should be no person without house in the country by 2010. So the government wanted the monetary institutions to give housing loans in a liberalized manner. By this reason many people were given loan irrespective of their income. And they became unable to repay this debt with interest even they sell their houses. This situation caused a sudden decline in the aggregate demand of the American economy. Therefore the situation in the U S economy spread to world wide as many counties are good trading partners of U S A. Indian economy has also affected by the recession to certain extend. But the strong base of banking sector in India and effective and accurate steps taken by the government and monetary authority rescued the country from a great slow down. During the middles of 2008, Indian economy was suffering from acute inflation. Inflation occurs when aggregate demand exceeds aggregate supply. In other words inflation is the reverse of recession. Due to the global financial meltdown, India could reduce it’s inflation rate and we have experienced a state of deflation before a few weeks.

The biggest financial issue that the world is facing is the current recession we are in. By and large, a recession is a decline in any given country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), or negative real economic development, for two or more consecutive quarters of a year. During a recession the economy stops rising and starts working in reverse. Instead of adding new jobs, there are jobs being lost. Instead of companies making a capital gain, suffer a loss. Consumers spend less because they have lost their jobs, and have nothing to spend. At present, the modern world is in the hands of a severe economic recession even though the signs of recovery have been seen. We should know that how businessmen find it difficult to meet their commitments. The answer is that during recession there will arise a tremendous imbalance between aggregate demand and aggregate supply in the economy. Demand will be very much less than aggregate supply. Therefore the firms will be urged to reduce their production. It will lead to an increase in the rate of unemployment and it in turn reduces income. The only way to overcome this situation is to create additional demand in the economy. For this purpose the present governments are declaring stimulus packages of billions and billions of dollars to stabilize the economy. In order to increase the demand, we have to increase consumption or investment or both. During the time of recession, marginal efficiency of capital or amount of profit from additional unit of investment will be low due to the declined state of demand. Therefore private investors will not come to invest. At this time more investment and consumption must be done by the government. In other words government should act as an agent who does not have any profit motive.

Impacts of global economic recession: - Even though recession is a part of trade cycle, it has wide range of impacts. It will take a lot of time to cure from the influence of this slow down. Some of he major impacts can be discussed below.

High unemployment rate: Recession means a fall in aggregate demand with respect to the availability of goods and services. So producers will be forced to reduce their production. It will cause high unemployment in the economy.

Deflation or Disinflation: Recession cause deflation up to a certain extend. We have seen that there will be unemployment during recession. As a result these unemployed people become income less. Therefore the aggregate income in the economy decreases. Then the value of money increases and it will lead to deflation.

Foreclosure: Due to a large amount of unemployment in the economy, people will become unable to discharge their debts. Therefore they loose their security resources.

Heavy fall in investment: During recession, people’s marginal propensity to consume will be less. Therefore there arises a fall in demand. It will destroy the expectation of the producers to invest more.

Bankruptcies: We have seen that amount of expected profit will be low at the time of recession. At the same time some of the firms will have to shut down their operation if they can not cover the variable cost. This situation will create bankruptcies in the economy.

Stock Market losses: Performance of the stock market of a country is an indicator of the economic performance. During recession the marginal efficiency of capital is very low. So the people will not have a mind to invest their money in the stock markets. It causes stock market failure.

Fall in Exports and Imports: Demand will be less with respect to supply during recession. It will lead to decline in exports and imports. It affects the balance of trade of the exporting country adversely. America is one of the major trade partners of India. Due to the meltdown, exports to America were stopped for a period of time. This situation played a crucial role in reducing the growth of Indian economy in the financial year 2008 -09.

How to overcome the global economic recession: - Present economic system is open with international trade. Therefore recession become a global phenomenon. It is an insomniac and nightmare of many prominent economists. This time we have to learn a lot of lessons from this economic turmoil. If the economy is in the hands of fluctuations every time, it can’t achieve full employment equilibrium. Only an economy without worse effects of trade cycles brings about growth and development. The lessons that can be learned from the recessionary experience may be detailed below.

Need of more government intervention in the financial sector: Earlier we have seen that level of income, employment and output will decrease during recession. In order to overcome recession, demand in the economy should be pushed up. Due to a declined state of aggregate demand, individuals will not invest their money because of the lack of expectation. According to Keynesian sense, this tome government should come to consume and invest more without any profit motive. It will raise aggregate demand and then private investors also will come. Thus the economy will be stabilized from recessionary state.

Don’t spend more than our income: Aggregate demand is good for the economy. But there is a limit in the availability of goods and services. Roots of the present economic recession were from the intemperate consumption. So we have to use money only to satisfy effective demand.

Understand the store of value function of money: According to the classical view, money is only a medium of exchange. It means money has only transaction function. So increase in the quantity of money affects only the price level and other macro economic variables will remain unaffected. But Keyenes said money have three motives. They are transaction, precautionary and speculative motive. Precautionary and speculative motive represents the store of value function of money. From this we can understand that we should be prepared to meet emergencies.

Keep a limit in savings: Savings is good for individuals. But when the full aggregate economy saves more, it will lead to a deficiency in aggregate demand by reducing the marginal propensity to consume. It will in turn lead to recession and then to depression.

Understand the equal importance of product market and money market in the modern economy: People have a misconception that investing money in the monetary institution is the safest way. But along with this saving we have to invest money in the product market also. Only by this way there will be responsible supply of outputs with respect to the demand.

Improvement of social security measures: In order to achieve effective demand and full employment equilibrium, consumption must be increased. People will consume more than their savings only if they have enough social security. Giving more social security is the responsibility of the government.

Need of a strong basement in the monetary sector: The financial sector of a country should be very strong. Central bank of that country can play a crucial role in performing this function. The Central bank should fix strict cash reserve ratio in order to stabilize other banks and monetary institutions.

The meltdown of recession also arise the importance of a mixed economic system like Indian economy. In India almost all financial institutions whether it is private or public have a strong base. The best example is when the world sank into deep recession, public and private sector banks in India (except a few ones) achieved more profit. Suitable and effective fixed and monitory measures lead to growth and development. More over we individual should be careful about our economic condition and try to improve our productivity as Keyenes,the famous economist says “If you have no work, go and dig the soil even from their income will generate.”

Today more than ever, there is a major and constant fear of an impending recession in our government’s economy. A recession is a downturn in the economy when output and employment are falling for at least a period of six months. This is due to a number of factors, for example people buying less, a decrease in factory production, growing unemployment, a slump in personal income, or an unhealthy stock market. (Harris, 2002) These factors including scarcity, choice, and opportunity cost are the reasons that an economy is considered in a recession.

CHILD LABOUR IN INDIA

Despite planning welfare programmes, legislation and administrative ac­tion in the past few decades, a large majority of children of the age group of 5-14 years continue to remain in distress and turmoil.

Child labour are exploited, exposed to hazardous work con­ditions and paid a pittance for their long hours of work. They are forced to leave schooling, shoul­dering responsibilities far beyond their years.

But no one steps forward to stop this. On June 17, 1999, the member states of the ILO unanimously voted to adopt convention 182 on the World Fo­rum on child labour. It was recognized that end­ing the commercial exploitation of children must be one of the mankind's top priorities.NGOs, Trade Unions and various social service organizations have launched innovative programmes to curb the problem of child labour.The social and economic consequences can easily be understood if we understand the factors responsible for it. Child labour is a multi dimen­sional problem. The factors primarily responsible for it are poverty, caste tradition, size of the family, labour scarcity, illiteracy, ignorance, schooling fa­cilities etc.

Parents' view that more children mean more earning which induces for an increase in child labour. The low income of parents which is not adequate to meet the basic needs of the family, force the children to work and supplement the fam­ily income.

Poverty is a common feature of devel­oping countries wherein a considerable propor­tion of population lives below poverty line. In the rural areas the people has to sell the labour of their children to take out a bare subsistence. Besides poverty one major factor, which has a strong relationship with child labour is caste. If one compared the child with the caste structure of the country, it would be evident that a compara­tively higher proportion of Scheduled Caste chil­dren work at a younger age for their own and their families. Lower caste children tend to be pushed in to child labour because of their family's poverty.

The combination of poverty and the lack of social security network is also responsible for bonded child labour. For the poor, there are few credit sources, and even if there are sources like co-operative loan, bank loan etc. available, only few poor families manage to satisfy the essential criteria related to access those. Here enters the local money lender with exorbitant high interest rates.

Most of the times it is not possible for the poor to return back those loans and the parents exchange their child's labour to local money lend­ers. Since, the earning of bonded child labours are less than the interest on the loan, these bonded children are forced to work, while interest on their loans goes on accumulating.

 Even if bonded child labourers are released, the same condition of pov­erty that caused the initial debt cause to slip back into bondage. Lastly, but not the least, the atti­tudes of parents also contribute to child labour, some parents feel that children should work in order to develop skills useful in the job market, Instead of taking advantage of formal education.

ROLE OF RBI IN INDIAN ECONOMY

 The central bank of the country is the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). It was established in April 1935 with a share capital of Rs. 5 crores on the basis of the recommendations of the Hilton Young Commission. The share capital was divided into shares of Rs. 100 each fully paid which was entirely owned by private shareholders in the beginning. The Government held shares of nominal value of Rs. 2, 20,000. Reserve Bank of India was nationalized in the year 1949. The general superintendence and direction of the Bank is entrusted to Central Board of Directors of 20 members, the Governor and four Deputy Governors, one Government official from the Ministry of Finance, ten nominated Directors by the Government to give representation to important elements in the economic life of the country, and four nominated Directors by the Central Government to represent the four local Boards with the headquarters at Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and New Delhi. The Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 was commenced on April 1, 1935. The Act, 1934 (II of 1934) provides the statutory basis of the functioning of the Bank. The Bank was constituted for the need of following:

• To regulate the issue of banknotes
• To maintain reserves with a view to securing monetary stability and
• To operate the credit and currency system of the country to its advantage.

Functions: - The Reserve Bank of India Act of 1934 entrust all the important functions of a central bank the Reserve Bank of India.
Bank of Issue: - Under Section 22 of the Reserve Bank of India Act, the Bank has the sole right to issue bank notes of all denominations. The distribution of one rupee notes and coins and small coins all over the country is undertaken by the Reserve Bank as agent of the Government. The Reserve Bank has a separate Issue Department which is entrusted with the issue of currency notes. The assets and liabilities of the Issue Department are kept separate from those of the Banking Department. Originally, the assets of the Issue Department were to consist of not less than two-fifths of gold coin, gold bullion or sterling securities provided the amount of gold was not less than Rs. 40 crores in value. The remaining three-fifths of the assets might be held in rupee coins, Government of India rupee securities, eligible bills of exchange and promissory notes payable in India. Due to the exigencies of the Second World War and the post-was period, these provisions were considerably modified. Since 1957, the Reserve Bank of India is required to maintain gold and foreign exchange reserves of Ra. 200 crores, of which at least Rs. 115 crores should be in gold. The system as it exists today is known as the minimum reserve system.
Banker to Government: - The second important function of the Reserve Bank of India is to act as Government banker, agent and adviser. The Reserve Bank is agent of Central Government and of all State Governments in India excepting that of Jammu and Kashmir. The Reserve Bank has the obligation to transact Government business, via. to keep the cash balances as deposits free of interest, to receive and to make payments on behalf of the Government and to carry out their exchange remittances and other banking operations. The Reserve Bank of India helps the Government - both the Union and the States to float new loans and to manage public debt. The Bank makes ways and means advances to the Governments for 90 days. It makes loans and advances to the States and local authorities. It acts as adviser to the Government on all monetary and banking matters.
Bankers' Bank and Lender of the Last Resort:-The Reserve Bank of India acts as the bankers' bank. According to the provisions of the Banking Companies Act of 1949, every scheduled bank was required to maintain with the Reserve Bank a cash balance equivalent to 5% of its demand liabilities and 2 per cent of its time liabilities in India. By an amendment of 1962, the distinction between demand and time liabilities was abolished and banks have been asked to keep cash reserves equal to 3 per cent of their aggregate deposit liabilities. The minimum cash requirements can be changed by the Reserve Bank of India. The scheduled banks can borrow from the Reserve Bank of India on the basis of eligible securities or get financial accommodation in times of need or stringency by rediscounting bills of exchange. Since commercial banks can always expect the Reserve Bank of India to come to their help in times of banking crisis the Reserve Bank becomes not only the banker's bank but also the lender of the last resort.
Controller of Credit:-The Reserve Bank of India is the controller of credit i.e. it has the power to influence the volume of credit created by banks in India. It can do so through changing the Bank rate or through open market operations. According to the Banking Regulation Act of 1949, the Reserve Bank of India can ask any particular bank or the whole banking system not to lend to particular groups or persons on the basis of certain types of securities. Since 1956, selective controls of credit are increasingly being used by the Reserve Bank.
        The Reserve Bank of India is armed with many more powers to control the Indian money market. Every bank has to get a license from the Reserve Bank of India to do banking business within India, the licence can be cancelled by the Reserve Bank of certain stipulated conditions are not fulfilled. Every bank will have to get the permission of the Reserve Bank before it can open a new branch. Each scheduled bank must send a weekly return to the Reserve Bank showing, in detail, its assets and liabilities. This power of the Bank to call for information is also intended to give it effective control of the credit system. The Reserve Bank has also the power to inspect the accounts of any commercial bank. As supreme banking authority in the country, the Reserve Bank of India, therefore, has the following powers:
(a) It holds the cash reserves of all the scheduled banks.
(b) It controls the credit operations of banks through quantitative and qualitative controls.
(c) It controls the banking system through the system of licensing, inspection and calling for information.
(d) It acts as the lender of the last resort by providing rediscount facilities to scheduled banks.
Custodian of Foreign Reserves: - The Reserve Bank of India has the responsibility to maintain the official rate of exchange. According to the Reserve Bank of India Act of 1934, the Bank was required to buy and sell at fixed rates any amount of sterling in lots of not less than Rs. 10,000. The rate of exchange fixed was Re. 1 = sh. 6d. Since 1935 the Bank was able to maintain the exchange rate fixed at lsh.6d. though there were periods of extreme pressure in favour of or against the rupee. After India became a member of the International Monetary Fund in 1946, the Reserve Bank has the responsibility of maintaining fixed exchange rates with all other member countries of the I.M.F.
                     Besides maintaining the rate of exchange of the rupee, the Reserve Bank has to act as the custodian of India's reserve of international currencies. The vast sterling balances were acquired and managed by the Bank. Further, the RBI has the responsibility of administering the exchange controls of the country.
Supervisory functions: - In addition to its traditional central banking functions, the Reserve bank has certain non-monetary functions of the nature of supervision of banks and promotion of sound banking in India. The Reserve Bank Act, 1934, and the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 have given the RBI wide powers of supervision and control over commercial and co-operative banks, relating to licensing and establishments, branch expansion, liquidity of their assets, management and methods of working, amalgamation, reconstruction, and liquidation. The RBI is authorized to carry out periodical inspections of the banks and to call for returns and necessary information from them. The nationalization of 14 major Indian scheduled banks in July 1969 has imposed new responsibilities on the RBI for directing the growth of banking and credit policies towards more rapid development of the economy and realization of certain desired social objectives. The supervisory functions of the RBI have helped a great deal in improving the standard of banking in India to develop on sound lines and to improve the methods of their operation.
Promotional functions: -     With economic growth assuming a new urgency since Independence, the range of the Reserve Bank's functions has steadily widened. The Bank now performs variety of developmental and promotional functions, which, at one time, were regarded as outside the normal scope of central banking. The Reserve Bank was asked to promote banking habit, extend banking facilities to rural and semi-urban areas, and establish and promote new specialized financing agencies. Accordingly, the Reserve Bank has helped in the setting up of the IFCI and the SFC; it set up the Deposit Insurance Corporation in 1962, the Unit Trust of India in 1964, the Industrial Development Bank of India also in 1964, the Agricultural Refinance Corporation of India in 1963 and the Industrial Reconstruction Corporation of India in 1972. These institutions were set up directly or indirectly by the Reserve Bank to promote saving habit and to mobilize savings, and to provide industrial finance as well as agricultural finance.
      The monetary functions also known as the central banking functions of the RBI are related to control and regulation of money and credit, i.e., issue of currency, control of bank credit, control of foreign exchange operations, banker to the Government and to the money market. Monetary functions of the RBI are significant as they control and regulate the volume of money and credit in the country.
         Equally important, however, are the non-monetary functions of the RBI in the context of India's economic backwardness. The supervisory function of the RBI may be regarded as a non-monetary function (though many consider this a monetary function). The promotion of sound banking in India is an important goal of the RBI, the RBI has been given wide and drastic powers, under the Banking Regulation Act of 1949 - these powers relate to licensing of banks, branch expansion, liquidity of their assets, management and methods of working, inspection, amalgamation, reconstruction and liquidation.                                               Under the RBI's supervision and inspection, the working of banks has greatly improved. Commercial banks have developed into financially and operationally sound and viable units. The RBI's powers of supervision have now been extended to non-banking financial intermediaries. Since independence, particularly after its nationalization 1949, the RBI has followed the promotional functions vigorously and has been responsible for strong financial support to industrial and agricultural development in the country.

Role of Media in Democracy

Democracy is not only a form of government but also a way of life. Defined by Abraham Lincoln as the government of people, for the people and by the people, it is a system in which the sovereignty lies in the hands of the people as their elected representatives’ rule and run the country Like a fish to water, democracy can only exist in an atmosphere of freedom of action; it is completely incompatible with a system that provides for a governing authority with coercive power. The right to freedom of expression enshrined therein gives the media not only a primary role but also a paramount responsibility of expressing public opinion through a written word. The media has been made the essential instrument for ensuring openness in society in an attempt to polish, develop and civilize it by the process of analysis, discussion and synthesis.

The role of media in a democracy assumes even greater significance when we recognize the fact that in a society where an overwhelming majority of people are silent listeners, to access to a forum that constantly reaches others has to be viewed as a trust on their behalf for their progress and prosperity. We live in society today where the media plays a pivotal role in how we see the world, and how our opinions are formed, whether it is from what we watch on television or what we gather from newspapers.

Media acts as an interface between the common man and the Government. It is a very powerful tool with the ability to make and break the opinion of people. If media tells the public that this picture is being demanded as one of the most wanted terrorists, people would regard him as one blindly. It has the capacity to swing perceptions or evoke emotions. This is what it has gained – faith of public.

Media through its various means of newspapers, television and cinema is what rules the heart and minds of people. For instance, the advertisements by IDEA Cellular and the TATA group promoting education for all, democracy by voting through Short Message Service (SMS), the Jaago India slogans are perhaps, not only charming the public but also have a huge impact on their minds. The media has helped to make our society a democracy by placing emphasis on issues that at one point in time would have been considered strictly private such as child birth, homosexuality, child care, domestic violence, and sexual harassment.

Coverage of exploitative malpractices by corrupted officials has helped in taking stringent actions against them by attracting the government’s attention. One of the most disturbing coverage was the story of Geetanjali Nagpal, a onetime booming model, who was found begging on the streets of Delhi. It was media, the first one to spot her and helped her to recover from psychiatric disorder. Another instance, the most horrendous explosions, that is, the Mumbai terror attack, commonly abbreviated as 26/11 was an outrageous incident experienced by India. Media was the one who reported every second of those 63 hours of operation conducted by the commandos. Its all due to media that youth is strongly affected by the NSG commandos, who came into picture with their proud achievement and will always abide our blessings.

As a matter of fact, a bold media is the most important prerequisite of a country with a democratic set up. Its importance is not altered with the fact whether the country is developed or developing. People elect their representatives, in a democracy, who make policies for a balanced socio-economic growth of the country. They also implement various policies for the benefit of the country. They also implement various policies for the benefit of the citizens. It is only through media that people come to know about the programmes of different political parties so that the candidates who are best suited to rule the country are elected. After the formation of governments and allocation of ministries, the media presents an assessment of working of all the ministries at various levels in their respective fields. It has immense power to influence the minds of the people. As such, it has to shoulder the responsibility of presenting what is true, advocate what is necessary and enable the people to sift the essence from material. As an instrument of social change, economic progress and moral development it should uphold certain values and principles.

Competition Right from Childhood

Childhood is the most delicate phase in human life. The age span from birth till the age of 15years is considered as childhood. Childhood is the certain phase where a child gets to know about the world and people around him. 

            During this particular phase of life a child undergoes innumerable changes both mentally and physically. The current state of affairs, states that a child is taught to handle stress at this very phase of life. Competition has always been an integral part of this phase. Children are never born with the attitude to face competition, with due course of time they learn to handle the competition and stress in the sphere of life. 

                        Competition is always seen upon with a positive outlook. In children, competition has always shown us positive results. It develops a challenging spirit in the children. It develops a healthy attitude regarding winning and losing. A child learns how to work as a team and face challenges all together. A child gets to learn about their abilities and limitations, handle loss, self-control, discipline, make quick decisions, try out different types of works, and develops skills and many more.

            But as it is said every good thing is always followed by some bad results. Too much of competition may often make a child violent, short-tempered. Not only that it can rouse feelings like jealousy, pride, anger, hatred for his/ her co-partners. Not only it can misled a child but often it is found that the child gets physically or mentally injured, the thought of winning becomes a threat, failure is not easily accepted, humiliation and so on. 

            Temperament varies from one child to another. Some use their attitude, skills and culture to cope up in some competition while some simply collapse in the long run. Parents play an important role at this stage in a child’s life. They should always be supportive during this phase as this phase is quite crucial for the mental development of the child. As competition has turned out to be an inevitable part in a child’s life, parents must always remember not to overburden the child at any point. They should always remember that competition is good but excess of it may even affect the child both mentally and physically in his/ her upcoming years.

Disinvestments in India

Investment refers to the conversion of money or cash into securities, debentures, bonds or any other claims on money. As follows, disinvestment involves the conversion of money claims or securities into money or cash.” 

Disinvestment can also be defined as the action of an organization (or government) selling or liquidating an asset or subsidiary. It is also referred to as ‘divestment’ or ‘disinvestment.’

Most public sector undertakings (PSUs) were set up in India in a complex situation where there was a dearth of industrial participation in the Indian economy. These companies had been the pillars of the great Indian economy, but at the wake of economic policies in 1991, they had a negative rate of return on capital employed. This was not a good sign of a thriving economy coupled with the policy of globalization. The government had to get rid of these companies or at least handover a part of holding to private persons. Thus came about the birth of disinvestment policies in India.

In general terms, disinvestment is simply selling the equity (share) invested by the government in PSUs which are either owned completely by the government or whose shares are maximum owned by the government (51% or above). Examples include BHEL and ONGC.

There are two main reasons in support of disinvestment in our country. One is to provide fiscal support and the other is to improve the efficiency of the enterprise. The argument for fiscal support emphasizes that the resources raised through disinvestment must be utilized for retiring past debts and there by bringing down the interest burden of the government. The second argument in support to improve the efficiency of public enterprises through disinvestment is the contribution that it can make to improve the efficiency of the working of them.

Methods of disinvestments:

1. Purchasing the stake or acquiring the company by opening the membership for all
2. To sell shares through         a) fixed price               b) book building         c) auction - where the highest bidder would be accepted

After discussing an overview of disinvestments, we must concern ourselves with the advantages and disadvantages of disinvestments.

Advantages of disinvestments: - In an ever growing economy, investment by the government alone would not suffice. It is of absolute necessity that even private capital is entertained at the maximum level. The most economically successful country has the highest amount inflow of private capital. After 1991, the private inflow of capital has been high. And the phenomena of disinvestment have constantly supported this inflow of private money. The money received from the process of disinvestment can be utilized to compensate the deficit finance.

The market thrives if there is sufficient amount of competition. If new firms enter into the market, then the competition increases which in turn makes the companies more competitive – an advantage for the consumers as they may experience choice. The PSUs which have undergone this disinvestment were (prior to the disinvestment) low productivity companies. Thus when the decision making capacity was given to private players, there has been a huge turn over with respect to optimum utilization of resources, capacity to invest, and profit. This is because the focus has been shifted to the PSU’s as a profit making company.

Disadvantages of disinvestments: India is slowly shifting its base from a welfare and socialistic state to a capitalistic economy. Government companies or even PSUs are the heart of any socialistic state, the interest of the public is protected through these organizations. Unlike private companies who thrive for profits and strive to infringe the rights of people, PSUs were started for the people. Thus disinvestments are certainly against the interest of the people but it is a necessary evil.
             Foreign direct investments in these companies would mean more foreign control. This would mean that the sovereignty would be hampered. Selling equities to foreign companies result in serious consequences shifting the nation's wealth, power and control to outsiders. If a company is privatized, the job security would not be same as that of a PSU. Thus the risk of being unemployed if not proven to be useful to the company is high.

Considering the advantages and disadvantages of disinvestment in a weighing machine, it can be construed that this is a necessary evil. There have been many instances where fundamental rights have been violated because of privatization (for example, the closure of mills in Mumbai), but it has caught like wildfire in India.

Exit polls: its usefulness and disadvantages

An election exit poll is a poll of voters taken immediately after they have exited the polling stations. Unlike an opinion poll, which asks whom the voter plans to vote for or some similar formulation, an exit poll asks whom the voter actually voted for. A similar poll conducted before actual voters have voted is called an entrance poll. Pollsters – usually private companies working for newspapers or broadcasters – conduct exit polls to gain an early indication as to how an election has turned out, as in many elections the actual result may take hours or even days to count. Warren Mitofsky, founder of Mitofsky International, is credited with having invented the exit poll.

Exit polls are surveys conducted as voters leave their polling places on Election Day. Reaching voters at that moment is important, because it overcomes the problems of conducting election polls by telephone: People sometimes misreport whether they voted. The who-won-and-why-did-they-win reporting on election night is gleaned mainly from exit poll results.ABC News and polling partners CBS, CNN, Fox, NBC and The Associated Press comprise the National Election Pool. The pool has contracted with Edison Research to run the 2012 exit polls.

Process: - A common process of depicting the sample data of exit polls is to interview individuals in sampling data places. Interviewers stand outside polling places in randomly selected precincts. They attempt to interview voters as they leave polling places at specific intervals (every fourth or 10th voter, for example).

Voters who agree to participate in the poll fill out a paper questionnaire and place it in a ballot box. Interviewers phone in results three times during the day. When a voter refuses to participate, the interviewer notes the sex and approximate age and race of that voter. In this way, the exit poll can be statistically corrected to make sure all voters are fairly represented in the final results. The typical exit poll questions ask voters whom they just voted for in key races; what opinions they hold about the candidates and key issues; their demographic characteristics.

Accuracy: -    Exit polls, like other surveys, are subject to sampling errors. Therefore, before news organizations report any exit poll results or make projections, they compare results to pre-election polls and past-precinct voting history. Statisticians and political experts carefully review the data. As the actual vote count comes in, the exit poll results are updated to reflect that information.

            Thus exit polls, properly and accurately collected provide to shape the opinion of the election results and its importance cannot be denied in such a large democratic platform like our country. But media role is vital in this regard to present the exit poll results in more effective and correct manner so that it may not create havoc or any panic among the common men of a country.

ROLE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN BANKING SECTOR

Ever since the nationalization of banks in India, this sector has been growing without Leaps and bounces and catering to the needs of various segments of the society. In recent times, the Banking Sector has been making rapid straights by using information technology as a platform and endeavoring to scale higher heights. An attempt has been made in this paper to examine various innovative instruments that have been introduced by Banks in recent times Technology has been a boon to many industries and especially to the banking industry. With the help of technology banks are able to reach out to more customers and provide better services to them. Also, it helps them function in an organized and secure way. 

As for us (the customers) we have ATMs, Cash deposit machines, online banking, phone banking etc which are all fruits of technological advances which have made our banking experience much easier. Imagine having to run to the bank every time you wanted to check your balance or make a deposit or withdrawal.

Technology has brought a complete paradigm shift in the functioning of banks and delivery of banking services. Gone are the days when every banking transaction required a visit to the bank branch. Today, most of the transactions can be done from the home and customers need not visit the bank branch for anything. Technology is no longer an enabler, but a business driver. The growth of the internet, mobiles and communication technology has added a different dimension to banking. The information technology (IT) available today is being leveraged in customer acquisitions, driving automation and process efficiency, delivering ease and efficiency to customers.

Many of the IT initiatives of banks started in the late 1990s or early 2000 with an emphasis on the adoption of core banking solutions (CBS), automation of branches and centralization of operations in the CBS. Over the last decade, most of the banks completed the transformation to technology-driven organizations. Moving from a manual, scale-constrained environment to a global presence with automated systems and processes, it is difficult to envisage the adverse scenario; the sector was in the era before the reforms, when a simple deposit or withdrawal of cash would require a day. ATMs, mobile banking and online bill payments facilities to vendors and utility service providers have almost obviated the need for customers to visit a branch. Branches are also transforming from operating as transaction processing points into relationship management hubs. The change has been very productive for banks bringing in an increase in productivity and operational efficiency to be more competitive. Better risk management due to centralization of information and real time availability of critical data for decision making. With most of the banks being technology-enabled, the focus is shifting to computerizing regional rural banks (RRBs). . In addition, banks are moving toward decision making and business intelligence software and trying to optimize the IT infrastructure created. It is becoming increasingly imperative for banks to assess and ascertain the benefits of technology implementation.

The fruits of technology will certainly taste a lot sweeter when the returns can be measured in absolute terms, but it needs precautions and the safety nets. The increasing use of technology in banks has also brought up ‘security’ concerns. To avoid any mishaps on this account, banks ought to have in place a well-documented security policy including network security and internal security. The passing of the Information Technology Act-2000 has come as a boon to the banking sector, and banks should now ensure to abide strictly by its covenants. An effort should also be made to cover e-business in the country’s consumer laws. Some are investing in it to drive the business growth, while others are having no option but to invest, to stay in business. The choice of right channel, justification of IT investment on ROI, e-governance, customer relationship management, security concerns, technological Obsolescence, mergers and acquisitions, penetration of IT in rural areas, and outsourcing of IT operations are the major challenges and issues in the use of IT in banking operations.

ARE WOMEN SAFE IN INDIA? MEASURES TO CURB THE WOMEN DISCRIMINATION

Women in India-a better half of Indian society, today, are becoming the most vulnerable section as far as their safety and security is concerned. When we turn the pages of a newspaper, we come across many headlines reporting cases of sexual assault, molestation, sexual harassment, rapes, trafficking, ill treatment of women in houses, violence against women in remote areas etc. What does this indicate? This certainly implies that there has been an increasing trend of such sexual overdrives in present generation.

Our supreme law of land i.e. our Indian Constitution has envisaged a dream of true social, economic and political democracy which guarantees the rich and moral principles of equality (of status, opportunity, law) for our citizens but this has not yet been fully realized. Still our better halves are unsafe and unsecure towards the realization of freedom and liberty. It's unbearable to imagine the plight of women who are sufferers of such crimes. It's a jolt on the confidence of the women, of society and on our judicial system. Besides it has much of cascading effects which affects her life. But do we think who is responsible for this? Is it only the lapse in legal system of our country or the police or the public where such incidence occurs or the Indian society as a whole.

We generally use to play the blame game for any such incidence and hence have not succeeded to reach to the root of the problem. For a better understanding we can say that any problem has definitely two approaches of solution, the first is short term or immediate solution and the second one is long term solution. These may be visualized as preventive or curative in nature.

Firstly, let us approach towards certain short term and preventive solutions. This would mean to have a multipronged strategy with the participation of multistakeholders of society.

As good citizens, we have a fundamental duty to contribute towards bringing an order to ensure dignity and respect for women so that she can also enjoy her human rights and fundamental rights with sense of pride, freedom and confidence. To ensure this at every level the society must work together to give an edge to the solution.

For e.g. women may be provided with such devices which could provide her location using GPS technology to a central control room of police or send messages of her address to nearby locations. But this requires a lot of work relating to scaling the enrollment of women biodata showing her photographs and her permanent or temporary address into a national database system.

Other area of interest would be reform in police system. Allocation of women police in every area and their continuous monitoring which also requires participatory attitudes of govt. Such interventions can also be a preventive solution. This also requires installation of CCTV cameras at strategic places, beefing up the police security systems and closely monitoring them.

Also reforms in our legal system is required such as stringent punishment which are non bailable in nature. This could act as friction to those who perpetrate crime.

Even though these suggestions are urgently required as proactive measures but since they require rigorous effort for implementation it may be not be practically realized. So we must have remedial or curative measures such as fast track courts especially dedicated to deal only with these offences and crimes. These can be made responsible to clear the cases on day to day basis with fair trial as its core principle.

There must be allocation of woman personnel who should be dedicated to alleviate the trauma of the victimized women. As we have already discussed that these women victims not only undergo physical but also mental trauma as their confidence in the system and society is jolted up. Hence trained personnel are needed to boost up the victims confidence.

All the above measures and interventions are supportive in nature .i.e they act as supportive infrastructure to ensure and protect women from being victimized.

But let us also look to the other face of the coin. Since only ensuring a strict legal system may also prove to be sometime oppressive as the agencies enforcing the acts in strict sense may violate tenets of human rights which is also not acceptable. Hence a balance is required to be kept with while implementation also.

So far we have dealt with the requirement of stringer laws, legal and administrative system to deal with such sexual overdrive. But it requires further delving into the matter.

We all know that India has been a land following various social customs, traditions and certain sets of religious beliefs. These customs has a deep rooted place in the core of our minds and hearts of every people of India which has defined our lifestyle, our thoughts, our expressions and our beliefs be it man or a woman. This has given to the males, the feeling of masculinity in every aspect of their acts and thoughts.

Indian males have thus perceived themselves as physically, mentally superior than their counterparts. Indian women also have accepted to treat their males as superior. This can be seen as women still perform the rituals of Karwa Chauthh where they signify men as god.

Other instance can be seen in parents preferring male child over female. In every aspect of the life, women are denied or given less preference over male whether it is for giving education or access to health care. They are always required to be within their limitations and the male counterparts have freedom in this regard. This system thus gives a feeling in male that they are superior and hence dominate over women. This instills in male a sense of hatred against women if they see a woman crossing their limitations.

So the problem is just not the case of one or two factors, but a sum total of a large number of factors. For this we need to plan more integrative approach to arrive at a solution.

This requires a large scale and an integrated social reform whereby we need to channelize the potential of woman into the stream of development. This can be brought through measures such as real education emphasizing on the quality of education, through enhanced moral and spiritual teachings so that the seed of enmity which is sown through these customs and traditions gets deeply uprooted.

Moral and spiritual inclination of education will impart impetus to curb the sexual desires of men and women and would not let them indulge in committing such heinous crimes. This solution is an ideal solution which would need a more comprehensive support of all the stakeholders of societies.

Henceforth, to see India as a more flourished nation as envisaged in our Constitution, it is time we need to realize what is right and what is wrong and act in an integrated manner so that women can be channelized into mainstream of development and thus contribute to socio-economic prosperity of the nation.

In other words, we need to take action not by force but by will to make our country more secure and safe for our better halves and bring up reforms in the desired direction so that woman can also enjoy their freedom and rights ,and feel more empowered and fearless ,as entrusted by the Supreme law of the land.

YOUTH OF INDIA ARE IN UNREST CONDITION

Youth: the greatest force or equipment of any society or nation that plays vital role in either development or demotion of its motherland. But the youth today is facing the problem of being UNREST. The youth of today are in grave situation. There is unrest among them because they are facing numerous problems like ambition, anxiety, identity etc. They have never rested on their past moments nor have they felt contented with the possibilities of the present.

They are under pressure of high ambition which increases their anxiety and thus problems begin to come one after another in their life. Fired by the stimulus and success syndrome of the living present, the young nurses an ambition to reach the top of the world, however hard and relentless the effort may be.

Very often youth go on strikes and indulge in violence. Teachers accuse them of lack of respect for them. Parents are also not happy with them. Their activities are a source of trouble to the government. Students do not take adequate interest in their studies. In examinations they do not fare well. Sometimes without any ground they boycott the examination and resort to strike. They threaten their teachers and damage public property. If school authorities or government take any action against them, they take to violence. They are not prepared to obey anybody. They show little regard for the laws of the land.

It is accepted by all that there is great unrest among students. But what is the real cause of it. Some people put the entire blame on the students. There are some who blame the teachers, while some others blame the authorities for this.

Then there are some persons who think that our system of education is responsible for it. As a matter of fact the whole fault does not lie with any of these. The main cause of this problem is something deeper. We must try to get at the root of the problem.

There is no denying the fact that there is a widespread unrest among the students in India as in many other countries of the world. Of late this unfortunate phenomenon has assumed such an alarming proportion that educationists, administrators and thinkers have been forced to sit up and apply their minds to find out some worthwhile solution of this malaise. It is accepted by all that because of its typical, complicated and sensitive nature, this problem cannot be dealt with like any other administrative or technical problem. Any attempt to deal with this delicate human problem in a roughshod manner is fraught with grave social and political consequences, hence it requires a very careful and sympathetic handling.

It is again an admitted fact that there are number of causes of the growing unrest among the student community in India. The present system of education, frustration due to unemployment, ideological vacuum, indifference of autho­rities towards students’ problems, continued influence and interjection of politics in the educational institutions, environ­mental crisis and decline in the general standards, are some of the potent factors which have stirred up a commotion in our temples of learning.

India is passing through a period of transition. There is a spirit of revolt in the new generation against the older values, standards and age-old traditions. The clerk-oriented system of education that India inherited from the British has not so far undergone any perceptible change so as to be commensurate with the post-independence conditions and aspirations. Our universities and colleges continue to be baboon producing factories. It is a sad commentary on the system of our education that graduates and post-graduates are running after white-collar jobs without any success, as their number far exceeds the number of such jobs available north country. There are not enough employment opportu­nities even for the highly technically and professionally trained and experienced people.   The specter of unemployment and bleak future haunts them and makes them restive.

During the freedom movement in India the student com­munity was called upon to contribute its bit and it played a valuable role, as it considered the attainment of freedom as the panacea for all our ills. During the movement students’ enthusiasm and energy were usefully directed and channelized. At that time they had an ideal before them. But after the independence of the country, the slogans of socialism and garibi hatao could not catch the fancy of the student com­munity. There is a complete ideological vacuum, which coupled with lack of direction has resulted in total bewilder­ment. Lack of constructive programme and purpose has swayed the energies of the student to vandalism and rowdyism.

Our youth in the universities and colleges read a lot about the oddities, novelties and ultra-modern fashions pre­valent amongst the students of other rich and prosperous Western countries. They feel like emulating them but are seriously handicapped by utter lack of resources within the country, This also leads to frustration, which in turn is manifested in indiscipline and unrest.

There is a serious complaint that those in charge of educational institutions have shown utter indifference to the demands and problems of the students. Students’ main grievances relate to the defective system of examinations, faulty curriculum, inadequate hostel accommodation, lack of library facilities, ill-equipped laboratories, exorbitant tuition fees, etc. There may be complaints about the harsh, indecent and dictatorial behavior of the teaching staff. The medium of instruction may well be another item in their complaints. May be, they want their mother tongue to be the medium of instruction rather than English, which results in enormous national waste in the percentage of failures.

Students have some grievances against public authorities as well. They feel that public authorities have miserably failed in their duty in not creating adequate employment opportunities for them. Reckless, unimaginative and sinister interference by the authorities in the affairs of the students and educational institutions has also provoked their anger. Protests against police excesses are often the spontaneous outbursts of violent and unruly behaviour.Students are a sensitive lot, full of passion and energy. Sometimes politicians inject their nefarious politics among the student community and utilize them for the furtherance of their vested interests. They provoke and incite them to resort to strikes and demonstrations on trivial matters and on matters absolutely unrelated to them. The student agitations in Tamil Nadu on the official Language Bill and in Aligarh on the issue of Aligarh Muslim University (Amend­ment) Bill are apt examples to be cited in this connection. Thus the unprincipled politicians deliberately create unrest and agitation among the students over subjects not related to their studies.

The environmental crisis with which the students are confronted today is another factor responsible for the student unrest. The student is required to live in his own house in the traditional way. But in college and the coffee house he finds himself amongst ultra-moderns while in the market and on the streets he is confronted with the Hippie culture. All this, unmistakably, creates emotional imbalance in the mind of the Indian youth, who find themselves at a cross-road of contradictory values and standards. It definitely leads to turbulence and unrest in the students and often prompts them to unseemly behavior.

An extensive study conducted on the influence of Mass Media on the students indicates that it does teach them the alphabet of indiscipline and violence. On television and screen, sometimes, we find that acts of indiscipline, violence and unruly behavior are portrayed as heroic virtues and, qualities. It is enough to misguide the impressionable youth who try to imitate and emulate those heroic deeds. This definitely leads to abnormal behavior.

The teacher-taught relation is another serious problem. No personal contact between the teacher and the taught is possible in a crowded class-room. The student community does not have much of traditional respect and esteem for the teachers. There is rather a business-like dealing between them’. The students have developed an attitude of buyers while the teachers have reduced themselves to the status of sellers. Rich and mischievous students believe that every teacher has his price. This attitude gives rise to indiscipline and impertinence among the students.

The unrest, indiscipline and turmoil in the student community is a grave danger to our social, economic and political life. Let it be clearly understood that it is not a law and order problem; it is rather a human problem and deserves a human approach. The malady of student unrest is deep-rooted and requires very sympathetic handling. Again, it cannot be cured overnight. Ways and means have to be found and concerted efforts have to be made to uproot he causes of this cancerous disease.

The first step that can be suggested is that the complaints and grievances of the students should be promptly attended to. Their demands should be examined on merits and genuine difficulties removed. Even if small, insignificant and petty grievances are allowed to remain unredressed, they may stir up massive protests and demonstrations. It is no use condemning the student community as a whole. There can be no doubt that a little accommodation shown to them would soften their aggressive attitude. Attempts should be made to make them realise that resort to strikes and violence does positive harm to the society and in no way brings any good to them. They should not be allowed to form an impression that nothing sort of vandalism and rowdyism would make the administration redress their grievances. Unfortunately an impression has been created in the minds of the students.

As the situation exists at present, a student after having completed his education has to run from pillar to post in search of a job, often without success. One can hardly imagine the deep frustration that overtakes him on this account therefore better and more employment opportu­nities should be created for and assured to the students. Then, the system of education and examination needs a complete overhaul. It should be closely related to careers. These measures would go a long way towards preventing unrest and frustration among the students.

Should the society permit the students to participate in the affairs of the administration of their educational institu­tions, which are meant for them, and thus enable them to identify themselves with these temples of learning? Such identification would minimize their grievances and hence reduce the chances of any violent confrontation and trouble. The administration must realize that use of force against the students cannot always meet with success; rather it would harden their attitude and would ultimately make matters worse. Record of police excesses on students makes a sad reading. It is very unfortunate that in a free country students are beaten, tear-gased and lathi-charged like thieves and criminals. There would be no end to the problem if this trend persists.

Why the students should be barred from taking part in the politics of the country if they are mature enough to judge and decide what is in their best interest. The students are full of energy that needs proper canalization in the nobler task of national reconstruction. National leadership owes a great responsibility in giving them a lead and direction, absence of which would result in irreparable damage to national human resources.