Highway-safety experts in the west rarely, use the word “accident”; they speak of “crashes” instead. That is because “accident” implies a random event out of human control, whereas a “crash” is something that can be predicted and avoided. Many ‘accidents’ in the home (such as falls and burns) and workplace, are also predictable and could be prevented if we simply thought about them differently and took precautions.
Personality or circumstance: We all know people who seem to have one accident after another. Is there such a thing as an ‘accident prone’ personality? This remains controversial. Some studies have found links between accidents and certain traits – such as over-confidence, aggressiveness, chronic anger, and lack of .. ...…….more
Exotic natural ingredients are very much a part of modern skin care. Wine is one of the latest. Recent research has also highlighted the health and beauty benefits of wine. The most popular wine used in skin care is the red grape wine. This is because wine is said to be rich in antioxidants.
Scientific research indicates that age-related degeneration of the body can be retarded by supplying the body with substances that counteract the effects of free radical or oxidation damage. These are the antioxidants. :.…..more
This 280-page scholarly book on mass communication is very informative treatise written in the modern context and perspective and it is of much valuable for the senior as well as budding, trainee media professionals. It is always exciting and important to have a thorough understanding of information and mass communication tools and also techniques in the modern day world.
The author, Kameshwar Dayal, has dealt with the subject in an expert manner in the simple and easy to understand language and style.. He has put in his rich experience and research methodology in this book with wide-range of topics and field work.. The chapters include: Introduction to Mass Communication; Models of Mass Communication; Management Information System and Mass Communications; Communication Revolution; Assessing the Nature of Mass Communication; .……..more
Beginning from 1930’s, scores of writers, poets and littérateurs have played a seminal role in development of Dogri as a modern language. Thanks to their hard work that today’s Dogri while being a successful medium of continuum for the age-old civilizational and cultural values is also reflecting upon as well as assimilating the ongoing interface between tradition and modernity along with ever expanding world of contemporary sensibilities.
In the role of honor of Dogra creative individuals who single-mindedly worked for the progress of their mother tongue, the name of recently deceased Prof Madan Mohan Sharma would always shine like ..……more
Life is a big test in reality and same is the qualifying examination of any kind to its aspirant. Desired career related educational course choice execution has really become competitive for any aspirant due to ever increasing number of applicants for any stream or course. Therefore, in order to excel, one has to be good enough not only in terms of educational merit but has to be well prepared for related competitive examinations, group discussions and interviews Mushrooming coaching centers in every nook and corner of the country are cashing on this need of students. In this regard, internet era can be a boon for each one of us in general and for students in particular not only regarding information sharing but also in terms of mock tests. . .. .……..more
Football World Cup since its debut in 1930 has emerged as the greatest show on earth capturing the imagination and passion of humanity in general. Kushal Chakraborty time travels to recall the many interesting vignettes of the pulsating competition
When Henri Delaney, the secretary of French football association, put his proposal about having a ‘world cup’ to then FIFA president Jules Rimet no one dreamt about the success of the idea. The tournament, since its debut in 1930, has emerged as the greatest show on earth capturing the imagination and passion of humanity in general. It became a tournament that beat the boundaries of culture, religion and languages across the world. The World Cup came to symbolise the ultimate battle of nerves and tactics when the best practitioners of the game come facing each other once every four years.
In 1982, when the World Cup arrived in Spain, South Africa, a nation stricken with apartheid, did not show a single match live on television. The reason was quite obvious; during that time soccer was popular among the blacks while the whites played rugby. Hence, there was no serious effort from the country’s administration to arrange for the live broadcast of the World Cup matches. Soccer came to symbolize the black man’s struggle against apartheid and a nation that once shunned football is now organising the first World Cup in African continent. It took only 28 years to change all that. It was the intense passion for the sport that made the country, still beleaguered with social and economic problems, overcome all obstacles to keep its date with the biggest show on earth. Come June 11, 2010 South Africa’s name will be blazing like the sun in the history of world football.
As World Cup brings together the mightiest footballing nations in a battle royale, the clashes are interwoven with interesting tales of action, emotion and bizarre characters, who make the game even more interesting.
In 1978 World Cup, Peru’s goalkeeper became much talked about for his unorthodox ways. That was Argentine-born Ramon Quiroga, who was nicknamed El Loco (meaning ‘the lunatic’) for his strange idiosyncrasies. When Peru was routed 6-0 by Argentina in the last match of their group league, which helped the latter reach the next round Brazil alleged that Quiroga has played for his original motherland. But Quiroga remained unperturbed and continued to keep firm faith in his own style of football. He never believed in staying put under the goalpost. He would often venture out of his charge and go deep into the opposition territory keeping the goal untended. When he was around in the goal area he would often be seen chatting with the photographers or camera crew standing behind the goal. For him it was a technique of killing boredom.
On being diagnosed with a breast cancer, the only option that women had many years ago was to undergo a mastectomy and axillary clearance. This involves removal of the entire breast and the lymph glands from the armpit. Having such an operation has serious physical and emotional reprucussions for the patient. Removal of a breast leaves the woman with a flat chest and leads to loss of body form and low self esteem. Although there are plastic surgical procedures which allow a new breast to be created, these are complicated procedures and the reconstructed breast will never match the original breast. Moreover, most of the women would not be offered this as a choice. .…….more
Regional Organizations have been considered as one of the most apt means to normalize the relations among the regional partners and to channelize the cooperative gestures into the right tract besides a sense of security among the members. SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) was formed in 1985 to promote the economic relations and equations among the South Asian countries. Originally, there were seven founder members of SAARC- India, Pakistan, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Maldives. Its strength has risen to 8 after the inclusion of Afghanistan as its new member.
Its over 26 years now since its formation but when compared with the other regional organizations like European Union, ASEAN etc on the success meter, SAARC is far behind in conflict- resolution, intra- regional trade etc as SAARC has not been able to grow as a successful regional organization. There are many factors which are retarding its success ratio. Firstly, there is a fear- psychosis among the members of SAARC viz-a-viz India due to her extraordinary achievements in all the spheres like- economic growth rate, military strength, technological advancement, nuclear strength, pluralistic- secular fabric of the society, democratic traditions so on and so forth. The countries especially Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh are not very much comfortable with the rise of India as one of the fastest growing powers to be reckoned with. These countries are dwarfed by the ‘Indo-centricity’ of the region.
Secondly, its unfortunate but true that the success of SAARC has remained a prisoner of the Indo- Pak rivalry. Pakistan is insecure and feares of Indian dominance not only in this region but also in the whole world. Pakistan feels suffocated of anything and everything dominated by India. However, some of these fears are real but most of them are pre- emptive and psychologically created. Thirdly, there is a crisis of identity among the member countries. All the members prefer to be get aligned to one or other regional organizations than identifying themselves with SAARC. For instance, Pakistan and Bangladesh are more inclined the OIC (Organization of Islamic Countries) and feel more secured and comfortable to be a part of ‘Muslim- solidarity regime’. Likewise, Sri Lanka, Maldives and India are more concerned to identify themselves as the members of ASEAN and East Asia.
Fourthly, there are inherent shortcomings in the working of SAARC as it is written down in its charter that no bi- lateral and conflictual issues would be discussed at its platform. Besides this, the method of taking decisions is also faulted as it is based on consensus of all the members hence, many issues remained unresolved till date. Fifthly, the security and political deviations among the members always over- shadowed the prospects of economic and socio- cultural convergences. The various conflictual issues among the members are operating as a stumbling bloc in the way of their cooperation and normalization. Each member of SAARC is having diverse security threat perception as Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka consider India as the biggest threat to their security. On the other hand, India consider the growing influence and interference of outside powers like USA and China into this region as the biggest threat to her security. But, all the member states fail to articulate their common threat perceptions like poverty, unemployment, terrorism, environmental degradation etc.
Sixthly, there is a failure on the part of the civil society of the South Asian region. Although there are over one lac NGO’s operating in this region but these have remained non- effective in nature. The civil society and society- central model needs the will of the state to operate effectively but unfortunately it is still operating in the state- centric model which has limited its utility and credibility. Lastly, there is a big failure on the part of the leadership because it has failed to articulate and operationalize the process of regional cooperation. They only meet at the SAARC summits, issue formal speeches but failed to articulate and channelize the peace process into the right track.
It can be stated that SAARC has not been able to achieve the aim of being a successful regional organization rather it has remained largely dysfunctional. But still there is a ray of hope for SAARC for becoming a successful regional organization. Firstly, SAARC would get the maximum dividends from the Indo- Pak peace process and CBM’s. The need of the time is to address the complicated issues between both the countries in order to make SAARC a success in the real sense of the term.
Secondly, India should address the genuine concerns of the SAARC members. India being the leading country of the region should try to address the power differential of the region in order to gain the trust of the SAARC members. Infact India has taken some steps to lessen the power differential by solving the contentious issues of Kachathivu with Sri Lanka and of Teen Bigha with Bangladesh and by adopting the Gujral Doctrine in 1997 for increasing the trust- surplus and for accommodating the concerns of the SAARC members.
Thirdly, the SAARC charter needs to be amended. The bi-lateral conflictual issues should be discussed at the SAARC platform because only an effective dispute- redress mechanism could help in shrinking the areas of conflict and expanding the areas of trust and cooperation. Further, the operational principle of consensus voting should be replaced by extra-ordinary majority (i.e. ¾ majority).
Fourthly, the SAARC members should change their security perceptions and move on from the conventional threats to non- conventional threats which are more threatening to the existence of these SAARC members. There are crisis of governability, threats of terrorism, poverty, unemployment, economic slowdown, environmental threats, decreasing sex- ratio, corruption etc. the SAARC members should try to counter these non- conventional threats collectively from the platform of SAARC.
To conclude, it can be stated that if EU, ASEAN could become successful organizations then why not SAARC? If SAARC members initiate some sincere efforts to make SAARC a strong dispute- redress mechanism, it can become a very successful regional organization. The need of the time is that SAARC should come out of the ‘state- centric model’ and to change the negative mindsets of the SAARC members.
(The writer is PhD scholar in the Department of Political Science, University of Jammu and also working as lecturer.)
Trade unions have risen like the Phoenix. In recent history never has an all-India strike been as successful as it was on February 28. Trade unions owing allegiance to various political parties, the Congress, the Left and the Sangh joined hands.
Eleven central trade unions — BMS, INTUC, AITUC, HMS, CITU, AIUTUC, TUCC, AICCTU, UTUC, LPF, SEWA — backed the strike call, supported by 5000 trade union units, posing a major challenge to the Central government, which had asked the unionists to call off the show of strength.
“This is a historic occasion. For the first time all the big trade unions have come together to protest the anti-labour polices of the Government,” stated General Secretaries of the Bharaitya Mazdoor Sangh BN Roy and All India Trade Union Congress’s Gurudas Dasgupta.
Employees of all sectors banking, insurance, road transport, coal, defence, port & docks, steel and many State governments joined the strike. Spectacularly the casual workers of the unorganised sector participated even in rural areas including those in Aasha and Anaganwadis. Additionally, for the first time the strike was total in nothern easter States of Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim, which have remained away from the mainstream.
The successful strike, joined by millions across the nation testifies that the workers are once again uniting against an oppressive system and unresponsive regime. At the same time, Governments in many States unleashed repressive measures. Delhi’s Chief Minister Shiela Dikshit imposed provisions of ESMA to thwart the strike and also arrested 200 workers. The Haryana police arrested State Road Transport workers at Bhiwani. In Jammu and Kashmir, there were lathicharges and 2000 arrests. In Chhattisgarh, security men of a large private group beat up workers, whereas union activists were arrested in Pondicherry.
The unions’ demands include a national minimum wage, permanent jobs for 50 million contract labourers, end to contract labour, increase the gratuity payout and compulsory registration of trade unions within 45 days, more government efforts to rein in the rising cost of living, and an end to the sale of stakes in profitable public sector companies. The charter of demand called upon the Government and all political parties to take stock of the situation and not view the strike as retrograde. Unfortunately trade unionism, of late, is being viewed as anti-industry and anti-investment, which it clearly isn’t.
On its part, the industry has tried to project that thousands of crore of rupees were lost in the one-day strike, which is not the case. While industries have lost little, the workers have lost a day’s wages amounting to at least Rs 10,000 crore. Besides, the industrialist gained from the savings on various expenses including energy consumption.
However, the strike calls for introspection. Why should the workers willingly lose a day’s wages? They would not do so unless driven to the wall. Inflation, poor quality of jobs and the culture of hire and fire have forced them to strike. Sadly, inclusive growth has become a mere slogan of the Government. Corporate reserves and profits have grown manifold even as public sector bank deposits have become critical and workers marginalised. How can the nation progress if its 60 crore workforce is kept out of the growth process?
Indeed, this is the reality. If the nation’s growth is stunted losing pace every day, it is because the workers have become victims of high inflation, exploitation, low wages, insecurity and are being deprived of sheer purchasing power.
A nation that ignores its workers is destined to lose the growth steam. India has definitely lost that in all sectors, be it infrastructure, core sector, banking or now even the services. The deprived workers troubled by high inflation and low wages are not contributing to the country’s growth.
This apart, the obsession with foreign direct investment (FDI) does not add to growth unless there is consumption. And the workers need to be enabled to consume. This is not happening as the industrialists are smart. They are sitting quiet over their large deposits because they are aware of the fact that their gain is the nation’s loss! Saving on wages both by the Government and industry has led the nation to the most difficult situation. The recession in the West is only partially responsible for it. If a nation ignores its most important capital, people, then it is bound to get mired into a crisis against its wishes.
Take the case of implementation of minimum wages. This is a prerogative of the State governments, but many don’t even have it, forcing the workers in many cases to do without basic survival wages. Likewise, both the industry and the Government often call for labour reforms, but these boil down to further curtailment of their rights and comforts and a regime of hire and fire.
The employers virtually have usurped illegally the right to deny Provident Fund, Gratuity and wage dues. They lay off employees and declare lock outs at will without the requisite statutory permission. Worse, officials of Government ignore the industry lobbyists’ misdeeds and the labour department rarely implements the laws except when it can extort. Hence, trade unionists have rightly called the strike a wake-up call for the Government.
Since 1991, the era of liberalisation has seen massive job cuts, poor quality employment, large deprivation and workers’ families being reduced to below poverty level. It was hoped that after the 2007 Lehman bankruptcy, the Government would at least take drastic action to lead the corporates to follow the correct path. This hasn’t happened. Rather they were rewarded with sops that they didn’t need and only fattening their coffers further.
The February 28 strike is not the end but the beginning of a new era of vibrant trade unionism. European nations like Greece, Spain, Italy, Ireland, are today seeing a severe backlash from the working class. In the US this class is leading the “Occupy Wall Street” movement. These are loud signals for the Centre and it must act in favour of the working class. The nation needs reforms but not what was planned by Manmohan Singh when he was Finance Minister. Those reforms were neither pro-industry nor pro-worker but pro-corporate.
Today, Singh as Prime Minister expresses concern as the growth pace is slowing down. But if it is genuine then he needs to heed to the strike call and usher in programmes that would create jobs and ensure workers’ happiness. If he fails to listen, whatever growth so far would be a thing of the past and may even slide back to the historic Nehruvian Hindu rate of growth of two per cent! If Singh wants the nation to survive, he must as the first step, accept the demands of the 11 trade unions, it’s the basic minimum.
Growth without happiness is a misnomer. Workers have started uniting and this is the biggest hope. Indeed, they are the biggest stakeholders and could usher in the most necessary change. With their participation, growth could eventually become inclusive. Are the policy planners listening? INFA
Highway-safety experts in the west rarely, use the word “accident”; they speak of “crashes” instead. That is because “accident” implies a random event out of human control, whereas a “crash” is something that can be predicted and avoided. Many ‘accidents’ in the home (such as falls and burns) and workplace, are also predictable and could be prevented if we simply thought about them differently and took precautions.
