Oligopoly is a market situation in which there are a few firms selling homogeneous or differenti­ated products. It is difficult to pinpoint the number of firms in ‘competition among the few.’ With only a few firms in the market, the action of one firm is likely to affect the others. An oligopoly industry produces either a homogeneous product or heterogeneous products.

The former is called pure or per­fect oligopoly and the latter is called imperfect or differentiated oligopoly. Pure oligopoly is found primarily among producers of such industrial products as aluminium, cement, copper, steel, zinc, etc. Imperfect oligopoly is found among producers of such consumer goods as automobiles, cigarettes, soaps and detergents, TVs, rubber tyres, refrigerators, typewriters, etc.

CHARACTERISTICS OF OLIGOPOLY

• Interdependence

There is recognised interdependence among the sellers in the oligopolistic market. Each oligopolist firm knows that changes in its price, advertising, product characteristics, etc. may lead to counter-moves by rivals. When the sellers are a few, each produces a considerable fraction of the total output of the industry and can have a noticeable effect on market conditions.He can reduce or increase the price for the whole oligopolist market by selling more quantity or less and affect the profits of the other sellers. It implies that each seller is aware of the price-moves of the other sellers and their impact on his profit and of the influence of his price-move on the actions of rivals.

Thus there is complete interdependence among the sellers with regard to their price-output policies. Each seller has direct and ascertainable influences upon every other seller in the industry. Thus, every move by one seller leads to counter-moves by the others.

• Advertisement

The main reason for this mutual interdependence in decision making is that one producer’s fortunes are dependent on the policies and fortunes of the other producers in the indus­try. It is for this reason that oligopolist firms spend much on advertisement and customer services.As pointed out by Prof. Baumol, “Under oligopoly advertising can become a life-and-death matter.” For example, if all oligopolists continue to spend a lot on advertising their products and one seller does not match up with them he will find his customers gradually going in for his rival’s product. If, on the other hand, one oligopolist advertises his product, others have to follow him to keep up their sales.

• Competition

This leads to another feature of the oligopolistic market, the presence of com­petition. Since under oligopoly, there are a few sellers, a move by one seller immediately affects the rivals. So each seller is always on the alert and keeps a close watch over the moves of its rivals in order to have a counter-move. This is true competition.

• Barriers to Entry of Firms

As there is keen competition in an oligopolistic industry, there are no barriers to entry into or exit from it. However, in the long run, there are some types of barriers to entry which tend to restraint new firms from entering the industry.

They may be:

(a) Economies of scale enjoyed by a few large firms

 (b) control over essential and specialised inputs

(c) high capital requirements due to plant costs, advertising costs, etc.

 (d) exclusive patents and licenses; and

(e) the existence of unused capacity which makes the industry unattractive. When entry is restricted or blocked by such natural and artificial barriers, the oligopolistic industry can earn long-run super normal profits.

• Lack of Uniformity

Another feature of oligopoly market is the lack of uniformity in the size of firms. Finns differ considerably in size. Some may be small, others very large. Such a situation is asymmetrical. This is very common in the American economy. A symmetrical situation with firms of a uniform size is rare.

• Demand Curve

It is not easy to trace the demand curve for the product of an oligopolist. Since under oligopoly the exact behaviour pattern of a producer cannot be ascertained with certainty, his demand curve cannot be drawn accurately, and with definiteness. How does an individual seller s de­mand curve look like in oligopoly is most uncertain because a seller’s price or output moves lead to unpredictable reactions on price-output policies of his rivals, which may have further repercussions on his price and output.The chain of action reaction as a result of an initial change in price or output, is all a guess-work. Thus a complex system of crossed conjectures emerges as a result of the interdependence­ among the rival oligopolists which is the main cause of the indeterminateness of the demand curve.

• No Unique Pattern of Pricing Behaviour

The rivalry arising from interdependence among the oligopolists leads to two conflicting motives. Each wants to remain independent and to get the maximum possible profit. Towards this end, they act and react on the price-output movements of one another in a continuous element of uncertainty.On the other hand, again motivated by profit maximisation each seller wishes to cooperate with his rivals to reduce or eliminate the element of uncertainty. All rivals enter into a tacit or formal agreement with regard to price-output changes. It leads to a sort of monopoly within oligopoly.They may even recognise one seller as a leader at whose initiative all the other sellers raise or lower the price. In this case, the individual seller’s demand curve is a part of the industry demand curve, having the elasticity of the latter. Given these conflicting attitudes, it is not possible to predict any unique pattern of pricing behaviour in oligopoly markets.

Early Cricket(pre 1799)

There is a consensus of expert opinion that cricket may have been invented during Saxon or Norman times by children living in the Weald, an area of dense woodlands and clearings in south-east England. The first reference to cricket being played as an adult sport was in 1611, and in the same year, a dictionary defined cricket as a boys’ game. There is also the thought that cricket may have derived from bowls, by the intervention of a batsman trying to stop the ball from reaching its target by hitting it away.

Village cricket had developed by the middle of the 17th century and the first English “county teams” were formed in the second half of the century, as “local experts” from village cricket were employed as the earliest professionals. The first known game in which the teams use county names is in 1709.

• 

In the first half of the 18th Century cricket established itself as a leading sport in London and the south-eastern counties of England. Its spread was limited by the constraints of travel, but it was slowly gaining popularity in other parts of England and Women’s Cricket dates back to the 1745, when the first known match was played in Surrey.

In 1744, the first Laws of Cricket were written and subsequently amended in 1774, when innovations such as lbw, a 3rd stump, – the middle stump and a maximum bat width were added. The codes were drawn up by the “Star and Garter Club” whose members ultimately founded the famous Marylebone Cricket Club at Lord’s in 1787. MCC immediately became the custodian of the Laws and has made revisions ever since then to the current day.

Rolling the ball along the ground was superseded sometime after 1760 when bowlers began to pitch the ball and in response to that innovation the straight bat replaced the old “hockey-stick” style of bat. The Hambledon Club in Hampshire was the focal point of the game for about thirty years until the formation of MCC and the opening of Lord’s Cricket Ground in 1787.

Cricket was introduced to North America via the English colonies as early as the 17th century, and in the 18th century it arrived in other parts of the globe. It was introduced to the West Indies by colonists and to India by British East India Company mariners. It arrived in Australia almost as soon as colonisation began in 1788 and the sport reached New Zealand and South Africa in the early years of the 19th century.

19th century cricket

The growth of cricket in the mid and late 19th century was assisted by the development of the railway network. For the first time, teams from a long distance apart could play one other without a prohibitively time-consuming journey. Spectators could travel longer distances to matches, increasing the size of crowds. Army units around the Empire had time on their hands, and encouraged the locals so they could have some entertaining competition. Most of the Empire embraced cricket, with the exception of Canada.

In 1864, another bowling revolution resulted in the legalisation of overarm and in the same year Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack was first published. W. G. Grace began his long and influential career at this time, his feats doing much to increase cricket’s popularity. He introduced technical innovations which revolutionised the game, particularly in batting.

• 

20th century cricket

Growth of Test Cricket:

When the Imperial Cricket Conference (as it was originally called) was founded in 1909, only England, Australia and South Africa were members. West Indies (1928), New Zealand (1930) and India (1932) became Test nations before World War II and Pakistan (1952) soon afterwards. The international game grew with several ICC Affiliate Members being appointed and, in the last quarter of the 20th century, three of those became full members: Sri Lanka (1982), Zimbabwe (1992) and Bangladesh (2000). They were followed in the early 21st century by Ireland and Afghanistan (both 2018).

Test cricket remained the sport’s highest level of standard throughout the 20th century but it had its problems, notably in the infamous “Bodyline Series” of 1932–33 when Douglas Jardine’s England used so-called “leg theory” to try and neutralise the run-scoring brilliance of Australia’s Don Bradman.

Analytic and Graphic Technology:

Limited-overs cricket increased television ratings for cricket coverage. Innovative techniques introduced in coverage of limited-over matches were soon adopted for Test coverage. The innovations included presentation of in-depth statistics and graphical analysis, placing miniature cameras in the stumps, multiple usage of cameras to provide shots from several locations around the ground, high-speed photography and computer graphics technology enabling television viewers to study the course of a delivery and help them understand an umpire’s decision.

In 1992, the use of a third umpire to adjudicate run-out appeals with television replays was introduced in the Test series between South Africa and India. The third umpire’s duties have subsequently expanded to include decisions on other aspects of play such as stumpings, catches and boundaries. From 2011, the third umpire was being called upon to moderate review of umpires’ decisions, including LBW, with the aid of virtual-reality tracking technologies (e.g., Hawk-Eye and Hot Spot), though such measures still could not free some disputed decisions from heated controversy.

21st century cricket

In June 2001, the ICC introduced a “Test Championship Table” and, in October 2002, a “One-day International Championship Table”. As indicated by ICC rankings, the various cricket formats have continued to be a major competitive sport in most former British Empire countries, notably the Indian subcontinent, and new participants including the Netherlands. In 2017, the number of countries with full ICC membership was increased to twelve by the addition of Afghanistan and Ireland.

The ICC expanded its development programme, aiming to produce more national teams capable of competing at the various formats. Development efforts are focused on African and Asian nations, and on the United States. In 2004, the ICC Intercontinental Cup brought first-class cricket to 12 nations, mostly for the first time. Cricket’s newest innovation is Twenty20, essentially an evening entertainment. It has so far enjoyed enormous popularity and has attracted large attendances at matches as well as good TV audience ratings. The inaugural ICC Twenty20 World Cup tournament was held in 2007. The formation of Twenty20 leagues in India – the unofficial Indian Cricket League, which started in 2007, and the official Indian Premier League, starting in 2008 – raised much speculation in the cricketing press about their effect on the future of cricket.

OVERVIEW :-

COVID-19 is one of the most disastrous epidemic in the last 100 years. It has killed millions of people and ruined the lives of many people. It has destroyed more or less many families around the globe. Millions of jobs lost and there is a sudden rise in unemployment throughout the world. Whether a developed country or not, all have suffered equally in this pandemic.
Besides all these, it is posting new threats every day. New variants of this pandemic are reported regularly. These variants affect people in different ways. Even the medical facilities get exhausted very quickly. This was the similar case of India. In the 2nd wave of COVID-19, India saw a sudden increase in the requirement of Liquid Medical Oxygen (LMO) for Covid positive patients. India never felt the requirement of that much amount of LMO previously. Due to this, India was left with the shortage of transport facilities to transport LMO from oxygen-generating plants to hospitals as these plants were far away from hospitals. Even the time required to transport LMO by road was quite high.
In this situation, Indian Railways stood up and decided to run “Oxygen Express” to the states were there was acute shortage of LMO.

The first “Oxygen Express” ran by Indian Railways was on 20th April 2021 loaded with LMO carrying tankers from Vizag. But the process of running “Oxygen Express” was not so easy for railways as this idea was first of its kind and was not tried before.

DIFFICULTIES FACED DURING THE PROCESS OF RUNNING “OXYGEN EXPRESS” :-

• Indian Railways had no prior experience of running this kind of “Oxygen Express” anytime before.
• The height of the tankers loaded on oxygen express was more as compared to rail coaches. This also created a major problem.
• “Due to restrictions of height of Road Over Bridges (ROBs) and Over Head Equipment (OHE) at certain locations, out of the various specifications of road tankers, the model of road tanker T 1618 with height of 3320 mm was found feasible to be placed on flat wagons (DBKM) with height of 1290 mm,” the release by Indian Railways added.

• “It was decided that the tankers would be organized by Transport Commissioner, Maharashtra. These empty tankers would be moved from Kalamboli/Boisar, Railway stations in and near Mumbai, and sent to Vizag and Jamshedpur/Rourkela/Bokaro, for loading of liquid medical oxygen tankers from there ,”said a railway official after a meeting held on 17th April, 2021.
• Before running of the first official “Oxygen Express” on 20th April, trial runs were conducted on railway tracks to check whether it is possible to run “Oxygen Express” on track or not. After the railway officials were satisfied and the trials were successful only then the permission to run “Oxygen Express” was given.

CONCLUSION :-

“Oxygen Express” ran as per the priority basis that means where LMO requirement was more and availability was quite less then “Oxygen Express” was allotted to that state. A total of 313 Oxygen Express trains run by Indian Railways have delivered 21,392 metric tonnes (MT) of liquid medical oxygen across the country. In this way, Indian Railways came out as the saviour of millions of lives in India by its great initiative to run “Oxygen Express”.

Links :-

• https://www.google.com/amp/s/indianexpress.com/article/india/railways-to-run-oxygen-express-trains-to-meet-high-demand-amid-surge-in-covid-19-cases-7279231/lite/
• https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.hindustantimes.com/cities/gurugram-news/oxygen-express-train-with-85mt-of-medical-oxygen-to-arrive-in-gurugram-on-may-4-101620063920318-amp.html
• https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.livemint.com/news/india/indian-railways-gears-up-to-run-oxygen-express-across-country-amid-covid-surge/amp-11618747433500.html

Educational technology is a field of study that investigates the process of analyzing, designing, developing, implementing, and evaluating the instructional environment and learning materials in order to improve teaching and learning. it is important to keep in mind that the purpose of educational technology is to improve education. we must define the goals and needs of education first and then we use all our knowledge, including technology, to design the most effective learning environment for students. instructional technology can also be seen as a process of solving educational problems and concerns, which might include motivation, discipline, drop-out-rate, school violence basic skills, critical thinking, and the whole list of educational concerns. first the problem is identified an analysis of the factors of the problem is made, and possible solutions to the problem are presented. then, the student population and the curriculum are analyzed. the next step is to select the most appropriate instructional strategies for the particular situation. next instructional materials and resources are selected that are suitable for the curriculum and the mode of instruction chosen. finally the program is implemented, evaluated, and revised as needed in order to meet the stated goals for school improvement.

The learning materials today have greatly expanded because of the various technological advances. Instructional materials include more conventional materials, such as the black board, overhead projectors, televisions, VCRs, overhead projectors, slide projectors, and opaque projectors, as well as newer materials, such as the computer, various software applications, LCD projectors, camcorders, digital cameras, scanners, the internet, the satellite, interactive T.V, audio and video conferencing, artificial intelligence, and so on. The issue of what this materials are and how to use them is a first step. But we must quickly begin to discuss how these materials should be used and how they affect the curriculum and instruction in our schools. Technology can be used to perpetuate teacher-led, knowledge-based learning approach or it can be used to help us implement a student-centered, constructivist, and progressive approach. We need to help teachers to understand the bigger picture of technology can revolutionize education. Remember in all of these areas of educational technology that the goal of improving a specific aspect of teaching and learning comes first. Technology is selected to help us meet these goals.

SOFTWARE TYPES: Drill and practice, tutorials of computer based instruction, and simulations. Teachers need to know what these are as well as why, when, and how to incorporate them into their teaching

EQUIPMENT USE: Digital camera, scanner, camcorder, CD writer, computer, modern, printer, VCR, LCD projector, laser-disk player. Teachers need to know how to use them and how they can be used in a classroom.

AUDIO AND VIDEO CONFERENCING: Understand what these are and how to incorporate them into educational process. Understand various teaching materials that best utilize these tools. Understand how these can affect how we learn.

CLASSROOM CONFIGURATIONS: How to best equip and utilize technology in the classroom. How to use the technology in the classroom. Classrooms need multimedia technology in each classroom. Teachers need to be able to quickly use this equipment and access software when needed.

WEB PAGES: How to create web pages, how to use them in their teaching, and why they should use them. Web pages can have many functions for displaying information and creating student interaction. Web pages can also be used for helping students be more independent learners.

SOFTWARE REVIEW AND EVALUATION: How to select appropriate software for specific grade levels and content areas, how to evaluate effectiveness of this software, and what types of software’s are available. Teachers need to be thoroughly familiar with many of the software options available and understand when and how to use them in the classroom.

NEW SOFTWARE AND HARDWARE: Teachers need to keep up with what types of instructional materials and tools that are being developed and how these new materials might be useful to them as teachers. They need to learn how to use these new materials and how to incorporate them into their teaching.