Child Labour... A "kalank"

"The child is father of the man" or he is the future of tomorrow. But no more. With the growing exploitation and the way we are depriving him of his basic rights, the future seems dark and grim. Child labour is one of the worst forms of exploitation. It has been going on since long without being noticed. Asia has 61% of the world's child labourers. Despite the help offered by few organizations, it's largely taken for granted and no substantial effort has been put in this direction to overcome it and give the children of this world a better chance.

Exploitation of children in commercial sex trade remains the worst form of child labour in Asia. UNICEF estimates that 1 million children are lured into sex trade in Asia every year wherein 40% were sold by parents, 15% by their relatives. Traffickers of both children and adults feed largely on the desire of poor families and many young people for economic and personal advancement through migration for work.  Thailand is the base for children trafficked from Laos, Cambodia, Burma, and China. The children work as prostitutes, household helpers, in factories, farms, fishing vessels, drug trafficking.

Bonded child labour is extensively rooted in socio-cultural and political structures in parts of South Asia. Bonded children are delivered in repayment of a loan who then work like slaves in agriculture, domestic work, brick kilns, glass industries, tanneries, gem polishing and many other manufacturing and marketing industries. Child abuse in name of domestic work is rampant in Asia. The young are exposed to hazards while doing heavy household work and are usual victims of verbal, physical, and sexual abuse and is most difficult to see as they are restrained within the privacy of our homes.

The rise in the incidences of internal armed conflicts in several Asian countries has resulted in even more exposure of children to armed groups as soldiers, spies, porters and helpers in camps, subjected to abusive treatments in Burma, Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Philippines and Nepal.

Ordinary people can also help fight for the cause by learning about the issue, help organizations that are raising awareness, providing direct help to individual children. It can be decreased by increased family incomes; education- impart skills to help them earn a living, family control-so that families are not burdened by children.

The ILO's International Programme for the Elimination of Child Labor (IPEC) has explored many programs to help child laborers. Strong advocates of this approach are Boyden, Myers and Ling; Concerned for Working Children in Karnataka, India; many children's "unions" and "movements" and the Save the Children family of NGO. Helped in this effort by setting up credit schemes, supported education schemes, got appropriate legislation on child labour implemented.

Let us also contribute in this direction so that no more children work on the streets. Let us all pledge to give them their childhood back, their lost innocence and smile. Let us give them education to light their hearts and this world to make it a better place to live in.

I - My Friend

Friendship means to share, friendship means to care. It never gives you the slightest of rights to hurt or blurt at your will. Come what may, whatever be the limitless friendship you endorse, the thing to ponder and grasp is that all relationships do come to a station beyond which you just find the halting point and not a junction.

Dosti mein dooriyaan to aati-jaati hain
Phir bhi dosti dilon ko milati hai
Wo dost hi kya jo khafa na ho
Par sachhi dosti doston ko manati rehti hai

Airtel may say "Jo tera hai, wo mera hai; jo mera, wo tera". Looks fabulous on a billboard, a pamphlet, but believe you me, the practical scenario and application of it has no existence. This is not the cry of a broken heart, as you dont suffer crumbled, crushed cardiac issues in friendship, nor do deceit and hopes suffer a jolt, as this is a relationship which survives on companionship and camaraderie, without expectations, without hopes and without the want of a return of favour.

Grown Up!! Is this what I claim for my self!! I am deeply, miserably mistaken. Why do I keep hurting people, people I presume to be a significant part of my life, the "chosen good friends". Its better to stay with the only "best friend" you can ever have in your life "You": no hopes, no questions asked, would never leave your side, always with you in thick and thin...

"Long Live Friendship"

Women Liberation

I am all for Women's liberty - be it clothing, vices, lifestyle, social position, education - they have absolute and unequivocal rights, just like men, to lead and pursue their life as they deem appropriate. But why is it that the society takes equality to be a parallel for favouritism or bias? Why is it that we need reservation for seats in public transport - a 20 something suave IT lady gets a reserved seat against a 55 year old banker who stands to glory during his journey? Why is it that a working man has to pay alimony for divorce, but the working woman need not? Why is it, that in some years (heard of Women's reservation bill), a Renuka Chaudhary would be assured of contesting the polls from a parliamentary seat every poll, but a certain Anand Sharma, far more efficient can't contest once in every three polls. If this is not "man" handling, what is? Again I re-iterate - Why is equality taken to be a synonym for discriminative policies?

In fact, the whole idea of the so-called women’s liberation is more against the feminine nature than anything. It is a desperate attempt, because when you try to become like a man, when you try to do things like him, somewhere you are admitting that masculine is superior to feminine. This whole idea of what is superior and what is inferior is a very masculine idea. If you look at life, everything has a role to play. Because you have made one aspect of life too important, it looks like one kind of people are more important than the other kind.

Meanwhile, a new wave of (radical) feminism is also just around the corner. This movement shall have glories of its own - intergenerational and international. All kinds of things have happened in the past. Reacting to that is not the solution. Which way would a woman really be happy in society? We have to look at that without taking what happened yesterday as the basis of what we want to happen tomorrow. The way tomorrow should be, should be different. It should not be in reaction to yesterday. If it happens in reaction, at the most you may reverse the situation, but once again you will suffer because the same things will happen in a different way.

Indian Education System

Two parallel developments in the world economy are worth noting, especially for their influence on provisioning of education: the growth of the Internet and consequently, e-education and second, the expanding role of World Trade Organization (WTO) in determining the trends in world economics. Fundamental to understanding the future role of WTO in education is the question: is education a marketable commodity like an FMCG product, a commercial service or a public good? The prevailing argument in the WTO is that education is akin to ‘private consumption’ directly benefiting the consumer by way of income.

India has seen a consistently high rate of economic growth in the recent years. It has now become a major player in the global knowledge economy. Skill-based activities have made significant contribution to this growth. Such activities depend on the large pool of qualified manpower that is fed by its large education system. India has been a major seat of learning for thousands of years. While some of the country's universities (BITS, IITs, NITs, IISc, TIFR, ISI, IIMs and AIIMS) are among the world's well-renowned, it is also dealing with challenges in its primary education and strives to reach 100% literacy. Universal Compulsory Primary Education, with its challenges of keeping poor children in school and maintaining quality of education in rural areas, has been difficult to achieve (Kerala is the only Indian state to reach this goal so far). All levels of education, from primary to higher education, are overseen by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (Department of Higher Education (India) and Department of School Education and Literacy), and heavily subsidized by the Indian government, though there is a move to make higher education partially self-financing. Indian Government is considering allowing 100% foreign direct investment in Higher Education.

There are broadly four stages of school education in India, namely primary, upper primary, secondary and higher secondary (or high school).  The government is committed to ensuring universal elementary education (primary and upper primary) education for all children aged 6-14 years of age. Primary school includes children of ages six to eleven, organized into classes one through five. Upper Primary and Secondary school pupils aged eleven through fifteen are organized into classes six through ten, and higher secondary school students ages sixteen through seventeen are enrolled in classes eleven through twelve. In some places there is a concept called Middle/Upper Primary schools for students who belong to six to eight standard and classes nine to twelve are classified under high school category. Higher Education in India provides an opportunity to specialize in a field and includes technical schools (such as the Indian Institutes of Technology), colleges, and universities.

The days when higher education was a matter of national policy and government regulation are rapidly fading. Higher Education provisioning is now globalised and in many ways, a commercialized affair. India has to open the education sector as part of its international commitment on the General agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). Indian government is now contemplating on the idea of allowing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in education sector of India. Indian government has been carrying out a lot of reform activities for the economy to attract more FDI in the country. So, why not have FDI in education too?

This carries with it, their own set of advantages and drawbacks. On one hand - 

• There are limited seats in Indian colleges and universities. So, allowing FDI would increase more opportunities to study for Indian students. 
• Many students are going abroad to pursue higher education. FDI in education sector will attract some of the best universities in the world to come to India, and as a result, some of these students will definitely stay back and study here. It will also ensure world class research facilities for Indian students. 
• Indian economy is incurring an expense of more than $4 billion every year because of the fact that thousands of Indian students are going to the US and Europe for higher education.
• If foreign schools and universities open their branches in India then many students from neighbouring countries will come to study in those universities in India and India will turn into a regional hub on education.

Meanwhile - 

• It will hurt the nation's culture and character
• The institutions that come, may come with the sole vision of a new market opportunity, and not to work in the interest of the Indian students.
• The syllabi would not reflect Indian culture and ideas, merely an alien one, which in more sense than none is already infiltrated in the ethos.

The five most important issues facing higher education in India;

ü  access and equity

ü  relevance

ü  quality and excellence

ü  governance and management

ü  funding

According to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Human Resource Development, 172nd Report on University and Higher Education submitted on May 22, 2006, entry of accredited U.S. educational institutions has the potential to partially respond to all of these needs.

There is a necessity of linking growth with human development, as mere economic growth is not sufficient for achieving sustained social development. The growth also has to address the larger question of establishing socio-economic equality in order to realise a meaningful political democracy, and should be prioritised in terms of policies and strategies. Though penetration of foreign universities in India has many constraints, the prospects stands up making constraints neutral. Hence in my view the penetration of foreign universities is must into India.

Cut it, Snip it.... Print it!!

With the rising levels of inflation and with evolving impediments to the progressive economy of a future “super-power” – India, the food prices, prices of commodities, cost of access to basic amenities and facilities have taken a hit. The improvement in the lifestyle, need for bargains, access of internet and ease of information search online is the buzzword for the old and young, professionals and students. In the face of these, the coupon sites - web sites that offer money-saving discounts have seen resurgence in the current economy.

Although the number of new users to coupon sites may not be growing faster than the larger Internet audience, existing coupon site users are certainly becoming more active. User engagements by deal-seekers are ramping up. As a general rule, something like online coupon site activity increases as a result of macroeconomic trends. Fueling the traffic growth on these sites are rapid increases in food prices and signs of economic slowdown that are damping consumer sentiment and prompting consumers to hunt for bargains.

These shopping services help consumers actually make decisions when there are numerous evaluative criteria and the decision is relatively complex. It allows consumers to rate the importance of each evaluative criterion and then provides recommendations that are ranked on the basis of this input. The alternatives deemed best fit for consumer preferences mimics the trade-offs that consumers would naturally make given the importance they place on various criteria and help consumers make choices that are more closely matched to their preferences rather than simply telling consumers what’s available.

In recognition of the rising demand for bargains and in hopes of luring cash-strapped consumers, the retailers are as well making coupons more readily available online. Coupons move products off the shelf. Retailers are also relying on wireless technology to capitalize on consumers' bargain-hunting tendencies. Consumer pain is turning out to be the coupon sites' gain. Retailers are incentivised with coupon-marketing and coupon-serving technology. The more consumers printing and using their coupons, the more retailers are likely to work with the site. The net effect is that people are trying to get the most of their shopping through coupons. 

Coupon websites are looking at bright futures as consumers tighten their belts and increasingly turn to coupons for savings. The future of the coupons is filled with fast paced, tech-type platforms for distribution, unlike its ancestral Sunday newspaper inserts, although online coupon hunts have not entirely replaced traditional ways of looking for deals like direct mail and coupons from newspapers and magazines. 

A really steep growth of online coupon has been witnessed and has been projected to grow almost two-fold between 2014 and 2017, as online coupons may outperform print ones in categories such as attention, emotional engagement, memory retention and effectiveness. With the projected growth in demand for online coupons, there is still room for new affiliate players to enter the market. While the coupon niche is already quite crowded, there is still room for new and innovative affiliates to come in a grab their share of the pie.

Go Green

‘I'll go out for a breath of fresh air' is an often-heard phrase. But do we realize that this has become irrelevant in today's world, because the quality of air in our cities is anything but fresh. The moment you step out of the house and are on the road you can actually see the air getting polluted; a cloud of smoke from the exhaust of a bus, smoke billowing from a factory chimney, and speeding cars causing dust to rise off the roads.

Air pollution is aggravated because of four developments: increasing traffic, growing cities, rapid economic development, and industrialization. Air pollution is nothing new. The Industrial Revolution in Europe in the 19th century saw the beginning of air pollution as we know it today, which has gradually become a global problem. Ever since the discovery of fire, less-than-desirable substances have been vented into the air. But regardless of the efforts by governments, air pollution continues to be a serious local and world-wide problem.

Although environmental issues influence all human activities, few academic disciplines have integrated green issues into their literature. This is especially true of marketing. As society becomes more concerned with the natural environment, businesses have begun to modify their behaviour in an attempt to address society's "new" concerns. Some businesses have been quick to accept concepts like environmental management systems and waste minimization, and have integrated environmental issues into all organizational activities.

Terms like "Green Marketing" and "Environmental Marketing” appear frequently in the press. Many governments around the world have become so concerned about green marketing activities that they have attempted to regulate them.

WHAT EXACTLY IS GREEN MARKETING

According to American Marketing Association, “Green Marketing” is the marketing of products that are presumed to be environmentally safe. Thus green marketing incorporates a broad range of activities, including product modification, changes to the production process, packaging changes, as well as modifying advertising. Yet defining green marketing is not a simple task.

A definition which encompasses all major components of other definitions is:

"Green or Environmental Marketing consists of all activities designed to generate and facilitate any exchanges intended to satisfy human needs or wants, such that the satisfaction of these needs and wants occurs, with minimal detrimental impact on the natural environment."

WHY IS GREEN MARKETING IMPORTANT

The question of “Why Green Marketing?” has increased in importance and is simple and relies on the basic definition of Economics: Economics is the study of how people use their limited resources to try to satisfy unlimited wants.

Mankind has limited resources on the earth, with which he/she must attempt to provide for the worlds' unlimited wants. In market societies with "freedom of choice", consumers have the right to attempt to have their wants satisfied. With limited natural resources, firms must develop new/alternative ways of satisfying these unlimited wants. Green marketing looks at how marketing activities utilize these limited resources, while satisfying consumers wants.

BENEFITS OF GREEN MARKETING

Green marketing offers business bottom-line incentives and top-line growth possibilities. While modification of business/production processes may involve start-up costs, it will save money in the long term. Companies that develop new and improved products and services with environmental impacts in mind give themselves access to new markets, substantially increase profits and enjoy competitive advantages.

WHY ARE FIRMS USING GREEN MARKETING?

When looking through the literature there are several suggested reasons for firms increased use of Green Marketing. Five possible reasons cited are:

    Ø  An opportunity to achieve objectives

    Ø  A moral obligation to be more socially responsible

    Ø  Governmental pressure foR the firms

    Ø  Competitors' environmental activities

   Ø  Cost factors associated with waste disposal, or reductions in material usage

OPPORTUNITIES

In a recent study, more than 50% of consumers indicated they were concerned about the environment. Another study found that 84.6% of the sample believed all individuals had a responsibility for the environment. A further 80% of this sample indicated that they had modified their purchasing behaviour, due to environmental reasons. As demands change, many firms see these changes as an opportunity to be exploited.

Firms marketing goods with environmental characteristics will have a competitive advantage over firms marketing non-environmentally responsible alternatives. This is not to imply that all firms who have undertaken environmental marketing activities actually improve their behaviour. In some cases firms have misled consumers in an attempt to gain market share.

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Many firms are beginning to realize that they are members of the wider community and therefore must behave in an environmentally responsible fashion. This translates into firms that believe they must achieve environmental objectives as well as profit related objectives. This results in environmental issues being integrated into the firm's corporate culture.

Fund managers and corporate developers too, are taking into account the environmental viability of the company they invest in. Venture Capitalists are investing in green business because they believe it's a growth opportunity.

GOVERNMENTAL PRESSURE

Governmental regulations relating to environmental marketing are designed to protect consumers and society by reducing production/use/consumption of harmful goods or by-products by consumer/industry.

Many by-products of production are controlled through the issue of various environmental licenses, thus modifying organizational behaviour. In some cases governments try to "induce" final consumers to become more responsible.

Investment analysts are starting to see the environmental awareness of managers as a barometer of the  long term success of their companies. Green policies, they say, tend to indicate hands on management, high consumer confidence and good corporate governance.

COMPETITIVE PRESSURE

Another major force in the environmental marketing area has been firms' desire to maintain their competitive position. In some instances this competitive pressure has caused an entire industry to modify and thus reduce its detrimental environmental behaviour.

COST OR PROFIT ISSUES

Firms may also use green marketing to address cost/profit related issues. Disposing of environmentally harmful by-products are becoming increasingly costly and in some cases difficult. Therefore firms that can reduce harmful wastes may incur substantial cost savings. When attempting to minimize waste, firms often develop more effective production processes that not only reduce waste, but reduce the need for some raw materials. This serves as a double cost savings, since both waste and raw material are reduced.

GREEN MARKETING DOES LEAD TO SUCCESS

Green marketing is not only a theoretical concept. A lot of firms are using this concept to consolidate their market positions. A few examples are Tesco, Goldman Sachs, GE, Suzlon Energy.

SOME PROBLEMS WITH GOING GREEN

No matter why a firm uses green marketing, there are a number of potential problems that they must overcome. One of the main problems is that firms using green marketing must ensure that their activities are not misleading to consumers/industry, and do not breach any of the regulations/laws dealing with environmental marketing. Green marketing claims must –

• Clearly state environmental benefits
• Explain environmental characteristics
• Explain how benefits are achieved
• Ensure comparative differences are justified
• Ensure negative factors are taken into consideration
• Only use meaningful terms and pictures

When firms attempt to become socially responsible, they may face the risk that the environmentally responsible action of today may be found to be harmful in the future. Given the limited scientific knowledge at any point in time, it may be impossible for a firm to be certain they have made the correct environmental decision.

While governmental regulation is designed to give consumers the opportunity to make better decisions or to motivate them to be more environmentally responsible, there is difficulty in establishing policies that will address all environmental issues. If governments want to modify consumer behaviour they need to establish a different set of regulations. Reacting to competitive pressures can cause all "followers" to make the same mistake as the "leader."

The push to reduce costs or increase profits may not force firms to address the important issue of environmental degradation. End-of-pipe solutions may not actually reduce the waste but rather shift it around. While this may be beneficial, it does not necessarily address the larger environmental problem.

CONCLUSION

Green marketing covers more than a firm's marketing claims. While firms must bear much of the responsibility for environmental degradation, ultimately it is consumers who demand goods, and thus create environmental problems.

Ultimately green marketing requires that consumers want a cleaner environment and are willing to "pay" for it, possibly through higher priced goods, modified individual lifestyles, or even governmental intervention. Until this occurs it will be difficult for firms alone to lead the green marketing revolution.

Having said this, it must not be forgotten that the industrial buyer also has the ability to pressure suppliers to modify their activities. Thus an environmental committed organization may not only produce goods that have reduced their detrimental impact on the environment, but also be able to pressure their suppliers to behave in a more environmentally "responsible" fashion. Final consumers and industrial buyers also have the ability to pressure organizations to integrate the environment into their corporate culture and thus ensure all organizations minimize the detrimental environmental impact of their activities.

Criticism - Learn to Accept

Anyone who produces art, or voices opinions, or does anything publicly, will have critics. Guaranteed. I wrote a post about punctuality that got a bit of attention and was bombarded with various opinions, not much in my favour though. Did I care? Well, sure I cared. I had all sorts of emotions. Was I wrong? Could I have explained my point better?  Was I missing something? Should I have said X instead of Y? I absolutely cared. But, this doesn’t mean I was neurotic, or hated those who disagreed with me or hurled insults my way, or lashed out, or secluded away somewhere.

Handling criticism is a telling indicator of someone’s personality. Some people instinctively get defensive, even if they make a concerted effort not to. Some people shut down entirely. Some people take criticism to heart and try to learn from it, at least when it’s legitimate criticism. But, even the most learned and eloquent people respond in ways you might not expect:

“A poet that fails in writing becomes often a morose critic. The weak and insipid white wine makes at length excellent vinegar.” – William Shenstone

“Reviewers are usually people who would have been poets, historians, biographers, if they could; they have tried their talents at one or the other, and have failed; therefore they turn critics.”  -  S. T. Coleridge

“Reviewers, with some rare exceptions, are a most stupid and malignant race. As a bankrupt thief turns thief-maker in despair, so an unsuccessful author turns critic.”  – P. B. Shelley

“Critics are like eunuchs; they can tell you what to do, but they can’t do it themselves!”  – Harry Cohn

“Critics in general are venomous serpents that delight in hissing.”  – W. B. Daniel

“The public is the only critic whose opinion is worth anything at all.”   – Mark Twain

Good Lord! Notice a pattern here? These are all a variation on “those who can’t do, teach”, only much nastier. Even the beloved Twain falls victim to this ad-hominem fallacy. Just because you’re a critic, or a teacher, certainly doesn’t mean you can’t do what the artist has done. It doesn’t make you a eunuch, or a failure, or a halfwit, or a thief, or scrap. To disregard criticism whole hog like this is silly.

Now, at a certain point, you’re going to have to disregard some critics. If you get big enough, you can’t possibly listen to all of them, plus, if you simply pandered to them, you’d never accomplish anything anyway. But, are you telling me Sam Clemens didn’t have an editor? Or someone he bounced ideas off of? If the public’s opinion is worth something, then surely the opinion of several members of that public, in tune of hundreds must carry some weight.

My point is, criticism is valuable. Take it. Use it. Don’t build a shell so thick that you’re impervious to it all. If you do, you’ll have no one to help you realize where you’ve gone wrong.