Author: Dhayakm

Six books about Black lives in American fiction

359 Racism Protest Illustrations & Clip Art - iStock

Racial discrimination is one of the social evils which had took the lives of a whole lot of innocent people. This evil has not only killed people, it has also made life miserable for many. Even the so called “most civilized society” in the world could not free itself from this social evil and in fact it has been stage for the most alarming cases we had ever heard. There were a whole lot of legislations implemented aiming to prevent this, and it has helped at least for developing a public opinion against racial discrimination.

People around the world have raised their voice against this evil in whatever ways possible and one such strong means was through literature. Several authors have shared either their experiences or some strong stories which had acted as an eye opener for many people. The realistic stories have created an empathetic attitude among general public. Some books are:

The help

The Help is a historical fiction novel by American author Kathryn Stockett. The story is about African Americans working in white households in Jackson, Mississippi, during the early 1960s. The thrust of the book is the collaborative project between the white Skeeter and the struggling, exploited “colored” help, who together are writing a book of true stories about their experiences as the ‘help’ to the white women of Jackson. Not all the stories are negative, and some describe beautiful and generous, loving and kind events; while others are cruel and even brutal. The book, entitled “Help” is finally published, and the final chapters of “The Help” describes the aftermath of the book’s success.

To kill a mocking bird

o Kill a Mockingbird is a novel by the American author Harper Lee. The plot and characters are loosely based on Lee’s observations of her family, her neighbors and an event that occurred near her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama, in 1936, when she was ten. The historian Joseph Crespino explains, “In the twentieth century, To Kill a Mockingbird is probably the most widely read book dealing with race in America, and its main character, Atticus Finch, the most enduring fictional image of racial heroism.” However, reaction to the novel varied widely upon publication.

Uncle tom’s cabin

Uncle Tom’s Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in two volumes in 1852, the novel had a profound effect on attitudes toward African Americans and slavery in the U.S., and is said to have “helped lay the groundwork for the American Civil War”. This is one great book which could not be ignored while we discuss racism.

Roots: The Saga of an American

Roots: The Saga of an American Family is a 1976 novel written by Alex Haley. It tells the story of Kunta Kinte, an 18th-century African, captured as an adolescent, sold into slavery in Africa, and transported to North America; it follows his life and the lives of his descendants in the United States down to Haley. It stimulated interest in African American genealogy and an appreciation for African-American history.

The color purple

The Color Purple is a 1982 epistolary novel by American author Alice Walker which won the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award for Fiction. The story revolves around Celie a young poor, uneducated 14-year-old African-American teenager girl living in the Southern United States in the early 1900s. The novel has been the frequent target of censors and appears on the American Library Association list of the 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2000–2009 at number seventeenth because of the sometimes-explicit content, particularly in terms of violence.

Beloved

Beloved is a 1987 novel by the American writer Toni Morrison. Set after the American Civil War, it tells the story of a family of formerly enslaved people whose Cincinnati home is haunted by a malevolent spirit. Beloved is inspired by an event that actually happened: Margaret Garner, an enslaved person in Kentucky, who escaped and fled to the free state of Ohio in 1856. She was subject to capture in accordance with the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850; when U.S. marshals burst into the cabin where Garner and her husband had barricaded themselves, she was attempting to kill her children, and had already killed her two-year-old daughter, to spare them from being returned to slavery.

It is of severe concern that even in today’s world where borders merely exist, people are discriminated and even killed on grounds of their color, caste, creed or race. These books could be an eye opener for all those who believe themselves to be superior than others merely on ground of their genetic roots.

Structures under water

ocean - Major subdivisions of the oceans | Britannica

Oceanography is one of the largest areas of geography as it deals with the largest form on earth, Ocean. More than half of the earth’s surface is covered with water and it mainly consists of oceans. Even though it looks similar when we look from above, there are deep structures inside the water. Just like the land forms we daily see around us; oceans also have a wide variety of structures. In order to gain a clear idea about those, let us look into it in detail:

Major structures

Continental shelf

A continental shelf is the edge of a continent that lies under the ocean. Continents are the seven main divisions of land on Earth. A continental shelf extends from the coastline of a continent to a drop-off point called the shelf break. From the break, the shelf descends toward the deep ocean floor in what is called the continental slope. Even though they are underwater, continental shelves are part of the continent. The widths of the continental shelves vary.

Continental shelf

Continental slopes are regions of steeply sloping seafloor that lie between continental shelves and the deep ocean basins. Regional gradients are typically 2–5°, but locally slopes may be much steeper. Their large-scale morphology is a consequence of tectonic processes: the different elevations of continental crust and oceanic crust, the details of the original rift tectonics on passive continental margins, and the styles of subduction and accretion on convergent margins.

Continental rise

continental rise, a major depositional regime in oceans made up of thick sequences of continental material that accumulate between the continental slope and the abyssal plain. Continental rises form as a result of three sedimentary processes: mass wasting, the deposition from contour currents, and the vertical settling of clastic and biogenic particles.

Abyssal plane

The term ‘abyssal plain’ refers to a flat region of the ocean floor, usually at the base of a continental rise, where slope is less than 1:1000. It represents the deepest and flat part of the ocean floor lying between 4000 and 6500 m deep

Minor structures

Abyssal hills

An abyssal hill is a small hill that rises from the floor of an abyssal plain. They are the most abundant geomorphic structures on the planet Earth, covering more than 30% of the ocean floors. Abyssal hills have relatively sharply defined edges and climb to heights of no more than a few hundred meters. They can be from a few hundred meters to kilometers in width.

Trenches

Ocean trenches are steep depressions in the deepest parts of the ocean, where old ocean crust from one tectonic plate is pushed beneath another plate, raising mountains, causing earthquakes, and forming volcanoes on the seafloor and on land.

Submarine canyons

A submarine canyon is a steep-sided valley cut into the seabed of the continental slope, sometimes extending well onto the continental shelf, having nearly vertical walls, and occasionally having canyon wall heights of up to 5 km, from canyon floor to canyon rim, as with the Great Bahama Canyon.

Ocean has several other wonders hid under its deep waters. If we go deeper new structures unfold.

ENERGY EXTRACTION: FROM NEED TO GREED

Can the World Run on Renewable Energy? - Knowledge at Wharton

There is enough in the world for everyone’s need, but there is not enough to meet everyone’s greed, said Mahatma Gandhi, Father of our nation. By these Mahatmaji is calling our attention towards the greed of the world’s most greedy species, namely the human being. As human beings are the only species which could think and feel, it is also the only species that exploits the nature in any which ways possible for their short-term gain. Ignoring the fact that human beings are comparatively new species when we consider the entire time frame of life on earth, we are behaving as if the entire planet and its resources are solely meant for making human lives easier.

The social and economic development of a country owes a lot to the development of energy resources. Man’s greed and uncontrolled use of these resources has resulted in its depletion and in turn has put a question mark on the future of this beautiful planet.

Scientists fear that the conventional energy sources like crude oil, natural gas, etc may become extinct before the end of this century. This has turned man towards the development and promotion of alternate energy resources.

The most important source is solar power because sun is the largest source of energy in this universe. Our country India receives 5000 trillion kilo watt of solar radiation per year. Most part of our country have not less than 300 clear days in a year. It is possible to generate 20 mega watt solar power per square kilometer land area. This energy can be used for a variety of applications like cooking, water heating, water pumping, lighting, etc. Latest innovations have made it possible to run vehicles like cars, trains and even small aircrafts. The German railway, a pioneer in the entire organization will be operated by solar energy by the end of another 25 to 30 years.

Another one is wind power. India now holds a significantly high position in the list of wind power capacity. The gross wind power potential of India is estimated to be above 45000 milli watt, while the present technical is only near one third of this capacity. It should be noted that the government has initiated several plans and policies to make use of this immense potential.

We can also obtain energy from biomass. It includes food and food waste, municipal waste, land fills gas and biogas. The use of Ethanol blended fuel and bio diesel is also an emerging trend which could replace several other means effectively.

Hydro power is also a prospect for the world with two third of the planet covered with water. If widely used hydro power could be generated from the enormous water resources available in this planet by setting up small hydro power plants.

As the eminent scholar professor Yashpal rightly quoted, “we have not inherited this world from our ancestors, but we have borrowed it from our children”. So, it is high time we turn to some alternative energy sources and leave something for our future generation also.

Doctrines of Indian constitution

India's founders gave us our Constitution. We must prove to them that we can keep it

Indian constitution is one of the largest constitutions in the world. Even though it is a compilation of borrowed ideas from several parts of the world, it upholds the values and vision of the great freedom fighters who shed their blood for our nation. The constitution has played a significant role in holding together this huge diverse nation for a period of 75 years. On examining each and every aspect of the constitution the vision shared by the visionaries become more evident.

Doctrines of the constitution are general guidelines laid for enabling proper interpretation of the constitution. It is acts as a guide for the law makers as well as implementers.

The doctrines are:

Doctrine of eclipse

The Doctrine of Eclipse states that any law which is inconsistent with fundamental rights is not invalid. It is not totally dead but overshadowed by the fundamental right. The inconsistency (conflict) can be removed by constitutional amendment. This doctrine emanates directly from Article 13(1) of the Constitution that is a part of the fundamental rights, which states, “all laws in force in the territory of India immediately before the commencement of this Constitution in so far as they are inconsistent with the provisions of this Part, i.e. Part III, shall, to the extent of such inconsistency, be void.” The doctrine of eclipse envisages fundamental rights as prospective in nature. It states that a pre-constitutional law inconsistent with the fundamental rights is not nullity or void ab initio but only remains unenforceable, i.e., remains in a dormant state. They exist for all past transactions, i.e., for rights and liabilities that were acquired before the Constitution came into being.

Doctrine of severability

This doctrine of severability is also known as the doctrine of separability.  The word “to the extent of the inconsistency or contravention” makes it clear that when some of the provision of a statue when some of the provisions of a statute becomes unconstitutional on account of inconsistency with fundamental rights, only to the repugnant provision of the law in question shall be treated by the courts as void, and not the whole statute. The doctrine of severability means that when some particular provision of a statute offends or is against a constitutional limitation, but that provision is severable from the rest of the statute, only that offending provision will be declared void by the Court and not the entire statute.

Doctrine of judicial review

The doctrine of Judicial review is basically the power of the judiciary to decide on the constitutional validity of the acts of the other wings of the government (the executive and the legislative). The objective is to regulate any such acts which may contravene the constitution. For instance, if any act of the law-making bodies is such that it negates the provisions given in the constitution, it is important that it should be made null and void. In order to do so an organ is required to have the force or power to articulate such acts as void.

Doctrine of pith and substance

To disintegrate the doctrine to its molecular meanings, Pith denotes true nature or essence of something and Substance means the most important or essential part of something. The definition of this doctrine states, within their respective spheres the state and the union legislatures are made supreme, they should not encroach upon the sphere demarcated for the other. Doctrine of Pith and Substance is applied when legislation made by of the legislatures is challenged or trespassed by other legislatures. This doctrine says that when there is a question of determining whether a particular law relates to a particular subject the court looks to the substance of the matter. If the substance of the matter lies within one of the 3 lists, then the incidental encroachment by law on another lists, does not make it invalid because they are said to be intra vires.

Doctrine of harmonious construction

According to the Doctrine of Harmonious Construction, a Statute should be read as a whole and one provision of the Act should be construed with reference to other provisions in the same Act so as to make a consistent enactment of the whole statute. Such an interpretation is beneficial in avoiding any inconsistency or repugnancy either within a section or between a section and other parts of the statute.

Understanding inflation

The Inequities of Inflation - Positively Naperville

Inflation is a term we here very frequently in today’s world. Several economies of the world are now in the crunches of inflation. In this situation, let us read about inflation in detail.

What is inflation?

In economics, inflation is a general increase in prices of goods and services in an economy. When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services; consequently, inflation corresponds to a reduction in the purchasing power of money. The opposite of inflation is deflation, a sustained decrease in the general price level of goods and services. The common measure of inflation is the inflation rate, the annualized percentage change in a general price index. As prices do not all increase at the same rate, the consumer price index (CPI) is often used for this purpose.

Causes of inflation:

There were different schools of thought as to the causes of inflation. Most can be divided into two broad areas: quality theories of inflation and quantity theories of inflation.

Currently, the quantity theory of money is widely accepted as an accurate model of inflation in the long run. Consequently, there is now broad agreement among economists that in the long run, the inflation rate is essentially dependent on the growth rate of the money supply relative to the growth of the economy. However, in the short- and medium-term inflation may be affected by supply and demand pressures in the economy, and influenced by the relative elasticity of wages, prices and interest rates.

The quality theory of inflation rests on the expectation of a seller accepting currency to be able to exchange that currency at a later time for goods they desire as a buyer. The quantity theory of inflation rests on the quantity equation of money that relates the money supply, its velocity, and the nominal value of exchanges.

Measures of inflation

Consumers’ cost of living depends on the prices of many goods and services and the share of each in the household budget. To measure the average consumer’s cost of living, government agencies conduct household surveys to identify a basket of commonly purchased items and track over time the cost of purchasing this basket. The cost of this basket at a given time expressed relative to a base year is the consumer price index (CPI), and the percentage change in the CPI over a certain period is consumer price inflation, the most widely used measure of inflation.

Core consumer inflation focuses on the underlying and persistent trends in inflation by excluding prices set by the government and the more volatile prices of products, such as food and energy, most affected by seasonal factors or temporary supply conditions. Core inflation is also watched closely by policymakers. Calculation of an overall inflation rate—for a country, say, and not just for consumers—requires an index with broader coverage, such as the GDP deflator.

Types of inflation

Cost-Push Effect

Cost-push inflation is a result of the increase in prices working through the production process inputs. When additions to the supply of money and credit are channeled into a commodity or other asset markets and especially when this is accompanied by a negative economic shock to the supply of key commodities, costs for all kinds of intermediate goods rise.

Built-in Inflation

Built-in inflation is related to adaptive expectations, the idea that people expect current inflation rates to continue in the future. As the price of goods and services rises, workers and others come to expect that they will continue to rise in the future at a similar rate and demand more costs or wages to maintain their standard of living. Their increased wages result in a higher cost of goods and services, and this wage-price spiral continues as one factor induces the other and vice-versa.

Demand-Pull Effect

Demand-pull inflation occurs when an increase in the supply of money and credit stimulates overall demand for goods and services in an economy to increase more rapidly than the economy’s production capacity. This increases demand and leads to price rises.

Is the online teaching mode a worthy substitute for the offline teaching mode?

“If we want to reach real peace in this world, we should start educating children”

-Mahatma Gandhi

Pandemic times are desperate times for the people everywhere in the world. The vicious disease disrupted not only the social life of individuals but it also destabilized the mental peace and well -being for many. The sudden shutdown following the virus outbreak has brought about several changes around the globe. One of the most significant change among them is the shift from offline teaching mode to online teaching. In a country like India where a large section of the population still has not got access to the basic digital devices, the adoption of online education was highly experimental. But, the realization that “better to have something than not having them at all” led the government to take this giant step.

Online learning mode is the need of the hour because it helps to ensure productive usage of time by the younger generation who otherwise would have lost the purpose of life during these desperate ages. In the present scenario, stepping out of the houses is considered extremely dangerous and online learning provides children an opportunity to widen their knowledge within the safety of their houses. The availability of several platforms which provide access to certified courses from universities around the world is an added advantage. Widespread access to knowledge without any boundaries has helped the students to choose their area of interest rather than sticking on to the limited scope of school curriculum. The provision of recorded classes either at free of cost or at negligible costs help students to upskill themselves without stepping out from their comfort zones. Online repositories and digital libraries also make the scope of online learning mode wider.

            Even though online teaching has got all these wider applications, it is subject to some limitations. The most significant limitation is that it is devoid of the physical presence of teachers and students, which reduces the effectiveness of the process to a great extent. The increasing number suicides among student population brings out the fact that virtual learning fails to provide psychological support, which the traditional schooling structure offers. As the students do not have the opportunities for relationship building, most of them lack social skills. Tests and examinations conducted in online mode is more like a test of honesty and self-discipline than tests of knowledge. Digital divide and socio -economic inequalities further worsens the problem. Among primary level students, parents play a more important role than teachers in case of online learning, which increases the disparity as many adults are still illiterate and incapable of supporting their children in our nation. Apart from this schools also functioned as a means for implementing social security schemes of government like mid-day meal scheme which got disrupted.

            The offline learning could easily cover up all the above stated limitations of online learning. The presence of teachers and friends will make the learning experience lively. Rather than imparting knowledge it lightens up the wisdom among younger population. It teaches students to face failure, the worth of sharing and to care for their fellow beings. The educational institutions play an important role in shaping the character of each individual because they function as a living library where we could see a wide range of individuals from whom students could adopt moral values for life. It also helps teachers to ensure that children have understood what they have taught through regular tests. The schools narrow the gap between rich and poor and ensure all are getting equal access to education through government support.

            Right to education is a fundamental right as per Indian constitution. Pandemic should not be an obstacle in ensuring that right. Thus, online teaching mode could be used as a supplement for facilitating access to education, but not a substitute. Idle mind is a devil’s workshop. Online mode of teaching helps to ensure that students are not left idle during the pandemic times. It could lend a hand for lifting children from the helplessness and despair created by the disease. This brigs to the conclusion that online teaching could be adopted to meet the current needs but not as a substitute for offline teaching. Ultimately the aim of education is to uplift the students from the darkness of ignorance by shedding the light of knowledge.

12 amazing performances by child actors

Most of the times, artforms are considered as the medium for adults. But there are some films which proved it is not so. There are some great films were told from the perspective of children. From simple life lessons to biggest events in world history, all these films have amused the viewers by the stunning performances of child actors. When we experience such great performances from children, the impact is several times bigger.

Let us check such films:

Jojo rabbit

Jojo Rabbit is a 2019 comedy-drama film written and directed by Taika Waititi, adapted from Christine Leunens’s 2008 book Caging Skies. Roman Griffin Davis portrays the title character, Johannes “Jojo” Betzler, a ten-year-old Hitler Youth member who finds out that his mother (Scarlett Johansson) is hiding a Jewish girl (Thomasin McKenzie) in their attic. He must then question his beliefs while dealing with the intervention of his imaginary friend (Waititi), a fanciful version of Adolf Hitler with a comedic stance on the politics of the war.

Capernaum

Capernaum is a 2018 Lebanese drama film directed by Nadine Labaki and produced by Khaled Mouzanar. The film stars Syrian refugee child actor Zain Al Rafeea as Zain El Hajj, a 12-year-old living in the slums of Beirut. Capernaum is told in flashback format, focusing on Zain’s life, including his encounter with an Ethiopian immigrant Rahil and her infant son Yonas, and leading up to his attempt to sue his parents for child neglect.

Children of heaven

Children of Heaven is a 1997 Iranian family drama film written and directed by Majid Majidi. It deals with a brother and sister, and their adventures over a lost pair of shoes. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1998.

The white balloon

The White Balloon is a 1995 Iranian film directed by Jafar Panahi, with a screenplay by Abbas Kiarostami. The film is on the BFI list of the 50 films you should see by the age of 14. The film is about a brother and sister and has several intense scenes.

Machuca

Machuca is a 2004 Chilean film written and directed by Andrés Wood. Set in 1973 Santiago during Salvador Allende’s socialist government until shortly after General Augusto Pinochet’s military coup in 1973, the film tells the story of two pupils: Gonzalo Infante comes from a rich family with a European background, while Pedro Machuca comes from an indigenous background and lives in very poor conditions. They meet at an elite, English-language Catholic school, where the director, Father McEnroe, is developing a social integration project.

Belfast

Belfast is a 2021 British coming-of-age drama film written and directed by Kenneth Branagh. The film chronicles the life of a working-class Ulster Protestant family from the perspective of their nine-year-old son Buddy during The Troubles in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Buddy’s father Pa works overseas in England, while the family—Ma, elder brother Will, and paternal grandparents Granny and Pop—live in Belfast.

Tare Zameen par

Taare Zameen Par (transl. Stars on land), also known as Like Stars on Earth in English, is a 2007 Indian Hindi-language drama film produced and directed by Aamir Khan. The film stars Khan himself, along with Darsheel Safary. The film explores the life and imagination of Ishaan (Safary), an 8-year-old dyslexic child. Although he excels in art, his poor academic performance leads his parents to send him to a boarding school. Ishaan’s new art teacher Nikumbh suspects that he is dyslexic and helps him to overcome his reading disorder.

Kakka muttai

Kaaka Muttai is a 2015 Indian Tamil-language comedy-drama film written, directed and filmed by M. Manikandan. The film’s storyline revolves around two slum children of Chennai, whose desire is to taste a pizza.

Life is beautiful

Life Is Beautiful is a 1997 Italian movie directed by and starring Roberto Benigni, who co-wrote the film with Vincenzo Cerami. Benigni plays Guido Orefice, a Jewish Italian bookshop owner, who employs his fertile imagination to shield his son from the horrors of internment in a Nazi concentration camp.

 Cinema paradiso

Cinema Paradiso is a 1988 coming-of-age drama film written and directed by Giuseppe Tornatore. Set in a small Sicilian town, the film centers on the friendship between a young boy and an aging projectionist who works at the titular movie theatre.

Central station

Central Station is a 1998 Brazilian–French drama film directed by Walter Salles and starring Fernanda Montenegro and Vinícius de Oliveira. The screenplay, adapted by João Emanuel Carneiro and Marcos Bernstein from a story by its director Walter Salles, tells the story of a young boy’s friendship with a jaded middle-aged woman

Sixth sense

The Sixth Sense is a 1999 American supernatural psychological thriller film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. It stars Bruce Willis as a child psychologist whose patient (Haley Joel Osment) can talk to the dead. The film established Shyamalan and introduced the cinema public to his traits, most notably his affinity for surprise endings

Doodling

Doodles are a common means of expression in today’s world. From Google’s daily doodles to Instagrammers’ daily posts, it is hard to pass an internet day without seeing a single doodle. Also, we all would have drawn a doodle at least once, while attending a bore lecture or during a uninteresting seminar.  More than those cartoons we see there are several other dimensions for a doodle. For some it is a stress buster and for some others it is a means of earnings. In this post, let us read more about doodles.

What is doodle?

A doodle is a drawing made while a person’s attention is otherwise occupied. Doodles are simple drawings that can have concrete representational meaning or may just be composed of random and abstract lines, generally without ever lifting the drawing device from the paper, in which case it is usually called a scribble.

It is generally associated with toddlers and as a means of increasing hand coordination. Typical examples of doodling are found in school notebooks, often in the margins, drawn by students daydreaming or losing interest during class.

Impacts of doodle

Effects on memory

According to a study published in the scientific journal Applied Cognitive Psychology, doodling can aid a person’s memory by expending just enough energy to keep one from daydreaming, which demands a lot of the brain’s processing power, as well as from not paying attention. Thus, it acts as a mediator between the spectrum of thinking too much or thinking too little and helps focus on the current situation. The study was done by Professor Jackie Andrade, of the School of Psychology at the University of Plymouth, who reported that doodlers in her experiment recalled 7.5 pieces of information (out of 16 total) on average, 29% more than the average of 5.8 recalled by the control group made of non-doodlers.

Comprehension skills

Doodling has positive effects on human comprehension as well. Creating visual depictions of information allows for a deeper understanding of material being learned. When doodling, a person is engaging neurological pathways in ways that allow for effective and efficient sifting and processing of information. For these reasons, doodling is used as an effective study tool and memory device.

As a therapeutic device

Doodling can be used as a stress relieving technique. This is similar to other motor activities such as fidgeting or pacing that are also used to alleviate mental stress. According to a review of over 9,000 submitted doodles, nearly 2/3 of respondents recalled doodling when in a “tense or restless state” as a means to reduce those feelings. Scientists believe that doodling’s stress relieving properties arise from the way that the act of doodling engages with the brain’s default mode network.

Types of doodling:

Zentangle

The Zentangle Method is an easy-to-learn, relaxing, and fun way to create beautiful images by drawing structured patterns. We call these patterns, tangles. You create tangles with combinations of dots, lines, simple curves, S-curves and orbs. These simple shapes are the “Elemental Strokes” in all Zentangle art.

Mandala

Mandala painting is a symbolic picture of the universe, the circle that represents wholeness, totality, infinity, timelessness, and unity. Mandala is famously known as a spiritual and ritual symbol in many Asian cultures.

Zendoodling

Zendoodling is the art of drawing designs using structured patterns or “Zentangle.” When you draw a Zen doodle, you’re creating a work of art, but you’re also deliberately creating a mood, focus, and state of mind.

RBI and credit control

ReserveBankOfIndia (@RBI) / Twitter

RBI governor, Shaktikanth Das, on May 4 2022 revised the repo rates. On this context, let us look more about the credit control measures adopted by Reserve bank of India.

Reserve bank is the apex body to control the banking system in India. As we all know banks are the major link in money supply. Thus, RBI can control the money in the economy by controlling the banks. These policies are termed as monetary policy.

RBI could adopt either quantitative or qualitative methods.

Quantitative methods

Statutory Liquidity Ratio

Statutory Liquidity Ratio or SLR is the minimum percentage of deposits that a commercial bank has to maintain in the form of liquid cash, gold or other securities. It is basically the reserve requirement that banks are expected to keep before offering credit to customers. The SLR is fixed by the RBI and is a form of control over the credit growth in India.

The government uses the SLR to regulate inflation and fuel growth. Increasing the SLR will control inflation in the economy while decreasing the statutory liquidity rate will cause growth in the economy. The SLR was prescribed by Section 24 (2A) of Banking Regulation Act, 1949.

Cash Reserve Ratio

CRR is an essential monetary policy tool used for controlling the money supply in the economy, a regulation implemented in almost every nation by the Central Bank of that country.

CRR rate is the minimum percentage of cash deposits (as specified by RBI) that must be maintained by every commercial bank as per the requirement of the Central Bank.

Cash Reserve Ratio Rate is computed as a percentage of the net demand and time liabilities of each bank. Net Demand and Time Liability is reached with the total of the savings account, current account, and fixed deposit balances.

Bank rate

Bank rate is a rate at which the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) provides the loan to commercial banks without keeping any security. There is no agreement on repurchase that will be drawn up or agreed upon with no collateral as well. The RBI allows short-term loans with the presence of collateral. This is known as Repo Rate. Bank Rates in India is determined by the RBI. It is usually higher than a Repo Rate on account of its ability to regulate liquidity.

Open market operations

Open market operations refer to the selling and purchasing of the treasury bills and government securities by the central bank of any country in order to regulate money supply in the economy.

It is one of the most important ways of monetary control that is exercised by the central banks. Under this system, the central bank sells securities in the market when it wants to reduce the money supply in the market. It is done to increase interest rates. This policy is also known as the contractionary monetary policy.

Similarly, when the central bank wants to increase the money supply in the market, it will purchase securities from the market. This step is taken to reduce the rate of interest and also to help in the economic growth of the country. This policy is known as the expansionary monetary policy.

Qualitative methods

Margin Requirement:

Margin requirement refers to the difference between the current value of the security offered for loan (called collateral) and the value of loan granted. It is a qualitative method of credit control adopted by the central bank in order to stabilize the economy from inflation or deflation.

Rationing of Credit:

Rationing of credit refers to fixation of credit quotas for different business activities which is introduced when the flow of credit is to be checked particularly for speculative activities in the economy.

Moral Suasion:

The central bank makes the member bank agree through persuasion or pressure to follow its directives which is generally not ignored by the member banks. The banks are advised to restrict the flow of credit during inflation and be liberal in lending during deflation.

Microfinance as a tool for financial inclusion

Traditional microfinance and borrower welfare - IGC Growth Brief

Indian economy is one of the developing economies in the world and is expected to reach new heights in the coming decades. But a sizeable population of this economy particularly the poor, underprivileged, disadvantaged and vulnerable group of people does not have access to most basic financial services. Formal lending agencies often left the poor unbanked on account of high levels of transaction cost incurred in lending to the poor. Their access to formal banking channels was constrained to their resource base as well as the nature of formal credit institutions. The demand for collateral security that a micro- borrower did not possess, the credit worthiness of the poor, high transaction cost due to difficulties in screening, and unattractive business proposition due to tiny savings and loans, were the deterrents faced by the formal lending institutions in loaning to the poor. Consequently, the poor continued to be dependent on informal sector lending, paying exorbitant rates of interest or underselling the product and their labor power to the creditor. Formal financial system was less accommodative to women.

The realization that this sort of unequitable development could not lead to the well -being of the society raised the need for financial inclusion. Financial inclusion is delivery of financial services like bank accounts, savings product, remittances and payment services, insurance, financial advisory services and micro credit to weaker sections in rural and urban areas at an affordable cost. It also involves actions to provide access to formal financial system like nationalized banks. Government of India and Reserve bank of India have taken series of measures and have experimented various alternatives to take financial services to the masses, but the task is stupendous, hence the pace of work should be accelerated and sustained. Since the formal banking system was limited to collateral based lending, there arose a need for developing a new system for financing the marginalized sections.

Microfinance by providing small loans and facilities to those who have been excluded from commercial financial services, has wider scope in the area of financial inclusion. The basic idea of microfinance is that poor people are ready and willing to pull themselves out of poverty if given access to economic inputs. The need for informality in credit delivery and easy access is denoted by the fast growth of microfinance providers in reaching out to small borrowers. The major microfinance providers in India are SHG-Bank linkage model, Non- Banking Financial Institutions and some trusts. Among these initiatives Self Help Groups have emerged out as an efficient alternative as they are uniquely positioned among the beneficiaries. Many of them operate over a limited geographical area, have a greater understanding among the rural poor, enjoy greater acceptability among the people and have flexibility in operations providing a level of comfort to their clientele. This fills the existing gap between formal financial networks and unfinanced poor weaker sections which is the intention of financial inclusion.

The SHG-bank linkage program gained extensive acceptance amongst NGO community and bankers. Establishing one million SHGs, the NABARD envisioned covering one third of the rural population in India. By the year 2002–03, promulgations were made for linking 200,000 SHGs. Visually perceiving SHG-bank linkage program emerging as a major way of banking with the poor in the ensuing years, the task force on microfinance estimated that at least 25,000 bank branches, 4000 NGOs, and 2000 federations of SHGs involving 0.10 million personnel of these institutions would scale up microfinance to a great magnitude.

For example, in Kerala, Kudumbashree Mission has emerged as one of the renowned Self-help group initiatives on a worldwide basis. Even though it was incorporated with the mission of women empowerment, it has grown out as source for economic empowerment for the marginalized sections of the society. It has outnumbered several other financial institutions in the case of provision of microfinance and has emerged out as a reliable tool for financial inclusion.

Colorful case of hydrogen

Hydrogen | Industries | Howden

Hydrogen is the chemical element with the symbol H and atomic number 1. Hydrogen is the lightest element. At standard conditions hydrogen is a gas of diatomic molecules having the formula H2. It is colorless, odorless, tasteless,[8] non-toxic, and highly combustible. Hydrogen is the most abundant chemical substance in the universe, constituting roughly 75% of all normal matter.

In the era of sustainability, Hydrogen could contribute significantly. It is considered as the fuel for future. It could be used in nuclear fusion and other innovative ideas which could be a game changer in current scenario.

Realizing the role of hydrogen, it has been classified into different categories based on color. They are:

Green hydrogen

Green hydrogen is hydrogen produced by splitting water by electrolysis. This produces only hydrogen and oxygen. We can use the hydrogen and vent the oxygen to the atmosphere with no negative impact. To achieve the electrolysis we need electricity, we need power.

Blue hydrogen

Blue hydrogen is touted as a low-carbon fuel that is used for generating electricity, heating buildings, and powering cars, trains, trucks etc. It is produced by separating natural gas into hydrogen and carbon dioxide (CO2). Blue hydrogen is often touted as a low-carbon fuel for generating electricity and storing energy, powering cars, trucks and trains and heating buildings.

Grey hydrogen

Grey Hydrogen is hydrogen produced using fossil fuels such as natural gas. Unfortunately, this accounts from roughly 95% of the hydrogen produced in the world today. Most of the hydrogen produced today is gray hydrogen. It is relatively inexpensive and commonly used in the chemical industry to make fertilizer and for refining oil.

Black or brown hydrogen

Black or brown hydrogen is produced from coal. The black and brown colors refer to the type bituminous (black) and lignite (brown) coal. The gasification of coal is a method used to produce hydrogen. It’s considered the least environmentally friendly, creating as much carbon dioxide as burning the source fuel would have in the first place.  For every tons of brown hydrogen produced, around 10-12 tons of CO2 are produced.

Turquoise hydrogen

Turquoise hydrogen is made using a process called methane pyrolysis to produce hydrogen and solid carbon. In the future, turquoise hydrogen may be valued as a low-emission hydrogen, dependent on the thermal process being powered with renewable energy and the carbon being permanently stored or used.

Purple hydrogen

Nuclear-produced hydrogen can also be referred to as purple hydrogen or red hydrogen. In addition, the very high temperatures from nuclear reactors could be used in other hydrogen productions by producing steam for more efficient electrolysis or fossil gas-based steam methane reforming.

Pink hydrogen

Pink hydrogen is generated through electrolysis powered by nuclear energy. Nuclear-produced hydrogen can also be referred to as purple hydrogen or red hydrogen. The Saudi royal and politician said that women are particularly pleased to see progress being made in this industry.

White hydrogen

White hydrogen is a naturally-occurring geological hydrogen found in underground deposits and created through fracking. There are no strategies to exploit this hydrogen at present.

Writs and provisions

The Constitution of India. | Library of Congress

Judiciary is one of the most powerful organs of Indian democracy. It has got the power to uphold the provisions laid down by the constitutions. In order to facilitate this, there are several provisions and one such provision is writs.

A Writ means a command of the Court to another person or authority by which such person/authority has to act or abstain from acting in a certain way. Thus, writs are a very essential part of the judicial power of the Courts.

In India, the supreme court and high courts can issue several writs according to the provisions of article 32 and article 226 accordingly. Further, the parliament can empower any other court to issue these writs. So far, no such provisions have been made.

The writs are borrowed from English law where they are known as ‘prerogative writs. They are so called in England as they were issued in the exercise of the prerogative of the king who has and is still, described as the ‘fountain of justice’.

Some Writs mentioned in the constitution are:

Habeas corpus

It is a Latin term which literally means ‘to have the body of’. It is an order issued by the court to a person who has detained another person, to produce the body of latter before it. The court then examines the legality and cause of the detention. It would set the detained person free, if the detention is found to be illegal. Thus, this writ is a bulwark of individual liberty against arbitrary detention.

Mandamus

It literally means ‘we command’. It is a command issued by the court to a public official asking him to perform his official duties that he has failed or refused to perform. It can also be issued against any public body, a corporation, an inferior court, a tribunal or government for the same purpose.

Prohibition

Literally, it means ‘to forbid’. It is issued by a higher court to a lower court or tribunal to prevent the latter from exceeding its jurisdiction or usurping a jurisdiction that it does not possess. Thus, unlike mandamus that directs activity, the prohibition directs inactivity. The writ of prohibition can be issued only against judicial and quasi-judicial authorities. It is not available against administrative authorities, legislative bodies and private individuals or bodies.

Certiorari

In the literal sense, it means ‘to be certified’ or ‘to be informed’. It is issued by a higher court to a lower court or tribunal either to transfer a case pending with the latter to itself or to squash the order of the latter in a case. It is issued on the grounds of excess of jurisdiction or lack of jurisdiction or error of law. Thus, unlike prohibition, which is only preventive, certiorari is both preventive as well as curative. It is not available against administrative authorities, legislative bodies and private individuals or bodies

Quo warranto

In literal sense it means ‘by what authority or warrant’. It is issued by the court to enquire into the legality of claim of a person to a public office by a person. Unlike the other four writs, this can be sought by any interested person and not necessarily by the aggrieved person.

NITI Aayog

NITI Aayog is a government of India policy Think tank established in 2015 after dissolving the planning commission. “Nithi” means policy and “Aayog” means commission. It will seek to provide a critical directional and strategic input into the development process. It will emerge as a “think tank” that will provide central and state government with relevant strategic and technical advice across the spectrum of key elements of policy. It will also put an end to slow and delayed implementation of policy, by nurturing better inter ministry and inter state coordination. It develops a shared vision of national development priorities and promote cooperative federalism, recognizing that strong states make strong nation.

Structure of NITI Aayog:

-Prime minister as chairperson

-Governing council comprising the chief ministers of all states and union territories with legislatures and lieutenant governors of all other UTs.

-Regional council will be formed to address specific issues impacting specific states or a region.

-Experts, specialists and practitioners with relevant domain knowledge as special invitees nominated by prime minister.

-Full time organizational framework comprising: Vice chairperson, two full time members, two part time members, ex officio members and chief executive officer

-Secretariat

Objectives of NITI Aayog

-An administration paradigm in which government is the enabler.

-Progress from food security to focus on a mix of agricultural production

-Ensure that India is an active player in the global commons.

-Ensure that the middleclass remains engaged and its potential is fully realized

-Leverage India’s pool of human resource

-Incorporate the significant geo economic and geo political strength of non-resident Indian community.

-Use urbanization as an opportunity to create a wholesome and secure habitat through the use of modern technology

-Use technology to reduce opacity and potential for failures in governance.

Functions of NITI Aayog

-Cooperative and competitive federalism

It enables to have active participation of states in the formulation of national policy

-Shared national agenda

Evolve a shared vision of national development, priorities and strategies with the active involvement of states

-State’s best friend at the center

Support states in addressing their own challenges, building on strengths and comparative advantage

-Decentralized planning

Restructure the planning process into a bottom-up model

-Vision and scenario planning

Design medium and long-term strategic framework across all sectors.  Identify critical gaps and harness untapped potentialities.

-Domain strategies

Build a repository of specialized domain expertise to assist central and state government.

-Network of expertise

Inculcate mainstream external ideas and expertise into government policies

-Knowledge and innovation hub

It aims to be an accumulator as well as disseminator of research and best practices on good governance

-Harmonization

Facilitate harmonization of actions across different layers of government through communication and coordination

-Conflict resolution

Provide a platform for mutual resolution of inter sectoral, inter departmental, inter state as well as center state issues.

-Coordinating interface with the world

Be the nodal point for strategically harnessing global expertise and resources from multilateral platforms

-Internal consultancy

Offer an inter consultancy function to central and state governments on policy and program design

-Capacity building

Enable capacity building and technology upgradation across government

-Monitoring and evaluation

Monitor the implementation of policies and programs and evaluate their impact through tracking for performance and evaluation.

Stages in the evolution of a business

Indian economy: Business optimism in India at near 8-year high: Report - The Economic Times

Business refers to the Organization or enterprising entity engaged in commercial, industrial or professional activities. Business activities have existed since ancient ages and over the period it has evolved according to the changes in its environment. Earlier it was limited to mere exchange of goods in return for other and then with the change in conditions it has reached to a stage where people could buy a good or avail a service from a seller who is miles apart even without face-to-face interface.

            In the era of globalization, the scope of a business is very large. There are several examples of businesses growing into huge enterprises from a small virtual venture which even lacked a physical existence in its early stages. Similar to the steps of a ladder, there are several stages like local business, regional business, national business, international business and global business.

Local business

Local business is the first stage of a business enterprise and it exists in the limits of a locality. A local area comprises of surrounding neighborhoods, adjacent areas where native community  lives. The local economy is the most primitive form of economy. It existed since ages. It focuses on a particular locality and acts according to the culture and traditions of the society. The customer base of a local business is very limited as its area of operation is only that locality.

Regional business

Regional business concentrates on different regions of a nation. A region is a unit on earth’s surface that has unifying and defining characteristics. It focuses on a regional area and provides a variety of commodities. It is a business between different areas within a country. Credit sales play an important role in this business. It helps in developing better quality infrastructure and transportation facilities

National business

National business is one that operates within the borders of a particular country. It has a business and customer base across a nation and understands the culture of the country. Since a national business has more locations than a local or regional business, it can be more competitive with its pricing. A nation is an organized political union of its member states.

International business

International business is business among different nations. Nations satisfy each other’s needs by supplying their surpluses and in return brings home the scanty resources. International means It means interaction between two or more nations. It is used as an analog to the word foreign.

Global business

It is a business which operates worldwide. It is the pinnacle of any business enterprise. Global means means entire Earth and not just one or two nations. It is synonymous to universal and worldwide. It has a wider scope than international business.

The basic idea to be imbibed from this topic is that no business becomes huge overnight. Just like human beings, a business also takes time to grow. Not all local businesses emerge out as global giants. Only those firms which could identify the changes in the environment and could act accordingly would be able to reach its pinnacle.

Life insurance corporation of India

LIC share Market Price: Life Insurance Corporation's market share falls below 70%

Life insurance corporation of India has initiated its initial public offer for five percent of its shares. It is one of the largest profit-making enterprises owned by the government of India. In this instance, it is important to know more about this enterprise.

LIC or Life Insurance corporation of India was started in the year 1956 in accordance with the Life insurance corporation of India act of 1956. As India was following a socialistic approach of economic development, LIC was introduced as an enterprise owned and operated by the government of India.

Story of formation

The Oriental Life Insurance Company, the first company in India offering life insurance coverage, was established in Kolkata in 1818. Its primary target market was the Europeans based in India, and it charged Indians heftier premiums. After that several companies emerged. The first 150 years were marked mostly by turbulent economic conditions. It witnessed India’s First War of Independence, adverse effects of the World War I and World War II on the economy of India, and in between them the period of worldwide economic crises triggered by the Great depression. The first half of the 20th century saw a heightened struggle for India’s independence. The aggregate effect of these events led to a high rate of and liquidation of life insurance companies in India. This had adversely affected the faith of the general in the utility of obtaining life cover. In 1955, parliamentarian Feroze Gandhi raised the matter of insurance fraud by owners of private insurance agencies. The Parliament of India passed the Life Insurance of India Act on 19 June 1956 creating the Life Insurance Corporation of India, which started operating in September of that year.

Structure

The LIC’s executive board consists of Chairman, currently M R Kumar, and Managing Directors, Vipin Anand, T. C. Suseel Kumar, Mukesh Kumar Gupta and Raj Kumar. The Central Office of LIC is based out of Mumbai which sits The Chairman, all four Managing Directors, and all Executive Directors (Department Heads). LIC has a total of 8 Zonal Offices namely Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Kanpur, Kolkata, Bhopal & Patna.

Policies

Some important policies are:

LIC tech term plan

LIC Jeevan Umang

LIC Jeevan Amar

LIC Money back years

LIC New Jeevan Anand

Role of LIC

It has been a significant driver in creating the culture of investment in insurance. It has made insurance accessible to the economically weaker sections. The long-term schemes with affordable premiums made it highly attractive. The role of Life insurance corporation as an employer is also applaudable. It provides employment to many. More than all, many other insurance firms in India has benefitted out of the trust built by LIC.

Initial public offering

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a proposal to conduct an initial public offering for LIC in the 2021 Union Budget. The IPO opens on 4th May 2022 and closes on 9th May 2022. The Government of India will remain the majority shareholder after the public listing. Due to the scale of the offering and LIC’s ownership structure, the deal has been referred to as “India’s Aramco moment” in reference comparable importance and scale of 2019 IPO of Saudi Aramco. The latest development in the LIC IPO is the slashing of issue size from 5% to 3.5% of total equity of the company. LIC will open its IPO to the public on May 4 and the process concludes on May 9. Through this IPO, the Government of India, the sole owner of LIC, is now aiming to raise ₹21,000 crore, as opposed to raising between ₹65,000 crore to ₹70,000 crore by diluting 5% equity earlier, indicating more than 50% compromise on valuation as well. As per the IPO price band for 3.5% stakes for Rs. 21,000 crores, the valuation comes to around Rs 6 lakh crore.