Challenges and Prospects of Gender Budgeting in India Essay

Gender budgeting promises to focus on the role of rights, freedoms and the choices of women by giving information of content and focus of government policies. Today gender sensitive budgetary allocation might only constitute 5% of the total budget, yet the stand as a significant attempt at addressing gender inequality. However, gender budgeting exercise needs to be on guard against certain challenges facing it. Firstly, International Financial Institutions that stipulated to initiate economic reform policies in India like IMF, WTO can offset gender budget benefits. Lowering of import duties under WTO has resulted in a reduction of government’s revenue which in turn translated into lowering expenditure on social sector especially on women. Secondly, the introduction of VAT has the impact of affecting the people’s spending rather than their income and thus tends to hit the poor more. Since feminization of poverty is an established fact VAT can be more harmful to the interest of the women. Thirdly, the focus on reducing the fiscal deficit should not imply a cut on the gender equality and women empowerment schemes. Public-private partnership in enhancing expenditure on social sector needs to be encouraged. Lastly, the scope of Gender Budgeting needs to be enlarged so as to cover what hitherto have been gender neutral departments or ministries. Enhanced allocation for women specific programmes needs to be supplemented by an overall evaluation of budgetary policies from gender perspective.

German Economy Essay

One of the major sectors of German economy is the exports of this country that has accounted for a great percentage of financial output. In this regard, more than twenty-five percent of the national German output has been due to the heavy exports that have increased significantly during the last decade. In the year 2004, GDP of Germany was contributed by forestry, mining, and agriculture sector at a very lesser extent, as compared to the other sectors in the country. Despite Germany is going through a high level of industrial revolution, forest has covered more than twenty-five percent of German’s territory. In the year 2003, more than seventy percent of Germany’s gross domestic product was accounted by services sector of the country. In this regard, more than seventy percent of the workforce was employed by this sector. On the other hand, metals, textiles, chemicals, vehicles, foodstuffs, and machinery are major imports of the country, which plays a vital and crucial role in the economy of Germany. In the year 2003, a positive of US$55 billion was the account balance of payments and currency of Germany. The paper will now discuss the abovementioned areas of German economy with detailed analysis, and hope will be beneficial for experts and economists in the better understanding of German Economy. In this competitive era, a number of economies are enjoying a vital position, and Germany is one of the countries that have been able to construct a very important place in terms of its economy. In terms of exchange rate of the United States, the German economy is considered the third largest out of the other major economies of the world. Moreover, the economy of Germany has a very strong power of purchasing, which has resulted in its place as the fifth largest around the globe. In the European continent, the economy of Germany is the largest of all the other economies, which has provided it with a number of opportunities and significance in this economic world. Geographically, Germany enjoys a central place in the continent, which is one of the other reasons behind the significance and exposure of opportunities to the German individuals and businesses. A number of difficulties and confrontations can be observed in the economic history of Germany, such as structural problems related to the East Germany, as well as, different structural problems that have continued since a last decade in the country. (Smyser, 1993) The German government has imposed and implemented a number of policies that have provided significant opportunities for its economy to strengthen in the world. In this regard, one of the major steps taken by the German government is the promotion of establishment of free enterprises, as well as, competition that has provided a competitive and friendly environment to the businesses and individuals in the country. However, various sectors are selected for the distribution of financial support by the state organizations. In the response of such steps taken by the government and related organizations, the economy of Germany has achieved a momentous space in the midst of other economic powers of the globe. In addition, different sectors have achieved strategic importance with the help of different policies by the German government. Thus, a number of factors and reasons are responsible and should be credited for the strengthening and powerful role that has been played by economy of the Germany. One of the major sectors of German economy is the exports of this country that has accounted for a great percentage of financial output. In this regard, more than twenty-five percent of the national German output has been due to the heavy exports that have increased significantly during the last decade. In the result, German economy has expanded traditionally in a macroeconomic manner with the support of heavy exports from different business sectors and industries of the country. Moreover, economic and political incorporation is another basic policy of the German economy, and such policy has been promoted on the continental level in the Europe. In the result, the European Union and its member countries have appreciated and encouraged the introduction and implementation of German economies policies at a higher extent. (Siebert, 2005) Similarly, a number of legislations related to the single markets in the European Union have been established and formulated based on German economic policies. The Euro is the common European currency used by most of the countries in the European continent. In this regard, Germany has implemented the usage of same currency in the country, which has resulted in the exposure of more opportunities related to the strengthened economy of Germany in the region. Frankfurt city in the Germany has the European Central Bank, which is responsible for the formulation of monetary policy of the country, which decides the future prospects for the coming years related to the economy of Germany. (Smith, 1994) Addressing domestic structural problems is another major concern of the German government, which has been agreed and encouraged by most of the German and the foreign experts in the region. In the year 2003, the labor market was deregulated by the gradual steps of German government. In this way, high unemployment rate was tackled in an effective manner. In the West Germany, more than seven percent of fall was observed in the unemployment rate in the country, which was the visible fact of deregulation of the labor market. However, there is still a huge room for improvement in the eastern part of Germany, which has an employment rate of more than fourteen percent in the region. (Scott, 2002) However, the German government is playing a vital role in the addressing of different issues related to the economy of Germany. For instance, high non-wage labor costs have also been addressed by the government with the help of implementation of different policies related to it. Many businesses were burdened due to the imposition of bureaucratic parameters in the past, which was addressed by the present and previous governments during the last decade. Nowadays, it has become quite easy and trouble-free to establish a business in the Germany. New entrepreneurs have been encouraged, especially, in the export sectors of the country. In the result, a major and significant improvement can be observed in the economy of Germany, which is very much export-oriented in nature. (Siebert, 2005) In terms of facts, nine percent of growth was observed in the export year of 2007. In the result, some of the business experts deemed the Germany as the biggest exporter in the world. In the year 2006, more than two percent of growth was observed in the gross domestic product of the country. Moreover, it is estimated that the following years will achieve higher percentage of GDP due to excellent growth in the exports of the country. However, the domestic market of the country is confronting structural problems that can result in some economic issues in the country. Over more than a decade, the labor sector is confronting stagnant wages, which is one of the crucial causes behind the weakness of the domestic market in Germany. In Germany, reunification is financed with the contributions of social insurance companies. Since the 1990s, high wage demands are not observed in unions in the Germany, which has resulted in the conservation of competitiveness among the German workers. Between the years 1990 to 2005, two percent of decline was observed in the net income on an average in Germany, according to the Federal-Statistical Office of the country. However, wage demands from the unions have been raised significantly, as compared with the abovementioned union demands. In the year 2004, GDP of Germany was contributed by forestry, mining, and agriculture sector at a very lesser extent, as compared to the other sectors in the country. Approximately two percent of German population was given employment in the abovementioned sectors. The eastern states of the country have reported to observe a great reduction in the employment rate. After the reunification process, more than seventy percent of workers in the agricultural sector were declined. However, domestic production in the agricultural sector resulted in the fulfillment of more than ninety percent of dietary and food requirements of the country’s population. In the European Union, the agricultural production is being lead by Germany, which has been followed by Italy and France in the European continent. In this regard, wheat, barley, cabbages, and potatoes are some of the major agricultural products in Germany.

Egypt & Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia was a continent in Africa. It’s between the Persian Gulf and the Medertian Sea, surrounding the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Egypt is also a continent in Africa it is near the Nile River. Mesopotamia and Egypt were different in terms of geography because Egypt’s geography had Mesoamerica the Tigris, and Euphrates rivers and the Nile River, as well as annual Nile flooding. On the other hand Mesopotamia’s geography had Mesopotamia the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, and river valleys. Mesopotamia was a region of the Middle East, located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers that today are a part of Iraq.The Greek word meso meaning â€Å"between† and potams meaning â€Å"river†, also known as the Fertile Crescent. This area was home to numerous things. Civilizations, plus revolutionized agriculture, city planning, and written alphabet. Egypt was a narrow strip of land along the Nile River. Each year the Nile River would floods leaving behind a fertile fringe of soil. They called it â€Å"the black land† and the deserts all around the Nile were called â€Å"the red land†. Mesopotamia and Egypt were different in terms of cities and states since Egypt had Babylon, Assyrian, and Nubian Kingdom of Ta-sati Persian rue in Egypt pharaoh.And Mesopotamia’s cities and states had Tikal, Sumer, Ur Nubian kingdom of Kush, roman conquest, and Nobel sudden. Mesopotamia was established by the Sumerians by the middle of the 4th millennium B. C. Egypt was founded around 3000 B. C. E when Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt combined into one whole kingdom. Egypt’s history is divided into three parts. Old kingdoms, middle kingdoms, and new kingdoms. During each of these periods’ different dynasties of pharos ruled. Mesopotamia and Egypt were different in terms of interaction and exchange because Egypt had grounds, watermelon, donkeys, and cattle.Mesopotamia had commerce, culture, flower, barley, gourds, watermelo ns, donkeys, and cattle. Mesopotamia is in between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in the Middle East. It is referred to as modern day Iraq and parts of Syrian, Iraq, and turkey. It’s also known as the cradle of civilization. Many things were invited in Mesopotamia like writing, the wheel, the first laws, the first library, the first cities and much more. Also it’s important because they were not divided in politics or religion. They also believed in their own gods and followed directions of their pharaoh.Egypt and Mesopotamia have a few things in common and some things they have nothing in common. A few things they have in common are they both have a large river system, the Nile river runs through Egypt and the Tigris and Euphrates river runs between Mesopotamia. They also have flooding, hot, and sunny climate. They both have their own alphabet, Egyptians use hieroglyphics and Mesopotamians use cuneiform. Some things the two don’t have in common are tools, diff erent languages, and believed in different things. Egypt & Mesopotamia Mesopotamia was a continent in Africa. It’s between the Persian Gulf and the Medertian Sea, surrounding the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Egypt is also a continent in Africa it is near the Nile River.Mesopotamia and Egypt were different in terms of geography because Egypt’s geography had Mesoamerica the Tigris, and Euphrates rivers and the Nile River, as well as annual Nile flooding. On the other hand Mesopotamia’s geography had Mesopotamia the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, and river valleys.Mesopotamia was a region of the Middle East, located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers that today are a part of Iraq. The Greek word meso meaning â€Å"between† and potams meaning â€Å"river†, also known as the Fertile Crescent. This area was home to numerous things. Civilizations, plus revolutionized agriculture, city planning, and written alphabet. Egypt was a narrow strip of land along the Nile River.Each year the Nile River would floods leaving behind a fertile fringe of soil. They called it â€Å"the black land† and the deserts all around the Nile were called â€Å"the red land†. Mesopotamia and Egypt were different in terms of cities and states since Egypt had Babylon, Assyrian, and Nubian Kingdom of Ta-sati Persian rue in Egypt pharaoh. And Mesopotamia’s cities and states had Tikal, Sumer, Ur Nubian kingdom of Kush, roman conquest, and Nobel sudden.Mesopotamia was established by the Sumerians by the middle of the 4th millennium B.C. Egypt was founded around 3000 B.C.E when Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt combined into one whole kingdom. Egypt’s history is divided into three parts. Old kingdoms, middle kingdoms, and new kingdoms. During each of these periods’ different dynasties of pharos ruled.Mesopotamia and Egypt were different in terms of interaction and exchange because Egypt had grounds, watermelon, donkeys, and cattle. Mesopotamia had commerce, culture, flower, barley, gourds, watermelons, d onkeys, and cattle.Mesopotamia is in between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in the Middle East.  It is referred to as modern day Iraq and parts of Syrian, Iraq, and turkey. It’s also known as the cradle of civilization. Many things were invited in Mesopotamia like writing, the wheel, the first laws, the first library, the first cities and much more. Also it’s important because they were not divided in politics or religion. They also believed in their own gods and followed directions of their pharaoh.Egypt and Mesopotamia have a few things in common and some things they have nothing in common. A few things they have in common are they both have a large river system, the Nile river runs through Egypt and the Tigris and Euphrates river runs between Mesopotamia. They also have flooding, hot, and sunny climate. They both have their own alphabet, Egyptians use hieroglyphics and Mesopotamians use cuneiform. Some things the two don’t have in common are tools, differe nt languages, and believed in different things.

Kodak and Fujifilm Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 3

Kodak and Fujifilm - Essay Example Although Fujifilm has in the past two decades become one of the leading names in the industry, Kodak possessed a long standing history of more than 130 years. In 1988, Kodak camera was launched in the market of the United States (US). Contextually, it came to prominence as a distinct organization with its slogan of â€Å"You Press the Button, We do the rest† which influenced the people to buy its offerings (Kodak, n.d.). George Eastman was the founding figure of the Eastman Kodak Company whose main aim was to make the facet of photography more useful, simpler along with pleasurable. The core principles that were followed by Eastman from the inception of Kodak entail a clear focus upon the needs of the consumers, global distribution, widespread advertising and mass production or manufacturing at relatively reduced cost (Kodak, n.d.). Conversely, Fujifilm is essentially a Japan based company which too is one of the giant companies in its segment. Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd started its operations in Japan in the year of 1934. As a key turning point in the success of Fujifilm, it established its United States based manufacturing unit in 1988 which facilitated the company to challenge the dominance of market leader Kodak. In the last decade the company has made a number of acquisitions and has established its subsidiaries in emerging economies such as India, Indonesia and Colombia among others. A few of the areas of innovations where Fujifilm’s interests lie include graphics cards, optical devices, high tech gadgets and a wide range of cameras. Kodak’s core business lies on manufacturing cameras, photographic films, slide projector, scanner and printer. It also engaged itself in performing video analysis and motion processing, mobile communication and audio signal processing. Whereas, Fujifilm deals in offerings digital cameras,3D image products, films, binoculars, medical systems, graphic systems, photofinishing products, motion picture products, optical devices, recording media, industrial products, image management and semiconductor materials among others. Thus, it is apparently visible that the business of Fujifilm is quite diverse. In this regard, it is observed that despite being a giant in the technological field, Kodak faced bankruptcy situation in the year of 2012 due certain drawbacks in its approach such as a lack of focus on innovation. Fujifilm, on the other hand, has been maintaining its market share and profitability quite successfully (Fujifilm Corporation, n.d.). Comparison Between Management That Each Company Pursued In Order To Embrace Innovation In order to make the comparison between these two ‘technology based’ corporations regarding their management approach to sustain innovation, it is imperative to learn about how much the companies provided importance to innovation and technological feature development. The management of Fujifilm always plans to upgrade its innovation process through ex cellent research and development (R&D) process. The management of every company invests a good percentage of capital on its R&D to compete with its competitors. Fujifilm has followed the similar path. It has build ‘Fujifilm Advanced Research Laboratories’ to continue its innovation process in the year of 2006. It has facilitated to create milestone offerings in bio chemistry, pharmaceuticals and printing technologies segments. On

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy - a Remedy for Chronic Stuttering Coursework

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy - a Remedy for Chronic Stuttering - Coursework Example Ahmed, a 13-year old student and the focus of my case, suffers from chronic stuttering due to untreated social fear. He shows difficulty in speaking whenever he is in front of other people; particularly those whom he knows have authority over him. Hence, the objective of this reflective paper is to narrate and discuss the essential practice issues and challenges that are involved in my social work experience with Ahmed. First, the essay will explain my rationale for choosing the cognitive-behavioral theory as a model for the treatment of chronic stuttering. Second, I will narrate the challenges of social work in Saudi Arabia, particularly with regard to working with women and families. And lastly, I will reflect on my own strengths and weaknesses as a social worker based on my experience with Ahmed. In principles, in cognitive-behavioral therapies, the manner and content of patients’ speech should manifest reforms in the cognitive processing of their core problem (Bothe 2004). Stein, Baird, and Walker (1996) propose that individuals who have social anxiety and stutter would gain from cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT) sessions for social phobia. They described subjective substantiation of this in three subjects within their group who allegedly the encountered declines in avoidance, social phobia, and general disability throughout a 3-month CBT program (Stein et al. 1996). Moreover, a statement of a speech restructuring treatment course subjectively revealed the favorable outcomes of employing CBT processes along with speech restructuring therapy. Blood (1995 as cited in Onslow, Packman, Block, Menzies, O'Brien, & St. Clare 2008) merged a computer-assisted biofeedback system for easing stuttering with a relapse management course founded on the self-efficacy model of Bandura, CBT, and the relapse prevention model of Donovan and Marlatt (1980 as cited in Onslow et al. 2008). The relapse package of Blood (1995 as cited in Onslow et al. 2008) is composed of the following parts: ‘(a) problem solving, (b) cognitive restructuring/reframing, and (c) nondirective supportive counseling’ (p. 3) Four male individuals participated in the experiment, with a ‘multiple-baseline, across subjects’ (Onslow et al. 2008: 3) framework. All four subjects exhibited substantial and steady drops in stuttering throughout the trial, and these improvements were sustained at one-year follow-up. Inopportunely, the study’s design does not permit identification of the relative inputs of the psychological therapy and speech res tructuring course. No participants were given either a therapy module individually.

Network Operating Systems and Security BEng Assignment

Network Operating Systems and Security BEng - Assignment Example In the context of network security definition, it consists of concerns related to network communication privacy, confidentiality of data over the network, accessing unauthorized classified data, access to prohibited network domains and utilizing Internet for concealed communication (Network Security. 2007). The security predictions that were published in an article for the year 2010 incorporates new advanced threats named as advanced persistent threats (APT), Cyber war escalates, VoIP attacks, Perimeter shrinks and harden, social networking sites, malware, DLP for intellectual property protection and malware as a service (MaaS) (Watchguard Unveils Top 10 Security Predictions for 2011. 2011). In order to protect the computer network, organizations emphasize on implementing hardware and software application as well as a security policy. This policy is followed by constructing a security policy document that defines rules and procedures. A typical security policy is constructed on a set of rules that defines authorization and access of network resources of an organization (, what is security policy? definition and meaning).The aim of implementing these security policies is to establish rules and procedures for improper use of network services. Moreover, the objective is to create a framework that will assist in identification and prevention of unauthorized access of network services (, Network Security Policy). Network security issues can lead to many different aspects. For example, if the server containing customer data is breached, organization will lose its credibility and trust among the customer and that will result in business loss. Similarly, if a critical system is hacked by internal or external sources, organization’s financial data along with goals and objectives can be revealed to other competitors. In order to eliminate the threats including unauthorized access, viruses, Trojans, malware and malicious codes, a security policy document is require d. The document will provide a consistent framework to secure the integrity of the network along with eliminating risk abided by security threats and vulnerabilities. 2 Risk Assessment Risk assessment is a process to evaluate risks associated with threats and vulnerabilities to the network. Three factors will be considered in this scenario i.e. Assets, Threats and Security Priority Identification. 2.1 Assets The identification of information assets is vital before conducting risk assessment. Information assets are defined as the entities that hold organization data. A good definition is available on ‘www.ibm.com’ which states it as, â€Å"information assets are specific to your business functions and business strategies, they may be contained within broad categories such as contractual and legislative compliance, those needing virus prevention, those critical to business recovery following security compromises, etc.† The information assets for an organization wil l be technology assets, data asset, service asset and people asset. In case of educational establishment the assets that need to be prioritized are: file space server, Linux web server, finance server, student database and email server. 2.2 Threats Threats are defined as

AuditingSelect a company quoted on the UK stock exchange. Obtain, or Case Study

AuditingSelect a company quoted on the UK stock exchange. Obtain, or download a copy of, the company's last annual report c - Case Study Example This report will touch on the key areas of audit risk that have heightened in the audit report for the year ending 30th April 2012. The main sources of information will be the annual report, respective audit procedures and any other relevant sources. Areas of increased risk a) Revenue Stage Couch Group’s revenues are generated from the three main divisions (continuing operations) which include Rail, UK Bus and North America as a number of joint ventures. Revenue is a key area of concern as it is used in assessing the group’s overall growth and performance (Stage Couch Group Annual report 2012). As pointed out in the company’s annual report for the year ending 30th April 2012, the overall performance was as a result of increased sales in all the three divisions. The revenue increased by 7.76 per cent in 2012 from the 2011 financial team. There are times when the management of a company may misstate the revenue with the aim of impressing investors, the top level ma nagers or the board of directors. The group recognizes revenue share amounts payable or receivable in its income statement at the same period in which related revenue is recognized. The revenue obtained from maintenance income and advertising incomes is treated as miscellaneous revenue by the company. The management of the company says that the company had performed well. However, the low percentage increase in revenue from 2011 to 2012 may be an issue of concern. A 7.76 % increase in the total revenue may be an indication of misappropriation and misstatements. This is a reason why the increase in revenue is an area of increased risk. Investor’s motive is to invest in a company that performs well and indicates growth. They get information of a company through the financial statements so as to make investment decisions (Stage Couch Group Annual report 2012). Therefore, if the revenue for instant does not indicate any growth, they will not invest in that particular company. Oth er times human error might occur when recording revenues or revenue may be recorded at the wrong time. This is another reason of concern on revenues. The audit procedure here is for the auditor to have an understanding of the company and the industry in which the entity operates so as to have a better assessment of the auditing procedures outcome. Audit procedures would also include vouching and verification procedures and analytical review of the financial statements. b) Cash When the company has enough cash, it means that its liquidity position is secure. Cash balances and receipts usually affect the profits of a business. Stage Couch Group cash balances decreased to ? 241 in 2012 from ? 358.3 thus this is a key area of concern that calls for scrutiny of internal controls to detect any error or fraud (Stage Couch Group Annual report 2012). The auditor uses analytical procedures as the audit procedure in detecting any fraud. He compares the cash balances with the projected cash and if the balances exceed or fall below the years expectations, tests of detail are performed. Cash is an area of concern because the management might overstate it to cover up on its liquidity position. c) Accrued receivables According to the 2012 financial statement, accrued receivables decreased to ?16.4 million in 2012 from ? 19.4

Connecticut local Government Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Connecticut local Government - Research Paper Example ne at the Lincoln Basset School in four areas: academics, culture, talent and climate and operations noted that the school was below standard in most areas. Shahid (2014) stated that divide among staff, lack of basic resources, such as white boards and projectors and chronic absenteeism among students was the reason for the poor performance. The school was added to the State Commissioner’s Network for underperforming schools so as to significantly improve through collaborations between the state Department of Education and local stakeholders.(Shahid , 2014) Prior to finding the article I did not know that it was an issue within my community. When reading the article what amazed me was how the afterschool program has impacted positively to the kids as it serves as a catalyst for them to indulge into other avenues other than being closed with no exposure. I believe I feel this way because the program can help chronically low performing school rise. If I lived in my classmates’ community, I would ensure that they make use of their afterschool time to be doing something productive and impact their lives positively. I am saying this because many at times students engage themselves into bad behaviors like smoking and drinking alcohol. Shahid. A, Karim (2014).New Haven after-school program aims for positive life outcomes forparticipants .Retrieved from

The Concepts And Effectiveness Of The Supply Chain Management Essay

The Concepts And Effectiveness Of The Supply Chain Management - Essay Example M as a form of management that covers all transportation and storage of raw material, refined goods, and inventory in the process from points of departure or origin up to the points of need (consumption). The track of transported goods from the point of origin up to the point of consumption constitutes what has been termed as the supply chain in business management and logistics science. Further perspectives on SCM stem from the view of the discipline as pertaining to the entirety of the aspects planning and overseeing of all activities entailed in procuring, conversion and management of all the logistical activity. Also crucial to this view is the inclusion of aspects coordination and alliance within the network players which may be the suppliers, the middlemen, and even third-party services render as well as clients. Contemporary SCM is undergoing significant transformation and modification under the influence of various sweeping phenomena in the forms of globalization and technological leaps. Scholars around the discipline are factoring in the importance of various dynamics that have been largely less considered in the earlier conceptualization of SCM. The SCM discipline has had remarkable contributions from the works of Coyle, Langley, and Gibson among others. Although the scholars s have brought the supply chain element to t fore of the contemporary concepts on SCM, the scholars have underscored the role the information is playing and will continue to play in contemporary and future SCM networks. Coyle, Langley, Gibson, Novack, Bardi (2008), contend that, â€Å"A supply chain perspective germane for appropriate deciphering and application of the feasible SCM tenets will tap in the essence and merits of information technology as well as the rate of change and a closer recognition of logistics with all its associative dimensions† The Supply chain industry is one of the thriving industries in Australia.

Comparison of J.S. Bachs Fugues Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Comparison of J.S. Bachs Fugues - Essay Example This was Bach's training ground. Bach's professional career commenced in 1700 as a chorister in Luneburg, followed by positions as an organist in Arnstadt, Muhlhausen, and Weimar up until 1717. It was his appointment in the ducal court at Weimar in 1708 where he started to compose fugues using contrapunctual 1techniques. In 1707 he composed the Little Organ Fugue in G minor (BWV 578), also known as the "Little Fugue" or "Little G minor". This music was originally written for the organ. As a typical fugue, the music commences with a brief musical theme, so called its subject, represented by a lone musical voice. This first voice continues and another enters to play the subject. Other voices enter one by one until there are several independent musical voices at play, developing the piece of music. The Little Fugue starts the subject in a minor key, but ends in with a (G) major chord, which was characteristic of Baroque fugues of the time that were written in the minor keys. Bach composed "The Art of Fugue", or "Die Kunst de Fugue" (BWV 1080) in 1748-1749 in Leipzig, where he was the Kantor 2of St Thomas's.

War on Terrorism and the Effect on Muslim Americans Essay Example for Free

War on Terrorism and the Effect on Muslim Americans Essay The American led war on terrorism has brought numerous concerns among human rights activists across the globe. This is because the war has been perceived as a tool for victimizing and discriminating individuals of the Islamic religion and nationality. Such have been closely attributed to the fact that the American nation blames Al-Qaeda and other Islamic terrorist groups of responsibility in many terror attacks in the world. Due to this reason, members of the Muslim American community are living in constant fear of discrimination, racial profiling and harassment by law enforcement since the September 11th 2001 terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers (Elaasar 93). In addition, increased publicity of organized crime group affiliated to the Islamic religion being involved in terrorism has evident discriminative attitude of Muslim Americans by other members of the society. This attitude is worsened by the provisions of the Patriotic Act of 2001 giving the government more power to identify and mitigate terrorism, most of which contradict the constitutional provisions on civil rights in America (Elaasar 93). This has denied Muslim Americans their rights to freedom of movement, privacy and free association. Despite the fact that the American government owes its citizens a duty to security against the disastrous social and economic effects of terrorism, such should not be taken as an excuse for victimizing members of the community simply due to their religion and nationality of origin. This paper identifies and discusses the effects brought by the war on terrorism to members of the Muslim American community. War on terrorism War on terrorism is a concerted effort by nations led by the United States to identify and eliminate members of organized crime groups which are engaged in executing terrorist activities across the globe (Sides and Gross). Although terrorism has for long been a major threat to security in countries particularly the US, the new struggle to combat was triggered by the bloody terrorist attack of the New York-based World Trade Center on September 11th 2001. True from available literature, the war on terrorism involves almost all aspects of sustainable social, security, political, and economic development strategies (Sides and Gross). Such are evident from the American led invasion in both Iraq and Afghanistan which witnessed the overthrowing of leaderships purported to promoting terrorist activities. On the other hand, numerous intelligence efforts have been engaged by respective law enforcement agents across the globe to identify terrorist group cycles and eliminate them. This also serves in enhancing the process of detecting, possible terrorism threats, target, and time of a planed attack to ensure adequate preparedness of the force in preventing and responding to such incidences. In addition, corporation among governments on the fight against terrorism has been on the increase. This has been closely attributed to the fact that terrorism threats are increasingly spreading to unexpected regions. As an emphasis to this claim, numerous attacks have been perpetuated by terrorists groups against their own members. Available information linking terrorist activities to Muslims claim of declaration of western civilization as the number one enemy to the Muslim community by Osama led Al-Qaeda terrorist group. thus, the numerous reported incidences of terrorist attacks in Muslim dominated nations is an indicator of the changing approach of terrorist, thus making every nation potentially vulnerable to terrorist attacks (Sides and Gross). On the other hand, the war on terrorism has taken a new approach as terrorist groups shifts attacks to cyber terrorism. This is one of the mainly purpose of the 2001 Patriotic Act which allows for increased government surveillance over the internet to help identify terror suspects executing crime activities online. The war on terrorism also covers the economic dimensions of the groups across the global society (Maira, and Jamal 12). Just to appreciate is the fact that executing a terrorist attack is highly involving financially. On the other side, available information from intelligence agencies has established that most individuals engaged in implementing terrorist attacks are funded by sponsors of terrorist groups. This has the implication that mitigating free flow of financial support to terrorism group serves an instrumental role in compromising their capacity to threaten security in the security. It is due to this reason why the American government has put in place checks and balances for qualifying the authenticity of transferring huge amount of money to individual (s) across the border. In addition, criminal activities like money laundering are perceived as a potential factor to the success of terrorist groups in the globe. Moreover, reports from the FBI has indicated a close link between organized crime groups in the nation and potential collaboration with terrorist groups to execute terrorists attacks in the US (Maira, and Jamal 27). This report claims that currently the American nation has an estimated over 31,000 organized crime groups spread across its numerous states. It is due to this reason why the American government is strongly involving its resource on the war on drug cartels and other violent organized crime groups. ? Effects of War on Terrorism on Muslim Americans The war on terrorism has many negative implications on the social and economic sustainability of the Muslim American community members. True to the letter, it is no doubt clear that terrorism activities in the western world are closely associated with members of Islamic religion or nationality of origin (Elaasar 20). This can be evident from historical claims which shown a longstanding conflict between Christianity and its western civilization and the Arabic world civilization. This is further complicated by the fact that all major terrorist attacks which have occurred in the world find claims of perpetuation by Islamic oriented terrorist groups. Muslim Americans have become victims of denied constitutional rights following the intensification of the war on terrorism since late 2001. According to available information, law enforcement agents have been granted legal authority to conduct unwarranted search and seizure on based on reasonable suspicion under the anti-terrorist war platform (Malkin 67). It is worthy noting that due to racial profiling by the law enforcement, most victims of terrorism suspicion are from the Islamic community. This has the indication that the war on terrorism has compromised the ability of the Muslim American community members to enjoy their constitutional rights to privacy and warranted search and seizure (Al-Marayati). In addition, the existing laws on terrorism find much contradiction to the provisions of the due process clause of the constitution. Unlike suspects of other crimes who enjoy their right to a legal counsel as well as speedy trail, victims of terrorism suspicion do not. Anti-terrorism laws allow for the putting terrorists suspects in custody for long period before taking them to court (Pew Research Center 35). In addition, the laws allows for deporting of terrorism suspect without giving them opportunity for a court trail. All these contradictions of the constitutional rights against the defendants of terrorism are inhuman, a factor which significantly affect the Muslim Americans for being the main victims of terrorist suspects in the nation. Another effect of the war on terrorism on Muslim Americans is increased social stigmatization and discrimination in the local community. Terrorism threats remain one of the most feared security threats among citizens of the United States. On the other hand, the population has been overwhelmed by the claim that Muslims are the major perpetuators of these dangerous activities. Due to this perception Muslim Americans find limited appreciation by other members in the social and economic fronts of the community (Pew Research Center 49). Such are no doubt a negation of their constitutional right to equal opportunity in the US. This can also be seen as a source of violence and hatred against this minority group. Some opponents of the war on terrorism claim of its effects in compromising commitment of the Muslim believer to effectively practice their religion. The enforcement of anti-terrorism laws in American has limited the ability of the Muslim Americans to engage in charitable works; a crucial religious requirement in the Islamic faith. According to the laws, transferring large sums of money to other nations by Muslims should involve verification from the law enforcement (Shah). Still, these members find much government resistance to engage in organized group contributions to help fellow Muslims in poor nations. It is worth noting that the threat posed on Muslim Americans by the war on terrorism is to be blamed for the reluctance by some members to fully commit to the faith to avoid harassment. Muslim Americans before/after 9/11 vs. Japanese Americans after WWI The relationship between the western and the Middle East has never been without conflict. However, such were not evidently affecting the social and economic aspects of Muslim American until the September 11th 2001 terrorist attacks in the US (Maira, and Jamal 26). This was due to the perception brought to the local against the Islamic community given the damage that was caused by the attack. On the other hand, the engagement of the government in intensive efforts to combat terrorism across the global is also to be blamed for worsening the lives of Muslim Americans (Menchik, and Payam). It is worthy appreciating that the war on terrorism has so far only identified members of Islamic community as the cause of threat to the community. Indeed, this relationship current problem facing Muslim Americans can be related to that of Japanese Americans during the WWI. According to historical information, Japan was perceived as a major enemy of the United States following their attack of an American submarine in the peril harbor (Arat 67). The information indicates that this attack was the driving force to America’s entering into the Second World War. Such enmity is no doubt evident from the later use of atomic bombs against the Japanese nation by the Americans during the WWII. Conclusion It has been established that the war on terrorism has negatively affected the Muslim American community. This is because it has led to the formulation and enforcement of laws which are discriminative to suspected or perceived members of terrorist groups. In addition, these laws have led to racial profiling and encouraged arrest of individual based of the principles of guilty by association. All these contradict the fundamental constitutional and universal human rights of terrorist suspects; most of who are Muslims.

Curriculum Trends Essay Example for Free

Curriculum Trends Essay

Effect of Word Combinations on Accuracy and Response Time

Effect of Word Combinations on Accuracy and Response Time Christina M Karibian Abstract Throughout our daily lives, we tend to display many behaviors that are considered automatic. The Stroop effect has been replicated numerous times to help study the phenomenon of automatic behaviors, since John Ridley Stroops original findings. The goal of this experiment was to study the reaction time and accuracy on congruent and incongruent word combinations. The congruent words were of colors spelt out, that were displayed in that same color (e.g., the word green was written in the color green). The incongruent words were of colors spelt out, that were not displayed in the same color (e.g., the word green was written in red. During this experiment, 19 undergraduate male and female college students (average age of 22.5 years old) participated as part of a classroom requirement. Each participant was given an instruction sheet which directed them to perform a Stroop task on a computer to measure their reaction time and accuracy for the congruent and incongruent words. Based on the re sults, the participants had a significantly faster reaction time with the congruent words than the incongruent words. However, their accuracy of recognizing congruent words had no significant difference than incongruent words. Therefore, these results can relate to Stroops original research. It can be said that the learned automatic behavior of reading the different word combinations, does not interfere with the task at hand, but does interfere with the response time. Title During our everyday lives, we display many behaviors that cognitive psychologists considered to be automatic. An automatic behavior is a type of skill that does not need direct interaction to perform the task at hand. Some good examples of these types of behaviors are reading and writing. Cognitive psychologists like to study the properties of these automatic behaviors by creating situations where an automized response will conflict with the researchers desired behavior. This type of situation can be studied by the Stroop effect. The Stroop effect was an experiment originally conducted by John Ridley Stroop in 1935. During this experiment, Stroop studied the relationship between the interference and reaction time of a task. This phenomenon that Stroop studied has been used in various ways since his original experiment to measure and assess many different cognitive abilities in human beings. After Stroop conducted his study, he wrote an article to explain his findings. In that article, he talked about two experiments which he conducted to study this phenomenon. He believed that the reaction time between the response and the stimulus would increase when the word and the color of the word itself were not the same. He also believed that the reaction time would decrease when the color of the word and the actual word were the same (Stroop, 1992). During the first experiment, Stroop used 70 undergraduate college students as his participants; the second experiment consisted of 100 college students. When compared to just reading the word written, Stroop found that it took the students a longer time to complete the task of saying the correct color that the word was written in, instead of reading the actual word (Stroop, 1992). Ben A. Parris, Dinkar Sharma, and Brendan Weekes are a group of researchers that conducted a study based off of Stroops findings. They wanted to test how interference, relating to the Stroop effect, would occur when only specific letters in the word were colored. The goal of their experiments was to be able to identify if interference would be larger when the colored letter in the word was in the OVP (optimal viewing position- position where word recognition is the shortest). There were 48 college students used for the first experiment and 20 college students for the second. The results of this experiment was that the Stroop effect was seen when the colored letter was to the left of the middle of the word. When the colored letter was in the middle of the word, there was a great reduction in the interference. Yet, in both these experiments, the only time interference was at its greatest was when the colored letter was at the OVP (Parris, et al, 2007). Talia Konkle and Aude Oliva conducted a study similar to the Stroop task, to test whether or not a persons previous familiarity with the size of an object in the real-word was accessed automatically. Three experiments were conducted overall to study this, they used 34 participants in the first, 19 in the second, and 17 in the third. They visually presented two objects that were familiar to their participants in different sizes on a screen. The congruent conditions were two images of objects on the screen reflecting real-world sizes (e.g., a grape and a horse, the horse being the bigger image). The incongruent conditions were two images of objects on the screen that did not reflect the real-world sizes. In the end, the reaction time for the incongruent conditions were found to be longer than the congruent conditions, which was expected. In the third experiment the participants were taught which colored blocks would represented large or small objects. Then the images of those colored b locks were shown on a screen, with similar congruent and incongruent conditions, as far as sizing, as the other experiments. These participants did not display any Stroop effect during this experiment (Konkle and Oliva, 2012). The current experiment was done to measure the response time and accuracy of word combinations on undergraduate college students at Queens College. This experiment was done to test if the reaction time for the congruent condition would be significantly faster than the reaction time for the incongruent condition. It was also believed that the accuracy for the congruent condition will be significantly more accurate than the incongruent condition. Method Participants The participants in this experiment consisted of 19 undergraduate college students at a four year school; there were 15 females and four males. The mean average age for these participants was 22.5 years old, with a standard deviation of 3.2 years old. All of the participants were familiar with using a computer, keyboard, internet, and a mouse. They were not compensated for their time because it was a required class experiment. The participants all had normal to corrected vision and had normal color vision. They also had fine motor skills within normal limits. Apparatus (Materials/Stimuli) The materials that were used during this experiment was a Dell desktop personal computer with internet access, running on Microsoft Windows to perform the Stroop test on. A mouse was used to navigate around the computer, as well as a keyboard to enter the responses for the test. There was a flat desk which the computer was on and a chair for the participant to sit in while taking the test. Each participant received an instructions sheet telling them step by step what needed to be done by them during the experiment. Experimental Design This experiment was a within-subjects design. The manipulated variable was the color that the congruent and incongruent words were displayed in. There were two measured variables for this experiment. One being the reaction time for both congruent and incongruent words, which was measured in milliseconds. The other was the accuracy of the response for both the congruent and incongruent words, which had a scale of accuracy was 0.00-1.00. Procedure This experiment started off with the participants all sitting in desks in a classroom, where an instruction sheet was handed out to them. The sheet was explained to them and then the experiment had begun. Each participant took turns going into smaller separate rooms where a single computer was. They were to work alone during this experiment. The only thing that needed to be brought into this room was a pen or pencil, their instruction sheet, and a results sheet to record their data. The instruction sheet directed the participant to open up the internet and go to the website, http://psych.hanover.edu/JavaTest/CLE/Cognition/Cognition.html. After being brought to this website, the instructions told the participant to select Stroop Experiment, which then explained what was being measured. The sheet explained that they will be comparing the reaction time, in milliseconds, between two conditions, congruent words and incongruent words. It also described what congruent and incongruent words were as such: congruent words (color and word the same) and incongruent (color and word different). The instructions then told the participant to scroll down and click on begin experiment. The next set directions on the instruction sheet were to fix the settings once the internet loaded the main black screen. The first trial settings were to be changed by clicking on the correct items listed on the sheet. They were to be changed to the following; condition = congruent words, colors used = red, green, blue, and yellow, respond to color, do not limit stroop time, number of words in condition = 25, font size = 20, location of word = in the center. After fixing all these settings, the instructions then directed the participant to press the space bar to start. It also stated in the instructions to watch for the word which would appear in the center of the screen and to use the keyboard to respond. The words that appeared in the middle of the screen were colors spelt out, that were displayed in that same color (e.g., the word green was written in the color green). These were the congruent word combinations. Therefore, the instruction sheet explained to use the response keys for those words to the color of font they are for; r for red, y for yellow, b for blue, and g for green. After completing the trial for congruent words, the participants reaction time, and accuracy results were shown on the screen. The instructions directed the participant to record their reaction time and accuracy in milliseconds. After recording their data, the instructions then directed them to close the window back to the main black Stroop Experiment screen and conduct the second trial for incongruent words. Everything else stayed the same as far as settings go. Then the instructions directed the participant to select done at the bottom of the screen to start the second trial. It also reminded them that in this condition, the words and the colors were different and to respond to the color they saw, instead of the word they were reading. Once this trial was over, the instructions directed the participants to record their reaction time and accuracy. After completing both parts of this experiment, the participant closed out the internet and left the separate computer room for the next participant. Each participant was told to write their results on the same sheet of paper. This sheet was sectioned off into four separate columns so that the results could be organized under congruent and incongruent reaction time and accuracy. Then a within subjects t-test was conducted at an alpha level of 0.05. Results The mean reaction time to recognize the congruent condition was 931.80 milliseconds with a standard deviation of 261.31 milliseconds. The incongruent conditions mean reaction time is 1204.86 milliseconds. The mean accuracy for the congruent condition was 0.99 with a standard deviation of 0.01. The mean accuracy for the incongruent condition was 0.93 with a standard deviation of 0.14. The congruent condition had a significantly faster reaction time than the incongruent condition. The t-test with 18 degrees of freedom is equal to a t-value of 4.42, which is greater than the critical value of 2.88. T(18) = 4.42 > 2.88, p Discussion It was originally predicted that the reaction time for the congruent condition would be significantly faster than the reaction time for the incongruent condition. It was also believed that the accuracy for the congruent condition would be significantly more accurate than the incongruent condition. This was predicted because reading is something that we do every day of our lives. Therefore, the behavior of reading comes automatically to us without us having to really think about the task. In relation to this experiment, reading the word and seeing it displayed in the same color, made it easier for the participants to be accurate in their reaction, as well as be swift about it. Whereas, when the participants were asked to respond to the color, and not to the word they were naturally inclined to read, it took longer for them to respond, but did not seem to effect the level of accuracy. What was done in this experiment relates to Stroops original experiment. This is because he believed the reaction time between his participants response time was going to increase when the word and the color of the word itself were not the same (Stroop, 1992). Which is also what was believed to be true in this experiment, and was found to be true. Stroop also believed that the reaction time would decrease when the color of the word and the actual word were the same. Which is what this experiment showed to be true as well. The results between the two experiments, even though they are about 80 years apart from each other, have very similar findings. They are also similar because both experiments used undergraduate college students as their participants. Using similar participants can help create more control and reliability of an experiment. In the study conducted by Parris, Sharma, and Weekes, they wanted to test how interference occurred when only a specific letter of the word was colored, instead of the whole thing. Their goal was to identify a larger interference when the colored letter was in the OVP. Since they tested this theory by moving the colored letter in the word in different directions, the results showed that the Stroop effect was indeed seen. It was seen when the colored letter was to the left of the middle of the word. It was also seen when the colored letter was in the middle of the word, but there was a significant reduction in the interference. Yet, in both of their experiments, the interference was at its greatest when the colored letter was at the OVP (Parris, Sharma Weekes, 2007). This relates to the present experiment because it shows that the most interference was when the OVP was the colored letter; making the participant react slower in order to accurately state the color, instead of the word written. The participants and results from this study are similar to the those from the present experiment. Both used college students, and both found interference in relation to our automatic behavior. In Konkle and Olivas study, they conducted a similar Stroop task as well. They wanted to see their participants reaction time and accuracy when identifying the size of an object in the real-word. They visually showed their conditions to their participants, like the other experiments talked about. Since their findings showed that the reaction time for their incongruent conditions was longer than their congruent conditions, it also shows signs of interference (Konkle and Oliva, 2012). They too used college students and had findings similar to all the other experiments, which again, could show that using similar participants for similar studies can be beneficial. There were a couple procedures that could have been improved throughout this experiment to create more control, internal validity, and reliability. Some participants know how to type on a keyboard without looking at the keys, whereas there are other who dont. This causes a threat to the reaction time, as well as accuracy. Some people might have taken longer responding because they needed to look down at the keys. It can pose a threat to accuracy because someone might have pressed the wrong key by not looking when they were not that familiar with the keyboard, as other may be. What could have been done in order to try and make this as equal for each participant as possible, was to have them still use the computer monitor, but only have four buttons on the desk for them to use to respond. If this was how the experiment was conducted, the settings on the computer would need to be fixed prior to the experiment. This too could have caused less control during the experiment. Some people ma y have entered the wrong setting in the beginning and did not realize it. Since it was found in this experiment that the reaction time for the congruent words was significantly faster than the incongruent words, it can be connected to a persons response time during other activities. For example, if all of a sudden the colors to the traffic lights were changed, and we were taught what the new colors represented, most people would have a slower reaction time responding to the action the lights now incur. These findings show how our well-learned automatic behaviors can be inhibited when it naturally wants to occur, if our brain is working against it. References Konkle, T., Olivia, A. (2012). A familiar-size Stroop effect: Real-Word size is an automatic property of object representation. Journal of Experimental Psychology Human Perception and Performance, 38(3), 561-569. Parris, B. A., Sharma, D., Weekes, B. (2007). An optimal viewing position effect in the Stroop task when only one letter is the color carrier. Experimental Psychology, 54(4), 273-280. Stroop, J. (1992). Studies of interference in serial verbal reactions. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 121(1) 15-2. Table 1 Summary of The Effect of Various Word Combinations on Accuracy and Response Time Note. This table provides the average reaction time in milliseconds, as well as the standard deviations for the congruent and incongruent words. This table also provides the average accuracy and standard deviations for the congruent and incongruent words. These results were calculated from the separate results collected from each participant. A within subjects t-test was conducted at an alpha level of 0.05. Figure 1. This figure shows the average reaction time in milliseconds relating to the congruent and incongruent words. It shows that the average reaction time for congruent words was 931.80ms. It is also shown that the average reaction time for incongruent words was 1204.86ms. Displayed on this graph shows how incongruent words had a longer reaction time than congruent words. Figure 2. This figure shows the average accuracy relating to the congruent and incongruent words. It shows that the average accuracy for congruent words was 0.99. It is also shown that the average reaction time for incongruent words was 0.93. Displayed on this graph shows how congruent words had an average closer accuracy than incongruent words.

the color purple Essay -- essays research papers

There are many racial components in this novel that are easy to point out. These take place in the American South and also in Africa. It starts with the way that all the black men and women are treated at the start of the book. The main character’s real father was a successful store owner who was black. This man was hanged for a reason that is known only as him being a successful black man. All the characters that we are introduced to in this book by Celie are exploited by the fact that they are black. Sophia is beat up and jailed for her refusal to want to work for a white women. Of course she stood up for herself and the white element tried to tell her where her place was. There is also an intra racial theme that starts at the beginning of the book that is hard to actually believe. But to me it would make sense after awhile, because if the people tell you something over and over you would start to believe and accept it. This is shown by the acceptance of what happen to Soph ia by her peers. Albert shows this with his denial that Celie could do anything well because she is a black, poor, ugly woman. If there was not any self disapproval among these people than that Albert’s black comment would not be prevalent. All the black characters in the book with the exception of Shug are poor and have a bad educational back round. It does not describe these characters as stupid just not well educated. This is inflicted by people selling them on how it is wrong to educate a black person. The feminism components are more main stream than the racial issues. The women at the start of the story are expected to cook, clean, and lay down when told to. They are beaten when they do not obey their husband or man. The men act as if Women are there to serve the man. Celie is forced to have sex with her step father and her husband because she is not strong enough to say no to Albert or her step father. â€Å"He just climb on top of me and do his business† says Celie. As if the women are there just to open her legs and let the man do what he wants to do. The real first theme of feminism is the act of Nettie to not give in and let Mr.__ have his way with her. In this act it showed him that he was not going to be able to take from a woman. That is a change because he had always gotten what he wanted because Celie was just too scared to stand up to him. As the story moves along Sophia is... ...making pants for women. A great deal of this novel looks at Africa and the narrative changes. I believe that this change was important to show that there was a parallel of the components, the fact that the tribes were exploited as well as the people in the American south. The village was trampled by the white man because they believe that they were superior and the Africans had no right to stay where they were. The novel was a very good depiction of what life was like for the African American men and women for this time. I believe that years of the treatment conditioned the peoples to act as they did out of habit. All it takes is one idea or one stand to change and that is what happens for each character in the book. I believe that Walker did a great job in capturing the time and I agree with her view on racism and feminism. I would love to believe that none of this could have happened but I know that this sort of social action was the just the spark that women and African Americans needed to start to level the playing field. There were so many brave people that are not fictional that went through the same things that should be applauded for trying in the first place. by j. katz

Elizabeth Bathory :: essays papers

Elizabeth Bathory In order to improve her complexion and also to maintain her failing grasp on her youth and vitality, she slaughtered six hundred innocent young women from her tiny mountain principality... The noble Bà ¡thory family stemmed from the Hun Gutkeled clan which held power in broad areas of east central Europe (in those places now known as Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, and Romania), and had emerged to assume a role of relative eminence by the first half of the 13th century. Abandoning their tribal roots, they assumed the name of one of their estates (Bà ¡tor meaning 'valiant') as a family name. Their power rose to reach a zenith by the mid 16th century, but declined and faded to die out completely by 1658. Great kings, princes, members of the judiciary, as well as holders of ecclesiastical and civil posts were among the ranks of the Bà ¡thorys. Adopting an exalted name did not alter some basic familial preferences among lesser lights however, and in order to consolidate more tenuous clingings to influence there was considerable intermarriage amongst the Bà ¡thory family, with some of the usual problems of this practice produced as a result. Unfortunately, beyond the 'usual problems' some extraordinary difficulties arose (namely hideous psychoses) and several "evil geniuses" appeared, the notorious and sadistic Erzsà ©bet the most prominent of them. Truly, she was evil enough to be recognized as one of the original "vampires" who later inspired Bram Stoker to write the legend of Dracula -- but unlike Stoker's story, she was real. Unusual for one of her social status, she was a fit and active child. Raised as Magyar royalty, as a young maid she was quite beautiful; delicate in her features, slender of build, tall for the time, but her personality did not attain the same measure of fortuitous development. In her own opinion her most outstanding feature was her often commented upon gloriously creamy complexion. Although others were not really so equally impressed with the quality of her rather ordinary skin, they offered copious praise if they knew what was good for them, as Erzsà ©bet did not accept unenthusiastic half-measures of adulation; and she was vindictive. She was only 15 when she was 'married off' for political gain and position to a rough soldier of (nevertheless) aristocratic stock and manner. By reason of the marriage, she became the lady of the Castle of Csejthe, his home, situated deep in the Carpathian mountains of what is now central Romania, but which then was known only as Transylvania.

Simulation Proliferation and the City Essay examples -- Essays Papers

Simulation Proliferation and the City Mr. Hand wears all black, is tall, thin, and pale. He floats around a dark city and ends far too many lines with a creepy self-affirming â€Å"yesss.† In Dark City (Alex Proyas 1998) we see over and over again indications of the tropes and repetitions that make up the urban/filmic imagination. Not quite vampires, not quite grey aliens, not quite business men, not quite religious, not quite serial murderers, Mr. Hand and the other Strangers seem to be archetypal characters of the city. Is the imagination a domesticating function, territorializing wild occurrence and happenstance into termed rearrangements of what has come before? Or is it an explosive and infinite fountain of creativity? Modern metropolises and imagination present themselves together in such films as mutually helpful tools for inspecting one another – but my effort is to use the city to discuss several imaginations. As is only obvious enough from one city dweller talking to another, imagination (m oreso than representation or memory) is home to the ever changing city. Conversely, however, the city enables a specific citified imagination, with its own structure and economy. To begin, though, I want to interrogate, as a point of departure, the philosophy of fantasy in a highly commercial, idyllic, anti-city movie. Those lucky children of the 80’s witnessed the depiction and eventual summarization of the relation between fantasy, imagination, fiction, story, and control in the politico-creative manifesto, The Neverending Story (Wolfgang Peterson 1984). In the movie, Sebastian (a somewhat troubled young boy) reads a book (whose unfolding is the main content of the screen) and is then implicated in the collapse of a fantas... ...gination can be spoken of as a discourse that is ultimately just about itself: it is only by imagination that one imagination is to discover anything about the next – yet this ethereality is not only not troubling for the stability of simulation, but itself stabilized by the overproduction of simulacra such that its processing is pressured into sheer reactive creativity. The strikingly bizarre and symptomatically fascinating point, though, is why imagination might have almost anything at all to do with simulation, but this is just the predominant strength of an imagination over its inscription, by representation, into broader circulating winds of reality: its apparent nihilism. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] Ã… ½iÃ… ¾ek, Slavoj. â€Å"Passion in the Era of Decaffeinated Belief.† Thy Symptom Issue 5, Winter 2004.

Clause 49 – Listing Agreement

CORPORATE WORLD Clause 49 of Listing Agreement on Corporate Governance —Dilip Kumar Sen SEBI has revised Clause 49 of the Listing Agreement pertaining to corporate governance vide circular dated October 29, 2004, which supersedes all other earlier circulars issued by SEBI on this subject. The article highlights important changes in the corporate governance norms. C lause 49 of the Listing Agreement, which deals with Corporate Governance norms that a listed entity should follow, was first introduced in the financial year 2000-01 based on recommendations of Kumar Mangalam Birla committee.After these recommendations were in place for about two years, SEBI, in order to evaluate the adequacy of the existing practices and to further improve the existing practices set up a committee under the Chairmanship of Mr Narayana Murthy during 2002-03. The Murthy committee, after holding three meetings, had submitted the draft recommendations on corporate governance norms. After deliberations, SEBI accepted the recommendations in August 2003 and asked the Stock Exchanges to revise Clause 49 of the Listing recommendations and the same was put up on SEBI website on 15th December 2003 for public comments.It was only on 29th October 2004 that SEBI finally announced revised Clause 49, which will have to be implemented by the end of financial year 2004-05. These revised recommendations have also considerably diluted the original Murthy Committee recommendations. Areas where major changes were made include: ? Independence of Directors ? Whistle Blower policy ? Performance evaluation of nonexecutive directors ? Mandatory training of non-executive directors, etc. The changes in corporate governance norm as prescribed in the revised Clause 49 are as follows: A. Composition of BoardThe revised clause prescribes six tests, which a non-executive director needs to pass to qualify as an Independent Director. The existing requirement is that to qualify as an Independent Director, the di rector should not have, apart from receiving director’s remuneration, any other material pecuniary relationship or transactions with the company, its promoters, its management or its subsidiaries, which in the judgment of the Board may affect independence of judgment of the director. This requirement finds place in the revised clause also Agreement based on Murthy committee recommendations.This led to widespread protests and representations from the Industry thereby forcing the Murthy committee to meet again to consider the objections. The committee, thereafter, considerably revised the earlier The author is Vice President, Tata Tea Ltd. He can be reached at dilip. [email  protected] co. in THE CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT 806 DECEMBER 2004 CORPORATE WORLD except that the relationship will now extend to its management, its holding company and its associates in addition to the existing list. Further the Board is no longer required to judge the independence status of a director as at present.Five new clauses have been added to determine independence of a director. These are: (i) He is not related to promoters or persons occupying management positions at the board level or at one level below the board; (ii) He has not been an executive of the company in the preceding three financial years; (iii) He is not a partner or an executive or was not partner or an executive during the preceding three years of (a) the statutory audit firm or the internal audit firm that is associated with the company; and (b) the legal and consulting firms that have a material association with the company. iv) He is not a material supplier, service provider or customer or a lessor or lessee of the company, and (v) He is not a substantial shareholder of the company owning two percent or more of the block of voting shares. The new tests of ‘independence’, the readers would recall, were mostly included in the Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2003. The important and practical change t hat has now been made is addition of the word ‘material’ in item (iv) above. Without use of the word ‘material’, technically even a single supply or purchase by the director to or from the company would have taken away independence status if he/she was otherwise eligible.However, the word ‘material’ has not been defined. Nominee directors of Institutions are now to be considered as ‘Independent Director’. While on the subject of Independent Director one must remember that no one is invited to join a board to act as a nonexecutive director unless he/she is well known to the Promoters or the Chairman or the Managing Director. All non-executive directors, whether or not independent, need support of Promoter Group for their reelection. If the purpose or objective of having a specified number of independent directors on the boards of listed companies is to ensure that boards are notTwothird of the members of Audit committee shall be ind ependent directors as against the present requirement of majority being independent. packed with ‘yes-men’ or to ensure constructive criticism one needs to ponder how many independent directors can freely raise questions at board meetings. Is it right that a vast majority of them invariably support every proposal of management? Only a few persons who are eminent in their own fields may ask right questions, even if they look inconvenient, at board meetings but the majority may not muster enough courage to do so.It may therefore appear that no amount of regulation can ensure how an independent director should behave at board meetings. After all independence is a matter of attitude and a director who is conscious about his responsibilities, will always raise right questions at board meetings, whether or not he holds the independent status. The original recommendation of the Murthy Committee for mandatory training and updating of knowledge of directors has now been shifted to non-mandatory requirement, most probably in the face of strong opposition from industry.This indeed is sad as a vast majority of directors are in need of training in the business model of the company and for updating of knowledge. I do THE CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT 807 DECEMBER 2004 CORPORATE WORLD believe that a beginning in this regard was immediately necessary. It may not be out of place to mention here that under the Listing requirements of UK all directors are mandatory required to regularly update and refresh their skills and knowledge. From the point of view of listed companies, a declaration should be obtained annually from all independent directors confirming compliance with all six conditions of independence.The CEO/CFO Certification is a new requirement and is based on Sarbanes Oxley Act of USA. Five new items have been added under nonmandatory requirements and the existing item on Postal ballot has been deleted. (ii) A code of Conduct for Board members and senior managemen t has to be laid down by the Board which should be posted on the website of the company. All Board members and senior management should affirm compliance with the code on annual basis and the annual report shall contain a declaration to this effect signed by the CEO. B.Non-Executive Directors’ compensation & disclosures A new requirement has been provided for obtaining prior approval of shareholders for payment of fees/compensation to non-executive directors. If there is stock option, the limit for the maximum number that can be granted to non-executive directors in any financial year and in aggregate should be disclosed. According to the Companies Act, 1956 fees paid to directors do not form part of Managerial remuneration and hence no approval of shareholders for payment of fees to directors is required.Listed companies will now need to obtain prior approval of shareholders for payment of sitting fees to directors. Unless the Government is contemplating to change the law an d bring sitting fees within the ambit of Managerial remuneration this contradiction should have been avoided. (v) Role of the Audit committee has been enlarged to include (a) matters required to be included in Directors’ Responsibility statement; (b) to review the functioning of Whistle Blower mechanism if the same is existing and (iii) review of performance of statutory and internal auditors. vi)The Audit committee will also mandatorily review (a) Management Discussion and Analysis of Financial condition and results of operations; (b) statement of significant related party transactions; (c) Management letters/letters of internal control weaknesses issued by t h e D. Audit Committee Following are the changes with regard to Audit Committee: (i) Two-third of the members of Audit committee shall be independent directors as against the present requirement of majority being independent; (ii) Earlier, only non-executive directors could be members of Audit committee. The revised cla use has omitted this requirement. iii) All members of the Audit committee shall be financially literate (as defined in the revised clause) as against the existing requirement of at least one member having financial and accounting knowledge. (iv) Minimum number of Audit committee meetings in a year increased to 4 from 3. C. Other provisions relating to Board (i) Gap between two meetings has been reduced to three months from four months ruling at present. statutory auditors; (d) Internal audit reports relating to internal control weaknesses, and (v) To review the appointment, removal and terms of remuneration of the Chief Internal Auditor.The Audit committee will no longer be required to review the company’s financial and risk management policies. Risk assessment and minimization procedures will now be reviewed by the Board. Listed companies should now THE CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT 808 DECEMBER 2004 CORPORATE WORLD ascertain from their respective Audit committees the frequency of re porting related party transactions, frequency of discussing Management letters issued by the statutory auditors etc. drawn to the following: (a) Material non-listed Indian subsidiary has been mentioned only for Board representation.In respect of review of financial statements of unlisted subsidiary by the audit committee of holding company and placing of minutes and significant transactions entered into by subsidiary, it is significant that the words ‘material’ and ‘Indian’ solidated turnover or net worth respectively of the listed company and its subsidiaries. This definition is likely to exclude most of the unlisted subsidiaries as they are not likely to meet the turnover or net worth test. (c) Significant transaction or arrangement shall mean any individual transaction that exceeds 10% of the total revenues/expenses/assets/liabilities of the subsidiary.It is difficult to understand the logic of excluding subsidiaries incorporated abroad from the purview of representation on the board by an independent director. E. Subsidiary Companies These are new requirements, which provide for the following: (i) At least one indepen- T th he o m e ri in an M gin ha g o dat ur t al r m s f or hy ec pr an now kno y tr C om op ob dat b w ain o me in po ab or een led in mm nd de s ly y g g i a ed itio in re cha e o an tte tio qu n f d e n is n th g o sa fro e ire ed dir up fo f d. m fac me as ec da r i n e n t a n t o r tdu o f , o s st st mo nry ro s . T n t hi g s F.Disclosures Following new disclosure requirements have been specified in the revised clause 49: (i) Statement on transactions with related parties in the ordinary course of business shall be placed before the Audit committee periodically; (ii) Details of material individual transactions with related parties which are not in the normal course of business shall be placed before the Audit committee; and (iii) Details of material individual transactions with related parties or others, whic h are not on arm’s length basis should be placed before Audit committee together with management’s justification for the same.Here also, the word ‘material’ has not been defined. Listed companies should ascertain dent director on the Board of the holding company shall be a director on the board of a material non-listed Indian subsidiary company; (ii) The audit committee of the holding company shall review the financial statements, in particular, the investments made by the unlisted subsidiary company; (iii) The minutes of board meetings of the unlisted subsidiary company shall be placed at the board meeting of the holding company.The management should periodically bring to the attention of the holding company a statement of all significant transactions and arrangements entered into by the unlisted subsidiary company. Attention of the readers is have not been used. It can therefore be interpreted that board meeting minutes, financial statements and signific ant transactions of all unlisted subsidiaries whether incorporated in India or abroad are to be placed before the board of the holding company or to be reviewed by the audit committee of the holding company.Is this the intention? (b) Material non-listed Indian subsidiary shall mean an unlisted subsidiary, incorporated in India, whose turnover or net worth exceeds 20% of the con- THE CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT 809 DECEMBER 2004 CORPORATE WORLD from their respective audit committees the frequency of reporting such transactions. (iv) Financial statements should disclose together with management’s explanation any accounting treatment different from that prescribed in Accounting Standard. v)The company will lay down procedures to inform board members about the risk assessment and minimization procedures which shall be periodically reviewed by the Board. (vi) The company shall disclose to the Audit committee on a quarterly basis the use of funds raised through public/ rights/preferential issues. Annually a statement showing use of funds for purposes other than those stated in Offer document/prospectus should be placed before the Audit committee. Such statement should be certified by the statutory auditors. vii) Under ‘Remuneration of Directors’ new disclosure requirements have been prescribed, which include criteria of making payments to nonexecutive directors, shares and convertible instruments held by non-executive directors and shareholding (both own and held on beneficial basis) of nonexecutive directors to be disclosed in the notice of general meeting called for approving appointment of such director. 2002-03. The revised Clause only requires CEO and CFO to certify to the Board the annual financial statements in the prescribed format.While this certification will certainly provide comfort to the non-executive directors and will indeed act as the basis for the Board to make Directors’ Responsibility Statement in terms of section 217(2AA) of the Companies Act, 1956, it is not clear why SEBI did not require the listed companies to include such certification in the Annual Report. While the new corporate governance norms are more stringent than the existing requirements it must be appreciated that while regulations in these areas are necessary, regulations per se cannot and will not ensure good corporate governance.H. Compliance Report The format of quarterly report to be submitted to the Stock Exchanges has been revised and the new format follows the revised requirements of Clause 49. The CEO or the Compliance officer can now sign the compliance report. The annual corporate governance report should disclose adoption or non-adoption of non-mandatory requirements. G. CEO/CFO Certification This is a new requirement and is based on the Sarbanes Oxley Act of USA. This had also been recommended by the Naresh Chandra Committee set up by the Centre in I. Non-mandatory requirementsFive new items have been added under non-mandatory require- ments and the existing item on Postal ballot has been deleted. The first new item states that Independent directors may not have tenure not exceeding in the aggregate a period of nine years on the Board of the company. The next item relates to companies moving towards a regime of unqualified audit report. The third item deals with training of board members in the business model of the company as well as risk profile of the business parameters of the company and responsibilities of directors and how best to discharge it.The fourth item deals with performance evaluation of non-executive directors by a peer group comprising the entire Board. The fifth item relates to setting up of a whistle blower policy in the company. While the new corporate governance norms are more stringent than the existing requirements it must be appreciated that while regulations in these areas are necessary, regulations per se cannot and will not ensure good corporate governance. Attention of readers is drawn towards the Report on Observance of Standards and Codes carried out under a joint programmed of World Bank and IMF.This report benchmarks the observance of corporate governance in India against the benchmark Principles of Corporate THE CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT 810 DECEMBER 2004 CORPORATE WORLD Governance laid down by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The assessment team had extensively interviewed issuers, institutional investors, financial institutions, market analysts, lawyers, accountants and auditors. The report was also discussed by Government of India and cleared by the DEA for publication in June 2004. Following are the areas identified for reform in the World Bank report: a.Sanctions and enforcements: Sanctions and enforcements should be credible deterrents to help align business practices with the legal and regulatory framework, in particular with regard to related party transactions and insider trading. b. The current framework places the oversight of listed companies partly with DCA, partly with SEBI and partly with Stock exchanges. This fragmented structure gives rise to regulatory arbitrage and weakens enforcement. c. If boards are to move away from simply ‘rubber stamping’ the decisions of management or promoters they must have a clear understanding of what is expected from them.They should know their duties of care and loyalty to the company and all shareholders. They should know their responsibilities and should be familiar with the changes in this regard arising from changes in laws and regulations. A key missing ingredient is a strong focus on professionalism of directors. Director training institutes can play a key capacity building role and expand the pool of competent candidates. d. Institutional investors acting in a fiduciary capacity should be encouraged to form a comprehensive corporate governance policy including voting and board representation.It will be observed that the World Bank report has stressed the need of training and updating of knowledge of directors. Unfortunately the recommendation of Murthy Committee in this regard has now been shifted as nonmandatory requirement. The rationale of industry’s objection to mandatory training, etc. of directors is not readily understandable. Hopefully, when the governance norms are reviewed next the training and knowledge updating would be made mandatory requirement. A new requirement has been provided for obtaining prior approval of shareholders for payment of fees/compensation to nonexecutive directors.If there is stock option, the limit for the maximum number that can be granted to nonexecutive directors in any financial year and in aggregate should be disclosed.  ¦ Leading light of CA world, SN Desai passes away ne of the highly revered Chartered Accountants and a leading light of the profession, ICAI’s former-president Shri Shantanu Nanubhai Desai passed away on 10th November 2004 in Mumbai. Born on 26th January 1925, he became a member of our Institute in 1949 and rose to become one of the pillars of the profession.Having become President of ICAI in 1961-62 at a young age of 35, he had served as a Central Council member for decades. He was actively associated with Indian Merchants Chamber as its Managing Committee member for a long period of 32 years. He became its President in 1976. He had held several distinguished positions in his illustrious professional life, including as Member of the High Powered Sachar Committee on Company Law & MRTP Reforms, as Chairman/ Director of several reputed public companies besides as a member of ASSOCHAM. Mr.Desai was also the founder member of the Bombay Chartered Accountants Society. A Rotarian of repute and a veteran of several Committees, Mr. Desai was a free, frank and modest personality— a thorough gentleman who endeared one and all with his qualities of both head and heart. Mr. Desai’s services to the cause of our pro fession and his long career of more than 50 years as one of our profession’s most distinguished ambassadors will long be remembered and will continue to inspire new generation of Chartered Accountants. O THE CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT 811 DECEMBER 2004

Reaction Paper on Hello Garci Tape Wiretapping Issue

The electoral fraud issue on last 2004 election has proven an obvious breach in the national security. The tape evidence presented by Samuel Ong, former National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) deputy director for intelligence, contained a conversation between the former President Arroyo and Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano. Having analyzed the content of the said conversation, proven and admitted by the former president that the voice was hers, somehow confirmed the point of manipulation of the count in favor of the administration , perpetrated by the COMELEC However, even with the evidences, with the public apology made by the former president herself, and with the possible outcomes known, still no final course of action was taken to resolve GMA’s legitimacy or so to prevent electoral fraud. This is only due to the fact that the ‘original tape’ has not been authenticated by the anonymous wiretapper. If I may put my two cents in, our election system is just so full of dirty tricks. No one gets caught or punished also because of the flaws in the Philippine law and electoral rules. The fraudulent electoral system has been the way of the cheaters to win, and with their get away schemes comes the delayed progress of the country. Most are often suspicious of the winners and it is not a surprise that people generally doubt their leaders. If the leader is successful of curtailing the truth, what more can people expect of its underlings? Along with this, it is only imperative that electoral reforms be pushed through the senate or the country will continue to suffer from recurrence of such scandals and crisis. After the sprung of the aforementioned issue, wiretapping became a major contributor on certain issues from the government. Some of which are those that involve Chair Benjamin Abalos and Jose de Venecia III in connection with the $329-million National Broadband Network (NBN) contract, and Cheche Lazaro’s wiretapping case filed by the GSIS. The latter however in opinion of the many, was only one of the attempts by government agencies to silence the media through harassment and intimidation. None of the aforementioned issues that involve wiretapping has been resolved. It is just poignant that people find no justice in the wrongdoings of those in high power. Seemingly, in most cases our own system constricts punishments of those guilty personnel, only allowing recurrence of such events. If only our country IS or WILL be able to make a change for the greater good, those types of cases will not be dismissed without fair justice.

Divorce Should Be Legalized in the Philippines Essay

I. Introduction Marriage is meant to last forever and vows usually include the phrase, â€Å"’til death do us part†. These are the words that most of us believed. Marriage is regarded as a sacred union between a man and a woman, thus, it must be cherished and valued with love. But what if the love that a couple once shared together fades away? What if the love becomes weak and unstable as time passes by? What if everything changes and a person started to live a life full of misery? One of their options to solve these problems would be the divorce. It should be implemented in the Philippines. Present situation demands it. Reality tells us that there are many failed, unhappy marriages across the nation. Marriage is never as blissful as people expect. Divorce is never as devastating as people imagine. Divorce gives people a fresh start to lead better lives. Living in a marriage where love, respect, friendship, and compatibility are gone is a life without hope. Let us think about other people suffering due to unhappiness brought by their marriage. What is the sense of being binded by a piece of paper when it is actually ruining your whole life? Divorce nullifies marriage, therefore, giving couples the freedom to remarry and to escape from an unhappy relationship. Divorce should be legalized in the Philippines. II. Background of the Paper This research paper entitled â€Å"Divorce should be legalized in the Philippines† aims to convince the readers by presenting different evidences that could change the reader’s perspective regarding the issue. The pieces of evidence that we gathered are from the articles of Evelyn Ursua (Positively Filipino) and Anne Umil (Bulatlat) entitled â€Å"Why the Philippines needs a divorce law?† and â€Å"Divorce bill, providing a remedy for women in abusive marriages†, an excerpt from Sen. Pia Cayetano’s privilege speech, annual comparative statistics on violence against women (2004-2011) and a poll result in an online website. The purposes of this research study are to define divorce and its concepts and to better understand the benefits of divorce when legalized in the Philippines. This paperwork also intends to review the issues and arguments that are being raised by the Filipinos. Also, this aims to clarify points about the issue. This paper covers the situation of fail and unhappy marriages in the country. Beyond all, this research paper is made to encourage and persuade the Filipinos to support the legalization of divorce in the country. A divorce is a legal action between married people to terminate their marriage relationship. It can be referred to as dissolution of marriage and is basically, the legal action that ends the marriage before the death of either spouse. The purpose of a divorce is to terminate the parties’ marriage. Marriage is a legal contract or a social union that unites people of the opposite sex who agree to live as a husband and a wife. It is a binding contract between two people who decide to join their lives, income and possessions. Marriage relationship forms a family unit that consists of a father, mother and children. It is also an institution where people acknowledge interpersonal relationships, which is usually sexual and intimate. Most people and cultures formalize a marriage union through a wedding ceremony. Reasons for marriage include emotional, social, legal, religion and spiritual obligations. An annulment is legal decree that states that a marriage was never valid. The legal effect of an annulment is to void the marriage as though it never existed. Cases where annulments have been granted in the past based on fraud includes citizenship, sexual relationship, character, honesty, health, financial, and religi on III. Body Divorce has become one of the major issues in our society for the past years. The social acceptability of divorce has varied widely across historical periods, religious faiths, and cultures but not in the Philippines. Other than the Vatican City, Philippines is the only nation that outlaws divorce. The Philippines is known for being a strong Christian nation, with over 80% of its population as Roman Catholics. They are the group that is known to be against the divorce issue. According to the article from Positively Filipino Magazine entitled â€Å"Why the Philippines Needs a Divorce Law† by Evalyn Ursua, the Catholic Church will be the greatest opponent of the divorce bill. It was once argue against the bill on moral grounds. But the Catholic Church does not need to worry. The institutions of marriage and the family have survived to this day, as they will survive a Philippine divorce law. We are a secular state, where no religious group has the right to define law or policy for the entire population. The law should only give people a choice, to be exercised according to their own personal beliefs. We can clearly see that our Catholic orientation has been a dominant factor. Divorce is something that we should adopt. Remember that Spain is the root of Christianity yet divorce had been implemented. They are now benefiting from it. A lot of people fear that divorce might erode the values and teachings of the Catholic Church. The cases of Italy and Spain (two Catholic countries which practice divorce) are clear evidences of its invalidity. In accordance with House Bill No. 1799 filed by the Gabriela Women’s Party last July 27, 2010, Italy had only 7% while Spain registers 15% of divorce rate. In addition to that, over 90% of the poll respondents are in favor of divorce. In an official poll that ran from December 19 to January 3, 92.44 percent or 40,414 voted â€Å"Yes† to the question, â€Å"Are you in favor of divorce in the Philippines?† This shows that the public, regardless of their marital status, is now more open to accept the possibility of divorce. Everyone should have the right to escape from a bad marriage and be happy again. Falling into wrong decision actually happens. If we legalize divorce in our country, people with fail marriage will be given a chance and freedom to choose the right one for them so they will not have to suffer from a marriage that is not working anymore. Moreover, there’s no assurance that people who get divorced want to find a new spouse. Everyday, there are Filipinos who get married, bear children, separate and get into other relationships, regardless of what the law says. The lack of a divorce law for Filipinos complicates further the marital and family problems of many Filipinos. Our Government has clearly failed to respond to their needs. If the country wants to move forward, it has to confront the realities of marital and family life of Filipinos in the Philippines. Let’s give other people another chance to live life with their desired happiness. The divorce law needs to be legalized in the Philippines now. The researchers also put forward the claim that the process of Annulment is allowed in the Philippines but why not divorce? After all, Annulment and divorce are just the same – it targets separation. However, Annulment only allows a legal separation through a legal settlement. This will not allow any of the parties to remarry. Because of the Family Code, some Filipinos think that we do not need a divorce for it already provides to cease a marriage through â€Å"annulment†. This argument misleads. The remedy of annulment is based on specified grounds that occurred at the time of the celebration of the marriage, such as lack of parental consent and vitiated consent. The remedy of annulment expires, and the defect may actually be cured by ratification through free and voluntary cohabitation (Positively Filipino, 2013). When lay people speak of â€Å"annulment† as a means of terminating a marriage, they actually refer to the remedy under Article 36 of the Family Code. Article 36 declares that a marriage is void from the beginning when one or both spouses are psychologically incapacitated to perform the essential marital obligations. Under Article 36, a court does not terminate a marriage but only declares it void. One must prove psychological incapacity by presenting evidence on three essential elements of the condition: that it already existed before the marriage; that it is grave or serious; and that it is incurable. To do this, one usually needs the help of a psychiatrist or psychologist to testify as an expert witness (Positively Filipino, 2013). Article 36 of the Family Code only nullifies a marriage when one has proved that he or she is psychologically incapacitated (Bulatlat, 2011). Therefore, annulment has no defined grounds and terms for terminating a marriage. Here is why the writers assert that divorce should be implemented in the Philippines. In support to this, Senator Pia Cayetano once stated in her privilege speech, â€Å"I’ll tell you why. I’ve talked to lawyers, psychologists and psychiatrists and it’s so traumatic to go through annulment because under our Philippine laws, you have to blame someone, you have to say you’re incapacitated, you’re saying that this marriage never existed, which is not true,† A divorce law will provide a remedy that Article 36 does not. Divorce does not concern itself with validity or invalidity of a marriage. It terminates a marriage based on a ground that occurred during the marriage, which makes the marital relationship no longer tenable, regardless of the spouse’s psychological constitution. A divorce law will provide a straightforward remedy to a marital failure. It will benefit Filipinos wherever they are. Conforming to an article (Bulatlat, 2011), an annulment case takes two years or longer to arrive at a conclusion. It could reach P250, 000 which includes attorney fees, court docketing fee and filing fees, etc. In 2010, a little over 7000 couples were granted annulment; most of these are well-to-do, because it takes a lot of money to have an annulment (WordPress, 2011). A blogger whose marriage is annulled claims that she disbursed P100, 000 for the judge, solicitor general and initial investigator, as well as everybody involved in the case since her annulment case is not moving after one year. After shelling out P100, 000, the case was concluded within a month. The total cost of the process was P175, 000 (Bulatlat, 2011). Thus, if the law is passed, divorce will be cheaper than annulment. Given the fact that most of the people in our country are financially challenged to stop unhealthy married life, divorce is the way to get peace out of a futile marriage. Divorce is the answer for both men and women who feel used, battered or tortured mentally in their marriage. Today, divorce is one way to le ssen violence. Annulment is just a legal separation and does not allow women to have a right to be happily remarried. This completely rejects the idea of new life– divorce does. The last and final argument that the researchers want to specify is the increasing rate of battered wife in the Philippines. The most common violence against women in the Philippines is the intimate partner violence – but married women in the Philippines have no way out. The abuse can be verbal, physical or psychological. According to the Annual Comparative Statistics on Violence against Women (2004 – 2011), wife battery ranked highest at 49% of all forms of violence and abuse against women. This is one of the reasons why divorce should be legalized in the Philippines. Women, nowadays, lack confidence because they know that there are no laws to support them. Couples remain living together due to the lack of a law that would allow them to legally and properly part ways, and seek the peace and happiness that they couldn’t find in their present partner. It would be best for a couple to part ways rather than to live together under one roof and sin through their violence that will affect and traumatize the innocent children. In millions of households, both men and women who are trapped in marital commitment constantly quarrel, often in front of their helpless children who grow up in a confused and violent environment. Often, men turn to other women and bear illegitimate children, and then abandon their legal wives and children because of laxity of laws that should have held them accountable. As stated in an article entitled â€Å"Philippines needs divorce law.† by Val G. Abelgas, â€Å"It is not a coincidence that those pushing for the divorce bill in Congress are women. It is also not a coincidence that all over the world, a big percentage of those filing for divorce are women. It is not difficult to understand that in most failed marriages, it is the women who suffer more – victims of domestic abuse and violence, and neglected or abandoned by philandering or alcoholic husbands.† Many of these women suffer in silence in the Philippines. And yet, they are confined to their hopeless situation because of the lack of a divorce law. It is obvious that most of people who are in favor in legalization of divorce in Philippines are women. We cannot deny the fact that they are the usual victims of abusive marriages. Divorce might be the solution to these problems. It could provide protection to the battered women and their children. It could save a wife from being beaten daily by a drunken husband. Divorce wouldn’t necessarily destroy the foundation of the family. It gives hope to the couples to rebuild their lives and have a normal relationship. It’s a reality that many are suffering from abusive marriages. Why let someone be stuck in a marriage where love and respect don’t exist anymore? Why deny them the chance to regain their liberty and happiness? Not legalizing divorce is a total injustice to these people. IV. Counter Argument The opponents, particularly the Catholic Church, claim that â€Å"What God has put together, let no man put asunder† or â€Å"Marriage is sacred, what was bound by God can’t be dissolved by man†. They believe that God did not make man and woman to be united and then separated if they got into some problems. For this reason, Catholic Church argues that divorce is contrary to the law of God, â€Å"Divorce breaks the contract to which the spouses freely consented to live with each other till death†. Therefore, people who opposed the divorce bill think it was only men who want it, not God. Furthermore, â€Å"moralists† feel that the divorce bill will just result to the breakdown of families. They concede that strong family foundation is the backbone of a stable society. Divorce threatens this foundation that can lead to the erosion of the society. It weakens the bond between the couple that tends to lessen the chance of facing the hardships and difficulties of a married couple. This instability of the families may yieldto the rearrangements and readjustments of the familial relationships that may bring psychological problems to the children. Children will become maladjusted and potentially harmful or destructive adults. Hence, they suppose that divorce will make the value and institution of marriage meaningless. Moreover, critics said that divorce is unconstitutional. They contended that it is stated in the 1987 Philippine Constitution that â€Å"Marriage is an inviolable social institution, is the foundation of the family and shall be protected by the State†. Divorce will be a threat against the family which the constitution pledged to protect as an inviolable institution. Therefore, to be able to allow divorce, the constitution would need t o be amended first. V. Conclusion We, the researchers, therefore conclude that divorce should be legalized in the Philippines because couples should have the option to choose for remedies that will help them in obtaining their self actualization. The remedy is divorce. They should have the right to escape from marriages that they entered before and let them live a new and happy life. Given the aforementioned evidences, the researchers strongly claim that legalizing divorce would be a big help for Filipinos. The lawmakers should prioritize the divorce bill because the existing laws are not enough to address their needs. What we need is a divorce law that defines clearly and unequivocally the grounds and terms for terminating a marriage. Life is too short to be married to someone you don’t want to be married to. Divorce is a choice and we all should have the freedom to make choices. Simplify the divorce process and let the couples continue on with their lives in to find the partner they will be happy with to live their lives. Furthermore, in cases where a union is more harmful than beneficial, a divorce can be a benevolent and less hurtful way of severing ties with your partner. When the marriage is no longer viable, divorce should be an option. . References Abelgas, V.G. (2012, May 29). Philippines needs divorce law. Global Balita. Retrieved from http://globalbalita.com/2012/05/29/philippines-needs-divorce-law/ Umil, A.M.D.(2011, June 14). Divorce bill, providing a remedy for women in abusive marriages. Retrieved from http://bulatlat.com/main/2011/06/14/divorce-bill-providing-a-remedy-for-women-in-abusive-marriages/ Ursua, E.G. (2013, February 1). Why the Philippines needs a divorce law? Positively Filipino Magazine. Retrieved from http://positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/ 2013/2/why-the-philippines-needs-a-divorce-law Statistics on violence against Filipino women. Philippine Commission on Women. (2012, October 2). Retrieved from http://pcw.gov.ph/statistics/201210/statistics-violence-against-filipino-women Over 90% of poll respondents favor divorce in PH. Inquirer News. (2013, January 3). Retrieved from http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/334579/over-90-of-poll-respondents-favor-divorce-in-ph