The Importance of a Quality Education

The quality of education in today†s school systems has gone down substantially due to many different factors. Some people disagree and go as far as saying that the quality of education is better, but many studies and expert testimonial will show that there has been a large downfall in how students are taught and how students learn compared to the past. This evidence will also show that the problems begin starting as early as the elementary level of school. One statement that is believed by some is that since the average teacher to student ratio has gone from 1:22 to 1:17 that tudents are getting more personal attention and their needs are being met better by teachers. However, just recently, in the studies of teacher to student ratio were special education and other reduced size classes added to the tally creating the illusion that the average class size is really smaller than it actually is. When in fact class sizes have generally stayed the same. In some cases classes have gotten bigger in certain states causing overcrowding which results in less personal attention. It also opens the door for students with learning disabilities to go unnoticed by teachers, urthering the damage to their education (NCES Fast Facts). Another false belief is that students of today are more literate that students of the past. This maybe true for the overall average but in recently it was noticed that in the period from 1980 to 1996 students in the age groups of nine, thirteen, and seventeen years, all saw a drop of at least one point on the Reading Proficiency Scale. From 1980 to 1996 students in the age group of nine years dropped three points. From 1992 to 1996 students in the age group of thirteen years dropped one point. Finally students in the ge group of seventeen years saw a drop of two points from 1984 to 1996 proving that students† scores in reading, although better than forty years ago, have seen a recent drop in the past fifteen to Students receiving a broad range of education is another common misconception. In a period of ten years from 1982 to 1992 the average number of vocational credits acquired by graduating high school seniors dropped from 4. 6 to 3. 8. Also seeing a drop in numbers was the average credits earned in specific labor market preparation classes which includes, agriculture, home economics and family consumer sciences, trade nd industrial, business, and law classes. Specific labor market preparation classes which in 1982 filled out 2. 9 of and average students high school credits dropped to bleak 2. 6 over ten years. This shows that students are sticking more to the basic core classes and college preparatory classes decreasing the overall knowledge gained by the secondary education level student (NCES Fast The last false observation noted in this paper is that students are learning things at earlier ages than in the past. This fact is true in some cases such as in technology and English, but in math lasses children start at an average level of learning and over the course of elementary and junior high tend to drop below average (Children). These drops are believed to be caused by students who learn certain subjects in one grade and then the same subjects may be covered in the next grade causing the student to become bored and uninterested in the material (Newcomb, 11). Recently it was noticed that the science skills of students between the fourth and eighth grade have dropped into what some call a slump. However, according to Dr. Gerald K. LeTendre, an assistant professor of education at Penn State, the drop is not due o a recent change in circumstances, but instead it is due to what Dr. LeTendre refers to as a â€Å"continuation of low gains from year to year. † â€Å"This continuation of low gains from year to year has continued for over twenty years and will keep dropping unless measures are taken to ensure the safety and quality of the students education,† commented LeTendre (Children). Yet another cause for this downfall in grades and test scores is pointed out by long time high school teacher, Ron P. Milder. In an interview on April 12, 1999 Milder suggested that the cause of this decrease is many factors, but one main factor is the outside istractions that are brought into school which take away from the students attention level. Many students now have jobs, sports practice and plays which they are involved in that take priority over school in a students mind. Another distraction Milder pointed out was that during his school days divorced parents were unheard of and in this day and age single parent families are about equal to two parent families which causes disruption in a students mind and also takes away from the students learning opportunities Another expert on education, Jean Piaget, believes that during the second stage of intellectual development children are ot given the proper amount of challenges to fully develop their potential which in turn slows them down in the remaining two stages of development. Piaget believes that in intellectual development four stages occur in the human brain the first being sensorimoror which occurs from birth to the age of two. The second, preoperational, occurs from age two to age seven. The third stage is concrete operational, which happens between ages seven and eleven. Finally the fourth is formal operational which is deductive reasoning, this occurs from age eleven and up. When the child can not express their full ability during the preoperational eriod they slow down their process of passing through the four stages. When this happens the student falls behind in learning and if the student is not shown the proper ways will only fall farther and farther behind as they grow older (Brainerd). One of the largest supporting pieces of evidence in the decrease of knowledge is the all mighty dollar. Money has, does, and always will play a large part in the way people make decisions and when it comes to teaching the money is short. Because of this many of the brightest minds who should be teaching go on to business where they can make double a teachers salary. Teaching is also a very stressful job including long hours and hard work. Some people who go into it don†t have the right mindset and end up quitting within the first few years (Milder). Another part of money is the funding of schools in the United States. Government funds to schools are sometimes not enough to cover all the costs so schools tend to cut back on what they should be getting more of. Many schools have out-dated construction and need to be rebuilt but funding comes up short so often they are left with a school that isn†t an adequate teaching or learning environment (Milder). Many of the problems existing in today†s schools are problems that can be fixed through time and vigorous effort, but the effort needs to be given by all sides of the problem. When only few people care about the problem nothing gets fixed. The problems should be addressed by a qualified group of experienced educators and students. The next goal would be to come up with possible solutions to the problems existing in today†s schools. After this is done the money needs to be raised and the appropriate measures need to be taken to relieve the problems that are eating away the education of today†s children.

Analysis of a Play Essay

In Edward Bok Lee’s â€Å"El Santo Americano,† a professional wrestler kidnaps his wife and child as he drives to Mexico, hoping to reinvent himself and keep his family together. Clay is a disgraced professional wrestler who drives his wife and son with him to Mexico. There, he hopes to reinvent himself as a wrestler, and not be taken as a joke. He also hopes to improve his failing relationship with his family. It is revealed shortly into the play that Clay has in fact taken his wife and son by force, when Evalana tells him to stop so she can take a bathroom break, and Clay says â€Å"if I stop, you’ll try to run again. † He also has brought a gun with him. As the story progresses, Clay pulls over, giving Evalana the â€Å"opportunity† to run away, to which she promises she won’t. Clay then gives a long monologue revealing his wrestling life, including when he had finally won a match and the audience actually cheered him on, appreciating a â€Å"real† match as opposed to â€Å"so much phoney bullshit (they had seen) through the years. †More importantly, during the monologue, Clay reveals that he had won to give his wife and son something to believe in, and so his son could for once not â€Å"see his daddy get beat time and again. † During the long monologue, Evalana temporarily runs off, and Clay aims the gun at himself, eventually just putting it into his mouth. Evalana eventually reappears, and gives a monologue of her own. She tells of a family trip she went on to Disneyland when she was about their son Jesse’s age. Along the way, her father woke the family up in Arizona, so they could see a big dam at night. It was during that time that she was fascinated by a rainbow she saw at night. The next night, while the family was camping out, Evalana saw a distant town that enchanted her, â€Å"shining with tiny stars that weren’t really stars, surrounded by rainbows that weren’t really rainbows. † She reveals that she imagined she was born in that town, and that was the place the family was heading to instead of Disneyland. Following Evalana’s monologue, it is revealed that Jesse has driven off without them. Clay and Evalana look at each other, the gun still in Clay’s mouth, and Evalana proceeds to remove the gun from his mouth, and aims it at him. Overall, this was a successful play which had conflicts between the characters, and ended in a twist in which their son abandons them in the desert. The play reveals the tragedy of a man who wants to prove himself to his family, and his own son abandons him and leaves both him and his wife stranded in the end. I liked the story and the tensions in this play, as well as the ending I did not expect coming. However, I did not like the long monologues told by both Clay and Evalana, which I found hard to follow. In addition, the fact that no sentences began with capital letters made the play hard to read. I feel like the play could have improved if it did not have such long monologues, and shorter bits of character dialogue with each other.

Art History Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 13

Art History - Essay Example Van Gogh has preference of painting outdoors coupled with the fascination of the night sky as part of the favourite subjects. One outstanding element of the painting ‘Starry Night over the Rhone’ is gas lighting that reflect off the elements of water through several strolls nearby. All this is neatly done in the painting’s foreground. The work is a revelation of the sky’s marvellous colours coupled with the scene’s reflections as well as the striking contrast of the artificial stars and the gas natural beauty lights. Street lanterns across the edge of the Rhone in the watershed provide sufficient lighting enabling Van Gogh fully to paint from observation direct. Van Gogh manipulated such reality into certain levels as a way of creating an impressive firmament. Through this view, the Arles town lay in the southwest while the Great Bear constellation painted within the sky is in the north. The media used by the artist include oil on canvas as well as the technique of weeping and broad brush strokes. In various letters to Wilhelmina, his sister, Gogh observed that this was aimed at painting starry sky. The display appears to be that the night is still richly coloured as compared to the day. It has hues from the intense greens, violets, and blues. If one pays attention to the painting, it is easy to see that a number of stars are lemon-yellow while others are blue or pink and green brilliance. Without expatiating on the theme, it becomes clearer that the little white dots put on blue-black are not sufficient in painting starry skies. Some hold the belief that there are hidden images that depict the Gate to Heaven while two coffins in its front seem relevant to his religious foundations. Van Gogh engaged the expressive and symbolic colour values to express emotions within the scope of reproduction for visual light, atmosphere, or appearances. Van Gogh also went on to paint the night sky immensely hanging on

Health Care Ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Health Care Ethics - Essay Example Relativism has taken root in the current world society in the sense that an individual is free to commit a wrong deed and easily get away with it. This is as long as he or she can justify his/her actions (Hinderer, chap. 4). A typical example of this scenario is social tolerance towards acts that were strongly condemned in the past. Incidences of social tolerance include homosexuality, the lenient judicial system, pornography, adultery and even fornication. Ethical relativism on the other hand refutes the existence of moral absolutes. It dictates neither morally wrong nor morally right deeds do exist. This theory finds it easier to link the right and wrong deeds to social norms. According to Hinderer (Chapter 4), relativism does not qualify as a basis of professional practice and as an ethical theory. Ethical relativism undermines the influence of morality as a unifying factor in the society. Ethical relativism does not hold the account of an absolute right or wrong. A right or a wro ng can only be established by use of logic, observation, preferences, emotions, experiences and relevant rules. Most cultures if not all perceive vices such as cheating, lying, murder and stealing as evils of the society thus wrong. Whenever an individual goes against such laws then he or she is punished. Moral absolutes such as the Ten Commandments (Christianity) have no changed since (Hinderer, chap. 4). It is interesting to note that none of them depends on social norms yet they are still true. This is to say that laid down rules and doctrines of the various religions find fault in ethical relativism. This theory has also been faulted because considers the right, wrong and the truth as relative. It does not make sense to conclude that certain things are right on the basis of a school of thought by a group of people. A typical example of this scenario was the slave trade where by as much as it was acceptable in the past, the world today does not entertain it. In general, relativis m does not provide for absolute ethics. Ethical relativism on the other hand undermines the existence of God according to the various religious systems in the world (Wear, Bono and McEvoy, 10). It should also be understood that this theory is faulted simply because ethical standards and norms keep changing with time. Relativism becomes false on the basis of an individual’s affiliation to a particular religious system. Personally, it is false since it does not recognize absolute ethical values. On the contrary it is true that many people accept this theory simply because it is not as strict as long as an individual or a group of people can justify a deed, then it is right. This theory offers a comfort zone that is relatively free of condemnation thus an ever increasing following. According to Hinderer (chap. 5), speciesism can be defined as a discriminative gesture by human beings against other species. It can also be defined as the act of putting human beings under privileges and advantages as opposed to animals. As a result, different species have different rights and values. Peter Singer’s arguments, with respect to whether our treatment of animals is speciesist or not, is valid. The fact that animals too share similar moral status with human means that they should be treated right without discrimination. Cruelty spans from factory farming all the way to laboratory tests carried out using animals.

Build a prototype E-Commerce Website Assignment - 1

Build a prototype E-Commerce Website - Assignment Example Logically, it is the marketing in every business that constructs the fundamental basis on which the business performance lies. The business has performed development-oriented studies and ascertained the origin of its misfortunes. Moreover the business has realized the remedy activities that if executed would reinstate the original performance capacity of the organization (Miller 2009). While pointing out the fact that there are particular aspects that influence the business situation and their adverse effects, the business has identified technology and proper management as the critical sources of the difficulties. However, the company problems have been condensed into a single trouble bordering the marketing and monitoring of stock. The company has experienced a slow pace of delivering products to its customer. The slower pace in selling as well as delivery of products to its customers has attributed to the cheaper sales due to the application of manual systems in the sales. Moreover, the manual outdated system of controlling the stock has been identified to being time consuming and wasting more time as a result. According to all the above provisions, the business has realized that a sole solution to its predicaments attributing to its ability to meet its threshold of  £2500 to cater for the basic requirements can be solved through the e-commerce. The contemporary system to be adopted by the company besides being observed as a future development strategy, it will also operate as a platform in the entire United Kingdom with a current venture in technological applications regarded as probable solutions (Schneider 2011). Throughout this piece, there will be an explicit elaboration on the current trends in e-commerce and the entire business fraternity. There will be a complete elaboration on the infrastructure needed to uphold development in the business. There will be justification of the desired choice amongst

Should U.S get war with Iraq Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Should U.S get war with Iraq - Research Paper Example To him, Saddam was developing and stock piling weapons of mass destruction, denied Iraq people democratic space and his administration abused human rights. Furthermore, Saddam was accused of financing and harboring Al-Qaeda. However, facts and evidences refuted the above allegations and revealed that it was Bush’s and his cronies’ decision to attack Iraq in order to secure supply of oil. Statement French and Jason claimed that terrorism and weapons of mass destruction compelled United States of America to lead war against Iraq (61). However, United States of America should not have led war against Iraq. All facts and supplementary evidence failed to link Iraq with any form of violation of both international law and United States security. On the contrary, security, integrity and independence of sovereign Iraq were adversely violated following clever statements and manipulation of facts carried out by former President Bush administration. Bush used clever statements to i nfluence decision of the UN Security Council and allied nations to destroy Saddam’s regime. Bush administration painted Saddam as defiant and deceptive. As compared to Iran, Libya and North Korea, Iraq had less capability of developing WMD. Doherty confirmed that war in Iraq was not driven by bad intelligence but rather it was by Choice of Bush and his cronies. Bush relied on his National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), which were doctored to mislead Americans and the world to back the war against Saddam regime as planned. Justification why Iraq war was acceptable First reason why it was wrong to invade Iraq was that, Iraq did not possess or produced weapons of mass destruction. According to United Nations Security Council and United Nations General Assembly, the United Nations Monitoring Verification and Inspection Commission did not find evidence of weapons of mass destruction (199). Iraq Survey Group led by the United States of America revealed that Iraq ended its biological, chemical and nuclear programs in 1991. In fact in February 2001, Powell and Rumsfeld asserted that Iraq did not pose a nuclear threat. It was even revealed that Saddam did not have the capacity or intention to project conventional weapons against own neighbors leave alone weapons of mass destruction. Furthermore, United States at that time declared that they had Saddam caged. The weapons that were suspected to be contained in Iran were Yellowcake uranium. Furthermore, the French government opined that Iraq had stockpiles of botulism and anthrax toxins and was able to produce VX within short notice. Sabri alleged that Saddam hid poisonous gas among Sunni tribe’s men but revealed that there were no biological weapons stocked piled or produced in Iraq. However, Bush’s administration maintained that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction even after facts presented by various investigators such as Wilson Joseph and Subri revealed otherwise. In 1995, according to report provi ded by defector General Hussein Kamel to the United Nation’s Security Council all chemical, biological, missiles and nuclear arsenals had been destroyed. Following repeated assessment that was done in May 2001, Iraq’s military was said to be fairly weak. In July 2001, Rice claimed that Saddam was not in control of North of Iraq and his military forces were not rebuilt or regroup. In September 2002, International Institute for Strategic Studies revealed

World Trade Organization Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

World Trade Organization - Essay Example It is a paradigm shift or a movement as we might call it, one that brings more stability within the ranks (where it is applied) and unison in the efforts and activities of all concerned. More often than not, we have seen improvements within the present day systems owing to globalization and it is because of this very perspective of change that we see world bodies doing their utmost to reach out to far flung areas and explore hidden markets for the betterment of one and all. (Berberoglu, 2005) In an economic zone, globalization plays a significant role at increasing trade on an international front which as compared to the global economy, is much faster and ahead of its time. Furthermore, we can predict an increase in the flow of capital that has been coming from the global regimes which might include for the foreign direct investment as being one part of it. (Aase, 2004) Then there are the agreements which are signed on a global scale that eventually lead to world bodies like the World Trade Organization (WTO) and others. Global financial systems also come to light as their developmental work gets thumbs up. International transactions speed up as the world bodies like WTO, WIPO, IMF and the like play their role in a more coherent and active manner. Economic practices like global sourcing or outsourcing as we know of it, off-shoring and others increase courtesy the multinational concerns. Within globalization, the legal stance is one that focuses more on the increase in th e number of different standards worldwide, which in all essence must be made use of. These include copyright laws, privacy obligations, patenting and others which somehow or the other mesh along well with the legal framework of different multinationals and institutions as a result of the same. Globalization helps improve cultural exchange across a wide cross section of regions scattered all over the world. It helps in playing

LOGISTICS & OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT 3 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

LOGISTICS & OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT 3 - Essay Example Thus managers can consider the inventory management problem to be a part of operations scheduling problem. Conventionally managers take a narrower view of the delivery. The timing of activities may have a direct impact on resources and the level of service (Naylor, 2002). The purpose of capacity management is the planning task, and the modification of capacity is the key problem area in system control. Capacity decisions will have a direct impact on system performance and on both resource utilization and customer service. It is important to note that organizations cannot operate without good capacity management. For instance, excess capacity gives rise to low resource productivity, while inadequate capacity means poor customer service. Decisions made in other areas have a direct impact the other area. Inventory management is aimed to plan and facilitate the provision of effective customer service. For instance, organizations cannot exist without stocks of raw materials, work in progress or, where appropriate, output goods. The planning of inventory levels, the control of inventories and the maintenance of such stocks are crucial for production and successful performance.

Strategic Management Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 1

Strategic Management Analysis - Essay Example The EVs use electricity for propulsion. Customers that purchased electric vehicles incurred problems such as: they were unable to use the cars for longer distances due to the limited capacity of the battery, the charge spots were few and the service costs for EV were high. Better Place came into business with the aim of popularizing the use EVs. The first thing the company worked on is a better battery that could last longer. Secondly, they increased the number of charging spot for the EV customers. They then introduced service packages that were suitable for all classes of customers. Without Better Place Company in business, there could be difficulties for EV users. Vision Agassi, in his bid to reduce pollution, vowed to only purchase electricity produced from the renewable sources of energy. Better Place believed that the EVs could significantly reduce the costs incurred by drivers. Feasibility studies conducted showed that electricity costs relatively cheaper than gasoline in most of the countries. Better Place Company is working to reduce the number of Internal Combustion Engines (ICEs) which will be replaced by EVs. With EVs, environmental degradation will be significantly reduced and motor vehicle costs reduced. Stakeholders ... The company entirely depends on investor for capital. This makes investors important stakeholders to the company. Investors influence the financial decisions of the company. The company cannot undertake any capital investment without investors’ approval. Investors will always check the financial performance of the company to ensure it is within track. Customers: these are the drivers, individuals, governments and firms who purchase the Better Place products. They are the major source of revenue to the company and the main reason why the company exists. Customer will always be concerned with product pricing and quality. The company will always produce high quality products and sell them at customer friendly prices so as to keep customers. Suppliers: this includes car manufactures, electricity producers, battery manufacturers and other suppliers to the company. Without these stakeholders, the company will neither produce nor sell. The company depends on the suppliers for resourc e inputs whereas the suppliers depend on the company as a market for their products. Governments: the company must relate well with the governments of the countries it establishes its business in. governments depend on the company for taxes and creation of employment opportunities. The company expects good business regulations in the country and a good economy to operate in. The company should always acts ethically in all decisions. To address stakeholder concerns, the company must ensure it adheres to the corporate social responsibility regulations. Stakeholder prioritization matrix High Power Low Interest High A stakeholder’s position on the grid shows the treatment they are given. For instance, those with high power and

Macroeconomic Performance of the Ten Countries Essay Example for Free

Macroeconomic Performance of the Ten Countries Essay What was Expected from the Governments and Central Banks of These New Entrants? On May 1, 2004, ten Central European and Mediterranean countries joined the EU and their names are as follows: Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia, and Slovakia.   This raised the enlargement to 25 countries that comprise of 450 million people, which is more than the population of the U.S. and Japan combined. [1] This accession will compel the new member states governments to utilize the EU legislation without much exception and will enable them to enjoy all the advantages that go with it, and once they go through a certain period and show improvements, they will be included in Schengen area and the euro zone. In addition, from the year 2004 to 2006 they are entitled to receive a payment of 45 billion euros in a form of a community aid and 30.7 billion euros in a form of payment appropriations.   As a result, according to two treaties that were signed in Amsterdam and Nice that were the basis through which the enlargement was conducted, the intent of the whole arrangement was to make the enlarged Europe more democratic, transparent, and effective calling on all governments to work on these areas. The end result of the enlargement had been labeled as a historical precedence that will change the dimensions of the continent and it is believed to put the division of the past behind ushering in democracy, freedom, and stability to the whole region.   At the same time it is believed that it creates opportunities for all involved where the early 15 nations business share and economical activity had increased, while the new entrants have also reaped economic advantage that was not available for them before the assesstion. What had come into existence is a union of 450 million people and had already represented at the time the union was effected one-fourth of the world wealth, giving the region a new leading economic power.   In addition, the role the continent is playing in the international scene had gotten enhancement, especially in security and defense policy. [2] The new states and their governments that are joining the Union will have to adhere to the Copenhagen Criteria and it has three components.   The first component is any of the nations that are joining the union should reach a certain level of stability and should have establishments that oversee and guarantee democracy, the rule of law, human rights, and the observing of the rights of minorities.   Then the second one which is an economic criteria stipulates that the nations adhere to the principle of the market economy and have a mechanism that enables them to deal with competitive pressure and market forces that will be directed at them after joining the EU. What is called acquis communautaire adoption criterion anticipates that the candidates should put themselves in a position to shoulder the membership’s obligations, as well as a strict adherence to the principles of the political, economic, and monetary union.   Through all this process the Union is responsible for evaluating, recommending, and approving of the states’ performance and it will evaluate the capacity of the Union to absorb more members without affecting the normal functioning of the existing Union members. The process starts when European countries apply to join the Union and that will be evaluated based on how the applicant nations with the guidance of their respective governments meet the Copenhagen political and economic criteria, and the accession is granted only when the requirements are met.   The nations through their governments will have to agree to apply the EU legislation that is over 80,000 pages from day one, even if there are a few exceptions that will allow the new entrants a leeway as long as it is not going to intervene with the smooth operation of the activities of the other members.   When the EU is convinced that the applying nations meet all the requirements of the Copenhagen criteria the next phase will kick in, which is the signing of the accession treaty. [3] The ten Central European and Mediterranean states, through macroeconomic plans that were introduced and carried out by their respective governments had gone through this process before getting permission to join the Union.   And once they joined the Union there are more questions arising because it is difficult to say what currency they should be using and as long as they meet the Maastricht criteria they are expected to the join the euro zone by abandoning their own currency. Here the various central banks play a leading role because it is known that it will take them some time to meet the requirements and while working to meet the requirements they will have to focus on their structural and economic reforms so that they will manage to have a better convergence in both nominal and real terms.   Since the other requirement before joining the euro is entering the Exchange Rate Mechanism of the European Monetary System, the ERM II will require them to abandon their own monetary policy. It does not necessarily mean this route fits everyone since the rigorous stability requirement applied by the exchange rate could derail the existing stand of their current account, simply because when there is appreciation in their currency it will affect their competitiveness, because of the high price they will be forced to charge.   The other worry is joining the ERM II should not result in overvaluing their currency whereby they will be obligated to devalue their currency in the two years test period.   From what had been witnessed most of the nations had an open economy that was heavily reliant on trade with EU countries and if they can eliminate the transaction cost in any way, which would include currency exchange, they will embrace it. [4] The final outcome was from the ten countries that joined the Union Slovenia, Lithuania, and Estonia were able to enter the ERM II and were expected to join the euro zone on January 1st, 2007, simply because they had met most of the criteria. But the only nation that managed to join the euro was Slovenia showing that the others did not meet some of the requirements, they need more time to make the adjustments, and might be able to join the euro by the year 2008. The other three nations Latvia, Cyprus, and Malta had also joined ERM II and could join the euro in 2008.   The remaining members Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and Poland are deemed to wait longer to better meet the criteria.   [5] The Macroeconomic Policy These Nations had been Following After Joining the Union. To address this question starting from the Central European nation that just joined the euro zone in January 1, 2007 might shed light on the areas that the nation did right while the other two nations Lithuania and Estonia will have to wait at least up to 2008 to be evaluated if they would meet the requirement of the ERM II.   The nation had $17,290 per capita income in 2005, it had a population of two million people, and it was among the most successful transition economies.   The nation’s GDP per capita in 2005 was 81% of the other EU members, which must have helped it to get a high score, since it is the only nation that has such a high percentage. According to the report the prosperity of Slovenia is due to its gradual and consensual approach to reform, which has made it different from the other nine countries.  Ã‚  Ã‚   It has worked hard to attain this position although lately its competitiveness is eroding.   Another area that had lagged was foreign direct investment (FDI) due to the slower pace and the general reluctance to interact with foreign sources resulting the FDI to be 1.2% of GDP between 1997-2005.   Even if it had reached once to 7% of GDP it had gone back to .02% of GDP in 2005 and this falling behind is curtailing the advancement the nation could have attained, yet it did not prevent it from joining the euro, simply because the possibility is within reach. [6] As far as economic growth is concerned the nation has averaged 3.9% it the mentioned period and had managed to fend off macroeconomic imbalances that were commonplace with the other transitional economies and its tight fiscal and monetary policy had resulted in allowing it to have a near balanced budget with a 1.7% budget and 1.1% current deficit, another good performance that was coupled with an enhanced foreign trade. The country also had managed to bring inflation under control and it had it at a single-digit since 1996.   Another advantage the nation had was it had a strong performance where the GDP growth was at 3.9% fueled by a rise in foreign demand.   In all this, inflation was under control at 2.5% and that was attained by allowing wage to lag behind productivity growth, by making up for oil price increase by introducing excise tax, and by attaining a stable exchange rate. [7] The next nation to look at is Lithuania which was among the three nation that were slated to join the eruo in 2007,   but has not made it and looking at its performance might shade light on how it fared.   The first glaring difference between the two countries is the per capita income where in Lithuania it was $7,210 in 2005 even if the population in Slovenia was only 1.4 million, whereas the population in Lithuania is 3.4 million. Other than that the GDP growth of 7.5% was much higher and it was the fastest growing economy in the region. It also had much more to export, which included refined oil, machinery and equipment, and textile.   It is not different than the other countries that are heavily dependant on the euro zone for their exports, the average being 60%.   The other advantage it had over Slovenia was it had enjoyed a peak GDP growth of 10% in 2003 since it was in a better position to create wage growth by bringing down unemployment from 17% down to 6% and in doing that it had got help from the EU fund that it was entitled for joining the Union in 2004. At the same time, it had a much better domestic demand that is enabling it to drive its economy.   Yet, there is a sign of heating of the economy as there is shortage of workers since they are migrating to the UK and Ireland.   After joining ERM II it had shown an impressive commitment to adopt the euro and was able to liberalize its pricing and most of its trades had been directed to the EU zone.  Ã‚   The other factors such as privatization had been taken care of to the point where all factors of production are in the private hands, and it had also been working in the area of FDI that is seeing a steep increase.    If there is another aspect that is holding it back it could the unparalleled poverty level in the nation and it is at 52% purchasing power parity compared to 81% enjoyed by Slovenia.   And one of the reasons that it did not qualify might be at least 16% of its population lives under the poverty line and poverty is widespread in the rural area where it is considered to be up to 57% of the poor are living.   That area might be the reason that contributed to its being held back for a while since all the indicators including health and education are going badly lacking in these regions. [6] Estonia that was in the list to join the euro in January 1, 2007 with the other two nations is a relatively smaller country with a population of 1.35 million and its per capita income is $9,100.   This nation has fewer natural resources and it depends on trade for the most part.   Its main specialty export is telecom.   Its GDP growth performance was not bad at 7.5%. The country had been a main gateways for trade between the Soviet Union and the West that is said to have given it some advantage and because of that the education level and the standard of living of the people was higher that other member countries. In 2005 its GDP growth had reached 9.8% resulting in the heating up of the economy as the unemployment rate had gone down, while at the same time workers are migrating to the other EU countries.   What is driving its economy is the domestic demand that is expanding due to income growth and credit expansion that is also taking export higher.   If there is any problem highlighted it is the overheating of the economy and the current account defect that is at 11% of GDP in 2005 and was at 13% in 2004, which would mean this could be one of the reasons why its plan to join the euro in 2007 had been postponed. [8] The other three nations slated for 2008 to join the euro are Latvia, Cyprus, and Malta.   Latvia has a per capita income of $6,750 and has 2.3 million people where one-third of them are living in the capital city.   The nation has few natural resources and is an importer for the most part and the import includes natural gas, oil, and electricity.   The source of GDP for 2005 was 23% industry, 73% service, and the remaining 4% was from agriculture. The country had some difficulty adjusting after it left the Soviet Union and the situation was turned around by the fiscal discipline the government introduced, where a cap was put to the subsidies enterprises were getting.  Ã‚   The government’s early liberalization effort had enabled the nation to join WTO in 1999.   Overall, the nation had converted itself into a market economy, which enabled it to join the EU in 2004.  Ã‚   Market and price liberalization, privatization, restriction on foreign transaction all are in the right perspective and the result had been positive where privatization is almost complete. Other areas overhauled were the legal system, institutions, and the social safety net.  Ã‚   The GDP growth had made it to 10.2% in 2005 and the unemployment rate was at 8.7% in the same year.   Some of the malice that is affecting the other nations such as low-income level, which was at 47% of the EU average had not spared this nation either.   Because of that labor migration had been escalating after joining the Union which is feared to create a problem in the long run while at the same time the population is aging.   Because of this there is a fear of overheating and the deficit has reached 12.4% while inflation is at 6%, which has contributed to the holding back of the nation from joining the euro and that might be possible in 2010. [6] Cyprus on the other hand has a highly developed infrastructure with a population of 784,000 and with a per capita of $7135.   The macroeconomic policy of the government had focused on meeting the requirement of joining the EU.   There was oil discovery in the sea south of Cyprus and negotiations had gone underway with the neighboring Egypt how to exploit the finding. The overall market structure is based on a free-market basis and is heavily dependant on the service sector, yet there is lack of investment from government and private sector, while at the same time the high cost of freight had been scaring business away, and all this had been worsened by the lack of skilled labor.   In spite of this handicap, the GDP growth rate had made it to 11.4 in 2004 and yet it is lagging behind in attracting FDI.   Even if there is a political problem between the north and south, this particular nation might be among the nations that would join the EU in 2008. [9] Malta is also another island with a population of 404,000, which had transformed itself into a freight transshipment and a financial center as well as a tourist destination.   In addition, it has some limestone and a better productive labor force than Cyprus where the economy is dependent on foreign trade, manufacturing, and tourism.   Its per capita income is much higher than most countries at $20,300 and the unemployment rate for 2006 was at 6.8%.   The island has liberalized its market and privatized some government-controlled firms and the possibility that it might join the euro zone is there. [9] The other nations Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland, are much bigger nations and there is Slovakia also that are slated to join the euro gradually after meeting the criteria, which might prove to be difficult to them because of their size.   If we take the case of the Czech Republic, it has a population of 10.2 million and a per capita income of $11,110 making it among the highest income earning countries.   After joining the EU in 2004 the process of transforming the economy from centrally planned to a market driven economy is almost complete.   There had been a considerable fiscal consolidation, and the inflation is low at 1.8%, while at the same time it had no problem with its balance of payments. Foreign direct investment is 50% of the GDP making it the only nation that enjoys such inflows of investment, yet, in spite of it, it had a high unemployment rate of more than 8% and is persisting, which might have been because of its high population that is not affected much by the migration of labor. The GDP growth for 2005 was 6%, attained mainly through export created through FDI in the automotive sector.   The fiscal deficit for 2005 was at 3% whereas the current account deficit fell to 2.3% for 2005.   Because of the high unemployment, which is the outcome of sluggish economic performance it might have to stay a bit longer before joining the euro, although the expectation is it will meet the requirement eventually. [10] More or less, the same is applicable to the other three countries Hungary, Poland, Slovakia whose population is 10 million, 38 million, 5.4 million respectively, making Poland the highest populated country among the EU-10 countries.   While Hungry had $10,050 per capita income, Poland had $7,110, and Slovakia had $8,130 in 2005.   Poland had to deal with structural reforms to consolidate public finance, tackle unemployment and poverty, work on making the nation attractive for business by introducing a more efficient government. The fact that up to seven million people live in poverty does not make it look as a good candidate for the euro yet and the unemployment rate is the highest at 16%.   However, the situation is a bit changing after joining the EU in 2004 and there was a growth of 5.3% in GDP in 2004, which created high consumption level, investment opportunity, and a better exporting level, and eventually it will make it a proper candidate to join the euro as it is working to meet that goal.   Its FDI is at 5% of GDP and that is low for such a large country although its inflation rate is low at 2.1% and its current account defect is also under control. [6] On the other hand, Hungary is in a much better position since it was able to attract FDI that is enabling it to build a robust private exporting sector.   If there is a problem, the budget deficit is at 8% due to higher public spending and tax reduction, which could affect the economy in the long run.   Inflation had slowed down to 3.5% for 2005 which was due to regulated prices and a decrease on indirect taxes. The unemployment rate stood at 7.2% in 2006.   Even if the government had introduced a fiscal consolidation program what might be needed to change the situation is a long term structural reform.   Hungary is moving steadily to join the euro gradually, and is better situated than the rest of the countries that are in line to join the euro in the coming years. [6] Slovakia is also in a similar situation with the others where it had a 6% GDP growth in 2005 and had unemployment rate of 16.2%.   In recent years, especially after joining the EU in 2004 it had undertaken major steps to decentralize its economy.   The government had introduced reform in many areas including welfare, pension, health care, labor market, and public finance.   Its GDP for 2005 grew by around 6% and inflation was at 2.7%. The fiscal deficit was at 3.3% while the current account deficit had been 7.8% of GDP for 2005 and it had FDI rate 2.7% of GDP.   Overall, it is working toward meeting the EU’s criteria to join the euro although it is difficult to say when it will meet all the requirements. [6] The conclusion is, there are requirements these nations will have to meet and the major ones are to tackle high level of inflation, a budget deficit below 3% of GDP, the public debt has to be at a manageable level, and maintaining a long term low interest rate in parallel to other central banks. If these are in place side by the side with the Maastricht and the Copenhagen Treaty criteria the time it will take them to join the euro will be shorter. Otherwise, their participation could affect the smooth operation of the whole Union, as well as it will put them at a disadvantage offsetting their whole fiscal and monetary policy. [11] REFERENCE The Union Welcomes Ten New Countries [Online]. Available:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   http://www.delnam.cec.eu.int/OurNewsletter/2004/ECNewsMay04.pdf.   March 14, 2007. European Parliament Fact Sheet. [Online]. Available:   Ã‚  Ã‚   www.europal.europa.eu/facts/2_3_0_en.htm.   March 14, 2007. The Challenge of European Economy in 2004. [Online]. Available:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   www.ecb.int/press/key/date/2004/html/sp040129.en.html.   March 14, 2007. Euro in a Wider Circle. [Online]. Available:   Ã‚  Ã‚   www.ece.int/press/key/date/2004/html/sp041119.en.html.   March 14, 2007. Redefining Europe. [Online]. Available:   Ã‚   www.inter-dicpilanry.net/AUD/AUD2/s10.htm.   March 14, 2007. World Bank. [Online]. Available:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   www.worldbank.com (countries).   March 14, 2007. ECB Panel Intervention at the Euro Conference. [Online]. Available:   Ã‚  Ã‚   www.ecb.int/press/date/2007/html/sp07115_1.en.html.   March 14, 2007. Commission Assessment of Estonia Convergence. [Online]. Available:   http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/about/activities/sgp/country/commass/ee/ass_ee20032004.   Ã‚  Ã‚   March 14, 2007. CIA The World Fact Book. [Online]. Available:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   https://cia.gov (countries).   March 14, 2007. Macroeconomic. [Online]. Available:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   http://www.cerge-ei.cz/pdf/books/pdf_0304/III.pdf.   March 14, 2007. The European Union and Its Expanding Economy. [Online]. Available:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   http://jpn.cec.eu.int.home/speech_en_speech%2009/2005.php.   March 14, 2007

Health and Safety Strategies in Construction

Health and Safety Strategies in Construction INTRODUCTION: Good health and safety at work is not only important in human terms, but it is also one of the most effective ways to ensure that the enterprises are successful and sustainable. Simple cost benefit analysis will not be the appropriate way to look towards the issue of health and safety, as it is almost impossible to determine the cost of unquantifiable losses such as suffering, pain caused to the affected person and his family, loss in mobility, etc. Good health and safety of their employees is not only the moral obligation of the enterprises, but it comes along with the legal bindings as well. Key legislations like Health and Safety at Work Act (HSWA) 1974, Construction Design and Management (CDM) 1994 and many more like these have made it almost impossible for the businesses to ignore this area. Also, not to forget, there are many financial aspects attached to it. Factors like disruption, claims for damages, loss of confidence in management and loss of goodwill might impact the economy of business substantially, sometimes leading them to the total collapse. Hence, it is very important for any organization to follow the existing policies, to keep track of ne w updates in rules and regulations and to be innovative in finding out the ways to reduce risks. The Manchester Joint Hospitals Project has already demonstrated a better-than-average safety record. Build quality and productivity have been excellent. Other projects in the North-West England are recognising the change and following the example. But all these positive results should not stop an organization from finding out the new ways to reduce the risk at work. Following actions have already been taken on the construction site by keeping the key legislations for respective action in mind, failing to comply with which, the company and management would have been prosecuted. Actions and their respective legislations are as given below: Development of Safety Committee: HSWA 1974, s.2(4) Stop Work Procedure : HSWA 1974, s.2(1) Safety Representatives Training : HSWA 1974, s.2(7) Few initiatives are mentioned below, which will help in to improve safety, health and welfare on site. It may also help the project to become a role model, which others would like to follow. Initiatives 1) Substance abuse at work: It can be described as the overindulgence in and dependence of a drugor other chemical leading to effects that are detrimental to the individuals physical and mental health, or the welfareof others. Most of the people and organizations still think that alcohol or drug addiction is personal matter as long as it takes off the work place. But they fail to recognise the long term effects of this addiction on that person. Typical response from management on such issues would be: Collusion: Either turn a blind eye towards the problem or reduce the effect of the problem by, for example, transferring the employee. Dismissal: Terminate the employee from the organization. But, the two solutions mentioned above can at the most, reduce the effect of the problem or removes effect on the workplace. A more sympathetic and decisive approach would be to motivate employees in the initial stage of their problem. An employer must analyse and investigate the existing as well as the potential problems and consult employees and their representatives. Following remedial measures should be taken to overcome this issue. A written substance abuse policy A supervisory training program An employee education and awareness program Access to an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) A drug testing program, where appropriate Barriers: Employment contracts: It is very difficult to change employment contract terms of existing employees without ample consultation and without giving convincing reason for doing so. Confidentiality: Employees seeking help for a substance abuse might be reluctant to approach management in the initial stage, as they will be sceptical about the confidentiality of their matter. Hence it the duty of the employer to respect the privacy of the respective employee. Key Legislation under which initiative should be taken: According to HSWA 1974 S.1 (1a), it is preliminary duty of the employer to secure health safety and welfare of persons at work. As per HSWA 1974 S.2 (1), general duties of employer, it requires employer to ensure, so far as is reasonable practicable, health, safety and welfare at work of all his employees. In HSWA 1974 section 7(a), general duties of employees at work, it places every employee at work under an obligation to take reasonable care of their own health and safety and that of others who may be affected. Also HSWA 1974 section 3(1) and s2 (3) put emphasis on employers for conducting an undertaking for health and safety risks and policy. 2) Artificial Optical Radiation: According to Eurofound (European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions), optical radiation can be defined as any electromagnetic radiation in the wavelength range between 100 nm and 1 nm. It is further divided into ultraviolet radiation, visible radiation and infrared radiation. Exposure to UV radiations from sun can lead to skin damage like sunburn, skin aging, blistering, sun beds and long term exposure can sometimes, may lead to skin cancer. As per Health and Safety Executive guidance, people with the pale skin, especially those with the fair or red hair, are at the maximum risk, whereas, people with black or brown skin are at the lowest risk. But, people of all skin colours are susceptible to overheating and dehydration. As an employer we can: Include sun protection advice on regular health and safety training. Provide appropriate protective equipments to the workers who are exposed to artificial optical radiations. Instruct workers to keep covered up while working in the sun, especially during summer. Encourage workers to take breaks in the shade instead of standing in the sun. Provide site water points and rest area in shade. Schedule work to minimize exposure. Conduct regular skin check up of the workers who are exposed to sun quite frequently. Barriers: Workers may avoid covering entire body with clothes or protective equipments, as they can feel bit restricted in moving the body while working. Negligent attitude of workers can lead them to long term exposure to the optical radiations. Key Legislation under which initiative should be taken: As of now, there is no legal obligation on employers to provide outdoor workers with sun cream or sunglasses, but HSE encourages employers to include sun protection advice in routine health and safety training. But The European Parliament and Council have introduced directive (2006/25/EC) on the minimum health and safety requirements regarding the exposure of workers to risks arising from optical radiation. It contains provisions on risk assessment, control of exposure, health surveillance and information, instruction and training. Member States have until 27 April 2010 to transpose the Directive and implement its requirements. 3) Noise at work: Long term exposure to high frequency noise at work can cause temporary or permanent hearing loss. Sudden hearing loss can be caused immediately by extremely loud, explosive noises. But in most of the cases, hearing loss is a gradual process because of prolonged exposure to noise. As per the Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005, employers have following duties: Assess the risk to the employees Take action to reduce the noise exposure which may produce risk Otherwise provide employees hearing protection Stay within the legal limits of noise exposure Provide employees with information, instruction and training Barriers: Workers may feel isolated after wearing noise protective equipment, hence might avoid using it. Workers might find it difficult to use protective equipments along with hard hats. So if the wide range of equipments is not available, workers will try to avoid using them. Workers may find it difficult to follow instructions given by supervisor while working. It may lead workers to avoid using protective equipments. Key Legislation under which initiative should be taken: According to HSWA 1974 S.1 (1a), it is preliminary duty of the employer to secure health safety and welfare of persons at work. As per HSWA 1974 S.2 (1), general duties of employer, it requires employer to ensure, so far as is reasonable practicable, health, safety and welfare at work of all his employees. The Noise Control at Work Regulations 1989 and 2005 requires employers to prevent or reduce risks to health and safety of employees from exposure to noise at work. Conclusion: The Manchester Joint Hospital Project has already been achieving better-than-average safety record. Many other projects in north-west England have already been starting to follow the project. With the implementation of initiatives suggested above, by keeping barriers in mind and trying to emulate them at the time of implementation, this project can achieve new heights in the record books of health and safety and can become a role model, which every other project in the country would like to follow.

The Importance of Military Ethics in War Essay -- War, Army, marine, I

Military Ethics War has always been, and will always be, a necessary action perpetrated by the human race. There are many different reasons for war: rage, passion, greed, defense, and religion to name a few. When differences cannot be solved or compromised through mediation with an opposing party and anger burns with a fiery passion, war is the last remaining option. Obviously, the purpose of any war is to win. How are wars won? Perhaps if we were to ask a member of the Defense Department during the early stages of the war in Iraq, his answer might be, â€Å"To win this war we must force the enemy into submission by means of ethical warfare.† If we were to ask a marine in the Second World War what he was told by his commanding officer he would reply, â€Å"To close with the enemy and destroy him.† (Fussell, 763). The member of the Defense Department and the marine have a common goal; to win the war. But there is a difference in their mindsets. The politician, safe behind his desk, has never experienced the fear and terror of being in battle. He has not seen the blood or heard the screams of suffering soldiers. He has not watched his best friend die in his arms after being hit my enemy fire. He is an onlooker, free to analyze and critique every aspect of the war from the safety of his office. He is free and safe to talk of ethics and proper war etiquette. The marine, immersed in battle, fighting for his life, can think of only one thing. Kill or be killed. When bullets are flying past his face and mortar shells are exploding all around him, he is not mindful of fighting ethically. Nor is he even mindful of fighting for his country. He is fighting for his life. To stay alive, he must kill the enemy, destroy the enemy. ... ...Ultimately, the way in which every war is won is by killing the enemy. That will never change. But the way in which an army goes about killing the enemy will constantly change due to ethics, new technology, new levels of hatred, and so on. There are always protesters to every war: â€Å"Stop the war! No more killing! Peace on earth!† Who doesn’t want these things? Do they think that the soldiers fighting for our country want to experience the horrors of war? Of course not, but if we do learn anything from history, it is that the human race will never stop waging wars on each other. People will inevitably die at the hands of war and the best that we can do is protect our troops at all costs, destroy the enemy, and spare as many civilian casualties as possible. I agree with General W.T. Sherman who said, â€Å"War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it.† (Fussell, 774.)

Anorexia Not just a Womens Disease Essay -- Nervosa eating disorder ma

Anorexia Not just a womens disease Anorexia: Not Just A Women’s Disease â€Å"Oh I’m so fat†. This is not something we normally think of hearing out of a man’s mouth. Women are thought to be the only ones that obsess over their appearance. Therefore, anorexia is commonly thought to be a woman’s disease. But in reality, there are many men fighting it. Out of the estimated eight million people in the United States with anorexia, about ten percent of the cases are men (Something Fishy, par.1). These are only reported cases. It is assumed that there is more, but the men haven’t come forward, since it is very hard for a man to admit to having this disease. Nevertheless, there are a growing number of men in America with this disease, and it needs to be dealt with. This paper will address the causes, affects, reason why they hide it, and treatment of anorexia in men. It is not known for sure what exactly causes anorexia in men. But there are a few theories on it. One theory on the cause of anorexia in men is our culture today. Most people think our culture only influences women with the constant pressure to be skinny, with the magazines, and the skinny models, and everything. But actually, society influences men to be thin quite a bit too. What’s acceptable for a man’s body shape is very limited here in America. More and more magazines for men are about fitness, weight lifting, and body building(Highlights, par. 6). The media and entertainment industry really focuses on a nicely built, â€Å"in shape manâ€Å". So some men do feel pressure to be physically fit. Of the men that are overweight, some may choose anorexia as a way to diet. Anorexia in men is rare of course, but it does happen. A... ...October 14th, 2000. November 26th, 2000. 4) Brumberg, Joan J. Fasting Girls. London: Harvard University Press, 1998. 5) Highlights. Billie, Lindsey J. 1995. The Columbia University Heath Service. November 26th, 2000. 6) Rumney, Avis. Dying to Please. London: McFarland, 1983. 7) Sandbek, Terence J. The Deadly Diet. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger Publications, 1993. 8) Self Help Magazine. Lee Hoffman. May 28th 1998. November 9th, 2000. Http://shpm.com/articles/reating/nih/anorexia.html 9) Something Fishy: Website on Eating Disorders. September 26th, 2000. November 26th, 2000. 10) The Eating Disorders Site. Margo, J.L. British Journal of Psychiatry. 1987. November 26th, 2000. 11) Web MD Health. March, 1999. November 9th, 2000. Http://ebmd.com/content/dmk_article_40031 12) Zerbe, Kathryn J. The Body Betrayed. Carlsbad, CA: Gurze Books, 1995.

Epistemology and the Material Environment :: Philosophy

Epistemology and the Material Environment ABSTRACT: This paper presents an epistemological approach to the investigation of material properties that is opposed to both phenomenalistic epistemology and recent linguistical and ontological accounts of matter/mass terms. Emphasis is laid on the inherent context dependence of material properties. It is shown that, if this is taken seriously, some deep epistemological problems arise, like unavoidable uncertainty, incompleteness, inductivity, and nonderivableness. It is further argued that some widely held epistemological accounts, namely that of essentialism, constructivism, and pragmatism, all reveal some serious defects if related to the recognition of materials. In order to responsibly manage our material environment, a more realistic estimation of our epistemic abilities and prospects is suggested. Introduction: The primacy of epistemology Since a couple of years we may witness a growing philosophical interest in matter(s), material substances, or material beings. (1) Far from their Aristotelean-Thomistic ancestors, today’s philosophers focus on the ontology of matter(s) or the linguistics of mass terms by logical means, provided by analytical philosophy mainly in a Quinian manner. While this has enabled considerable insight in logical and linguistical features, it suffers from a certain sterility with regard to ordinary and, in particular, scientific experience of material/chemical substances. In fact, most accounts leave epistemological problems and presuppositions undiscussed or implicit. Against a (still) prevailing tendency to tell ontological stories based on logical-linguistic analysis, I claim for the primacy of epistemology, i.e. an analysis of the conditions, possibilities and limits of our knowledge gaining processes, that may lead, only in a second step, toward a (linguistically shaped) world view. There is no doubt that linguistic conventions are important constraints of, and even influential on, the social process of knowledge gaining, esp. in science. But these constraints only play a conservative role, while our knowledge of materials tends to change and, as I will show, improve by experimental and conceptual refinements. Moreover, ignoring the non-linguistic constraints, in particular the epistemic conditions of experiencing materials, is even in danger of missing the meaning of our scientific (mass) terms. Starting from an ‘epistemologized’ ontology of matter, I will point out some deeper epistemological problems of material properties, that arise mainly from its inherent context dependence. It turns out, that these problems forces us towards a more modest epistemological position: neither skepticism, nor naive optimism. 1. Ontology epistemologized: material objects The problem of telling a ‘pure’ epistemological story is that it seems to presuppose an ontological starting point: "What is matter?

Personal leadership development plan Essay

Introduction This paper defines the leadership and discusses necessary steps to make to achieve a well-developed strategy plan. There are many definitions of leadership and even leadership professionals have diverse views about it. Leadership is not about your position, power or rank, for me, leadership involves the self-awareness, identifying your weakness and strengths. Leadership involves taking opportunity the ï ¬ rst and applying personal self-control methods to win the second, surrounding yourself with the right group to overcome some of your faults; where the ultimate goal is to win the trust of your followers to move them toward a mutual goal. From another standpoint, the spearhead should be able to recognize his team needs, inspire them and add toward the improvement to make many other leaders. Being a leader in a governmental ministry, where the number of permanently employed staff is nine hundred, appropriate leadership strategy and skills is needed; to cover up the daily challenges in the ministry. Therefore, it is very necessary to develop a good and realistic development plan in leadership to handle these challenges. Mission, vision and core values The vision of this development plan of a project is to be the leading leader in developing and creating new leadership and leaders in the team of the ministry. The mission of my development plan is to develop a performance management system to make certain of executing the strategy and clear accountability. The core values of this new leadership strategy or plan is pledging to high moral standards, frankness, and uprightness, and embracing excellence, eminence service and incessant improvement from my followers. Body When developing the development need plan, it very necessary to understand diverse leadership styles and an emotional acumen, strengths and weakness  related to it. Effective leadership eludes many people and organizations (Goleman, 2000). The most successful leaders have stronghold and weakness in the following emotional acumen know-hows; motivation, social skills, self-awareness, understanding, and self-regulation. They are six method of leadership; each one of them applies the key component of the emotional intelligence in not the same combinations. The six basic leadership styles include; coercive, pacesetting, authoritative, coaching, affiliative and democratic. The coercive style is very appropriate in a setback situation, after handling workforces difficulties; it involves do as the boss says, however, it limits organizational flexibility and weaken motivation. In the pacesetting leadership, a leader set high standards of performance which the followers use as impact on positive motivation, but it overwhelm some of the followers. Coaching style focuses on personal development. An authoritative method is the one that uses a â€Å"accompany me† tactic. It organizes well in the industry that is in an implication; however, it is not effective when dealing with more experienced professional than you. A democratic method gives my followers a voice in the decision-making, but it gives birth to endless meeting. The last in the leadership styles is an affiliative method, it valid in coming up with the team accord or growing morale. But the style focus on praise can permit a poor act to go uncorrected. To come out as the top spearhead, I should know more than one method of management. Being this kind of a leader, it is flexible in changing from one style to the other as per dictation of the circumstances. The more method I understood, the better. In particular, being able to switch from one form of style to the other, as the situation dictate, make the best organizational environment in the ministry. Incorporating aspects of each of the three elemental charm proportions, a character-based trailblazer is best seen as an agent of moral change (Wright& Lauer, 2013). Another development need plan is my character, strengths and weakness. Character is defined as the intellectual and ethical attitudes that leave one sensation most intensely and deeply energetic and active. The real me stress the importance of being as exact as possible in outlining the character idea. In that  regard, a character-based leader is someone with the essential self-discipline (ethical discipline) to generously act on his or her own wish (moral autonomy) to motivate, sustain, and change the beliefs and attitudes of both self and followers. Best viewed as giving an all-embracing moral scope, the character-based leader has the standpoint to unceasingly strive to move his or her organization, team or group past narrow, self-interest chases toward the accomplishment of mutual good goals (ethical attachment). While drawing on a number of viewpoints, including servant, mystical, values-based and reliable, character-based leadership is notable by its vital obedience to a core moral context. This ethical focus is drawn clearly when compared with values-based classes to leadership. The weakness in my character is that I don’t provide consideration to facts, and I don’t push people hard. Ambiguity leadership is another area considered in the project development of the need plan. Models for leadership admit uncertainty as a datum of life for employed leaders. While we consider uncertainty grasses upon us, in reality, it exists every day. In fact, one could claim that ambiguity is just â€Å"the way stuffs are† in a post-industrial group. Just like most people, uncertainty makes me panic. It can collapse a plan. Measuring the ability to engage amid uncertainty is no more difficult than measuring any of the other important traits that we look for in self-assessments and multi-rater feedback (Peterson& Mannix, 2003).It can create someone lose Slumber. It can stop you in your ways. Most people try to evade it. Measuring the capability to engage amid doubt is no harder than gauging any of the other vital characters that we consider for in self-assessments and multi-rater response. The personalities of indecision tolerance can also be uncovered through coaching and interviews. Ambiguity architect program can help in accessing the comfort related with discomfort. This program identifies eight kinds of employers founded on their comfort level with vague conditions and their know hoe at dealing the resultant uncertainty. The third type is the Future scanners: These folks are actually fluid philosophers who want to comprehend how a ministry runs  and continually consider how it will play out in future settings. They are not â€Å"seers,† but in its place demonstrate a curiosity for the forthcoming. Number four on the category is the Tenacious challengers: These folks are tire-less in resolving problems. They will, in some circumstances, drive others to do likewise, even though it is not always valued. If they don’t stimulate others, they will be seen as rough or worst-case state or punitive. Fifth on the sorts is Exciters: These persons were mutual in the study. They adore what they do and they need everybody else to like what they do, too. Sixth are the Flexible adjusters: These influential exhibit two inclinations: the capacity to admit they’re incorrect and the ability to trade changes to folks whose conceit is against the adjustment. This is shown to be an exclusively important advantage in corporate. Seventh of the list are the Simplifiers: Using spoken or written approaches, these persons are able to take complex ideas and help everyone in a ministry understand where the organization is heading. Being a simplifier seems to be something that can be well-read. The last but not least are the Focusers: Last but not least, focusers have the ability to pinpoint and spell the critical few actions that require to be done, as well as change to a diverse set of actions at the correct time. The development also recognized sets of manners that tend to limbs performance during ambiguous times and used these to categorize workers. First are the Poor transitioners: These folks have difficulty changing from one kind of duty or conduct to another. Pointers of this feature might include being really capable at some jobs but extremely dared by others. Second under this category are the Wet blankets: They reduce the energy of a group. They may lack zeal for their own work and respond adversely to the commitment of co-workers. Third are the Conflict avoiders: These persons tend to be overly accepting, often the result of being highly opposed to potentially provocative or intense situations. Fourth are the Muddy thinkers: They show misperception that at times is self-inflicted. They process matters in a way that makes the disputes more difficult than need be. The last thing to include in the strategic plan is the assignments development. Using development job assignments productively will have  positive benefits for both the individuals and the organization (Montross, 1992). First let me consider some of the crucial caveats for applying assignment development. Firstly, individuals selected for an evolving assignment should be told the reason why they are getting the assignment. Furthermore, a helpful structure should be put in place. In logic, the greater the expansion stage for the individual and the more counterculture for the group; the more backup should be provided. Conclusion In the development plan and the strategy for the ministry I have clearly elaborated the main things to include in the plan that include; leadership styles (power and fault), character growth, use of duty and ambiguity (causes, effects and how to deal with it in an organization). In the character section, I have described the strength and weakness of myself; being honest, failing to do a follow up etc. References D, G. (Ed.). (2000). Leadership gets result. HARVARD BUSINESS, MAR/APRI Peterson, R. S., & Mannix, E. A. (2003). Leading and managing people in the dynamic organization. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Wright, T., & Lauer, T. (2013). What is character and why it really does matter.Organizational Dynamics, 42, 25-34. Montross, D. H., & Shinkman, C. J. (1992). Career development: Theory and practice. Springfield, Ill., U.S.A: C.C. Thomas

Jim Porter

Discuss the character of Jimmy Porter in Look back in anger explaining how you feel about him as we move through the main action of the play. Have your ideas changed about him by the time we reach the play’s final scene? Jimmy Porter is the play's main character. He is the â€Å"Angry Young Man† who expresses his frustration for the lack of feelings in his placid domestic life. Jimmy can be understood as both a hero for his unfiltered expressions of emotion and frustration in a culture that propagated unemotional resignation.He can also be considered a villain for the ways in which his anger proves to be destructive to those in his life. All of these characteristics are shown as the play moves on. A play like  Look Back in Anger  creates a world which, in essence, is familiar to, reality, rather than an imaginative  dislocation  of reality, and it becomes easier for the mind to sidetrack onto an element which may be more pleasing to it than the main theme of the play.Constant reference is made, even by people who liked the play, to Jimmy Porter's self-pity, his  neurotic  behaviour, his  cruelty  to his wife. This makes nonsense of the play; Jimmy Porter is devoid of any neurosis or self-pity, and the play is summed up in his cry against a negative world, â€Å"Oh heavens, how I long for a little ordinary human enthusiasm. Just enthusiasm—that's all. I want to hear a warm, thrilling voice cry out Hallelujah! Hallelujah! I'm alive. †¦ Would  Look Back in Anger  have been the success it was if people had been forced to listen to this damning indictment of themselves as dead souls, instead of being allowed to stray into less dangerous channels. (pp. 45-6)Tom Milne, â€Å"The Hidden Face of Violence† (originally published in Encore,  Vol. VII, No. 1, 1960; copyright  © by  Encore),  in  Modern British Dramatists: A Collection of Critical Essays,  edited by John Russell Brown, Prentice-Hall, 1968, pp. 38-46. This criticism I find to be true, Jimmy as a character does not dwell in self pity or apathy, but instead see’s the world as unjust as a whole.His use of the term Enthusiasm is a response to his yearning for positivity, as he simply feels none from Alison. His endless efforts for discussion turn in the end into frustration, which inevitably evolves into confrontation. His endless scanning of numerous newspapers is evidence of this, as he tries to get a sense of the unjust world of his eye’s, to in all hope develop a series of discussions to exercise his mind, which is normally diverted by Alison and Cliff, which leads to his quest for confrontation.Jimmy as a character appears to be destructive to those in his life, but in contrast, there is the argument to be made that his destructiveness has its origins in Alison’s and Cliffs inability to level with his Ideas and opinions, which they rather continually ignore or shadow with Cliff’s immature comm ents, leading to Jimmy’s frustration through the lack of ability for discussion of the day’s affairs. An example of this comes in page 3, Jimmy †we’ll, she can talk, can’t she? You can talk, can’t you? You can express an opinion†¦.. This quote from the start of the play indicates Jimmy’s frustration at the quality of discussion, which evolves in his intimidating questioning of Alison’s and Cliffs ignorance towards his attempts to start discussions. Evidence of Alison’s torment of jimmy is shown straight away by her reply, â€Å" I’m sorry. I wasn’t listening properly. † This shows Alison’s ability to tease and cause Jimmy’s destructiveness as she in a phrase pokes the bear, as she is well aware of the odds being favourable for a bitter response from Jimmy, and her reliance upon Cliff to defuse any altercation between her and Jimmy. Look back in anger† was also bringing class a s an issue before British audiences. Through Jimmy as the voice of the lower-middle class, Osborne is blaming, amongst other things, the upper class for the country's miserable situation. Jimmy uses Alison's brother Nigel as a symbol for the privileged, and therefore despised, upper class's members who fill important positions regardless of whether they are talented or not but merely as a result of their connections. â€Å"He’ll end up in the cabinet one day, make no mistake.But somewhere at the back of that mind is the vague knowledge that he and his pals have been plundering and fooling everybody for generations. † Jimmy’s character is built upon his view that the world around him is unjust and his further comments on Nigel reflect this further, â€Å" the only thing he can do- seek sanctuary in his own stupidity. The only way to keep things as much like they always have been as possible, is to make any alternative too much for your poor, tiny brain to grasp. It takes some doing nowadays. It really does. Jimmy means by this that those who hold high places in society do so not through ability but through ancestral beginnings, which he fairly see’s as being inept and obsolete towards forming a society that he believes should exist. When he say’s â€Å"it really does†, he is saying that the task that Nigel takes is becoming more difficult as more of the population is becoming more and more educated by the year, which he sees as being the form of a future revolution resulting in the expulsion of Nigel’s class and ‘pals’ from guarding high positions of government from the lower class’s.It is significant that, although Jimmy studied at a university, he runs a sweet stall. This could be considered to be a sign of rebellion. But in truth it is a sign of his character that he is idle in his lack of drive to change society through his own effort, instead he prefers to be bitter and awaits other†™s to make the changes he seeks. Jimmy’s character, changes once Helena arrives, He becomes a show off but the most important change is when Alison leaves. He appears to feel free.This is because Helena is able to level with him, in conversation and confrontation. Before Alison leaves, we see Jimmy testing Helena, â€Å" I hope you won’t make the mistake of thinking for one moment that I am a gentleman†. The fact that Helena can converge in discussion with Jimmy delights him as he feels he is performing before an audience. Someone who he feels is listening to his every word with intrigue. He even say’s, â€Å"I think you and I understand one another all right. This is the first indication of Jimmy’s character showing mutual respect with another character apart from Hugh’s mother. Once Alison leaves, and Act 3 begins, it is apparent that Jimmy is in a better place. His questions once deflected by Alison are now responded to by Helena, ther e are no long rants to restore order and no raised voices enforcing his will to be heard. Helena is open to activity, unlike Alison. For example on page 83, Jimmy â€Å"†¦.I was thinking we might work it into the Act†, to which Helena replies â€Å" good idea†. The fact that Helena is open to activity show’s us a characteristic of Jimmy we did not see early on in the play when living with Alison, he appears to be happy and jubilant on occasion, because of his thoughts and ideas are being responded to positively. In the play we see many sides of Jimmy’s character at different stages of the play, at the beginning he appears as a dreamer, who see’s the world as unjust but not full of self-pity.He becomes confrontational when frustrated by his wife and friend, who he feels trapped with in a dialogue dead setting. Were he see’s no escape and feels a wasted talent. But in truth is not prepared to take action on behalf of himself. His connecti on with Helena appears first as one based on hatred on the backdrop of difference in class, but he shows characteristics towards her, that of mutual respect, and eventually one of lust. Resulting in him having a sense of freedom and dialogue he has longed for throughout the play.

Female Foeticide

Female Foeticide: A legal Analysis In 1988 there was an advertisement in the Diwali special number of a renowned Marathi magazine:[1] â€Å"Amniocentesis is a developed science To misuse it for abortion is a great sin. Better go in for sex-selection Read this book. Consult your family doctor for a sure way of begetting sons. Female foeticide is perhaps one of the worst forms of violence against women where a woman is denied her most basic and fundamental right- the right to life enshrined in Article 21 of Indian Constitution. Elimination of the girl child by way of selectively eliminating the female embryos or foetuses is an age-old phenomenon. It negates the fundamental right to equality guaranteed under Articles 14 and 15 of our Constitution. The traditional mentality of the Indian culture of preferring the boy baby over the girl child combined with the ultra modern technology has only succeeded in boosting the status conscious Indian families to perpetuate their choice making process of the girl child elimination in the most sophisticated and easiest way. To top it all, the ethically conscious medical profession has been able to bring down the already imbalanced sex ratio on to 927 women per 1000 men. [2] It raises important issues on the interfacing of technology, health and society, of misuse of medical technology, of using techno-centric solutions for social problems, of violation of the principles of medical ethics, of social and demographic implications of such technologies, of the decision making processes involving technology, which can have far-reaching social effects, of regulating the medical profession (specially reproductive technology) both internally and externally, of limits to research and the techno-docs' power ‘to play God', of the role and limits of social legislation in tackling social problems; of ‘informed consent', and patients' rights and doctors accountability, of the possible fall-out of the advent of New Reproductive Technologies (NRTs) from Sex Pre-Selection Techniques (SPSTs) to non-coital reproduction through IVF- ET or GIFF, surrogate motherhood to genetic engineering; of decision-making process in family and society and women's role (or lack of it) in them. All these interrelated issues mean something to all our lives as it defines the way we see our past, present and future. Traditionally the patriarchal families got rid of the â€Å"unwanted child† either by way of poisoning the new-born baby or letting her coke on husk or simply by crushing her skull under a charpoy. Since modern medical tests have made it easier to determine the sex of the child even before the birth of the â€Å"unwanted child†, the number has only shot instead of decreasing. In one hospital, a study showed that out of 8,000 abortions performed, 7,999 were female foetuses. [3] Hence, the government was forced to pass the Pre Natal Diagnostic (Prevention) Act, 1994 in response to the increasing number of abortions performed on women carrying female foetuses. 4] Thus, India's officials banned couples from using â€Å"technical means† to determine the sex of a foetus. [5] Although India's Parliament passed the legislation in 1994, it could not become law until all state legislatures approved it. [6] The law finally took effect on January 1, 1996. The 1994 Act is bot h prohibitive and regulatory. Prohibitive: According to the Act the use of pre-natal techniques for the purposes of sex determination are prohibited. [7] The Act prohibits any person conducting prenatal diagnostic procedure from communicating to the pregnant women concerned or her relatives the sex of the foetus by words, signs or in any other manner. 8] The Act prohibits any Genetic Counselling centre, Genetic Laboratory and Genetic Clinic to conduct activities relating to pre-natal diagnostic technique unless it is registered under the Act or to employ anyone who does not possess the prescribed qualifications. The medical practitioners are prohibited to conduct such techniques at any place, which is not registered under the Act. Regulatory: The Act provides for the regulation of pre-natal diagnostic techniques. Prenatal diagnostic techniques may be used to detect genetic or metabolic disorders or chromosomal abnormalities or certain congenital malformations or sex-linked disorders . Prenatal Diagnostic Techniques may be employed only under specified conditions by registered institutions:[9] O  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The tests can only be carried out on women who are either over the age of thirty-five; or O  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Have had two or more miscarriages; or O  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Who have been exposed to radiation, infection, chemicals or drugs which are harmful to the foetus; or O  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The pregnant woman has a family history of mental retardation or physical deformities such as spasticity or any other genetic disease; or O  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Any other condition as may be specified by the Central Supervisory Board. It is very important to note that the Act permits use of such techniques provided the medical practitioner has explained all the known side and after effects of such techniques to the pregnant woman and more importantly, has obtained her written consent in the language she understands. 10] Persons working in the clinics, as well as women and their families who use the clinics; or are liable for fines and imprisonment for violating the Act. [11] The Act provides for the construction of a Central Supervisory Board [herein after CSB], which shall be established to advise the government on policy matters relating to pre-natal diagnostic techniques; to review the implementation of the Act and its rules; and to recommend changes in the Act and its rules. [12] The CSB has been assigned a very important function of spreading public awareness against the practice of pre-natal determination of sex and foeticide. The CSB shall meet at least twice a year to review the functioning of the Act and make recommendations for its better implementation. [13] An Appropriate Authority shall be appointed in States and Union Territories and regions wherein the authorities are empowered:[14] O  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   To grant, suspend or cancel the registration of genetic counselling centres, laboratories and clinics; and O  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Also to investigate complaints regarding breach of the provisions of the Act or the rules. The Act lays down prohibition on the issuance of advertisements[15] relating to pre-natal sex determination by any person, organisation or institutional and provides that any contravention/Violations of the same will entitle the offender a punishment of 3 years imprisonment and/ or Rs. 10,000/- fine for the first charge, this increasing to Rs. 50,000/- fine and 5 years imprisonment for a second charge. [16] But there are various loopholes in the Act, which has made it a failure to a great extent thus letting the demons of female foeticide/infanticide survive and flourish! Hence, the Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Amendment Act, 2002 was passed to plug the loopholes. THE PRE-NATAL DIAGNOSTIC TECHNIQUES (REGULATION AND PREVENTION OF MISUSE) AMENDMENT ACT, 2002: Objectives of the New Act: The practices relating to female foeticide and techniques connected with the same are considered discriminatory to the female sex and not conducive to the dignity of the women. The proliferation of the technologies mentioned above may, in future, precipitate a catastrophe, in the form of severe imbalance in male-female ratio. The State is also duty bound to intervene in such matters to uphold the welfare of the society, especially of the women and children. Therefore, the government felt the necessary to enact and implement in letter and spirit a legislation to ban the pre-conception sex selection techniques and the misuse of pre-natal diagnostic techniques for sex-selective abortions and to provide for the regulation of such abortions. Such a law is also needed to uphold medical ethics and initiate the process of regulation of medical technology in the larger interests of the society. Accordingly, it is proposed by the government to amend the aforesaid Act with a view to banning the use of both sex selection techniques prior to conception as well as the misuse of pre-natal diagnostic techniques for sex selective abortions and to regulate such techniques with a view to ensuring their scientific use for which they are intended. The Amendment Act, 2002 seeks to achieve the aforesaid objects. Highlights of the New Act: 1. The Act provides for the prohibition and regulation of SD techniques before or after conception. [17] 2. For the words and brackets â€Å"the Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse)†, the words and brackets â€Å"the Pre-conception and Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection)† shall be substituted. [18] This lays a lot of emphasis on the issue of female foeticide in particular. 3. Definitions of â€Å"conceptus†, â€Å"embryo† and â€Å"foetus† have been laid down specifically, which helps in determining the cause and stage of use of PNDT. [19] 4. The Explanations added to Sec. (ii) in clause (d), (e) and (g) have enlarged the scope of the Act to include even the portable PNDT equipment/machinery. [20] 5. Qualifications of a genetic has been upgraded. [21] 6. Amendment of section 17 of the principal Act re ads as follows— â€Å"(e) to take appropriate legal action against the use of any sex selection technique by any person at any place, suo motu or brought to its notice and also to initiate independent investigations in such matter† This provision has given extra scope to the authorities for the utilisation of the powers to fulfil their duties. 7. Insertion of new section 17A. -After section 17 of the principal Act, the following section is proposed to be inserted, namely:— â€Å"17A. Powers of Appropriate Authorities. The Appropriate Authority shall have the powers in respect of the following matters, namely:— (a)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   summoning of any person who is in possession of any information relating to violation of the provisions of this Act or the rules made thereunder; (b)  Ã‚  Ã‚   production of any document or material object relating to clause (a); (c)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   issuing search warrant for any place suspected to be indulging in sex selectio n techniques or pre-natal sex determination; and (d)  Ã‚   any other matter which may be prescribed. †. This provision is very much in tune with the objective of Section 17 (e). 8. Provision with regard to the advertisements has been made more stringent. [22] 9. Definitely, the strongest provision of the Bill is the new section 24, which if brought to effect shall wipe all doubts with regard to the application of penal provisions to women undergoing the PNDT tests. The rovisions has rightly identified the problems of women in the cases of PNDT as in most cases, women are forced to go for these test or to forgo their marital lives their homes, even their lives. [23] Drawbacks of the new Act: I. Amendment of section 3. -In section 3 of the principal Act, for clause (2), the following clause shall be substituted, namely:— â€Å"(2) No Genetic Counselling Centre or Genetic Laboratory or Genetic Clinic shall employ or cause to be employed or take services of any person, w hether on honorary basis or on payment who does not possess the qualifications as may be prescribed. † The Section is negatively worded which gives a scope for the people specifically excluded in the provisions to take advantage of the loophole. Instead, if the provision was positively worded in the sense that it lad down as to who is eligible to carry the PNDT under the circumstances specified under the Act, it would have restrained anyone who is otherwise not specifically authorised to conduct such tests. II. Section 3B: Prohibition on sale of ultrasound machine, etc. , to persons, laboratories, clinics, etc. , not registered under the Act. – No person shall sell any ultrasound machine or imaging machine or scanner or any other equipment capable of detecting sex of foetus to any Genetic Counselling Centre, Genetic Laboratory, Genetic Clinic or any other person not registered under the Act. † Though this is a strongly worded Section, which aims at curbing the clandestine sale of the PNDT equipments, it suffers from a major drawback. The Act or he Section does to talk about the manufacturing of these equipments because since manufacturing is the first step towards the black-marketing and other misuses. As such, there have to be specific guidelines as to the manufacturing. The manufacturing license should be issued only to the Governmental Institutions so that the monitoring becomes so much easier because of the control that he Government can exercise over these institutions. Also very closely linked to above point is the licensing function. If licenses for prenatal diagnosis were granted only to government institutions, the task of vigilance would be further simplified. The ban on misuse of techniques for SD imposed upon government institutions has not been violated for the past 15 years. Also there is no provision to the effect that the registration of the portable PNDT machinery/equipment’s are also registered. III. Amendment of section 4. -In section 4 of the principal Act, for clauses (3) and (4), the following clauses shall be substituted, namely:— â€Å"(3) No pre-natal diagnostic techniques shall be used or conducted unless the person qualified to do so is satisfied for reasons to be recorded in writing that any of the following conditions are fulfilled, namely:— The provisions of this section prima facie seem like a good provision but are a toothless one. The issue is that though citing a reason which satisfies the condition precedent laid down in the Act before the PNDT tests are conducted, the provisions misses out a crucial point. It does not mandate for the production of the documents to prove that the condition in fact, is satisfied and is very much in spirit wit the object of the Act. Also should be included in this provision the requirement t record al these documentary proof which shall be made available for verification by the CSB/SSB, etc. IV. Section 13 sub clause (vi) Any other condition as may be specified by the Board: This provision gives a lot of discretionary powers to the Boards, which have to be curtailed in the form of the guidelines. V. Amendment of section 5. In section 5 of the principal Act, for sub-section (2), the following sub-section shall be substituted, namely:— â€Å"(2) No person including the person conducting pre-natal diagnostic procedures shall communicate to the pregnant woman concerned or her relatives or any other person the sex of the foetus by words, signs, or in any other manner. † This provision has practical difficulties in terms of implementation. It is suggested by the author that a kind of code system be adopted whereby the tests which have satisfied the conditions of the Act be given a code number and sent for testing in a place which is authorised to conduct he tests for a particular area or region. This is to ensure that there exists no direct links between the family concerned and the medical practitioner who can convey the sex of the foetus, which might lead to the death of the foetus in case it turns out to be a female. This is because though the provisions bar the practitioner from conveying in any manner whatsoever, the proof that the same has not been conveyed cannot be assured. VI. Automatic suspension/cancellation from the Registry of Medical Practitioners of the name of doctors found guilty by the court without referring the matter to the Medical Council. VII. Insertion of new section 16A. -After section 16 of the principal Act, the following section shall be inserted, namely:— â€Å"16A. Constitution of State Supervisory Board and Union territory Supervisory Board. (1) Each State and Union territory having Legislature shall constitute a Board to be known as the State Supervisory Board or the Union territory Supervisory Board, as the case may be, which shall ha ve the following functions:— (10) In respect of matters not specified in this section, the State Board shall follow procedures and conditions as are applicable to the Board. † There are no rules and regulations with regard to the powers of the Boards as to in what way the powers have to be synchronised to fulfil their duties and function as specified in the Act. Also, this Section suffers from a serious defect. That is the Section has adopted a very top-down approach, which has been time and again proved to be ineffective and fruitless. Therefore, the approach should have bee a grass-root eve approach. This is even more applicable n the cases of PNDT because of the Act that a good chunk of cases are from rural areas which are very difficult to monitor and control. A Panchayat level machinery working hand in hand with local rural institutions like the Anganwadis and the school would be an idea way to tackle and combat the problem of PNDT. VIII. Also the Act has certain vague and ambiguous terms and expressions like â€Å"eminent† which are very problematic as to how they should be interpreted and put to use. IX. Punishable with imprisonment for a term, which may extend to three years and with fine which may extend to fifty thousand rupees for the first offence and for any subsequent offence with imprisonment which may extend to five years and with fine which may extend to one lakh rupees. The hike in the fines though would be applicable to the urban areas, it’s a mere letter of black and white on the paper when it comes to the rural areas. The rural people who, more often than not are extremely poor, are in no position to pay those high fines, which makes the provisions a redundant provisions. Instead, thee ha to be a mechanism whereby these people can be sensitized to the problems associated with the girl child. It is the firm belief of the author that public awareness is a much better and powerful tool than mere fines, especially with regard to the rural poor. X. A major hurdle in the endeavor to prohibit sex determination and regulation of PNDT techniques is that there is no proper duty laid upon any of he authorities in the Act. There is no penalty attached for non performance of the duties- commission or omission- cast upon the authorities. Especially in the light of the fact that so far the CSB have never met regularly as per the provisions of the Act. XI. The Financial Memorandum affixed to the Bill with regard to the expenses falling under Section 16 A of the Act has no regulation with regard to transparency, a ccountability, and regulatory body. This is very problematic and might just prove to be plunder’s paradise. ——————————————– [ 2 ]. [1] See, http://www. evesindia. com/health/features/reprod_health. html, visited on 10/10/02. | | [ 3 ]. [2] Id.. | | [ 4 ]. [3]In one hospital, a study showed that out of 8,000 abortions performed, 7,999 were female foetuses. See Shailaja Bajpai, India's Lost Women, World Press Rev. , Apr. 1991, at 49. Also see, Vidya Deshpande, Where have all the girls gone? , http://www. indianexpress. com/fe/daily/19991202/faf28033. html, visited 24/12/02. | | [ 5 ]. [4]John F. Burns, India Fights Abortion of Female Foetuses, N. Y. Times, Aug. 27, 1994, at 5, available in LEXIS, News Library, Curnws File. | | [ 6 ]. [5]Demographers pointing to such numbers have finally forced governments to take notice. Thus, India's officials banned couples from using â€Å"technical means† to determine the sex of a foetus. The Sexes; Disappearing Girls; In China, India and South Korea, A Gender Gap Causes Worries, Asiaweek, Mar. 3, 1995, at 32 | [ 7 ]. [6]See India Bans Abortions of Female Fetuses; Another Move to Help Protect Baby Girls, Chi. Trib. , Jan. 10, 1996, at 13, available in LEXIS, World Library, Allwld File. | | [ 8 ]. [7] Section 3. | | [ 9 ]. [8] Section 4(4)| | [ 10 ]. [9] Section 4| | [ 11 ]. [10] Section 5(1)( c)| | [ 12 ]. [11] See section 24. Common response to the Act has been â€Å"If I do get arrested, I'll spend a couple of months in prison, but what's that compared to a lifetime of misery trying to bring up a girl? â€Å"| | [ 13 ]. [12] Section 17| | [ 14 ]. [13] Section 18| | [ 15 ]. [14] Sections 20-21| | [ 16 ]. [15] Section 22| | [ 17 ]. [16] Section 23| | [ 18 ]. 17] The long title of the Bill that is proposed to substituted the present long title reads as follows:— â€Å"An Act to provide for the prohibition of sex selection, before or after conception, and for regulation of pre-natal diagnostic techniques for the purposes of detecting genetic abnormalities or metabolic disorders or chromosomal abnormalities or certain congenital malformations or sex-linked disorders and for the prevention of their misuse for sex determination leading to female foeticide and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto. † | | [ 19 ]. [18] Amendment of section 1 of th e Act. | | [ 20 ]. [19] 4. Amendment of section 2. In section 2 of the principal Act,— (i) after clause (b), the following clauses shall be inserted, namely:— ‘(ba) â€Å"conceptus† means any product of conception at any stage of development from fertilisation until birth including extra embryonic membranes as well as the embryo or foetus; (bb) â€Å"embryo† means a developing human organism after fertilisation till the end of eight weeks (fifty-six days); (bc) â€Å"foetus† means a human organism during the period of its development beginning on the fifty-seventh day following fertilisation or creation (excluding any time in which its development has been suspended) and ending at the birth’ | | [ 21 ]. [20] â€Å"Explanation. — For the purposes of this clause, ‘Genetic Clinic’ includes a vehicle, where ultrasound machine or imaging machine or scanner or other equipment capable of determining sex of the foetus or a portable equipment which has the potential for detection of sex during pregnancy or selection of sex before conception, is used. † | | [ 22 ]. 21] ‘(g) â€Å"medical geneticist† includes a person who possesses a degree or diploma in genetic science in the fields of sex selection and pre-natal diagnostic techniques or has experience of not less than two years in any of these fields after obtaining— (i) any one of the medical qualifications recognised under the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956 (102 of 1956); or (ii) a post-graduate degree in biological sciences. ’ | | [ 23 ]. [22] Substitution of new section for section 22. -For section 22 of the principal Act, the following section shall be substituted, namely:— 22. Prohibition of advertisement relating to pre-conception and pre-natal determination of sex and punishment for contravention. (1) No person, organisation, Genetic Counselling Centre, Genetic Laboratory or Genetic Clinic, including c linic, laboratory or centre having ultrasound machine or imaging machine or scanner or any other technology capable of undertaking determination of sex of foetus or sex selection shall issue, publish, distribute, communicate or cause to be issued, published, distributed or communicated any advertisement, in any form, including internet, regarding facilities of pre-natal determination of sex or sex selection before conception available at such centre, laboratory, clinic or at any other place. See also, Substitution of new section for section 16. –    | | [ 24 ]. [23] Substitution of new section for section 24. For section 24 of the principal Act, the following section shall be substituted, namely:— â€Å"24. Presumption in the case of conduct of pre-natal diagnostic techniques. -Notwithstanding anything contained in the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, the court shall presume unless the contrary is proved that the pregnant woman was compelled by her husband or any other re lative, as the case may be, to undergo pre-natal diagnostic technique for the purposes other than those specified in sub-section (2) of section 4 and such person shall be liable for abatement of offence under sub-section (3) of section 23 and shall be punishable for the offence specified under that section. †| | Female Foeticide Female Foeticide: A legal Analysis In 1988 there was an advertisement in the Diwali special number of a renowned Marathi magazine:[1] â€Å"Amniocentesis is a developed science To misuse it for abortion is a great sin. Better go in for sex-selection Read this book. Consult your family doctor for a sure way of begetting sons. Female foeticide is perhaps one of the worst forms of violence against women where a woman is denied her most basic and fundamental right- the right to life enshrined in Article 21 of Indian Constitution. Elimination of the girl child by way of selectively eliminating the female embryos or foetuses is an age-old phenomenon. It negates the fundamental right to equality guaranteed under Articles 14 and 15 of our Constitution. The traditional mentality of the Indian culture of preferring the boy baby over the girl child combined with the ultra modern technology has only succeeded in boosting the status conscious Indian families to perpetuate their choice making process of the girl child elimination in the most sophisticated and easiest way. To top it all, the ethically conscious medical profession has been able to bring down the already imbalanced sex ratio on to 927 women per 1000 men. [2] It raises important issues on the interfacing of technology, health and society, of misuse of medical technology, of using techno-centric solutions for social problems, of violation of the principles of medical ethics, of social and demographic implications of such technologies, of the decision making processes involving technology, which can have far-reaching social effects, of regulating the medical profession (specially reproductive technology) both internally and externally, of limits to research and the techno-docs' power ‘to play God', of the role and limits of social legislation in tackling social problems; of ‘informed consent', and patients' rights and doctors accountability, of the possible fall-out of the advent of New Reproductive Technologies (NRTs) from Sex Pre-Selection Techniques (SPSTs) to non-coital reproduction through IVF- ET or GIFF, surrogate motherhood to genetic engineering; of decision-making process in family and society and women's role (or lack of it) in them. All these interrelated issues mean something to all our lives as it defines the way we see our past, present and future. Traditionally the patriarchal families got rid of the â€Å"unwanted child† either by way of poisoning the new-born baby or letting her coke on husk or simply by crushing her skull under a charpoy. Since modern medical tests have made it easier to determine the sex of the child even before the birth of the â€Å"unwanted child†, the number has only shot instead of decreasing. In one hospital, a study showed that out of 8,000 abortions performed, 7,999 were female foetuses. [3] Hence, the government was forced to pass the Pre Natal Diagnostic (Prevention) Act, 1994 in response to the increasing number of abortions performed on women carrying female foetuses. 4] Thus, India's officials banned couples from using â€Å"technical means† to determine the sex of a foetus. [5] Although India's Parliament passed the legislation in 1994, it could not become law until all state legislatures approved it. [6] The law finally took effect on January 1, 1996. The 1994 Act is bot h prohibitive and regulatory. Prohibitive: According to the Act the use of pre-natal techniques for the purposes of sex determination are prohibited. [7] The Act prohibits any person conducting prenatal diagnostic procedure from communicating to the pregnant women concerned or her relatives the sex of the foetus by words, signs or in any other manner. 8] The Act prohibits any Genetic Counselling centre, Genetic Laboratory and Genetic Clinic to conduct activities relating to pre-natal diagnostic technique unless it is registered under the Act or to employ anyone who does not possess the prescribed qualifications. The medical practitioners are prohibited to conduct such techniques at any place, which is not registered under the Act. Regulatory: The Act provides for the regulation of pre-natal diagnostic techniques. Prenatal diagnostic techniques may be used to detect genetic or metabolic disorders or chromosomal abnormalities or certain congenital malformations or sex-linked disorders . Prenatal Diagnostic Techniques may be employed only under specified conditions by registered institutions:[9] O  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The tests can only be carried out on women who are either over the age of thirty-five; or O  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Have had two or more miscarriages; or O  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Who have been exposed to radiation, infection, chemicals or drugs which are harmful to the foetus; or O  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The pregnant woman has a family history of mental retardation or physical deformities such as spasticity or any other genetic disease; or O  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Any other condition as may be specified by the Central Supervisory Board. It is very important to note that the Act permits use of such techniques provided the medical practitioner has explained all the known side and after effects of such techniques to the pregnant woman and more importantly, has obtained her written consent in the language she understands. 10] Persons working in the clinics, as well as women and their families who use the clinics; or are liable for fines and imprisonment for violating the Act. [11] The Act provides for the construction of a Central Supervisory Board [herein after CSB], which shall be established to advise the government on policy matters relating to pre-natal diagnostic techniques; to review the implementation of the Act and its rules; and to recommend changes in the Act and its rules. [12] The CSB has been assigned a very important function of spreading public awareness against the practice of pre-natal determination of sex and foeticide. The CSB shall meet at least twice a year to review the functioning of the Act and make recommendations for its better implementation. [13] An Appropriate Authority shall be appointed in States and Union Territories and regions wherein the authorities are empowered:[14] O  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   To grant, suspend or cancel the registration of genetic counselling centres, laboratories and clinics; and O  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Also to investigate complaints regarding breach of the provisions of the Act or the rules. The Act lays down prohibition on the issuance of advertisements[15] relating to pre-natal sex determination by any person, organisation or institutional and provides that any contravention/Violations of the same will entitle the offender a punishment of 3 years imprisonment and/ or Rs. 10,000/- fine for the first charge, this increasing to Rs. 50,000/- fine and 5 years imprisonment for a second charge. [16] But there are various loopholes in the Act, which has made it a failure to a great extent thus letting the demons of female foeticide/infanticide survive and flourish! Hence, the Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Amendment Act, 2002 was passed to plug the loopholes. THE PRE-NATAL DIAGNOSTIC TECHNIQUES (REGULATION AND PREVENTION OF MISUSE) AMENDMENT ACT, 2002: Objectives of the New Act: The practices relating to female foeticide and techniques connected with the same are considered discriminatory to the female sex and not conducive to the dignity of the women. The proliferation of the technologies mentioned above may, in future, precipitate a catastrophe, in the form of severe imbalance in male-female ratio. The State is also duty bound to intervene in such matters to uphold the welfare of the society, especially of the women and children. Therefore, the government felt the necessary to enact and implement in letter and spirit a legislation to ban the pre-conception sex selection techniques and the misuse of pre-natal diagnostic techniques for sex-selective abortions and to provide for the regulation of such abortions. Such a law is also needed to uphold medical ethics and initiate the process of regulation of medical technology in the larger interests of the society. Accordingly, it is proposed by the government to amend the aforesaid Act with a view to banning the use of both sex selection techniques prior to conception as well as the misuse of pre-natal diagnostic techniques for sex selective abortions and to regulate such techniques with a view to ensuring their scientific use for which they are intended. The Amendment Act, 2002 seeks to achieve the aforesaid objects. Highlights of the New Act: 1. The Act provides for the prohibition and regulation of SD techniques before or after conception. [17] 2. For the words and brackets â€Å"the Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse)†, the words and brackets â€Å"the Pre-conception and Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection)† shall be substituted. [18] This lays a lot of emphasis on the issue of female foeticide in particular. 3. Definitions of â€Å"conceptus†, â€Å"embryo† and â€Å"foetus† have been laid down specifically, which helps in determining the cause and stage of use of PNDT. [19] 4. The Explanations added to Sec. (ii) in clause (d), (e) and (g) have enlarged the scope of the Act to include even the portable PNDT equipment/machinery. [20] 5. Qualifications of a genetic has been upgraded. [21] 6. Amendment of section 17 of the principal Act re ads as follows— â€Å"(e) to take appropriate legal action against the use of any sex selection technique by any person at any place, suo motu or brought to its notice and also to initiate independent investigations in such matter† This provision has given extra scope to the authorities for the utilisation of the powers to fulfil their duties. 7. Insertion of new section 17A. -After section 17 of the principal Act, the following section is proposed to be inserted, namely:— â€Å"17A. Powers of Appropriate Authorities. The Appropriate Authority shall have the powers in respect of the following matters, namely:— (a)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   summoning of any person who is in possession of any information relating to violation of the provisions of this Act or the rules made thereunder; (b)  Ã‚  Ã‚   production of any document or material object relating to clause (a); (c)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   issuing search warrant for any place suspected to be indulging in sex selectio n techniques or pre-natal sex determination; and (d)  Ã‚   any other matter which may be prescribed. †. This provision is very much in tune with the objective of Section 17 (e). 8. Provision with regard to the advertisements has been made more stringent. [22] 9. Definitely, the strongest provision of the Bill is the new section 24, which if brought to effect shall wipe all doubts with regard to the application of penal provisions to women undergoing the PNDT tests. The rovisions has rightly identified the problems of women in the cases of PNDT as in most cases, women are forced to go for these test or to forgo their marital lives their homes, even their lives. [23] Drawbacks of the new Act: I. Amendment of section 3. -In section 3 of the principal Act, for clause (2), the following clause shall be substituted, namely:— â€Å"(2) No Genetic Counselling Centre or Genetic Laboratory or Genetic Clinic shall employ or cause to be employed or take services of any person, w hether on honorary basis or on payment who does not possess the qualifications as may be prescribed. † The Section is negatively worded which gives a scope for the people specifically excluded in the provisions to take advantage of the loophole. Instead, if the provision was positively worded in the sense that it lad down as to who is eligible to carry the PNDT under the circumstances specified under the Act, it would have restrained anyone who is otherwise not specifically authorised to conduct such tests. II. Section 3B: Prohibition on sale of ultrasound machine, etc. , to persons, laboratories, clinics, etc. , not registered under the Act. – No person shall sell any ultrasound machine or imaging machine or scanner or any other equipment capable of detecting sex of foetus to any Genetic Counselling Centre, Genetic Laboratory, Genetic Clinic or any other person not registered under the Act. † Though this is a strongly worded Section, which aims at curbing the clandestine sale of the PNDT equipments, it suffers from a major drawback. The Act or he Section does to talk about the manufacturing of these equipments because since manufacturing is the first step towards the black-marketing and other misuses. As such, there have to be specific guidelines as to the manufacturing. The manufacturing license should be issued only to the Governmental Institutions so that the monitoring becomes so much easier because of the control that he Government can exercise over these institutions. Also very closely linked to above point is the licensing function. If licenses for prenatal diagnosis were granted only to government institutions, the task of vigilance would be further simplified. The ban on misuse of techniques for SD imposed upon government institutions has not been violated for the past 15 years. Also there is no provision to the effect that the registration of the portable PNDT machinery/equipment’s are also registered. III. Amendment of section 4. -In section 4 of the principal Act, for clauses (3) and (4), the following clauses shall be substituted, namely:— â€Å"(3) No pre-natal diagnostic techniques shall be used or conducted unless the person qualified to do so is satisfied for reasons to be recorded in writing that any of the following conditions are fulfilled, namely:— The provisions of this section prima facie seem like a good provision but are a toothless one. The issue is that though citing a reason which satisfies the condition precedent laid down in the Act before the PNDT tests are conducted, the provisions misses out a crucial point. It does not mandate for the production of the documents to prove that the condition in fact, is satisfied and is very much in spirit wit the object of the Act. Also should be included in this provision the requirement t record al these documentary proof which shall be made available for verification by the CSB/SSB, etc. IV. Section 13 sub clause (vi) Any other condition as may be specified by the Board: This provision gives a lot of discretionary powers to the Boards, which have to be curtailed in the form of the guidelines. V. Amendment of section 5. In section 5 of the principal Act, for sub-section (2), the following sub-section shall be substituted, namely:— â€Å"(2) No person including the person conducting pre-natal diagnostic procedures shall communicate to the pregnant woman concerned or her relatives or any other person the sex of the foetus by words, signs, or in any other manner. † This provision has practical difficulties in terms of implementation. It is suggested by the author that a kind of code system be adopted whereby the tests which have satisfied the conditions of the Act be given a code number and sent for testing in a place which is authorised to conduct he tests for a particular area or region. This is to ensure that there exists no direct links between the family concerned and the medical practitioner who can convey the sex of the foetus, which might lead to the death of the foetus in case it turns out to be a female. This is because though the provisions bar the practitioner from conveying in any manner whatsoever, the proof that the same has not been conveyed cannot be assured. VI. Automatic suspension/cancellation from the Registry of Medical Practitioners of the name of doctors found guilty by the court without referring the matter to the Medical Council. VII. Insertion of new section 16A. -After section 16 of the principal Act, the following section shall be inserted, namely:— â€Å"16A. Constitution of State Supervisory Board and Union territory Supervisory Board. (1) Each State and Union territory having Legislature shall constitute a Board to be known as the State Supervisory Board or the Union territory Supervisory Board, as the case may be, which shall ha ve the following functions:— (10) In respect of matters not specified in this section, the State Board shall follow procedures and conditions as are applicable to the Board. † There are no rules and regulations with regard to the powers of the Boards as to in what way the powers have to be synchronised to fulfil their duties and function as specified in the Act. Also, this Section suffers from a serious defect. That is the Section has adopted a very top-down approach, which has been time and again proved to be ineffective and fruitless. Therefore, the approach should have bee a grass-root eve approach. This is even more applicable n the cases of PNDT because of the Act that a good chunk of cases are from rural areas which are very difficult to monitor and control. A Panchayat level machinery working hand in hand with local rural institutions like the Anganwadis and the school would be an idea way to tackle and combat the problem of PNDT. VIII. Also the Act has certain vague and ambiguous terms and expressions like â€Å"eminent† which are very problematic as to how they should be interpreted and put to use. IX. Punishable with imprisonment for a term, which may extend to three years and with fine which may extend to fifty thousand rupees for the first offence and for any subsequent offence with imprisonment which may extend to five years and with fine which may extend to one lakh rupees. The hike in the fines though would be applicable to the urban areas, it’s a mere letter of black and white on the paper when it comes to the rural areas. The rural people who, more often than not are extremely poor, are in no position to pay those high fines, which makes the provisions a redundant provisions. Instead, thee ha to be a mechanism whereby these people can be sensitized to the problems associated with the girl child. It is the firm belief of the author that public awareness is a much better and powerful tool than mere fines, especially with regard to the rural poor. X. A major hurdle in the endeavor to prohibit sex determination and regulation of PNDT techniques is that there is no proper duty laid upon any of he authorities in the Act. There is no penalty attached for non performance of the duties- commission or omission- cast upon the authorities. Especially in the light of the fact that so far the CSB have never met regularly as per the provisions of the Act. XI. The Financial Memorandum affixed to the Bill with regard to the expenses falling under Section 16 A of the Act has no regulation with regard to transparency, a ccountability, and regulatory body. This is very problematic and might just prove to be plunder’s paradise. ——————————————– [ 2 ]. [1] See, http://www. evesindia. com/health/features/reprod_health. html, visited on 10/10/02. | | [ 3 ]. [2] Id.. | | [ 4 ]. [3]In one hospital, a study showed that out of 8,000 abortions performed, 7,999 were female foetuses. See Shailaja Bajpai, India's Lost Women, World Press Rev. , Apr. 1991, at 49. Also see, Vidya Deshpande, Where have all the girls gone? , http://www. indianexpress. com/fe/daily/19991202/faf28033. html, visited 24/12/02. | | [ 5 ]. [4]John F. Burns, India Fights Abortion of Female Foetuses, N. Y. Times, Aug. 27, 1994, at 5, available in LEXIS, News Library, Curnws File. | | [ 6 ]. [5]Demographers pointing to such numbers have finally forced governments to take notice. Thus, India's officials banned couples from using â€Å"technical means† to determine the sex of a foetus. The Sexes; Disappearing Girls; In China, India and South Korea, A Gender Gap Causes Worries, Asiaweek, Mar. 3, 1995, at 32 | [ 7 ]. [6]See India Bans Abortions of Female Fetuses; Another Move to Help Protect Baby Girls, Chi. Trib. , Jan. 10, 1996, at 13, available in LEXIS, World Library, Allwld File. | | [ 8 ]. [7] Section 3. | | [ 9 ]. [8] Section 4(4)| | [ 10 ]. [9] Section 4| | [ 11 ]. [10] Section 5(1)( c)| | [ 12 ]. [11] See section 24. Common response to the Act has been â€Å"If I do get arrested, I'll spend a couple of months in prison, but what's that compared to a lifetime of misery trying to bring up a girl? â€Å"| | [ 13 ]. [12] Section 17| | [ 14 ]. [13] Section 18| | [ 15 ]. [14] Sections 20-21| | [ 16 ]. [15] Section 22| | [ 17 ]. [16] Section 23| | [ 18 ]. 17] The long title of the Bill that is proposed to substituted the present long title reads as follows:— â€Å"An Act to provide for the prohibition of sex selection, before or after conception, and for regulation of pre-natal diagnostic techniques for the purposes of detecting genetic abnormalities or metabolic disorders or chromosomal abnormalities or certain congenital malformations or sex-linked disorders and for the prevention of their misuse for sex determination leading to female foeticide and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto. † | | [ 19 ]. [18] Amendment of section 1 of th e Act. | | [ 20 ]. [19] 4. Amendment of section 2. In section 2 of the principal Act,— (i) after clause (b), the following clauses shall be inserted, namely:— ‘(ba) â€Å"conceptus† means any product of conception at any stage of development from fertilisation until birth including extra embryonic membranes as well as the embryo or foetus; (bb) â€Å"embryo† means a developing human organism after fertilisation till the end of eight weeks (fifty-six days); (bc) â€Å"foetus† means a human organism during the period of its development beginning on the fifty-seventh day following fertilisation or creation (excluding any time in which its development has been suspended) and ending at the birth’ | | [ 21 ]. [20] â€Å"Explanation. — For the purposes of this clause, ‘Genetic Clinic’ includes a vehicle, where ultrasound machine or imaging machine or scanner or other equipment capable of determining sex of the foetus or a portable equipment which has the potential for detection of sex during pregnancy or selection of sex before conception, is used. † | | [ 22 ]. 21] ‘(g) â€Å"medical geneticist† includes a person who possesses a degree or diploma in genetic science in the fields of sex selection and pre-natal diagnostic techniques or has experience of not less than two years in any of these fields after obtaining— (i) any one of the medical qualifications recognised under the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956 (102 of 1956); or (ii) a post-graduate degree in biological sciences. ’ | | [ 23 ]. [22] Substitution of new section for section 22. -For section 22 of the principal Act, the following section shall be substituted, namely:— 22. Prohibition of advertisement relating to pre-conception and pre-natal determination of sex and punishment for contravention. (1) No person, organisation, Genetic Counselling Centre, Genetic Laboratory or Genetic Clinic, including c linic, laboratory or centre having ultrasound machine or imaging machine or scanner or any other technology capable of undertaking determination of sex of foetus or sex selection shall issue, publish, distribute, communicate or cause to be issued, published, distributed or communicated any advertisement, in any form, including internet, regarding facilities of pre-natal determination of sex or sex selection before conception available at such centre, laboratory, clinic or at any other place. See also, Substitution of new section for section 16. –    | | [ 24 ]. [23] Substitution of new section for section 24. For section 24 of the principal Act, the following section shall be substituted, namely:— â€Å"24. Presumption in the case of conduct of pre-natal diagnostic techniques. -Notwithstanding anything contained in the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, the court shall presume unless the contrary is proved that the pregnant woman was compelled by her husband or any other re lative, as the case may be, to undergo pre-natal diagnostic technique for the purposes other than those specified in sub-section (2) of section 4 and such person shall be liable for abatement of offence under sub-section (3) of section 23 and shall be punishable for the offence specified under that section. †| |