The Goose Fish

In the first stanza, two lovers and their actions are visualized and beautified. For example, the speaker describes thrill and romance of their love by using poetic expressions such as â€Å"For them by the swift tide of blood/That silently they took at flood,/And for a little time they prized/Themselves impressed. â€Å". Then, In the second stanza, There is a turn with the appearance of a goose fish (â€Å"The goose fish turning up, though dead/His hugely grinning head†). At the same time, air of the poem changes. (â€Å"Then, as if shaken by stage-fright†) The goose fish and its tenderness strongly contrast with sweet atmosphere two lovers created before.As the author of the textbook says, Their sudden discovery of the fish, a rude shock, Injects a grotesque, almost macabre, not Into the poem. The goose fish plays a key role In revealing and symbolizing the couple's love. After sudden appearance of the goose fish, the narrator portrays how two lovers respond to it. They are â€Å"Embarrassed in each other's sight†¦ As though the world had found them out† From these lines, It is inferred that the couple, so passionate and eager that they feel ‘impressed' to e together, is having illicit, secret relationship.Although they feel a sense of guilt for a moment, they think about its meaning and decide to take the fish as an emblem of their love. (â€Å"He might mean failure or success. /But took it for an emblem of/ Their sudden, new and guilty love/To be observed by, when they kissed/That rigid optimist. â€Å"). Just like relationship of the couple, the goose fish stands for ambiguity. Their affair Is Illicit, so they feel embarrassment, guilt, and shame. But at the same time, It makes them feel pleasure, whether It's sexual or emotional. Similarly, the fish's presence doesn't give clear meaning to them.It's rather mysterious. (It was a wide and moony grin/Together peaceful and obscene:/They knew not what he would express†¦ He might mean failure or success). It could be a friend, a comedian, an optimist, an emblem, or a patriarch. The moon' also makes frequent appearances and gives a sort of consistency. In the first stanza, the moon creates a romantic atmosphere, in which main focus is two lovers. (On the long shore, lit by the moon/To show them properly alone. ) In the second stanza, the moon also sheds light on the goose fish, giving strong impact to the scene. Beneath the moon's bony light†¦ The goose fish turning up, though deadheads hugely grinning head. ) Also, according to the text book, the moon makes indirect appearance in the third stanza, too. (The moon's light comes to seem fragile – â€Å"china† – as It exposes the fish directly; the moon's role as lookout and protector seems abandoned, or at least endangered. And In the last stanza, the moon went down to disappear', marking the end of the poem. The Goose Fish By emergency than what it is in real life. ‘T he goose Fish' is a fairly typical case of the kind.Using visual images and strong contrast, the speaker articulates his interpretations. In following paragraphs three points, how the narrator used irony and strong contrast, what the goose fish means and represents, and how the moon involves in the poem, they took at flooding for a little time they prized/Themselves impressed. â€Å". Then, injects a grotesque, almost macabre, not into the poem. The goose fish plays a key role in revealing and symbolizing the couple's love. After sudden appearance of the Their affair is illicit, so they feel embarrassment, guilt, and shame.But at the same mime, It makes them feel pleasure, whether it's sexual or emotional. Similarly, the fish's presence doesn't give clear meaning to them. It's rather mysterious. (It was a wide and moony grin/Together peaceful and obscene;/They knew not what he would optimist, an emblem, or a patriarch. ‘The moon' also makes frequent appearances goose fish tur ning up, though dead,/His hugely grinning head. ) Also, according to the light comes to seem fragile – â€Å"china† – as it exposes the fish directly; the moon's role as lookout and protector seems abandoned, or at least endangered. ). And in the last

Children Life Essay

1.1 Mention the characteristics and needs of children that should be taken into account when selecting suitable literature. Emotions: Identification: A child must be able to identify with the story. Enjoyment: They must be able to enjoy the story. Moderate emotion: should show some emotion. Security: Child should feel safe. Intellectual Abilities: The story must be logical (as much as possible) it should also be systematic and consistent. It is more convincing when written from child’s point of view. Normative development: Should be based on natural feeling for values, without any serious and obvious moralizing. 1.2 What is the value of media in telling a story? Mention five (5) points. Can improve the young child’s visual literacy – e.g. – red light means stop. Can improve visual skills – Acquires the skill of Depth perception. Will help achieve a better understanding of new concepts – pictures are a representation of reality; provide a bridge between the real representation of something and its abstract image. Can stimulate children to use creative language – can let them discuss interesting aspects of an illustration. Can advance the reading readiness of the child. – they need to make fine discriminations and to interpret a series of symbols in order to read and spell. 1.3 Explain how a child’s language development can be improved by telling and reading stories. List your points. Expanding vocabulary Improving oral Language Using Creative Language Creating a desire to read Listening skills 1.4 How does poetry foster development in young children? Refer to four (4) instances. Can be used to further the child’s total development Intellectual Conscious Emotional Imaginative 1.5 How does children’s literature promote intellectual development? Mention  five (5) ways. In aiding their discovery and refinement of new concepts. Cultivating their proficiency in a range of thinking processes. Furthering their ability to reason logically. Fostering their critical thinking. Introducing them to problem solving. Question 2 Discuss the characteristics of children in the following age groups and explain how this influences the choice of suitable literature. 2.1 Babies 2.2 Children aged one to three years 2.3 Children aged four to five years 2.4 Children in grade R 2.5 Children in the Foundation Phase 2.6 Babies: 2.7 Characteristics 2.8 Influences of suitable Literature They are busy discovering the world around them. They need continual repetition of what they know and what is familiar. Babies can only give their attention to an activity for a short time. It is vital for them to hear language. Simple pictures of objects so they will recognize them from their immediate environment. Not much details in pictures, only one subject. They should sit on your lap so their need for physical contact can be met. Pages should be strong so they cannot be damaged easily. Children aged one (1) to three (3) years: Characteristics Influences of suitable Literature Rapid language development their vocabulary expands quickly, sentences put together become more correct and complete. Enormously interested in everything that happens around them. Enjoy repetition. Likes bright, cheerful colors and pictures. Becoming more skillful, can pick up something with their fingers. Beginning to take an interest in people, things and animals that is not a part of everyday life. Picture books from baby years still favorites. Picture books can now have themes outside immediate environment. Pictures should be bright, cheerful colors and can include a certain amount of detail. From 2 years, children are able to enjoy simple story books. Enjoy simple stories include a lot of repetition. Children of this age want to look at book themselves – ensure strong pages. Children aged four (4) to five (5) years: Characteristics Influences of suitable Literature Interest has broadened to include more than themselves and environment. Interest in other people. Cannot distinguish between fantasy and reality. 4 year old enjoy comical language, word games and words that represent sound. Enjoy obvious, silly jokes and often behave in rather silly ways themselves. Love exaggeration even when telling it themselves. Children of this age can now sit quietly and can concentrate for longer. Enjoys stories about â€Å"unknown†. Themes outside environment are perfectly appropriate. They enjoy and understand stories about events that â€Å"could† happen, however improbable. Funny stories, silly and full of exaggeration. Stories/books about people, animals and objects how to grow. They can look at a book for a longer period of time, and can listen attentively for longer. Favorite stories of 3 – 4 therefore suitable for this age group – not for long. Children in grade R Characteristics Influences of suitable Literature This age allows for broadening children’s understanding of the word around  them. 5 – 6 year olds can distinguish between fantasy and reality. Very inquisitive and eager to learn. Enjoy new discoveries and adventures. 6 year olds are no longer egocentric, and already have a more objective view of themselves and the world around them. 6 year olds begin to take an interest in no words and letters. 6 year olds with lots of exposure to books are keen and ready to be introduced to reading activities. 5 – 6 enjoys fantasies Like stories and books that convey info in a straight forward way. Simple adventure stories and books are suitable. Themes deal with less familiar, such as children from other countries. Children in the Foundation Phase Characteristics Influences of suitable Literature Children starting school are starting to read and gradually improve their mastering of this skill. When they start school they have a good grasp of the difference between fantasy and reality – of what can happen. Increasing responsible realization of right and wrong, and they begin to express their own judgment of right and wrong. Friends become extremely important and have an enormous influence on what a child wishes to do. Children develop an interest in hobbies – particularly in things they themselves can make or do. Stories with simple text that they can read. Enjoy fantasy tales, particularly those that are exaggeratedly â€Å"marvelous† (Roald Dahl) Books featuring descriptive language are also enjoyable, their stories must contain plenty action. Enjoy stories that teach them how to make things such as cook books. Humorous books.

Case for Analysis Marching Towards Market Essay Example for Free

Case for Analysis Marching Towards Market Essay Whirlpool Corporation is a Fortune 500 company and a global manufacturer and marketer of major home appliances, with annual sales of approximately $20 billion. Whirlpool entered the Indian market in the late 80s, and had entrenched itself as a formidable player in the Indian home appliances market by the mid 1990s, with a comprehensive product portfolio covering washing machines, refrigerator, microwave ovens and air conditioners. Today, Whirlpool is one of the most recognized brand in home appliances in India and holds a market share of over 20%. While Whirlpool is an acknowledged player in many of the water purifier markets across the world for the past several years now, Whirlpool entered the growing water purifier market in India in 2008. Given its focus on â€Å"attaining market leadership through Customer loyalty†, Whirlpool aspires to be the market leader in the water purifier market by 2012. This case presents the situation of the water purifier market in India, and poses challenges that Whirlpool will have to overcome to achieve its vision of becoming the market leaders. Even as world bodies and governments across the continents are strategizing to manage the growth humanity in a holistically sustainable manner, availability of safe drinking is a major area of concern for all. As high as 884 Mn people in the world do not have access to safe water. This is roughly  one in eight of the world’s population. 1.4 million children die every year from diarrhoea caused by unclean water and poor sanitation – one child every 20 seconds. Approximately 80% of diseases in India are caused by water borne micro organisms. This is true in rural as well as urban India. However, awareness of health risks linked to unsafe water The use of water can be broadly divided in to two major categories, namely for Consumption (drinking, cooking etc) and Sanitation. This case focuses on water used for drinking purposes. Throughout human history, different methods of treating water before consumption have been devised. Up until about 100 years ago, it was always found that water flowing from natural springs was safe for drinking in its natural state, but in the 21 century even spring water is first scientifically tested before it is recommended or bottled for drinking. Each of the above methods carries with them significant disadvantages either from a convenience point of view or from health and hygiene perspective. This calls for more sophisticated methods of purifying water, to suit with the evolving lifestyles in the societies. Current State-of-the-Art Water Purification Technologies Today, the more sophisticated and commercially available water purifying technologies are, †¢ †¢ †¢ Manual fill Purifier (Drip Type) Ultra Violet (UV) purification Reverse Osmosis (RO) purification The latter two are generally referred to as Electronic Water Purifier technologies (EWP); by exception, the first one is referred to as Non EWP.  The above three are given in the order of chronological evolution, with RO technology being the latest in the Water Purification technology. The manual fill purifiers do not run on electricity, which is a scarce resource in many parts of rural India, and also have significantly lower costs in comparison to the EWPs. Interestingly , these manual fill purifiers which primarily use chlorine or UF technology are at par in performance with UV in terms of microbial protection. UV has been the oldest technology in the industry. It typically involves preliminary stages of filtration, followed by treating the filtered water through UV rays to deactivate the microbial organisms.   In the RO technology, even the smallest of microbial organisms are filtered using the reverse osmosis technology. RO technology especially scores over UV when the Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) count in the source water is high . One disadvantage of RO systems is the wastage of significant quantum of water during its processing. Needless to say, the costs of the products under these different technologies increase from manual fill purifiers to UV purification systems to RO purification. The typical price range of manual fill purifier products is Rs. 1500 to Rs. 3500, while the UV products range in price between Rs. 4000 to Rs. 9000. The RO products are priced on the higher side starting from Rs. 8000 to Rs. 20000. Many products available in the market today in India use a combination of technologies but for the products in the lower end technologies (manual fill purifiers). Water Purifier Market in India The delivery of purified water in the Indian markets follow two conduits, namely, water purified in purification plants delivered to residences and other consumption locations (e.g. restaurants) in cans; and installation of water purification instruments at the place of usage. While the former  One of the oldest methods of treating water, and one still used constantly in Third World and often in developing nations or areas that have seen recent natural disasters, is boiling to kill microbes (but this causes loss of taste and may leave in dirt). Other methods of water treatment include filtering and distilling, use of chemical agents such as Iodine or Silver or Potassium Permanganate into the water supply, or the use of candle filters. methodology predominantly uses multiple technologies mentioned above, provides economies of scale and eliminates initial costs of investing in equipments, the costs involved in distribution of the treated water counters these economies of scale. The l atter provides for visibility and ease of use, which are significant perceived benefits in comparison to the former. While both the delivery mechanisms exist, the latter is fast catching up. This case focuses on the latter, which is typically referred to as the Water Purifier industry. This industry is broadly divided in to two categories namely Electronic Water Purifiers (EWP) comprising of products using UV or/and RO technologies and Non Electronic Water Purifiers (Non EWP) comprising of products that use the manual fill purifiers. Frost and Sullivan report of primary research in 2009, estimates the total market size of the Water Purifier industry in India to be 2000 Cr of which 63% is from product sales and 37% is after sales revenue. Despite the size of this industry, the Water Purifier industry in India has a low penetration (2% Urban and 0.5% All India) as per IRS 2007 and is growing at a strong rate (others use traditional water treatment methods like boiling and filtering, or use of chemical additives like Chlorine, Potassium permanganate etc). As per AC Nielson 2006 study( and internal estimates), the industry is expected to touch approx 2.3 mn units by the end of 2009. Expected growth rate of 15% and a CAGR (‘04-‘09) 21%. The average ASV of the industry is Rs 6700. With a size of approx 1.7mn (units), the EWP market is divided into 2 sub-segments – RO (30% sal) & UV (70%). The RO segment is the premium end of the category and has an ASV of Rs 12000 while UV has an ASV of Rs. 7000 .RO & UV growths , CAGRs(‘04-‘09) are (15% ,16%) and (10% ,10%) respectively. The Non-EWP segment operates at a sub 2K ASV (Rs 1900). This segment is witnessing an explosive growth with the entrance major players like HUL etc . The Annual growth rate was witnessed at 25% while CAGR(‘04-‘09) at 77%. It is important to note that the technology sold in a given local market is also dependent largely on the characteristics of the source drinking water in the given demography. For example, a region like Delhi with high TDS calls for RO technology, while regions like Cochin with low TDS would depend on products with UV technology. Also, one of the detriments to EWP products is the availability of continuous flow of source water and availability of power, both of which advantages are addressed the products dependent on Manual Fill Purifier technology. While the major element of the market in the water purifier equipment business in India is still in the unorganized sector, branded products are catching up and their market share is improving. The major branded players in the market are Eureka Forbes (AquaGuard, AquaSure brands), Kent, Philips, HUL (Pureit), Ion Exchange (Zero B) Ushabrita and Whirlpool (Purafresh). As per Frost and Sullivan report 2009 , Market share by player and by technology- Approx Shares ( for 2008) Eureka Forbes: RO(20%) , UV(35%) , Drip Type(33%) Kent: RO(25%) , UV(0%) , Drip Type(0%) ZeroB: RO(15%) , UV(0%) , Drip Type(0%) HUL : RO(0%) , UV(0%) , Drip Type(42%) OTH: RO(40%) , UV(65%) , Drip Type(25%) The Non-EWP segment was primarily dominated by local players until recently, when HUL entered the category with its drip type purifier under the brand Pureit at a break through price of Rs 1800 and took the market by storm. The other key players in this segment are Ushabrita & Eureka Forbes. The channel for this segment has traditionally been the Direct to Home (DTH) route, with this route still accounting for a whopping 65% of the product sales in this category. The ratio of Eureka Forbes’ DTH sales is higher at 75%. On the trade side(contribution bal 35%), the DAP channel (Domestic Appliances Products) accounts for the larger proportion of the share with 65% while the Durable Trade accounts for the remaining 35%. The DAP Channel mainly consists of small appliance sellers  who sell products like iron , blenders , mixers , gas burners etc. These retailers primarily sell products which lie within the price range of Rs 500-Rs 5000. They are typically not in the prime locations in the market place and their shopfloor size is on an avg10X10ft. The products are displayed mostly in a packed form. The products are sold very close to the MRP and the discounts offered are in the range of only 5-10% HUL has made an entry through a unique channel. It has opened up a large number of ‘Water Safe Zones’ / â€Å"Product Experience Centres’ and is pushing the volumes from there while catering to direct to home service as well While HUL is establishing itself in the entry level segment through consistent advertising and promotions , the more established players in UV & RO like Eureka & Kent too are active in the media space and are seen promoting their products through several media elements. Recently, HUL was seen rolling out a ‘Rs 1 Crore’ challenge offer and heavily promoting the same. At the same time Eureka Forbes was also seen throwing a ‘Money Back Guarantee’ offer on its products. Eureka Forbes operates with a strong sales& service force of 6000 people on the company rolls along with an equally large group of third party franchises. The company has been under pressure to expand its volumes since the avg the productivity of its sales team has come down over years. Lately, they have been seen heavily focussing on retail through their ‘Aquasure’ brand while the ‘Aquaguard’ brand is operating in the DTH section. Kent has its own sales & service set up in Northern India while it depends on third party franchises for its operation in the rest of the country. It has branch offices in 6 cities (AP , Karnataka, Kerala , Mumbai , Gujarat , West Bengal). In order to counter HUL’s explosive growth, Kent recently rolled out a NON-EWP (UF based) purifier at a price of Rs 2500 under the sub-brand  Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Kent Gold’. This product is being primarily marketed through the retail channel. HUL has set up its Safe water zones with external KSPs ( Key service providers) while continuing to have its internal sales team supervising the operations . In Delhi for example , it has 27 such zones with a sales team of 750 sales men, 17 Territory sales executives (TSE) , 3 business development executives (BDE) , 1 area head.(AH) and 2 service officers . The TSEs, BDEs & AH are on company rolls. The following table summarizes the typical product price points in the various segments. Price range (In Rs) Unorganized 1500-2500 4000-6000 8000-12000 Organized 2000 – 3500 6000-9000 8000-20000 Whirlpool Not Applicable Not Applicable 12500-20500 Segment Non EWP Ultra Violet (UV) Reverse Osmosis (RO) Whirlpool’s entry in the Water Purifier Market in India Whirlpool has been present in the Water category in all the key regions of the world including US, Canada, NAR, Europe, Brazil, Mexico & Asia in several value added segments like water heaters, bottled water dispensers, water softeners , Refrigerator filters etc. Whirlpool entered the Water Purifier Market in India in the early 2008 to tap in to the growing Water Purifier Market, focused on the RO segment to start with, with the launch of the Purafresh range of purifiers. Currently, Whirlpool Water Purifier products are available across all markets in the country. Whirlpool has garnered a Market Share of 5% in the RO segment in the past 1  ½ years. The Water purifier category is a perfect brand fit for Whirlpool. It is a home appliance used by the home maker to provide safe and pure drinking water to her family, thus building a strong case of placing trust in the brand. This category will lend a lot of credibility to the Whirlpool brand. Whirlpool’s communication strategy also revolves around reinforcing this element of Trust. Equipped with Whirlpool’s patented ‘6th Sense’ technology, the new ‘Purafresh’ water purifier is the first Reverse Osmosis system on the market that not only purifies but also protects the purity and freshness of the water with its prestigious gold seal certification (from GOLD Seal of Water Quality Association, USA WQA). Purafresh is available in three models – Purafresh Platinum, Purafresh Elite and Purafresh Deluxe. Given the situation described above, suggest a comprehensive â€Å"Go-To-Market† plan following a systematic methodology for Whirlpool to achieve its overall objective of achieving market leadership in the Water Purifier Market (in the organized sector) by 2012, and its interim goal of achieving market leadership in the RO segment, ensuring its premium brand image, and its operational philosophies (given in the annexure for ready reference). A) Understanding and presentation by a Systematic methodology. B)Inputs: Should reflect comprehensive understanding of the company and competitive environment. 1) Analyze company development , history, Growths. 2) Identify Strengths , weaknesses , 3) Analysis of external environment (Porter 5 forces , SWOT etc) C) Outputs: Understating should result in output 1) Strategy on all 4 P’s 2) Channel Strategy ( Spl Focus) a) Evaluation of SWOT b) Key market insights c) Business Level Strategy d) Recommendations (including articulation of hypothesis) e) innovative approach especially in the communication/promotion strategy Phase II Build a detailed business plan arising out of the above strategic plan, and project the profitability of this business over time, including investments that may be required for new products and their market entries, while achieving this objective. Recommendation evaluated by 1) Strategy 2) Product choice 2) Financials ( volumes, Margins , costs , etc) 3) Process of executing strategy 4) Innovative approach/ideas. {In the first phase, the second phase question and related references should not be circulated} Whirlpool’s high end Purafresh platinum model, is India’s first and Only Direct Flow RO with no storage tank enabling immediate consumption of freshly purified water with 72 litres per hour capacity (Normal RO products have 8-10 litres per hour capacity). It has an advanced 5-stage purification process and also boasts of a first–of–its–kind electronic interface with a ‘Filter change indicator’, which alerts the consumer on the need to change the filter and thus ensures continual purity & protection of the water. Other diagnostics functions like no water on tap indication, self cleaning mode indication, and water extraction indication makes it the most advanced and best in class product available in the Indian market today. Whirlpool entered the Indian market mainly leveraging their strength in the durable retail channel and has the highest share (30%) of all Water Purifier sales in this channel. Whirlpool has also entered the DAP Channe l and are currently having a 10% share in that channel. The â€Å"Surging to Lead† Challenge Given its focus on â€Å"attaining market leadership through Customer loyalty†, Whirlpool aspires to be the market leader in the water purifier market by 2012, with an interim goal of attaining market leadership in the RO segment by 2010, while at the same time maintaining its brand position. This, no doubt, is a challenging aspiration for Whirlpool, given the well entrenched players in the market like Eureka Forbes, aggressive players like HUL who is focused on tapping the market at the â€Å"Bottom of the Pyramid† and a large unorganized market who would significantly benefit from the growth fuelled by these players. However, Whirlpool has to its advantage of its strong brand position in the hearts and minds of the home makers, and a strong, well established channel in the white goods market. The challenge for Whirlpool is to leverage its strengths, and perhaps work out completely innovative market strategies if it has to achieve its intent of becoming a  market lea der in the Water Purifier Market in general, and that in the RO segment. Annexure : A brief about Whirlpool Whirlpool, right from its inception in 1911 as first commercial manufacturer of motorized washers to the current market position of being world’s number one manufacturer and marketer of major home appliances, has always set industry milestones and benchmarks. The parent company is headquartered at Benton Harbor, Michigan, USA with a global presence in over 170 countries and manufacturing operation in 13 countries with 11 major brand names such as Whirlpool, KitchenAid, Roper, Estate, Bauknecht, Laden and Ignis. The company boasts of resources and capabilities beyond achievable feat of any other in the industry. Whirlpool initiated its international expansion in 1958 by entering Brazil. However, it emerged as truly global leader in the1980’s. This encouraging trend brought the company to India in the late 1980s. It forayed into the market under a joint venture with TVS group and established the first Whirlpool manufacturing facility in Pondicherry. Soon Whirlpool acquired Kelvinator India Limited in 1995 and marked an entry into Indian refrigerator market as well. The same year also saw acquisition of major share in TVS joint venture and later in 1996, Kelvinator and TVS acquisitions were merged to create Indian home appliance leader of the future, Whirlpool India. This expanded the company’s portfolio in the Indian subcontinent to washing machines, refrigerator, microwave ovens and air conditioners. Today, Whirlpool is the most recognized brand in home appliances in India and holds a market share of over 20%. The company owns three state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities at Faridabad, Pondicherry and Pune. Each of these manufacturing set-ups features an infrastructure that is witness of Whirlpool’s commitment to consumer interests and advanced  technology. In the year ending in March ’09, the annual turnover of the company for its Indian enterprise was Rs.1,719 Crores. The company’s brand and image speaks of its commitment to the homemaker from every aspect of its functioning. It has derived its functioning principles out of an undaunted partnership with the homemakers and thus a slogan of â€Å"You and whirlpool, the world’s best homemaker† dots its promotional campaigns. The products are engineered to suit the requirements of ‘smart, confident and in-control’ homemaker who knows what she wants. The product range is designed in a way that it employs unique technology and offers consumer relevant solutions. Whirlpool Corporation : Vision and Mission Whirlpool’s pervasive vision, â€Å"Every Home, everywhere, with pride, passion and performance†, rests on the pillars of innovation, operational excellence, customer-centric approach and diversified talent. These are embedded within our business goals, strategy, processes and work culture. Be it our products that are the result of innovation and operational excellence to meet every need of our consumers or the people behind these products that come from a wide spectrum of backgrounds, everything we do features a distinct Whirlpool way. Core Competencies Innovation: Unique and compelling solutions valued by our customers and aligned to our brands create competitive advantage and differentiated shareholder value. Operational Excellence (OPEX): A methodology for solving problems & continuous improvement of products & processes through pursuit, acquisition, and utilization of knowledge using critical thought and planned experimentation helps us achieve operational excellence. Customer Excellence: Excelling the customer expectation from the company, its brands,  products and services are a three-step process. The three steps are: Know a customer, Be a customer, Serve a customer. Knowing a customer helps us know who our customers are, how to treat them, how we add value, and what the drivers of brand loyalty are. This information is gathered from the customer’s data base history. This way we are better able to customize products for them and recommend the right product to solve problems. Being a customer is important to share customer knowledge and insights, drive actions based on customer insights, be passionate about our brands and customer loyalty and provide a positive voice for our brands. We show empathy for customers and seek to resolve their problems by creating consistent customer touch-points, with our endeavour always being to provide unique solutions for the customer . Whirlpool Corporation’s Transformation Agenda Whirlpool is transforming into a completely customer-centred company where the customer lies in the core of every of our functions. This focus has arrived as direct consequence of our core competency of customer excellence. It allows us to build Customer Loyalty. The transformation is made The elements of the transformation hold the promise of making Whirlpool a growing company and thereby increasing value for our shareholders. The five  elements are the basis for describing our strategy internally and guide the development of our plans and initiatives. Whirlpool has swiftly moved from being a World Class Manufacturer to a World Class Marketer using the brand-building framework. We are dedicated to creating unique branded solutions that build customer loyalty and achieve brand excellence. Case for Analysis Marching Towards Market. (2016, Jun 06). We have essays on the following topics that may be of interest to you

Verbal Communication Skills Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

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Discussion Question Benjamin Franklin - Essay Example Franklin made education accessible to the common man as he believed it should not be a privilege only for the elite. He founded the first non-sectarian college in America, which later became the University of Pennsylvania. He was also credited for establishing the first library, hospital, and police force in Pennsylvania. A true believer in serving one's country and mankind, he was said not to patent his inventions. Franklin was also a printer. By the age of 22, Franklin owned and operated his own printing office and used his printing skills to print paper money. Franklin helped to establish the paper currency system in America that today, his contribution to the economy is honoured with his face on the $100 bill. In research, Franklin was the first person to conduct an extensive study on electricity. It is said that in June 1752, he used a kite to prove that lightning was a stream of electrified air called plasma. This study later led him to develop the lightning rod to protect people, especially on ships. Franklin personified the striving, ambitious, rising system of individual achievement, hard work, thrift and optimism found at the heart of the American spirit. In fact, Franklin is often introduced to elementary school children as a Renaissance man, someone who seemed to master all fields of knowledge.

Local Area Networking systems Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Local Area Networking systems - Essay Example Stair & Reynolds suggest that usually, LAN is wired into office buildings, factories, school buildings etc and are built around personal computers (PC). When a PC is connected to a LAN, a network interface card (NIC) is required which is placed in a computer's expansion slot to allow it to communicate with the network. A wire or connector from the network is then plugged directly into NIC. (Stair & Reynolds, 2001, p. 138) In order to install and configure a LAN setup in a school, first of all the topology should have to be selected. Out of the three topologies, i.e. ring, bus and star, star topology is the most feasible one, as due to the failure of a computer or a segment of wire or a node, the other network nodes would not be affected at all. For star topology the basic hardware required for connectivity are as follows: For a smaller LAN with a maximum of 10 computers Hub works fine but for a larger LAN a switch gives better efficiency compared to a hub. The reason is that the hub broadcast the data packet to every node, hence all other nodes except the destination node thereby ignoring the broadcasted data packet where as the switch store the MAC addresses of each node and would send the data packet only to the destination node. Further more in a larger LAN setup, if the distance between two switches or between switch and a terminal (computer) is more than 100 meters than we have to use a repea

Geography Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 5

Geography - Essay Example ch has focused on so-called transitions or changes in the population’s death rates and birth rates, as they pertain to populations in the industrialized world, stretching back two centuries. The model has four stages: stage 1, known as the pre-modern stage; stage 2, or the urbanizing/industrializing stage; stage 3, or the mature industrial stage; and stage 4, or the post-industrial stage. The early stages are characterized by high CBR and high CDR figures, at around 35-40 for every thousand. At stage four, or the post-industrial stage, the population is at its highest, even as CBR and CDR figures are at their lowest, at around 10 for every thousand people. In the model, the CBR and CDR figures trend downwards slowly from stage 1 to stage 2, but the downwards trend accelerates at stage 3, until the figures plateu at stage 4, at the levels described above, around 10 for every 1,000 population. The stages of the model, and the CDR, CBR, and population figures for every stage, are identified and plotted in this graph by way of illustration (Montgomery; Lee 167-190; Galor 1-10): In the plot above, the large population at stage 4 and the low CBR and CDR figures there are graphically illustrated. In the first stage, the birth and death rates are similar, with CBR being only fractionally larger than CDR, so that the population was almost static, and population doubling was measured in thousands of years. Stage One is characterized by high levels of infant mortality, from poor hygiene that resulted in many diseases such as diarrhea and cholera. With the advent of industrialization and urbanization. Medicine was also archaic at that time, with knowledge on disease management and prevention being basic or unavailable altogether, and the threat of hunger from famines eventually coming to pass. The high death rates countered the effect of high birth rates, or CBR, at this stage (Montgomery; Lee 167-190; Galor 1-10). In the industrialization and urbanization stage, or stage

Chemistry Experiments Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Chemistry Experiments - Lab Report Example This methodology is widely use to determine concentration of various metal ion like Cu, Al, sulphide etc. being highly sensitive and accurate methods precautions should be taken while performing estimations. some of them are as follows. Copper iodide forms week complex with molecular iodine (I2), which slowly leach out and gives re-coloration to the solution after discoloration. Avoid that potassium thiocynate can be added to the system. Proper observation of discoloration must be taken and any modification in it leads to differential endpoint and hence final result. White bright tiles or any white paper can be kept below flask to distinguish different coloration and end point. There is slight difference in obtained results and actual values as there are chances (Mary Ann Varanka-Martin) (WKU website) (MHS Chemistry ) of error and limitation of procedure leads this difference. Both experiments gives Idea of water contain in hydrated Cuso4 crystal and make us understand how water plays important role in crystallization. Slight modification in above mention experiments give us more information about thermodynamics of crystallization and how different lows of physics and chemistry applies to crystallization process For example if we estimate the water evaporated during heating by obtaining condensate of it, gives clear cut idea of law of mass conservation and also validate results by one more means. Similarly estimation of heat generated during rehydration of CuSo4 gives idea of law of energy conservation and make us understand how energy get disappears in form of

Time Warp Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Time Warp - Essay Example I realized I was in a different dimension. I have traveled back in time. So I went on with my journey. I was hired at Handheld Corp. and was given a rather comprehensive task. I was asked to review Joe Schmoe’s financial report on handheld products sales. Analysis On the PDA simulator I had a final score of 1,185,800,553. I did better than Joe Schmoe by 20,890,196. I have observed that Joe’s strategy was a â€Å"lazy† implementation of marketing. If he took the time to analyze the performance of a product and what prices were appropriate to set, he would yield higher profits. I have made numerous attempts using a simulator to prove that my strategies worked better. I followed the advisor’s analysis and used it as my guide in pricing and allocation of R&D. One strategy I used for marketing handheld products is market segmentation. This is implemented by providing handheld products in different categories (X5, X6, and X7) to serve specific needs of target cu stomers and increasing market share. Even with the discontinuation of X5 handheld in 2009, it was a strategy to market better available products to attract buyers. Pricing strategy was also what I’ve used relative to R & D allocations to generate profits. For instance, X5 sales were starting to decline. In 2008, I did not drop the price significantly or I Time Warp 2 will lose a lot of money. I was able to keep customers who purchased the X5 handheld for $240. Then, I decided to discontinue the product the following year to avoid more losses. R&D allocations were a bit tricky. I used the advisor’s analysis to manipulate the allocations. For example, when X5 was discontinued in 2009, I kept the same prices for X6 and X7 as of 2008 in 2009 and increased their R&D allocations to 30% and 70% respectively. The tremendous increase in R&D had a positive impact on revenues. However, in 2008, I decided to distribute R&D of 25% equally to X5, X6, and X7 handheld products. When I tried to reduce X5 R&D to 10%, I had a higher loss. With 25% R&D I was able to avoid the loss of -9,870,920 and reduced it to a loss of -$6,176,598. If I didn’t adjust that 10% R&D, it would affect profits for 2009. I also based my analysis on the product performance and on what level they are in terms of sales. For instance, X7 handheld was in the ‘growth phase’ in 2006 with a profit of $3,199,108. The following year, I reduced its price to $200 and allocated a higher R&D of 25%. The result was phenomenal. I had a profit of $23,555,939. Maintaining the 25% R&D and price the following year, the profit for X7 was more than doubled. Here’s the breakdown of prices, R&D allocations, and profits for X5, X6, and X7: 2006    PRICE R & D allocation PROFITS X5 255 25% $105,374,127 X6 415 30% $164,680,477 X7 215 23% $3,199,108 TOTAL       $273,253,711  Time Warp 3 I increased the prices for all handheld products and decreased their R&D. As a result, advisor y said X7 handheld was in the growth phase and potential X7 customers were new customers. X7 handheld performance was holding steady while X6 was priced the same as other competing products. Although Joe gained a higher profit of $295,185,49 in 2006, it was only temporary. 2007    PRICE R & D PROFITS X5 245 25% $98,442,902 X6 415 30% $213,598,730 X7 200 25% $23,555,939 TOTAL       $335,100,583  Since X6 performance was better than that of competition, I decided to maintain the price and R&D and it paid off as I had a higher profit. However,

Work or overwork †balance with synergies Essay Example for Free

Work or overwork – balance with synergies Essay Efficient management of overwork is learnt with experience of work. As years pass by, work experience shapes a person into a disciplined individual offering ability to manage work with efficiency and perfection. All that is important here is to realize one’s own strength, skills, experience in terms of physical work, mind work (desk jobs) which result in overwork either by extending working hours or by multi-tasking. A clear assessment and analysis of SWOT would benefit an individual. What is overwork? Oxford lexicon provides the meaning as â€Å"working too hard†, â€Å"excessive work causing exhaustion† and wordnet search provides the meaning as â€Å"the act of working too much or too long†. e. g. he became ill from overwork. Normal working hours fall in a range of 5-8 hrs per day in most of the organizations and industries all over the world. Overworking offers additional monetary benefits for industrial workers and employees and it is purely in the interest of workforce, OT (over timing) at the time of payment of salaries is considered, which also increase the production / output capacities of organizations. Overwork ! is it a problem? American Institute of Stress report 2005 states that $300 billion per annum were spent by American employers due to stress-related illnesses caused by overworking. Increasingly stressful overworking hours harm the workforce in developing cardiac problems and clinical therapy related problems which mounts the medical bills. In order to prevent such emotional or health related risks, an individual must develop a self-help chart of taking a quick-break in work to relieve the stress and also handle any grievance without delay. Very few people practice spiritual development which provides self-confidence, ability to handle overwork without any problem in any given situation. Lengthening of workweek Most of the countries practice 5-6 working days a week. According to the report of ILO U. S work records 1,884 hours, France 1,545 hours and Germany 1,444 hours per year. Dierk Hirschel, Economist of German Federation of Trade Unions, considers that 35 hours / week should be the norm and states that â€Å"We work less in Germany but have a higher level of productivity, we can produce more per hour because people are relaxed since they don’t have to work as much as in other countries†. Factors for considering lengthening of workweek are demographical, gender and a clear assessment of skill of workforce. 79% of U. S employees have access to paid vacations which helps in relaxing, enjoying a holiday with family which rejuvenates moods and energy to get back to work with freshness. Away from hustle-bustle is the best remedy to regain energies, spend time and dedication to family and also to review achievements made at work. In fact this is the best offer employees receive as incentive from work environments. Lenghtening of workweek offers dual benefit to organisations and employees in terms of increasing output for former and monetary benefits for latter. This is again dependent on the volume and size of organisations in these globalised 24/7 economy which has increased workloads to a greater extent extending the need of efficient workforce seeking work as first priority and efficiency and perfection rule and lead in a professional environment. SWOT Analysis Organisations must endeavor to make an analysis of SWOT of workforce as this analysis will help organisations to consider the percentage of output that can be derived out of each employee. Also employees in order to get trained for one’s own benefit, must make a list of S=strengths, W=weaknesses, O=opportunities and T=threats to overcome deficiencies and to make improvements in the core areas. This analysis will help an employee to improve in working hours, handle tough tasks and also to manage time in work places. If proper management at personal level is positive, management at work becomes easier as a process in a course of time along through the work experience. Improper assessment of one’s own skills and abilities and undertaking the tasks which are beyond one’s capacity, certainly lead to failure and lowers the image and reputation in work environment. Conclusion Work is the basic necessity to earn money in order to make a living and irrespective of gender, every one need to work whether small or big according to education and skills. Overwork is challenging and it is an opportunity to display one’s efficiency and success against all odds. Pooling up of resources to make improvisation in one’s work and grow in job by overworking gaining recognition will further strengthen one’s reputation in an organisation and goodwill is an intangible asset that organisations admire and can never afford to lose a hard working employee. Conclusively overwork and lengthening of workweek is in the interest of employees and must build enough strength to work on. These opportunities must be used to the fullest extent by employees while learning how to balance family and work, particularly in these globalised times where work is ruling.

The Sinking Economy Of Japan

The Sinking Economy Of Japan The country which almost ruled the world in economy for decades even being one of the tiniest countries of the world setting an example of perfection in most of sectors is presently suffering from some drastic challenges which have mesmerized the people across Japan as its economy is sinking and national debt is touching sky. The revolutions of growth which started right from the 1868 in the Meiji Period rarely witnessed great slumps till 1990s. Adaptation of free market economy and North American type of free enterprise capitalism took Japan to such great heights from where it never looked to topple down, but alas the growth slowed markedly in the 1990s (i.e. during the Lost Decade), substantively because of the after effects of Japanese asset price bubble and somewhat deliberative domestic policies which caused to extract speculative excesses from the stock and real estate markets. In the present decade, less stable governments although left no stone unturned to revitalize the gian t economy but were thrashed down by global economic crisis of 2008. In 2010, Japan could do nothing but see its position being acquired by another economy giant China as Japan was ranked 3rd as per economic size in terms of GDP  [1]  based on data from the International Monetary Fund. Besides economy, there are several other sectors which are facing jittery crisis. In this essay Im going to discuss these problems illustratively. Challenges before Japan in a Nutshell: 1) Economic Outlook: * Japans Export Competiveness: Japans blazing economic growth of 1980s was thrashed by the 1990s stock market crash followed by a recession of almost 10 years. Countrys economy revived again but the global economic crisis of 2008 debilitated the economic growth and consequently, Japans ability to produce and export a wide variety of goods is getting constrained resulting in lesser demand in countries across the globe in contemporary times. Since the start of the present decade the contraction in export is almost entirely due to a steep fall in external demand, the reasons may be a shift in global demand structure, arrival of global recession in Japan relatively late with greater severity, impact of yen appreciation etc. The now fragile economic recovery of Japan is running out of stream because of the slow growth in key export markets. As a result private consumption also didnt take off for the simple reason because Japan heavily depends upon exports. It seems that Japanese economy is governed by short term policy making. Appreciation in the value of yen is debilitating Japans competitive power in global arena. So, responsibility is heavy on the government Bank of Japan to take effective decisive action against currency moves. The comparison visible below tells the story: * Decrease in manufacturing: Manufacturing industries make a substantial part of Japans secondary sector with employing almost 28% workforce of Japan. But, due to current sluggishness of economic growth, Japans rank in manufacturing is grasped by china as it toppled to 3rd position and the graph below suggests that USA manufactures almost twice as China, double what Japan makes  [2]  : Developed markets like that of Japan and Euro zone are struggling with stalled recoveries, as in the fourth quarter annualized GDP in 2009 was a mere 0.9% in Japan and 0.1% in Euro Zone. While much stronger rates of economic growth are visible among some fastest growing economies of China, Brazil India. Deflationary conditions are still persisting in Japan. In December, 2009 the overall Consumer Price Index (food items energy sectors not included) stopped at 1.2% which was below than that of December, 2008  [3]  . This happened to be the largest such decline for CPI in history of Japanese economy. The danger inherent in deflationary conditions is that consumers tend to defer purchases as they wait for prices to fall even further. Consumer prices are influenced through changes in governmental policies, so government should make efforts to control deflation. In April-June quarter, the GDP deflator which is considered as the broadest measure of public trends was -1.8% showing a mild improvement from the -2.8% in previous quarter  [4]  and is also suggestive of the fact that how deeply entrenched deflation Japan is experiencing. In order to achieve fiscal reforms, it is a prerequisite to get deflation at 0%. Now lets examine what happens when people start expecting inflation: Since the Global Economic Depression of summer 2008, Japanese companies could not help seeing a steep drop in domestic overseas demand which provoked companies to make adjustments in production to reduce their inventories. It resulted into fast downfall in production mostly in machinery, digital automobiles industry. In 2009, real GDP contracted at an annualized figure of -11.9% in Jan-March, the second straight quarter of double-digit negative growth following a -10.2% fall in Oct-Dec  [5]  . Even in 2010 no great recovery could be registered in economy of Japan as between April and June this year GDP grew by 0.1%, much lower than expected  [6]  . The fatal impact of the global economic recession on world economy caused recurring profits to fall sharply (which were at boom in 1990s) along with mitigation of sales in Japan overseas. The housing market of Japan has not witnessed any positive growth signs since the revision of the Japans Building Code in 2007. Even in 2010 when the effects of the revision of the Building Code have extinguished, housing sales could not notice recovery signs. The reasons may be attributed to the expectation of further fall in housing prices and stagnation of labor industry to create employment environment. Due to the factors above mentioned allied with others, in August, 2010 China replaced Japan as the worlds second biggest economy after overtaking Germany as the largest exporter with a nominal GDP region of $1.337 trillion compared to Japans $ 1.228 trillion  [7]  . To deal with such economic challenges, I think, Japan should first slash expenditures and then increase tax burden as minimum. It is advisable that there should be more focus on spending cuts than focusing on tax increase. The aim of fiscal reform should be equalizing the primary balance i.e. creation of such environment in which current expenditures is financed by current revenues to protect the financial position from further deterioration. * Banking Policies in Japan: challenges and prospects- Japan began the decade of 1990s with a heavily regulated financial system controlled by a resolute undeterred Ministry of Finance (MoF) and ended the decade with great market reforms, a complete restructuring of the financial institutions which were regulatory in nature and providing greater independent to the Bank of Japan amid collapse of asset prices, a looming bank crisis, worsening unemployment the lowest interest rates in industrial world. In the aftermath of the bursting of Japanese asset price bubble which choked the banking system, most of the Japanese banks unveiled unconventional monetary policy measures to cater to the challenges posed by monetary crisis created by aforementioned asset price bubble of 1990s. But had the Bank of Japan cut its policy rate to a great extent immediately after the bursting of the asset price bubble, deflation would have been avoided. The unpractical recommendations made to bank of Japan like all that the bank of Japan needs to do is to set a high inflation rate target and purchase all types of assets including physical assets to achieve the target the central bank should credibly promise to be irresponsible did not help in any way. Although Japan began the decade of 1990s with a heavily regulated financial system controlled by a resolute undeterred Ministry of Finance (MoF) and ended the decade with great market reforms, a complete restructuring of the financial institutions which were regulatory in nature and providing greater independent to the Bank of Japan amid collapse of asset prices, a looming bank crisis, worsening unemployment the lowest interest rates in industrial world. What is the problem and where does the devil lie who has pestered Japanese economy so far; lets examine  [8]  : The decrease in the risk taking capacity of many economic entities which resulted in drastic reduction in effectiveness of conventional monetary policies and in such monetarily pathetic atmosphere, the overnight interest dropped down to zero, limiting the room for additional easing through conventional monetary policy formulae. In the context of Japan, the overnight interest fell to 0.5% five years after the real estate prices peaked in 1990. It took time to recapitalize the banking system. Uncertainty regarding the transmission mechanism of monetary policy is bigger than that of normal times. When the central banks try to create fruitful policy measures in the constrained atmosphere for effectiveness of traditional monetary policies, they are obviously introduced to the vicious area of fiscal policy. Consequently, policymakers are in fear of being accountable to for such policy actions in the Japanese democratic environment. What should Banks do? Maintain the stability of financial markets and the financial system. Inject the capital into the banking system together with the provision of liquidity in order to kill the pressure on the financial intermediation process. Banks may take measures to take on individual credit risk such as corporate debt when there is a major risk that credit market functions shall become worse and consequently, the feebleness of financial conditions is capable of causing loss to the economy of Japan. Communication with the market is very important in order to effectively conduct monetary policy as the effectiveness of unconventional policy is always uncertain and through communication with the market Banks are able to show their commitment to the stability of financial market and financial system. 2) Piracy: a threat to be crumpled down- Japanese industries are facing problems in achieving value creation through the utilization of Intellectual assets due to raising graph of counterfeit, fake pirated products. These issues have rattled the Japanese governments cage to force government to take strict and specific measures to combat as it is opening its first overseas army base in Djibouti to counter rising piracy in the region  [9]  . But neglecting non-cooperative attitude of some countries is posing problems to crush the evil of piracy. 5) Japan Haunting Indebtedness: Economy of Japan got mired in the worst recession since WWII and got edged into deflation. In the 90s Japan was worlds top creditor nation whilst now it ranks 1th among worlds largest debtor nations  [10]  (vide the graph below). Taro Asos government planned 27 trillion yen (almost $282 billion) in stimulus spending since the great recession of 2008 began to worsen the financial system of Japan  [11]  . But stimulus efforts from past economic problems have heaped a mountain of public debt in the region of around 189% of GDP which is highest in developed nations which consequently debilitated Japans capacity to spend its way out of the recession. The great indebtedness of Japan is worrisome because once a government incurs significant incremental debt it results in a political impossibility to go back to the levels of indebtedness it had earlier. The debt levels become almost eternal and even if a practical government runs a surplus, there is a dim hope that ruling politicians would utilize much of that surplus to pay the debt. In order to absolve itself from raising heap of debt, Japanese government should make efforts to attract buyers to the nations increasing debt. Bank of Japan should adopt measures to buy corporate debt and enhance the buying of government bonds to keep funding problems at bay which would have resulted in further derailing of economy of Japan. Despite a debt-to-GDP ratio  [12]  as 189.30% as shown below, the Bank of Japan never seemed to lose ability to set the key overnight interest rate, which remained below 1% for about a decade and the debt didnt drive long term rates higher either. Low taxes: Although getting a horrible increase in government debt, taxes in Japan are relatively low among the countries of Developed world. Japan is the country with the lowest government revenue-to-GDP ratio (31%) and currently the second- highest government net debt- to- GDP ratio (78%), even then its 33% marginal tax rate on average income workers is one of the lowest in developed countries  [13]  . A comparison is shown below: 11) Governance and the Political System: (i) The factor that weakens the power and functioning of cabinet in Japan is the dual power structure of ruling party and cabinet. In a successful cabinet system, cabinet executes the policies of the ruling party as power within a ruling party is focused in the cabinet and the ministers who form the cabinet are the partys prime movers and rest members of the ruling party generally dont defy the polices of cabinet. But it is on earth in Japan that members of the last ruling Liberal Democratic Party (before 2009 elections) who did not become part of cabinet acquired more power than the cabinet and subsequently, many policy decisions were framed through repeated contact, behind the scenes, negotiations arm twisting among top politicians of ruling LDP. It also included disregard of cabinet by tribal lawmakers with close ties to specific political lobbies and powerful bureaucrats. Thus, the decision making power of the cabinet in Japan was totally hampered. The LDP also had its own polic y consideration section called the Policy Affairs Research Council which would examine the Bills and similar policy proposals put forward by the cabinet. Further, government bills cleared by the Policy research council were then approved by the partys General Council before submitting to Diet. This took form of a Prior Screening Sanctioning, a system alien to most of great democracies across the globe. The government Bills would also got modified or vastly changed in this prior screening process and this system reinforced the impression that any proposal approved by the ruling party would be approved by the Diet, reducing the role of the Diet as a mere rubberstamp. The LDPs powerful policy tribes (zoku  [14]  ) had steadily emerged as a shadow government. Thus, Policy Affairs Research Council zoku deliberated in major policy decisions, leaving Diet Committees to fight over politics rather than the substance of the legislation. While all the major political parties have a similar structure including the present ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), Japan is forced to possess a weak cabinet, bureaucrats-led-politics, non-transparent decision making process in high political institutions. But the issues aforesaid are not fundamental institutional issues and there is a scope to deal with these issues to overhaul the conflicting political interests within the parties. (ii) The ministerial coordination and cabinet leadership in Japan has taken a backseat contrary to the spirit of an actual democratic setup. Ministers have become just the figureheads who simply acquire a position on top to promote the existing policies without innovating distinct policies and give priority to bureaucratic advice which makes it difficult for government to give effect to drastic policy shifts to changing social, economic political circumstances. (iii) In 2010, Japan is ranked 24th for democracy, after all developed countries but Italy, Greece Singapore. Astonishingly, it is placed behind even three developing countries: Uruguay, Costa Rica and Chile. These figures present the picture of democracy in Japan. 12) Straining Foreign Relations: Japan needs to address the challenge of Chinas rising regional clout, while keeping ties with this giant which is Japans biggest trading partner on an even keel. Although Sino-Japanese relations have seen positive improvement in recent decades but territorial and maritime disputes still simmer coupled with growing mistrust over military hegemony like China and Japan dispute the ownership of a string of five small uninhabited islands in the East China Sea near the place known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China- which are believed to hold seabed oil deposits. There also exist tensions with USA on various issues including the issue to move the U.S. Marine air Station Futenma off the island of Okinawa as Okinawans have long complained about the noise and intrusion of the base and rape of a 12 year old local in 1995 and the charge that a US Marine sexually abused a young Japanese girl in early 2008 renewed public outcry against the bases thus resulting into increased tensions between the residents of Okinawa and marines. Japan and USA are military allies under treaty concluded in 1951 and revised in 1960  [15]  . But the ruling party DPJs past criticism of the bilateral security arrangement may further complicate alliance management issues such as the planned realignment of US forward deployed forces in Japan and the Host Nation Support (HNS) that Japan provides to help defray costs associated with the stationing of US bases across the Japanese archipelago. Besides this, political shifts turmoil in Japan since 2006 appear to have slowed down some of the increased cooperation in the US-Japan alliance. 13) Dullness in Employment Sector: Japans labor market witnessed a recessionary financial system in recent decade with a difficult employment environment. In such a turbulent time, the conservative concepts of employment in Japan are in question and unconventional ideas concepts are emerging throughout the companies of Japan. Ideas such as lifetime employment and seniority based payment are being revised and being replaced with new innovative as well as creative ideas in the process of revitalizing the financial system. Various techniques are entering into Japanese labor system in form of work-sharing, overseas jobs, and part time employment to provide opportunity to people who are unemployed or not considering employment to enter the workforce and contribute to economic development. Solution: (i) According to a report of the Japan Institute for Labor Policy and Training (JIL)  [16]  released on work sharing in Japan, it is generally believed that when a country is in recession, the number of part-time and non-regular workers tends to decrease in order to lower costs and maintain the number of regular workers. But, in context of Japan this lacks reality as number of part-time workers has increased while the number of full time regular workers has decreased. In Japan, work-sharing has been utilized to combat the rising number of part-time workers and has been a highly controversial topic among the employer class. JILs report outlines three types of working sharing: Employment Maintenance Job Creation Diversified working Patterns Employment maintenance work-sharing mainly targets midlevel employees, allowing them to reduce their work hours and share these hours among themselves, thus, this facilitates employees to stay employed with their wages adjusted for the hours they work. Job creation work-sharing intends to cut down hours of work at the national company levels aiming at increasing the overall number of jobs. Diversified work-sharing allows employees to pin-point their hours of work in order to allow persons previously unemployed to enter the labor sector. The working patterns mentioned above are useful in many ways. For example, Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. announced in Jan, 2003 that they going to introduce work sharing program in one of their factories and over 200 hundred employees were involved in the program which required workers to take three more days of vacation per month and reduce their basic pay y 12%. As per companys estimate, it could save almost 100 million yen and was successful in retaining its employees  [17]  . So, more emphasis should be laid down to implement these patterns to save the sinking Japanese employment sector. (ii) Working abroad either for foreign or Japanese companies may prove an excellent cure to rapidly diminishing job market tighter job vacancies in Japan. Besides, the opportunities stored in the West, there is also great scope in growing economic markets of Asia like China, India, Thailand etc. (iii) Non-regular jobs: The global recession and tattered economy of Japan has forced many companies to severely restrict the number of new graduate recruits so that they can retain their mid-level and senior employees. Thus, surging demand for employment can be checked through establishing job placement offices for part-time offices and distributing incentives in form of subsidies. In 2009, the number young workers with non-regular jobs surged to 1.78 million  [18]  . So, there is a need to frame new policies to assist the young part-timers in gaining full time regular employment. Demographic Challenges: Japans demographic problems seem to end nowhere as the combination of low birth rate, strict immigration practices, and a rapidly aging population are haunting the think tanks of Japan. Japanese women are avoiding marriage child-bearing to meet the difficulties of career and family. The countrys birthrate has fallen to 1.25 which is below the necessary rate i.e. 2.1 to sustain a population size  [19]  . The countrys current population is roundabout 128 million which may fall to about 100 million till 2050  [20]  . So, Japan is on the verge of full-fledged population decline. As per estimates of government of Japan, the nations total fertility rate will continue to fall and that even in 2055, it may only recover to the 2005 levels at the most. In developed countries, it s found that there is a mild tendency for birthrates to rise when female employment is bigger. But, Japan is low in the ranking of both the fertility rate and the female employment rate. Hence it is suggestive of the fact that if more women were to join labor force, birthrates would grow high. However such deduction lacks practicality due to a host of reasons. Another factor responsible for low birth rates is that in Japan the percentage of children born before marriage is also low in comparison to countries like UK, France Sweden where birthrates have recovered. As per my opinion, to improve birth rates, Japan government should hike the allowance for children, increase the allowance for childbirth, provide medical-care subsidies, enhance augment child care centers and give education assistance to support the marries ones as it is quite expensive in Japan to nurture the children. Japan is also suffering from the tag of being the oldest country in the world with a high elderly share of 20% and it will further rise up to 30% in till 2025 and 40% till 2050  [21]  . Another vital fact is that Japans workable population is shrinking which may result in a sharp economic decline. However, 29% of men aged 65 and over remain in labor force which is quite commendable than 20% of USA, 5% of Germany 2% of Japan. To meet the challenges of aging population, the government must ensure that support systems for elderly are not only sustainable but also adequate; government should strengthen the private employer pension system by requiring that all benefit promises including severance pay must be fully funded.

Character-defined Destiny Essays -- Literature Heroic Epics Essays

Character-defined Destiny The Greek poet Homer established the heroic epic literary genre more than two-and-a-half millennia ago with the composition of two voluminous works of art, the Odyssey and the Iliad. From its inception, the heroic epic cast human fate as a type of whimsical recreation for the gods. In fact, the word fate was adopted from the name of the Greek gods in charge of spinning the thread of human life and then cutting it when a person’s destiny had been fulfilled. Hence, a person’s fate in the Homeric epics was largely determined by providence, and a person’s individual actions had little bearing on what became of him or her. We see a new understanding of fate begin to take form in the two primary heroic epics of thirteenth century German literature. The story of Parzival introduces the role of individual maturation in the fulfillment of one’s destiny, notwithstanding its predetermination by God through birthright. The Nibelungenlied, on the other hand, suggests that predestination is the result of the inevitability of one’s own idiosyncrasies: one acts in accordance with one’s own character traits and cannot act otherwise. Both understandings of fate, however, afford man a much larger share in the determination of his own destiny than the Homeric epics ever did and, as such, can shed light on the evolving notion of the â€Å"heroic† informing each work. The story of Parzival and his quest for the Holy Grail was first told by French author Chrestien de Troyes in the 12th century; naturally, the fate of Parzival would have already been well known to Wolfram von Eschenbach’s 13th century audience. Then the focus of the epic is certainly not Parzival’s destiny, but his development and maturation throughout th... ... The reason for this is that Gawan (and the code of chivalry he represents) regards his relationship with God in feudal terms, expecting reward in return for service. Even though Parzival once fell from grace and the favor of the round table, he was able to gain redemption through God with the help Trevrizent. By confessing his sins before God and atoning for his trespasses, Parzival was thus able to attain a higher level of honor. Redemption is the pivotal piece of the heroic puzzle that the society of the Nibelungenlied lacks. In Parzival there is no sense of the imminent doom that pervades the Nibelungenlied, because of the society’s steadfast belief in God’s eternal mercy. And, as long as the society of the Nibelungenlied remains bereft of the potential for redemption, it will remain entangled in its own type of Atreus curse and doomed for self-annihilation.

A Little Piece of Heaven Essay -- Descriptive Essay Examples

A Little Piece of Heaven Teacher's Comment: This essay, which received an "A," is strong because the vivid and careful descriptions enliven a commonplace topic: a simple walk in the woods. The writer creates an effective persona though a flashback to "a corner of captured memories." The writer recreates the child's persona, questioning and then understanding the motives of the counselor who is leading the group. Whenever I am troubled or confused, I always plunder through my mind to a corner of captured memories in my childhood. Here in this corner, tucked safely away from all of the mundane facts and figures, is a place I once visited as a small child. This spot has never failed to create a wealth of wonder and serenity for me. Join me now as I take a journey back through time. The day was an unbelievably hot one for the usual cool summers that North Carolina is so popular for. The dusty, faded-blue van in which my journey began was tightly packed with many eager and sweaty children, all of whom were anxious with anticipation of our day's fieldtrip. We were on our way to a particular stream that is well known in the small town o f Chesswood, which is located deep in the heart of the Carolina mountains. Upon finally reaching our destination, we unglued ourselves from the hot, vinyl seats and tumbled out of the van. I had become extremely hot and my skin was sticky from the sweat and dirt of afternoon play. The camp counselor called for all fourteen of us to line up in single-file and follow her lead. I did not understand why we had to do this, but as we travele d down the path that led to the stream, I began to understand her reasoning. The descending path was very steep and narrow. The sand and un... ... in the air. Among this kaleidoscope of brilliant hues appeared tangy-oranges, fiery-reds, crystal-clear blues, and fresh-greens. As the day came close to an end, the setting sun also displayed a work of art through this tree. The light, that bravely beamed through the V, created a heavenly aura. I felt as if angels were gracefully dancing on the colored droplets of water. The colors had changed somewhat and consisted mostly of a transparent-white mixed with brilliant oranges and yellows. Soon afterward, my little piece of Heaven was broken up by the shouts of our counselor telling us it was time to return to camp. I know I had to physically leave that stream back then, but it has never left my memory. Even though you did not visit that place, it is now in your memory also. I hope you have enjoyed experiencing this little piece of Heaven with me.

Archery Vocabulary :: Archery Sports Bow and Arrow Essays

Archery Vocabulary Adaya: An arrow which has missed it's target, Japan. Alborium: A bow made from hazel, 11th century. Anak, Panah: An arrow, Malay. Anchor: The location to which the hand that draws the bow string is positioned to when at full draw. Anchor point: The place where an arrows nock is drawn to before release, usually the chin, cheek, ear or chest. Used to help aiming. Aquande-da: The leather bracer of the Omaha. Arbalest, Arbalete, Alblast, Arblast: The European crossbow of the Middle Ages. Arbalete a Cric: A crossbow drawn by a rack and pinion. Arbalete a Jalet, Pellet crossbow, Prodd: A crossbow set up to shoot stones instead of bolts. Arbalest a Tour: A crossbow drawn by a windlass. Arbalestina: A cruciform aperture in a wall of a fortification from which a crossbow was shot. Arbrier: The stock of a crossbow. Archer's guard: See bracer. Archer's paradox: In period bows (without a shelf or centre shot) the arrow which is properly shot will fly in the line of aim although the string propelling the arrow moves directly to the centre of the bow. The arrow in fact bends around the bow after release but after passing the bow returns to its proper line of flight. See Spine. Archer's ring, Thumb ring: An effective Eastern method of drawing the bow string while using the thumb protected by a ring. Archer's Stake: A sharpened wooden stake driven into the ground pointing away from an archer to protect against cavalry. Arcuballista: The ancient form of ballista. Arcubalista unis pedis: A crossbow which only needs one foot to assist drawing the string. Arrow: The missile shot by an archer from a bow. Arrow guide: See Majrà £, Solenarion. Arrowhead: The striking end of an arrow, usually made of a different type of material from the shaft such as iron, flint or bronze, depending the purpose of the arrow. Arrowsmith: A maker of metal arrowheads. Ascham: [1] A tall narrow cupboard for storage of bows and arrows. [2] Roger Ascham, 1515 - 1568, author of Toxophilus (1545). Arrow spacer: A circular piece of leather pierced by 24 holes used to keep the shafts of a sheath of arrows apart from each other and prevent damage to the flights during transport. Azusa-yumi: A small bow used in magic, Japan. Top B Back of the bow: The surface of the bow furthest from the archer when they hold the bow in the firing position. Archery Vocabulary :: Archery Sports Bow and Arrow Essays Archery Vocabulary Adaya: An arrow which has missed it's target, Japan. Alborium: A bow made from hazel, 11th century. Anak, Panah: An arrow, Malay. Anchor: The location to which the hand that draws the bow string is positioned to when at full draw. Anchor point: The place where an arrows nock is drawn to before release, usually the chin, cheek, ear or chest. Used to help aiming. Aquande-da: The leather bracer of the Omaha. Arbalest, Arbalete, Alblast, Arblast: The European crossbow of the Middle Ages. Arbalete a Cric: A crossbow drawn by a rack and pinion. Arbalete a Jalet, Pellet crossbow, Prodd: A crossbow set up to shoot stones instead of bolts. Arbalest a Tour: A crossbow drawn by a windlass. Arbalestina: A cruciform aperture in a wall of a fortification from which a crossbow was shot. Arbrier: The stock of a crossbow. Archer's guard: See bracer. Archer's paradox: In period bows (without a shelf or centre shot) the arrow which is properly shot will fly in the line of aim although the string propelling the arrow moves directly to the centre of the bow. The arrow in fact bends around the bow after release but after passing the bow returns to its proper line of flight. See Spine. Archer's ring, Thumb ring: An effective Eastern method of drawing the bow string while using the thumb protected by a ring. Archer's Stake: A sharpened wooden stake driven into the ground pointing away from an archer to protect against cavalry. Arcuballista: The ancient form of ballista. Arcubalista unis pedis: A crossbow which only needs one foot to assist drawing the string. Arrow: The missile shot by an archer from a bow. Arrow guide: See Majrà £, Solenarion. Arrowhead: The striking end of an arrow, usually made of a different type of material from the shaft such as iron, flint or bronze, depending the purpose of the arrow. Arrowsmith: A maker of metal arrowheads. Ascham: [1] A tall narrow cupboard for storage of bows and arrows. [2] Roger Ascham, 1515 - 1568, author of Toxophilus (1545). Arrow spacer: A circular piece of leather pierced by 24 holes used to keep the shafts of a sheath of arrows apart from each other and prevent damage to the flights during transport. Azusa-yumi: A small bow used in magic, Japan. Top B Back of the bow: The surface of the bow furthest from the archer when they hold the bow in the firing position.

Psychology Coursework Essay

We have studied various aspects of organization, its structure, strategy, effectiveness, changes and other aspects. Study of organizations by psychologists has attained much importance in recent times. The broad study includes perception, attitudes, motivation, and interpersonal relationships among members. Every organization is a group of members working towards a common goal. Every organisation has a structure and purpose. It may be a social, political, or a commercial organisation or one for any other purpose. Psychologists ‘research in this field assumes much importance so that suggestions can be ade and implemented for obtaining the optimum results . Several theories are proposed with regard to organizations. M L Blum states that group theory views that associations and human affiliations are primary work motivators in a group. He states that the degree of cooperation in a primary group is critical for its success. So we find that all the members’ contribution go to achieve the goal. So it is essential that each member is properly motivated. Regarding the question put forth about the factors inhibiting or supporting performance,  It can be said that a person could have achieved one part of his target but might have not achieved in another of the same task. The major reason for achieving could be motivation. Among the various factors which go to contribute to achievement , motivation has the great role. The very formation of a group brings in motivation in its members. Clifford T Morgan puts in that motivations are inferences from behaviour. We can never observe motivation but can infer their existence. Motivation ,according to him is a powerful tool for explaining behaviour. Incentive motivation like wages, bonus play a major role in the group work. A member has to be motivated according to his needs. It makes common sense to say that When a person’s needs are taken care of, his performance would increase. Various studies have shown that a person may have upto thirty seven needs. Anyway they can be classified into biological and socio psychological needs. The first one is about his body’s necessities like food, nutrition, rest and so on. The next one is about security, freedom, care, recognition, approval , self respect and so on. It can be safely deducted that any achievement or non achievement can be attributed to the above causes. As an Industrial psychologist, his role would be to ensure that all or atleast most of the motivations are taken care of. This would bring in the best results. Having studied the lesson , we have gained in depth knowledge about the various dimensions about groups. The author goes in detail about the need for changes in groups that is, introduction of new ideas or behaviour due to current technological; changes, global competition and so on. It is suggested in many experiments that resistance would occur for adopting any changes. This can be measured by survey feed backs. The most mportant factor making implementation difficult would be insecure feeling among members particularly if the group is one of working group. It may be a fear of losing jobs or fear of inability to cope with the new methods of work. Let us now take the example of failure to perceive benefits stated in the Lesson. as a reason for resistance for changes. This failure is due to lack of information about the changes. The member is unaware of the reasons or the mode of changes. So communication is essential from the highest level to the lowest level and vice versa. The changes proposed have to be iscussed and analysed with all the members . Their views heard and clarified and convinced. . This gives them the feeling of importance. This again goes on to motivate the member. David G Myers emphasizes the need for group discussions where ideas are pooled and discussed jointly. Just hearing to a person’s arguments is of no use. Active participation brings in better attitude change than merely listening passively. Again ,this may bring in more resistance arguments but a thorough debate with proper information will ultimately result in the members understanding the benefits of the change and being convinced . The industrial psychologist has to see that the members are given assurance of their benefits and all apprehensions removed. Let us now imagine what a person would talk to the CEO if just a few minutes are at his disposal. An Assistant Regional Sales Manager would probably assure the CEO on the lines that his department would welcome changes . He would be keen on impressing the CEO in the short time. He would even go to suggest ignoring resistance and going ahead with changes. He would not miss to suggest a salary hike to all along with changes , which would be beneficial to the organization.

An Analysis of “Peach” by D. H. Lawrence Essay

What will you think of, when you eat a fruit, like a peach? I think many people’s answer would be nothing at all. However, a peach triggers some poetic romance in D.H. Lawrence, and some beautiful verses are thus created. The poem _Peach_ was brainless at first glance–this is indeed not an impenetrable poem, but it renders a significant thought that the creations of nature, even the most unconscious ones, has the beauty that no artificial objects can ever achieve. The poem itself in free verse is modernist, defying conventional structured form and the language is more prose than scanned lines – the whole poem is a kick at traditional attitudes and the Victorians were not traditionalists but reactionaries regarding their attitudes to sex, so this is a complex revolutionary poem and extemely modern for its time. The poem is intensely modernist. Not only does D H Lawrence take an everyday activity (eating a peach) and unpack unsuspected and surprising meaning from it. Lawrence suggests that the simple pleasure of eating a peach may be connected with the way that the peach hasn’t been manufactured. Nature’s beauty is embodied in its imperfection because there are no straight lines or perfect shape in nature. It exists randomly and obliquely. After we stepped onto this world mankind has been finding all ways to be ‘perfect’, as defined by them. This is nature’s definition of perfection, or perhaps working towards a common goal of being perfect. Why do we have to turn that 180 degrees and make straight lines all over the world? We grasp our pencils and place the rulers on that sheet of paper and zoom the line goes straight and â€Å"perfect†. We connect the dots with straight lines and we draw geometric figures in mathematic and so on. But maybe we need to adjust our angle of  see the world. Actually nature has very little to do with math. Most things in the world cannot and should not be simply viewed scientifically. Things were, are and will never be judge to be right or wrong. We live in a wonderful world but we are probably making a hash of it. Nature has given us beauty in everything we see and for no good reason – nature or unknown forces could have made the world ugly but it has not and almost illogically has given us wonderfully coloured flowers, incredible animals and sunsets to die for. Lawrence saw man as kind of a mad animal like many painters saw the industrial revolution as a disaster. Next time we encounter a fruit, we should not only eat it for nutrients, but also soak in its incomparable beauty endowed by nature.

Indian Independence Movement Essay

The Constitution of India is the Supreme Law of India. It lays down the framework defining fundamental political principles, establishes the structure, procedures, powers, and duties of government institutions, and sets out fundamental rights, directive principles, and the duties of citizens. It is the longest[ written constitution of any sovereign country in the world, containing 448 articles in 22 parts, 12 schedules and 97 amendments. Besides the English version, there is an official Hindi translation. Dr B.R. Ambedkar is widely regarded as the father of the Indian Constitution. The Constitution was enacted by the Constituent Assembly on 26 November 1949, and came into effect on 26 January 1950. The date 26 January was chosen to commemorate the Purna Swaraj declaration of independence of 1930. With its adoption, the Union of India officially became the modern and contemporary Republic of India and it replaced the Government of India Act 1935 as the country’s fundamental governing document. The Constitution declares India to be a sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic, assuring its citizens of justice, equality, and liberty, and endeavours to promote fraternity among them. The words â€Å"socialist† and â€Å"secular† were added to the definition in 1976 by constitutional amendment.[ India celebrates the adoption of the constitution on 26 January each year as Republic Day | Background Main article: Indian independence movement The major portion of the Indian subcontinent was under British colonial rule from 1757 to 1947. The impact of economic, political and social exploitation during this period helped the gradual rise of the Indian independence movement to gain independence from foreign rule. The movement culminated in the formation of the Dominion of India on 15 August 1947, along with the Dominion of Pakistan. The Constitution of India was adopted on 26 November 1949 and came into effect on 26 January 1950, proclaiming India to be a sovereign, democratic republic. It contained the founding principles of the law of the land which would govern India after its independence from British rule. On the day the constitution came into effect, India ceased to be a dominion of the British Crown. The Indian constitution is the world’s longest constitution. At the time of commencement, the constitution had 395 articles in 22 parts and 8 schedules. It consists of almost 80,000 words and took 2 years 11 months and 18 days to build. In the United Kingdom the office of the Secretary of State for India was the authority through whom Parliament exercised its rule (along with the Council of India), and established the office of Viceroy of India (along with an Executive Council in India, consisting of high officials of the British Government). The Indian Councils Act 1861 provided for a Legislative Council consisting of the members of the Executive council and non-official members. The Indian Councils Act 1892 established provincial legislatures and increased the powers of the Legislative Council. Although these Acts increased the representation of Indians in the government, their power still remained limited. The Indian Councils Act 1909 and the Government of India Act 1919 further expanded participation of Indians in the government. Government of India Act 1935 Main article: Government of India Act 1935 The provisions of the Government of India Act 1935, though never implemented fully, had a great impact on the Constitution of India. Many key features of the constitution are directly taken from this Act. The federal structure of government, provincial autonomy, a bicameral central legislature consisting of a federal assembly and a Council of States and the separation of legislative powers between the centre and states are some of the provisions of the Act which are present in the Constitution of India. The Cabinet Mission Plan Main article: 1946 Cabinet Mission to India In 1946, British Prime Minister Clement Attlee formulated a cabinet mission to India to discuss and finalize plans for the transfer of power from the British Raj to Indian leadership as well as provide India with independence under Dominion status in the Commonwealth of Nations.[6][7] The Mission discussed the framework of the constitution and laid down in some detail the procedure to be followed by the constitution drafting body. Elections for the 296 seats assigned to the British Indian provinces were completed by August 1946. The Constituent Assembly of India first met and began work on 26 November 1946. The mission consisted of Lord Pethick-Lawrence, the Secretary of State for India, Sir Stafford Cripps, President of the Board of Trade, and A. V. Alexander, the First Lord of the Admiralty. However, Lord Wavell, the Viceroy of India, did not participate. Indian Independence Act 1947 Main article: Indian Independence Act 1947 The Indian Independence Act, passed by the British Parliament on 18 July 1947, divided British India into two new independent states, India and Pakistan, which were to be dominions under the Commonwealth of Nations until they had each finished drafting and enacted a new constitution. The Constituent Assembly was divided into two for the separate states, with each new Assembly having sovereign powers transferred to it for the respective dominion. The Act also terminated British suzerainty over the princely states, each of which was left to decide whether to accede to one or other of the new dominions or to continue as independent states in their own right. However, in most cases the states were so dependent on central institutions that they were widely expected to accede to a dominion. When the Constitution of India came into force on 26 January 1950, it repealed the Indian Independence Act. India ceased to be a dominion of the British Crown and became a sovereign democratic republic. 26 November 1949 is also known as National Law Day. Constituent Assembly Main article: Constituent Assembly of India The Constitution was drafted by the Constituent Assembly, which was elected by the elected members of the provincial assemblies.[8] Dr B.R. Ambedkar, Sanjay Phakey, Jawaharlal Nehru, C. Rajagopalachari, Rajendra Prasad, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Kanaiyalal Munshi, Purushottam Mavalankar, Sandipkumar Patel, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, Nalini Ranjan Ghosh, and Balwantrai Mehta were some important figures in the Assembly. There were more than 30 members of the scheduled classes. Frank Anthony represented the Anglo-Indian community, and the Parsis were represented by H. P. Modi. The Chairman of the Minorities Committee was Harendra Coomar Mookerjee, a distinguished Christian who represented all Christians other than Anglo-Indians. Ari Bahadur Gururng represented the Gorkha Community. Prominent jurists like Alladi Krishnaswamy Iyer, Benegal Narsing Rau and K. M. Munshi, Ganesh Mavlankar were also members of the Assembly. Sarojini Naidu, Hansa Mehta, Durgabai Deshmukh, Rajkumari Amrit Kaur and Vijayalakshmi Pandit were important women member Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar is hailed as the prime architect of Indian Constitution The first temporary 2-day president of the Constituent Assembly was Dr Sachidanand Sinha. Later, Rajendra Prasad was elected president of the Constituent Assembly. The members of the Constituent Assembly met for the first time on 9 December 1946. Independent India India acquired independence on 15 August 1947 though sections of the country were carved out and stitched together to create another new country, Pakistan. The â€Å"institutional† road to independence was perhaps laid down by the Government of India Act of 1935, where the gradual emergence of India as a self-governing entity had first been partly envisioned. Following India’s independence in 1947, the Constituent Assembly deliberated over the precise constitutional future of India. On 26 January 1950, India became a Republic, and the Constitution of India was promulgated. Jawaharlal Nehru had become the country’s first Prime Minister in 1947, and in 1952, in the country’s first general election with a universal franchise, Nehru led the Indian National Congress to a clear victory. The Congress had long been the principal political party in India, providing the leadership to the struggle for independence, and under Nehru’s stewardship it remained the largest and most influential party over the next three decades. In 1957, Nehru was elected to yet another five-year term as a member of the Lok Sabha and chosen to head the government. His ‘regime’ was marked by the advent of five-year plans, designed to bring big science and industry to India; in Nehru’s own language, steel mills and dams were to be the temples of modern India. Relations with Pakistan remained chilling, and the purported friendship of India and China proved to be something of a hoax. China’s invasion of India’s borders in 1962 is said to have dealt a mortal blow to Nehru. Nehru was succeeded at his death on 27 May 1964 for a period of two weeks by Gulzarilal Nanda (1898-1998), a veteran Congress politician who became active in the non-cooperation movement in 1922 and served several prison terms, principally in 1932 and from 1942-44 during the Quit India movement. Nanda served as acting Prime Minister until the Congress had elected a new leader, Lal Bahadur Shastri, also a veteran politician who came of age during the Gandhi-led non-cooperation movement. Shastri was the compromise candidate who, perhaps unexpectedly, led the country to something of a victory over Pakistan in 1965. Shastri and the vanquished Pakistani President, Muhammad Ayub Khan, signed a peace treaty at Tashkent in the former Soviet Union on 10 January 1966, but Shastri barely lived to witness the accolades that were now being showered upon him since he died of an heart attack the day after the treaty was signed. Shastri’s empathy for the subaltern classes is conveyed through the slogan, â€Å"Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan†, â€Å"Hail the Soldier, Hail the Farmer†, which is attributed to him and through which he is remembered at Vijay Ghat, the national memorial to him in New Delhi in the proximity of Rajghat, the national memorial to Mohandas Gandhi.