UUNIVERSITY GRANTS COMMISSION AACADEMIC SSTAFF CCOLLEGE

RESOURCE MATERIAL ON ORIENTATION PROGRAMME Volume – I

Dr. A. Singaravel Editor

BHARATHIDASAN UNIVERSITY KHAJAMALAI CAMPUS TIRUCHIRAPPALLI-620 023

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Editor : Dr. A. Singaravel, Director, in charge UGC Academic Staff College, Bharathidasan University, Trichy - 23.

Copy right : Bharathidasan University, Trichy - 23.

First Edition : 2011

Paper used : 80 GSM TNPL

Size : 1 X 8 Demmy Font Size : 12 Points Times New Roman` No. of Pages : No. of Copies : 100 ISBN No. : 978 – 81 – 922810 – 2 - 5 Printed at : Sree Venkateshwara Power Printers, Trichy - 10. Cover page design & Page Making : Ms. R. Sangeetha Computer Assistant, UGC-ASC

MESSAGE

When I asked Dr.Singaravel, the Director i/c of the Academic Staff College to compile the learning materials used by Resource Persons, he readily agreed to do it. The result is the book you hold in your hands.

I am happy to record that the Director has brought these volumes which could be used by participants of Orientation Programmes as Resource Materials.

I take this opportunity to congratulate the Director for his proactive initiatives and carry out the vision of Bharathidasan University to be innovative.

I thank the University Grants Commission for its fullest support for the progress of the

Academic Staff College of Bharathidasan University. I also congratulate Dr.A.Singaravel,

Director In-charge of the Academic Staff College and his team for this innovative practice of converting the lecture notes and selected seminar papers of participants, into Resource Materials.

I wish the Academic Staff College all success in its endeavors.

(Dr.(Mrs.)K.MEENA)

From the Director’s Desk

The UGC Academic Staff College (ASC), Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli, has been conducting three types of specially designed training programmes like Orientation Programmes (OP), Refresher Courses (RC) and Short-Term Courses (ST) for the benefit of the College and University Teachers across the country to empower and enhance their academic excellence consistently so as to impart updated subject knowledge to the students of Higher Education for the past quarter century. The ASC also organised Short Term Workshop even for the benefit of the Ph.D Scholars and Administrative Staff to empower and enhance the academic and administrative skill respectively.

In addition to this, the ASC has been publishing Resource Materials on various disciplines for the benefit of the stakeholders who attend these programmes. The ASC publishes this "Orientation Course Resource Material Volume-I", to benefit the Teacher Participants, with ISBN facility. This book was compiled from the lectures delivered by the resource persons as well as the seminar papers presented by the participants for the Programmes.

In this endeavour, I sincerely thank the UGC for its continued support and co-operation. I thank the most respected Vice-Chancellor and the Management of Bharathidasan University for their academic and administrative support and encouragement to run the courses and bring out the resource material without hassle. I thank all the Resource Persons, who have contributed and extended their fullest support and encouragement towards this endeavor.

The Resource Persons/Teacher Participants are totally responsible for their articles and lecture notes presented in this volume and the UGC- ASC can not be held responsible for any criticism or comments from the readers.

Finally, I thank Sree Venkateshwara Off Set Printers, Ariyamangalam, Tiruchirappalli, for bringing out this book neatly, within a short span of time.

With regards, Director.

CONTENTS

S.No Particulars Page.No

1. Indian Culture

2. Professional Ethics and Teachers

3. Quality Articles and Impact Factor

4. The Role of Youth in Nation Building

5. Pollution Awareness for Sustainable Development

6. Applying Knowledge Management Practices in Curriculum Design 7. Management of Women Educational Institutions: Challenges and Responsibilities 8. Relevance of Educational Technology in English Language Teaching 9. The Art of Writing Quality Articles

10. Spatio-Temporal Analysis of Urban Land Use in Ward 72 of Madurai City 11. Economic Issues - Obstacles for Rural Development

Methods and Materials of Teaching English As 12. A Second Language

13. Role of Multimedia in Teaching

14. Pre Disaster Preparedness-An Insight Study

INDIAN CULTURE E. Dhanalakshmi Introduction India's languages, religions, dance, music, architecture, food and customs differ from place to place within the country, but nevertheless they possess a commonality. The Culture of India is an amalgamation of these diverse sub-cultures spread all over the Indian Subcontinent.

Regarded by some historians as the "oldest living civilization of Earth", the Indian Tradition dates back to 8000 BC and has a continuous recorded history since the time of the Vedas for over 5,500 years. Several elements of India's diverse culture such as Indian religions, yoga and Indian cuisine have had a profound impact across the world.

Religions and Spirituality India is the birth place of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism, collectively known as Indian Religions. Indian Religions, also known as Dharmic Religions, are a major form of world religions, along with Abrahamic Ones (Christianity and Islam). Today, Hinduism and Buddhism are the world's third and fourth largest religions respectively, with over 2 billion followers altogether, and possibly as many as 2.5 or 2.6 billion followers. India is also the birthplace of the Lingayat and Ahmadiyya Faiths. The statue depicting Maitreya at the Thikse Monastery in Ladakh, India.

India is one of the most religiously diverse nations in the world, with some of the most deeply religious societies and cultures. Religion still plays a central and definitive role in the life of many of its people.

The religion of 80% of the people is Hinduism. Islam is practiced by around 13% of all Indians. Sikhism, Jainism and especially Buddhism, are influential not only in India but across the world. Christianity, Zoroastrianism, Judaism and the Bahá'í Faith are also influential but their

 Lecturer in Mathematics, Sri Bharathi Arts & Science College for Women, Pudukkottai. numbers are smaller. Despite the strong role of religion in Indian life, atheism and agnostics also have visible influence, along with a self-ascribed tolerance to other people.

According to Eugene M. Makar, a respected Industry Consultant, traditional Indian Culture is defined by a relatively strict social hierarchy. He also mentions that from an early age, children are reminded of their role and place in society. This is reinforced by the fact that many believe that gods and spirits have an integral and functional role in determining their life. Several differences such as religion, divide the culture. However, a far more powerful division is the traditional Hindu bifurcation into non-polluting and polluting occupations. Strict social taboos have governed these groups for thousands of years. In recent years, particularly in cities, some of these lines have blurred and sometimes even disappeared. Important family relations extend as far as ‗gotra‘ and the mainly patrilinear lineage or clan is assigned to a Hindu at birth. In rural areas and sometimes in urban areas as well, it is common that three or four generations of the family live under the same roof. The Patriarch often resolves family issues.

Family

Family plays a significant role in the Indian Culture. For generations, India has had a tradition of the Joint Family System. It is a system under which extended members of a family – parents, children, the children‘s spouses and their offspring, etc. – live together. Usually, the eldest male member is the head in the Joint Indian Family System. He makes all important decisions and rules, and other family members abide by them.

Marriage

For centuries, Arranged Marriages have been the tradition in the Indian Society. Even today, the vast majority of Indians have their marriages planned by their parents and other respected family-members, with the consent of the bride and groom. They also demand dowry, which has been outlawed by the Indian Government, but Indian society and culture still promotes and maintains the Dowry System. They get around the prohibition by not letting the authorities know. Arranged Matches are made after taking into account factors such as age, height, personal values and tastes, the background of their families (wealth, social standing), their castes and the astrological compatibility of the couples‘ horoscopes. In India, the marriage is arranged for life, and the divorce rate is extremely low at 1.1% compared with about 50% in the United States. The Arranged Marriages generally have a much lower divorce rate, although divorce rates for love marriage have risen significantly in recent years at 3.5 percent. Opinion is divided over what the phenomenon signifies traditionalists, the rising numbers portend the breakdown of society while modernists consider it as a healthy new empowerment for women.

Namaste Namaste, Namaskar or Namaskara or Namaskaram, Vanakkam (Tamil) or Asssalamu alaikum (Urdu / Persian), Sat Shri Akal (Punjabi) is a common spoken greeting or salutation in the Indian Subcontinent. Namaskar is considered a slightly more formal version than Namaste but both express deep respect. It is commonly used in India and Nepal by Hindus, Jains, Buddhists and Sikhs, and many continue to use this outside the Indian Subcontinent. In Indian and Nepali Culture, the word is spoken at the beginning of written or verbal communication. However, the same hands folded gesture is made usually wordlessly upon departure. Taken literally, it means "I bow to you". The word is derived from Sanskrit (namah): to bow, obeisance, reverential salutation, and respect, and (te): "to you". As explained by an Indian Scholar, in literal terms, Namaste refers to 'That which is of God in me bows to that which is of God in you'.

Festivals

Radha and Gopikas celebrating Holi, known as the "festival of colors”.

India, being a multi-cultural and multi-religious society, celebrates holidays and festivals of various religions. The four national holidays in India, the Independence Day, the Republic Day, the Gandhi Jayanti and First May are celebrated with zeal and enthusiasm across India. In addition, many states and regions have local festivals depending on prevalent religious and linguistic demographics. Popular religious festivals include the Hindu festivals of Navratri, Diwali, Ganesh Chaturthi, Durga Puja, Holi, Rakshabandhan and Dussehra. Several harvest festivals, such as Sankranthi, Pongal and Onam,"Nuakhai" are also fairly popular.

Certain festivals in India are celebrated by multiple religions. Notable examples include Diwali, which is celebrated by Hindus, Sikhs and Jains, and Buddh Purnima, is celebrated by Buddhists and Hindus. Islamic festivals, such Eid ul-Fitr, Eid al-Adha and Ramadan, are celebrated by Muslims across India. Sikh Festivals, such as Guru Nanak Jayanti, Baiskhi are celebrated with full fanfare by Sikhs and Hindu. Adding colors to the culture of India, the Dree Festival is one of the tribal festivals of India celebrated by the Apatanis of the Ziro Valley of Arunachal Pradesh, which is the easternmost State of India.

Names and language Indian names are based on a variety of systems and naming conventions vary from region to region. Names are also influenced by religion and caste and may come from the Indian Epics. India's population speaks a wide variety of languages.

Cuisine

Kheer is a traditional Indian sweet dish. The cuisine in India is classified into three major categories. Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas. Satva stands for balance, Rajas stands for passion, and Tamas stands for indulgence. Food is consumed according to the lifestyle of the person. For example, a King has to be aggressive to defend his country and he would be taking food which would give much passion and that aggressiveness which is required. When a person tries to lead his life in search of self realization, he would prefer a Satvic food or known as Sattvic diet, which would help to keep his mind in balance. Tasmic food is to be taken only if it is required, like consumption of Alcohol. This is the reason why many Indians abstain from drinking.

The multiple varieties of Indian cuisine are characterized by their sophisticated and subtle use of many spices and herbs. Each family of this cuisine is characterized by a wide assortment of dishes and cooking techniques. Though a significant portion of Indian food is vegetarian, many traditional Indian dishes also include chicken, goat, lamb, fish, and other meats.

India is known for its love for food and spices, and it plays a role in everyday life as well as in festivals. Indian cuisine varies from region to region, reflecting the varied demographics of the country. Generally, Indian cuisine can be split into five categories — northern, southern, eastern, western and north-eastern.

Despite this diversity, some unifying threads emerge. Varied uses of spices are an integral part of food preparation and they are used to enhance the flavor of a dish and create unique flavors and aromas. Cuisine across India has also been influenced by various cultural groups that entered India throughout history such as the Persians, Mughals and European‘s colonists. Though the tandoor originated in Central Asia, Indian tandoori dishes, such as chicken tikka made with Indian ingredients, enjoy widespread popularity.

Indian cuisine is one of the most popular cuisines across the globe. Historically, Indian spices and herbs were one of the most sought after trade commodities. The Spice Trade between India and Europe led to the rise and dominance of arab traders to such an extent that European explorers, such as Vasco da Gama and Christopher Columbus, set out to find new trade routes with India leading to the Age of Discovery. The popularity of curry, which originated in India, across Asia has often led to the dish being labeled as the "pan-Asian" dish.

Clothing Traditional clothing in India greatly varies across different parts of the country and it is influenced immensely by local culture, geography and climate. Popular styles of dress include draped garments such as sari for women and dhoti or lungi for men. In addition, stitched clothes such as churidar for women and kurta-pyjama and European-style trousers and shirts for men, are also popular.

In India, a person's social status is assessed by his or her attire. Indian dress etiquette discourages exposure of skin and wearing transparent or tight clothes. Most Indian clothes are made from cotton which is ideal for the region's hot climate. Since India's climate is mostly hot and rainy, majority of Indians wear sandals. The bindi is worn by women on their forehead and it is considered to be a highly auspicious mark in Hindu religion. Traditionally, the red bindi (or sindoor) was worn only by the married Hindu women but now it has become a part of women's fashion. Some Indian traditions consider the bindi to be representative of the third eye.

India's clothing styles have continuously evolved over the course of the country's history. Ancient Vedic Texts mention clothes made from barks and leaves (known as phataka). The 11th Century BC Rig-veda mentions dyed and embroidered garments (known as paridhan and pesas respectively) and thus highlights the development of sophisticated garment manufacturing techniques during the Vedic Age. In 5th Century BC, Greek Historian, Herodotus, describes the richness of the quality of Indian cotton clothes. By 2nd Century AD, muslin manufactured in Southern India were imported by the Roman Empire and silk cloth was one of the major exports of ancient India along with Indian Spices. Stitched clothing in India was developed before 10th Century AD and it was further popularized in 15th Century by Muslim Empires in India. Draped clothing styles remained popular with India's hindu population while the Muslims increasingly adopted tailored garments.

During the British Raj, India's large clothing and Handicrafts Industry was left paralyzed so as to make place for British industrial cloth. Consequently, during Indian Independence Movement, leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, successfully advocated what they termed as khadi clothing — light colored hand-woven clothes so as to decrease reliance of the Indian people on British industrial goods. The 1980s was marked by a widespread modification to Indian clothing fashions which was characterized by a large-scale growth of fashion schools in India, increasing involvement of women in the fashion industry and changing Indian attitudes towards multiculturalism. These developments played a pivotal role in the fusion of Indian and Western clothing styles.

Languages and literature History Time is always referred to as Kaala Chakra in India. In Ancient India, the time was divided in Four Yugas. The calendar, which most Indians follow, is based on this. With its oldest dating going back to as early as 1500 BC, the Rigvedic Sanskrit is one of the oldest attestations of any Indo-Iranian language, and one of the earliest attested members of the Indo-European language family, the family which includes English and most European languages. Sanskrit has had a profound impact on the languages and literature of India. Hindi, India's most spoken language, is a "Sanskritized Register" of the Khariboli Dialect. In addition, all modern Indo-Aryan languages, Munda languages and Dravidian languages, have borrowed many words either directly from Sanskrit (tatsama words), or indirectly via middle Indo-Aryan languages (tadbhava words). Words originating in Sanskrit are estimated to constitute roughly fifty percent of the vocabulary of modern Indo-Aryan languages, and the literary forms of (Dravidian) Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada. Part of the Eastern Indo-Aryan languages, the Bengali language arose from the eastern Middle Indic languages and its roots are traced to the 5th century BC.

Tamil, one of India's major classical languages, descends from Proto-Dravidian languages, which was spoken around the third millennium BC in Peninsular India. Tamil Literature has existed for over two thousand years and the earliest epigraphic records are traced to the third century BC. Another major Dravidian language, Kannada, is attested epigraphically from the mid- 1st millennium AD, and literary Old Kannada flourished in the 9th to 10th century Rashtrakuta Dynasty. Pre-old Kannada (or Purava HaleGannada) was the language of Banavasi in the early Common Era, the Satavahana and Kadamba periods and hence has a history of over 2000 years. The Ashoka Rock Edict found at Brahmagiri (dated 230 BC) has been suggested to contain a word in identifiable Kannada.

According to 2001 India Census, Hindi is the most spoken language in India, followed by Bengali, Telugu, Marathi and Tamil. In contemporary Indian literature, there are two major literary awards- the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship and the Jnanpith Award. Seven Jnanpith awards have been awarded in Kannada, six in Hindi, five in Bengali, four in Malayalam, three each in Marathi, Gujarati, Urdu and Oriya and two each in Telugu and Tamil.

Epics

Manuscript illustration of the Battle of Kurukshetra.

The Ramayana and the Mahabharata are the oldest preserved and well-known epics of India. Versions have been adopted as the epics of Southeast Asian countries like Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. The Ramayana consists of 24,000 verses in seven books (kāas) and 500 cantos (sargas), and tells the story of Rama (an incarnation or Avatar of the Hindu Preserver-God, Vishnu), whose wife Sita is abducted by the demon king of Lanka, Ravana. This epic played a pivotal role in establishing the role of dhárma as a principal ideal guiding force for Hindu way of life. The earliest parts of the Mahabharata are dated 400 BC and it is estimated to have reached its final form by the early Gupta Period (ca. 4th century. AD). Other regional variations of these, as well as unrelated epics include the Tamil Ramavataram, Kannada Pampa Bharata, Hindi Ramacharitamanasa, and Malayalam Adhyathmaramayanam. In addition to these two great Indian Epics, there are three major epics in the classical Tamil Language Silappatikaram, Manimekalai, Civaka-cintamaniand [Valayapathi].

Music The music of India includes multiple varieties of religious, folk, popular, and classical music. The oldest preserved examples of Indian music are the melodies of the Samaveda that are still sung in certain Vedic Śrauta sacrifices. India's classical music tradition is heavily influenced by Hindu Texts. It includes two distinct styles: Carnatic and Hindustani Music.

The earliest account of Indian musical hymns is found in the 1000 BC Sāmaveda. It proposed a tonal structure consisting of seven notes, which were named, in descending order, as Krusht, Pratham, Dwitiya, Tritiya, Chaturth, Mandra and Atiswār. These refer to the notes of a flute, which was the only fixed frequency instrument. Both the Hindustani classical music and the Carnatic classical music systems are based on the melodic mode (known as Rāga), sung to a rhythmic cycle or tala. These principles were refined in the nātyaśāstra (200 BC) and the dattilam (300 AD).

Purandaradasa is considered the "father of carnatic music" (Karnataka sangeeta pitamaha). He concluded his songs with a salutation to Lord Purandara Vittala and he is believed to have composed as many as 475,000 songs in the Kannada language. However, only about 1,000 are known today.

Visual arts Painting The earliest Indian Paintings were the rock paintings of pre-historic times. cave paintings from Ajanta, Bagh, Ellora and Sittanavasal and temple paintings testify to a love of naturalism. Most early and medieval art in India is Hindu, Buddhist or Jain. A freshly made coloured design (Rangoli) is still a common sight outside the doorstep of many (mostly South Indian) Indian homes. Raja Ravi Varma is one the classical painters from Medieval India.

Madhubani Painting, Mysore Painting, Rajput Painting, Tanjore Painting, Mughal Painting are some notable Genres of Indian Art. Nandalal Bose, M. F. Husain, S. H. Raza, Geeta Vadhera, Jamini Roy and B.Venkatappa are some modern painters. Among the present day artists, Atul Dodiya, Bose Krishnamachari, Devajyoti Ray and Shibu Natesan represent a new era of Indian Art where global art shows direct amalgamation with Indian classical styles. These recent artists have acquired international recognition. Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai and Mysore Palace display a few good Indian Paintings.

Architecture

Considered to be an "unrivaled architectural wonder, "the Taj Mahal in Agra is a prime example of Indo-Islamic Architecture.

Indian Architecture encompasses a multitude of expressions over space and time, constantly absorbing new ideas. The result is an evolving range of architectural production that nonetheless retains a certain amount of continuity across history. Some of its earliest productions are found in the Indus Valley Civilization (2600–1900 BC) which is characterised by well planned cities and houses. Religion and kingship do not seem to have played an important role in the planning and layout of these towns.

During the period of the Mauryan and Gupta Empires and their successors, several Buddhist architectural complexes such as the caves of Ajanta and Ellora and the monumental Sanchi Stupa, were built. Later on, South India produced several Hindu Temples like Chennakesava Temple at Belur, the Hoysaleswara Temple at Halebidu, and the Kesava Temple at Somanathapura, Brihadeeswara Temple, Thanjavur, the Sun Temple, Konark, Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple at Srirangam, and the Buddha Stupa (Chinna Lanja Dibba and Vikramarka Kota Dibba) at Bhattiprolu. Angkor Wat, Borobudur and other Buddhist and Hindu temples indicate strong Indian influence on South East Asian architecture, as they are built in styles almost identical to traditional Indian religious buildings.

Indian Martial Arts

One of the best known forms of ancient Indian Martial Arts is the Kalarippayattu from Kerala. This ancient fighting style originated in Southern India in the 12th Century and it is regarded as one of the oldest surviving martial arts. In this form of martial arts, various stages of physical training include ayurvedic massage with sesame oil to impart suppleness to the body (uzichil); a series of sharp body movements so as to gain control over various parts of the body (miapayattu) and complex sword fighting techniques (paliyankam).

Kalarippayattu, one of the oldest and most prominent forms of Indian Martial Arts.

Silambam, which was developed around 200 AD, traces its roots to the Sangam Period in Southern India. Silambam is unique among Indian Martial Arts because it uses complex footwork techniques (kaaladi), including a variety of spinning styles. A bamboo staff is used as the main weapon. The ancient Tamil Sangam Literature mentions that between 400 BC and 600 AD, soldiers from Southern India received special martial arts training which revolved primarily around the use of spear (vel), sword (val) and shield (kedaham).

In Northern India, the musti yuddha evolved in 1100 AD and focussed on mental, physical and spiritual training. In addition, the Dhanur Veda tradition was an influential fighting arts style which considered the bow and the arrow to be the supreme weapons. The Dhanur Veda was first described in the 5th Century BC Viu Purāa and it is also mentioned in both the major ancient Indian Epics, the Rāmāyana and Mahābhārata. A distinctive factor of Indian Martial Arts is the heavy emphasis laid on meditation (dhyāna) as a tool to remove fear, doubt and anxiety.

Indian Martial Arts Techniques have had a profound impact on other martial arts styles across Asia. The 3rd Century BC Yoga Sutras of Patanjali taught how to meditate single-mindedly on points located inside one's body, which was later used in martial arts, while various mudra finger movements were taught in Yogacara Buddhism. These elements of yoga, as well as finger movements in the nata dances, were later incorporated into various martial arts. According to some historical accounts, Indian Buddhist Monk, Bodhidharma, was one of the main founders of the Shaolin Kungfu.

Reference

1. Mohammada, Malika (2007). The foundations of the composite culture in India. Aakar Books, 2007. http://books.google.com/?id=dwzbYvQszf4C&printsec=frontcover. 2. Arnett, Robert (2006-07). India Unveiled. Atman Press, 2006.

PROFESSIONAL ETHICS AND TEACHERS

Dr.K.S. Anish Kumar

The present era has started witnessing lack of values in all walks of life. In fact, the tremendous fall of ‗human content‘ in all professions, demands serious attention. Everyday newspaper reports reiterate the fact that the modern society has become unethical and vulnerable to corrupt practices. Hence the need for ethics in a world where man has already lost control over his social environment and tries to compromise with quality.

‗Ethics‘ is derived from the Greek word ‗ethos‘ which denotes temperament, character and a way of thinking. Aristotle equated ethics with character and designated it with human virtues. Strictly speaking, ethics is the subject that deals with morality. In the book entitled, Ethics, V.I.Bakshtanovsky and others, opine that Aristotle gives more importance to man‘s inner world and tries to assert the idea that man‘s inner world determines the degree of his morality. Will Durant in his book, The Story of Philosophy, says that Aristotle is of the view that man‘s ultimate aim is happiness - the happiness that emerges out of the virtues of a person. It is worth nothing that from the ancient to the modern period, eminent writers and scholars insist on the need for a ethical way of living.

Each and every professional is expected to follow certain ‗Code of Conduct‘. These are made mandatory by institutions because their reputation relies primarily on the behavior of their employees. Any institution or company expects its employees to behave very decently and politely with its customers because any failure in this regard would result in loss of their customers. For instance, if a Managing Director of a company uses unethical forms of communication, he may fail in his business. Robert K.Crone, President, Harvard Medical International, urged the need for ethics in the medical curriculum in the annual meeting between the Harvard Medical International and its alliance partner in India, Sri Ramachandra Medical College. In an interview with, The Hindu, he said, ―The major issues we have to teach medical students to deal with are ethics, the ability to communicate with patients, and the concept of wellness‖.

 Assistant Professor, Department of English, Bharathidasan University College, Perambalur.

The work environment decides the Code of Ethics because the codes of conduct of Doctors considerably differ from that of the journalists. Markandey Katju, Judge of the Supreme Court of India, recently wrote an article in favour of freedom of press in The Hindu (03-06- 2011), entitled, ―Freedom of Press and Journalistic Ethics‖. He says, ―In countries like India, the media have a responsibility to fight backward ideas such as casteism and communalism and help the people fight poverty and other social evils‖ (8)

Most of the companies, educational institutions, public and private firms insist on employees following a code of conduct. In short, Professional Ethics deals with what a professional should do and should not do in the work environment. Professional Ethics aims at bringing the best out of a professional, as Waldemar Kaempffert rightly says, ―Man as a social animal needs correction and improvement‖ (7)

The professional responsibility of a teacher is different from that of other professionals because society expects more ethical values from a teacher. It is worth noting that the social commitment of a teacher never ends in the classroom as in the case of a bank official who attends to the needs of his customer or a worker in a firm who produces goods with utmost care and sincerity. The teacher not only shapes the personality of the students but also shapes the destiny of the nation.

The University Grants Commission‘s Report on the Task Force of Professional Ethics for University and College Teachers, clearly indicates the responsibilities of a teacher.

Whoever adopts teaching as a profession assumes the obligation to conduct himself in accordance with the ideals of the profession. A teacher is constantly under the scrutiny of his students and the society at large. (….) The profession further requires that the teachers should be calm, patient and communicative by temperament and amiable in disposition. (2-3)

Unlike other professionals, teachers are expected to practise strictly what they preach. In fact, a child starts perceiving and analyzing the external world through the interpretations of the teacher. In his article entitled, Role of Teachers in School, Niranjan Singh, Former Joint Commissioner (Academic), rightly says, ―The teacher is a dynamic force of a school. A school without a teacher is just like a body without a soul, a skeleton without flesh and blood. As a social engineer, the teacher can socialize and humanize the young by their man-like qualities‖.

The undercurrent of his idea is that a teacher should voluntarily create an environment for his students to discover his man-like positive potentials that are already in him. The potential of a good teacher is realized when he makes his students dedicated citizens of the nation and hence Sir John Adam rightly says, ―The teacher is the maker of man‖.

Teachers of the present generation are much after material gains and to acquire wealth, they engage themselves in the business of taking tuitions. Renganantha rightly calls them ―mercenaries‖ because the mercenary works only for the money (6). It is worthy of note that the philosophical traditions of the world have given more importance to virtue than anything else. Philosophers emphasize more personal virtues and to them material gains are secondary. From the Analects, one can easily understand the amount of respect they gave for the ethics. ―Wealth and honour are what every person desires. But if they have been obtained in violation of moral principles, they must not be kept (186)‖ and to Socrates ―the moral person put money or anything else before virtue‖ (qtd in Ciulla 187)

The Report of the Code of Professional Ethics for School Teachers in the Context of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009, rightly comments on the necessity for professional ethics for teachers. ―It is universally felt that like all other professions, teaching profession should also have its Code of Professional Ethics which is a pre-requisite to ensure its dignity and integrity‖.

Keeping this in mind, the University Grants Commission has released the Report of the Task Force on Code of Professional Ethics for University and College Teachers, which contains seven major aspects such as 1) Teachers and their Responsibilities 2) Teachers and the Students 3) Teachers and Colleagues 4) Teachers and Authorities 5) Teachers and Non-Teaching Staff 6) Teachers and Guardians 7) Teachers and Society. The following are the excerpts from the Report that highlight the role of teachers not only in the classroom but also in the society.

Teachers and Their Responsibilities Teachers should (i) adhere to a responsible pattern of conduct and demeanor expected of them by the community; (ii) manage their private affairs in a manner consistent with the dignity of the profession; (iii) seek to make professional growth continuous through study and research; (iv) express free and frank opinion by participation at professional meetings, seminars, conferences etc. towards the contribution of knowledge; (v) co-operate and assist in carrying out functions relating to the educational responsibilities of the college and the university such as assisting in appraising applications for admission, advising and counseling students as well as assisting in the conduct of university and college examinations, including supervision, invigilation and evaluation; and (vi) participate in extension, co-curricular and extra-curricular activities including community service.

Teachers and the Students Teachers should (i) respect the right and dignity of the student in expressing his / her opinion; (ii) deal justly and impartially with students regardless of their religion, caste, political, economic, social and physical characteristics; (iii) inculcate among students scientific outlook and respect for physical labour and ideals of democracy, patriotism and peace; (iv) be affectionate to the students and not behave in a vindictive manner towards any of them for any reason; (v) make themselves available to the students even beyond their class hours and help and guide students without any remuneration or reward; (vi) aid students to develop an understanding of our national heritage and national goals and (vii) refrain from inciting students against other students, colleagues or administration.

Teachers and Colleagues Teachers should (i) speak respectively of other teachers and render assistance for professional betterment; (ii) refrain from lodging unsubstantiated allegations against colleagues to higher authorities; (iii) refrain from allowing considerations of caste, creed, religion, race or sex in their professional endeavor.

Teachers and Authorities Teachers should (i) refrain from undertaking any other employment and commitment including private tuitions and coaching classes which are likely to interfere with their professional responsibilities; (ii) co-operate in the formulation of policies of the institution by accepting various offices and discharge responsibilities which such offices my demand; (iii) refrain from availing themselves of leave except on unavoidable grounds and as far as practicable with prior intimation, keeping in view their particular responsibility for completion of academic schedule. Teachers and Society

Teachers should (i) recognize that education is a public service and strive to keep the public informed of the educational programme which are being provided; (ii) work to improve education in the community and strengthen the community‘s moral and intellectual life; (iii) perform the duties of citizenship, participate in community activities and shoulder responsibilities of public offices; (iv) refrain from taking part in or subscribing to or assisting in any way activities which tend to promote feeling of hatred or enmity among different communities, religions or linguistic groups but actively work for national integration. These codes of ethics can be easily realized and attained if a teacher can become a facilitator and a man who possesses scientific outlook. Roger, in his instrumental methods of teaching, rightly advocates the idea that successful and effective teaching results from the essential personality of the teacher and he also highlights the idea that the basic personality of an effective teacher emerges from empathy, warmth and genuineness

(1) Empathy is the ability of a teacher to respond to student expressions in ways in which indicate to the learner that the meanings of and emotions attached to, the students‘ behaviours, have been understood.

(2) Warmth is the expression on the part of the teacher of non possessive, unconditional acceptance of a learner‘s experiences as a past of that learner without imposing conditions, decisions, or evaluations of any kind upon the students‘ experiences.

(3) Genuineness is the ability of a teacher to know and accept himself, to be open in interactions with students and to permit students to perceive and understand the teacher as an individual human, complete with faults as well as virtues. (qtd in Martin 22-23)

If a teacher possesses the aforesaid qualities, he becomes the mentor to the students and a true role model for them and a respectable citizen of the nation. L.B. Tripathy in his essay, ―Roles and Responsibilities of University Teachers‖, rightly says: A mentor is one who possesses the power of positive thinking, high self – esteem or sense of self worth, and is competent as well as effective. A mentor is primarily other-oriented individual who gives and helps those who come in his / her contact professionally. In order to become an effective architect of human resource, a teacher must have opted for teaching profession as matter of free choice because of his / her unshakable belief that knowledge and expertise are power more potent than any other source of power.

Reference Ahmed, Feroze ―Include ethics in Medical Curriculum‖ the Hindu, Jan.27, 2004 Bakshtanovsky V.K.(et. al.) Ethics Mascow: Progress Publishers, 1986 Ciulla, Joanne B. Ethics : The Heart of Leadership Chennai : Rain Tree, Publishers Ltd, 2005 Durant, Will. The Story of Philosophy : The Lives and Opinions of Great Philosophers. New York: Simon & Schister, 1926 Kaempffert, Waldemar. ―Man and his world‖. Ross, Malcom and John Stevens (eds). Man and this World. Toronto: J.M.Dent & Sons (Canada) Ltd, 1966. Katju, Markandeu. ―Freedom of the Press and Journalistic Ethics‖. The Hindu, June 3, 2011 Martin, Jack and Jeff Sugarman. Modes of classroom Management: Principles, Applications and Critical Perspectives. 2nd ed. Alberta: Detselig Enterprises Ltd, 1993. Rao, Appa.U.Ed., The Report of the Task Force on Code of Professional Ethics for University and College Teachers. New Delhi: University Grants Commission, 1989. Renganathanantha. Role and Responsibility of Teachers in Building up Modern India. Mumbai: Bharathya Vidya Bhavan, 2001 Singh, Niranjan, ―Role of Teacher in a School‖ (http//navodaya.nic.in/Role % 20 of % 20 Teacher.htm) 9 pages. Report of the Committee, appointed by the NCTE for the preparation of Code of Professional Ethics for School Teachers, in the context of Right to Children to Free and Compulsory Education act 2009. New Delhi: National Council for Teacher Education, 2010. Tripathy.L.B. ―Roles and Responsibilities of University Teachers,‖ Misra,

QUALITY ARTICLES AND IMPACT FACTOR L.Balu Introduction One of the factors influencing scientists of all disciplines is the scientific quality of the journal they choose to publish their research. In the mid-1960‘s, the Impact Factor System was developed. although this system has been universally accepted as the best we currently have at the moment, perhaps the time has come to question its validity. Impact Factor is a measure of journal article citation rates used as a surrogate marker of both journal and article quality.

Impact Factor is a measure of the frequency with which the "average article" published in a given scholarly journal, has been cited in a particular year or period and it is often used to measure or describe the importance of a particular journal to its field. The Thomson-Reuters, (formerly Institute for Scientific Information (ISI), ranks, evaluates, and compares journals within subject categories and publishes the results in Journal Citation Reports. The new rankings come out in the spring, for the previous year's journals. Three years worth of data are required to calculate a Journal Impact Factor.

Impact Factor indicates to some extent the quality of a journal as a whole. However, the Impact Factor alone does not indicate the quality of individual articles within a journal, the overall quality of the research performed or the prestige of associated academic departments, research programs, or institutions.

Impact Factor is used by librarians in selecting journals for library collections, and, in some countries, it is used to evaluate individual scientists and institutions for the purpose of academic promotion and funding allocation. Not surprisingly, many have criticized the methods used to calculate the Impact Factor. However, empiric evaluations of whether or not Impact Factor accurately measures journal quality have been scarce.

 Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Annamalai University, Annamalainagar.

Quality of a Journal and the Impact Factor

Quality, like beauty, is often in the eyes of the beholder. However, numerous studies have shown that the best quality journals, as perceived by interviews or questionnaires with scientists, demonstrate that these journals also turn out to be among the highest in impact within their particular journal category or specialty. Since the advent of the Journal Citation Reports of ISI Impact has become an accepted standard of quality, what one means by quality can vary. There are undoubtedly some high quality articles that appear from time to time in low impact journals but human behavior being what it is, scientists generally know when they have something really important to report and send those articles to the better known, higher impact journals. This, of course, is a vicious circle but there is nothing that can be done to prevent that as long as authors perceive the necessity for publishing in the journals that will give their work the greatest exposure to other scientists.

Tools and Methods to Use with Impact Factors Journal Citation Reports (JCR) include not only the Impact Factor but also a number of related metrics which can be used to evaluate journals (Mulford Library Help Sheet). A research study also strongly recommends the use of additional mathematical criteria to assess journal quality. It has concluded that the methodological quality of clinical research articles includes Impact Factors of the publishing journal in conjunction with citation rates, circulation rates and low manuscript acceptance rates. However, while the above mathematical computations are useful, they can never replace peer review or reading and evaluating the quality of individually published scientific articles.

Calculation

In a given year, the Impact Factor of a journal is the average number of citations received per paper published in that journal during the two preceding years (4). For example, if a journal has an Impact Factor of 3 in 2008, then its papers published in 2006 and 2007 received 3 citations each on an average. The 2008 Impact Factor of a journal would be calculated as follows:

A = the number of times articles published in 2006 and 2007 were cited by indexed journals during 2008 B = the total number of "Citable Items" published by that journal in 2006 and 2007. ("Citable Items" are usually articles, reviews, proceedings, or notes; not editorials or Letters-to-the-Editor.) 2008 impact factor = A/B.

New journals, which are indexed from their first published issue, will receive an Impact Factor after two years of indexing and in this case, the citations to the year prior to Volume 1, and the number of articles published in the year prior to Volume 1 are known zero values. Journals that are indexed starting with a volume other than the first volume will not get an Impact Factor until they have been indexed for three years. Annuals and other irregular publications sometimes publish no items in a particular year, affecting the count. The Impact Factor relates to a specific time period and it is possible to calculate it for any desired period. The Journal Citation Reports (JCR) also includes a 5-year Impact Factor. The JCR shows rankings of journals by Impact Factor, if desired by discipline, such as organic chemistry or psychiatry.

Intended Use: Journal Comparison

The Journal Impact Factor was designed for only one purpose – to compare the citation impact of one journal with other journals. While originally created to measure the frequency with which the ―average article‖ in a journal has been cited in a particular year, it is also increasingly used to evaluate a journal‘s relative importance with others in the same field. It has been increasingly evident that the best journals within each specialty are those ―in which it is most difficult to have an article accepted and these are the journals that have a high impact factor‖.

Evolved Uses: Evaluation of Journals and Research The Impact Factor is increasingly used to measure the quality of specific journals (as the best or most prestigious). Time, budget, and administrative pressures tempt many to use this readily available citation metric not only to support but also to substitute for informed peer judgment in research evaluation. This tool is also being used erroneously as the sole or major factor in assessing the ―quality of scientists, institutions, and even scientific research‖.

Validity

 The Impact Factor is highly discipline-dependent. The percentage of total citations occurring in the first two years after publication varies highly among disciplines from 1-3 percent in the mathematical and physical sciences to 5-8 percent in the biological sciences.  The Impact Factor could not be reproduced in an independent audit.  The Impact Factor refers to the average number of citations per paper but this is not a normal distribution. It is rather a Bradford Distribution, as predicted by theory. Being an arithmetic mean, the Impact Factor, therefore, is not a valid representation of this distribution and unfit for citation evaluation.  In the short term, especially in the case of low-impact-factor journals, many of the citations to a certain article are made in papers written by the author(s) of the original article. This means that counting citations may be independent of the real "impact" of the work among investigators. Garfield, however, maintains that this phenomenon hardly influences a Journal's Impact Factor. However, a study of author self-citations in diabetes literature found that the frequency of author self-citation was not associated with the quality of publications. Similarly, journal self-citation is common in journals dealing in specialized topics having high overlap in readership and authors, and is not necessarily a sign of low quality or manipulation.

Conclusion Impact Factor may be a reasonable indicator of quality for articles in journals.

Reference

1. O'Neill, J, The significance of an impact factor: implications for the publishing community, Learned Publishing, 2000, 13, 105–109. 2. Lee KP, Schotland M, Bacchetti P, Bero LA. Association of journal quality indicators with methodological quality of clinical research articles. 2002. JAMA. 287(21): 2805-2808. 3. Brumback, RE. 2008. Worshiping false idols: the impact factor dilemma. Journal of Child Neurology. 23(4): 365-367. 4. ―Introducing the impact factor‖. Retrieved 2009-08-26. 5. Pringle J. 2008. Trends in the use of ISI citation databases for evaluation. Learned Publishing. 21(2):85-91. 7. Garfield E. 2008. Use of Journal Citation Reports and Journal Performance Indicators in measuring short and long term journal impact. Croatian Medical Journal. 41(4):368-374. 8. Brumback, RE. 2008. Worshiping false idols: the impact factor dilemma. Journalof Child Neurology. 23(4): 365-367. 9. Erjen van Nierop (2009). "Why do statistics journals have low impact factors?". Statistica Neerlandica 63 (1):52–62 10. Joint Committee on Quantitative Assessment of Research (12 June 2008). "Citation Statistics" (PDF). International Mathematical Union. 11. Marashi SA (2005). "On the identity of "citers": are papers promptly recognized by other investigators?". Medical hypotheses 65 (4): 822.

THE ROLE OF YOUTH IN NATION BUILDING

V.Arivukkarasu

Introduction Youth Power is believed to be one of the most important assets for any nation. This becomes even more significant when viewed in the context of a fast ageing population in the developed nations. Consider this: in 2020, an average Indian is expected to be only 29 years old against 37 years in China and the US, 45 years in West Europe and 48 years in Japan. This is the ―demographic dividend‖ that research analysts keep harping about — by 2020, the working age population in India is expected to grow by more than 47 million people. However, Youth Power can be a double-edged sword if it is not managed efficiently. As the working population grows by leaps and bounds, it is imperative that this new generation of workforce is equipped with skills and knowledge if the nation is to harness its human capital potential.

More importantly, skills and knowledge accretion need to be in sync with the aspirations and ambitions of the youth. Failure to do so could result in a host of societal problems and the ensuing rise in unemployment and poverty could drag down India‘s economic prospects in the not-too-distant future. The focus should, therefore, be not only on numbers but on quality of this human resource.

India‘s Economic Planners have time and again focused attention on the youth. The First Planning Commission in 1952 recognized the vital role that youth could play in the development of the nation. In 1985, after the UN declared it as the International Year of the Youth, Indian Policymakers set about preparing a National Youth Policy, which was adopted in 1988, which was then revised in 2003. Despite this, few initiatives were taken to translate these policies into action on the ground.

But before addressing the youth issues, it is necessary to first arrive at a definition of youth. Sociologically speaking, youth refers to a ‗category‘ rather than a ‗group‘ and the difference being that a category has diverse or heterogeneous elements unlike a group which is

 J.J. College of Arts, and Science, Pudukkottai. sociologically similar in its composition. Youth relates to an age group that is transiting between childhood and adulthood and may comprise of a conglomeration of sub-groups with differing social roles, expectations and aspirations.

Definition of Youth However, there is no uniformity in the definition among different countries. The UN defines Youth as those in the age-group of 15-24 years. The UNICEF defines youth in the age bracket of 15-30 years. On the other hand, India‘s National Youth Policy (NYP, 2003) considers all individuals in the age-group of 13-35 years as Youth Population. NYP further states that all persons within this age group are unlikely to be one homogeneous group and divides them into two broad groups: 13-19 years (adolescent age group) and 20-35 years.

International Year of Youth The world is facing many, often overlapping crises, including financial, security, environmental and other socio-economic challenges hindering development and progress. Investing in and partnership with youth is key to addressing these challenges in a sustainable manner. The greatest wealth and strength of any nation lies in the hands of young people. They are the present and as well as the future of our world. They bring hope, youthfulness and they determine the future course of our world.

The UN has developed the Framework Approach highlighting three key objectives for the international year for the Youth, namely: • Create Awareness (increase commitment and investment on youth). • Mobilize and Engage (increased youth participation and partnerships). • Connect and Build Bridges (increased intercultural understanding among youth).

Youth Power can transform India Our former President, Shri A.P.J Kalam maintains that the challenge of transforming India can be achieved through young people who have got the power of ideas, ambition and ability. According to him, the resource of youth is an important building block for transforming India into a developed nation. He exhorts the young people to cultivate two unique characteristics. One is building capacity to inquire, to be creative, and develop the qualities of entrepreneurship and moral leadership and the second is the development of moral value system. His message for young people is, ―Cultivate high level thinking to transform the vision into mission, acquisition of knowledge from all sources and working without boundary conditions till the realization of the mission.‖

The National Youth Policy, 2003 reiterates the commitment of the entire nation to the composite and all-round development of the Youth of India and seeks to establish an All-India Perspective to fulfill their legitimate aspirations so that they are all strong of heart and strong of body and mind in successfully accomplishing the challenging tasks of national reconstruction and social changes that lie ahead. Privileges of Youth The Policy acknowledges that the youth of the country should be assured of the following:  Appropriate education and training which enables them to render themselves socially useful and economically productive;  Gainful employment and adequate opportunities for personal development and advancement for those not currently in employment;  Requisite shelter and a clean environment, as also basic health services of quality;  Social defence and protection from all manner of exploitation;  Suitable participation in decision-making bodies which are concerned with issues relating to the youth and with socio-economic and cultural matters;  Sufficient allocation of public funds for youth development;  Access to Sports, Physical Education, Adventure and Recreational Opportunities.

Responsibilities of Youth NYY Policy exhorts the youth to fulfill their responsibilities, as are enumerated below:  to contribute to sectoral, family and self development and to promote social and inter- generation understanding and gender equality;  to extend respect to teachers and elders, parents and the family, in consonance with our cultural norms and traditions;  to uphold the unity and integrity of the Nation, maintain peace and harmony, observe Fundamental Duties and respect the Fundamental Rights and Freedoms guaranteed under the Constitution to all sections of the people;  to respect others‘ faiths and beliefs in the religious, cultural and social spheres and to different schools of thought and to neither exploit nor be instrumental in the exploitation of fellow citizens and other persons, especially women;  to promote appropriate standards of ethical conduct in individual and social life, to maintain honesty and integrity of character and be committed to fight against all forms of corruption, social evils and practices.  to preserve and protect the environment; and  to commit themselves to create a discrimination and exploitation free environment and to devote their time and energy in nation building activities.

Conclusion

The Goldman Sachs Report has just nominated India for the global competitive race. To win this race, India should be backed strongly by the powers of youth, knowledge and enterprise. But this does not make India the winner of the race.

To win the global competitive race, the country needs to be strong on the other three pillars of Education, Health and Infrastructure. The strengthening of these pillars will make the country‘s people better fed, dressed and housed, healthier, more educated and longer living than any generation in the country‘s history. Rising levels of education, health, employment and incomes will help stabilize India‘s social environment and integrate the country with the global economy. The maintenance and upgradation of these pillars will help the country to build up its social, physical and economic infrastructure. All these will help India to win the global competitive race.

Reference 1. Wilson Domnic and Purushothaman Roopa, Dreaming with BRICs: The Path to 2050, Goldman Sachs-Global Economics Paper No.99,1.Oct.2003. 2. Swami Parthsarathi, India Story, Business India, 8 April,2007. 3. Babani Anoop, It's when ,not if-India vs China, Business India,8 April,2007 IIMK IIML Conference on Global Competition & Competitiveness of Indian Corporate 464. 4. National Youth Policy 2003 India. 5. A.P.J Abdul Kalam, Address to the nation on the eve of the India‘s 58th Republic Day, 2007. 6. Singh, Manmohan, Can India take the lead?, India Today Conclave,2007.

POLLUTION AWARENESS FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

S.Jannathul Firdous Introduction

Pollution is present widely in our environment. To protect the environment from the adverse effects of pollution, many nations worldwide have enacted legislation to regulate various types of pollution as well as to mitigate the adverse effects of pollution. Pollution Control is a term used in Environmental Management. It means the control of emissions and effluents into air, water or soil. As sustainability is improving the quality of human life while living within the carrying capacity of supporting eco-systems, healthy ecosystems provide vital goods and services to humans and other organisms. There are two major ways for reducing negative human impact and enhancing ecosystem services and the first of these is the Environmental Management.

Pollution

Pollution is defined the as any undesirable damage in the environment that causes discomfort in ecosystem.

Types of Pollution:

Air Pollution is caused by the release of chemicals and particulates into the atmosphere.

Common gaseous air pollutants include carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and nitrogen oxides produced by industry and motor vehicles. Photochemical ozone and smog are created as nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons react to sunlight.

Noise Pollution encompasses roadway noise, aircraft noise, industrial noise as well as high- intensity sonar.

Soil Contamination occurs when chemicals are released intentionally, by spill or underground leakage. Radioactive Contamination results from 20th century activities in atomic physics such as nuclear power generation and nuclear weapons research.

 Lecturer, Department of Biochemistry, Shrimati Indira Gandhi College, Tiruchirappalli. Thermal Pollution is a temperature change in natural water bodies caused by human influence such as use of water as coolant in a power plant.

Water Pollution is caused by the discharge of wastewater from commercial and industrial waste (intentionally or through spills) into surface waters; discharges of untreated domestic sewage and chemical contaminants such as chlorine, from treated sewage; release of waste and contaminants into surface runoff flowing to surface waters (including urban runoff and agricultural runoff, which may contain chemical fertilizers and pesticides); waste disposal and leaching into groundwater; eutroph ication and littering.

Plastic Pollution

The discovery of plastics revolutionized our society by introducing an enormous and expanding range of products plastics displaced many traditional materials such as wood, stone, horn and bone, leather, paper, metal, glass and ceramic. We use plastic in various ways in our daily life such as food storage containers, water and milk bottles, packaging and carry bags, pipes, electronic items, frames, electric wiring, toys, furniture, cloths, injection syringes and other several thousands of items.

Plastic is a non- biodegradable substance and it is composed of toxic chemicals. Plastic pollutes earth, air and water. Plastic causes serious damage to environment, both during its production and disposal. The major chemicals that go into the making of plastic like ethylene oxide, benzene and xylenes, are highly toxic and pose serious threat to living beings of all species on earth.

Land Pollution is the addition of undesirable matter to the land that damages the terrestrial organisms, reduces the uses of the land by man for agricultural, residential, recreational or other purposes or increases the risk of health hazards to man.

Pollutant

A pollutant is a waste material that pollutes air, water or soil. Three factors determine the severity of a pollutant: its chemical nature, its concentration and its persistence.

Air Pollutants

Carbon Monoxide (CO) is a colourless, odourless gas that is produced by the incomplete burning of carbon-based fuels including petrol, diesel, and wood. It is also produced from the combustion of natural and synthetic products such as cigarettes. It lowers the amount of oxygen that enters our blood. It can slow our reflexes and make us confused and sleepy.

Carbon Dioxide (CO2) is the principal greenhouse gas, emitted as a result of human activities such as the burning of coal, oil, and natural gases.

Chloroflorocarbons (CFC) are gases that are released mainly from air-conditioning systems and refrigeration. When released into the air, CFCs rise to the stratosphere, where they come in contact with few other gases, and lead to a reduction of the ozone layer that protects the earth from the harmful ultraviolet rays of the sun.

Lead is present in petrol, diesel, lead batteries, paints, hair dye products, etc. Lead affects children in particular. It can cause nervous system damage and digestive problems and, in some cases, cancer.

Ozone occurs naturally in the upper layers of the atmosphere. This important gas shields the earth from the harmful ultraviolet rays of the sun. However, at the ground level, it is a pollutant with highly toxic effects.

Vehicles and industries are the major source of ground-level ozone emissions. Ozone makes our eyes itch, burn, and water. It lowers our resistance to colds and pneumonia.

Nitrogen Oxide (Nox) causes smog and acid rain. It is produced from burning fuels including petrol, diesel, and coal. Nitrogen Oxides can make children susceptible to respiratory diseases in winters.

Suspended Particulate Matter (SPM) consists of solids in the air in the form of smoke, dust, and vapour that can remain suspended for extended periods and is also the main source of haze which reduces visibility. The finer of these particles, when breathed in, can lodge in our lungs and cause lung damage and respiratory problems.

Sulphur Dioxide (SO2) is a gas produced from burning coal, mainly in thermal power plants. Some industrial processes, such as production of paper and smelting of metals, produce Sulphur Dioxide. It is a major contributor to smog and acid rain. Sulfur Dioxide can lead to lung diseases.

Chemical Pollutants

 domestic sewage

 industrial discharges

 seepage from waste sites

 atmospheric fallout

 domestic run-off

 accidents and spills at sea

 operational discharges from oil rigs

 mining discharges and

 agricultural run-off.

Water Pollutants: Organic Water Pollutants

 Detergents

 Disinfection by-products found in chemically disinfected drinking water, such as chloroform

 Food processing waste, which can include oxygen-demanding substances, fats and grease

 Insecticides and herbicides, a huge range of organohalides and other chemical compounds

 Petroleum hydrocarbons, including fuels (gasoline, diesel fuel, jet fuels, and fuel oil) and lubricants (motor oil), and fuel combustion byproducts, from stormwater runoff

 Tree and bush debris from logging operations  Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), such as industrial solvents, from improper storage, Chlorinated Solvents, which are Dense Non-Aqueous Phase Liquids (DNAPLs), may fall to the bottom of reservoirs, since they don't mix well with water and they are denser.

 Various chemical compounds found in personal hygiene and cosmetic products.

Inorganic Water Pollutants

 Acidity caused by industrial discharges (especially sulfur dioxide from power plants)

 Ammonia from food processing waste

 Chemical waste as industrial by-products

 Fertilizers containing nutrients--nitrates and phosphates--which are found in stormwater runoff from agriculture, as well as commercial and residential use.

 Heavy metals from motor vehicles and acid mine drainage.

Thermal Pollutants

 Power plants creating electricity from fossil fuel

 Water as a cooling agent in industrial facilities

 Deforestation of the shoreline

 Soil erosion

 Agriculture sources

Use of high yielding varieties of crops increased the demand for fertilizers and they are carried to ground water by leaching. They are also added through surface run off. Many pesticides are non- degradable. Huge amount of animal excreta like dung from piggeries, are either discharged into grazing fields or dumped into pits. These are later carried either by surface run-off or get percolated into underground water.

Soil Pollutants

Soil Pollution usually results from different human activities like waste dumping, use of agrochemicals, mining operations and urbanization. Industrial Solid Wastes and Sludge are the major sources of soil pollution by toxic organic and inorganic chemical compounds and heavy metals. The fallout from industrial emissions, for example, the fly ash emitted by thermal power plants, can pollute surrounding lands. We must keep in mind that the particulates of the industrial emissions from the tall chimney always comes back to the earth surface sooner or later. Radioactive tests from nuclear testing laboratories and nuclear power plants and the radioactive fallout from the nuclear explosions also contaminate the soil. Radioactive materials thrive in the soil for long periods because they usually have a long half life. Stronium-90, for example, has a half life of 28 years, and the half life of Caesium-137 is 30 years.

Municipal Wastes mainly include domestic and kitchen wastes, market wastes, hospital wastes, livestock and poultry wastes, slaughterhouse wastes and waste metals, and glass and ceramic wastes, etc. Non-biodegradable materials like used polyethylene carry bags, waste plastic sheets, pet bottles etc. persist in soil for long periods. Hospital Wastes contain organic materials, chemicals, metal needles, plastic and glass bottles, vials, etc. Dumping of domestic sewage and hospital organic wastes contaminate the environment with a variety of pathogens that can seriously affect human health.

Agrochemicals

Pesticides and Weedicides are being increasingly applied to control pests and weeds in agricultural systems. Excess inorganic fertilizers and biocide residues are contaminating the soil as well as the surface and groundwater resources. Inorganic Nutrients like phosphate and nitrate are washed out to aquatic ecosystems and accelerate eutrophication.

Opencast Mining (a process where the surface of earth is dug open to bring out the underground mineral deposits) completely devastates the topsoil and contaminates the area with toxic metals and chemicals.

Land Pollutants • Chemical and nuclear plants • Industrial factories • Oil refineries • Human sewage • Oil and antifreeze leaking from cars • Mining • Littering • Overcrowded landfills • Deforestation • Construction debris

Effects of Pollution

Pollution has been found to be present widely in the environment.

Adverse air quality can kill many organisms including humans. Ozone pollution can cause respiratory disease, cardiovascular disease, throat inflammation, chest pain, and congestion. Water Pollution causes approximately 14,000 deaths per day, mostly due to contamination of drinking water by untreated sewage in developing countries. An estimated 700 million Indians have no access to a proper toilet, and 1,000 Indian children die of diarrhoeal sickness every day. Nearly 500 million Chinese lack access to safe drinking water. 656,000 people die prematurely each year in China because of air pollution. In India, air pollution is believed to cause 527,700 fatalities a year. Studies have estimated that the number of people killed annually in the US could be over 50,000.

Oil Spills can cause skin irritations and rashes. Noise Pollution induces hearing loss, high blood pressure, stress, and sleep disturbance. Mercury has been linked to developmental deficits in children and neurologic symptoms. Older people are exposed to diseases induced by air pollution. Those, with heart or lung disorders, are under additional risk. Children and infants are also at serious risk. Lead and other heavy metals have been shown to cause neurological problems. Chemical and radioactive substances can cause cancer and as well as birth defects. Plastic is a non-biodegradable substance, composed of toxic chemicals and they pollute earth, air and water. Plastic causes serious damage to environment both during its production and disposal. The "Throw away culture" results in these bags finding their way into the city drainage system, the resulting blockage causes inconvenience, difficulty in maintaining the drainage with increased cost, creates unhygienic environment resulting in health hazard and spreading of water borne diseases. This littering also reduces rate of rain water percolating, resulting in lowering of already low water levels in our cities. The soil fertility deteriorates as the plastic bags form part of manure remains in the soil for years. The animals eating the bags sometimes die. Plastic goes into the ocean which is already a plastic infested body of water. Fish and other marine species in the water ways, misunderstanding plastic garbage as food items swallow them and die. These plastic materials are so light that they are carried away by the moving vehicle, wind etc., scattered all over, making the surroundings look ugly.

Styrofoam is one of the most environmental toxins found in plastic. This highly durable spawn also known as polystyrene, is manufactured using benzene, from coal; styrene, from petroleum; and ethylene, a "blowing agent" used in the process since the crackdown on CFCs. Extracting these raw materials generates air and water pollution, and the process of whipping them together can lead to lung cancer and neurological problems in factory workers.

Elevated temperature results from thermal pollution and it decreases the level of Dissolved Oxygen (DO) in water. The decrease in levels of Dissolved Oxygen can harm aquatic animals such as fish, amphibians and copepods. Thermal Pollution may also increase the metabolic rate of aquatic animals, as enzyme activity, leads to these organisms consuming more food in a shorter time than if their environment were not changed. An increased metabolic rate may result in food source shortages, causing a sharp decrease in a population. Changes in the environment may also result in the migration of organisms to another, more suitable environment and to in-migration of fishes that normally only live in warmer waters elsewhere.

Awareness for Sustainable Development

Sustainability refers to a systematic approach to achieving human development in a way that sustains planetary resources, based on the recognition that human consumption is occurring at a rate that is beyond earth's capacity to support it. To achieve sustainability, there is a need for holistic responses to global issues such as urbanization and energy overconsumption, and there is a need for better measures of ecological and social sustainability.

Save Water

 Do not throw any poisonous substances in the drains of our house.

 Repair the leaking taps, pipes, faucets and other sources of water.

 shower water can be used for gardening

Save Air

 Use the lead free gasoline.

 Try to use the public transport or a car pool.

 Plant trees, plants, bushes in the neighborhood.

 Do not burn leaves and other garbage.

Save Ears

 Use the car horn only during emergency.

 Keep the volume of TV and Radio low.

 Check the car and motorbike. They should not make the noise.

Control of Thermal Pollution

 cooling ponds, man-made bodies of water designed for cooling by evaporation, convection, and radiation

 cooling towers, which transfer waste heat to the atmosphere through evaporation and/or heat transfer

 Cogeneration, a process where waste heat is recycled for domestic and/or industrial heating purposes.

Innovative Community Solutions to Breathe Free:

‗Thinking out of the box to ensure a balance between development and environmental sustainability, that is both effective at grassroots level and economically feasible, is needed. Individual and community level actions can help improve the environment and lessen the effects of air pollution. After all, the best legacy for our children would be a clean, livable environment. Technology and environment can mutually co-exist with a little thoughtfulness on our part. Community groups, in association with local NGOs, may adopt some of the suggestions here:  Windmills for pumping groundwater instead of the traditional diesel powered generators  Solar lanterns instead of kerosene fueled ones  Increase the green cover in localities  Use bicycles where it is feasible to do so  Build pedestrian pathways in neighborhoods to encourage walking  Get regular pollution checks done for vehicles and limit the number of cars per household

 Prevent the open burning of garbage, leaves, plastic, rubber and other synthetic materials

 Think of innovative ways to avoid usage of polluting substances by insisting on: paper/cloth bags instead of plastic ones while shopping or trying not to buy products with several layers of packaging

Efforts to Control Co2 Emissions

Replace the incandescent light bulb with a Compact Fluorescent Light bulb (CFL). CFLs use 60% less energy than a regular bulb. This not only reduces pollution but also saves electricity and money spent on power. This simple switch will save about 140kg of carbon dioxide a year.

Clean your AC Filters every month

Clean or replace filters of your air conditioner. A monthly step not only gives more effective air conditioning, but also cleaning a dirty air filter can save 150kg of carbon dioxide a year.

The energy-efficient products

While making new purchases of electrical gadgets, choose energy efficient appliances. Look for the Energy Star Label on new appliances to choose the most energy-efficient products available.

Switch off appliances when not in use

Do not leave appliances on standby when not in use. Use ―on/off‖ function on the appliance. A Television, switched on for 3 hours a day uses about 40% of its energy in standby modes. Similarly Electric Kettle and computer also consume energy in the standby mode. Ramp up fridges and freezers

Always regularly defrost fridges and freezers, if they are old. New model of fridges and freezers are energy efficient. It is better to replace old models with newer models. These are easier to maintain.

Cover pots while cooking

Cover your pots while cooking because doing so can help save a lot of energy needed for preparing the dish. This step not only saves energy it also helps to save vitamins and minerals. Even better are pressure cookers and steamers.

Use Washing machine

Use the washing machine only when they are full. If you need to use it when it is half full, then uses the half-load setting. Nowadays, detergents are so efficient that they get your clothes clean at low temperatures.

Use the Right Energy Source for the Right Activity

Consider developing technologies that use renewable energies. These include wind, solar and biogas. Wind Energy is especially useful along coastlines. Solar Energy is good and rural areas have already benefited greatly from the establishment of solar home systems. Biogas (the use of biological material to make energy) has great potential, particularly in rural and farming areas.

Composting Toilet

Composting Toilets are based on a simple system: air is brought into the waste chamber, thereby preventing the smelly bacteria from growing because it is bacteria that cause the methane smell of the commonly used pit latrines. Compost Toilets require little maintenance and can be easily designed by a householder if the principles are understood. The only maintenance required is to clean the compost out every few years. This technology is particularly useful in rural areas where water supply is limited. It can adapted to urban living and these toilets are very popular in Sweden. Biogas Digesters

Biogas Digester is a septic tank, a closed sanitation system existing in a particular area and not linked to a complicated sanitation system requiring treatments works. As many as 200 homes can be attached to a biogas digester and indeed in some parts of the world, this form of sanitation is very popular. There are 11 million biogas digesters in China.

The sewage waste gets fed into the biogas digester where it gets broken down and enables methane gas to collect. Methane Gas is a very useful source of energy for heating and cooking. It can be collected and used to heat water, or homes, or used directly for cooking. This means that the home will save money on energy. The benefit to local government is even better. There is no need to neither install bulk infrastructure nor build wastewater treatments plants. An additional benefit of the Biogas Digester is that the effluent water can be used for irrigation of fruit trees or other trees or above ground vegetables. Everybody wins and the water resources are protected and enhanced.

Grey Waste Water System

Grey Waste Water is the water that comes from basins and baths as opposed to black water, which comes from toilets. Grey Water can be used again to flush toilets, or it can be filtered to irrigate gardens. There are many ways of building Grey Waste Water Systems. One way is to have a pipe from your basin, lead back into the cistern of the toilet. Another is to create a filtration system such as single gravel, stone and sand filter.

Rainwater Harvesting

Allowing rainwater to soak into the soil is very important to help replenish groundwater levels. Harvesting Rainwater for household use saves on the amount of potable water you use on tasks such as gardening, cleaning or flushing toilets.

Waste Recycling

A lot of what we throw away actually has value. Aluminium Cans are made of a valuable non-renewable resource that has high costs to the environment in terms of its mining and manufacture. If we set up waste recycling schemes, we can achieve the following:  Reduced need for rubbish dump sites and landfill space that is expensive to establish and run.  Create a few jobs where people sort out and recycle waste.  Allow for the re-use and recycling of natural resources like tin, aluminium, paper, glass and plastics.

Conclusion

Growing evidence of local and global pollution and an increasingly informed public over time, have given rise to environmentalism and the environmental movement, which generally seeks to limit human impact on the environment. Treating the environment as an externality may generate short-term profit at the expense of sustainability. Sustainable business practices, on the other hand, integrate ecological concerns with social and economic ones. Growth that depletes ecosystem services is sometimes termed "uneconomic growth" as it leads to a decline in the quality of life. Minimising such growth can provide opportunities for local businesses. For example, industrial waste can be treated as an "economic resource in the wrong place". The benefits of waste reduction include savings from disposal costs, fewer environmental penalties, and reduced liability insurance. The idea of sustainability as a business opportunity has led to the formation of organizations such as the Sustainability Consortium of the Society for Organizational Learning, the Sustainable Business Institute, and the World Council for Sustainable Development. The expansion of sustainable business opportunities can contribute to job creation through the introduction of Green-Collar Workers.

Reference

"Pollution - Definition from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary". Merriam-webster.com. 2010-08-13. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pollution. Retrieved 2010-08-26.

The World's most polluted places, Blcksmith Institute - September 2007 .

Spengler, John D. and Sexton, Ken (1983) "Indoor Air Pollution: A Public Health Perspective" Science (New Series) 221(4605 ): pp. 9-17, page 9 Hong, Sungmin et al. (1996) "History of Ancient Copper Smelting Pollution During Roman and Medieval Times Recorded in Greenland Ice" Science (New Series) 272(5259): pp. 246-249, page 248 .

David Urbinato (Summer 1994). "London's Historic "Pea-Soupers"". United States Environmental Protection Agency. http://www.epa.gov/history/topics/perspect/london.htm. Retrieved 2006-08-02.

"Deadly Smog". PBS. 2003-01-17. http://www.pbs.org/now/science/smog.html. Retrieved 2006- 08-02.

James R. Fleming; Bethany R. Knorr of Colby College. "History of the Clean Air Act". American Meteorological Society. http://www.ametsoc.org/sloan/cleanair/. Retrieved 2006-02- 14.

"Pollution". Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia 2009.

Beychok, Milton R. (January 1987). "A data base for dioxin and furan emissions from refuse incinerators". Atmospheric Environment 21 (1): 29–36. doi:10.1016/0004-6981(87)90267-8.

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APPLYING KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES IN CURRICULUM DESIGN

Dr. S. Mekala

Introduction

Knowledge Management in Education, in a broader sense, is an approach that enables people within an organization to develop a set of practices, to collect information and share what they know, leading to action that improves services and outcomes. Curriculum Design, in a broader context is used to describe a larger educational environment of formal education, its process of development, implementation, dissemination and evaluation. It is the total entity consisting of plans, materials and activities. This paper focuses on the feasibility of applying knowledge management practices in curriculum design, taking the case study of students of Branch XII English Literature into consideration.

KM in Indian Context

Knowledge Management in Education deals with a framework of good intuition, practical know-how and a trend set of emerging theories focusing on the effective management of knowledge in educational institutions. Knowledge Management in Education offers us with an overview of how good assessment practice depends on effective information management.

Knowledge Management (KM) principles recognize that it is important for organizations or institutions to ‗know what they know‘ and ‗share what they know‘. Are the concepts of KM applicable to colleges and universities? All organizations inherently store, access and deliver knowledge in some manner and educational institutions are no exception. However, although some examples exist, they are the exception rather than the rule. KM is a new field and experiments are just beginning in education.

The course design should take into account the characteristics of typical learners at the beginning of the course and also the sort of abilities they should have acquired by the end of the course. The analysis of needs of learners offers the course designer a framework for the selection

 Assistant Professor, Department of English, National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirapalli of language content according to the goals of particular learners and also the opportunity for creating tailor-made programmes rather than starting with a ready-made syllabus that does not discriminate between different objectives.

During pre-colonial days in India, the purpose of learning English and communicating in English was to seek social recognition. Now the paradigm shift is towards seeking a professional status by taking up jobs as teachers, journalists and technical editors, where they have to employ the language in the creative mode. Therefore a graduate who has completed his / her English Literature Course is expected to possess a lot of intelligence for professional performance by virtue of his / her skill in the creative use of language.

Given its importance in the national context, and its role in higher education in the State, there is a strong need to raise and maintain the standards of English teaching in the Colleges and Universities in Tamil Nadu. A positive step in this direction, is the recognition of the need to improve the English language abilities of students by providing an exclusive General English Syllabus for English Literature Students. According to the Report of the Study Group of the Curriculum Development Centres, UGC Summer Institutes in English have only touched the fringes of the problems faced by learners. Academic, attitudinal and administrative constraints have come in the way of designing an appropriate syllabus for the Students of English Literature.

This study is concerned with the designing of a separate General English Syllabus for English Literature Students. It was felt essential to undertake a survey of students‘ and teachers‘ views regarding the English language abilities and skills of students, teaching of English in colleges, difficulties of students in understanding subjects, the need for a separate Part – II General English Syllabus and the usefulness of the papers suggested. The Survey, administered in the form of a questionnaire, led to a statistical analysis of the views of students and teachers regarding the need for an exclusive General English Syllabus for the Students of English Literature.

In the light of this discussion, it is now proposed to give an outline of the priorities in the design of an exclusive General English Syllabus for the Students of Literature Major. Questionnaire, administered to the B.A English majoring students, show that only a few students joined the course out of interest. The average students, who have opted for the study of English Major from various backgrounds, are poor in their language abilities. They have a low level of learning competence, as is evident from their exposure to General English Course. A vast majority of students have indicated that they have difficulty in following subjects in the first four semesters. These students are exposed to challenging texts which are beyond their understanding and linguistic competence. The major constraint identified in this study is the mismatch existing between Part – II General English and Part – III English Major Syllabi.

According to the Survey undertaken for this study, a large proportion of teachers believe that students joining English Literature Course lack minimum English language abilities, required for following lectures in English and studying the prescribed texts in English. The Survey has revealed that teachers regard students‘ lack of motivation to learn English and students‘ lack of exposure to English as their main difficulties for in teacging English Literature in colleges. They also consider the unsuitability of course book at this level as the next important cause for students‘ difficulty in learning.

Most of the texts prescribed for undergraduate programmes are of the literary-humanistic type and at the linguistic level, the materials they offer are beyond the grasp of learners. The teacher, therefore, resorts to lecturing, text explication, translation, and dictation of notes. Such a situation tends to promote content – based and memory – oriented learning which draws a great deal of support from the examination which seeks only to test the memory of reproducible content. Actually this tendency for ‗reading – reducing – reproducing‘ reminds us of the earlier habit of ‗reading – remembering – reciting‘ in the traditional system.

The inevitable result of such procedures is that the student hardly feels any necessity to have a direct encounter with the language and hardly gets any opportunity to use the language. He is a passive listener, not encouraged to react to what he reads, think critically or to do any original writing. Hence the proposed syllabus tries to activate the creative thinking in learners and prepare him to write by observing the principles of grammar and rhetoric of English. Language is not static but it is a dynamic system and it expands. Therefore learners must be made to understand the need for the vocabulary expansion and to prepare for reading literature. It is therefore claimed in this study that imparting the knowledge of dictionary and reference skills will help learners in acquiring and using new vocabulary. When students are made to respond to open-ended texts, students are made to think beyond texts and encouraged to use the words newly acquired by them.

The proposed syllabus recommends learners and teachers to play the role of active participants and interactors in the language learning operation. Based on this changing attitude to English language learning, a separate General English Course for the Students of B.A English Major has been recommended. It aims at providing students with opportunities to undertake a specialized study of English Language and Literature. The course is structured on a framework which would develop the student‘s expressive abilities in English and higher level skills of expression. It ensures a conscious understanding of the nature and structure of English, equipping them with profession-oriented language skills.

The course is an introductory programme and attempts to develop the literary competence of students by familiarizing them with literary concepts and the discourse structure in literary texts. Its main objective is to help students acquire interpretative abilities and to prepare them for an in-depth study of literature at the post-graduate level. To put it briefly, the course aims at equipping students with language skills and literary awareness, thus enabling them to enhance their knowledge of English Literature, skills in using language and develop proper and relevant attitudes to the profession of teachers and journalists.

In the proposed Part – II General English Syllabus, the paper on ‗Dictionary Skills‘ enables learners to exploit standard dictionaries for increasing their language awareness and developing reference skills and make them independent learners. The introduction of papers on ‗Grammar and Usage‘ and ‗Rhetoric and Advanced Writing Skills‘ is recommended to improve the language competence of students by giving them a sound background that will be helpful in analyzing and enjoying the reading of literary texts. The paper on ‗Language through Literature‘ introduces the students to literary concepts and to a practical approach to the study of English involving an in-depth analysis of major literary texts.

In the case of the present syllabus followed in the colleges affiliated to the University of Madras, the mismatch of Part – II General English and Part – III English Major is in the extreme. Difficult and challenging literary texts are prescribed for study in the first semester knowing well that the students do not have the minimum English language abilities to understand these texts. Therefore the chances of improving the language proficiency of the learners are slim, as the students are finding it difficult to follow the prescribed texts, especially in Part – III English Major.

The proposed syllabus holds good in the ESL context. With the studies students undertake in the first four semesters of Part – II General English Course, they are able to map out a literary framework that will help them to approach the study of literary texts more purposefully. Hence, this study has proposed a special General English Syllabus for English Literature Course, as in the case of B.com and BCA.

The objective of this special General English syllabus is to help learners  become independent learners  take and make notes  refer to source materials  have a working knowledge of English  enhance their critical writing

This training forms a bridge course which would help them face the challenging texts in Part –III English Major Subjects. This study establishes a greater match between Part - II General English and Part – III English Major Syllabi. This helps learners improve their language proficiency, which in turn develops the literary competence of learners. Therefore the chances of developing the language proficiency of learners of the Literature Major are high with the proposed syllabus. The proposed General English Syllabus for literature students is applicable to all universities, as the changes suggested would be suitable for any Indian setting.

KM practice in Education enhances the orientation of curriculum mapping tool (Dr.Jacob, 2004) which enables collaboration and sharing of instruction planning and assessment among teachers and administrators. Just as ecosystems rejuvenate themselves through cycles and seasons, educational organizations grow and revitalize themselves through the knowledge they create, their processes for passing that knowledge on to others, and the exchanges and relationships that they foster among people.

Most organizations realize that ‗knowledge‘ is a strategic resource that gives them sustainable competitive advantage (Drucker, 1993) and helps them achieve long-term organizational goals. KM is being effectively used by organizations to spur innovation, improve customer service and achieve operational excellence. Education today is subject to the same pressures of the market place. According to Brown (Brown and Duguid, 1996), profound changes in competition have made universities think like business. The educational markets are becoming global as universities attempt to standardize their curricula and offer high quality programs catering to the needs of the students. Colleges and Universities have significant opportunities to apply knowledge management practices to support every part of their mission (Kidwell et al, 2001).

Garvin (1998) in Harvard Business Review on Knowledge Management defines the learning organization as ‗an organization skilled at creating, acquiring, and transferring knowledge, at modifying its behavior to reflect new knowledge and insights‘. Ruggels (1998) in Berkeley‘s California Management Review categorizes knowledge-focused activities as ‗those activities generating new knowledge; accessing valuable knowledge from outside sources; using accessible knowledge in decision making; imbedding knowledge and processes; representing knowledge in databases; facilitating knowledge growth through culture; transferring existing knowledge into other parts of the organization; and measuring the value of knowledge assets and impact of knowledge management.‘ These categories provide a well-defined basis for the modern Knowledge Manager. Information from Best Practices could generate new knowledge for decision making.

A State Knowledge Management Repository, with quantitative and qualitative data, could provide axiological data and access valuable information for successful lessons learned in educational institutions that work well with increasing student achievement and progressing in student learning. These data sources should be used in day-to-day decision making and problem- solving to support instructional leadership at the educational environment. Facilitating knowledge growth between teachers and students, through the maintenance of a culture that values learning in the decision-making process, is most important for embracing this model of management delivery.

Knowledge Management in education is a seamless endeavour. The analysis and recommendations presented in this paper is a venture towards improving the proficiency of the learners and ultimately increase the overall efficacy of the course. Knowledge Management builds on collegial and professional teamwork by actively engaging experts in sharing with others what they know and what they are learning. This case study seeks better ways to transform knowledge (the key asset) into effective decision-making processes to improve academics by planning a structured curriculum.

Reference Brown, J.S and Duguid, P. (1996) ‗Universities in the digital age change‘ The Magazine of Higher Learning, 28(4), pp.10 – 19. Drucker, P. (1993) Post-Capitalist Society, Harper Business: Newyork. Garvin, D. (1998) ‗Building a Learning Organization‘ Harvard Business Review, Harvard Business School Press: Cambridge, pp 47 – 80. Jacobs, H. H. (1997) Mapping the Big picture: Integrating Curriculum and Assessment K-12, Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development: Alexandria. Kidwell, J.J., Vander Linde,K.M and Sandra L. Johnson (2001) ‗Applying Corporate Knowledge Management Practices in Education‘ in Bernborn, Gerald (ed.) Information Alchemy: The Art and Science of Knowledge Management. EDUCASE Leadership Series (3), Jossey-Bass: San Fransico. Mekala, S. (2005) ‗Towards Developing an Alternative Syllabus for Students Majoring in English Literature‘ The Journal of English Language Teaching, 43 (4). Petrides, L.A. and Nodine, T.R. (2003) Knowledge Management in Education: Defining the Landscape, The Institute for the study of Knowledge Management in Education : California Ruggles, R. (1998) ‗The State of the Nation: Knowledge Management in Practice‘ California Management Review, 40 (3), pp.80 – 89.

MANAGEMENT OF WOMEN EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS: CHALLENGES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Dr. S. Maneemegalai Abstract: Education is an important tool to empower women and Women Institutions provide and expand the educational opportunities. Management of an Institution involves human and material management. The Head of the Institution is endowed with leadership position with significant responsibility. Planning the activities for the year and guiding the system towards successful academic achievement is the main goal of an Administrator. They interact with students, teaching and non teaching staff, authorities, management and the general community and cater to the needs of everyone within the boundary of the rules. The Head of the Institution makes arrangement to attend and address the students, teacher‘s personal, psychological problems and motivate them towards their personal as well as institutional progress.

Introduction: Every individual has the right to education, according to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).The right of girls to education is one of the most critical of all rights because education plays an important role in enabling girls and women to secure other rights. As the Father of our Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, asserted, "If you educate a man, you educate an individual; if you educate a woman, you educate a family" every Nation‘s Development is decided by the status of the women in their country.

Mothers are the first educators of children, who establish virtues in the child‘s inner nature. They encourage the child to acquire perfection and good manners, warn them against unbecoming qualities and encourage them to show resolve, firmness and endurance even during hardship and advance on the road of progress. Due regard for educations of girls is, therefore, necessary.

 Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry, Bharathidasan University Constituent College for Women, Orathanadu. Women Institutions/Colleges identify themselves as institutions having a mission of promoting, providing and expanding educational opportunity for Women. Education is the only tool which incredibly improves the status of women. Education widens the knowledge of women about environment, nutrition, health and hygiene and above all, it alleviates poverty and provides her employment opportunity and income. Higher Education is the place where specialized manpower is produced and it is an investment to the country.

Goals of Women Educational Institutions: Women Educational institutions help women from rural and backward areas to join the mainstream, to improve women‘s intellectual ability , to empower young women to face the challenges in life with courage and inner strength, to improve the moral values inherent in them, to promote the personality development and leadership qualities, to establish their importance in society and on social issues, to educate the importance of environmental and ecological factors, to educate them to weather all forms of oppression like class and caste, to stimulate the culture, tradition and patriotism and to educate to be a active observer of social, economical, political and cultural issues.

Administration of Educational Institution: Education Administration includes all the techniques and procedures employed in operating the educational organization in accordance with established policies.

Role of a Principal/Director/Dean of an Institution The Head of an institution has many responsibilities like financial, institutional, human resources and materials management. The principal is the guiding force and provides leadership, sets educational standards and goals, establishes the policies and procedures required to achieve them and to ensure that the institution proceeds to achieve its aim and objectives successfully.

The Principal plans and implements the day to day activities. The principal act as liaison between the institution and the general community. The principal is answerable to the parents, management and government officials and They faces blame or praise from others.

Administrative Functions of a Principal: The principal visits classrooms, observe teaching methods, review instructional objectives, and examines learning materials. Principals must use clear, objective guidelines for teacher appraisals.

Principals have the authority to exercise disciplinary powers over the students in the college as may be necessary for the proper conduct of the college. They may frame supplementary rules when necessary to maintain the discipline in the college.

The Principal is the Chairman of the Time Table Committee and implements the general Time Table in the institution. The Principal has administrative control over the College Library and supervises all extra- curricular activities. The Principal is in charge of the college building, lawns, electricity and water supply, fittings, class rooms, equipments and lab furniture.

The Principal is the Drawing and Disbursing Officer and operates all funds earmarked for the college. The Principal may delegate some of the powers to any officer working under the Principal for the sake of administrative control and convenience. The Principal is the Appointing Authority of category ‗D‘ staff working in the Women‘s College.

The Principal performs such other duties as maybe assigned by the Management and exercise such other powers as may be prescribed by the Regulations from time to time, in the case of University Constituent College. For administrating and managing an institution successfully, planning and organization are important factors. Planning is carried out for better utilization of all the existing resource material, teaching, non teaching staff and students.

Before planning the academic activities, first statistical survey of laboratory equipments, class rooms, sanitary, library facility, number of staff against the enrollment, must be prepared. The budget allocation for the year is discussed with the management and staff members and list of improvement projects can be prepared. Based on the amount allotted for various disciplines and to the need of the department‘s requirement, financial planning can be prepared. When addressing problems of inadequate resources, Administrators serve as advocates for the building of new rooms or the repair of existing ones. During the summer months, Principals are responsible for planning for the upcoming year, participating in workshops for teachers and administrators, supervising building repairs and improvements, and working to make sure that the institution has adequate staff for the next academic year.

Planning is a guide to action, rather than thinking, and they detail the chronological sequences and exact manner in which certain activities are accomplished.

Planning Academic Activities: Semester Planning: (Academic) Under the semester system, the Academic Year is divided into two halves, each with 90 days duration. To conduct classes successfully, framing of Time Table must be undertaken. Each subject is given due importance by uniformly distributing the periods. Allotment of spacious, aerated, furnished classes for students of various subjects is essential. Arrangements should be made to record the attendance of students.

Arrangements for special lectures, field trips, projects must be planned. Conducting examinations periodically, along with assignments and seminar classes to students are the various methods of Continuous Internal Assessment of overall performance of students. Library By providing the relevant reference and reading materials, the Principal should ensure and satisfy the needs of the students. Library is primarily a learning Research Centre. Sports Physical Training in the form of various games activities is necessary for young women to have a healthy body and mind. Proper facility and encouragement must be provided to the students. Students, with talent, must be identified and encouraged to explore further by providing all opportunities.

Health and Hygiene

Women, from infant stage to their old age, get an unfair deal in the matter of health. Their health concerns receive a low priority, resulting in women bearing pain and discomfort in silence for long periods of time without seeking relief. Negative Changes in the college students‘ health will have impact on their academic performance.

When the students are hale and healthy, they can concentrate and perform well. Hence as soon as the aspiring student steps into the institution, blood group, body mass index and hemoglobin status must be thoroughly checked and awareness programme by a qualified Physician should be carried out. Students must be properly informed of utilizing the basic amenities and sanitary hygiene to maintain health.

Co-Curricular Activities Academic Activities are not sufficient to the students for personality development. Hence, co-curricular activities are necessary. NSS, YRC, and other extensional activities for enhancing social interaction, leadership quality, self discipline and self confidence and for overall personality development, are required. Students should be strongly encouraged to participate in co-curricular activities. Recreation and Fitness Programs or Campus Recreation, provides recreational activities such as intramural sports, club sports and outdoor activities for promoting wellness. Career Development or Career Services includes employer relations, interview, placement, course of study guidance and internships.

Health Services provide individual medical and/or mental health care and they usually include public health education programs and counseling services.

International Student Services assists and supports international students and may include study or education abroad. Judicial Affairs enforce community standards and campus codes of conduct and may include ethical programs/education and mediation. Leadership Programs provide leadership opportunities and may include Student Government. Multicultural Affairs provide support and programming to create an environment of respect and education. Orientation for First-Year Students provide support, help and it usually includes Parent and Family Relations.

Staff Members Eligible, qualified staff members must be recruited, depending upon the requirement policy of the institution. Head of the Department or Chairpersons are in charge of Departments that specialize in particular fields of study. In addition to teaching, they coordinate schedules of classes and teaching assignments; propose budgets; evaluate faculty members; encourage faculty development; serve on committees; and perform other administrative duties. In overseeing their Departments, Chairpersons must consider and balance the concerns of faculty, administrators, and students.

Orientation Meetings should be organized for new teachers inducted into the system. In- Service Growth Meeting is designed for the improvement of the teaching staff to tackle problems, improving teaching skills and techniques, to break down tensions and secrecy. Administrative Meeting is planned for running the institution without any problem and sharing the responsibility of academic related works.

Meeting with Non-Teaching Staff The non-teaching staffs do not academically deal with students but indirectly deal with the student. Fees collection (semester and examination), issue of transfer certificate, safe custody of applications, providing required data, scholarship disbursement, maintaining records and correspondence with the University, sweeping the class rooms and maintaining cleanliness in toilets are their responsibility. They are better known as support staff.

Meeting with the Community Enquiries regarding admission and any other matter associated with students and institution from the community, government and university are dealt by the Head of the Institution.

Responsibilities and Challenges Principals hold leadership positions with significant responsibility. Most find working with students extremely rewarding, but as the responsibilities of Administrators have increased in recent years, so has the stress. Coordinating and interacting with faculty, parents, students, community members, business leaders, and State and local policymakers can be fast paced and stimulating but also stressful and demanding. Principals and Vice Principals, whose duties include disciplining students, may find working with difficult students challenging. They are also increasingly being held accountable for conformity with Government and University guidelines for student performance and teacher qualifications. Principals also coordinate transportation, cafeteria, and other support services. They usually handle student discipline and attendance problems, social and recreational programs, and matters of health and safety. In addition, they may counsel students on personal, educational, or vocational matters.

An increasing amount of attention is being directed to the transition to Higher Education. Some students are able to experience this transition as a challenge to personal growth and other students are overwhelmed by the changes and experience emotional maladjustment and depression. These difficulties are trace able inefficiencies in coping with familial separation, time and stress management, basic study techniques, goal setting, relationship formation, handling emotions, and self esteem crystallization.

Depression and eating disorders are the main factors affecting women students in colleges. Emotional, physical, behavioral symptoms, with mood disturbance, are the predominant feature. If detected, most illnesses are treatable or manageable, allowing the individual to proceed effectively through life‘s daily routines.

Institutions Role and Service Institutions can address students‘ personal and psychological problems in all possible ways it can, by outsourcing counseling services and expanding the programmes of organizing lectures from Psychologist to counter the problems and to motivate the students. Implementing confidential services, and after identifying the disturbed students, parents are called and guidance for taking necessary steps is given. After treatment, institution will help to provide all assistance to the student.

Problems outside the campus: Transport and Eve Teasing Problems: Insufficient transportation facility to be addressed with the authorities concerned and sufficient transport facility should be arranged to reach the institution on time.

Students are advised to have courage to withstand and resist the eve teasing problems and if problem persists, the necessary protection near the institution would be provided by addressing the authorities concerned.

Financial Difficulties Students from poor economical background could be helped by arranging monetary benefits from philanthropists, apart from the Scholarship provided by the Government.

Psycho-Social Problems of Women Teachers Teaching has always been one of the preferred professions open to women. Education is a continuous process of learning and teacher, being the key figure and important element of educative process, is the person who transfers the knowledge as well as the positive changes to the young generation and also promotes healthy training of students and their active integration into society. Hence, due to challenges in education and heavy demands made by society on teachers, for different roles, stress is sure to overpower and affect the mental health of Women Teachers. Stress will affect the teacher‘s performance, classroom management and almost all educational activities. Management and Principal should help to create a work environment that conveys caring and promotes fairness. If employees feel that the work place climate supports balancing work and family responsibilities, they may experience higher level of work/family enrichment as well as work and family satisfaction. Family support organizational policies may be designed to provide assistance to employees, coping with psycho-social problems.

Conclusion Management of Women Educational Institution is a holistic profession. The Head of the institution applies organizational and leadership skills to provide services to individuals. The institution can be made dynamic with curricular, co-curricular and parental care activities and by motivating the women students to participate with determination and motivation. It gives them power and an economic base as well as a sense of responsibility. It will help them to contribute to a prosperous nation.

Reference Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2010-11 Edition, Education Administrators, on the Internet athttp://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos007.htm (visited June 09, 2011). http://studentcollegeissues.blog.co.uk/2011/03/19/problems-faced-by-students-in-college-life- 10856072/ http//students.georgiasouthern.edu/parent/P%20A%20Documents/CLink/womenshealthissues.pdf http://www.amu.ac.in/miscl/9931.pdf http://www.csss- sla.com/Status%20of%20Women%20in%20India%20Internees%20report%5B1%5D.pdf http://www.du.ac.in/fileadmin/DU/DUCorner/pdf/colleges.pdf http://www.egyankosh.ac.in/bitstream/123456789/25716/1/Unit13.pdf http://www.right-to-education.org/node/187 http://www.what-what.net/most-common-problems-faced-by-college-students.html Kaur,R., Kaur, N. and Kaur,H. Psycho-social problems of women teachers working in schools and colleges of Punjab at http//www.ejournal.aiaer.net/vol22110/2,kaur%20…pdf Ruthig,J.C., Marrone, S., Hladkyj,S. and Robinso-Epp,N. 2011. Changes in College student Health. Implication for academic performance. J. College Student Development, 52, 307-320. Sathya Narayana, P.V.V., Krishna,G. and Bhaskara Rao, D. 2008. In: School administration and management. Sonali Publications, New Delhi www.answer.com/topic/personal-and-psychological-problems-of-college-students www.csun.edu/science/ref/plans/semester_plan.html

RELEVANCE OF EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING

G.Haribaskar

Introduction

Gaining proficiency in English, which is a second language for us, is not an easy task. Hard work and focused practice alone will help the students achieve their goal. Mastery over English is a must in the current global business environment. This compels us to acquire effective communication skills in English. The familiar communication skills are Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing (LSRW). Thinking is treated as the first and foremost communication skill. Without thought, the other skills cannot be acquired or practised. Therefore, students have to think accurately, clearly and deeply to perform well in all communicative contexts.

During the second half of the Twentieth Century, modern technology was used to support language teaching and learning. Technological Devices are useful to teachers who wish to bring sounds and sights into the classroom. Language Labs, Tape-Recorders, Overhead Projectors, Slide, Video and computer related technologies are used in some institutions. More and more students and teachers are getting interested in the electronic media and media related instructional materials, which are also available in the market.

This paper intends to focus on the relevance of educational technology in English Language Teaching. Listening to the teacher and paying close attention to the instructions given by the teacher, is essential. Active participation in the learning process, listening carefully to the listening tasks in the class, posing questions to the teacher, getting permission from the teacher and speaking up- All these activities can be done, only when students enjoy communicating in English. The difference between education and training lies solely in the coercion which training claims as its right. Training is forcible education. Education is free. (Tolstoy 1862).

 Assistant Professor, Department of English, Srinivasan College of Arts & Science, Perambalur. The concept of a teacher, particularly an English Language Teacher, has changed tremendously over the years. The teacher, instead of ‗teaching‘ the book to the students, should play the role of a Facilitator in the process of learning. The teacher should state the aim of each class activity and ensure that the students participate in the activities as effectively as possible. He or she should provide explanations and additional information, where necessary, but the students must be used as the most important resource in the classroom.

Motivation is the key to success. It is the teacher‘s job to motivate the students to learn and practice communication skills. The strongest motivation for the teachers is, of course, satisfaction in doing his or her job well. With English becoming the global language of communication, the teacher has to bring about a real understanding in the students of the need to use English in their everyday life.

Ensuring that all the students in the class do the tasks is a tough job for the teacher. To make sure, the teacher may have to move around the class to check whether everybody is doing the tasks assigned. Task-based interaction must be encouraged among students for the effective development of communication skills. The teacher has to be a Guide, Motivator and Facilitator for the students. A careful analysis of the teacher-student relationship at any level, inside or outside the school, reveals its fundamentally narrative character. The relationship involves a narrating subject (the teacher) and patient, listening objects (the students)… Education is suffering from narration sickness. (Freire 1972)

One of the modern concepts in language teaching is the belief that a laboratory for teaching language is as important in any education programme as a laboratory in different science subjects. The main advantage of a Language Laboratory is that a teacher can attend to several children at the same time, either with pre-recorded exercises or with spontaneous utterances devised to suit every individual pupil‘s needs. A teacher speaks first as a model and the pupil repeats which are then played back to him. The teacher asks questions and the pupil answers. The Language Laboratory enables one to learn a new language easily and more effectively.

The equipment enables one to learn correct pronunciation of words, relative stress on different syllables, intonation, fluency, rhythm, etc., it also facilitates teaching-learning, gives new experience for learners, provides models, gives opportunities for self correction and develops listening and speaking skills. A teacher of English can profitably exploit the lab facility for acquainting the pupils with a real ‗feel‘ for the true spoken English.

When we refer to web teaching resources, we are talking about the different kinds of materials and tools that we can find on the World Wide Web with the same purpose of improving the quality and efficiency of learning in activities which make use of those resources. Teaching Resources in general are a source of aid or support that may be drawn upon when needed to enhance the quality of teaching and thus facilitate learning. Distinctions can be made between materials which provide contents and tools and which let us process those contents and we create by interacting and colaboring with other people in learning environments.

The type of web resources to be used will depend on the kind of activity to be developed. As we know, when we search for contents in the net, not only can we find text documents but also images, videos, audio files, presentations, conceptual maps or documents, with a diverse kind of interactivity and graphic or multimedia combinations, Web Materials are useful to avail teaching materials, authentic materials and reference materials.

By showing visuals, the teacher can show many words which cannot be drawn on the black board or performed as an action. The teacher can use many modern gadgets like T.V, Computer, LCD Projector, OHP etc. Teaching of poetry, prose, grammar, vocabulary, drama and everything can be done effectively through the technology available in the 21st century.

How a thing is done in a class is a technique. A technique is ‗implementational- that which actually takes place in a classroom. It is a particular trick, stratagem or contrivance used to accomplish an immediate objective.‘(Anthony 1972)

Techniques are closely related to methods and approaches. How languages are learned (the approach), implies different ways of teaching language (the method) and different methods make use of different kinds of classroom activity (techniques). (Longman Dictionary of Applied Linguistics 1985).

The objective in any language classroom is to get the learners to learn the target language and use it. This is done best when they are involved actively in the learning process. This is, in turn, means that their interest must be sustained in classroom activity.

Sometimes, teachers find beautiful pictures in magazines and the Sunday Supplement in newspapers, and plan to use it in their teaching. Very often, they fail. The reason is that they forget very often that what one person can see, need not necessarily be visible to the whole class. However beautiful or attractive the picture, they can involve only the first few rows of the class. So visibility is an important factor while using magazine pictures.

The Over Head Projector (OHP) is an aid which is rather expensive. Therefore, very few institutions have this aid. But those who have it, find that it can be very useful, especially in large classes. As the screen is quite big, the projection can be seen by everybody in the class.

The teacher need not waste time writing on the black board. The transparency is prepared before the class. This has an additional advantage because it ensures that the teacher plans the lesson. In the classroom, a tape recorder is the most important aid. For example, a tape recorder can be placed in the classroom. A conversation is started. For beginners, it can be things like introducing oneself. Learners sometimes can ask the teacher for help. The teacher gives the learners the language or vocabulary they need. Learners operate the tape recorder and speak into it. The tape is played back after the conversation is over. Learners listen to it and comment on it. In this, learner can do self correction. The teacher does some remedial or follow up work. Doubts are cleared. The Tape Recorder has become a very common piece of equipment and can be found in most institutions. In fact, under various schemes, the Government of India has been supplying tape recorders to schools. As a language teacher, it is important to think of the uses to which a tape recorder can be put and the use of any audio-visual aid should be judged according to the answers to the questions: What can the aid do which a teacher in the classroom cannot do? The tape recorder can be used for a variety of activities.

(i) Listening to sounds, words, sentences and conversations: A listening task will put learners in touch with almost all aspects of spoken English and over a period of time, they can learn to use what they have acquired through listening. (ii) Listening and note making: Authentic bits of a lecture, talk or conversation are played and learners asked to make notes. (iii) Reading aloud practice: Bits of the prescribed text can be put on the tape recorder. The learners can either listen to the reading or the taped version. The whole class can then discuss both the readings in terms of specific aspects. (iv) Discussions; There are pre-recorded cassettes of sound effects available in the market. The teacher plays some sound effects and the class, either in groups or pairs, discusses (where, what, how and why) the sounds they have used. Since this is an open ended task, a variety of interpretations are possible. (v) Listen to yourself: with prior consent and co-operation of the class, the teacher positions a tape recorder strategically to record, for example, a discussion activity. This is an effective way of making the learners aware of what their production of spoken English is like. This is, in turn, helps both learner and teacher to diagnose problem areas (either at the sound level or at the pragmatic level) and come up with remedial measures. (vi) Recording dialogues /conversations: another activity that the class can do is to write short dialogues/ conversations which they later present to the class. If a tape recorder is available, their dialogue can be recorded and later discussed. But there are some practical difficulties to be remembered:  Can the whole class hear the tape clearly?  Are the facilities for providing power reliable/  Is there any back up facility if the power fails?  Is there noise pollution from other sources?  (For example, is the class next to a road and therefore affected by the noise of traffic?  Is the quality of the taped material of an acceptable standard?

Besides this, the teacher must plan at which point of the lesson he/she will use the taped material, beginning, middle or end of the lesson. The video is another modern piece of equipment which is increasingly being brought into use for teaching. The teacher can decide when to play the video tapes. It can be stopped, brought back or brought forward very much like the tape recorder. and, the control of the equipment is in the hands of the teacher. A very powerful medium today is the television. It has a wide reach and it can put across ideas and concepts clearly, attractively and effectively.

Television Programmes, unlike tape materials, have to be specially produced and broadcast. The broadcast time is fixed and it is generally a one-way process.

These six main criteria are for evaluation effectiveness Would be: (1) Cost (2) Ease of manipulation of the equipment (3) Compatibility with the size of the class (4) Flexibility of use(that is, different purpose) (5) Control status (that is, can it be controlled by the user? (6) Preparation time

Audio-visual aids are important in teaching. There are a variety of aids, some audio, some visual and some audio-visual. Some are traditional, others modern. Some of the modern aids have not yet been exploited fully. A criteria for evaluating audio-visual aids is necessary.

We regard audio-visual aids as servants, not masters. We do not favour the approach of starting out with a bag of tricks like cassette recorder, overhead projector, slides, language laboratory, film, video-tape recorder, and so on. We should look for the ways of using them. The need has to come first, and the need decides the manner of use.

Television, film, video-tape are now neglected but useful. Radio is extremely good for giving practice in understanding the spoken language in interesting situations, taking the students outside the range of classroom experience. Where materials for these media are available, there will usually also be advice for teachers on their use. The most important thing to look out for here is advice on how to integrate the media materials into your total teaching programme. They should not be just a separate treat for the students. There should be ideas on how they can be used to stimulate spoken and written practice, and how they fit into the whole English syllabus. Sometimes programmed planners have ignored this point, and made it difficult for teachers to use the programmers without feeling that they are making it impossible to complete a already overcrowded syllabus.

Before deciding to install a Language Laboratory, a college or school should look closely at the question of cost-effectiveness. Will it justify the expense, and the restriction of one room to just this purpose/ how many hours a week will it be used/ how often will each class be able to use it/ once a week is very little. Anything less seems hardly worthwhile. Would the money be better spent on tape-recorders and overhead projectors or slide projectors/ who will be in charge of organizing the work/ what will be the effect of teacher‘s workloads? What will be in charge of organizing the work? What will be the position regarding maintenance? What has been the experience of other schools or colleges comparable to your own? careful thought and planning on such matters are essential if a language laboratory is not to become a white elephant.

The quality most desirable is flexibility. The cheapness and portability, combined with reasonable quality, of the best cassette tape recorders make them a marvelous boon to the English teacher. Once you begin to use it, you will find it a constant companion in teaching reading and writing. For example, to develop fluency in reading, get students to follow a printed text as they listen to a recording of it. In writing, a recorded text is a good way of giving dictation. It should be recorded at normal speaking speed, without special pausing. In this way, students will hear normal speech, pausing, intonation, etc., unlike the artificial effect of sentences broken up for dictation. A little practice with the start, stop and rewind buttons will enable you to break up the passage and repeat sentences at will.

For the teacher, the most important aids are the syllabus and the course book. Syllabus designing and materials production are complex matters, which should take into account every factor in a teaching situation. You may have a detailed syllabus to work to, or a mere sketch. A good detailed syllabus is an enormous help.

All this provides instant information like the instant food we get in the fast-food joints. Most teachers generally feel that the introduction of technology may result in loss of control but we must remember that the technological tools are not monsters and that a resourceful teacher can never be replaced. Computers cannot replace the conventional blackboard or the whiteboard or the green board. There are both good and bad things about the use of technology in language teaching. The good thing is the enormous potential that technological applications have for enhancing language learning. The bad thing is that the potential is realized at high cost and not all can afford it. In short, the use of portable, cheap and reasonable technology will facilitate and strengthen the English Language Teaching.

Reference Tolstoy,L.1862 ―Training and Education‖ in Pinch and Armstrong (eds) 1982 Tolstoy On Education, Althone Press, p.295. Freire,P.1972 Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Pelican Books,p.45. Anthony,E.M.1972 ―Approach, Method and Technique‖ in Allen and Campbell(eds) Teaching English as a Second Language, Tata McGraw Hill,p.7. Longman Dictionary of Applied Linguistics, 1985. Nagaraj, Geetha. 2005 English Language teaching Approaches methods Techniques, Orient Longman.

THE ART OF WRITING QUALITY ARTICLES M. Jayachandran

Introduction

Writing is an art which helps us to jot down our emotion and keep ourselves young forever. Among all the leading professionals, the role of a writer is like a trend setter who used to dive deep into the sea to bring fact for us. In today‘s techno-fast world, article writing has emerged as a separate tool which aims at responsiveness, inventiveness, collaboration and attention. It requires people who have that creative spark within them, to ignite this world with ideas.

Article as a Form of Communication

An article is a form of written communication. It can assure that the writer is really in communication with the reader because the creation of an article with your ideas put together in an interesting manner to spur the interest in the mind of a reader is a skill which takes a lifetime to become a master.

The role of an article in a newspaper or a magazine is just like a cake. Unless you have just the right recipe, it is not going to work. The ingredient must be of the finest quality and in the right proportion. The good news is that you can make things much easier on yourself with a bit of learning about the subject, and then just start writing and gain experience.

Attributes of a good article writer

An excellent article writer must have the following attributes:

Able to handle the task

Ability is a human quality of being able to perform a given work in the right manner. An article writer topmost priority should be his well-committed duty.

Clarity of expression

 Lecturer, Department of English, Srimad Andavan Arts and Science College, Tiruchirappalli.

An article writer must have the ability to express himself in writing. A good article would contain all the feelings, expressions, and thoughts that the writer had in his mind while writing. The words used by him should be clear and unambiguous.

Ingenuity

According to Andrew Carnegie, ―dealing with the art of writing article is a lot like digging for gold. When you go digging for an ounce of gold you have to move tons of dirt. But when you go digging you do not go looking for the dirt, you go looking for the gold‖. A genius must strive constantly for originality and versatility in your gathering information.

Well-Committed and Duty-Bound

These two qualities act like the two wheels to make the writer move step by step in his chosen field. He or she must be highly motivated and must have a focused mind and sincerity while doing a work.

Practicality of Mind

It takes fuel to make the engine run smoothly. This is a must for any writer to interpret the given work because success is possible only when we have a commitment to action. There is a great demand for article writer today. It has become the need of the hour to motivate youngsters to join this field. All we need is the burning desire which is the starting point of all accomplishment. Remember, a duty which becomes a desire, will ultimately become a delight.

The Art of Writing Quality Articles Writing articles could seem very easy but is difficult in terms of expressing the actual feel we have while writing the article. Writing an article could be a medium to speak to others about the topic. It is a way to express our feelings while thinking and writing about a particular subject. All this needs interest to write. If one has interest to write, other qualities could be developed by many ways. Writing often and reading interesting articles and books related to your field can raise your intellectual level and help you write better. All the above mentioned qualities combine together help the art of writing an article.

One may develop the art of writing a good article because of his reading qualities, expressing qualities, thinking qualities, and also observing qualities. All these things are responsible for an outcome that an individual gives by writing on a topic. Not everyone has the art of writing properly. A good article has to include one's ability to express what he thinks in the form of writing. Observing various things would ultimately lead to good amount of thinking. For developing these qualities, one can take inspiration from great authors who have spent almost whole of their life in writing fabulous books. One has to know what the common people prefer, what they would understand better, etc. Thus taking inspiration from someone who has already done these things could be beneficial. An article can be written by anyone but to make it a good article, one has to have the art of writing a good article. Not everyone who writes had this art from birth. This art can be improved by various methods. Art of writing is very essential in expressing one's views, and thoughts. A good article would contain all the feelings, expressions and thoughts that the writer had in his mind while writing.

The good news is that you can make things much easier on yourself with a bit of learning about the subject and then just start writing and gain experience. Please do continue reading as we offer three proven and successful article writing tips that are based on experience. All articles, or anything you write, have a meaning in life, a reason for existence, and it‘s your job to define that before doing anything. You simply must know what your goals are for everything you do in business and marketing. For example, if your goal is to write 5 articles a day, then stick to that and don‘t budge even a bit. The reason it‘s so important to have goals and plans of any kind is that they give you something concrete to set your sights on and when you have that, then you will naturally work to attain it. Your own goals will keep you in forward momentum because you will meet them, devise higher goals, and move on to meet those, as well. Strive to impose organization on your writing and you will see improvement in all areas.

One good idea is to let your article sit for a little while, and then return to it and read it for clarity, etc. Proof-read your articles and don‘t be afraid to revise them. You don‘t want your articles to be unique because of mistakes that stick out like a sore thumb. This step is also necessary because you want your articles to be interesting. All your sentences support the paragraph, and all your paragraphs support the main idea and run smoothly together. So many articles are lacking in basic good structure and you‘ll do well to work and focus on what you‘ve just read. Proof-reading, followed by necessary revisions, is a critical must-do stage of any writing that you do. It doesn‘t make any logical sense to put in all the hard work to write an article but not proof read it. You never want to create negative impressions with your writing because it does reflect directly on you. You just never want to be in a position where your image and reputation as a writer and business person are tarnished in any way. If you have to find someone else to proof your articles, them do it You can ask anyone who is willing to give it a read and tell you what they think, and that will at least help.

You can ask for any kind of feedback and keep in mind that you want to reveal your own unique style. Any kind of proofing is worth something, no matter what or who does it. In summary, if you want to get the best out of your article marketing, then you should be ready to use and apply tips like the ones we discussed above so that you can enhance your article writing skills slow and steady.

Salient Features of a Quality Article

Writing an article is not everyone‘s cup of tea. It is like exploring the unexplored path. Lots and lots of hard work, confidence, commitment and enthusiasm are required to emerge as a quality -bound writer.

Here are some of the points highlighting the salient features of quality articles:-  A good and successful article must grab the reader. Actual material obtained by carrying out proper topic research.  It must convey some message.  Apart from brevity, it must have some qualities.  The article must be up to the point and must contain facts relevant to the reader.  Article as a whole must have a pleasing appearance and an attractive get up.  It must grab the reader‘s attention by the way an article is featured, and by injecting an element of surprise.  A good article will always strive for snappy verbs, action verbs and colourful verbs.  Physically attractive and well–written article lends beauty to the newspapers.

Writing an effective article is a skill and one has to remember a few things before he starts with it.

1. Select a Topic Always choose a topic dealing with some problem and provide information on how to deal with that. Observe the most read or the most popular articles and start gathering information on the topic. One more option to choose the topic is to visit forums and online magazines.

2. Keyword Selection Avoid 'keyword stuffing' because the reader is quite aware, what he or she is reading about.

3. Length of the Article It is not important to write an article up to 500 words or 800 words. It depends upon the topic you have chosen. If the topic is related to relationships or human psyche or spirituality, then the length of the article may exceed 500 words because it includes a strong flow of emotions and a break should be avoided. And if it is on something technical, then you can divide it into 2 or 3 articles of 500 words each as information is the main priority here and not emotions involved.

4. Create an Outline for your Article The outline of an article constitutes a suitable title, a well-descriptive introduction, highly informative body, a final conclusion and self-identified resource box. Title: It has to be catchy enough to grab immediate attention of the reader. As there is a lot of competition around, you have to be very accurate in choosing the title for your article.

Introduction: The whole information given in your article depends upon how you introduce it to the reader. Hence be informative but very precise, as the details are reserved for the 'body of the article'.

Body: This part of the article includes the solutions to the basic problem, about which the article has been written. Try to provide information in small paragraphs as it increases readability. Use sub-headings for each paragraph as this helps the reader to have a glimpse of the article (in case of less time), without missing anything. Conclusion

Now it is the time to conclude! What has been written and discussed about in the article from different aspects, need to be summed up. It is called conclusion because it contains the final verdict on what the reader should do and what the reader should not.

5. Rechecking Taking a break after you have written an article, and rechecking it after some time gives scope for improvement. You can recheck your work after a few hours or say, one or two days, depends upon the time you have for publishing.

6. Spell Check Spellings and Grammar need to be checked when it comes to finalizing your creative work. It is like the last stroke a painter gives to his painting.

Conclusion An article can be written by anyone but to make it a good article, one has to have the art of writing a good article. Not everyone who writes had this art from birth. This art can be improved by various methods. Art of writing is very essential in expressing one's views and thoughts. A good article would contain all the feelings, expressions, and thoughts that the writer had in his mind while writing. Reference

Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for writers of Research Papers ; Sixth Edition. East- West Press Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi: 2004. Hall R.J. Basic Training in Journalism; Longman Group Ltd., London:1989. Mansfield F.J. Complete Journalist.;University of Alberta Press, Alberta: 2001. Parthasarathy, Rangaswamy. Basic Journalism Macmillan India Ltd., Rivers, William L. The Mass Media Heinemann Educational Books.1997 Journals Apps. J. Improving Your Writing Skills: A learning Plan for adults. Cambridge ( Follet): New York. 1982. Dowling, L & Evanson, J. Writing Articles: A Guide to Publishing in your Profession. Kendall/ Hunt Company; Dubuque IA. 1990. Elbow, P. Writing with Power: Techniques for Mastering the Writing Process; Oxford University Press: New York:1981.

SPATIO-TEMPORAL ANALYSIS OF URBAN LAND USE IN WARD 72 OF MADURAI CITY

P. Masilamani

Introduction

The basic concept of the study of Urban Geography is to explain the origin and development of the town as a function of physical conditions of its situation. Bartholowmew in 1955 discussed the urban land use under two categories as privately developed and publically developed. Privately developed are residential, commercial and industrial. Publically developed are streets, transport establishments, parks, and playground, public and semi-public property. Four major categories of land use in urban area were identified and they are 1) Agricultural, 2) Residential, 3) Commercial and 4) Industrial.

In recent times, urbanization has been associated with industrialization and economic development and thus urbanization is essentially an economic process. In the early period, the geographical study of towns was essentially descriptive and mainly focussed on the land use function and morphology. Burgess (1925), Christaller (1966), Hoyt (1939), Harris and Ullman (1945) elaborately discussed the functional land use under the urban landscape and they evolved various types of urban land use models.

Gowri (1984) studied the structure, growth and land use functions of Madurai City. She also focused on the consumer travel preference of shopping centres. Rajamanikam (1988) analyzed the structure, growth and land use functions of Tiruchirappalli. Podhumani (1989) analyzed household characteristics in housing conditions and residential quality in Madurai City. Lakshmi (1997) analyzed the land use changes in relation to transport characters. Gopi (2004) analyzed the housing environment in the DD plan of Madurai City.

A major objective of this study is to understand the land use changes and to identify the temporal development in land use in the Ward 72 of Madurai City.

 Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, School of Geosciences, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli. Methodology

Reference materials related to the present study were collected from various sources. The study depended on both primary and secondary data relating to urban land use. Data were collected from the District Corporation Office, Madurai. Period of study was from 1978 to 2005, with reference to Ward 72, Fenner to Melakkal.

Data base

 Secondary and Primary Sources of information relevant to the City Urban Area.  Urban Land Use Survey Maps of 1978 from previous study and Urban Land Use Survey Map from Town Country Planning Office, Madurai and Ward Maps from Corporation Office formed the major secondary source of information.  Field Study was carried out to cross validate the different land use types in Ward No. 72 of Madurai City.

Study Area

Madurai City is one of the ancient cities of South India. It is the second largest city in Tamil Nadu regarding population. The City occupies a position in the south central part of Tamil Nadu. The City has grown on the banks of River Vaigai. National Highways such as NH 7, 49 and 45B pass through the City. The broad gauge lines connect Madurai City with Chennai, Coimbatore, Tuticorine, Tirunelveli and Bodinayikannur. One Airport is in the outer core of Madurai City.

The City Corporation Area is divided into 72 Wards, spread over four zones, namely, North Zone (21 Wards), South Zone (19 Wards), West Zone (16 Wards) and East Zone (16 Wards). The area of North Zone, South Zone, West Zone and East Zone is 19.50 sq.km, 6.12 sq.km, 7.40 sq.km and 18.78 sq.km respectively. The West Zone of the City Area includes 6 Wards lying to the west of bye-pass road of the City. The Ward of 72, including the area of Arappalayam, lies between the NH 49 road and NH 7 bye-pass road and it has been selected for the in depth study of land use change (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1 Study Area

Results and Discussion

Spatio-temporal Analysis of Urban Land Use

The land use changes due to urban expansion in the micro unit study area of the Madurai City shows variation in the land use characters during the period of study. The decline and increase of urban functional land use in relation to time shows the trend and division of functional development.

Land Use Pattern - 1978 In the year 1978, the land area of the Ward Kochadai, was mainly occupied by agricultural land. The urban land uses such as residential, commercial and industrial covered only a small percentage. Educational and public and semi- Public and uses were almost absent (Fig. 2).

I - Residential Residential land uses were mainly concentrated in few areas like Virattipathu and Kochadai. It accounts for 7.9% of total land use. Harijan Colonies in Virattipathu and Kochadai. Madura Coats Mill Workers Quarters are the major housing colonies of these days.

Fig. 2 Urban Land Use of Ward 72 (Madurai city) - 1978

II - Commercial Commercial land use can be found only in the areas near Virattipathu Settlements and it constitutes only 0.5% of total land area.

III - Industrial Two major large-scale industries such as T.V.S and Fenner are located in this area, which was in the outer limit of the City fringe area in that period. The Industrial Land Use accounts for 4.5% of the total land area, which ranks next to residential use. The industries are located on either side of the Madurai -Theni road, now declared as N.H 49 Extension Road. IV - Water Bodies Water Bodies include River Vaigai which borders on the northern part of this ward and two small tank areas named, Kochadai Kanmai are the prominent water bodies, which constitute about 15.59% of total land area.

V - Agricultural Land This ward consisted of Agricultural land in 1978. It constituted about 43.09% of total land area. The area was mainly occupied by coconut, banana and paddy cultivation.

VI - Open Space Open and vacant spaces occupied about 6.31 % of total land use. Most of the open spaces were predominantly seen between agricultural fields and near residential colonies.

VII - Others Other land uses include land under transportation use and streets. It occupies only 1.31 % of total land area. Major roads include Madurai- Theni road and Melakkal road.

Urban Land Use Pattern - 2005 The urban expansion has changed this ward area. Residential, commercial, educational and public and semi-public land uses have been well developed during the period of 1978 to 2005. Most of the open spaces and agricultural lands were converted into residential and other commercial purposes (Fig- 3).

I - Residential As this ward is a fringe area, most of the agriculture land areas are mainly used for residential purposes. The residential land use constitutes about 34.47% of the total land area. Major residential colonies are Muthu Devar Colony, Fenner, Dock Nagar H.M.S colony developed in the area of the Madurai- Theni and Madurai -Melakkal roads and Ashok Nagar and Nataraj Nagar developed on the river side.

II - Commercial Commercial areas are mainly concentrated along the NH 49 Madurai-Theni road and Melakkal road. Major concentration is found along NH 49 road. In this ward, commercial land use constitutes about 2.6% of the total land under use.

Fig. 2 Urban Land Use of Ward 72 (Madurai city) - 2005 III - Industrial T.V.S and Fenner are the two major industrial units of this area, which constitute 4.4% of total land area. IV - Educational One educational institution namely, Pandian College of Pharmacy near Virattipathu, has been developed after 1978. One Upper Primary School, one Balwadi in Kochadai and one Primary School are the other small educational institutions this ward.

V - Public and Semi-Public Land Uses Public and Semi Public land utilities includes marriage hall, hospital, petrol bunk, temple and other public buildings. In this ward public and semi public land uses constitute only 0.52 % of area which include one Petrol Bunk near Fenner compound and two water Pump Houses, three marriage halls and one check post near Virattipathu.

VI - Water Bodies Water bodies constitutes about 15.52% of total land area. Water bodies include river, canals and tanks.

VII - Agricultural Land As this ward is the outer boundary area of the Madurai Corporation, still land under agricultural use is still prominent. The north western part of this ward has more agricultural land area. Agricultural area constitutes about 37.9% of total land area. Major crops include banana and coconuts.

VIII - Open Spaces Open spaces constitute only about 2.63% of total area. Vacant plots are seen near the residential colonies.

IX - Others Other land uses include area under transportation purposes. National Highways, District Roads and streets and lanes come under this category of land use. All these roads and street areas constitute about 1.31 % of total land under use.

Spatio - Temporal Changes of Urban Land Use (1978-2005) The spatial and temporal change in the urban land use between the years 1978 and 2005, shows the urban expansion and its impact on urban land use. This is evident from the Table 1. Major changes occurred in the field of residential and commercial land uses. The land under roads and streets have also increased. There is an overall decrease in the land under water bodies.

I - Residential The area under residential purpose has increased from 7.9% in 1978 to 34.47% in 2005, and there is about 336.66% increase in residential land use. The land area under residential use is mainly developed by encroaching upon swallowing the agricultural land and open spaces. New colonies of this ward are HMS Colony, Muthu Thever Colony, Fenner Colony etc.

II - Commercial In 1978, commercial utilities were developed only in Viratipatthu area. But now the commercial establishment has also developed all along the Theni road and Melakkal roads. The change in the commercial land use can be identified easily by map and diagram. Commercial land constitutes only 0.5% of land area in 1978, and it increased to 2.6% in the year 2005. The percentage change of increase in commercial land use is 400%.

III - Industrial The land area under industrial purposes has not changed from 1978 to 2005.

IV - Education Educational institutions were developed only after 1978. The development of Pandyan College for pharmaceuticals is the major establishment.

V - Publiic and Semi Public Public and semi public land uses like Temples, Petrol bunk, Marriage hall etc were developed only after 1978. Now this land use constitutes 0.52 % of total land area.

VI - Water Bodies The area under water bodies has increased slightly from 15.5% in 1978 to 15.52% in 2005. One shallow tank in the 1978 land use of the ward has disappeared fully and now this area is occupied fully by coconut trees. But the area under water bodies has not decreased and it may be due to the construction of drainage canals.

VII - Agricultural Land Agricultural land areas are mainly converted to residential purposes. In 1978, the area under agricultural use was 43.09% but now it decreased to 37.89%.The percentage change of agricultural land is -13.77%. Due to the increase in land value and demand for housing, the private owners are disposing their good wet land for residential use.

VIII - Open Space

Open land is mainly agricultural fallow and cultivation waste and they are changed to residential and other uses. In 1978 open space constituted 26.31 % but now it has declined to only 2.63%. The temporal changes in the percentage of open space are -90%.

IX - Other Land Uses (Roads and Streets) The percentage of other land use remained the same at 1.31% in 1978 and 2005.

Table 1 – General Urban Land Use (1978-2005)

1978 2005 % of Change Major Urban Sl.No. (with reference to Land Uses Area in Area in Area in Area in Sq.km % Sq.km % the % of 1978) 1. Residential 0.3 7.9 1.31 34.47 336.66 2. Commercial 0.02 0.5 0.1 2.6 400 3. Industrial 0.17 4.4 0.17 4.4 - 4. Educational - - 0.02 0.526316 - Public & Semi- 5. - - 0.02 0.526316 - public 6. Water Bodies 0.59 15.59 0.59 15.52 - 7. Agricultural Land 1.67 43.09 1.44 37.89 -13.77 8. Open Space 1 26.31 0.1 2.6 -90 Others 9. (Roads and 0.05 1.31 0.05 1.31 - Streets) TOTAL 3.8 3.8 100 3.8

Fig. 4 Urban Land Use (1978-2005)

Summary and Conclusion The study of spatio-temporal analysis of urban land use during the study period in the Ward 72 indicates the following facts. The land use under agricultural and open spaces declined during the period of study. The land use increase in the urban under residential and other uses such as land under transportation supports this increase. New residential colonies like Muthu Devar Colony, Fenner colony, Dock nagar and Nadaraj Nagar etc, have been developed. Older residential units are mostly constitutes low income and middle-income type. New establishments are mainly constituted by middle and high income groups.

The urban expansion has changed the outlook of the western zone of the Ward 72, located on the edge of the urban boundary area. Residential, commercial, educational, public and semi- public land use have been well developed during the period of 1978 to 2005. Most of the open spaces and agricultural lands were converted into residential and commercial purposes. The spatial and temporal changes in the urban land use during the study period of 1978 and 2005 shows the urban expansion and its impact on urban landuse. Major changes have occurred in the field of residential and commercial land uses. The land under roads and streets are also increased. There is an overall decrease in the land under agriculture and land under open space.

Reference Anals, Case studies in India, (Ecological structure of Durgapur), 1984. Burgess, The growth of city; An introduction to a research project, 1975. Christaller, Central places in southern Germany, 1933 & 1966. Franklin, Analysed urban land use, land Value and urban characteristics Coimbatore city, 2002. Gobi.R, Studied housing environmental in the DD plan area of Madurai city, 2004. Gowri .R, Urban geography of Madurai city an Analysis of hierarchy of shopping centres and consumer travels preference, 1984. Harris .C and Ullman .E, The nature of cities. The annals of the American academy of political and Social Sciences, 1945. Hoyt.H, The structure and growth of Residential Neighborhoods in American cities Washington, 1939. Lakshmi, Analyzed the land use changes in relation to transport characteristics, 1997.

ECONOMIC ISSUES - OBSTACLES FOR RURAL DEVELOPMENT

M. Tamilvani

One of the main accusations of early Dependency Thinking against theories of Modernization was the latter's neglect of external factors in coming to grips with the development problems of the Third World. With the emergence of Dependency Thinking, this failure was remedied, but almost to an extent where the pendulum swung to the other extreme and focus was exclusively on external factors. However, beyond the harsh and in many cases, justified criticism against theories of modernization, most contributors were ready to admit that external factors could not explain everything and could not be made solely responsible for the predicament of the Third World. Today, few would deny that both internal and external factors play a role in the process of development of any given country, although the determination of what is 'external' and what is 'internal' is itself a problem. In Dependency Theory, the 'external' has to do with the forces of imperialism and the world market. A similar line of thinking is employed in the present context, with a distinction between the period before and after Indian Independence. Before Independence, the external forces included the political, military and economic interests of the British in India and after Independence, the dominant element of the external forces is the Western, mostly English, economic interests in India.

Clearly, both external and internal factors may impede a process of development and in many cases, these elements are thoroughly intertwined. This is going to be demonstrated in the following, where focus is on what is claimed to be the five most important obstacles to development in India.

Some conception of what development is, becomes necessary, when the subject matter is obstacles to development. This is not the place to go into a lengthy discussion on the definition of development. It is sufficient to emphasize that the dimension of development emphasized in this article, has to do with improving the material welfare of the majority of poor. In this context,

 Assistant Professor, Department of Commerce, Sri Bharathi Arts & Science College for Women, Pudukkottai. development means improving the situation of the poor in terms of food, housing, health, education, gainful employment, etc.

The assertion is that a process of development worthy of the name, must involve some improvement in the welfare of the poor majority. Secondly, the claim is that India has made very little, perhaps no progress at all, on this dimension since Independence. Roughly half of the populations (estimated total in 1985: 746 million) live below the poverty line (defined as 2,300 calories per day). This amounts, of course, to a significant increase in the actual number of poor people.

In big cities like Calcutta and Bombay, this kind of poverty means that half of the population is living in the streets, literally on the pavement, often less than one foot away from the roaring traffic, in so-called "huts", made of plastic-sacks completely unable to provide cover against more than 2,000 millimeters of rain that falls during three months every year. Every day, life consists of hustling and begging in order to be able to eat, not to mention feeding the small children. In such surroundings, the expression, "levels of poverty", acquires a new meaning and here, the worst situation means having literally nothing to eat, no clothes to wear, no place to sleep. A pair of shorts and a plastic-sack "hut" means considerable improvement and an old bicycle means relative affluence.

In many respects, India has made significant progress. The Industrial Sector is fairly advanced and to a large extent, controlled by local entrepreneurs and a "Green Revolution" in the countryside has boosted agricultural output to the point of making India a net exporter of agricultural produce. But neither industrial nor agricultural development has succeeded in solving the problem of hundreds of millions of very poor people. I contend that this situation will not change in the foreseeable future, because of the obstacles mentioned in the following.

The first obstacle: Insuperable Inequality If there was complete equality in the Indian distribution of income, the annual amount per person would be US$ 260 (the per capita GNP in 1982)7. In other words, the overall income level is quite modest to start with. But there is of course no such complete equality, although the actual level of inequality of income distribution is not very dramatic in India, compared to many other Third World Countries. According to an estimate based on data from 1975, the lowest 20 per cent of the population receive 7 per cent of the income whereas the highest 20 per cent get 49.8 per cent. The corresponding figures for Tanzania, an example of a country with a per capita income on the Indian level, are 5.8 per cent of the income for the poorest fifth, and 50.4 for the richest fifth.

Particularly in the South Asian rural setting, inequality is in fact mainly a question of land ownership - with which are associated leisure, enjoyment of status, and authority. There are extreme inequalities in the distribution of land ownership and the situation in this regard is not better today than it was in the mid-fifties, when the picture was as follows. "More than one-fifth of all rural households (22 per cent) owned no land at all. Another 25 per cent owned fragments of land or less than one acre. An additional 25 per cent owned fragments of land or less than one acre. An additional 14 per cent owned uneconomic or marginal holding of 1 acre to 2.5 acres (that is, one hectare or less). In brief, the majority of all rural households, approximately 61 per cent, either owned no land, or small fragments of land, or uneconomic and marginal holdings of one acre or less. All of them together owned less than 8 per cent of the total area.

Attempts at increasing agriculture output through the propagation of High Yielding Varieties (HYV), more fertilizer and improved technology (Green Revolution) have tended to benefit only the larger landowners in the few States where it has been implemented (mainly Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh).

What make these inequalities particularly grave in the Indian context are the interlocking inequalities based on cultural-religious grounds and the caste-system. The castes form a socio- cultural hierarchy or system of status which also involves precise rules for the separation of different castes, and a specific division of labour between castes. The caste-system makes cooperative efforts extremely difficult, as there are complex rules guiding the interaction and functions of each caste. Solidarity and concerted efforts are also impeded, even among people placed under similar socio-economic circumstances, for example workers in industry and agriculture. Although the influence of the caste system has been somewhat weakened in the large cities, overall it is still quite strong. And in the countryside, the village structure is still strongly affected by the caste system. While caste does not ensure economic ranking, it does influence rights to land and attitudes towards ownership.

Generally speaking, each person is born into his place in the village hierarchy. There are possibilities for movement both upward and downward on the social ladder. Unfortunately, landless sharecroppers and workers hardly ever move upward. The lower castes tend also to be at the lower end of the socio-economic hierarchy, which means that class-based and religious- culturally based inequalities tend to reinforce each other, although the overlapping is not complete.

While it is clear that both internal and external forces play a role in building the insuperable inequality in India, there are two reasons why it is difficult to be both brief and precise about the role of the external forces, the English. First, there was a change in the English interests in India over time, primarily due to the shifts of dominant social forces in English Society. In the early phases, the interests of the commercial bourgeoisie dominated English Rule in India and from the early to Mid-Nineteenth Century, the industrial bourgeoisie was dominant and although the interests of the two ruling class factions overlapped, they were not identical.

Secondly, the English pursued different policies in different parts of India, not least due to variations in local conditions. One example can illustrate both these dimensions of British Rule. Bihar and Punjab are two Indian States, with a good resource-basis for agriculture. But Punjab is among the richest and Bihar among the poorest areas in India. Why this difference with similar starting points? Bihar came under British Rule as early as 1757 and the new masters began a policy of ruthless taxation, which resulted in the concentration of land and wealth in very few hands and complete dependency of the poor, landless peasants on the landowners.

Punjab, on the other hands, was independent until 1849 and the hundred years of Sikh Rule (1750-1849) paved the way for a relatively equal distribution of land. When the English took over Punjab in 1849, their main interests was no longer maximation of taxes but the supply of raw materials for the English Textile Industry. Punjab was well suited for this purpose and the English claimed only moderate taxes and even helped weaken the power of the large landowners, the process begun under the Sikh. In a much later phase, farmers in Punjab were well suited to reap the benefits of the Green Revolution contrary to Bihar.

The second obstacle: the failure of the ruling classes to initiate real change "Real change" refers to the dimension of development emphasized earlier: improving the overall living conditions of the poor and making inroads on mass poverty. In some respects, the situation is quite different today from the fifties and sixties. There is a growing social consciousness among the dominant social forces in India; "much higher levels of political awareness and new egalitarian norms are eroding the old caste and factional loyalties that buttressed previous patterns of vertical political mobilization. Progress toward removal of mass poverty is becoming a new touchstone for evaluating the performance of elected governments. This criterion of legitimacy, moreover, is widely accepted among the educated middle classes..."

During the seventies, the change in awareness of poverty problems resulted in a large number of government programs, especially directed at the rural areas. For some years now, raising the income levels of the rural poor has been a prime objective of the nation's development planning. However, when it comes to practical implementation of the programs, to translating the well-meaning intentions into concrete actions, there has been very limited success, if any at all.

One typical example of this comes from the Village Duari in Uttar Pradesh, about 40 kilometers from Kanpur. There are 229 households of which more than half are scheduled and backward castes. Some 50% of these latter households are landless. 90% of them are indebted to rural moneylenders at 5-10 per cent monthly rates of interest. Some six months a year work on a daily wage basis is available, "But most of the wage earnings of the weaker sections go toward debt repayment. Even then, the indebted in most cases manage to pay only the interests on the loan and not the loan itself. Even where the loan with interest has been partially or in rare cases wholly repaid, contingencies like birth, death, marriage and illness lead to a renewal of the debt syndrome. Net result is a situation of subsistent existence, occasional periods of starvation and persistent poverty.

The problem is not that there is no change. The problem is that the development strategy, backed by the dominant urban and rural social forces, is of such a nature that it fails to make significant inroads on mass poverty. In that sense, there is no real change.

Again, the role of internal versus external force is not straightforward. If we take the example of Duari, there seems to be two factors responsible for the failure of the programs; one is lack of sufficient political will among the dominant social forces and the other is deficiencies of the administrative apparatus meant to implement the programs.

In both cases, the external influence is significant. It was the English Rulers who, in order to gain firm control of India, destroyed the old structures of administration and law enforcement at the local level and replaced it with a huge bureaucracy with power and responsibility concentrated at the top. The result was, of course, that the bureaucrats developed an eminent capability of mislaying and forgetting important papers. Only through direct intervention from the top or through bribery from the outside was it possible to get papers like that through the administrative apparatus.

After Independence, the number of public officials grew explosively, but the awkward, centralized structure has been continued. The problems involved in this whole structure are well- known, but "the serious national debate of changing the mould, the snobbery and prejudices of civil servants and making them capable of coping with the problems has seldom gone beyond the peripheral limits. The inheritance of master-ryot concept retains its old falvour under new idioms. The bureaucrat has produced inequalities and consolidated them by a plethora of rules, conventions and secrecy".

In other words, it is Indian Civil Servants who are responsible for many of the failures in Duari but their actions cannot be understood outside the context of the administrative structure created by the English.

As far as industrial development is concerned, there have been numerous clashes between Indian and foreign interests, in particular with regard to control of the industrial expansion. The national bourgeoisie have succeeded in achieving a dominant position in industry at the expense of external economic interests. This means that industrial development in India has been a success in terms of decreasing foreign influence and achieving a higher degree of self-reliance. But as already indicated, foreign and national bourgeoisies have not had serious disagreements over the type of industrial development to be pursued in India.

It has been industrial development very much in the vein of the West and this kind of technology- and capital-intensive expansion has meant few opportunities for improving the conditions of the mass of poor.

The third obstacle: the Failure of Democracy India is one of the very few countries in the Third World, which has been under democratic rule since independence. This is sometimes praised as a significant achievement which was not to be expected in a very large country with extreme heterogeneity on many counts.

The urban and rural poor are the single largest group in Indian society but the democratic system does not function in a way which expresses the interests of this large group. In this sense, democracy in India is a failure.

Why is this so? There are two main reasons, both having to do with the weakness of the poor. First, there are many cases where the democratic process does not function and in the rural areas in particular, the poor are often completely dependent on the rural elite's power over people‘s lives and they do also have the power to decide the voting of the poor at the elections. It has been said that the single biggest obstacle to development in India is the powerful ability of the rural elite to paralyze the political system and prevent any kind of reform which threatens their position. The elite have succeeded in preventing taxation of surplus from agriculture. Such taxation is our singularly most important possibility of providing resources for development policies.

The fourth obstacle: the Lack of National Unity The Union of India consists of 22 states and 9 federal territories. There are 1600 different languages, out of which 14 are recognized as official languages. All religions are represented in Indian society, although the vast majority (83%) are Hindus. There are 11.2% Muslims, 2.6% Christians, 1.99% Sikhs, 0.7% Buddhists and 0.5% jains.

No other nation has the measure of regional, ethnic, linguistic and religious diversity which is found in India. The division of British India into Moslems dominated Pakistan and Hindu-dominated India in the context of Independence was a manifestation of one of the deep splits, but it certainly did not leave India with a solution to the problem of national unity. On the contrary, it was necessary to grant a large degree of autonomy to a single state, in order to appease the various groupings. This in turn created severe difficulties for the making of an efficient and coordinated policy of national development.

The fifth obstacle the capacity of the poor to accept poverty: Since Max Weber, it has been common to associate Protestant Ethics with Capitalism. Weber even went as far as claiming that industrialization would have come as quickly to India and China as it did to Europe, had Protestant Ethics prevailed there. Although few would go as far as Weber did, more recent research, for example by Gunnar Myrdal, has also emphasized the retarding role played by religion in India, when it comes to promoting socio-economic development.

There is some truth in this but two things should be added: first, religion is not the single most important impediment to socio-economic development in India. Secondly, religion in India has not been incompatible with profound economic change and the introduction of new method and procedure, both in industry and agriculture.

However, I contend that there is a core element in Indian religion/culture which helps prevent development of the type called for in this paper: improvement of the situation of the poor. In particular, I have two elements in mind: the acceptance of hierarchy and inequality stemming from Hinduism which has the caste system as its basis and the preoccupation with spiritual matters related to the belief in transmigration of souls. These elements are core parts of an ideological superstructure in India which makes it much easier for the poor to accept his/her often desperate material situation.

The problem is perhaps pushed to extremes in the following comment made by MN Roy in his "Fragments of a Prisoner's Diary" ‗The belief in transmigration of souls breeds fatalism. Fatalism ruins initiative. A culture totally oriented towards matters of the spirit and the soul has, through centuries, taught the masses of India to resign to their fate. Rebellion is unthinkable for them. -But they must rebel! ... In order to conquer the future, we must shake off the past. The Indian people must be convinced that it masters it own destiny. Karma, destiny, transmigration of souls, the doctrine of not tying ourselves to the present world, the belief in an eternal, spiritual being - all this is ghosts from a dead past. ... The central element of our old culture is religion, - a blind faith in an inscrutable power which must be obeyed. ... According to religion, everything happens for the sake of a divine purpose. This is why religion - the core element of Indian culture - in accordance with its own logic resists any kind of change through human interference. This fatalism wrapped in religion has been fatal to India. Any attempt to reform this religion is unfeasible because the power of religion lies in its claim to be unchangeable. Hinduism in particular allows no reform. It is Sanatana Dharma, eternal, unchangeable, infallible".

It is the attitude reflected in the words of the rickshaw-driver from the scheduled castes: "I was born into this Harijan-family because of the evil sins of my previous life. I am also poor. Now I try to be good in these life, so that in my next life I can be born into a rich family from the higher castes".

Clearly, the elements of Indian culture/religion described are of internal origin. The role of the English in this regard has been to exploit these cultural traits in the context of their overall power policies. These served to reinforce, sometimes to weaken Indian culture on these points. On balance, the powerful forces of capitalist industrialization and urbanization introduced by the English have mostly served to weaken traditional Indian value-systems.

Conclusion There has been substantial change in the Indian Society since Independence. Capitalism has grown both in industry and agriculture and the industrial sector in particular has diversified to the point of making India a significant exporter of manufactured goods as well as of technology.

These changes in the economy have had some effects on the poor also. The infrastructure is better in many areas of the countryside - there are roads now where there were none earlier and electricity has come to many villages. In addition, there is an increased consciousness among the poor about the larger context of their situation and some knowledge about processes on the national political level where there were none earlier.

It has been demonstrated that both external and internal factors play a role in the erection of these obstacles to development. It would, in other words, be misleading to focus one-sidedly on either kind of factor in coming to grips with the problems of development in India.

We have also seen that the obstacles to development involve not only economic but also political, social and cultural issues. It is the irony of the Indian predicament that amidst all kinds of imbalances there seems to be an astonishingly stale balance between socio-economic, political, and cultural forces which continue to promote continued reproduction of mass-poverty.

METHODS AND MATERIALS OF TEACHING ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE

M.Kumudha

Introduction Of all the languages in the world today, English deserves to be regarded as a World Language. It is the world‘s most widely spoken language. It is the common means of communication between the peoples of different nations. One person out of every four on earth can be reached through English. The native speakers of English are not confined to Great Britain but are spread over three continents of the world, namely, Australia, Europe, and America.

It is a historical accident that led to English taking deep roots in Canada, Australia and the United States. These countries were the colonies of Great Britain and since the day they came under British Rule, English has been taught and used as a medium of communication In countries like India, Ceylon, Singapore, Pakistan, Nigeria, Zambia, etc., English is still used. In India, for instance, English continues to be the medium of instruction in colleges and universities and it is also the language of administration. The importance of English has been fully realized by the Administrators and Educationists of India. One of India‘s Education Commissions has emphatically asserted: ―For a successful completion of the first degree course, a student should possess an adequate command of English, be able to express himself with reasonable ease and felicity, understand lectures in it, and avail himself of its literature. Therefore, adequate emphasis will have to be laid on its study as a language right from the school stage. English should be the most useful ‗library language‘ in higher education and our most significant window on the world.‖

In India, we have Mulk Raj Anand, R.K. Narayan, Raja Rao and others writing in English, and in Nigeria, Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka and others. Similarly in the West Indies, we have writers like V.S. Naipaul. The literatures written in English in these countries today constitute what has come to be called Commonwealth English literature as distinguished from English Literature and American Literature.

 Lecturer, Department of English, Sri Bharathi Arts & Science Collage for Women, Pudukkottai. A very important reason for regarding English as a World Language is that the world‘s knowledge is enshrined in English. Countries in Asia and Africa, that were till recently under the British Rule, get their scientific knowledge and technological know-how from English Books. It is knowledge of English that helps these countries maintain the high level of their intellectual and scientific training and achievement.

For over a century and a half, Indian Intellectuals have been studying English. Today English has entered the fabric of India‘s Culture. The study of English strengthened in the years that followed Macaulay‘s Minute on Education in India, and with the implementation of the Educational Policy of Macaulay, a Social, Cultural and Literary Renaissance swept over the whole of India.

For us, Indians, English has a special place. This is not merely because English is a World Language but because it has historical associations and has made an impact on our cultural life. For this reason, English is not a foreign language to us but it is a second language. It is unlike Russian or French or German to us. So, in the teaching of English in India, we should treat it as a second language and not as a foreign language.

According to Albert H Marckwardt, English becomes a second language when it is a language of instruction in schools and colleges and it is used as "A lingua franca between speakers of widely diverse languages, as in India". Hence our aim in teaching English to our students is to enable them to use English with ease and comfort, that is, to use it both instrumentally and interactively. That is to say, they should be able to speak and write English effectively and develop an ability to understand the basic patterns of the culture of the English- Speaking Peoples. It is possible for us to realize the aims if we successfully cope with the problems of teaching English as a second language.

Methods and Principles Language is generally defined as a means of communication. It is a distinctive human possession. Human Beings communicate their experience through language. People utter sounds (or write letters) to convey meaning and learners (or readers) process the sounds or letters to get the meaning.

Noise and Sound, Form and Meaning, are the three basic components of language as a system of communication. Language can be said to be organized at three levels: phonological, syntactic and semantic. The Phonological Aspect deals with sounds and their organization. The Syntactic Aspect deals with forms and their organization. The Semantic Aspect deals with meaning and its manifestation in the phonological and syntactic patterns of language.

Languages are learned mainly through imitation. The most important requirement for success in second language acquisition is motivation. Teachers should present grammatical rules one at a time and learners should practise examples of each one before going on to the next.

Language is a set of words and a set of rules. English is learnt by learning the words and mastering the rules of grammar. There are many ways of learning languages. Describing the way he learnt Latin, Montaigne says, ―Without methods, without a book, without grammar or rules, without a whip and without tears, I had learned a Latin as proper as that of my school master‖. Most Indians, without any exposure to formal education, know several English words without even knowing they are English. The history of language teaching presents a fascinating variety of methods. We should be aware of the various approaches but ultimately, teachers need to use their discretion in deciding on what method to use and when. Any method that works is good. The objective of teaching ESL must be achieved, and all the choices that are made, must ensure that the learner achieves second language competence. Two conversations given below are related to a similar context. A mother and her ten- year-old son are waiting for the bus. The boy starts playing in a puddle of water nearby and the mother wants to stop him from doing so.

Conversation A Mother : Stop playing in the water, Raja, I‘m very angry. Son : Please, Mummy. Why can‘t I ? Mother: You should obey elders. Don‘t ask questions. (Pulls him away)

Conversation B Mother: Ravi, come and stand here with Mummy. Son : Please, Mummy. I want to play in the water. Can‘t I ? Mother: Won‘t your new trousers get dirty, son? I‘m sure you don‘t want to look shabby. I‘ll take you to the swimming pool tomorrow. Son : Thank you Mummy (comes away from the puddle of his own accord)

In the above conversation, both the mothers achieve their purpose. They succeed in making their sons stop playing in the water. But they use different techniques. These techniques are consistent with the methods they adopt to achieve their ends. Raja‘s mother uses a command whereas Ravi‘s mother uses the method of rational logical argument. These methods derive from their basic beliefs or approach to life. The key words are Techniques, Methods and Approach.

―Edward Anthony‖ made a distinction among these three levels, with specific reference to language learning. Approach is a set of assumptions dealing with the nature of language and language learning. Method is an overall plan for the orderly presentation of language material and all of which is based on the selected approach. Within one approach, there could be several methods. Methods are procedural. Technique is that which happens within the class room and it is consistent with the method. It may be described as a particular trick used to accomplish an immediate objective. Techniques are implementational.

Over the years there have been different methods employed for the teaching of English as a second-language. The earliest method is the one generally known as the Grammar-Translation Method. This is actually the same as the method used for teaching classical languages like Latin and Greek and hence it is also called the ‗Classical Method‘. The method insisted on the memorization of grammatical rules and translation of related texts and paid little attention to speaking and reading as skills to be developed. The method presupposes that the process of translation will enable the student to master the syntax, phraseology, idioms etc., of the second- language. As a reaction to the Grammar-Translation Method, there came into vogue the Natural Method. This was based on the belief that the best one could do to teach a foreign language was ‗to follow nature‘. That is to say, the maximum exposure of the child to the target language without the least interference from the mother tongue would enable the child to learn the language.

The Natural Method, in course of time, was reformed, and this gave rise to what is commonly known as the Direct Method. The Direct Method is a logical extension of the Natural Method and it is also an offshoot of the Behaviourist School of Psychology. It insists that the key to all language learning lies in association and it stresses the need for Direct Association between Experience and Expression in the foreign language. The aim is to enable the student to think in the foreign language and to cultivate an unerring language sense. This method recognizes that language sense has its roots in the spoken language and lays stress on the Oral Approach. Limitation of this method arises from its neglect of the language skills like writing and reading because of overemphasis on oral work. The Direct Method practically ignores the study of grammar and this is not desirable because knowledge of grammar is useful to the students to correct errors and strengthen language habits.

In spite of this limitation, it may be admitted that the Natural Method and the Direct Method are historically important. This is because these two methods stress the primacy of speech and habit-formation through repetition in language learning. They enable the students to have a real command of the target language and have thus considerable influence on modern language pedagogy.

A recent method, which has become popular and still holds sway in India, is what may be called the Structural Method. The method has stemmed from the Structural Approach. The Structural Approach emphasizes the fact that acquiring a command of the basic structures of a language rather than learning words in it is the most important thing in learning the language.

The Structural Method, which is also called the Oral Method, insists that to secure a practical command of English, we should know well how the word order, the structural words and the word forms are employed to construct sentences or meaningful patterns of expression. It also insists on graded structures. While teaching structures through the Oral Method, the student hears the new speech unit from the teacher, recognizes it as a series of meaningful sounds, and perhaps understands it. This enables the student to imitate the sounds without analyzing individual words, and later to reproduce the structure in an appropriate situation.

The Structural Approach is also called the Structural-cum-Situational Method. A language is best learnt through practice in real situations and this is because of the close relation that exists between experience and expression. The theory is that each structure must be presented in meaningful situations. There are two kinds of situations, artificial and real. Situations can be artificially created or improvised. Appropriate situations may be created by the use of objects in the classroom or outside, by gestures and actions, by the use of pictures and by drawing on the blackboard. We can call these contextually presented situations. Even ideas expressed in words like ‗hate‘, ‗love‘, etc., can be contextualized and presented to the learner. Every structure must be encountered and practised in a context or situation

To exact a high standard, the teacher has to insist on more and more correctness in each repetition. The procedure that may be followed in the Structural Method is as follows: (a) revision of the previous structure; (b)presentation of the new structure; (c) creating situations to teach the structure; (d) individual/group drill or chorus work; (e) reading from the substitution tables; (f) teaching vocabulary; (g) model reading of the lesson by the teacher; (h) silent reading by the students; (i) comprehension questions; (j) loud reading by the students; (k) composition questions; (l) assignment.

According to D.A. Wilkins, there are three basic principles a second language teacher should follow. The first principle is that he should have clearly defined objectives. The second principle is that once the objectives are realistically defined, the classroom activities should be so designed as to realize these objectives. The third principle is that learners should ―model their own language performance on significant instances of target-language behaviour‖. He further explains: ―Language learning will proceed more efficiently if specific instances of language behaviour are modeled for the learner and if he is given ample opportunity to engage in analogous behaviour based on the model provided.‖ Textbooks containing selections of excellent prose writings and teaching aids such as tapes and records prepared by educational experts will come in handy when this principle is put into practice.

The Use of Audio-Visual Aids No effective teaching is possible without appropriate aids. This is perhaps more true of teaching a second-language than of teaching one‘s own mother tongue or a subject. These aids are visual, audio or audio-visual. Visual Aids help the students see and comprehend what they are taught whereas Audio-Aids help them learn from what they hear. Audio-Visual Aids combine in themselves the technology of teaching through hearing and seeing.

The most versatile and indispensable visual aid is the blackboard. The use of the blackboard in the classroom for teaching should be deliberately planned and systematically implemented. The teacher, instead of writing haphazardly on the blackboard, should use it for drawing the students‘ attention to the main points of the lesson. Spellings of words and their pronunciations can be taught fairly effectively, when they are written on the blackboard. The pronunciation should be written in the phonetic script. Coloured chalk can be used for distinguishing between spellings or between sounds which pose problems for the students.

Flash Cards and Charts are useful visual aids. Flash Cards are sets of cards with words or phrases written on one side and their meanings on the other. The students can look up the word or phrase and later check their response against the back of the cards. For pronunciation practice, Flash Cards with words on one side and their phonetic transcriptions on the other side, are useful. Similarly, spellings too can be taught with the help of Flash Cards. There are different kinds of charts available for teaching sentence patterns as well as the phonetic script. A Chart displaying the international phonetic script may be hung permanently in the classrooms.

Slides and Slide Projectors, Film Strips, Opaque Projectors or Epidiascopes and Overhead Projectors are some other visual aids. These visual aids are useful for making a lesson vivid and clear. Slides and Slide Projectors can be used for showing cultural objects in full colour and providing the stimulus for controlled speaking practice or free conversation. Film Strips can similarly be used for training in informal conversation under the guidance of the teacher. The Opaque Projector or Epidiascope is useful for projecting images of both opaque and transparent object. The use of the Overhead Projector results in the projection of what the teacher writes on a transparent plastic film on to a screen behind him as he faces the class. This has an advantage over the blackboard in that the teacher does not have to turn his back to the class to write on the board. One of the practical applications of the Overhead Projector is during a dictation period when the teacher can have the students correct their own papers through the projection of the material on the screen at the appropriate moment. The Gramophone and the Tape Recorder come in handy as audio-aids. These can be used for playing records of fables, stories, plays, poems, etc., to the class. A portion of the recorded text may be played and necessary explanations given by the teacher. The text in full may be played again and simultaneously a detailed analysis of the text followed by questions put by the teacher to individual students may be attempted.

One of the important uses of the Tape-Recorder in the classroom is that it enables the students to hear their own voices. It would be quite a thrilling experience for them. Moreover, the Tape Recorder can be used for class oral work, leading to the elimination of personal faults in pronunciation, intonation and rhythm.

There is yet another aid called the Language Laboratory, which, if put to effective use, will provide the students with adequate opportunities to practise oral-aural language skills. Language Laboratory is a room in which the students are isolated from each other by soundproof walls. Each room has the necessary equipment for practice by the students. The advantages of the set-up are that each student can practise speaking without disturbing others and without being disturbed by others and that a whole class of students can simultaneously practise the oral-aural language skills. Another important aid called Television has come into vogue and it has become a key audio-visual aid today. For the teaching of English as a second-language in India, it can be of great help. Through Television, the services of a good teacher can be made available to a large number of students at the same time and video-recordings of good lessons can be put to effective use in educational institutions through T.V. sets fitted with video cassette projectors. National and regional telecasts of English lessons can be attended by the students and films based on literary classics can be seen and practice in listening comprehension gained.

Today the Computer and the Internet play a vital role in the teaching field. The modern technology and the World Wide Web have proved that distance is not a barrier for learning. We can hear or see the lecture or conference or seminar conducted all over the world through this facility by staying in our own place. Nowadays Power Point Presentation is very popular among the lecturers. With a few slides, they explain a lot of things excellently from which the students are able to gain more knowledge. The increasing use of audio-visual aids in second-language teaching is based on the modern audio-lingual theory which stresses a listening-speaking-reading-writing sequence in second- language learning situations. The theory insists that learning to speak a language becomes easier, if the learner has enough training comprehension. No audio-lingual approach can, however, be successful in the absence of qualified, trained teachers. Machines cannot replace teachers. The approach ought to be teacher-centred; that is to say, the aids require planned utilization by specially trained teachers.

Conclusion The importance of teaching English as a second-language in India cannot be minimized. It is a ‗source‘ language as well as a ‗link‘ language. The Government of India is conscious of the imperative need for strengthening the teaching of English in India and has appointed Study Groups from time to time. These Groups have made a number of recommendations on policies and programmes, syllabi, methods and materials. The Regional Institutes of English and the Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages too have made their contributions. It is desirable that English teaching commences from the Fifth Standard as at that level the language can be taught by Secondary School Teachers who alone need to be trained in English teaching. With the availability of trained teachers, new syllabi, properly graded for each Standard, for the students to proceed gradually from simple to difficult and from difficult to more difficult patterns of sentences and to learn newer and newer words to improve their expressiveness, may be introduced. New methodologies with emphasis on the four-language skills will have to be initiated both in schools and in colleges. These methodologies should depend on techniques that will motivate students to learn English and to enjoy learning it.

Reference PAUL VERGHESE.C - Teaching English as a Second Language, Sterling Publishers, New Delhi. THOMPSON.M.S.H, WYATT.H.G -Teaching of English , Sonali Publications, New Delhi . SARASWATHI.V - English Language reaching; Principles & Practice, Orient Longman publishers , Chennai.

ROLE OF MULTIMEDIA IN TEACHING

S. Kavitha

INTRODUCTION Multimedia is a term frequently heard and discussed among Educational Technologists today. The term can alternately mean a judicious mix of various mass media such as print, audio and video or it may mean the development of computer-based hardware and software packages produced on a mass scale and yet allow individualized use and learning. In essence, multimedia merges multiple levels of learning into an educational tool that allows for diversity in curricula presentation. Multimedia is the exciting combination of computer hardware and software that allows you to integrate video, animation, audio, graphics, and test resources to develop effective presentations on an affordable desktop computer.

Goals of Multimedia

Multimedia makes it possible to view engaging presentations repeatedly. Multimedia provides core, text-based lessons written to conform to the National Science Education Standards. Multimedia also offer original photographs, scientific illustrations, flash animations, educational videos, audio recordings, interactive quizzes, and ask-a-question areas through a series of external hyperlinks on the right and bottom menu bars.

Photographs and scientific illustrations appear embedded within multimedia. Photographs of scientists are on the right menu of multimedia link to biographies to provide historical context. For example, Scientific Method Module contains an interactive experiment in which students are virtually transported to Pisa, Italy where they can simultaneously drop different sized objects off the Leaning Tower. Many of our illustrations and animations are reproduced in an overheads area of the resources section of multimedia to provide teachers an easy way to show these materials to a class without having to search through a module.

 Lecturer, Department of Computer Science, Sri Bharathi Arts & Science College for Women, Pudukkottai. Benefits to Lecturers i) Allows for creative work

Lecturers normally use some combination of lecture, text and hands-on laboratory for conveying information. With the advent of the Internet and the multiple formats that can be communicated over the World Wide Web, we now have several new and exciting ways to present information. The Web allows the incorporation of animation, moving pictures, and sound into lessons, which extends our abilities to present materials that encourage student interaction with the subject matter. Pictures and animations help bring to life scientific principles, and multimedia allows lecturers to take a more active role in teaching and they can watch experiments in action. One of the advantages of using Multimedia is to convey information quickly and effectively to all lecturers and keep them engaged. ii) Saves time and money for more challenging topics The Multimedia Library for Lotus Software quickly teaches end-users essential skills and productivity tips to be successful. And available now is the NEW Multimedia Library for IBM Lotus Connections 3.0. Lotus Connections can help teams accomplish their business objectives whether they are located locally or distributed geographically. The Multimedia Library for Lotus Connections will teach you essential skills on how to use the integrated components and capabilities of Communities, Files, Wikis, Profiles, Blogs, Bookmarks, Activities, Home Page, Forums and Social Analytics. iii) Effective teaching activities Besides being a powerful tool for making presentations, Multimedia offers unique advantages in the field of education. For instance, text alone simply does not allow students to get a feel of any of Shakespeare's plays. In teaching biology, an instructor cannot make a killer whale come alive in a classroom. Multimedia enables us to provide a way by which learners can experience their subject in a vicarious manner. The key to providing this experience is having simultaneous graphic, video and audio, in a sequential manner. The appeal of Multimedia Learning is best illustrated by the popularity of the video games currently available in the market. These are multimedia programmes combining text, audio, video, and animated graphics in an easy-to-use fashion.

Moreover, under conditions of chronic under-funding, Multimedia can provide an enhanced or augmented learning experience at a low cost per unit. It is here that the power of Multimedia can be unleashed to provide long-term benefit to all.

Multimedia enables learning through exploration, discovery, and experience. Technology does not necessarily drive education. That role belongs to the learning needs of students. With Multimedia, the process of learning can become more goal oriented, more participatory and flexible in time and space, unaffected by distances and tailored to individual learning styles, and increase collaboration between teachers and students. Multimedia enables learning to become fun and friendly, without fear of inadequacies or failure. Multimedia also increases student contact time for discussion.

Presentations such as these that incorporate sound and graphics allow all students, especially those with learning difficulties, to better understand concepts even before reading the text of a lesson. Since it is difficult to create an entire separate curriculum that incorporates images and sounds in addition to text, as it is often recommended for learning disabled students, Vision Learning helps teachers to incorporate sounds, graphics and videos into an existing presentation without a large time investment. Students can repeatedly view the modules at home, which reinforce the information presented in class. Researchers working with dyslexic students, recommend paraphrasing information, substituting oral and visual presentations for written assignments, and advance access to reading assignments as strategies to compensate for this disability. Vision Learning provides the materials that can help all students.

Computer-Based Multimedia also helps students to develop technical and research skills that they cannot get from reading a textbook. Since the links and images in Multimedia are on a computer, students learn how to work with a keyboard, mouse, and to access online information.

Advantages of Multimedia in Teaching The lure of computers is a powerful one. However, many of us also refrain from using computers for fear of failure. We want to hone computer skills, but are scared to make the effort because we lack those very skills. Too many of us, especially in the field of learning, are caught in this modern tug-of-war. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the concept of Multimedia took on a new meaning, as the capabilities of satellites, computers, audio and video converged to create new media with enormous potential. Combined with the advances in hardware and software, these technologies were able to provide enhanced learning facility and with attention to the specific needs of individual users.

A primary application of the Interactive Multimedia for instruction is in an instructional situation where the learner is given control so that he/she may review the material at his or her own pace and in keeping with his/her own individual interests, needs, and cognitive processes. The basic objective of Interactive Multimedia Material is not so much to replace the teacher as to change the teacher's role entirely. As such, Multimedia must be extremely well designed and sophisticated enough to mimic the best teacher, by combining in its design the various elements of the cognitive processes and the best quality of the technology. With today's Multimedia Courseware, once a programme has been designed and built in with the appropriate responses, it should be flexible enough to permit change and alteration.

Use of multimedia in an educational setting Let us look at some examples of what is called ―innovative use‖. Let us say a student wants to write a paper on desert animals. Traditionally, the primary source for obtaining information would be the encyclopedia generally available in the library.

With access to Interactive Multimedia, the student would collect various textual materials about the camel from sources on a CD-ROM. In addition, the student may be able to copy a diagram or the skeleton and muscular structure of the camel and the ostrich to study what is common about the two creatures. With a Multimedia Approach, the student could also access Web sites on the Internet to get more information. The student could then add film clips on these animals in their natural habitat (all may be from the same CD-ROM) and blend them into a report. Then by adding titles and credits, the student now has a new and original way of communicating his/her own individual perspective.

Besides student use, teachers should find Multimedia of great use in delivering their lessons. For example, a history teacher could use a Multimedia CD to create a lecture on the non- violence movement by using film clippings and audio tapes on Mahatma Gandhi or Martin Luther King, also by incorporating other audio visual information with text to make the subject come alive. All this material would be available on a videodisc.

Similarly, a University Professor might use a Multimedia CD to prepare or to update information or to teach so as to enliven and also add insight to his/her teaching, thereby improving the quality of the course. The uses of Multimedia need not be seen as a tool for classrooms only. In an industry dealing with hazardous materials, workers need to be trained. It could be risky to provide hands on training. In this case, simulated learning can take the place of actual hands on training by using all the features of Interactive Multimedia. Training can thus take place individually at the learner's pace and on his/her own time. Medical procedures, first-aid training and instruction of paramedics or even surgeons are made both simple and interesting through the use of Multimedia. The Doctor or Paramedic can run through a complete procedure on videodisc and analyze all the possible outcomes and can evaluate the possibilities before treatment of the real life patient starts.In all the above instances, the user can and normally does work individually and in an interactive mode with the medium. Image editing tools Painting and Drawing Tools let you create a drawing from scratch and Image Editing Tools are used to edit existing bitmap images and pictures. However, these tools are similar to painting and drawing tools as they can also create images from scratch. They are capable of converting any image data type file format. Image Editing Tools are primarily used for reinventing and recreating the image, which make them an important tool for designing a Multimedia Project.

Conclusion

The term media refers to the storage, transmission, interchange, presentation, representation and perception of different information types (data types) such as text, graphics, voice, audio and video. The term Multimedia is used to denote the property of handling a variety of representation media in an integrated manner. The phrase, Representation Media' is used because it is believed to be the most fundamental aspect of Multimedia Systems to support different representation types. It is necessary for a Multimedia System to support a variety of Representation Media Types. It is also important that the various sources of media types are integrated into a single system framework. Multimedia is more than multiple media. Multimedia adds interactivity to the combination of text, graphics, images, audio and video. Creating your own media is more interactive than is using existing content and collaborating with others in the creation of media is still more interactive. One of the advantages of using Multimedia is to convey information quickly and effectively to all lecturers and keep them interested in. Multimedia helps lecturers to teach effectively. Hence Multimedia plays an important role in teaching.

Reference i) Multimedia/Entertainment Industry Law and Business Information Center http://www.dnai.com/~pzender/index.html

ii) Brewer, Judy, ed. 2001. How people with disabilities use the Web. http://www.w3c.org/wai/eo/Drafts/pwd-Use-Web

PRE DISASTER PREPAREDNESS-AN INSIGHT STUDY Dr. A. Singaravel & Dr. R. Kanna Bramma Maheswaran

Introduction Natural hazard is an event of nature, which causes sudden disruption to the normal life of the living beings and causes damage to life and property. These disasters cause damage because they are sudden and unpredictable. Further, the damage restoration is almost impossible. Normally earthquake, tsunami, volcanic eruptions, floods, cyclones, drought, landslide, chemical disaster, epidemic and violence, are some of the examples of the worst type. Once, these disasters were beyond the human knowledge but the development of Science and Technology are partially helping us to predict these natural hazards.

The modern society is subject to many types of disaster. In addition, the disaster preparedness requires multi tasks to safeguard the society from destruction caused by any disaster. The paper attempts to focus on preparing our community for all types of disasters. This can help us to get the attention of the public and government officials and may improve our ability to mobilize resources. It is important that the community is able to recover from any hazard event that occurs.

Management implies that human intervention is possible for organizing efforts to prevent the natural hazards and mitigate their impact. Science and Technology help us to restore the disaster-ravaged territory. Nowadays, the world is functioning based on the development of human resources and the disaster management is one such latest development in the twentieth century and it has achieved a lot for the material progress of mankind. The predictions may be made on the basis of the study of past history of the area prone to a particular natural disaster.

Disaster Preparedness plays a vital role during the process of disaster management and mitigation of disaster effects. Nowadays, we have to impart awareness in this regard across the society through popular media. Geographic Information System and Remote Sensing Techniques may help considerably in the natural disaster reduction.

 Director, UGC Academic Staff College, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli.  Lecturer in History, Bharathidasan University Constituent College, Lalgudi.

In ancient India, disaster management was mentioned in Kautily‘s Arthashastra as a primary duty of the State. Disaster Management as a post disaster activity has been well established under the Ministry of Home Affairs in India, especially since the Disaster Management Act 2005. The potential way of the new approach deals with taking well-planned and timely proactive measures to prevent disasters, to prepare people to cope with disasters and to motivate them to safeguard their own lives.

Government has a leading role to play during both the pre- and post-disaster periods. They coordinate both preparation and recovery efforts, and have the responsibility to guide the other sectors to prepare and to incorporate mitigation practices. After a storm, households have to undertake wall and roof replacement as soon as they can by using their own or donated resources. There is no chance for instant education, instant decision-making and enforcement during the aftermath of an event. Only decisions taken and education undertaken in advance, will affect the activities after the storm. Often different government agencies have similar or contradictory roles, which can lead to confusion. Clarifying the roles is a necessary part of helping the post disaster activity and coordination. Disaster Preparedness - Self-Study The Self-Study of disaster preparedness provides the basic information needed to assist the people from disasters. It also supplies information on distributing Disaster Kits.

The following questions should be raised  How can we face and manage each disaster?  What is to be done during pre and post disaster situation?  From whom can we get help?  What are the hazard materials to be held?  Who are the lead players during mitigation and rehabilitation?  How can we save the lives from epidemics?  How can we incorporate the instruction and guidelines of the disaster management authority?

With new modeling techniques for estimating and pricing, the risks of natural disasters, the donor community is now in a position to help the poor and cope with the economic repercussions of disasters by assisting before their occurrence. Post disaster assistance for emergency relief and reconstruction, although important for humanitarian reasons, has failed to meet the needs of developing countries in their exposure to disaster risks Disasters continue to impose substantial human and economic losses on the developing world.

Basic First Aid

Emergencies come in many forms, and they may require anything from a brief absence from your home to permanent evacuation. Each type of disaster requires different measures to provide first aid. The best thing you can do for yourself is to be prepared. The proposed development plan offers basic first aid treatment in the event of a medical emergency. First Aid is the provision of limited care for an illness or injury, which is provided, usually by a certified person, to a sick or injured patient until definitive medical treatment can be accessed. It generally consists of series of simple, sometimes life saving, medical techniques, that an individual, either with or without formal medical training, can be trained to perform with minimal equipment.

These emergencies may require assistance from another person, who should be suitably qualified to do so, although some of these emergencies can be dealt with by the victim themselves. Dependent on the severity of the emergency, and the quality of any treatment given, it may require the involvement of multiple levels of care, from a first-aider to an emergency physician through to specialist surgeons. Any response to an emergency medical situation will depend strongly on the situation, the patient involved and availability of resources to help them.

When conventional first aid requires additional medical attention, the patient must be transported to a recognized health institution for further treatment as quickly as possible. The act of preparing the patient and notifying the institution is a very complicated and critical issue. Time is of the essence and therefore important in a life and death situation. For this reason it is important to establish relations with the health institution and notifying them on the project‘s plan and whether the institution is able to assist in emergency cases. In any event, the Emergency Coordinator will be required to make transportation arrangements to the health institution in the event of a medical emergency. Hospital preparedness is crucial to any disaster response system. For the purpose, each hospital should have an emergency preparedness plan to deal with mass casualties and should be manned by trained health managers. The existing curriculum for medical doctors does not include emergency health management. Therefore, capacity building through in-service training of the current heath managers and medical personnel in handling health emergencies is extremely essential. At the same time, the future health managers must acquire these skills systematically through the inclusion of health emergency management in the undergraduate and postgraduate medical curricula. In consultation with Medical Council of India (MCI) two committees have been constituted for preparation of curriculum for introduction of emergency health management in MBBS curriculum, and preparation of in-service training of Hospital Managers and Professionals.

Temporary Shelters and Housing

The provision of adequate temporary shelters to communities impacted by a disaster is a very difficult and complex undertaking. There are a variety of problems associated with temporary housing that may exacerbate the already critical situation of those impacted by a disaster, such as: culturally inappropriate housing, poorly located temporary housing camps, social conflicts among occupants, and physical inadequacy of the interim housing facilities.

Communication and Transportation In an emergency response and management, it is extremely important to have the communication links operational between decision makers at various levels and operational response teams personnel on the site. Unfortunately, at the time of emergencies such as natural or man-made disasters, the first casualty is the regular telecommunications infrastructure of public wired and wireless telephones. Considering the crucial role during such emergencies, it is essential to set-up reliable information and communication network, employing both terrestrial and satellite-based communication technologies, with redundancies to establish a network for emergency communications.

Network between the national and the state Emergency Operation Centres (EOCs) and the site of the emergency crises are currently based on the DOT network. It has been observed that in a calamity hazard, communication is the first casualty. It has therefore been decided to put in place multi-mode and multi-channel communication systems so that enough redundancy is available. It has been decided that the POLNET will also be used for disaster management and for this, the POLNET communication facility will be extended to SDMs and Collectors as well as the Emergency Operation Centers. For emergency communications, discussions have also been held with the Department of Space (ISRO). They will be making available alternate satellite communication units to connect with State EOCs and mobile units, which can be transported to the site of a disaster.

Disaster Management and Education Prevention is better than cure, is an old saying, which is very apt in the context of disaster management. Every year colossal amount of resources is used by our Government as well as Aid Agencies in relief and rehabilitation measures. It is now becoming increasingly evident that investment in disaster preparedness can save thousands of lives, vital economic assets, livelihoods and reduce the cost of overall disaster relief.

The Ministry of Home Affairs the Government of India plays an important role in disaster response, recovery, mitigation, rehabilitation and preparedness measures. Further, it concentrates on the need for integrating disaster management in the existing education system in India. In addition, the government of India launched a set of nation-wide disaster risk mitigation initiatives that address larger aspects of development in order to safeguard the developmental gains. One of the important initiatives includes disaster management in the curriculum of school and professional education.

Disaster Awareness in School Curriculum Empowering the younger generation on the preventive aspects and the types of services to be rendered in a disaster situation and the need for humane approach should form from part of the curriculum. In a first ever attempt by any educational institution in the country, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has integrated short course on Disaster Management in the school curriculum. With nearly 85 per cent of the land area prone to disasters, it is high time the younger generation is prepared to combat disasters.

Disaster Management as a subject in Social Sciences has been introduced in the school curriculum for Class VIII & IX. The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) which has introduced the curriculum runs a very large number of schools throughout the country and the course curriculum is invariably followed by the State Boards of Secondary Education. Teachers are being trained to teach disaster management Syllabus for Class X is being finalized and will be introduced in the course curriculum soon. The State Governments have been advised to take similar steps vis-à-vis their school boards. Several States Governments have already introduced the same curriculum in Class VIII. Ministry is working with the Council of Board of School Education (COBSE) to facilitate inclusion of disaster management in public education in all 39 School Boards in the country.

Financing of Relief Expenditures The policy arrangements for meeting relief expenditure related to natural disasters are, by and large, based on the recommendations of successive Finance Commissions. The two main windows presently open for meeting such expenditures are the Calamity Relief Fund (CRF) and National Calamity Contingency Fund (NCCF). The Calamity Relief Fund is used for meeting the expenditure for providing immediate relief to the victims of cyclone, drought, earthquake, fire, flood and hailstorm. Expenditure on restoration of damaged capital works should ordinarily be met from the normal budgetary heads, except when it is to be incurred as part of providing immediate relief, such as restoration of drinking water sources or provision of shelters etc., or restoration of communication links for facilitating relief operations.

Community Based Disaster Preparedness (CBDP) The concept of Disaster Risk Management aims at reducing vulnerabilities of the affected populace and it is most effective at the community level where specific local needs can be met. In isolation, these institutional interventions often prove to be insufficient, as they tend to ignore local perceptions, needs, potential value of local resources and their inherent capacities. Most often, they are unsuccessful in their influence at the community level leading to the failure to utilize the Social Capital.

The process of CBDP aims at the following:  The community should be made well aware of the risk they are living with.  They must possess the necessary know - how to deal with impending disasters.  Communities must have a well laid down plan of action which they should follow to prevent the repercussions of a disaster.  Each one in the community should be aware of his/her responsibilities in an emergency disaster. The rationale for involving communities in disaster preparedness and mitigation activities is based on the following assumptions: 1. Communities in disaster-affected areas are the real sufferers and they are the first responders as well. 2. Communities in high-risk areas have often developed their own coping mechanisms and strategies to reduce the impact of disaster. It is important to appreciate this local knowledge and resources and to build on them in order to improve the capacity of people to withstand the impact of disasters. 3. Ownership of disaster reduction should not be stripped from local people who would be left even more powerless in case external intervention does not occur. 4. Disaster Reduction Activities should be based on Participatory Approaches involving local communities as much as possible, considering them as proactive stakeholders and not passive targets for intervention. 5. Involvement and participation of communities will ensure a collective and coordinated action during emergencies. 6. Building community leadership and a chain of trained community cadres through participatory approach can help harness the resilience and resourcefulness of the community to cope. 7. Solution is sustainable if it comes from people themselves rather than being thrust solution upon them. Strengthen Community-Based Disaster Preparedness In India, poverty and low awareness explain higher human casualty and deeper adverse impact of disasters. Techno-intensive solutions for disaster response and reduction are hard to adopt in view of higher economic costs and uncertainties surrounding their adaptability to local socio-cultural situations. Success of disaster preparedness in such contexts depends more on effective community-based approaches to risk reduction and management, and could have NGOs could have a bigger role to play because of their rapport with the local population. Strengthening of Infrastructure Concerted efforts should be made to strengthen roads, bridges, embankments, canals, drains, dams, public and community buildings, power transmission & distribution networks and other critical infrastructure in the State with a view to making those facilities disaster resistant. All new public infrastructure and housing, whether in public sector or private, should be constructed by incorporating certain safety measures, which would make them resistant to possible disasters. Adoption of disaster proof measures should be mandatory and enforced by authorities concerned. Efforts should be initiated to halt and discourage encroachment in areas identified as vulnerable and environmentally fragile areas. Training programmes should be organized for builders and masons to adopt appropriate construction technologies for building disaster resistant houses. Communities should, as far as possible, be involved in the maintenance and protection of public infrastructure, especially those that will protect them during emergencies. Communities, along with local officials, should prevent anti-social elements from tampering with communication system, embankment, etc. Management Programmes Various programmes and disaster management projects have been being conducted by the Ministry of Home Affairs. These programmes provide innovative information regarding management as well as precautionary measures. The programmes are implemented in and around the country. The programme will focus on integrating disaster risk reduction elements across all development sectors. Support to the newly established district and state level disaster management authorities will institutionalize community-level disaster preparedness. Appropriate policies and regulations and comprehensive multi-hazard risk assessments will help integrate disaster risk reduction concerns into development planning, including adaptation to climate change impacts. The next phase of the programme will be closely associated with the National Disaster Management Authority, established in 2005. Drawing upon recent experiences, such as the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, will help strengthen post disaster recovery capacities. The country programme will be implemented under the direction of the Government of India with national and state-level authorities.

Rehearsals, Simulation Training and Plan Review The only way to know if a plan can work is to implement it, evaluate it and revise it as appropriate. This can be done in one of two ways: Response Rehearsals and Review of Plans after an actual emergency. Emergency Response Rehearsals and Trainings test the plan's assumptions and procedures. Rehearsals will expose both the strengths and weaknesses in a preparedness plan. Ideally, rehearsals should be system-wide, to include Civil Society, Government Agencies, NGOs and other groups and organizations that would be involved in a disaster response. Rehearsals are also the only way to keep plans fresh and should be followed with discussions on updating and modifying the plan to improve it. Investments in advance of Disaster are far more effective Perhaps the most important lesson that emerges from our experiences is that investments in disaster information management systems are far more likely to be effective if they are accomplished in advance. Most of the systems described in the case studies were developed or deployed in the aftermath of the onset of major disasters.

Many of the problems they faced flowed directly from this fact. In the midst of a major disaster, the prospects of anchoring the system on a stable institutional foundation and supporting it through sound operating procedures are diminished. Similarly, persuading humanitarian responders to invest time and effort in a new, unproven system during a period when their capacity is stretched because of an emergency is a daunting undertaking. Bilateral and multilateral donors might encourage countries to strengthen their capacities to cope with disasters by providing financial and technical assistance for the timely adoption of disaster management systems before disaster.

Preparedness Measures The following preparedness measures can be taken to cope with the effects of a disaster:  People must be educated and awareness through media and awareness programmers must be organized.  Preparation of disaster management plans for community, schools and individuals should be made well in advance.  Mock drill, Training and Practice should be undertaken.  Hazard Materials and Resources can be strengthened to be utilized during disaster.  Proper Early Warning System should function.  Mutual aid arrangement should be made properly.  All vulnerable groups and hazard prone areas should be identified. And  The role of Community Participation and other volunteers can be increased.

Conclusion: Preparedness is a state of being ready to react promptly and effectively in the event of an emergency. Being prepared means, which plan of action exists for an emergency and one is clear about what to do before the emergency occurs. Preparedness measures to be undertaken depends upon the analysis of hazard severity and vulnerability, which is also the basis for deciding mitigation strategy. In some cases, such as a flood or hurricane, an Early Warning System gives several hours to act. However, often no prior warning of an impending emergency is possible. Preparedness for any emergency, especially those that strike without notice, requires a plan. It is essential to identify the resources available and ways to utilize them. It must also be reasonably certain that the plan will work in an emergency.

Disaster-prone countries should build a nation-wide integrated data sharing model so that all the agencies at different levels of the government (local, regional, or national) can collaborate more effectively and facilitate more easily by sharing their datasets without any protective passwords or any other barriers. More investments are needed in satellite, radar, and surface observing networks for modern information processing. A Global Disaster Information Network is needed to predict severe disasters that spread across the continents. While it may not be possible to avoid these hazards, they can be prevented from becoming disasters through integration of risk assessments and early warning, with prevention and mitigation measures. A reliable early warning system is essential for disaster preparedness. Reference: Anil Sinha: Disaster Management in India-Towards Enhanced Crisis Preparedness and Quick Response, National Institute of Disaster Management, Ministry of Home Affairs; New Delhi, 2006. Alexander: Towards the Development of Standards in Emergency Management Training and Education, Disaster Prevention and Management, International Journal, Vol. 12 No. 2, 2003. Government of India: Disaster Management Status Report 2004, Ministry of Home Affairs; Government of India, New Delhi.2004. Bapat: Creation of Awareness about Earthquakes- Case Histories. Proceedings of International Conf on Disaster & Mitigation, Vol.1, Madras, 1996. Luna: NGO Natural Disaster Mitigation and Preparedness: Report for research project NGO Natural Disaster Mitigation and Preparedness, 2000. Disaster Management Department: Manual for Relief of Distress, Government of West Bengal; West Bengal, 2006. Sharma: Functioning of Disaster Management Organization and Methodology to Cope with Disasters in India, Delhi, 2000. Balaka Dey: Natural Hazard and Disaster Management, CBSE; New Delhi, 2006. Aravind Raj, Sekar: Community Based Disaster Preparedness, Handbook of Psychiatric Social Work; Bangalore, 2007. Gandhi: Disaster Mitigation and Management-Post Tsunami Perspectives, Deep & Deep; New Delhi: 2007. Vulnerability Atlas of India: Building Materials and Technology Promotion Council, Government of India Publication; New Delhi, India, 1997. Earthquake in Gujarat 2001. Directorate of Information Booklet, Gujarat State Publication; Gandhinagar, India, 2001.