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Sunday, November 28, 2010

Vedas (By Arun Joshi,9888933043)

The Vedas are a large body of texts originating in Ancient India. They form the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature and the oldest sacred texts of Hinduism.
According to Hindu tradition, the Vedas are apauruṣeya "not of human agency"being supposed to have been directly revealed, and thus are called śruti ("what is heard").Vedic mantras are recited at Hindu prayers, religious functions and other auspicious occasions. The mystic dimensions and applications of these mantras as a way of obtaining the physical immortality was elaborated in Sri Aurobindo's Secret of the Veda
The class of "Vedic texts" is aggregated around the four canonical samhitas or Vedas proper, of which three (trayi) are related to the performance of yajna (sacrifice) in historical (Iron Age). The hymns address nature gods such as Varuna (water), Vayu (air), Agni (fire), Indra (thunder-king of gods) etc. asking for prosperity, progeny and so on. The hymns are mean to be recited while performing fire sacrifices and other rituals.

Vedic religion:
1. the Rigveda, containing hymns to be recited by the hotṛ or reciting priest;
2. the Yajurveda, containing formulas to be recited by the adhvaryu or officiating priest;
3. the Samaveda, containing formulas to be sung by the udgātṛ or chanting priest.
4. the Atharvaveda, is one of the oldest and is relatively great in extent from a collection of praises, stories, predictions, charms and some speculative hymns used by the priests .

Philosophies and sects that developed in the Indian subcontinent have taken differing positions on the Vedas. Schools of Indian philosophy which cite the Vedas as their scriptural authority are classified as "orthodox" (āstika). Other traditions, notably Buddhism and Jainism, though they are (like the vedanta) similarly concerned with liberation did not regard the Vedas as divine ordinances but rather human expositions of the sphere of higher spiritual knowledge, hence not sacrosanct. These groups are referred to by traditional Hindu texts as "heterodox" or "non-orthodox" (nāstika) schools. In addition to Buddhism and Jainism, Sikhism also does not accept the authority of the Vedas.

Dating

The Vedas are among the oldest sacred texts in the world dating from c. 1500-500BCE. Most Indologists agree that an oral tradition existed long before a literary tradition tentatively may have been set in (in one shakha, Kanva) from about the 1st century BCE; however it was again superseded by oral tradition until c. 1000 CE. Due to the ephemeral nature of the manuscript material (birch bark or palm leaves), surviving manuscripts rarely surpass an age of a few hundred years. The Benares Sanskrit University has a Rigveda manuscript of the mid-14th century; however, there are a number of older Veda manuscripts in Nepal belonging to the Vajasaneyi tradition that are dated from the 11th century onwards.

The Vedic period lasts for about a millennium, spanning the Late Bronze Age and the Iron Age. Gavin Flood sums up mainstream estimates, according to which the Rigveda was compiled from as early as 1500 BCE over a period of several centuries. The Vedic period reaches its peak only after the composition of the mantra texts, with the establishment of the various shakhas all over Northern India which annotated the mantra samhitas with Brahmana discussions of their meaning, and reaches its end in the age of Buddha and Panini and the rise of the Mahajanapadas (archaeologically, Northern Black Polished Ware). Michael Witzel gives a time span of c. 1500 BCE to c. 500-400 BCE. Witzel makes special reference to the Mitanni material of ca. 1400 BCE as the only epigraphic record of Indo-Aryan that may date to the Rigvedic period. However Mitanni Indo-Aryan is linguistically slightly older than the language of the Rigveda, and the comparison thus still does not allow for an absolute dating of any Vedic text. He gives 150 BCE (Patanjali) as a terminus ante quem for all Vedic Sanskrit literature, and 1200 BCE (the early Iron Age) as terminus post quem for the Atharvaveda.

Categories of Vedic texts

The term "Vedic texts" is used in two distinct meanings:
1. texts composed in Vedic Sanskrit during the Vedic period (Iron Age India)
2. any text considered as "connected to the Vedas" or a "corollary of the Vedas
Vedic Sanskrit corpus
The corpus of Vedic Sanskrit texts includes:
• The Samhita (Sanskrit saṃhitā, "collection"), are collections of metric texts ("mantras"). There are four "Vedic" Samhitas: the Rig-Veda, Sama-Veda, Yajur-Veda, and Atharva-Veda, most of which are available in several recensions (śākhā). In some contexts, the term Veda is used to refer to these Samhitas. This is the oldest layer of Vedic texts, apart from the Rigvedic hymns, which were probably essentially complete by 1200 BC, dating to ca. the 12th to 10th centuries BC. The complete corpus of Vedic mantras as collected in Bloomfield's Vedic Concordance (1907) consists of some 89,000 padas (metric feet), of which 72,000 occur in the four Samhitas.
• The Brahmanas are prose texts that discuss, in technical fashion, the solemn sacrificial rituals as well as comment on their meaning and many connected themes. Each of the Brahmanas is associated with one of the Samhitas or its recensions. The Brahmanas may either form separate texts or can be partly integrated into the text of the Samhitas. They may also include the Aranyakas and Upanishads.
• The Aranyakas, or "wilderness texts", are the concluding part of the Brahmanas that contain discussions and interpretations of dangerous rituals (to be studied outside the settlement) and various sorts of additional materials. They are not "forest texts" for ascetics, as is frequently read in secondary literature.
• some of the older Mukhya Upanishads (Bṛhadāraṇyaka, Chandogya, Kaṭha).
• Certain Sutra literature, i.e. the Shrautasutras and the Grhyasutras.

The Shrauta Sutras, regarded as belonging to the smriti, are late Vedic in language and content, thus forming part of the Vedic Sanskrit corpus. The composition of the Shrauta and Grhya Sutras (ca. 6th century BC) marks the end of the Vedic period , and at the same time the beginning of the flourishing of the "circum-Vedic" scholarship of Vedanga, introducing the early flowering of classical Sanskrit literature in the Mauryan and Gupta periods.
While production of Brahmanas and Aranyakas ceases with the end of the Vedic period, there is a large number of Upanishads composed after the end of the Vedic period. While most of the ten mukhya Upanishads can be considered to date to the Vedic or Mahajanapada period, most of the 108 Upanishads of the full Muktika canon date to the Common Era.

The Brahmanas, Aranyakas, and Upanishads often interpret the polytheistic and ritualistic Samhitas in philosophical and metaphorical ways to explore abstract concepts such as the Absolute (Brahman), and the soul or the self (Atman), introducing Vedanta philosophy, one of the major trends of later Hinduism.

The Vedic Sanskrit corpus is the scope of A Vedic Word Concordance (Vaidika-Padānukrama-Koṣa) prepared from 1930 under Vishva Bandhu, and published in five volumes in 1935-1965. Its scope extends to about 400 texts, including the entire Vedic Sanskrit corpus besides some "sub-Vedic" texts.
Volume I: Samhitas
Volume II: Brahmanas and Aranyakas
Volume III: Upanishads
Volume IV: Vedangas


Shruti literature

Śruti is a term that describes the sacred texts which comprise the central canon of Hinduism. These works span the entire history of Hinduism, beginning with the some of the earliest known Hindu texts and ending in the early modern period with the later Upanishads. Śruti literature differs from Smrti, or "remembered" texts - which are based upon tradition. Śruti are considered revealed records of the "cosmic sound of truth" heard by rishis (saints or sages).
Pre-eminent in śruti literature are the four Vedas:
• Rig-Veda (hymns recited by the hotar)
• Yajur-Veda (hymns recited by the adhvaryu)
• Sama-Veda (hymns recited by the udgatr)
• Atharva-Veda (a collection of ancient spells and charms)

Rigveda

The Rig-Veda Samhita is the oldest significant existent Indian text. It is a collection of 1,028 Vedic Sanskrit hymns and 10,600 verses in all, organized into ten books (Sanskrit: mandalas). The hymns are dedicated to Rigvedic deities.
The books were composed by poets from different priestly groups over a period of some 500 years, which Avari dates as 1400 BCE to 900 BCE, if not earlier According to Max Müller, based on internal evidence (philological and linguistic), the Rigveda was composed roughly between 1700–1100 BCE (the early Vedic period) in the Punjab (Sapta Sindhu) region of the Indian subcontinent.

Yajurveda

The Yajur-Veda ("Veda of sacrificial formulas") consists of archaic prose mantras and also in part of verses borrowed and adapted from the Rig-Veda. Its purpose was practical, in that each mantra must accompany an action in sacrifice but, unlike the Sama-Veda, it was compiled to apply to all sacrificial rites, not merely the Soma offering. There are two major recensions of this Veda known as the "Black" and "White" Yajur-Veda. The origin and meaning of these designations are not very clear. The White Yajur-Veda contains only the verses and formulas (yajus) necessary for the sacrifice, while their discussion exists in a separate work, the Shatapatha Brahmana. It differs widely from the Black Yajurveda, which incorporates such discussions in the work itself, often immediately following the verses.

Samaveda

The Sama-Veda is the "Veda of melodies" or "Knowledge of melodies". The name of this Veda is from the Sanskrit word sāman which means a melody applied to metrical hymn or song of praise. It consists of 1549 stanzas, taken entirely (except 78) from the Rig-Veda. Like the Rigvedic stanzas in the Yajurveda, the Samans have been changed and adapted for use in singing.

Atharvaveda

The Artharva-Veda is the "Knowledge of the [atharvans] (and Angirasa)". The Artharva-Veda or Atharvangirasa is the text 'belonging to the Atharvan and Angirasa' poets. Apte defined an atharvan as a priest who worshipped fire and Soma. However, the etymology of Atharvan is unclear, but according to Mayrhofer it is related to Avesta athravan .he denies any connection with fire priests. Atharvan was an ancient term for a certain Rishi even in the Rigveda. (The older secondary literature took them as priests who worshipped fire).
The Atharva-Veda Saṃhitā has 760 hymns, and about 160 of the hymns are in common with the Rig-Veda. Most of the verses are metrical, but some sections are in prose.

Brahmana

The Brāhmaṇas are part of the Hindu śruti literature. They are commentaries on the four Vedas, detailing the proper performance of rituals.
Each Vedic shakha (school) had its own Brahmana, and it is not known how many of these texts existed during the Mahajanapadas period. About twenty Brahmana have survived into modern times.
The Brahmanas were seminal in the dvelopment of later Indian thought and scholarship, including Hindu philosophy, predecessors of Vedanta, law, astronomy, geometry, linguistics (Panini), the concept of Karma, or the stages in life such as brahmacarya, grihastha and eventually, sannyasi. Some Brahmanas contain sections that are Aranyakas or Upanishads in their own right.

Vedanta

While contemporary traditions continued to maintain Vedic ritualism (Shrauta, Mimamsa), Vedanta renounced all ritualism and radically re-interpreted the notion of "Veda" in purely philosophical terms.
Vedanta is a spiritual tradition explained in the Upanishads that is concerned with the self-realisation by which one understands the ultimate nature of reality (Brahman). Vedanta which implies "the end of all knowledge" - by definition is not restricted or confined to one book and there is no sole source for Vedantic philosophy. Vedanta is based on immutable spiritual laws that are common to religions and spiritual traditions worldwide. Vedanta as the end of knowledge refers to a state of self-realisation, attainment, or cosmic consciousness. Historically and currently Vedanta is understood as a state of transcendence and not as a concept that can be grasped by the intellect alone.

Upanishad

The Upanishads are Hindu scriptures that constitute the core teachings of Vedanta. They do not belong to any particular period of Sanskrit literature: the oldest, such as the Brhadaranyaka and Chandogya Upanishads, date to the late Brahmana period (around the middle of the first millennium BCE), while the latest were composed in the medieval and early modern period. The Upanishads realize monist ideas, some of which were hinted at in the earlier texts, and they have exerted an important influence on the rest of Hindu and Indian philosophy.

"Principal" Upanishads

The following list includes the eleven "principal" (mukhya) Upanishads commented upon by Shankara, and accepted as shruti by most Hindus. Each is associated with one of the four Vedas (Rigveda (ṚV), Samaveda (SV), White Yajurveda (ŚYV), Black Yajurveda (KYV), Atharvaveda (AV));
1. Aitareya (ṚV)
2. Bṛhadāraṇyaka (ŚYV)
3. Taittirīya (KYV)
4. Chāndogya (SV)
5. Kena (SV)
6. Īṣa (ŚYV)
7. Śvetāśvatara(KYV)
8. Kaṭha (KYV)
9. Muṇḍaka (AV)
10. Māṇḍūkya (AV)
11. Praśna (AV)


Vedanga

The Vedanga ( "member of the Veda") are six auxiliary disciplines for the understanding and tradition of the Vedas.
1. Shiksha phonetics and phonology (sandhi)
2. Chandas meter
3. Vyakarana grammar
4. Nirukta): etymology
5. Jyotisha astrology and astronomy, dealing particularly with the auspicious days for performing sacrifices.
6. Kalpa;ritual

Traditionally, vyākaraṇa and nirukta are shared across all four Vedas, while each veda has its own śikṣā, chandas, kalpa and jyotiṣa. The Vedangas are first mentioned in the Mundaka Upanishad as topics to be observed by students of the Vedas. Later, they developed into independent disciplines, each with its own corpus of Sutras.

The six branches of Vedic science, included under the term Vedanga, are as follows:
1. Shiksha, or Phonetics. The privileged position of representing this subject is assigned to a small treatise ascribed to the great grammarian Panini, viz, the Paniniya shiksha, extant in two different (Rik and Yajus) recensions. But neither this treatise nor any other of the numerous shikshas which have recently come to light can lay claim to any very high age. Scholars, however, usually include under this head certain works, called Pratishakhya, i.e. "belonging to a certain shakha or recension", which deal minutely with the phonetic peculiarities of the several Samhitas, and are of great importance for the textual criticism of the Vedic Samhitas.
2. Chhandas, or Metre. Tradition makes the Chhandas-sutra of Pingala the starting-point of prosody. The Vedic metres, however, occupy but a small part of this treatise, and they are evidently dealt with in a more original manner in the Nidana-sutra of the Samaveda, and in a chapter of the Rik-pratishakhya. For profane prosody, on the other hand, Pingala's treatise is rather valuable, no less than 160 metres being described by him.
3. Vyakarana, or Grammar. Panini's famous grammar is said to be the Vedanga; but it marks the culminating point of grammatical research rather than the beginning, and besides treats chiefly of the post-Vedic language.
4. Nirukta, or Etymology. Yaska's Nirukta is the traditional representative of this subject, and this important work certainly deals entirely with Vedic etymology and explanation. It consists, in the first place, of strings of words in three chapters: (1) synonymous words; (2) such as are purely or chiefly Vedic; and (3) names of deities. These lists are followed by Yaska's commentary, interspersed with numerous illustrations. Yasaka, again, quotes several predecessors in the same branch of science; and it is probable that the original works on this subject consisted merely of lists of words similar to those handed down by him.
5. Jyotisha, or Astronomy. Although astronomical calculations are frequently referred to in older works in connection with the performance of sacrifices, the metrical treatise which has come down to us in two different recensions under the title of Jyotisha, ascribed to one Lagadha, or Lagata, seems indeed to be the oldest existing systematic treatise on astronomical subjects. With the exception of some apparently spurious verses of one of the recensions, it betrays no sign of the Greek influence which shows itself in Hindu astronomical works from about the 3rd century of our era; and its date may therefore be set down as probably not later than the early centuries after Christ.
6. Kalpa, or Ceremonial. Tradition does not single out any special work as the Vedanga in this branch of Vedic science; but the sacrificial practice gave rise to a large number of systematic sutra-manuals for the several classes of priests. The most important of these works have come down to us, and they occupy by far the most prominent place among the literary productions of the sutra-period. The Kalpa-sutras, or rules of ceremonial, are of two kinds: (I) the Srauta-sutras, which are based on the shruti, and teach the performance of the great sacrifices, requiring three sacrificial fires; and (2) the Smrta-sutras, or rules based on the smiti or tradition. The latter class again includes two kinds of treatises: (1) the Grhya-sutras, or domestic rules, treating of ordinary family rites, such as marriage, birth, namegiving, &c., connected with simple offerings in the domestic fire; and (2) the Samayacharika- (or Dharma-) sutras, which treat of customs and temporal duties, and are supposed to have formed the chief sources of the later law-books. Besides, the Shrauta-sutras of the Yajurveda have usually attached to them a set of so-called Shulva-sutras, i.e. rules of the cord, which treat of the measurement by means of cords, and the construction, of different kinds of altars required for sacrifices. These treatises are of special interest as supplying important information regarding the earliest geometrical operations in India. Along with the Sutras may be classed a large number of supplementary treatises, usually called Parishishta (παραλιπομενα), on various subjects connected with the sacred texts and Vedic religion generally.

Supplementary Vedas

The term upaveda ("applied knowledge") is used in traditional literature to designate the subjects of certain technical works. Lists of what subjects are included in this class differ among sources. The Charanavyuha mentions four Upavedas:
• Medicine (Āyurveda), associated with the Rigveda
• Archery (Dhanurveda), associated with the Yajurveda
• Music and sacred dance (Gāndharvaveda), associated with the Samaveda
• Military science (Shastrashastra), associated with the Atharvaveda

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Public Administration : Solved Questions 1 ( By Arun joshi,9888933043)

1. Which of the following administrative thinkers has defined administration as “the organization and direction of human and material resources to achieve desired ends” ?
(A) L. D. White
(B) J. M. Pfiffner
(C) J. A. Veig
(D) H. A. Simon
Ans : (B)

2. Which one of the following statements is not correct in respect of New Public Management ?
(A) It has market orientation
(B) It upholds public interest
(C) It advocates managerial autonomy
(D) It focuses on performance appraisal
Ans : (B)

3. ‘Good Governance’ and ‘Participating Civil Society for Development’ were stressed in World Bank Report of—
(A) 1992
(B) 1997
(C) 2000
(D) 2003
Ans : (A)

4. If the administrative authority within a department is vested in a single individual, then that system is known as—
(A) Board
(B) Bureau
(C) Commission
(D) Council
Ans : (B)

5. Globalisation means—
(A) Financial market system is centered in a single state
(B) The growth of a single unified world market
(C) Geographical location of a firm is of utmost importance
(D) Foreign capitalist transactions
Ans : (B)

6. By whom was the ‘Managerial Grid’ developed ?
(A) Blake and White
(B) Blake and Schmidt
(C) Blake and Mouton
(D) Mouton and Shophan
Ans : (C)

7. Who among the following says that public administration includes the operations of only the executive branch of government ?
(A) L. D. White and Luther Gulick
(B) L. D. White
(C) Luther Gulick
(D) W. F. Willoughby
Ans : (C)

8. The concept of the ‘zone of indifference’ is associated with—
(A) Decision-Making
(B) Leadership
(C) Authority
(D) Motivation
Ans : (C)

9. Who has analysed the leadership in terms of ‘circular response’ ?
(A) C. I. Barnard
(B) M. P. Follett
(C) Millet
(D) Taylor
Ans : (B)

10. Simon proposed a new concept of administration based on the methodology of—
(A) Decision-making
(B) Bounded rationality
(C) Logical positivism
(D) Satisfying
Ans : (C)

11. Who wrote the book ‘Towards A New Public Administration : The Minnowbrook Perspective’ ?
(A) Frank Marini
(B) Dwight Waldo
(C) C. J. Charlesworth
(D) J. M. Pfiffner
Ans : (A)

12. Who rejected the principles of administration as ‘myths’ and ‘proverbs’ ?
(A) W. F. Willoughby
(B) Herbert Simon
(C) Chester Barnard
(D) L. D. White
Ans : (B)

13. The classical theory of administration is also known as the—
(A) Historical theory
(B) Mechanistic theory
(C) Locational theory
(D) Human Relations theory
Ans : (B)

14. How many principles of organization were propounded by Henry Fayol ?
(A) 10
(B) 14
(C) 5
(D) 9
Ans : (B)

15. Simon was positively influenced by ideas of—
(A) Terry
(B) Barnard
(C) L. D. White
(D) Henry Fayol
Ans : (B)

16. Negative motivation is based on—
(A) Fear
(B) Reward
(C) Money
(D) Status
Ans : (A)

17. ‘Job loading’ means—
(A) Shifting of an employee from one job to another
(B) Deliberate upgrading of responsibility, scope and challenge
(C) Making the job more interesting
(D) None of the above
Ans : (B)

18. The theory of ‘Prismatic Society’ in Public Administration is based on—
(A) Study of public services in developed and developing countries
(B) Institutional comparision of public administration in developed countries
(C) Structural-functional analysis of public administration in developing countries
(D) Historical studies of public administration in different societies
Ans : (C)

19. Who among the following is an odd thinker ?
(A) Taylor
(B) Maslow
(C) Herzberg
(D) Likert
Ans : (A)

20. Which of the following is not included in ‘hygiene’ factors in the Herzberg’s two-factor theory of motivation ?
(A) Salary
(B) Working conditions
(C) Company’s policy
(D) Responsibility
Ans : (D)

21. The ‘Gang-Plank’ refers to—
(A) Discipline
(B) Initiative
(C) Equity
(D) Level jumping
Ans : (D)

22. The history of evolution of the Public Administration is generally divided into—
(A) Three phases
(B) Four phases
(C) Five phases
(D) Six phases
Ans : (C)

23. Henry Fayol’s General theory of Administration is applicable at—
(A) Policy management level
(B) Top management level
(C) Middle management level
(D) Workshop management level
Ans : (B)

24. F. W. Taylor, the founding father of Scientific Management movement propounded the theory which was conceived to be a scientific methodology of—
(A) Careful observation
(B) Measurement
(C) Generalisation
(D) All of these
Ans : (D)

25. In which of the following are public and private administrations not common ?
(A) Filing
(B) Managerial techniques
(C) Scope and complexity
(D) Accounting
Ans : (C)

Essay- Child Abuse-A Horrible Reality (By Arun Joshi)

HERE is something that threatens to shatter the picture of the big, happy Indian family. Children are safer at school than at home, says a study on child abuse conducted by the Central government's Ministry of Women and Child Welfare. Every second child in India has faced sexual abuse, and two-thirds of children have been physically abused, the survey estimates. The study was conducted in 13 States and based on interviews with 12,447 children. It is a damning indictment of Indian society's cruelty to its young and most vulnerable. One-fifth of the world's children live in India. Forty-two per cent of India's population is under 18 - that is 440 million people, a number greater than the population of the United States. Despite the fact that India has signed the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the country has dozens of child welfare schemes, a large portion of the child population remains neglected and exploited. Over half of the children interviewed (53 per cent) had been sexually abused. More boys than girls were harmed. And, 21 per cent of the children reported severe abuse. Children at home and not going to school were more at risk than those attending school. The most affected were children at work (61 per cent reported sexual abuse). Street children (54 per cent) were only slightly more vulnerable than children at home not attending school (53 per cent). More than 70 per cent of children had not told anyone else about their abuse. Of the young adults (aged 18 to 24) who were interviewed, 46 per cent reported that they were sexually abused as children.
Parents and family members were the people most likely to abuse children physically. Around 48 per cent of children said they were physically abused by family members, while 34 per cent were beaten by others. "Considering that the family is supposed to provide a protective atmosphere for the child, especially during the formative years, the high percentage is both surprising and alarming," the study says. But severe abuse was committed mostly by outsiders. Every sixth child faced severe thrashing by people outside the family. Child workers formed one-fifth of the children interviewed and are among the most exploited. Of all child labourers, 56 per cent were employed illegally or in hazardous industries - domestic work; roadside restaurants, or dhabas; construction work, beedi-rolling; lock-making; embroidery; and zari weaving. More than half of child workers laboured seven days a week, without holidays. Of all working children, 23 per cent were domestic workers, of whom 81 per cent were girls. Fourteen per cent of the domestic child workers said they were abused by their employers.
Street children survive in the most inhuman living conditions. The survey found that two of three street children lived with their parents. Only 17 per cent slept in a night shelter. Hygiene conditions were miserable. More than 70 per cent defecated in the open, and 50 per cent did not have access to a municipal tap to bathe. The survey found that they were often not able to meet their basic needs for food. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), one in every four girls and one in every seven boys in the world are sexually abused.THE first survey of its kind — the National Survey on Child Abuse — virtually across the length and breadth of the country has come up with a startling revelation: a majority of children have experienced various forms of violation, physical excesses and sexual abuse. Over 50 per cent had experienced physical abuse such as slapping and corporal punishment from parents and teachers alike; more specifically nearly 65 per cent of schoolchildren, particularly from government schools, reported that they had been beaten by their teachers. Of the many children that were sexually abused, almost 70 per cent stated that they had never reported the matter to anyone. Last but not the least, with every second child admitting to being emotionally abused; it is no exaggeration to say that the survey is possibly the single largest vote of no-confidence against the natural and trusted guardians of the young.
So much so that the much-revered and much-lauded Indian family is under a cloud for not only being one of the main perpetrators of the crime but also for using the smokescreen of the sanctity of the family to hide many ugly realities. More worrisome is the finding that the teacher, often associated with a noble profession, not only proves to be ignoble but also a child-baiter, resembling the infamous Fagin abusing Oliver Twist. Child abuse has become a major public health problem, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). A recent study in India revealed that 50 per cent children suffer from one or another kind of child abuse. Seeing that 40 per cent of our population comprises children/ adolescents, the number of victims can be over 200 millions. The findings are so scary that each home appears unsafe for our young ones. Children who form 42% of the India?s population are at risk on the streets, at their workplace and even inside their own homes. The recent Nithari case has highlighted the plight of children of migrant workers. There has been a 40% increase in intra-state migration in the last 10 years. While migrant do get employment there is no safety net for their children; they get neither education nor healthcare. Single migrant children or children of migrant workers are often not counted anywhere- census or any government scheme. According to the study conducted by NGO Shakti Vahini in 2006, 378 of the 593 districts in India are affected by human trafficking the children being the most affected. They are easy prey for traffickers who lure them from villages with the promise of employment. The street children are perceived as vagrants by the police and with no legal safeguards to protect them violence and exploitation are daily routine for them. India has the largest number of street children in the world. In 2001 it was estimated that there are 100,000 to 125,000 street children each in Mumbai, Kolkata and Delhi with 45,000 in Bangalore.
The term child abuse covers a wide range of behavior, from actual physical assault to simple neglect of a child's basic needs. Child abuse is also sometimes called child maltreatment. Infants and preschool children are most likely to suffer deliberately inflicted fractures, burns, and bruises. This is known as the battered-child syndrome. Although the extent of child abuse is difficult to measure, it is recognized a s a major social problem, especially in industrialized nations. It occurs in all income, racial, religious, and ethnic groups and in urban and rural communities. “Child abuse" can be defined as causing or permitting any harmful or offensive contact on a child's body; and, any communication or transaction of any kind which humiliates, shames, or frightens the child. Some child development experts go a bit further, and define child abuse as any act or omission, which fails to nurture or in the upbringing of the children. The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act defines child abuse and neglect as: “at a minimum, any recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent or caretaker, which results in death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse. A child of any age, sex, race, religion, and socioeconomic background can fall victim to child abuse and neglect.
Major types of child abuse are: Physical Abuse, Emotional Abuse, & child sexual abuse, Neglect.( Physical neglect, educational neglect, emotional neglect)Emotional Abuse: (also known as: verbal abuse, mental abuse, and psychological maltreatment) Includes acts or the failures to act by parents or caretakers that have caused or could cause, serious behavioral, cognitive, emotional, or mental disorders. This can include parents/caretakers using extreme and/or bizarre forms of punishment, such as confinement in a closet or dark room or being tied to a chair for long periods of time or threatening or terrorizing a child. Less severe acts, but no less damaging are belittling or rejecting treatment, using derogatory terms to describe the child, habitual scapegoating or blaming. Neglect: The failure to provide for the child’s basic needs. Neglect can be physical, educational, or emotional. Physical neglect can include not providing adequate food or clothing, appropriate medical care, supervision, or proper weather protection (heat or coats). It may include abandonment. Educational neglect includes failure to provide appropriate schooling or special educational needs, allowing excessive truancies. Psychological neglect includes the lack of any emotional support and love, never attending to the child, spousal abuse, drug and alcohol abuse including allowing the child to participate in drug and alcohol use. Physical Abuse: The inflicting of physical injury upon a child. This may include, burning, hitting, punching, shaking, kicking, beating, or otherwise harming a child. The parent or caretaker may not have intended to hurt the child, the injury is not an accident. It may, however, been the result of over-discipline or physical punishment that is inappropriate to the child’s age. Sexual Abuse: The inappropriate sexual behavior with a child. It includes fondling a child’s genitals, making the child fondle the adult’s genitals, intercourse, incest, rape, sodomy, exhibitionism and sexual exploitation. To be considered child abuse these acts have to be committed by a person responsible for the care of a child (for example a baby-sitter, a parent, or a daycare provider) or related to the child. If a stranger commits these acts, it would be considered sexual assault and handled solely be the police and criminal courts. Commercial or other exploitation of a child refers to use of the child in work or other activities for the benefit of others. This includes, but is not limited to, child labour and child prostitution. These activities are to the detriment of the child’s physical or mental health, education, or spiritual, moral or social-emotional development.
Who are the major culprits? Who are the perverts who indulge in such abusive form of pleasure? The answer is chilling. It has been established by several national and international studies that in a majority of the cases, the abuser is a person whom the child knows and mostly trusts, like a family friend or acquaintance, a domestic help, a relative or in the most tragic and traumatic of the cases a member of the immediate family like the mother, father, brother or grandfather. That is the primary reason why the perpetrators are able to carry on with the abuse for a reasonably long time. Ironically this is also the reason why child abuse is many a time allowed to continue despite getting detected. A study based on interview of 350 Delhi schoolgirls, for instance, found that nearly 63 per cent of them had been abused by a family member. Another study on 1,000 middle and upper class women, revealed that 71 per cent had been abused by people they knew. Studies also disclose that the abuser can belong to either sex, though often men are the offenders. The victim too can be of either sex, though a girl child is more likely to be abused. Most adults who tend to indulge in CSA are often ‘normal’ individuals. Though many offenders might be those who have themselves been victims, but in most cases CSA is simply a result of unbridled lust and easy opportunity. Children are basically trusting, dependent and often taught unquestioned obedience to adult authority. They are also, as studied in most cases, ignorant. Most parent refrain from imparting any kind of sex education to their children. Therefore, the younger victims of CSA might actually not be aware of what the abuser is doing with them. Pain, discomfort, revulsion might be the associations that a child may form in relation to sexual abuse but knowledge of the actual harm or depravity of the act is absent.
In case of older children, the scars that an abuser leaves behind may be more traumatic as they might be aware of the depravity of the act that they are being forced to perform. However they might be helpless to prevent the abuse, as the protective forces might themselves be the exploitative ones.In cases of involvement of close family members, the child’s allegations of misconduct against the same might not be believed because any acknowledgement of such a behavior is likely to lead not only to a familial rift but also to a social scandal. So a child in such circumstances is sacrificed at the altar of family unity and prestige. All allegations of abuse are denied, leaving the child to grapple with the abuser and the related guilt alone.
Child abuse often proves to be a traumatic experience for the victim. To begin with in a society like ours, the victim is often the one who carries the cross of shame. It is the victim who becomes the target of mocking eyes, slandering tongues and a butt of lewd jokes. The stigma of sexual assault and victimisation continues long enough to even hamper the marital prospects of the girl child in question. Thus silence regarding the crime is often the most advised and frequently followed recourse to the problem of CSA. But for the parents of the victims who decide to break the silence and seek punishment for the guilty, the path to legal justice is often long and arduous. For starters, there is callousness and insensitivity of the law enforcement agencies to deal with. Then there are the regular judicial delays. The fact that our legal system is hardly equipped with mechanisms to deal with CSA further complicates the problem. Child abuse can have very serious consequences. The immediate physical effects of abuse or neglect can be relatively minor (bruises or cuts) or severe (broken bones, haemorrhage, or even death). In some cases, the physical effects are temporary; however, the pain and suffering they cause should not be discounted. Abuse and neglect have been shown, in some cases, to cause important regions of the brain to fail to form properly, resulting in impaired physical, mental, and emotional development. In other cases, the stress of chronic abuse causes a “hyper arousal” response by certain areas of the brain, which may result in hyperactivity, sleep disturbances and anxiety as well as increased vulnerability to post-traumatic stress disorder, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, conduct disorder, and learning and memory difficulties. More than one quarter of the children have some kind of recurring physical or mental health problem e.g. sexually transmitted diseases, heart disease, cancer, chronic lung disease, skeletal fractures and liver disorder.
The immediate emotional effects of abuse and neglect—isolation, fear and inability to trust—can translate into lifelong consequences, including low self-esteem, depression, and relationship difficulties. 80 per cent of young adults who had been abused exhibit many problems, including depression, anxiety, eating disorders and suicidal tendencies. Other psychological and emotional conditions associated with abuse and neglect include panic disorder, dissociative disorders, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and reactive attachment disorder. Children placed out-of-home care due to abuse or neglect tends to score lower than the general population on measures of cognitive capacity, language development and academic achievement. Children who are abused and neglected by caretakers often do not form secure attachments to them. These early attachment difficulties can lead to later difficulties in relationships with other adults as well as with peers.
The solution to this problem should start from the base i.e. form the home. There are several very basic rules that the parents can follow to protect their children from CSA. First of all, children must be given basic sexual education. They should be taught that any form of sexual advances from adults is wrong. The children should have the confidence that their parents are there with them to protect them. Parents should develop strong communicative relationship with their children. Children should be encouraged to question and discuss their experiences. The parents must make an effort to know their children’s friends and their families. In case the child talks of an experience that sounds anywhere like an abuse, the child should be believed and precautionary or preventive steps must be taken. The parents must let the children express affection in their own terms and not insist upon the child to give hugs and kisses to relatives. The parents must acknowledge that CSA is a problem and remember the old adage ‘forewarned is forearmed.’ This will help reduce the chances of child abuse.
Government must take stringent steps to tackle this problem. India ratified the Child Rights Convention in 1992. However, much more needs to be done by way of embracing its spirit and ensuring that it trickles down into the existing legal framework and government schemes and policies. Further, such a child-centered legal framework needs to ensure a policy of zero tolerance for acts of violation against children while also providing for the effective protection and promotion of the rights of the child. For instance, even while addressing issues of child delinquency under the Juvenile Justice Act, most legal experts recognize the fact, that the Act has never considered the child as a legal entity with a right to self-expression and this has posed a major challenge for child-rights groups.
Our legislators must wake up and put in a serious effort to curb this social evil. There are several laws but the problem is with the implementation. The Central Monitoring Commission which is supposed to monitor crime against children under the Juvenile Justice Act was amended in 2000.This committee has not met even once since the amendment. The Act stated that every police station should have a juvenile police unit but this is still not being followed. The offences against children bill which provides protection against sexual abuse also awaits cabinet nod. According to child rights activists to avoid crimes against children it is important to have community level child protection mechanisms like community watch dogs and committees for child protection, child welfare and anti-trafficking. These will create an interface between communities and state/district mechanisms. These can also monitor vulnerable children in communities and provide a base where people can report and address issues like abuse, exploitation and neglect. Creating spaces within communities and schools so that children can report offences against them can be also done. To overcome lack of awareness about child protection laws the information dissemination is important.
There is an urgent need to take up the problem of child sexual abuse as a larger social issue where the society has a responsibility, to help the victims overcome their trauma and move on with life as normally as possible. The issue has to be tackled at all levels, starting from the child, family, community, school, as well as law enforcers. Not only should the legal and judicial system be geared to handle the issue of child sexual abuse, at a more practical level, an all out effort needs to be made to sensitize the police. They act as the first contact point for people seeking immediate relief. Therefore, they need to be made aware of the vulnerability of children and their responsibility towards them as law enforcers.
Children are the future and it must be protected at every cost keeping in mind that

‘A child is not a vase to be filled, but a fire to be lit’ François Rabelais.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Economy of India(By Arun Joshi,9888933043)

The economy of India is the twelfth largest in the world by market exchange rates and the fourth largest in the world by GDP, measured on a purchasing power parity (PPP) basis. The country was under socialist-based policies for an entire generation from the 1950s until the 1980s. The economy was characterized by extensive regulation, protectionism, and public ownership, leading to pervasive corruption and slow growth. Since 1991, continuing economic liberalization has moved the economy towards a market-based system.

Agriculture is the predominant occupation in India, accounting for about 60% of employment. The service sector makes up a further 28%, and industrial sector around 12%. One estimate says that only one in five job-seekers has had any sort of vocational training. The labor force totals half a billion workers. For output, the agricultural sector accounts for 17% of GDP; the service and industrial sectors make up 54% and 29% respectively. Major agricultural products include rice, wheat, oilseed, cotton, jute, tea, sugarcane, potatoes, cattle, water buffalo, sheep, goats, poultry and fish. Major industries include textiles, chemicals, food processing, steel, transportation equipment, cement, mining, petroleum, machinery and software design. In 2007, India's GDP was $1.237 trillion, which makes it the twelfth-largest economy in the worldor fourth largest by purchasing power adjusted exchange rates. India's nominal per capita income of $1043 is ranked 136th in the world. In the late 2000s, India's growth has averaged 7.5% a year, increases which will double the average income within a decade. Unemployment rate is 7% (2008 estimate).
Previously a closed economy, India's trade has grown fast. India currently accounts for 1.5% of World trade as of 2007 according to the WTO. According to the World Trade Statistics of the WTO in 2006, India's total merchandise trade (counting exports and imports) was valued at $294 billion in 2006 and India's services trade inclusive of export and import was $143 billion. Thus, India's global economic engagement in 2006 covering both merchandise and services trade was of the order of $437 billion, up by a record 72% from a level of $253 billion in 2004. India's trade has reached a still relatively moderate share 24% of GDP in 2006, up from 6% in 1985.
India's recent economic growth has widened economic inequality across the country. Despite sustained high economic growth rate, approximately 80% of its population lives on less than $2 a day (PPP), more than double the same poverty rate in China. Even though the arrival of Green Revolution brought end to famines in India, 40% of children under the age of three are underweight and a third of all men and women suffer from chronic energy deficiency.

Independence to 1991

Indian economic policy after independence was influenced by the colonial experience (which was seen by Indian leaders as exploitative in nature) and by those leaders' exposure to Fabian socialism. Policy tended towards protectionism, with a strong emphasis on import substitution, industrialization, state intervention in labor and financial markets, a large public sector, business regulation, and central planning. Five-Year Plans of India resembled central planning in the Soviet Union. Steel, mining, machine tools, water, telecommunications, insurance, and electrical plants, among other industries, were effectively nationalized in the mid-1950s. Elaborate licences, regulations and the accompanying red tape, commonly referred to as Licence Raj, were required to set up business in India between 1947 and 1990.

Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister, along with the statistician Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis, carried on by Indira Gandhi formulated and oversaw economic policy. They expected favorable outcomes from this strategy, because it involved both public and private sectors and was based on direct and indirect state intervention, rather than the more extreme Soviet-style central command system. The policy of concentrating simultaneously on capital- and technology-intensive heavy industry and subsidizing manual, low-skill cottage industries was criticized by economist Milton Friedman, who thought it would waste capital and labour, and retard the development of small manufacturers.

India's low average growth rate from 1947–80 was derisively referred to as the Hindu rate of growth, because of the unfavourable comparison with growth rates in other Asian countries, especially the "East Asian Tigers".

The Rockefeller Foundation's research in high-yielding varieties of seeds, their introduction after 1965 and the increased use of fertilizers and irrigation are known collectively as the Green Revolution, which provided the increase in production needed to make India self-sufficient in food grains, thus improving agriculture in India. Famine in India, once accepted as inevitable, has not returned since the introduction of Green Revolution crops and the reduction of cash-crops that dominated India during the British Raj.

The economic liberalization in India fix to ongoing reforms in India.

After Independence in 1947, India adhered to socialist policies. The extensive regulation was sarcastically dubbed as the "License Raj", while the slow growth rate was dubbed as the "Hindu rate of growth".

In the 1980s, the Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi initiated some reforms. His government was blocked by politics. In 1991, after IMF had bailed out the bankrupt state, the government of P. V. Narasimha Rao and his finance minister Manmohan Singh started breakthrough reforms. The new policies included opening for international trade and investment, deregulation, initiation of privatization, tax reforms, and inflation-controlling measures. The overall direction of liberalisation has remained the same, irrespective of the ruling party, although no party has yet tried to take on powerful lobbies such as the trade unions and farmers, or contentious issues such as reforming labour laws and reducing agricultural subsidies.
The fruits of liberalization reached their peak in 2007, with India recording its highest GDP growth rate of 9%.With this; India became the second fastest growing major economy in the world, next only to China. An OECD report suggests that the recent high growth rates can double the average income in a decade. The Economist states that "in many ways India counts as one of liberalisation's greatest success stories".

India is still held back by many problems. McKinsey states that removing main obstacles "would free India’s economy to grow as fast as China’s, at 10 percent a year".The World Bank suggests that the most important priorities are public sector reform, infrastructure, agricultural and rural development, easing of labor regulations, reforms in lagging states, and HIV/AIDS. The remaining challenges are demonstrated by the Ease of Doing Business Index, which placed India on the 120th place in 2008, worse than any neighboring country.

Future predictions

In the revised 2007 figures, based on increased and sustaining growth, more inflows into foreign direct investment, Goldman Sachs predicts that "from 2007 to 2020, India’s GDP per capita in US$ terms will quadruple", and that the Indian economy will surpass the United States (in US$) by 2043. Despite high growth rate, the report stated that India would continue to remain a low-income country for several decades but can be a "motor for the world economy" if it fulfills its growth potential. Goldman Sachs has outlined 10 things that it needs to do in order to achieve its potential and grow 40 times by 2050. These are 1.improve governance 2.raise educational achievement 3.increase quality and quantity of universities 4.control inflation 5.introduce a credible fiscal policy 6.liberalize financial markets 7.increase trade with neighbours 8.increase agricultural productivity 9.improve infrastructure and 10.improve environmental quality.

Biosphere reserves(By Arun Joshi,9888933043)

The Indian government has established 15 Biosphere Reserves of India which protect larger areas of natural habitat and often include one or more National Parks and/or preserves, along buffer zones that are open to some economic uses. Protection is granted not only to the flora and fauna of the protected region, but also to the human communities who inhabit these regions, and their ways of life. The 15 Bio-reserves in India are-
1. Sunderbans
2. Gulf of Mannar
3. The Nilgiris
4. Nanda Devi
5. Nokrek
6. Great Nicobar
7. Manas
8. Simlipal
9. Dihang Dibang
10. Dibru Saikhowa
11. Agasthyamalai
12. Kanchenjunga
13. Pachmarhi
14. Achanakmar-Amarkantak
15. Kachchh
Seven of the fifteen biosphere reserves are a part of the World Network of Biosphere Reserves, based on the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme list.
 Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve
 Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve
 Sundarbans Biosphere Reserve
 Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve
 Simlipal Biosphere Reserve
 Nokrek Biosphere Reserve
 Pachmarhi Biosphere Reserve