SEXUAL HARASSMENT OF WOMEN AT WORKPLACE – VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS PROGNOSIS OF PREVENTION AND REDRESSAL Prof.(Dr.) Qaiser Hayat*
PART – I INTRODUCTION Sexual Harassment of women at workplace is a challenge to gender Justice, Violation of Human rights, violation of a woman’s freedom of her person, her dignity, bodily integrity and sexual autonomy. A woman may be sexually harassed virtually anywhere: in the workplace, educational institutions, hospitals, marketplace, shops, bars, discos, elevators, Internet bars, public buses, trains and even in planes. Sexual harassment occurs if the impugned act is unwelcome or unsolicited. It is global phenomena and Increasing worldwide exponentially. In the past preceding decade with the educational enlightenment, number of women workers has surged, their. Vulnerability to harassment has also increased.
Heinous crimes such as rape, violent assault, incest, molestation and outraging the modesty of woman as well misdemeanours like verbal abuse, repeated lewd emails or SMSES, physical touching or unwelcome comments on behaviour or dress are often reported in the media. These acts are given free reign as they do not qualify as criminal acts, most of the parts a hidden problem.
The harassment incidence occur across business trade banking and finance, sales and marketing, hospitability serving in Restaurant and Hotels in civil service, maid servants working in houses, offices private and government, educational of Institutions, executive levels, followed by administrative staff, at management and senior management positions, in villages women working under government schemes namely MNREGA etc., and construction sites.
Vulnerability is because of lack of awareness of legal rights, social and work pressers, monetary hardships, complacency as their Bosses know that some women are sole earners of the family hence exploited. It is also because the women are shown as weak, helpless and easily deceived, as oppose to men who is strong and adventurous, non-submission for favour often threaten of dire consequences. They are forced to keep quite.
The issue is serious. The employer’s foremost responsibility is to develop absolute intolerance against sexual harassment at workplace. At the modern age she is making successful forward strides in many fields. Sexual harassment and hostile environment at workplace must give way to equality and safeguard her fundamental rights.
The recent surveys and seminars deliberations have given strength that the malaise must be eradicated. It is significant to know the problem in its true dimensions.
Supreme Courts role in awakening the government from its deep sleep is laudable and significant. The prominent some land mark cases which brought word sexual harassment into the legal scenario are:
* HoD, Institute of Legal Studies & Research, Mangalayatan University, Beswan (Aligarh)
(a) This Article has been prepared in the light of Supreme Court case Vishaka Guidelines Universal Conventions, Human Rights Act, Constitutional Law of India, Women Commissions recommendations.
And (b) The enactment of Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013. It is a first legislative special Act in India that seeks to protect women from sexual
harassment at their place of work. President of India gave his assent on 23 April, 2013, and came into force from 9 December, 2013. This statute has accommodated all the Vishaka guidelines for prevention of sexual harassment within its ambit, is a most significant piece of Law.
Instead repeating the full tilt, in the body of theme writer has used short tilt women Sexual Harassment Act, 2013or Act, 2013 only.”
1. Bhanwari Devi Case, 2. Rina Mukherjee vs. The States man, 3. Rupan deol Bajaj (IAS Officer) vs. Super Cop. KPS Gill, and 4. A land mark Vishaka Guidelines (Vishaka and Others vs. State of Rajasthan and Others, AIR 1997 SC 3011) which were later incorporated in “The Sexual harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013”.
“Crime Statistics”: “It was reported by the International Labour Organisation that very few Indian employers were compliant to the Act, 2013. Most Indian employers have not implemented the Law despite the legal requirement that any workplace with more than 10 employers need to implement it. According to a FCCI-EY November, 2015 report, 36% of Indian companies and 25% among MNCs are not compliant with the Sexual Harassment Act, 2013. The government has threatened to take stern action against employers who fail to comply with this.”1 According to NCRB (National Crime Record Bureau in 2012, around 2.4 lakh women had reported crimes against them i.e. at a national average of 41 per lakh population of women with the highest incidence in Assam of almost 90. Sexual harassment in the year 2012 showed an increase of 7% since 2011 and accounted for 3.8 of total crimes against women subject to more harassment as their bosses know the reason of her silence.
The crime percent distribution during 2011:1
Sexual Immoral Rape, Traffic (P) 10.60% Act, 1.10% Harassment
Others, 0.20%
Cruelty by Kidnapping
Husband and and Relatives, abduction, 43.40% 15.60%
Dowry Dowry
Molestation Prohibition
Sexual Harassment at Workplace: Sexual harassment at workplace hampers women’s constitutional and fundamental rights to equality, justice and dignity. 1. Crime statistic upto date not available, hence upto your 2011-2012 confined. Sexual Harassment Incidents in India 2001-2010 (NCRB)
15000
Reported 10000 Incidents
Convicted 5000 cases
0
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
It sabotages a woman’s work performance & progress, affects working environments, results in frustrations & absenteeism. The Gazette of India-Extraordinary Part – II, - Section 1 – No. 18, New Delhi Tuesday, dated the 23rd April, 2013.
Incidents of Crimes against Women during 2007-2012 and percentage variation in 2012 over 2011 S. N. Crime Head Year Percent variation in 2012 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 over 2011 1. Rape (Sec.376 IPC) 20737 21467 21397 22172 24206 24923 3.0 2. Kidnapping & Abduction (Sec.363 20,416 22939 25741 29795 35565 38262 7.6 to 373IPC) 3. Dowry Death (Sec.302/304 IPC) 8093 8172 8383 8391 8618 8233 -4.5
4. Cruelty by Husband and Relatives 75930 81344 89546 94041 99135 106527 7.5 (Sec. 498-A IPC)
5. Molestation (Sec. 354 IPC) 38734 40413 38711 40613 42968 45351 5.5 6. Sexual Harassment (Sec. 509 IPC) 10950 12214 11009 9961 8,570 9173 7.0
7. Importation of Girls (Sec.366-B61 67 48 36 80 59 -26.3 IPC)
8. Sati Prevention Act, 1987 0 1 0 0 1 - -100
9. Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act,3568 2659 2474 2499 2435 2563 5.3 1956
10. Indecent Representation of 1200 1025 845 895 453 141 -68.9 11. Women Dowry Prohibition (Prohibition) Act, Act, 1961 1986 5623 5555 5650 5182 6619 9038 36.5
Total 185312 195856 203804 213585 228650 244270 6.8%
Disposal of Crime Committed Against Women Cases by Police During 2014
Cases Cases No. of cases Cases Total Cases Cases pending not withdrawn transferred for Cases S. investigation Reportedby to Investigateended Crime Head the Govt. other investigation as final No. from during during Station/Police (Col. 3+4 - 5 U/S falsereport yearprevious yearthe investigation Magistrate 6)- 157(1)(b)of Cr.PC
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (8) (9) (7)
CRIME HEAD:
1 Rape 15052 36735 9 155 51623 1 2540
1.1 Custodial Rape 3 197 0 0 200 0 3
1.1.1 Custodial_Gang Rape 0 7 0 0 7 0 1
1.1.2 Custodial_Other Rape 3 190 0 0 193 0 2
1.2 Rape other than Custodial 15049 36538 9 155 51423 1 2532
1.2.1 Rape_Gang Rape 211 2346 0 6 2551 0 298
1.2.2 Rape_Others 14838 34192 9 149 48872 1 2239
2 Attempt to commit Rape 439 4234 0 1 4672 0 323
3 Kidnapping & Abduction of Women 27496 57311 27 95 84685 2 6497
3.1 Kidnaping & Abduction 6605 17016 2 40 23579 0 2216
3.2 Kidnaping & Abduction in order to Murder 46 206 0 0 252 0 40
3.3 Kidnapping for Ransom 63 91 0 1 153 0 2
3.4 Kidnapping & Abduction of Women to compel her for marriage 16980 30874 24 29 47801 2 2758
3.5 Kidnapping & Abduction of Women-Other 3802 9124 1 25 12900 0 1481
4 Dowry Deaths 4827 8455 0 12 13270 0 180
5 Assault on Women with intent to outrage her Modesty_Total 19011 82235 2 80 101164 1 4641
5.1 Sexual Harassment 2981 21938 1 22 24896 1 766
5.2 Assault on women with intent to Disrobe 646 6412 0 1 7057 0 257
5.3 Voyeurism 157 674 0 0 831 0 21
5.4 Stalking 346 4699 0 4 5041 0 109
5.5 Others 14881 48512 1 53 63339 0 3488
6 Insult to the Modesty of Women_Total 3245 9735 0 10 12970 0 469
6.1 At Office premises 15 57 0 0 72 0 2
6.2 In places related to work 225 469 0 1 693 0 14
6.3 In Public Transport system 27 121 0 2 146 0 6
6.4 in Other Places 2978 9088 0 7 12059 0 447
7 Cruelty by Husband or his Relatives 46348 122877 16 449 168760 1 8144
8 Importation of Girls from Foreign Country 46 13 0 0 59 0 0
9 Abetment of Suicides of Women 539 3734 0 6 4267 0 97
10 Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 5960 10050 3 76 15931 0 447
11 Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986 58 47 0 0 105 0 2
12 Commission of Sati Prevention Act 1987 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
13 Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 33 426 0 2 457 0 18
14 Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act (Women Cases only) 633 2070 0 1 2702 0 3
14.1 Under Section 5 200 605 0 0 805 0 0
14.2 Under Section 6 9 81 0 0 90 0 0
14.3 Under Section 7 25 120 0 0 145 0 0
14.4 Under Section 8 4 104 0 0 108 0 2
14.5 Other Sections under ITP Act 395 1160 0 1 1554 0 1
Total Crimes against Women 123687 337922 57 887 460665 5 23361
Diagram & Tables show that total Sexual Harassment 2011 is 3.70% that from the year, 2001 – to- 2010 incidents show up and down in the curbs. In general there is an increase. In view of the above seriousness, for safety and protection of women’s rights to live with dignity and to avoid sabotage effecting her performance and progress at workplace, Government after a gap of 15 years Vishaka Guidelines domination has awaken, taken a serious note of the problem and enacted legislation titled: “Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013.
“General Observations”:
The Incidents of Sexual Harassment reveals the hazards to which a working woman may be exposed and the depravity to which sexual harassment can degenerate. Sexual harassment results in violation of fundamental rights of equality of sexes, of right life and liberty, and of the right to practice any profession or to carry on any trade or business. Safe working environment is very much essential for the exercise of the fundamental right to practice any profession. In the absence of proper legislations pertaining to this field in India the Apex Court has taken upon itself. The survey conducted by the National Human Rights Commission deals with only with government departments because it is the responsibility of the state to protect the rights of the women. It is found that more than 75% of departments had not set-up any mechanism to deal with the problem effectively. The Indian justice system is not yet developed to provide justice to the aggrieved. The problem, therefore, needs to be examined in the context of rights for establishment of a just and equitable social order, where nobody can be treated or exploited by another as unequal. No law, custom, tradition, culture or religious consideration should be invoked to excuse the act of sexual harassment against any woman. Margaret Sanger said that “Woman must not accept; she must challenge. She must not be awed by that which has been built around her; she must reverence that woman who struggles for expression. Problem is global, acute and increasing. In some countries law prohibiting such incidents have been enacted whereas in others not yet. Some Countries consider it tortuous liability whereas others consider it penal. “Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013” is first legislative Act in India that seeks to protect women from Sexual Harassment at their places of work. The most recent famous case of Sexual harassment at workplace was of Bill Clinton, who was President of America from 1993 to 2001. Case is still alive & fresh in Public memory that he cheated on his wife Hillary Clinton. Once he was in the white-House, his promiscuousness did not stop. There Monika Lewinsky, a young good looking 21-year old intern, performed oral sex in the Oval Office. Clinton adamantly denied got later admitted. United Nations accepting the challenge to eradicate and redress the evil, firstly emphasized on gender equality and identity of women in United Nations charter, June 16, 1945, and the universal declaration of Human Rights , 1948. Later message of accepting the challenge was given through number of International Instruments such as : Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, 1979(CEDAW), The Beijing declaration which directs all State parties to take appropriate measures to prevent discrimination of all forms against women besides taking steps to protect the honour and dignity of women, The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Article 7 recognises her right to fair conditions of work and reflects that women shall not be subjects to sexual harassment at the workplace, which may vitiate working environment. All States party to these International Conventions and Instruments are under obligation, as for as possible, give effect to the core principles embodied in them. Incidents of sexual harassment are acute, a challenge to gender justice, especially in Asian countries, which have over half the world’s population. In India, a woman is sexually harassed every 12 minutes.2 In China, 80% of working women experienced sexual harassment at some stage of their career.3 in Germany, a survey indicated that 93% of working women were victims of sexual harassment as of 1998.4 Approximately 6 of 10 nursed in Australia have experienced sexual harassment.5 In Hong Kong most complaints received by the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) in some recent years were of sexual
harassment. 6 In the United States over 50% of employed women had been sexually harassed.7 In Canada 51% of women reported having experienced sexual violence at least once8 and in Singapore almost 50% women have been victims of sexual harassment.9 The above statistics affirms that sexual harassment is worldwide, a global problem. Heinous forms of sexual harassment such as rape, incest, violent assault have been criminalized in almost all countries. Sexual harassment problems started with the enactment of anti-discrimination laws prohibiting sexual harassment in the workplace of United Kingdom.10 The United Kingdom prohibits sexual harassment including same sex harassment in the employment field under the sex Discrimination Act, 1975. This movement was led by the United States. Title VII of the United States Civil Rights Act 1964 forbids sexual harassment (including same sex) in the field of employment.11 Several factors contributed to the specific and explicit recognition of sexual harassment internationally as a wrong in the workplace including the following: ------2 National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Crime Clock, 2002 available at http://ncrb.nic.in/cuprevious/data/cd-CII2002/cii-2002/crime%20clock.htm 3 See D.K. Srivastava and Minkang Gu, Law and Policy issues on Sexual Harassment in China: Comparative Perspectives, OR.REV.INT’L L.46 n. 17 (2009). 4 International Labour Organization, When Working Becomes Hazardous, WORLD OF WORK (1998), available at http://www.ilo.org/public/english/bureau/inf/mangazine/26/violence.htm. 5 Julie Cogin & Alan Fish, Sexual Harassment – a touchy subject for nurses, 23J. HEALTH ORG. & MANAGEMENT 442-62 (2009) 6 Equal Opportunities Commission, Work Review – Statistics, available at http://www.eoc.org.hk/EOC/Graphics Folder/ShowContent.aspx?ItemID=5157 7 Jennifer Coburn, Viewpoint: Sexual Harassment: Why is Society Shocked?, NATIONAL ORG. WOMEN, available at http://www.now.org/nnt/01-97/shocked .html. 8 SACHA Sexual Assault Centre, Statistics, available at http://www.sacha.ca 9 Association of Women for Action and Research (AWARE), Survey Report 2007-08, Available at www.aware.org 10 The United Kingdom prohibits sexual harassment including same sex harassment in the employment field under the Sex Discrimination Act, 1975 11 Mary Beard, Woman as a Force in History, 1946: VII Indeed it is the Concept of Equality, Promotion & Protection as the Escape from Subjection, http://www.marxists.org/archive/beard/woman- force/ch07.htm, See also Ac. Krtashivananda Avt., Women’s Liberation Struggle http://www.scribd.com/doc/14018396/Womens-Liberation-Stuggle; Sheila Rowbotham, Hidden from History: 300 years of Women’s Oppression and the Fight Against It, http://www.marxists.org/subject/women/authors/rowbothamm-sheila/hidden-history.htm. First, the emphasis on gender equality and the identity of women found in documents like the Preamble to the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights spurred greater focus on gender equality and identity of women.12Second, as women began to play an important role in political, social and economic spheres of society, they succeeded in politicizing what was private and domestic.13 Third, the United Nations and many countries through their constitutional framework and laws began to emphasize on the equality of individuals irrespective of their sex or sexual orientation. Scholars like Catharine MacKinnon attacked the stereotyping of women as a sexual being.14 Fourth, the attention to sexual harassment of women resulted both from humanistic and, more importantly, economic considerations- if women are not equally integrated into the workforce and not free from hostile work
environment, it would lead to absenteeism and stress related healthcare problems resulting in increased cost of businesses and loss of production. Marry Beard also highlighted the problems in his writings – woman as a force in History, 1946.’ Equality is the escape from subjection and woman force Krtshashivananda Avt., Women’s Liberation Struggle’ and Sheila Rowbotham – ‘Hidden form History: 300 years of Women’s oppression and the fight against It,’ are examples of crusades started against women harassment and violation of their Human Rights. Hong Kong, China and other Asian Countries have also enacted their own Laws including India. It is obligatory on all employers private or public sectors or educational institutions to meet the challenge, preserve the human rights without discrimination and respect life, liberty and dignity and give due protection to the women victims of harassment at workplace. ------12 United Nations Charter, June 16, 1945, 59 Stat. 1031, T.S. No. 993, 3 Bevans 1153; The Universal Declaration of rd Human Rights, G.A. Res. 217A (III), U.N. Gaor, 3 Sess., Pt. 1, at 71, U.N. Doc. A/810 (1948). 13 For discussion on the public/ private divide, see NIVEDITA MENON, RECOVERING SUBVERSION: FEMINIST POLITICS BEYOND THE LAW 1-26 (2004). 14 CATHARINE A. MACKINNON, SEXUAL HARASSMENT OF WORKING WOMEN 151-54 (1979).
PART – II INDIA
India epitomizes the value that relegates women to the domestic and private subjection. Indeed, multifactor approach is conducive to Indian Social Environment. Male chauvinism, women emancipation movement, urbanization, Industrialization, Break down of Joint family concept, growth of education, differential association, demand for gender justice, awakening and awareness of basic human rights of life, liberty, dignity and equal opportunities for employment, throwing away male domination, dependency and subjection, coming out of four domestic walls, and more open avenues for employment have revolutionized the society giving birth to new issues and problems. Harassment of women at workplace is one such acute and significant problem of this social change. More and more women are joining employments, more the harassment problem increasing. India did not have any specific legislation on sexual harassment till the enactment of present Act. However, 1 the Supreme Court of India in Vishaka case declared sexual harassment to be unlawful in view of constitutional guarantees such as: the right to life and gender equality and other constitutional provisions as well as International Conventions to which India is a signatory.
Supreme Court laid down guidelines before the enactment of the Act namely: The National Commission for Women (NCW) could intervene where the Vishaka I guidelines are not followed by the employer. The guidelines did not apply to agriculture, construction and home based unorganized work sectors, among others, II and excluded same sex harassment from its purview.III It relaxed the burden of proof on a woman complaining of sexual harassment. It had taken care of all specifically covers students, research scholars and those working in unorganized sector. Thus the Supreme Court has made an all-out attempt to protect women. Also provided for compensation to aggrieved women. This was a commendable initiative.
I. Vishaka & Others v. State of Rajasthan, A.I.R. 1997 S.C. 3011. See the National Commission for Women Act, No. 20 of 1990/ INDIA CODE (1990) II. Almost 400 million of India’s workforce is in unorganized sectors, of which at least 120 million are women. Kiran Moghe, Understanding the Unorganised Sector, http://infochangeindia.org/200709206491/Agenda/Women- At-Work/Understanding-the-unorganised-sector.html; Ministry of Labour and Employment, Unorganised Sector in India: Social Security and Welfare Funds, http://labour.nic.in/ss/UNORGANISEDSECTORININDIA-Social securityandWelfareFunds.pdf. III. There are also criticisms that neither Vishaka nor the Act takes into account the plight of men. A complaints committee in the University of Delhi found a former vice principal guilty of harassing male students. Swaha Sahoo, Delhi’s Faculty of Shame, HINDUSTAN T., Sept. 26, 2008. Critics of Vishaka say that a woman may sexually seduce a man with her extremely subtle ways, dressing and gestures and movements, which has never been considered sexual harassment. See Sexual Harassment at workplace Laws- Loopholes. http://www.citehr.com/18649-sexual -harassment-workplace-laws-loopholes.html. The same critics question why women’s groups in India do not address the issue of sexual harassment and abuse of men and boys. The Sexual Harassment Act, 2013 is but one example. There are national laws on eve teasing (street sexual 1 harassment) protecting of women modesty and law against sexual violent assault, domestic violence, heinous crimes against women person also exist. “Harassment of the women where such harassment is with a veiw to coercing her or any person related to her to meet any unlawful demand for any property or valuable security or is on account of failure by her or any person related to meet such demand. A Bill to reserve 33% of seats in the national Parliament and provisional assemblies to women is also in the
2 pipeline. In big cities like Delhi and Mumbai, seats are reserved for women in local trains, ladies special buses are running, and there are women-only taxis driven by women drivers.V One wonders if these extraordinary measures will reduce the incidents of sexual harassment. However, some view such strategies as retrograde steps much more need to be done. Women occupy subordinate position to men and are traditionally viewed as a root cause of all evils. If a husband has a mistress or a girl is sexually harassed, it is often treated that it was due to her fault. A woman must be dependent on her father, her husband or her son. Yet there has been no dramatic improvement in the position of women. Ironically, women folk is half of the total population which accounts much in a democracy set up, however, still harassed.
India is mostly densely populated country. Problem is quite serious. It is quite laudable that a 3 national law against sexual harassment of women has been implemented . Employers to prepare each service conduct Rules conducive to smooth, secure and fair working environment. Violation to be visited with strict civil claims and penalties through procedure established by law. Present Act, 2013 whether satisfies the expectations. It will be known in due course of time. The provisions of the Act need to be sternly implemented.
1. Eve teasing is currently punished by the Indian Penal Code. INDIA PEN. CODE $$292, 294.5, 509. 2. Joy of India’s women-only trains, BBC NEWS, OCT. 10, 2009, available at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/2617757.stm. S-498 – A – Explemations/IPC – Ultra-vires Art. 14 and 20(2) of the Constitution , 1510 Inder Raj malik & others Vs. Mr. Sumita Malik 1986 G.L J. (Del) 3. Sexual Harassment of women at workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (no. 14 of 2013 2nd April, 2013:- (a) It extends to the whole of India. (Section 1 (2) of Act, 2013 (b) “Sexual harassment result in violation of fundamental rights of a women to equality under Article 14 and 15 of the Constitution of India and for right to life and to live with dignity under Article 21 of the Constitution and right to practice any profession or to carry on any occupation, trade or business which includes a right to a safe environment free from sexual harassment. (c) The protection against sexual harassment and the right to work with dignity universally recognized human rights by International Conventions and Instruments such as convention on the Elimination of all forms of discrimination against women. Which has been ratified on the 25th June, 1993 by the Government of India. (d) Enacted for giving effect to the said convention for protection of women against sexual harassment at workplace.
“Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013”: It is an act to provide protection against sexual harassment of women at workplace and for the protection prohibition and redressal of complaints of sexual harassment and for matters connected therewith or Incidental thereto.
The Act, 2013 comprises of VIII Chapters and 30 sections. Chapter I is preliminary deals with short title, extent and commencement. Chapter II enshrines in it the constitution of Internal Complaints Committee Chapter III this chapter elaborate Local Complaint Committee.
Chapter IV deals complaint of sexual harassment. Chapter V Inquiry into complaint. Chapter VI Duties of Employer Chapter VII Duties and powers Distt. Officer. Chapter VIII Miscellaneous. Under Section 2 (a) aggrieved women has been defined as: (i) In relation to a workplace, a woman of any age whether employed or not, who alleges to have been subjected to any act of sexual harassment by the respondent: (ii) In relation to a dwelling place or house, a woman of any age who is employed in such a dwelling place or house. Terms, namely, Chairperson, Distt. Officer, Domestic Worker, Employee & Employers, workplace etc., have also been explained. In Section 3(i) prohibit that no woman shall be subjected to sexual harassment at any workplace. The nature of the direction is mandatory. Section 3(ii) defines sexual harassment that “the following circumstances, among other circumstance, if it occurs or is present in relation to or connected with any act or behaviour of sexual harassment may amount to sexual harassment: (i) implied or explicit promise of preferential treatment in her employment: or (ii) implied or explicit threat of detrimental treatment in her employment; or (iii) implied or explicit threat about her present or future employment status; or (iv) interference with her work or creating an intimidating or offensive or hostile work environment for her; or (v) humiliating treatment likely to affect her health or safety. The definition of harassment is quite elaborative, different from what harassment means under section 498 (A) Indian Penal Code and Prohibition of Dowry Death Act. 1 The procedure for making complaint has been laid down in section 9. A right has been given to any aggrieved woman to make complaint of sexual harassment at workplace, in writing, either to internal committee or the local committee as the case may be, within a period of three months from the date of incident and in case of a series of incidents, within a period of three months from the date of last incident. If such complaint cannot be made in writing the either of the committees personnels shall render all reasonable assistance to the woman for making the complaint in writing. Further if circumstances were such which prevented the women from filing a complaint within the prescribed time limit of 3 months may extend the time not exceeding 3months. For this reasons to be recorded in writing. The Sexual Harassment at workplace (Prevention, Prohibition, and Redressal) Rules, 2013, complaint may be filed by the following also: (a) her relative or friend; or (b) her co-worker ; or (c) an officer of the National Commission for Women or State Women’s Commission ; or (d) any person who has knowledge of the incident, with the written consent of the aggrieved woman;
1 Section 498 (a) Explanation (b) Indian Penal Code defines: “Harassment of the women where such harassment is with a view to coercing her or any person related to her to meet any unlawful demand for any property or valuable security or is on account of failure by her or any person related to her to meet such demand”. This definition is applicable to Dowry Death Cases also.
In case of her physical or mental incapacity or death or otherwise, her legal heir or such other person as may be prescribed may make a complaint. In addition to the Act, 2013, Under Rules Act, 2013 the aggrieved woman is unable to make a complaint on account of her mental incapacity, a complaint may be filed by – (a) her relative of friend; or (b) a special educator ; or (c) a qualified psychiatrist or psychologist ; or (d) the guardian or authority under whose care she is receiving treatment or care ; or (e) any person who has knowledge of the incident jointly with her relative or friend or a special educator or qualified psychiatrist or psychologist, or guardian or authority under whose care she is receiving treatment or care; The aggrieved woman for any other reason is unable to make a complaint; a complaint may be filed by any person who has knowledge of the incident, with her written consent; The aggrieved woman is dead; a complaint may be filed by any person who has knowledge of the incident, with the written consent of her legal heir.
There is one more innovation in section 10 before initiating an inquiry under section11 and at the request of the aggrieved woman, the either committee as the case may be, take steps to settle the matter between her and the respondent through conciliation.
Section 19 sub-clauses (a) to (f) deal with the duties of the employer and section 20 provides jurisdiction of Distt. Officer.
It is part of employer duty to organise workshops and awareness programmes at regular intervals for sensitising the employees with the provision of the Act and Orientation Programmes for the members of internal committee in the manner as may be prescribed.
Employer also to provide safe working environment and also to display the peril consequences of sexual harassment at workplace.
The Committees to submit Annual Reports in each calendar year to the employer and the Distt. Officer. The employer shall include in its report the number of cases filed, if any, and their disposal.
The appropriate government shall monitor the implementation of this Act, 2013 and maintain data on the number of cases filed and disposed of in respect of all cases of sexual harassment at workplace.
Act, 2013 also provides punishment for false or malicious complaint and false evidence made intentionally or knowingly it to be false, has produced any forged or misleading document, the committees may recommend to employer or the Distt. Officer to take action against the woman or the person who has made the complaint in accordance with the provisions of the service rules applicable to her or where no such service rules exist, in such manner as may be prescribed.
Provided that a mere in-ability to substantiate a complaint or provide adequate proof need not attract action against the complainant. Malicious intent on the part of the complainant shall be established after an inquiry in accordance with the procedure prescribed.
Provisions are quite comprehensive, success depend upon its implementation in practice.
PART – III
“Prognosis of Prevention and Redressal”
Commitment:
Every employer in India in any field, Education or Business Corporates, executive, Legislative Bodies, Government Departments, health or Judiciary is committed to create and maintain congenial environment for work for female employees free of violence, sexual harassment, exploitation and Intimidation. Harassment of women in fact, is violation of Human Rights acts against moral sanctions, decency, modesty and discrimination on the basis of sex/gender. Employers are also committed for the enforcement of the fundamental Rights of working women under Articles 14,15,19 (g) and 21 of the Constitution of India in view of the prevailing climate in which the violation of these rights is not uncommon. With the increasing awareness and emphasis on gender justice and also increase in sexual harassment and growing resentment against such incidents, special law of prohibition redressal and prevention of sexual harassment at workplace has been enacted. There is no dearth of law and judicial activism for an early eradication of societal aberration and malaise. 1. The Supreme Court of India, in a remarkable Vishaka Case judgment in August 1997 stated that every instance of sexual harassment is a violation of “Fundamental Rights” under Articles 14, 15, and 21 of the Constitution of India, and amounts to a violation of the “Right to Freedom” under Article 19 (1)(g). 2. Supreme Court in another Judgment1 in January 1999, has stated that sexually harassing behaviour “needs to be eliminated as there is no compromise on such violations”. The Apex Court further reiterated that sexual harassment “is a violation of the fundamental right to gender equality and the right to life and liberty”. 3. These judgments confirm India’s international commitment to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (acceded to in 1979) and the Convention for the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW, ratified 1993). The Government of India was also a signatory to the Resolutions of the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995. 4. The Supreme Court judgment of 1997 makes it obligatory for every employer and other responsible persons to follow the guidelines laid down by the Court and to evolve a specific policy to combat sexual harassment in the workplace. Having regard to the definition of human rights in S.2 (d) of the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993, and Fundamental Rights under the constitution of India, It is necessary and expedient for employers in work places to observe certain guidelines to ensure the prevention of sexual harassment of women. In view of the above it becomes imperative that employers should take adequate measures to ensure the safety, security, dignity, rights and gender equality of women with men. Such measures will strengthen social and professional relationships in the workplace. Some measures are noted below: 1. Employers: to Prohibit discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth, 2. to provide just and humane conditions of work, 3. to promote harmony and the spirit of common brotherhood amongst all the people of India transcending religious, linguistic and regional or sectional diversities, 4. to renounce practices derogatory to the dignity of women, 5. to foster respect for international law and treaty obligations in the dealings of orgainsed people with one another,
6. to respect and give effect to international agreements and treaties to which India is a signatory relating sexual harassment of women, 7. to ensure that all persons are able to live securely under the Rule of Law, 8. to promote, within the proper limits the observance and the attainment of human rights, 9. to administer the law impartially among persons. 10 to ensure the right to work as an inalienable right of all human beings. 11. to adopt all necessary measures against “Violence and inequality in employment. Equality in employment can be seriously impaired when women are subjected to gender specific violence such as sexual harassment in the work place. 12. to prevent and deter the commission of acts of sexual harassment and to provide the procedures for the resolution, settlement or prosecution of acts of sexual harassment by taking all steps required, 13. to provide adequate definition of harassment of women at work places. The woman harassment Act, 2013 has evolved an appropriate legislation ensuring fair, accountable and representative procedures for redressal and resolution. Every employee of a workplace shall constitute “internal complaint committee whereas, every Distt. Officer shall constitute a local complaints committee”. Its composition, qualifications & disqualification of the members, tenure of office and Jurisdiction, and functions are also incorporated in the Act. II Complaint Mechanism : Under section 9 of the Act, complaint procedure has been enshrined. An aggrieved woman may make complaint to either of the committees as the case may be, within three months from the date of Incident, in cases of series of Incidences from the date of last incidence. Every employer of a workplace shall by an order in writing, constitute a committee to be known as the ‘Internal Complaints Committee’. Where the offices or administrative units of the workplace are located at different places or divisional or sub-divisional level, the Internal Committee shall be constituted at all administrative units or offices. Similarly, section 4 (i) constitute local complaint committee in the Distt. Concerned to receive complaints of sexual harassment from establishment, where the internal complaint committee has not been constituted due to having loss than ten workers or if the complaint is against the employer himself. The Distt. Officer shall designated one Nodal Officer in every Block, Taluka or and Tehsil in rural or tribal area and word or municipality in the urban area, to receive complaints and forward the same to the concerned local committee within a period of seven days. The jurisdiction of local complaints committee shall extend to the areas of the Disttt. Where it is constituted. Section 11 of the Act provides detailed procedure of Inquiry into the complaint in accordance with the provisions of the service rules applicable. If no such rules exist, local committee will forward the case to the Police within a period of seven days for registering the case under section 509 of the Indian Penal Code and any other relevant provisions of the said code. In case there is a failure in the enforcement of settlement, the same may be forwarded to the Police for necessary action. Further if both the parties are employees, during the course of inquiry, be given opportunity of being heard. 1. A copy of the findings shall be made available to the both the parties, enabling them to make representation against the findings before the committee; 2. If respondent convicted, order payment of appropriate compensation to the aggrieved woman having regard to the provisions of section 15 of the Act.
3. Both the committees have the same power as are vested in civil court under the code of civil Procedure, 1908, when trying a suit in respect of the following matters, namely – summoning, examining persons on, requiring discovery and production of documents and any other matter which may be prescribed. The inquiry shall be completed within a period of ninety days. Criminal Proceedings: Where such conduct amounts to a specific offence under the Indian Penal Code or under any other law, the employer shall initiate appropriate action in accordance with law by making a complaint with the appropriate authority. In particular, it should ensure that victims or witnesses are not victimsed or discriminated against while dealing with complaints of sexual harassment. The victims of sexual harassment should have the option to seek transfer of the perpetrator or their own transfer. Disciplinary Action: Where such conduct amounts to misconduct in employment as defined by the relevant service rules, appropriate disciplinary action should be initiated by the employer in accordance with those rules. Workers Initiative: Employees should be allowed to raise relating issues of sexual harassment at workers meeting and in other appropriate forum and it should be affirmatively discussed in Employer – Employee Meeting. Awareness: Awareness of the rights of female employees in this regard should be created in particular by prominently notifying the guidelines in a suitable manner. Third Party Harassment: Where sexual harassment occurs as a result of an act or omission by any third party or outsider, the employer and person in charge will take all steps necessary and reasonable to assist the affected person in terms of support and preventive action. These guidelines will not prejudice rights available under the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993. JURISDICTION & Function under Vishaka Guidelines: The rules and regulations outlined by the Corporate Body for prevention and Redressal should be applicable to all complaints of sexual harassment made: 1. By a member of the corporate body against any other member of the corporate body irrespective of whether the harassment is alleged to have taken place within or outside the campus. 2. By a resident against a member of the corporate body or made by a member against a resident irrespective of whether sexual harassment is alleged to have taken place within or outside the campus. 3. By an outsider against a member of the corporate body or by a member of the corporate body against an outsider if the sexual harassment is alleged to have taken place within the campus. 4. by a member of the corporate body against an outsider if the sexual harassment is alleged to have taken place outside the campus. In such cases the Committee shall recommend that the corporate body authorities initiate action by making a complaint with the appropriate authority. Further the committee will actively assist and provide available resources to the complainant in pursuing the complaint. Functions & Jurisdiction under the Act, 2013: 20 The District officer shall, ---
(a) monitor the timely submission of reports furnished by the Local Committee;
(b) take such measures as may be necessary for engaging non-governmental organisations for creation of awareness on sexual harassment and the rights of the women.
21 (i) The Internal Committee or the Local Committee, as the case may be shall in each calendar year prepare, in such form and at such time as may be prescribed, an annual report and submit the same to the employer and the Distt. Officer.
(ii) The Distt. Officer shall forward a brief report on the annual reports received to the State Govt.
22 The employer shall include in its report the number of cases filed, if any, and their disposal under this act in the annual report of his organisation or where no such report is required to be prepared intimate such number of cases, if any to the Distt. Officer.
23 The appropriate Govt. shall monitor the implementation of this Act and maintain data on the number of cases filed and disposed of in respect of all cases of sexual harassment at workplace.
24 the appropriate Govt. may, subject to the availability of financial and other resources –
(a) develop relevant information, education, communication and training materials, and organise awareness programmes to advance the understanding of the public of the provisions of this act providing for protection against sexual harassment of woman at workplace.
(b) formulate orientation and training programmes for the members of the local Complaint Committee.
Employer’s obligations: Section 19 of the Act: Every Employer shall
(i) provide a safe working environment at the workplace which shall include safety from the persons coming into contract at the workplace.
(ii) display at any conspicuous place in the workplace the penal consequences of sexual harassment and the order constituting the Internal Committee.
(iii) organise workshops and awareness programmes at regular intervals for sensitising the employees with the provisions of the act and orientation programmes for the members of the Internal Committee in the manner as may be prescribed.
(iv) provide necessary facilities to the Internal Committee or the Local Committee, as the case may be , for dealing with the complaint and conducting an inquiry.
(v) assist in securing the attendance of respondent and witnesses before the Internal Committee or the Local Committee, as the case may be.
(vi) make available such information to the Internal Committee or the Local Committee, as the case may be, as it may require having regard to the complaint made.
(vii) provide assistance to the woman if she so chooses to file a complaints in relation to the offence under the Indian Penal Code or any other law for the time being in force;
(viii) cause to initiate action, under the Indian Penal Code or any other law for the time being in force, against the perpetrator, or if the aggrieved woman so desires, where the perpetrator is not an employee, in the workplace at which the incident of sexual harassment took place;
(ix) treat sexual harassment as a misconduct under the service rules and initiate action for such misconduct;
(x) monitor the timely submission of reports by the Internal Committee.
“Prohibition and Prevention”:
No woman shall be subjected to sexual harassment at any workplace either by false and deceitful promises, hazardous treatment, threat to her services, committing offence against her person or humiliate and create uncongenial work environment. If there is no clash with the provisions of Right to information Act, 2015, the contents of the complaints, the identity and addresses of the aggrieved woman, respondent and witnesses, any information relating to conciliation, and inquiry proceedings recommendations of either committee, as the case way, and the action taken by the employer or the Distt. Officer under the provisions of this Act, 2013 shall not be published, communicated or made known to the public, press and Media in any manner.
However, information may be disseminated if identification of aggrieved workers and witnesses is not disclosed, regarding the justice secured.
If any person is entrusted with the duty to handle or deal with the complaint inquiry or any recommendation or action to be taken under the provisions of this Act, 2013 contravenes the above noted conditions, he shall be liable for penalty in accordance with the provisions of the service Rules, or where no such service rules exist, in such manner as may be prescribed. No court shall take cognizance of any offence punishable under Act, 2013 or any Rules made there under save on a complaint made by the aggrieved woman or any person authorised by that internal committee or local committee in this behalf.
No court inferior to that of a Metropolitan Magistrate or a Judicial Magistrate of the first class is competent to conduct trial of any offence punishable under this Act, 2013.
Every offence under this Act, 2013 shall be non-cognizable and provisions of this Act, 2013 shall be in addition to and not in derogation of the provisions f any other law for the time being in force.
Redressals—Pre-enactment of Act, 2013 and Rules December, 2013:
1. The mechanism for registering complaints should be safe, accessible and sensitive. 2. To take cognisance of complaints about sexual harassment, conduct enquiries, provide assistance and redressal to the victims, recommend penalties and take action against the harasser, if necessary. 3. To recommend to the concerned authorities follow-up action and monitor the same. 4. To advise the disciplinary authority concerned to issue warnings or take the help of the law to stop the harasser, if the complainant consents. 5. To seek medical, police and legal intervention with the consent of the complainant. 6. To make arrangements for appropriate psychological, emotional and physical support (in the form of counselling, security and other assistance) to the victim if she/he so desires.
7. Procedure for Registering Complaints should be simple. All complaints must be brought by the complainant in person. The exception for this will be in cases of forced confinement of the person. In such a case, brought by another person on behalf of the complainant, the committee will examine whether an investigation, intervention or some other assistance is needed. 8. In exceptional cases, third party/witness complaints may be entertained. In such cases, the committee will ascertain whether the person alleged to have been harassed wishes to lodge a formal complaint. Once such a complaint is received the committee shall proceed to investigate it as per the procedure specified. 9. If the complainant wishes she can be accompanied by a representative. 10. Employees not covered by UUCC, ICC and can approach the ACC directly. 11. A complainant can go directly to the Apex Committee. However, in such cases, which should be exceptional, the complainant should give reasons for doing so. In such a case, it is open to the ACC to refer the complaint back to the appropriate ICC/UUCC. 12. Enquiry Procedures should be simple and to satisfy the principles of natural justice. 13. The UUCC/ICC/ ACC will, within ten days of the receipt of a complaint, establish a prima facie case of sexual harassment. 14. The entire process of enquiry should be completed within one month. 15. The complainant or the accused may appeal to the Apex Committee if they are dissatisfied with the decision of the ICU/UUCC. 16. Filing of a grievance/complaint shall not adversely affect the complainant’s status/job, salary/promotion, grades etc. 17. The UUCC/ICC/ACC should make efforts to ensure that the complainants and the witnesses are not further victimised or discriminated against while it is dealing with the complaint. The committee shall take action against anyone who intimidates the complainant or members of the committee, during or after the enquiry. 18. UUCC/ICC/ACC can ask the Institute/Corporate Body to suspend the alleged harassment from an administrative post if his/her presence is likely to interfere with the enquiry. 19. The victim of sexual harassment as per the Supreme Court judgment, will have the option to seek transfer of the perpetrator or their own transfer where applicable. 20. Institute disciplinary action on the basis of the recommendations of the Complaint Committee under relevant service rules. 21. The disciplinary action will be commensurate with the nature of the violation. 22. The reasons for the action have to be provided in writing. 23. Non-adversarial modes of redressal and resolution could also be considered in appropriate cases. Examples of this may be verbal warning, verbal apology, promise of good behaviour etc. 24. Full time counsellors/social workers should be made available as support staff. 25. They should establish networks with legal experts, legal aid centres, counseling centres, health centres, police stations, Crimes against Women cells, women’s groups in the city and other organisations such as the National/State Commission for Women and National/State Human Rights Commission. 26. Effective lighting and traffic regulation of all roads, institutions and surrounding areas of Corporate Body premises should be taken care of. 27. Other Preventive measures may include safe transportation, safe hostels and ensuring safe- off- Campus Accommodation if possible.
Redressal -- Under the Act, 2013: During the pendency of inquiry on a written request made by the aggrieved women either of the committees, as the case may be, may recommend to the employer to transfer the aggrieved woman or The respondent to any other workplace or Grant leave to the aggrieved woman up to a period of three months or Grant such other relief to the aggrieved woman as may be prescribed. The leave granted to the aggrieved woman under section 12 shall be in addition to the leave she would be otherwise entitled. On the recommendation of either of the committees as the case may be the employer shall implement the recommendations and send the report of such implementation to the Internal Committee or the local Committee, as case may be. On the completion of an inquiry under the Act, 2013, the Internal Committee or local Committee, as the case may be shall provide a report of its finding to the employer, as the case may be, the Distt. Officer within a period of ten days from the date of Completion of the Inquiry and such report be made available to the concerned parties. In case the Internal Committee or Local Committee as the case may be , arrives at the conclusion that the allegation against the respondent has not been proved, it shall recommend to the employer and the Distt. Officer that no action is required to be taken in the matter. Where the Internal or Local Committee, as the case may be, arrives at the conclusion that the allegation against the respondent has been proved, it shall recommend to the employer or Distt. Officer, as the case may be --— 1. to take action for sexual harassment as misconduct in accordance with the provisions of service rules applicable to the respondent or where no such service rules have been made, in such manner as may be prescribe. 2. to deduct, not withstanding anything in the service rules applicable to the respondent, from the salary or wages of the respondent such sum as it away consider appropriate to be paid to the aggrieved woman or to her legal heirs, as it may determine, in accordance with the provisions of section 15.
Provided that is case the employer is unable to make such deduction from the salary of the respondent due to his being absent from duty or cessation of employment it may direct to the respondent to pay such sum to the aggrieved woman. Provided further that in case the respondent fails to pay the sum the Internal Committee or as the case may be the local Committee may forward the order for recovery of the sum as an arrear of land revenue to the concerned District Officer. The employer or the Distt. Officer shall act upon the recommendation within sixty days of its receipt by him. For the purposes of determining the sum to be paid to the aggrieved woman under clause (2) of sub- section 13, the Internal Committee or the Local Committee, as the case may be, shall has regard to --- a. mental trauma, pain, suffering, and emotional distress caused to the aggrieved woman, b the loss in the career opportunity due to the Incident of sexual harassment. c medical expenses incurred by the victim for physical or psychiatric treatment. d the income and financial status of the respondent, e feasibility of such payment in lump-sum or in instalments.
The appropriate Govt., on being satisfied that it is necessary in the public interest or in the interest of woman employee at a workplace to do so, by order in writing: -- A Call upon any employer or Distt. Officer to furnish in writing such information relating to sexual harassment as it may require, B Authorise any officer to make inspection of the records and workplace in relation to sexual harassment, who shall submit a report of such inspection to it within such period as may be specified in the order, Every employer and Distt. Officer shall produce on demand before the officer making the inspection all information, records and other documents in his custody having relation with the subject matter of such inspection. Where the employer fails to --- a) constitute the Internal Committee under section (i) of section 4, b) take action under section 13,14 and 22 and c) contravenes or attempt to contravene or abets contravention of other provisions of Act, 2013 or any rule made there under, he shall be punishable with fine which may extend to fifty thousand rupees. If any employer, after having been previously convicted of and offence punishable under act, 2013 subsequently commits and is convicted of the same offence, he shall be liable to ------1. twice the punishment which might have been imposed on a first conviction, subject to the punishment being maximum provided for the same offence. Provided that in case a higher punishment is prescribed under any other law for the time being in force, for the offence for which carryout him business or activity the accused is being prosecuted the court shall take due cognizance of the same while awarding the punishment. 2. cancellation, off license or withdrawal or non-renewal, or approval, or cancellation of the Registration as the case may be, by the Govt. or Local Authority. In addition to the above provisions of the Act, 2013, the Compensation, leave grants, etc. The Rules Act, 2013 further provides that allegation against the respondent has been proved, it shall recommend to the employer or the Distt. Officer, as the case may be, to take any action including a written apology, warning, reprimand or censure, withholding of promotion, withholding of pay rise or increments, terminating the respondent from service or undergoing a counselling session or carrying out community service. The other relief to complainant during the pendency of inquiry are that the Complainant Committee at the written request of the aggrieved woman may recommended to the employer to – (a) restrain the respondent from reporting on the work performance of the aggrieved woman or writing her confidential report and assign the same to another officer; (b) restrain the respondent in case of an educational institution from supervising any academic activity of the aggrieved woman.
Conclusion- To conclude the above preventive, remedial, redressal and reconciliation measures, if implemented and enforced with determination and firm will, the sexual desire – dominance paradigm which conceptualizes the hostile work environment harassment, gender discrimination taking form of sexual tortures, male supervisor who uses his position to demand sexual favour from a less powerful female subordinate can be eradicated. Women must not accept, must challenge boldly, stand against on firm footing, must not be awed by that which has been built around her, such struggle would give them reverence and respectful place in the society. Struggle against evil would give them a safe environment.
Constituting Committees and committees to prepare Annual Reports. Complaint and disposal time bound procedure, penalties and compensation awards, prevention and prohibition provisions in the Act, 2013. Adequate and sufficient to meet the challenges of women sexual harassment at workplace. Redressals and remedial measures, definitions and explanations of terminology used in the body of the Act and of aggrieved woman and harassment in all respect law is comprehensive. The only thing is its practability, performances, and implementation for which research and surveys may be conducted, loop holes would come out .The act, 2013 is new. Information and statics available are poor and in sufficient. To judge the efficacy of the act, 2013 is difficult. Adoption of international conventions to which India is signatory, constitution of India and Humans Rights Act provide sufficient safeguard against sexual harassment of women at workplace. Women commission has also contributed in the prevention and control of harassment abuse. The Act, 2013 is full of check and balance. If either the complainant or respondent feel that she/he has not been dealt with fairly or law is ambiguous, or natural principles of justice have not been applied, justice has been denied than either party may go in appeal to the court or tribunal in accordance with the provisions of the service rules applicable to the said person. Or where as such service rules exist then, without prejudice to provisions contained in any law for the time being in force, the person aggrieved may prefer an appeal in such manner as may be prescribed. Appeal to be preferred within a period of ninety days of the recommendation. Suggestions: The legislation, legal awakening, judicial protection are quite adequate and comprehensive. The will to implement and enforce the legal provisions in its true spirit is needed. The service rules and rules framed by Government needs modification and reform. In addition to the provisions of the Act, 2013 the compensation, and leave grants to the aggrieved woman on her request and punishment. The Sexual Harassment of woman at workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Rules, 2013, provides, the manner of taking action for sexual harassment, namely, to take any action including a written apology, warning, reprimand or censure, withholding of pay rise or increments, terminating the respondent from service or undergoing a counselling session, or carrying out community service. Employers are not complying with laws - indifferent. Unless laws are strictly complied, with eradication of the malaise is a far cry. The appropriate Government should develop relevant information, education, communication and training materials and organise awareness programmes, to advance the understanding of the public of the provisions of the Act , 2013 providing for protection against sexual harassment of women at workplace. And formulate orientation and training programmes for the members of internal and local complaint committees. Appropriate rules governing sexual harassment cases be made by the employers of private & government sectors themselves also. The government for sensitising the members of complaint committees and employers should organise workshops, awareness programmes and orientation programmes. The annual reports should be prepared at proper time and forum. All such rules made either by the central or state governments must be place either at both the Houses of Parliament or before the state legislatures for total period thirty days either in session and approved modified or annulled without prejudiced to the validity anything previous done under the rules.
All safeguards, protection or orientation programmes are futile if women folk are not courageous, bold, denting and daring. If woman worker connives, is submissive, and afraid of social stigma if known to others, hides misconduct, all protective measures would not be result oriented, redress not possible. If woman is daring how so ever high executive or middle echelon officer or lowest rank employee cannot approach her. Bill Clinton, president of America was impeached and apologised. Similarly super cop of Punjab Mr. G.S. Gill Bowed down when his subordinated women officer complained against him. Women worker is to be bold, only workers union, social workers and women organisations will come to her rescue and deter the sex psychopaths. The Act, 2013, and Rules, 2013 are hardly of two years life, remedies and redressals, cannot be judged properly. Statics show that the performance of internal complaint committee and local complaint committee have not achieved much success in the prevention and control. Proper statistics are also not available. Women workers are not having adequate knowledge and awareness of present Act and Rules. Workshops and seminars must deliberate on issues related harassment at workplace. Workers union and women organisations, Internal & Local Committees must sensitise the women workers about their rights and privileges provided in the Act, 2013. For quick disposal of complaint special courts be constituted. Law enforcement should be stern and strict. Pro-pond compensation chart should be made for ready reckon for mental agony or physical harass suffered by the aggrieved women. If charge s proved, deterrent penal measures be taken against any of the wrong door. Legal counsel should be provided by the Institute on its cost. Media should be punished if any leakage is published disclosing the contents of the complaint or the identity of the aggrieved woman or witnesses. This will encourage the aggrieved woman to come out and bring the culprit to Book. Proper safety and security be provided either to victim or witnesses against any threat or humiliation. If the committees consider that charges are bonafide, interim relief for agonies suffered should be awarded. Proper measures be taken for her professional promotions and all possible remedial help be given in her stride to progress. Accomplices of perpetrators of crime under Act, 2013 be also dealt with strict disciplinary actions. Process of registration of complaint and disposal should be easy and simple and time bound. Penalties and awards must also be enforced within prescribed period and time limit prescribed. In case of non compliance, penalties should be enhanced. Aggrieved woman should be protected against any sort of defamation and social humiliation. Women should not be humble or feel weak or prone to deception. She should be stern in her reaction like hard nut to crack to male allurement. Male sex-psychopath cannot dare to touch her even.
NOVARTIS VERDICT: A BOON OR BANE Prof.(Dr.) Saleem Akhtar, Deepak Kumar Brief Facts and Issues In present time, a marathon discuss has evolved in incremental place for pharmaceutical products and its proper legal protection (Patenting the Drugs in comparison of Swiss pharma Novartis` new version of Glovec/Gleevec) with all aspects of human touch. As far as the fidelity of human life is concerned, it always needed availability, suitability and recognized resources for making the human life better so this is the reason for which every effort of every human being is done to minimize the physical inefficiency, on the similar way', they indulge themselves in various innovative work and research tasks and after that they seeksome legal protection over there. Since the birth (enforcement) of Patent law in India (1970), a number of Amendments (1999, 2005), Rules (2003, 2010 etc.) and International Agreements (PCT, TRIPS, DOHA etc.) have taken place to make the human life in its better condition irrespective any geographical or political barriers. Despite of the above fact different pharmaceutical matters/cases relating to the Drugs, whether, Generic or Life Saving, have enlighten the hope of long and secured lives of everyone. From Cipla, Ranbaxy and Natco to Bayer and Novartis, these all played a vital role to easier mode of selection and adoption of affordable and qualitative drugs. So, I tried to analyze and draw an attention of all concerned to this extra-ordinary verdict which enabled Indian Patent Law as Socialization of Indian Pharma Industry with humanity confirmation. Now a nutshell of this case is discussed which shall lead this research paper/article to formulate the opinion of go-through persons whether it is boon or bane. Recently the Novartis Casel of 2013 which is about denying the patent protection by the Apex Court has been bone of debate since pronouncements while quoting the question of Ever Greening Patent of Drugs? Actually, Novartis had applied for a patent for imati.nib In the United States in April 1994 and later started marketing a derivative of it, viz., imatinib mesylate as an anti-cancer drug under the brand name of Glovec/Gleevec. But Novartis could not apply for a patent for imatinib/imatinib mesylate in India because during 1972 to 1995. India did not recognize product patent protection in pharmaceuticals. The Supreme Court established that the 1994 US patent for imatinib covered imatinib mesylate too. ------*Director, Institute of Legal Studies & Research, Mangalayatan University, Beswan, Aligarh. **Research Scholar, Faculty of Law, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh. After 1995 when India introduced product patents (in 2OO5), Novartis could not apply for a patent for imatinib/mesylate because patents are given only for new substances or enhanced efficacy substances but not for known substances. By 1995 information on the drug was in the public domain and it was a known substance and hence not patentable in India. What Novartis did in India after 1995 (in 1998) was to apply for a patent for a new form (beta crystalline form) rather than alpha crystalline form of imatinib mesylate? But in year 2005, India has amended its patent law and it introduced product patent in form of insertion a condition as a Section 3 (d) that “the mere discovery of a new form of a known substance which does not result in the enhancement of the known efficacy of that substance” is not patentable.
So those, during 1995 to 2005, as permitted by TRIPS agreement, patent applications were received but were kept in a ‘mailbox.’ And after 2005, when the examination of patent applications started, the patent application of Novartis was rejected by the patent office on the ground that it did not satisfy the efficacy criterion of Section 3(d).
Novartis AG filed the application (Application No.1602/MAS/1998)2 for grant of Patent for Imatinib Mesylate in beta crystalline form at the Chennai Patent Office on July 17, 1998. In the application it claimed that the invented product, the beta crystal form of Imatinib Mesylate, has; (i) more beneficial flow properties, (ii) better thermodynamic stability, and (iii) lower hygroscopicity than the alpha crystal form of Imatimb Mesylate.
The Supreme Court judgment is basically related to the appeal of Novartis against this rejection which was upheld by the Intellectual Property Appellate Board. Then the Supreme Court interpreted the word ‘efficacy’ to men therapeutic efficacy. Ultimately, the Supreme Court has rejected the appeal and hence denied the patent to Novartis because Novartis could not demonstrate that the new form enhanced the therapeutic efficacy of the drug. The court has also declined Novartis' claims of better bioavailability and better physical characteristics such as stability of the compound saying that these do not necessarily improve the therapeutic effect. Ultimately, the Indian Supreme Court rejected the attempt by Novartis, the Swiss pharmaceutical company, to patent a newversion of the anti-leukemia drug Glivec or Gleevec.
Essence of the Judgement3 This legendary home in race of judicial-pharma arena the Supreme Court of India hastaken a forward step in Novartis case to set a new paradigm regulating the biasness onground of legume sanctum as socio-legal betterment for the State Welfare. Before eyingon the verdict there are some legal provisions pertaining to the Patent law and itsvariations with pharmaceutical morphology. Here, under the Indian Patent Act, 1970 Section 2(1) (j) "invention" means any new and useful -
(i) art, process, method or manner of manufacture, (ii) machine, apparatus or other article, (iii) substance produced by manufacture and includes any new and useful improvement of any of them, and an alleged invention. Section 2(1)(l) “medicine or drug" includes - (i) all medicines for internal or external use of human beings or annuals, (ii) all substances intended to be used for or in the diagnosis, treatment, mitigation or prevention of diseases in human beings or animals, (iii) all substances intended to be used for or in the maintenance of public health, or the prevention or control of any epidemic disease among human beings or animals, (iv) insecticides, germicides etc. Country's pharmaceutical industry, helped by the basic changes made in the patent system as Patent Act, 1970 which going from strength to strengthen. Following the Uruguay round of multilateral negotiations under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (CATT), the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (The TRIPS) was arrived at and it came into force on January I, 1995. India is one of the
founding members of the GATT and thus a member of the WTO from its inception, so that India is bound by the obligations under TRIPS Agreement like all other members of the WTO. Apart from this, India with its Domestic patent laws and Human Welfare, it has to be in compliance of International Legal Framework. In this way we have to consider these two specific International provisions viz;
Article 1 of TRIPS Agreement Nature and Scope of Obligations: In its very basic formulation, the draft of TRIP S Agreement is about the object & obligation in Global spectrum that will help to uplift the standard of Human life and Wild life too.
Article 3 of TRIPS Agreement National Treatment: This relates to the object as such each Member shall accord to the nationals of other Members treatment no less favorable than that it accords to its own nationals with regard to the protection l of intellectual property. So, on the above account, India has to be compliant by international legal framework irrespective of its domestic need.
Previous and Present Stand_
Eying from 1949 to the present time, we have been seeing drastic involvement of Legal tooling in patenting procedure whether various products e.g. Pharma Food, Fertilizers etc. Here I am taking a brief stand of patent process to this. In early of 1949, a committee was constituted under the chairmanship of Justice (Dr.) Bakshi Tek Chand4, a retired judge of the Lahore High Court, to undertake a comprehensive review of the working of the 1911 Act. This committee has made recommendations for Prevention of misuse or abuse of patent rights in India and set the standard that Patent Act should contain a clearindication that food and medicine and surgical and curative devices were to be madeavailable to the public at the cheapest price commensurate with giving reasonable compensation to the patentee. And in year of 1957, another committee was also appointed under the chairmanship ofJustice N. Rajagopala Ayyangar to take a fresh look into the law of patent and tocompletely revamp. Justice Ayyangar conclusively collected valuable data as the BakshiTek Chand report and compiling them into a number of reports which showed the shareof Indians giants in the field of patents. Justice Ayyangar examined the nature of the patent right and considered the arguments advanced as justifications /rationalizations for grant of patents. Justice Ayyangar's report specially discussed in these points; (a) patents for chemical inventions, and (b) patents for inventions relating to food and medicine.
Justice Ayyangar submitted a comprehensive Report on Patent Law Revision in September 1959 and the new law of patent, namely, the Patents Act, 1970, came to be enacted mainly based on the recommendation of the report and came into force on April 20, 1972, replacing the Patents and Designs Act, 1911. After being passed by the Lok Sabha the Bill was presented in the Rajya Sabha where it was passed on March 23, 2005. It received the assent of the President on April 4, 2005, and was published in the official gazette of April 5, 275. Patents Act, 1970, as it stands today after its amendment by the amending Act of 2005, we must refer to clauses (ac), (j) and (ja) of section 2(l ) of the Act, as far as this issue is concerned: Section 2. Definitions and interpretation.- (l) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, -(ac) “capable of Industrial application", in relation to an invention, means that the invention is capable of being made or
used in an industry; (j) "invention" means a new product or process involving an inventive step and capable of industrial application; (ja) "inventive step" means a feature of an invention that involves technical advance as compared to the existing knowledge or having economic significance or both and that makes the invention not obvious to a person skilled in the art;"
Therefore, until 2005, India had only allowed ‘process patents' which meant Processes in drug making could be patented, but not the products but in 2005 there was an Amendment in compliance with the WTO TRIPS Agreement and India has started granting product patents. Although it has started accepting applications from 1995 which were ‘patent mailbox provisions' meant that any applications from that period would be considered against the knowledge present until the point of application. Fatefully this amendment in 2005 was mainly focused on Section 3(d) of the Indian Patent Act, 1970 which prevents the patenting of `new forms of known substances unless they show enhanced efficacy'. Although this provision is a relatively stringent requirement for ‘non-obviousness' and it is compliant with India's international obligations and remains unchallenged at the international level. In between, a number of Patent Applications have been filed/pursued and some prepared their mind & effort to do so. For example; Cipla, Wockhardt, Cadila, Roche, Ranbaxy, Bayer, Natco etc. Nonetheless, the Apex Court has shown its path to determine the real efficacy for India Patent law and its industrial Policy with mature resonance of International behavior. And eventually in 1998, Novartis applied to the Indian Patent Office for the `beta crystalline' form of imatinib mesylate.
One year earlier, its US patent application for the same was granted on appeal. Imatinib mesylate, which received FDA approval in 2001, is the salt form of imatinib, patented in the US in 1992. So, Novartis has processed at many stages as litmus taste basically at Indian Patent Office, IPAB, other related committees and finally at the Supreme Court of India. Presently, Indian apex judicial body has declined the commercial interest of this pharma giant (Novartis) and settled the question regarding survival of public at large. So, the court has made happier to the Indian people by upholding the judgment of IPAB and founded a so called mile stone in generic version of drugs, its manufacturing, proper availability and affordability etc.
Novartis verdict: A Boon
As and when Indian Supreme Court rejected Novartis' patent application over a leading leukemia drug Gilvec/Gleevec5, it has become a boon to Indian citizen. Many assumed it as a victory for patients while others denounced it as a regressive step for pharmaceutical innovation. With money on one end of the scale and lives on the other, perspectives are easily polarized. However, innovation and access are supplementary when it comes to improving health, because of its nature as hope of the least pessimist seeking a Panacea. The output of this verdict became resultant as; (i) The imatinib mesylate was in fact a ‘known' substance, (ii) It is just an ‘efficacy’ referred to ‘therapeutic efficacy' and (iii) It presented evidence of increased bioavailability and better storage ability.
By virtue of Indian patent amended law in 2005, Novartis did not Present any evidence that the ‘beta crystalline' form presented any ‘enhanced efficacy' over the known substance imatinib mesylate. And no doubt another issue was the high Price of Novartis' drugs. In its decision, the Court was not required to define the therapeutic
efficacy threshold required by Section 3(d), so the case can only be viewed as limited precedence. In spite of that actual scene of intention behind this Novartis case was that such huge amount of investment (about $38 -
96 million dollars) in its Pharmaceutical innovations must be utilized by the needy people irrespective of any legal, Political or territorial barrier. And majority need public i.e. patient, they be facilitated by Public
funds without any gross profits because human life comes first. If Novartis Pharma lands a new standard s availability and to considering the enormous Profit margin as well as the importance of human life so that consequences of Novartis case cannot be accepted to exclude hundreds or thousands of patients. Moreover these Patents can never been left on mercy of some commercial gaining. They are equal entitled to afford specific (LSDs) just like as any generic. I pointed out this verdict as a boon in numerical steps viz;
Firstly, India is not prejudiced to protecting or prohibiting Patents on new forms of known substances whether its about Novartis or any other Pharma giant but India following the legal framework of International character of IP laws and IP industries. Rather to receive patent protection, products must show enhanced efficacy and theremust be front phase transparency regarding the costs involved in bringing these drugs tothe market, sometimes it may be difficult to tailor laws which allow the recoupment ofthese high costs.
Secondly, pharmaceutical companies make most of their revenues from US, EU andJapanese markets. As such, they direct their business models around these countries. It isvery unlikely that sales in developing countries like India would cause net losses on thesame drugs being sold as generics in poorer countries. At the same time, India's buzzinggeneric industry has ensured that patients across the developing world are able to access otherwise expensive medicines.
Thirdly, the rich countries can pay more for ‘frivolous' medicines than poor countries and their people can affordfor life saving medicines irrespective of high costs andabsolutely stronger patent rights can increase this inequality. So the pharmaceutical market must signal to the poor indicators of where limited inventive resources are to be directed and it becomes necessary to ensure the legal and Health policy concerns redirect it in more socially beneficial directions to all kind of lives. And finally, another fact on this issue of Novartis verdict was that the government says it can't permit ever-greening of patents because such an act would diminish the actual purpose of this boon-orientedjudgment6.
This latest Novartis verdict follows previous rulings that granted compulsory license to an Indian generic drug manufacturer Natco Pharma in place of German Pharma giant Bayer's Nexavar, a drug used to treat kidney cancer. In this segment of Pharma arena India has provided due process for foreign companies and patent holders comparable to those in advanced democracies. Indian Patent offices have decided on Patents and compulsory licensing granted to Indian companies yet their verdicts have been challenged before an independent appellate body, whose verdicts have, in turn been contested in the courts. Though, drugs manufacturers seem to be disappointed by such kind of ruling if outcomes have gone against foreign firms and its R & D. Nevertheless, this spirit imbuing all the recent patent cases in India has been to strike a balance between the legitimate returns to inventors and investors against the concerns of consumers in a country where the affordability of drugs is of paramount political and social concern. That is unavoidable if the prices charged by a drug company exceeds the income of more than 90 % of households in a country and if generic alternatives are available at one-tenth or even one-thirtieth the cost. But balance and fairness towards foreigners and to the demands of IP rights must not be ignored, for example, the Supreme Court decided to take on the Novartis case instead of waiting for the lower courts out of concern that delays could cut into the life of the patent. This is also a factor, when deciding on the compulsory licensing fee that generic drug makers should Pay Bayer (the German maker of the anti-cancer drug Nexavar), the Indian patent office opted
for the highest end of the range recommended by the World Health Organization. Similarly, it must be collaborated by this latest Novartis verdict. This well-wisher mindset of Indian Apex court on Novartis verdict reflects the strength of the generic drug industry and of consumer groups, advocating affordable health care. Nevertheless, the challenge for India will be to ensure the law does not get out of step with the demands of a country that needs foreign investment and new technologies and definitely it shall give a positive attitude to WTO and WHO in terms of Doha Declaration on Public Health.
To some extent, Novartis was hoist by its own petard. In a rush to file patents, drug companies make very broad claims to maximize the scope of their monopoly. A consequence is that subsequent patents' claim to novelty gets undermined. Whether Indian law and the recent rulings are deviant can only be tested through impartial, international adjudication by the WTO. As I said earlier in my opinion the testimony to the US Congress recourses the WTO's dispute settlement process may be necessary and desirable to settle the competing claims of foreign pharma companies andneedy people of India.
In addition to above, Mr. Saurabh Chandra7, Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) said that after the Supreme Court's decision in the Novartis case, the government couldn't permit ever- greening of patents. He further said, "There has been a lot of debate about a judgment given by the Supreme Court and I suppose it's not an issue of law because Section 3(d) is embedded in the Indian Patent Acts which are TRIPS (Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) compliant. Despite of the fact, I also suppose everybody agrees that ever-greening should not be permitted because it could affect the quality of drug and the interest of patients suffering from cancer leukaemia". Mr. Chandra was speaking at an event on Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) organized by industry body i.e. FICCI while the verdict was welcomed by the Indian government and NGOs as a means for cheaper cancer drugs benefiting thousands of cancer patients, multinational companies had expressed their concern at the order. Ultimately, my first attempt, to lifting the veil over Novartis verdict, has tremendously satisfied as a positive step or boon to the forerunner of Anti- Favouring the Public Health on cost of their commercial benefit though R & D can't be overlooked.
Novartis verdict: A Bane Though the Supreme Court decision is consistent with TRIPS agreement and has been arrived at transparency and internationally accepted legal processes, yet there are many factors which seem as wrongdoer to the concerned Research & Development of drug- maker's fight. We can easily understand when a company invests about $38 - 96 million dollars in its pharmaceutical innovations. As well as a majority of the Product discovery and development costs have been paid for by public funds and non-Profits, then it cannot be ignored that the said company is not entitled to get return in terms of its net-Profit. In 2012, Novartis spent almost $4.7 billion on Glivec sales, considering the enormous Profit margin, how a one can say that Novartis does not deserve to make some Profit which is a paramount reason to investment. It may be, sometimes, exclusion of thousands of Patients. only able to afford generics, but still they set to go on so as to receive a small increase in revenues from the few patients in India able to afford the branded Product. The Apex court of India has quoted India's status as “the pharmacy of the world" in its judgment of this latest case. But I am totally dissent to such kind of improper buttering to please Indian big bulls. Even this verdict has taken harsh steps into the horizontal nexus of R & D at a Global level. It is just like that a person put his all labor and effort to cultivate the field and yield the grains while another has thrashed out the first person and started to enjoy the whole. There are some points to this; Unni Karunakara8, International President of Medicines Sans Frontiers states, "instead of seeking to abuse the patent system by bending the rules and claiming
ever longer patent protection on older medicines, the drug industry should focus on real innovation, and governments should develop a framework that allows for Medicines to be developed in a way that also allows for affordable access". And this is a dialogue that needs to happen as a panacea for both patent seekers and patients. It seems wherein access to medicines increasingly depends on the use of what are known as "TRIPS flexibilities" and its legal measures enshrined in countries' laws to safeguard the right to health. That is why the Doha Declaration of 2001 emphasizes “that the [TRIPS] Agreement can and should be interpreted and implemented in a manna supportive of WTO Members' right to protect public health and in particular, to promote access to medicines for all in general." India's patent law has been commended as a success story by the World Health Organization and health activists, doctors, and patients across the world in widening access to HIV drugs and saving millions of lives. India is often called the “pharmacy of the developing world" because of its generic drugs industry the recent ruling is therefore important. Meanwhile, the issue of "ever-greening patent" is a most-must strategy being used by drug companies to prevent losses from sale of cheaper generic drugs and protect their market share, and no doubt this an important factor to investment. A government or judiciary cannot ignore the efforts of tactics such as chemical tricks, reformulations, fixed dose drug combinations, changes in dosage regimen, and brand promotion among others etc. Because it could be a setback for drug- manufacturer, doctors, health systems and international commercial relations, so that the government and judiciary have to wake up to these factors. And I am sure it will be helpful identify similar pharmaceutical tactics, the way they affect the prescribing decisions, and as a direct offshoot whether a patient can afford these life saving drugs9.
Justice Aftab Alam has also derived his opinion in this verdict while quoting Sudip Chaudhury's book to the fact that India considers its people's health concern but it has to maintain the international commercial relations and India as signatory to most of the Treaties or Conventions (WTO, TRIPS, PCT, Doha Declaration etc), there must be a coherence between the public interest and commercial interests. The Supreme Court judgment (pages 22-26) quite extensively quoted from Sudip Chaudhuri's book "The WTO and India’s Pharmaceuticals Industries (Patent Protection, TRIPS, and Developing Countries", which highlighted the adverse effects of product patents and positive effects of its abolition in the pharma industry in India. Professor of Economics at the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta Chaudhuri has done extensive research on products patents pharmaceutical industry, industrial policy and the like. In an interview to rediff.com's Indrani Roy10, he talked about why Novartis ruling is a landmark, what effect will it have on research and development and the positive and negative effects of product patents among other issues. He further told that patent is given for a limited time period, currently under Trade Related Intellectual Property Right (TRIPS) for 20 years. Thus after the expiry of the patent other firms can and do enter the market and that results in a fall in the prices and hence of profits of the company which had the patent. The MNCs often try to block or delay this competition by getting new forms of the old drug patented. But the objective of the patent system is not to encourage or permit patenting of new forms of old drugs to basically extend the Patent term. This is what the Supreme Court is saying is that consumers should not be forced to pay higher
prices just because it is chemically a new drug unless there is a therapeutic benefit involved. It may be, undoubtedly, a happy moment for a section of people and surely, is not an anti-patent judgment but requires a crystal view to drug-makers' interests.
Some countries such as the Unites States, Brazil and South Africa which have stricter patent regimes can introduce similar provisions in their patent laws to make drugs more affordable but it could be failure of international legal framework Thus the judgment should be significant as far as international implications are concerned. Drugs may become mom affordable but it must not adversely affect innovation as Novartis. The principal economic rationale for granting patents is indeed that it will stimulate investment for research for innovation. This is the positive effect. But, Patent rights which exclude others from producing and marketing it, lead to inhibition of competition and hence high prices and hence less access. This is the negative effect. As the judgment has reiterated and highlighted it is fundamentally important to balance these two divergent effects. Finally, what is remarkable about the judgment is that the matter has been has been dealt with not just in technical and legal terms. It has placed it in a much larger context. The judgment in fact traces the history of the Pharmaceutical industry in India to note that before 1972 when India recognized Process (now Product) Patent protection, the country suffered because no innovation took place but had to pay high prices for patented products. The judgment is not saying that the innovation impact is unimportant. What it is saying is that where the innovation impact is absent or trivial or limited as in the beta crystalline form case, consumers should not be forced to pay a higher price and hence patents should not be granted.
In spite of that the Parliamentary debate, the names of the appellant company (Novartis) and the drug (Glivec/Gleevec) being the subject matter of this case were repeatedly mentioned and the excessively high price fixed for the drug after the grant of "exclusive marketing rights" to the appellant was expressly cited as the likely result of bringing in the product patent regime in pharmaceuticals.
In my own words and the subsequent review, the Hostility to foreign companies would translate into weaker protection than this verdict if such a Practice keep go on. India is transitioning from a development stage of being a net user of technology (which favored weak IP protection) to one of being both a user and producer of technology (which favors stronger IP protection). The drug industry, too, has evolved from exclusively comprising generic manufacturers to one with greater representation of R&D-based companies. So India has obligation to implementing the World Trade Organization's TRIPS agreement for the sake of domestic patent regime which has been strengthened from virtually no protection for pharmaceuticals to some protection. But recent rulings and the underlying Indian Law and Judiciary tend to favor weaker rather than stronger protection of IP.
Future Perspectives
Now a big question comes to the knowledge why the Supreme Court is not trying to restore the balance between the foreign Drug-manufacturers (Bayer, Novartis etc) and the Consumers (Indian patients) and the MNCs who are upset with the verdict will they not stop innovating and investing in the country such as India? For answers there are some reasons given below;
Firstly, when product patents are denied, they cannot charge high prices and hence their profits go down, in result their R & D and commercial interest will suffer. And they will be disappointed to invest.
Secondly, one of the ways they try to resist such a fall in profits is to try to influence particularly developing countries by issuing threats of dire consequences. When India abolished product patents in 1972, similar threats were issued.
Thirdly, actually not only the pharmaceutical industry in India developed, the MNCs as a whole too contributed much more to the economy than they did earlier as I have reached to this opinion by virtue of my analytical approach about this verdict. As I came to know while going through a paper published in the Economic and Political Weekly (March 24, 2012), they are more keen on importing patented products and selling at high prices rather than innovating or manufacturing in the country but they, in realty, wanted to satisfy a human face of their R & D. And in Novartis cue, it has spent a large sum of money for developing this drug. By denying it the patent India is effectively not contributing to the financing of R&D by these organizations. India is free riding. Is this fair? No, not at all. Though it is not an anti-patent judgment, but the Indian law needs to be more practical. Most developed countries adopted pharmaceutical product Patent protection after they had reached a high degree of economic development.
Thus, it is actually morally and historically unfair for the developed countries now to deny the developing countries the privileges which they enjoyed at the corresponding stages of their development. Western governments and MNCs often put Pressure on developing countries to change their Intellectual Property laws. Such a financially and otherwise powerful organization as Novartis fighting a long legal battle backed by Western governments could not have its way. The judgment does show that pressures even when it comes from very influential circles can be successfully resisted. The civil society, particularly the Indian civil society has to play a very important role in this case. With such a vibrant civil society and such an impartial and independent judiciary, the environment will definitely change for the better. Another point is whether a result of this judgment will, in terms of prices of drugs in general, be more affordable? We can say, yes, this particular anti-cancer drug will become more affordable. Apart from this, all the drugs which are under product patents and will be so in future will be high priced unless compulsory licenses are given to non- patentees to manufacture and sell these. It is important to note that if rather than in April 1994, Novartis had filed the patent in the Unites States a few months later after 1 January, 1995 when TRIPS came into effect, the anti-cancer drug would have been eligible for a patent in India and section 3(d) would not have been applicable (till that patent expired). Hence to make patented drugs more affordable, other steps, including and most importantly compulsory licensing, is necessary. In India, there is also the very critical problem that because of factors like low incomes, poor public health and inadequate insurance facilities, access to essential drugs, including those which are not patented, is very low.
In future concern, I would like to give 50-50 marks to this judgment and the simple but strict criterion of efficacy; it will be more difficult to get patents for new forms of old drugs. Hence it should be more affordable and quality product. Thus to ensure proper health care much more needs to be done. Apart from the observed situation, no matter where we start, the saga has come to an end, and the key lesson seeping through is that god sense won. Firstly, the Supreme Court decision was not about the patentability of the imatinib compound as such: that patent, having been instituted in 1993, is excluded from the purview of the Indian patent system, which is only obligated to consider patents filed in 1995 or after. The case the Supreme Court heard whether Novartis’ beta crystalline form of imatinib was worthy of patent protection and even its judgment was that this modification by Novartis did not satisfy the standard of inventiveness required under Indian patent law. Secondly, Indian patent law is as yet unchallenged at the WTO; Novartis’s earlier challenge to the constitutionality and TRIPs compatibility of Indian patent law was rebuffed by the Madras High Court in 2007 and no appeal was pursued. Thirdly, the Supreme Court judgment effectively recast Indian patent law as being nuanced and original in its meshing of domestic political economy concerns with the integrated global economy it participates in. sometimes it doesn’t seem the above situation generally, so what the outcome of this nuance and originality? Imatinib will continue to be available to patients in India from multiple suppliers at a price 10 times less than the current cost of Glivec; approximately 27000 cancer patients in the country who pay for their imatinib will continue to have access to the medicine in the public and private sectors at the lowest cost possible; and should Novartis ever suspend its charitable programme, all 15000 of the cancer patients who currently receive imatinib free from Novartis will have similarly equitable access to the medicine11.
Opinion/Suggestions
First of all I do not favour this verdict as because it is not followed properly the International character of IP laws and Pharma sectors reason being Pharmaceutical companies spend billions of dollars on its Research. Most of the time it is estimated that, of every thousand patented drugs screened and only 4-5% reaches in clinical trials and only one is actually availed this necessary drug for diagnose. Pharmaceutical companies patent the drugs that they develop and thereby obtain exclusive marketing rights; the costs of research and the profits due to the shareholders are recovered through appropriate pricing mechanisms from the patients who receive the patented drugs. Our Government (Government of India) has also, I will urge it robust fully, not intended to rope the Health-Care in root of Indian groups of actual needy. It is due to the lackness of willpower and gross corruption in its Health & Drugs Policy as we saw in NRHM scam where all efforts of domestic and international parameters have been slapped down. Internationally, drug patents and the exclusive marketing rights associated therewith are awarded for a period of 20 years, during this time, no other drug company is allowed to manufacture or market the same drug. After the patent expires, other companies are permitted to manufacture and market the drug; their brands are known as generic versions. So far as Indian public is concerned the Novartis verdict is actually an Anesthesia to their Health problems despite the fact that substantial progress in the popular understanding of the place of patents in a developing country like India, a hackneyed narrative has emerged, especially in the pink press, warning us that this judgment will have a negative impact on innovation in the long run. As it happens, one of the most useful outcomes of the Supreme Court judgment is a renewed focus on what innovation is and how it should be rewarded? Behind the headlines foretelling various levels of doom such as the death of innovation in the country and the end of research for diseases which matter to us, is the popular idea that patents are a proxy for innovation. After all, patents are widely understood as short-term monopolies enshrined in the law and provided as incentive to inventors on the evaluation of publicly disclosed innovation. It would seem as if patents are synonymous with innovation in R & D. In the last three decades, the global gold rush for patents has been dominated by filings for minor and mostly inconsequential innovations at the expense of breakthrough innovation. In large part, this is because weak standards in the patent laws of developed countries (led by the U.S. and Europe) have explicitly encouraged such kind of tactics. A British Medical Journal12 report from 2012 succinctly summarizes the global research situation for new medicines: “This is the real innovation crisis about pharmaceutical research and development which turns out mostly minor variations on existing drugs and most new drugs are not superior on clinical measures.” So, if the patent regimes of developed countries are dominated by minor patents, many or most of which have no demonstrable innovation to show, why are they so avidly pursued by global pharmaceutical companies? A Public Library of Science13 study from 2012 also points to the answer that secondary patents extend the patent life (and thereby, the monopoly pricing) of pharmaceutical products long beyond their designated life span, adding, on average, between six
and seven years to the patent life of the original compound. Any patent regime which stands for incentives in case of secondary patents with weak laws will only serve to extend commercial monopolies at low levels of innovation and will no longer provide the incentive for genuine innovation. The genius of the Supreme Court judgment on Novartis’s patent application lies in restoring the connection between patents and innovation by upholding and legitimizing a regime with a higher threshold of inventiveness. In the present day, India comprises 1.3 per cent of the global pharmaceutical market by value. That figure, in itself, is why changes to Indian patent law will not help global pharmaceutical giants break free from the incentive model they are prisoners of. At most, they might have to learn how to compete in a crowded market for some of their less original products. In other side, the symbolic opportunity presented by the Supreme Court’s backing of Indian patent law, however, is a real threat and pharma CEOs in New York, London and Basel get it. In the long run, as more countries understand the Indian model, appreciate its legitimacy, and reflect on its benefits to both public health and innovation, they might want the same. And if that happens, we may begin to see real and positive changes in the way pharmaceutical innovation works.
Eventually, the new empowered scenario has most vividly illustrated this phenomenon during the peak of the HIV/AIDS treatment crisis in the first decade of the 21st Century, when countries like Brazil, Thailand, and South Africa and of course India, took health security into their own hands and legitimately moulded their domestic interest to respond to the crises within. This time, however, the change might come more slowly; the hell the Indian government was dragged through has not been lost on anyone. The lengthy trials, the frequent challenges, the full-scale vilification, and every other scare tactic thrown our way by a public-relations juggernaut (along with the implicit support of many developed country governments) was not for nothing. And the Supreme Court judgment is all the more important as a result, for it shows a new way may be hard and tiresome, but is ultimately possible. So, ultimately I can say that this verdict may have a Human Face but it has not Uniformity in its nature.
References
1. Novartis AG v. Union of India & Others,
Online judgment @ www.scconlone.com/novartis, 2013, pp.11-13.
2. Ibid.
3. Chaudhuri, Sudip: The WTO and India’s Pharmaceuticals Industry (Patent Protection, TRIPS, and Developing Countries)
(Oxford University Press, 2005).
4. Subramanian, A: http://www.rediff.com/business/column/column-what-was-the-novartis-case- really-about/20130408.htm
5. www.rediff.com/ip-barooah/article
6. www.rediff.com
http://www.rediff.com/business/interview/interview-novartis-ruling-is-not-an-anti-patent- judgement/20130410.htm
7. News updated in ENS Economic Bureau, New Delhi, 27th April, 2013.
8. Anita Jain, India editor, BMJ @ India Editor’s Choice
BMJ 2013 on http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.f2218
(Published 8 April 2013 ), [email protected]
9. Fiona Godlee: BMJ Editor on Twitter @ fgodlee and the BMJ
10. www.rediff.com
http://www.rediff.com/business/interview/interview-novartis-ruling-is-not-an-anti-patent- judgement/20130410.htm
11. Prabhala, A. & Krishnaswamy, S.: The Hindu, 15 April, 2013 (Correspondence).
12. British Medical Journal: Collective Articles on Pharmaceutical & Medicine.
13. Ibid.
Miscellaneous Sources
1. Times of India 2. The Hindu 3. The Frontline 4. Amar Ujala 5. India Today 6. www.google/novartis/verdict/update.com 7. www.rediff.com 8. www.bmj/pharmaceutical/issue.com 9. www.scconline.com/novartis
PREPARATION, VALIDATION AND APPLICATION OF A METRIC FOR EARTHQUAKE RISK MANAGEMENT
Prof. (Dr) Ravindra Deshmukh*
Key words: Earthquake Risk Management, Disaster, Evaluation Metrics, Metric-Validation, Questionnaire Development.
No. of words: 6,138 Abstract: More than half the world’s disasters occur in Asia and seventy five percent of India’s landmass is prone to earthquakes of moderate to high intensity. The two most significant earthquakes in India have been at Latur in 1993 and Bhuj in 2001. The Latur earthquake undermined the notion that the central India is free from killer quakes and lead to modify the vulnerability atlas of India, and the Bhuj earthquake transformed the traditional handling of disasters by the Ministry of Agriculture, resulting in a separate national disaster management authority. Research in mitigation and response to lessen vulnerability of population is emphasized, since then and the paper contributes to this notion. During 1974-2003, India has experienced 303 disasters resulting in 1,832,098,717 victims (People killed and affected) and a loss of US $ 43,378 million (Guha-Sapir, 2004). As such there has been no measure to find the effectiveness of disaster management related to earthquake risk. Having realized its importance, this paper traces the models dealing with mitigation and response and develops metrics that can be used for examining the effectiveness of earthquake risk management. A study of the reliability and validity of the metrics has been undertaken. Even though the research is based on the response received in the Indian context, the metric is universal in its application. Key words: Earthquake Risk Management, Disaster, Evaluation Metrics, Metrics Validation. Abbreviations Pr = Preparedness Hm = Human Measures Ns = Non-structural Measures Ra = Risk Analysis Sm = Structural Measures Ef = Efficacy Hr = Human Resource Performance factor Pl = Planning Rf = Risk Factor Be = Built Environment
*Mangalayatan University Beswan, Aligarh 202145 [email protected]
1. Introduction During the 30 year period of 1973-2003 more than half of the world’s earthquake and tsunami related disasters occurred in Asia. Among all geological disasters earthquake accounts for 83 percent (Guha-Sapir et al, 2001) occurrence. Earthquake is a suddenly occurring phenomenon that causes a series of vibrations. It results in collapse of buildings and badly damaging settlements that cause destruction of people and property such that help from outside the affected community becomes necessary. In simple terms it is ‘Mother Nature’s way of relieving tectonic stress’ (Zebrowski, 1997). This causes crust and surface displacement seeking ‘new equilibrium’ (Garcia, 2000). People become vulnerable as they live in high density urban centers and in buildings with questionable earthquake resistance. If Delhi metropolitan region (in India) receives earthquake shocks of magnitude six on the Richter scale, 80 percent of buildings would be seriously damaged; similarly 90 percent of buildings in Mumbai (in India) metropolis are unsafe from seismic shock (Deulgaonkar, 2005). Vulnerability has a correlation with the extent of damage the building can withstand while encountering a hazard. Structural fragility, the extent, density and composition of the built environment and seismic-faults location, shaking and ground failure arising from an earthquake event together form the risk. Human resource development with specific focus on earthquake risk management is by far the most important tool to reduce vulnerability in a densely populated country like India. To effectively combat earthquake impact on population, it is necessary to learn from post-disaster experiences and improve pre-disaster readiness. Hence, this paper focuses on both pre-disaster and post-disaster issues related to earthquake.
2. Literature Review Disaster is an event that overwhelms the capacity of a community of the affected area to cope up with routine life style resulting in seeking help from outside the affected community (NDMA, 2006). Although disaster research became an established specialty in the 1950s (Kreps, 1984), disaster management is a phenomenon formalized and vigorously pursued since the early 21st century in Asia. Disaster management is a continuous and integrated process of planning, organizing, coordinating and implementing measures which are necessary or expedient to: prevention; mitigation or reduction of risk; capacity building (building a capacity to cope with disasters); preparedness; response; assessing effects of any disaster; evacuation, rescue and relief; and, rehabilitation and reconstruction (Gazette of India, 2005). Earthquake Risk Management (EQRM) is a sub-set of Disaster Management (DM). The two significant aspects of EQRM are ‘mitigation’ as a pre-disaster initiative and ‘response’ as a post-disaster action. Mitigation and response ought to have a correlation as efficacy of response action depends on preparedness for a future disaster. The pre-disaster planning has direct effect on various post-disaster aspects. The measurement of the post- disaster performance of planning variables becomes complex because it is difficult to decide which one has to be given more emphasis. A model on Components of Disaster Management, propagated by Dr. A. S. Arya (Arya, 2005), details mitigation and response being two significant issues in disaster management. Whereas the model proposed by Seigal for a ‘four stage disaster management’ concept involves preparedness planning, mitigation or prevention activities, response and recovery (Gilbert, 1985).
During 1973-2003 India encountered 16 major Tsunami and earthquake related disasters, out of which three occurred in the five years during 1999-2003 (Guha-Sapir, et.al, 2004). Of these, the Latur (1993) and Bhuj (2001) earthquakes have been significant in India’s history. Whereas the Latur event resulted in systematic research to create a vulnerability atlas of India, the Bhuj earthquake initiated the process of a paradigm shift in policy for dealing with disasters. The responsibility of disaster related issues was transferred from its traditionally entrenched place in the Ministry of Agriculture to the Ministry of Home
Affairs. In the ministry, a high powered body, the National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA), was created. This research, therefore, focuses on these two historically significant events.
3. The Measurement Instrument The objective of this research is to identify key variables related to the pre-disaster approach, which have significant influence over the post-disaster approach and prepare a measurement instrument. The meta- analysis of available literature has enabled the identification of the following DM models: Gillespie’s model of safe system approach (Gillespie et. al, 2004) highlights relationships linking between understanding the physical and social systems involved in disasters, communicating the understanding clearly to decision makers and knowing what interventions may be effective. Marathe’s model of disaster management and mitigation (Marathe, 2006) interrelates pre-disaster phase, active disaster phase and post disaster phase through anticipation, planning, preparation to rescue and relief and further to rehabilitation, reconstruction and development. Susman’s model proposes the process of marginalization and the relationship to disaster source (Susman et. al, 1983). Continued underdevelopment and deteriorating physical environment push down those who are on the threshold of poverty line. Their living condition further deteriorates. It shows how, irrespective of relief aid, the marginalization increases.
Ahrens’ model of disaster and underdevelopment (Ahrens et. al, 2006) demonstrates this crucial relationship that is the key to lessen the effects of the disaster. Ahrens opines that the causes of disaster and the causes of underdevelopment are the signs of institutional failure and how this can be best avoided. Spillan proposes two models of crisis management procedure (Spillan, 2003). He suggests ‘reactive’ and ‘proactive’ models. In the reactive model post-crisis assessment of cost incurred, reviewing management style, restructuring, is proposed, whereas in pro-active model post-crisis assessment crisis-plan evaluation, vulnerability review and planning for future crisis is projected. Lalonde’s model of three archetypes (Lalonde, 2004) is based on a crisis event of January 1998 ice-storm. It demonstrates three archetypes of crisis management – collectivists, integrators and reactive types that include leadership, strategies, structures and environments. Such new forms adopted by organizations create ‘opportunities for managers to make strategic decisions in terms of bringing new configuration into play’. Arya’s model of Components of Disaster Management addresses mitigation and response (Arya, 2005). It further divides ‘mitigation’ into risk analysis, prevention and preparedness, and ‘response’ into search & rescue, humanitarian assistance, rehabilitation and reconstruction. The model is indicative. This research adopts a modified model based on Arya’s proposed model and efforts to validate it.
Considering the above models, 27 key variables related to pre-disaster approach (five dimensions) and 33 key variables related to post-disaster approach (five dimensions) have been chosen. These variables have been developed into a self administered questionnaire (Appendix-A). This questionnaire is used as the measurement instrument and allows a holistic assessment of the EQRM activities of a given place in Latur and Bhuj regions each. Also, the instrument is served to future professionals – students of architecture – in four select schools. This instrument forms the basis for the selection of the five key dimensions for pre- and post-disaster approach each, and their inter-linkages. The dimensions and their description with a sample item have been given in Table -1. The Likert five point scale is recommended to provide quantitative evaluation of the data. In general, the measurement instrument defines EQRM as a function of a set of independent variables given below:
EQRM performance = f (pr, hm, ns, ra, sm) + f (ef, hr, pl, rf, be)
= f (pre-disaster variables) + f (post-disaster variables)
Table 1: Dimensions of EQRM Performance
Dimension Description Sample Item
Pre-disaster approach
Preparedness Population is most vulnerable to There is enough awareness about earthquake because ‘the available safe seeking a safer place in case of locations to build shelters have been an earthquake. exhausted, or have become too expensive (Benninger, 2001) Human Measures Panic occurs due to fear of threat to Adequate training is given to self. The most important condition for prevent panic-running. the occurrence and continuance of panic is the feeling on the part of a participant that he may be unable to escape from an impending threat (Quarantelli, 1954). Non-structural Measures Levels of safety exposure to an Very heavy items are not kept at earthquake are directly related to …the the top of a cupboard. performance of the building system and nonstructural elements (Lagorio, 2006) Risk Analysis Major decisions that mitigate the Hazard assessment measures are various hazards are also reviewed for adequate enough. their potential impact upon energy use and human preference (Abernethy, 1980) Structural Measures A leading Japanese architect Tadao The way in which a building is Ando, after the January 1995 Kobe constructed will decide the earthquake, emphasized that architects magnitude of damage caused must take building safety seriously during an earthquake. (Charleson, 2001) Post-disaster approach
Efficacy Relocation in the vicinity of existing Proximity to work place, farm, villages is invariably bound to result in etc was considered while loss of precious agricultural land choosing the relocation site. (Rawal and Nair, 2001) HR Performance The psychological needs of the affected Counseling helped to overcome people were seen as something secondary… (Pande, et.al, 2000 p632). fear to a great extent.
Planning It is also a professional responsibility ‘to Designers voluntarily offered train and prepare a neighborhood for suggestions to victims for responding to an earthquake’ (Stallings improvement in house-building and Quarantelli, 1985) resulting in better safety. Risk Natural disasters also present extensive Anti-social elements, if any, were opportunities for widespread looting controlled effectively.
(Quarantelli and Dynes, 1970) Built Environment To maintain cleanliness and hygiene of Sanitary requirements were the displaced people, it is essential to provided along with temporary set up effective infrastructural needs. accommodation.
4. Research Methodology
The sampling unit comprises representative settlements, one each from Latur and Bhuj regions and, four schools of architecture in the vicinity. Village Mangrul in Latur and Dudhai in Bhuj have suffered heavy losses in the earthquakes of 1993 and 2001 respectively. The samples are representative of the effects of earthquakes elsewhere in the region. The sample selection is through purposive sampling. This technique is applied where ‘the researcher already knows about the specific people or events and deliberately selects particular ones because they are seen as instances that are likely to produce the most valuable data, discovering useful patterns of information’ (Denscombe, 1999; Groat and Wang, 2002). As the population selected is varied and does not form a homogeneous group, a stratified sampling method is also adopted. Under this the population is ‘divided into several sub-populations that are individually more homogeneous than the total population’ (Kothari, 2006). The data will be collected in two forms, i.e. primary data (quantitative) which is gathered through a self-administered questionnaire that measures the perception rating of victims, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and government officials through five key dimensions each of pre- and post-disaster approaches. The secondary data (qualitative) will be collected through focus group interviews. As the English language questionnaires are difficult to understand in rural regions, they will be translated into easily understandable Marathi language for the Latur region and Gujarati language for the Bhuj region, so that the response pattern will not be affected.
4.1 Reliability and Validity of Measures ‘Seeing things from a different perspective and opportunity to corroborate findings can enhance the validity of data’ (Denscombe, 1999). An instrument needs to measure what a researcher intended it to measure. The instrument developed has been subjected to content, construct and criterion validity. Content validity: Although there is no numerical way to express content validity (Kothari, 2006), it is determined by contacting a group of experts. In this research the method adopted was discussion with disaster victims, NGOs, including research guides on how best it contained the variables required for the measurement of the effectiveness of the earthquake risk management. Criterion validity: It relates to the predictive ability of the instrument. This depends upon ‘relevance, freedom from bias, reliability and availability’ (Kothari, 2006). A group of experts was consulted to test the predictive ability of the instrument. A couple of situations where ambiguity existed were merged into one question. Construct validity: This is important as it links ‘parametric notions and practices to theoretical notions’ (Kerlinger, 1995). The questions in the instrument have theoretical relevance (see Table-1), as they are based upon valid models developed to assess the effectiveness of various disaster management issues.
Table 2: Descriptive Statistics for Pre-EQRM Dimensions
Dimension Mean Percent Std. Reliability Mean (n=811) Deviation (Alpha)
1. Preparedness 3.0912 61.82 0.9514 0.6062
2. Human Measures 3.0875 61.75 0.7173 0.5970
3. Non-Struct. Measures 3.3453 66.91 0.9158 0.6257
4. Risk Analysis 2.6695 53.39 1.0654 0.6724
5. Struct. Measures 3.5302 70.60 1.0256 0.6847
Table 3: Descriptive Statistics for Post-EQRM Dimensions
Dimension Mean Percent Std. Reliability Mean Deviation (n=811) (Alpha)
1. Efficacy 3.4895 69.79 0.7940 0.6521
2. HR Performance 3.1887 63.77 0.8181 0.6607
3. Planning 3.3354 66.71 0.8555 0.6543
4. Risk Factor 3.0962 61.92 1.1399 0.7303
5. Built Environment 3.6141 72.28 0.9989 0.6929
In addition to the above, sound measurement needs a good test of reliability. The reliability has to do with the accuracy and precision of measurement procedure. The dimesion-wise reliability using a covariance matrix has been calculated for the instrument used in this full scale run (table- 2 and 3). The Alpha Cronbach values (0.69 for pre-EQRM and 0.72 for post-EQRM dimensions) demonstrate a good reliability in terms of internal consistency. The values are greater than the minimum requirements thereby indicating that the instrument is, to a great extent, reliable for its internal consistency is concerned. The stability aspect of reliability is achieved by serving the same set of questions to the same people and the same response was received. The ‘equivalence’ aspect of reliability is to minimize the error of variation of the response, when the instrument is served to various groups of people in the population sample. This was done in two ways. During the pilot run, firstly to bring in stability, the instrument was served at a time when the responders were in a relaxed mind and so able to respond truly. Secondly, to have no variation from group to group, carefully designed directions were included in the questionnaire for measurement. Practicality of a measuring instrument is judged in terms of economy, convenience and interpretability. Economy suggests a trade off between ideal research and that which a budget can afford. Hence, the present research focuses on two settlements, one each in Latur and Bhuj regions that are representative examples of the effects of earthquakes. Convenience implies that the instrument should be easy to administer. This was achieved by giving due attention to the proper layout of the measuring instrument
and by self-visits and through the NGOs active in the regions. Interpretability is important to seek true responses. This was overcome by the translation of metric into local languages (For Latur region in Marathi language and for Bhuj region in Gujarati language) taking the help of experts in the field.
4.2 Factor Analysis The factor analysis of data began with the computation of correlational matrix. Since one of the basic goals of the factor analysis is to obtain factors that help to explain these correlations, the variables must be related to each other for the factor model to be appropriate. Factor analysis using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) method with Varimax rotation was used to generate factors. The results of factor analysis indicating the percentage variance and Eigen values are given in table 4 for pre-earthquake response and in table 5 for post-earthquake response. The required numbers of factors have been forced and only factor loadings above 0.4 were considered, other factors being omitted. The percentage variance extracted by the given number of factors in pre and post EQRM measures are 71.94% and 72.06% respectively, which indicate that with a reasonable degree of confidence, it can be concluded that the instrument used has measured what it was expected to measure.
Table 4: Factor Analysis of SERVQUAL Variables of Pre-Earthquake Response
Variables Factor 1 Factor 2 Factor 3 Factor 4 Factor 5 04 0.88 15 0.88 25 0.85 21 0.83 18 0.82 13 0.78 11 0.78 22 0.77 10 0.76 23 -0.75 17 0.72 08 0.68 24 -0.66 05 0.73 20 0.65 02 0.62 27 -0.59 03 0.75 26 0.73 16 0.54 07 0.70 14 0.68 07 0.70 Eigen values 7.46 6.73 2.09 1.72 1.43 %Varience 24.37 21.92 9.36 8.65 7.65
Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis, Varimax Rotation, Converged in 8 iterations.
Table 5: Factor Analysis of SERVQUAL Post-Earthquake Variables
Variables Factor 1 Factor 2 Factor 3 Factor 4 Factor 5 33 0.71 04 0.70 20 0.70 29 0.70 22 0.68 16 0.67 03 0.59 12 0.58 07 0.57 30 0.54 23 0.47 28 0.87 31 0.84 08 0.82 05 0.79 32 0.77 02 0.59 10 0.83 01 -0.79 17 0.78 06 0.62 13 0.61 18 -0.79 25 -0.66 26 -0.56 14 0.66 11 -0.53 Eigen values 13.31 4.48 2.36 1.91 1.72 %Variance 28.41 14.47 14.03 8.24 6.91 Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis, Varimax Rotation, Converged in 8 iterations.
5. Correlation Matrix
Correlation matrix developed for pre-EQRM has been given in Table-6. The highest correlation (0.4875) exists between preparedness and human measures. It is true that for effective preparedness the human component is of paramount importance. Similarly, the least correlation (0.1413) exists between risk analysis and structural measures. It is clear that risk analysis is an independent field that includes hazard and risk assessment. It does not direct itself to any measures. Structural measure too is an independent field of inquiry related to how buildings can be designed effectively to absorb earthquake shocks thereby increasing people’s safety. Naturally, these two factors, being quite independent of each other show the least correlation.
Table 6: Correlation Matrix for Pre-EQRM Dimensions (n=811)
Pr Hm Ns Ra Sm Pr 1.0000 Hm 0.4875 1.0000 Ns 0.3336 0.4463 1.0000 Ra 0.3196 0.3626 0.2803 1.0000 Sm 0.2970 0.2943 0.2781 0.1413 1.0000
The correlation matrix developed for post-EQRM has been given in Table-7. It shows the highest correlation (0.5850) between efficacy and planning. Efficacy is the power to produce the desired or intended result. Certainly, this is not possible without planning or prior arrangement of resources. Therefore, the highest relationship between these two factors prevails. Similarly, the least correlation (0.2275) as per the matrix is seen between efficacy and the risk factor. Risk is the function of vulnerability and is independently evaluated. Efficacy depends on other factors and not directly on the risk. Hence, the matrix shows the least correlation.
Table 7: Correlational Matrix for Post-EQRM Dimensions (n=811)
Ef Hr Pa Rf Be Ef 1.0000 Hr 0.4259 1.0000 Pl 0.5850 0.3717 1.0000 Rf 0.2275 0.3631 0.3315 1.0000 Be 0.4144 0.3747 0.3106 0.2436 1.0000
5. Discussion Disaster management has become a thrust area of research for the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) in India. It stresses ‘research dissemination and exchange of ideas in the areas of national importance (national societal problems-such as Disaster Mitigation)’ (AICTE, 2007). It is on the priority list of the government to initiate planning and mitigation measures. A lot of emphasis is given to making people and property safer to the harmful effects of earthquakes. This paper mainly deals with metric development work. By subjecting the instrument to an iterative process of scale purification, the original set of variables was empirically reduced to a 60 item questionnaire spread across pre and post- earthquake situations. The pre-earthquake items of 27 questions cover five dimensions of preparedness, human measures, non-structural measures, risk analysis and structural measures. The post-earthquake items of 33 questions cover five dimensions of efficacy, human resource performance factor, planning, risk-factor and built environment. For this newly developed instrument, reliability, dimensionality and validity were empirically tested and results are comparative to other similar studies. This study is to improve pre- and post-disaster service quality application and draws extensively on the literature to build a feasible model using a more generalized survey-based approach. By expanding theories on varied aspects of disaster management and earthquake risk related to the increasing safety of people and property and using some concepts that can undergo statistical testing, this study contributes to
the cumulative research traditions needed in this field and demonstrates their utility. The instrument could serve as a diagnostics tool that will allow people, government, non-governmental organizations and future professionals to determine service areas that are weak and require attention. The instrument developed in this research is based on Gillespie, Arya and Marathe’s models, giving five dimensions i.e. preparedness, human measures, non-structural measures, risk analysis, structural measures for pre-EQRM and, efficacy, human resource performance, planning, risk factor, built environment for post-EQRM studies in their 60 variables. Hence, it basically focuses on human interactions and concrete aspects of their perceptions. In this paper these total 10 dimensions are briefly explained as they are more relevant to the DM/EQRM sector. Preparedness: is the overall readiness for a potential disaster event. It relates to warning, evacuation and the general response of the authority to tackle it. Human measures: are many; however selective ones are about preventing panic and about repose and protection mechanisms being in place. Non-structural measures: are related to training, knowledge and planning that includes add-on features of a building, false ceiling, furniture and other inside house items. Structural measures: relate to the design aspects of building. It is the way the structure is designed and erected and unnecessary elements likely to cause harm are avoided or specially designed. Risk analysis: is the study of components related to the degree of likelihood of loss due to a certain danger or hazard. It includes risk assessment, hazard assessment and capacity assessment Efficacy: during and after the event is critical. The decision to initiate quick response, effect least damage, restore normalcy, cause least economic setback and minimum casualties needs a sound judgment. Human resource Performance factor: is important as it relates to prompt response, defined roles and duties, performance in an available time, attitude to work under pressure and positive ethics. Planning: relates to sustained development, community level preparedness, zonal readiness, etc. Risk factor: and its understanding results in effective warning system, reduction in losses and utilization of available resources. Built environment: post-event scenario ideally results in planned development, sustainable measures and socio-cultural & socio-economic issues. An important contribution of this research is that both the qualitative and quantitative aspects of pre- and post-disaster issues have been considered in the metric development process. Qualitative in the sense that the metric decides on the key dimensions which govern quality of service rendered and quantitative in the sense that it gives a means empirically to study the quality aspects. Nevertheless, although an attempt to cover all aspects of pre- and post-disaster issues has been made, there may be some changes in dimensions or statements that need to be incorporated in the scale on an ongoing basis. This instrument can be used for subsequent studies in other sectors of disaster management and in other related service organizations with little or no modification by future researchers.
6. Conclusion
Preparing a metric for pre- and post-disaster measurement is a complicated task owing to the fact that varied issues are handled by a number of agencies involved in pre-disaster planning and post-disaster recovery process. In literature it was found that there are models related to social, psychological and building design aspects, however, there was no model identified that will measure pre- and post-earthquake perceptions of those affected by it and other stakeholders (NGOs, government officials and future professionals). The development of this metric is a step in that direction.
On considering the models proposed by Arya, Marathe, Gillespie and others, it was concluded that the critical dimensions in EQRM are preparedness, human measures, non-structural measures, risk analysis and structural measures as pre-disaster issues and efficacy, human resource performance factor, planning, risk-factor and built environment as post-disaster issues. The metric has been thus developed to evaluate the response it receives from victims, NGOs, government officials and future professionals in architecture. Pre-EQRM measures effect the post-EQRM measures and vice versa. The data collected through this metric can be used to probe further into this aspect. This metric can be used to measure the effectiveness of planning and response dimensions related to pre- and post earthquake situations. It helps to collect information from the victims, NGOs, government officials, architecture students and related professionals in general, so that weaker areas of EQRM can be identified and suggestions are made to alleviate the problems encountered in the risk management efforts. This paper is limited to the metrics development for EQRM and the reliability analysis is for a sample size of 811 but the factor analysis is based on the pilot study. So, the future work can comprise descriptive statistics, gap analysis and hypotheses testing in relation to the EQRM. This research does not cover financial vulnerability as it is beyond its scope. It can be taken up independently in a future research.
Appendix A
EARTHQUAKE RISK MANAGEMENT
Questionnaire for Latur Bhuj Both
Tick: Victim NGO Govt. Officer Ref. No.
Dear Respondent, This questionnaire is an effort to understand disaster management (with focus on earthquake risk). This is meant for comprehensive research. Please answer all questions frankly and to the best of your knowledge, so that this research can give a true picture. This exercise may in turn help policy makers and service providers to take steps to make individuals and community less prone to the harmful effects of earthquakes.
Scale 5 – Strongly agree 4 – Moderately agree 3 – Neither agree nor disagree 2 – Moderately disagree 1 – Strongly disagree
The following statements are for Pre-disaster (Mitigation) approach. Please place a tick mark (√) in the appropriate column.
Sl. Statement 5 4 3 2 1 No. 1. Communication system is adequate in planning for earthquake disaster 2. There has been training on immediate actions to be taken on getting first signal of an earthquake 3. Routine maintenance of building is adequate 4. Awareness of being prone to be a victim of a disaster is adequate 5. Very heavy items are not kept at the top of a cupboard 6. Proper building design can minimize vulnerability 7. Response and protection mechanism is in place 8. Adequate training is given to prevent panic-running 9. Heavy items in a building and those likely to fall are properly positioned to prevent harm 10. The resources at personal level are adequate to handle unexpected disaster like an earthquake 11. There is a mechanism in place for individual capacity building to cope with a disaster 12. Awareness on building byelaws is adequate 13. Local government is sure to give spontaneous response in an earthquake 14. The way in which a building is constructed will decide the magnitude of damage caused during an earthquake 15. There is adequate awareness about seeking safer place in case of an
earthquake 16. Drill exercise is conducted periodically to ensure safe escape during an earthquake 17. Hazard assessment measures are adequate enough 18. Furniture is placed in a planned position to enable easy movement for escape during an earthquake 19. Emergency exits are adequate in buildings 20. Knowledge of self-protection is imparted in training (e.g. taking protection under table) 21. There is adequate know-how to understand the possibility of an earthquake well in advance. 22. There is a mechanism of pre-warning (e.g. siren or announcement) of an impending earthquake 23. It is possible to design a building to cause minimum damage during an earthquake 24. Vulnerability can be reduced by preparedness 25. A predetermined earthquake-evacuation route is made known 26. It is observed that fire-brigade is quick in action 27. There is a need to be prepared well in advance to prevent disaster due to earthquake
The following statements are for Post-disaster (Response) approach. Please place a tick mark (√) in the appropriate column.
28. Sanitary requirements were taken care of along with temporary accommodation 29. Relocation sites had easy accessibility to main road 30. Food was supplied on time 31. Victims preferred reconstruction of their damaged houses to acquiring new ones 32. Response of heavy equipment (crane, bulldozer) to earthquake was timely 33. There were regular check ups by doctors in relief camps 34. Aid coming from within the country was adequate 35. Antisocial elements, if any, were controlled effectively 36. Victims showed a sense of belonging to their damaged house 37. Medical help was adequate enough 38. Proximity to work place, farm, etc. was considered while choosing the relocation site 39. Soon after the earthquake relief camps with tents were set up
40. Material aid provided was adequate 41. Foreign aid provided was appropriate 42. Providing aid was not a publicity stunt, but an intention to serve the actual purpose 43. Members of community were also helpful in providing food, shelter, etc. 44. Vaccination and other measures to prevent the spread of diseases were adequate
45. Counseling on emergency psychological trauma was adequate 46. Adequate security measures were in place at the site 47. During debris removal enough care was taken to save human life 48. Medical help was effective 49. Security personnel (police, home guards, etc) arrived at site immediately after the earthquake 50. Permanent accommodation provided after earthquake was adequate 51. The permanent accommodation is reasonably designed to sustain damaging earthquake shocks 52. Counseling helped to overcome fear to a great extentl 53. Patients were referred to professional counselors for psychological strengthening 54. Simple procedures were adopted in giving compensation 55. By and large victims tried to be self reliant 56. The idea of relocation was well received by the public 57. Designers voluntarily offered suggestions for improvement in house-building for victims 58. The permanent accommodation has been adequately insured for earthquake damage 59. The compensation was fair enough 60. Victim’s concern to begin to earn livelihood at the earliest was taken care of
Express your suggestions to improve service during earthquake:
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Thank you! References
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28. Stallings, Robert A. and Quarantelli, E.L.(1985), “Emergent Citizen Groups and Emegency Management”, Public Administration Review, Vol. 45, Special Issue: Emergency Management: A Challenge for Public Administration, Jan., pp 93-100. 29. Susman, Paul; O’Keefe, Phil and Wisner, Ben “Global Disasters a Radical Interpretation” in Hewitt, K (ed) (1983), Interpretation of a Calamity, Allen and Unwin Inc., London. 30. Zebrowski, Ernest Jr. (1997), Perils of a Restless Planet: Scientific Perspectives on Natural Disasters, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
“EVALUATION OF MATHEMATICS TEXTBOOK OF 8TH CLASS STUDENTS IN HIMACHAL PRADESH”
Prof.V.S.Rathore ABSTRACT
In the present study the main purpose was to evaluate the textbook of Mathematics for VIII class. The textbook was evaluated with the help of survey Mathematics questionnaire as a data. The survey has two parts one include the opinion from teachers and other includes the opinion from students of VIII class.
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
1. To critically examine the opinion of the teachers & students of 8th class regarding different aspects of the mathematics textbooks as given below:- a) Aims of teaching of mathematics textbook. b) Organization of subject matter. c) Content language and printing material of mathematics textbook. d) Examples and illustrations given in mathematics textbook. e) Physical aspects of mathematics. f) Exercise given in mathematics textbook. g) Social and moral concept development in students through mathematics textbook. DELIMITATION OF THE STUDY The present study is delimited to: 1. 8th class students of District Hamirpur of Himachal Pradesh only. 2. Only mathematics textbook only. 3. The sample of 25 teachers and 150 students only. 4. The present study is delimited to the use of checklist only.
METHOD
The purpose of the present study was to evaluate mathematics textbook of 8th class in H.P. Keeping in view the main purpose of the study and its objective, the survey method was considered to be most appropriate for understanding the investigation.
SELECTION OF SAMPLE
The present study constituted the sample of the 25 teacher’s and 150 students and on random basis from seven school of district Hamirpur of Himachal Pradesh.
TOOL TO BE USED
The suitable tool is the very important for successful research. Keeping in view main features of good mathematics textbook and aims of teaching mathematics at high/ Sr. Sec. school level and the requirement of the study, investigator had used self developed check list.
* Director & Professor, Deptt. Of Humanities, Mangalayatan University, Aligarh(U.P.)
DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHECKLIST A list of well-selected and well-framed question for the respondents to answer is a good checklist. Comprehensive checklist was prepared in view the objectives of the study.. PREPARATION OF FINAL DRAFT In the final draft, 52 items were included under seven aspects in the questionnaire for teachers and 52 items were included under seven aspects in the Checklist for students. (A) CHECKLIST “A” (FOR TEACHERS) & “B” for students:- Checklist “A” (For mathematics teachers) covered seven aspects along with the number of items are given below-
a) Aims of teaching mathematics textbook – 9 items. b) Organization of subject matter -4 items. c) Contents, language and printing material of mathematics textbook -11 items. d) Example and illustration given in mathematics textbook -6 items. e) Exercise given in mathematics textbook -11 items. f) Physical aspects of mathematics textbook -8 items. g) Social and Moral development in students by mathematics textbook -3 items.
In the checklist “A” and “B”, responses were to be only in Yes/ No.
PROCEDURE
As two type of Checklist were prepared. Checklist “A” for teachers and checklist “B” for students to get their opinion about the mathematics textbook.
SCORING
The questionnaire denotes two possible choices to answer. However, the respondents had to tick (√) either one of them. For the purpose of scoring, the investigator counted the total number of answers (Yes/No) on various possible questions.
STATISTICAL TECHNIQUE USED
Percentage method was used for examining the views of both students and teachers.
For the calculation of percentage following was used:
Percentage (%) = Number of response acquired (Yes/No) x100 Total number of responses
ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF THE DATA FINDING BASED ON VIEWS OF TEACHERS & students
1. 93% teacher & 94 % students accepted that subject matter of mathematics textbook is helpful in increasing problem solving and reasoning power among the students. 2. 100% teachers & 88% students accepted that textbook of mathematics is helpful in clarifying the fundamental of mathematics. 3. 93% teachers & 89 % students are of the view numerical/ problem given in mathematics textbook are helpful in developing the thinking and creativity in student. 4. 93% teachers& 90 % students realized that Mathematics textbook helps in relating mathematics with day-to-day life. 5. 73% teacher & 66 % students not accepted that textbook of mathematics is helpful in enhancing recreational skill of students. 6. 73% teachers& 60% students not accepted that content of mathematics textbook interrelated with other school textbook. 7. 93% teachers & 86 % students are of the view that Mathematics textbook is helpful enhancing the power of concentration and sense of appreciation among the students. 8. 100% teachers & 89 % students accepted that Mathematics textbook helps the pupils to gain the power of understanding and interpreting fact and ideas given in the book. 9. 100% teachers & 85 % students accepted that the Mathematics textbook develops the abilities of analysis and computation. 10. 87% teachers & 52% students are of the view that the content given on different topic are meaningfully arranged. 11. 93% teachers & 58% students not accepted that content of mathematics textbook is suitable for all kinds of exceptional children. 12. 67% teachers & 68 % students not accepted that subject-matter of mathematics textbook is arranged according to inductive/ deductive, analysis synthesis and heuristic methods etc. 13. 100% teacher & 90% students opinioned that new chapter starts from new page in mathematics text book. 14. 93% teachers & 51% students opinioned that mathematics textbook covers the whole syllabus. 15. 80% teachers & 63% students accepted that the subject-matter of mathematics textbook is interesting. 16. 67% teachers & 50% students are of the view that the subject-matter of textbook is according to mental ability of students. 17. 53% teachers & 67 % students not accepted that the abstract terms have been clearly explained in mathematics textbook. 18. 73% teachers & 61 % students not accepted that the content given in a different topic is updated and adequate. 19. 53% teachers& 72% students not accepted that the titles of the different chapter are meaningfully broken. 20. 73% teachers & 67% students are of the view that the language of the textbook according to taste and understanding language of the textbook according to taste and understanding level of the student. 21. 67% teachers & 52% students not accept that the printing of the textbook as free from the mistake.
22. 67% teachers & 67% students realized that the words are bold enough in the view of visibility in the Mathematics. 23. 60% teachers & 56 % students opinioned that there is sufficient margin on all side off page in Mathematics textbook. 24. 100% teachers & 58% students are of the view that there is proper spacing between letters and words in Mathematics text book. 25. 93% teachers & 90% students opinioned that the figures/example are given in the textbook of mathematics meet the requirement of subject-matter. 26. 53% teachers & 66% students are of the view that picture, diagrams and figure are realistic and clearly depicted. 27. 67% teachers & 67% students are of the view that the illustrations in the book are accurate and appealing to the students. 28. 80% teachers& 65% students accepted that the illustration is appropriately placed. 29. 67% teachers & 55% students opinioned that the theorems given in each chapter are clearly expressed. 30. 60% teachers & 73% students not accepted that required mathematics graphical data are interpreted clearly. 31. 100% teachers & 73 % students accepted that each chapter in mathematics textbook is followed by practice exercise. 32. 100% teachers & 83% students opinioned that exercise given is related to subject-matter of mathematics textbook. 33. 100% teachers & 77% students realized problems given in exercise are helpful in understanding of the subject-matter of mathematics. 34. 93% teachers & 89% students accepted that the exercise/ problems are helpful in developing thinking and reasoning. 35. 73% teachers & 81% students opinioned that the problems given under each exercise are expressed clearly. 36. 93% teachers & 80% students are of the view that solved and unsolved problem are given in the exercise of mathematics textbook. 37. 67% teachers & 59% students not accepted that Number of problem given in the exercise of textbook is sufficient. 38. 86% teachers & 77% students are of the view that Exercise develops the concept of self in the students. 39. 60% teachers & 68% students are of the view that exercise/ problems are given in the textbook of Mathematics are according to mental level of students. 40. 60% teachers & 84% students not accepted that Long and Short type problems are in sufficient number in review exercise sufficient number in review exercise. 41. 100% teachers & 100% students not accepted that the objective type problems are given in review exercise. 42. 53% teachers & 51% students not accepted that Design of the cover page of Mathematics textbook is attractive. 43. 76% teachers & 91% Students accepted that paper of Maths text book is white. 44. 53% teachers & 84% students not accepted that paper and print of mathematics textbook is of good quality. 45. 53% teachers & 55% students not accepted that paper used in mathematics textbook is durable.
46. 53% teachers & 54% students realized that color paper of Mathematics textbook puts sprain in your eyes while reading. 47. 67% teachers & 54% students opinioned that the work of mathematics textbook is solid and durable. 48. 60% teachers & 69% students opinioned that the work of mathematics textbook is hiding in the binding of mathematics textbook. 49. 60% teachers & 80% students are of the view that the many misprint are there in the books. 50. 87% teachers& 74% students accepted that the mathematics textbook develops positive concept in student about the society. 51. 67% teachers & 63% students not accepted that subject-matter of mathematics provides a line between the societies need and course for student. 52. 67% teachers & 53 % students are of the view that subject-matter of mathematics textbook does not lead the destruction of society.
EDUCATIONAL IMPLICATIONS Our Present study does not fully achieve the seven components those were used in the questionnaire. Therefore, there is need of some improvement in our mathematics textbook of 8th class. The policy makers and planners should make it a point that continuous evaluation should be done in case of textbook. Expert and senior teachers should be called for taking their suggestions regarding the development of material. The study has implications for the head of institutions also and the subject teachers to make them abreast with the latest development in the area of their concern. . SUGGESTONS FOR FURTHER STUDY
Following suggestions are made for further researchers to conduct studies on the following aspects in relation to the evaluation of the text books: 1. Similar studies can be conducted to evaluate the textbook of the other subjects of different classes. 2. Similar studies can be conducted to compare the NCERT and CBSE Syllabus of different classes. 3. Similar studies can be conducted to compare the views of rural/urban / male & female students of 8th class about the Mathematics textbook.
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Lalithamma, K.N. (1981). “Formation of criteria for writing textbooks in mathematics and evaluation of mathematics textbooks prescribed for the secondary school in kerala”. Department of Education, Kerala University in Third survey of Research in Education (1978-1983) Volume-I (PP-584). Mondal, A.K. (2002). “A Critical study on achievement in Mathematics at the Elementary level in Rural Bengal”. Journal of Centre for Pedagagical Studies in Mathematics. Indian Education Abstracts, twelfth issue volume- III, PP (27-31). Maurya R.P. (2008). “Students Evaluation in Mathematics at secondary stage”. National Council of Education Research and Training New Delhi-110016 PP- (49-50). Pitta Bhiram (1973). “Evaluated nationalized textbook for higher classes in social study in secondary school of Andhra Pradesh”. In Fourth survey of Research in Education, Volume-I (1983-1988). Sharma, R.A. (2000). “Fundamentals of Educational Research, Meeruts Press Ltd. New Delhi: Agarwal offset, PP- (326-327). Sundarajan, S. (1988), “An evaluation of the teaching of Biology at higher secondary stage”. Tamil Nadu Ph. D. Education Annamalai University. In fourth survey of research in education 91983-1988) Volume-I PP- (661-662). Shah. P.A. (1992). “A study on a critical evaluation of the Mathematics syllabi Introduced in the school of Gujrat state for Grades I to IV”. In fifth survey of Research in Education (1988-1992), Volume-II (887-888). 1 Tharwani, I.C. (1982). “A Critical study of prescribed textbooks in the lower level from standard V to X in Maharashtra State with a view to their improvement Ph. D. Education Bombay, University, Fourth survey of research in education (1983-1988), Volume-I (PP-669). Walvalakar, (1971), “Evaluation of Mathematics textbooks in Primary School of Maharashtra”. In the fourth survey of research in Education (1983-1988), New Delhi: National Council of Educational Research and Training, Sri Aurobindo Marg, Volume-I, PP- (887).
TIME TO UNLOCK ALIGARH LOCK INDUSTRY BY REDUCING LABOUR ABSENTEEISM Dr. Sandeep Shandilya1 Ms Swati Jain2
This paper is an outcome of the interactions with the managers in the Aligarh Lock industry particularly Human Resource managers regarding what troubles them most as far as the problems being faced by Aligarh Lock industry is concerned. Almost all the HR managers were of the opinion that the problem among many which Aligarh Lock industry faces, the prime one is that of labour absenteeism. The same has been selected as the theme of this paper. An attempt to identify the reasons behind labour absenteeism in Aligarh Lock industry has been made by the authors drawing opinions from the managers particularly HR managers working in selected lock units. Aligarh is a city known for its various colours. It is culturally and intellectually sound city. Aligarh Lock industry is the base of the economy of this city. Once known world over, this industry seems to have faded over last few decades. There can be many reasons attributed to this downfall including Chinese onslaught. However, some internal aspects are also of great concern. One such aspect is labour absenteeism and the present paper is an attempt by the authors to study the same. An absent worker is an alarm because it can transform into the absence of the industry from the economic scene as after all it is labour who is instrumental in making an industry shine or fade. Thousands of workers earn their bread and butter from this industry and its place is of immense significance in socio-economic fabric of this city. Present paper is an effort to unearth the reasons behind the absenteeism among Aligarh Lock industry workers. An attempt will also be made to rank these reasons or factors so as to give a clue to policy makers as to what are the reasons need to be tackle with its due urgency. 1. Associate Professor, Institute of Business Management, Mangalayatan University, Aligarh 2. Assistant Professor, Department of Management, DS College, Aligarh, Research Scholar, IBM, Mangalayatan University, Aligarh 1.0 Introduction: Aligarh is one of the most famous cities of most thickly populated state Uttar Pradesh of India. It is well known for world famous Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh and at the same time for its lock industry. It is often said that once shining Aligarh lock industry is now losing its sheen. Aligarh has its unique strategic location. It is very close to capital of India, Delhi. The topmost tourist place Taj Mahal, not only of the country but on world’s tourist destination is barely 84 km away at Agra. Mathura, the
holy city is also around 70 km away. The distinctive features of this city also include its great intellectual stake in country’s intellectual power. The proximity of this city with Mumbai film industry is often cited in terms of the number of writers this city has produced. Considering its strategically fitting location, government of India decided to modernise the government of India press at Aligarh when so many other government presses were on their way to closure. There are plans to start currency notes printing at Aligarh in near future. This remains a mystery that the city graced with a leading central university of the country having a dignified intellectual base is failing to develop into an industrial hub of repute. This unique city is also known for its unique Aligarh lock industry. This research paper makes an attempt to analyse the crucial problem of labour absenteeism which this industry is facing. The problem is identified in consultation with the managers particularly HR managers working in the selected units of the industry.
2.0 Problem identification The problem identified for the purpose of this research paper is that of labour absenteeism in Aligarh Lock industry. The problem was identified in a more scientific and practical manner by consulting the HR managers of the selected lock units by the author. The managers were asked to identify the problem related to this industry which daunts them the most. The outcome of responses hinted towards labour absenteeism as being the prime of all the problems being faced by this industry. The same was identified for the purpose of conducting this study.
3.0 Significance and scope of the study Labour absenteeism is a serious problem as its hints towards a growing distaste among the workers towards the work. It may also suggest that the job is not providing him enough to feed him and his family well. There is an urgent need to check the problem of labour absenteeism in this industry. The problem of labour absenteeism comes heavily on both the workers as well as the owners of the business. It leads to the company losing its goodwill in the market. This study earns and speaks of its significance from the fact that the idea of conducting this research is not the brain child of authors but the outcome of the opinions of the managers working in this industry particularly HR managers. In a way, this approach looks quite close to the action research in business where the research is carried out to resolve a problem of immediate concern. The outcomes of this study will help the industry people recognise the major factors responsible for keeping their workers off seen. It will thus help them in framing policy measures in a way that these factors can be amicable addressed.
4.0 Review of Literature A brief review of some of the studies related to absenteeism is being presented here. It will help in building up the general understanding of the problem of absenteeism from the perspective of the business world.
Isiaka sulu babaita, ISSN 2006-6473, 2008, the effect and measurement of workplace absenteeism in banking industry: Banking industry in Nigeria is used as a case study. The findings are that absenteeism affect business operation and that banks do not often bother to calculate effect of absenteeism on jobs. The paper recommends ways to reduce absenteeism in workplace some which are, promotion of high performance work culture and emphasising the importance of employee fitting into this culture, provision of flexible work practice that meet the needs of business and employees, introduction of reward system for any improvement to sick leave rates, and working with employees to develop strategies to reduce absenteeism1.
Betty Jane Punnett, Priscilla Glidden, Dion Greenidge (March 6, 2008), National Initiative for Service Excellence (NISE), Report on absenteeism Barbados, The context of the research was a belief that improvements in the workplace can be developed to enhance employees’ work experience, and that such improvements and enhancements can result in lower levels of absenteeism. More importantly, this study also looked at potential causes of absenteeism, and findings suggest important relationships that can be used to decrease absenteeism and increase productivity. The report covers the design, implementation and results of the study that provide benchmark data on levels, costs and causes of absenteeism. The research included twenty four (24) companies, who provided absenteeism data for three months, and access to their employees, who completed comprehensive surveys. Two databases were created – one for absenteeism data, showing levels and costs of absenteeism by company and sector, and one for survey data, showing employee opinions regarding various aspects of their jobs and organisations. Analysing these databases together, provided information on the levels and underlying causes of absenteeism in Barbados. The absenteeism levels identified in this study are not as high as some earlier reports; however, they represent a significant cost to the companies, and to the Barbados economy. For the twenty four companies in the study, the actual direct wage cost due to absenteeism, for the three months, was $945,210.89 or about $4 million annually. The real costs are likely to be substantially higher, because of productivity and goodwill losses in addition to the direct wage costs. The absenteeism levels identified in this study are not as high as some earlier reports; however, they represent a significant cost to the companies2.
Upekha Tammita, B. M. D. Seedevi, D. G. T. S. Jayarathne, Aruna Welianga, Human Resource Management Journal, Volume 1, No 1, 2010, A Study on Employees Absenteeism in apparel industry: According to the research findings, there are six factors do not affect the employee absenteeism while other factors such as job satisfaction, statues, working conditions, working hours, ability to present
different skills, illness, private life matters, marriage, leave policy, participation of decision making, and organizational policy factors which affect employee absenteeism.3
Stavros A. Drakopoulos and Aikaterini Grimani (May 2011), MPRA PAPER NO. 30990, University of Athens, The relationship between absence from work and job satisfaction: Greece and UK comparisons: The study reflects that there is no universal agreement concerning the relationship between absenteeism and job satisfaction. Some research has found no correlation between these two variables whereasother studies indicate a weak relationship between these two variables. It has also been suggested that absence and job satisfaction might be more strongly related under some conditions, for instance in case of blue collar workers. After a survey of the relevant literature, this study attempts to establish a causal relationship between absenteeism and job satisfaction using a new set of Greek and European data. The paper concentrates on Greek data given that absenteeism has not been the subject of systematic investigation in Greece. The empirical results suggest that there is a weak negative relationship between injury absenteeism and job satisfaction. Furthermore, comparisons are made with similar findings from UK4. Josiane evans (2011), Norwegian university of science and technology, absenteeism a complex problem: This study concentrates on the nursing homes with relatively low absenteeism rate and the nursing homes with relatively high absenteeism rate to identify the reasons behind such differences. Interviews were used to gather data from four different nursing homes in Trondheim, and the participants were the manager and two caregivers from each nursing home, a total of twelve participants. The results indicate that there are individual, leadership and organizational differences. Individually, the employees from the nursing homes with low absenteeism rate handle stressful situations better and they are healthier than those from nursing homes with high absenteeism. On the leadership’s side, the managers from the nursing homes with low absenteeism have more insight into the employees every day work situation; they are more visible, supportive and protective of the employees than the managers of the nursing homes with high absenteeism. Based on this study’s findings, absenteeism is a complex problem that requires commitment from each member and collaboration between all the members of the organisation if it is to be kept at acceptable5.
The International Journal of Engineering and Science (IJES), ISSN 2319-1813, ISBN 2319-1805, Volume 1, Issue 1, 2012, Employee Absenteeism: A Study at Titan Industry Limited, Bangalore, This study deals with causative and remedial measures related to absenteeism6.
C.Swarnalatha and G.Sureshkrishna (Jan 2013), Tactful Management Research Journal ISSN 2319- 7943, Volume 1, Issue 4 , Absenteeism-a menace to organisation in building job satisfaction among employees in automotive industries in India: The findings of this study suggest thatabsenteeism results in financial losses both because of the resultant reduction in productivity and the cost of sick leave benefits or others are paid as wages for no work. Absenteeism reduces the satisfaction level of the employee and makes him unsecured about his job in the organization. This paper focus on absenteeism as a threat to the organization as it reduces the employee satisfaction and the ways to manage absenteeism in the automotive industries in order to improve the productivity of the organization7.
Barkha Gupta,International Journal of Engineering and Management Research-Volume-3, Issue-6, December-2013, ISSN No. 2250-0758, Employee Absenteeism Barrier for Retail Sector Organisation Success: This study finds that Absence control can often be an important step in the process of reducing business costs. Because of competitive pressures, companies can no longer afford to carry unnecessary absence that they may have tolerated in the past. Therefore, many companies are focusing on the issue of eliminating, or at least reducing, unnecessary levels of absence. This research paper show the how absenteeism is a big barrier for retail sector organization and how it’s give the inverse effect on organization growth and development8.
Onikoyi Idris Adegboyega, British Journal of Marketing Studies, Volume 3, March 2013, A Case Study of Cadbury, Effect of absenteeism on corporate performance: This study examined the effect of absenteeism on corporate performance. CadburyNigeria Plc, Ikeja was used for the case study. The findings of study showed that there was a significant relationship between Absenteeism and corporate performance. The F test carried out for the model revealed that ρ< 0.05 which means the model is statistically significant. Based on the findings, it was recommended that organizations should identify the causes of workers absenteeism and seek means of reducing it, avoid regular hiring and firing of staff, discourage workers from taking irrelevant excuses to be absent from work by ensuring that workers are paid based on the hourly rate system and ensure that staff are motivated by paying them commensurate wage rate that will encourage them to remain on the job and improve their performance9
Society for Human Resource Management,executive summary on total financial impact of employee absence in US, august 2014,The Total Financial Impact of Employee Absences Survey, produced in collaboration with and commissioned by Kronos, Incorporated, was designed to measure both the direct and indirect costs of employee absences, including costs associated with payroll, replacement
workers, and overtime and productivity loss. This study identified the various costs associated with employee absences, including direct and indirect costs to organizations for unplanned, planned and extended paid time off. Direct costs, such as wages/ salary earned during an employee absence, overtime costs and replacement worker costs, were calculated as a percentage of total payrolls. Indirect costs due to lower productivity of replacement workers, and productivity loss of co-workers and supervisors were also measured. Methods organizations use to track employee absences and their accuracy are also discussed. The more accurately employee absences are tracked and managed, the better organizations can monitor, plan and budget for these absences10
Shoaib Mohammed, International Journal of Scientific Research and Reviews, ISSN 2279-0543, 2015, Identification of Factors Associated with Employee Absenteeism:“A Lock Industry Case” Authors could come across this only one study regarding the absenteeism problem of workers in Aligarh Lock industry. The purpose of conducting this research is to explore and understand the most prevalent factors that generate a huge impact on absenteeism of workers in lock industry in Northern part of India. Firstly, the researcher conducts a background to fully understand the concept of absenteeism in before proceeding to research work. Research objectives are then developed to enhance the reliability and validity of research and to provide a guideline to research problems. The purpose of this research is to examine main reason of absenteeism issues associated with lock industry. A questionnaire is developed to explore find the reasons for absenteeism. The questionnaire is administered to a convenience sample of 28 Managers/Supervisors and 102 Workers. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, factor analysis and reliability analysis by using SPSS.11
5.0 Summary of Review of Literature and Research Gap We thus find that labour absenteeism is an across the board phenomena in terms of the industries and across the world phenomena in terms of corporate world. There is almost a consensus among all the studies that productivity and good will of the company marred by labour absenteeism problem gets a severe beating. In an attempt to ascertain the quantity and quality of the research conducted on the famous lock industry of Aligarh, authors consulted the Maulana Azad Library of Aligarh Muslim University. To their utter surprise they could locate only few researches on this industry across various disciplines of social science and not only the management discipline alone. No research covered the aspect of labour absenteeism in Aligarh lock industry. Moreover in review of literature also we could locate just one study on this industry. Thus it amply reflects from this preliminary survey that a lot of gap has amassed over the years as far as the research in Aligarh Lock industry is concerned. Still it is predominantly having an unorganised character. Moreover, bearing a small scale industry feature,
absenteeism here becomes a more serious problem. Very few studies have been conducted on the issue of absenteeism in small scale industry and Aligarh lock industry presents an absolutely dark picture in this regard.
6.0 Objectives of the study The main objective of this study is as follows:
1. “To identify the main factors responsible for labour absenteeism in Aligarh lock Industry.” This main objective is further divided into some sub objectives:
1. To prepare a list of factors responsible for labour absenteeism. 2. To measure the intensity of these factors on a scale common to all factors. 3. To develop a ranking of these factors according to their values on the scale. The operational objective thus reduces to: 1. To find out overall as well response wise break up of scores of various factors. 7.0 Hypothesis of the Study The hypothesis of this study is- “The factors responsible for employee absenteeism in Aligarh lock industry are a mix of both social and economical nature. Low income and need for additional income as well as some other social and habitual factors are responsible for labour absenteeism in industry.’’
8.0 Research Methodology The following research methodology has been followed in carrying out this research:
1. The business units where the study has to be conducted is selected on convenience sampling basis. 2. The functional managers mainly Human Resource Managers are surveyed. The total number of managers surveyed is 25 and the companies considered are three. The details are shown in the following table: Table-1
Name of the firms Number of Respondents
Indra International 07
Keshav Industries 05
Marigold Doors king 08
Maxwell Forgings 05
Total 25
3. A set of eleven factors are identified which are responsible for labour absenteeism in Aligarh Lock industry. 4. A questionnaire was developed to carry out the survey of managers in Aligarh Lock industry. The same is attached here with.
QUESTIONNAIRE Note- Kindly express your opinion regarding what do you think about the following factors related to a worker causing absenteeism problem in Aligarh Lock Industry
Score 1 2 3 4 5 S.No Factor Strongly Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Disagree Agree 1. Insincerity
2. Health issues 3. Predominant casual nature 4. Poor relations with fellow workers 5. Need to raise additional income 6. Lack of awareness 7. Poor relations with supervisors 8. Family issues 9. Alcoholism 10. Poor working environment 11. Tiring work schedule resulting in fatigue
5. These responses were then analysed on the basis of individual factor. The values of scores of all these factors are calculated on a maximum possible value of score of 25x5= 125.
6. The analysis of all these factors responsible for labour absenteeism is further carried out on the basis of the ranking of all these factors on the basis of value of these scores. Finally the results are analysed to test the hypothesis and suggestions, recommendations and future implications of the work are discussed.
9.0 Analysis and interpretation of data
9.1 Insincerity The factor insincerity is often taken as a reason behind labour absenteeism. In a developing country like India where corporate ethics culture is still evolving, it assumes utmost significance. Table-2
Insincerity Response No. of %age Value of response %age response Strongly agree (5) 08 32% 40 45.97% Agree (4) 04 16% 16 18.39% Neutral (3) 08 32% 24 27.59 Disagree (2) 02 08% 04 4.5% Strongly disagree(1) 03 12% 03 3.46% 25 100% 87 100%
It can be seen from above table that on a maximum value of 125, this factor has scored 87 which is around 67% of the maximum possible score. Around 48% of the managers either strongly agree (32%) or agree (16%) that insincerity on part of the labour is responsible for labour absenteeism. Around 32% are neutral on the issue and rest are either disagree (8%) or Strongly Disagree (12%). 9.2 Health Issues Health issues appear to be one of the big reasons for labour absenteeism in Aligarh Lock Industry. It is an extremely serious issue which speaks volumes of the hardships faced by the Aligarh lock industry worker. They still continue to live in poverty and at times find it difficult to look after their health due to lack of funds. Table-3 Health issues
Response No. of Responses %age Value of Responses %age Strongly agree (5) 22 88% 110 90.16% Agree (4) 03 12% 12 9.9% Neutral (3) 0 00 00 00 Disagree (2) 0 00 00 00 Strongly disagree (1) 0 00 00 00 25 100% 122 100%
All 100 percent respondents are either strongly agree (88%) or Agree (12%) with the fact that health issue are responsible for labour absenteeism in Aligarh lock industry. As a result the overall value of responses also very high which is 122, which is 97.6% of the maximum possible score of 125. It clearly suggests that health issues are one of the most dominant reasons behind labour absenteeism in Aligarh Lock industry.
Poor relation with fellow workers Response No. of Responses %age Value of Responses %age Strongly agree (5) 00 00 00 00 Agree (4) 03 12% 12 20% Neutral (3) 09 36% 27 45% Disagree (2) 08 32% 16 26.67% Strongly disagree (1) 05 20% 05 8.33% 25 100% 60 100%
9.3 Predominant casual nature Workers in the Aligarh Lock industry are predominantly casual in nature. This lack of permanency can lead to the tendency of getting absent from work place among the workers in Aligarh Lock industry.
Table-4 Predominant casual nature No. of Value of Response Responses %age Responses %age Strongly agree (5) 03 12% 15 20.54% Agree (4) 05 20% 20 27.3% Neutral (3) 07 28% 21 28.76% Disagree (2) 07 28% 14 19.17% Strongly disagree (1) 03 12% 03 4.10% 25 100% 73 100%
Above responses reflect that around 32% of the respondents either strongly agree (12%) or agree (20%) that predominant casual nature of workers is responsible for labour absenteeism. 28 % each are neutral or Disagree to it. The overall value is 73 which is 58.4% of maximum possible value of 125
9.4 Poor relations with fellow workers Sometimes poor relations among the workers also become a reason behind distaste among the workers towards the work place. The same was investigated by the authors. The results are being reproduced here: Table-5 It is good to see that poor relations among workers as a reason behind their tendency to remain absent from the work is not having very high value in comparison to other factors. It is 60 which is 48% of the maximum possible value.
9.5 Inadequate Income The salaries and wages of the workers in lock industry are not very attractive. The dominance of casual workers further spoils the scene. In such circumstances, there are all possibilities that workers may start looking from other earning avenues along with their jobs in lock industry. It may cost their absence to the lock manufacturing firms where they are engaged. Table-6 Need to raise additional income No. of Value of Response Responses %age Responses %age Strongly agree (5) 18 72% 90 79.64% Agree (4) 05 20% 20 17.69% Neutral (3) 00 00 00 00 Disagree (2) 01 04% 02 1.76% Strongly disagree (1) 01 04% 01 0.89% 25 100% 113 100%
We find from above table that the need for additional income is a dominant factor in labour absenteeism at Aligarh lock industry. 72% respondents strongly agree to it. As a result, the overall value of this factor comes out to be 113 which is 90.4 % of the maximum possible value of 125. It clearly suggests that low level of income is a prime reason motivating worker to remain absent. 9.6 Lack of awareness It might be possible that the poor as well as less educated workers of Aligarh lock industry are not much aware of the socio- economic repercussions of the problem of labour absenteeism thus involving in it unknowingly. The same was explored by the authors. Table-7
Lack of awareness No. of Value of Response Responses %age Responses %age
Strongly agree (5) 00 00 00 00 Agree (4) 00 00 00 00 Neutral (3) 02 08% 06 18.75% Disagree (2) 03 12% 06 18.75% Strongly disagree (1) 20 80% 20 62.5% 25 100% 32 100%
It is quite soothing that lack of awareness is not a dominating factor behind labour absenteeism in Aligarh Lock industry. With a score of overall value-32, it further gets established. It is merely 25.6% of the maximum value possible. It may also translate into good awareness among the workers in relation to absenteeism.
9.7 Poor relations with the supervisor Supervisor’s role is immense in keeping the faith and charm among the workers towards workplace. If the equation between worker and his supervisor is not congenial, it is bound to adversely affect the presence of worker on work place. The same was investigated in Aligarh Lock industry by the authors.
Table-8 Poor relation with supervisor No. of Value of Response Responses %age Responses %age Strongly agree (5) 01 04% 05 7.2% Agree (4) 05 20% 20 28.98% Neutral (3) 09 36% 27 39.13% Disagree (2) 07 28% 14 20.28% Strongly disagree (1) 03 12% 03 4.34% 25 100% 69 100%
We find from above table that poor relation with the supervisors as a factor behind labour absenteeism has an overall valueof 69 which is 55.2% of the maximum possible value. Around 24% of the respondents either strongly agree (4%) or agree (20%) to the fact that poor relations with supervisors add to labour absenteeism. 40% of the respondents either strongly disagree (12%) or disagree (28%) to it.
9.8 Family issues Work- life balance is often cited as one of the prime aspect related to work place life of a worker. Family compulsions are something which we all face in our life and at times in corporate world, these compulsions can become the reasons behind a worker finding it hard to go to work place and perform his job. Table-9 Family issues No. of Value of Response Responses %age Responses %age Strongly agree (5) 21 84% 105 88.23% Agree (4) 02 08% 08 6.72% Neutral (3) 02 08% 06 5.04% Disagree (2) 00 00 00 00 Strongly disagree (1) 00 00 00 00 25 100% 119 100%
It appears from the responses that family issues are very big issues which are responsible for keeping workers away from the workplace. Their poor income level adds further miseries. 84% responding managers strongly agree to family issues being one of the prime reasons behind labour absenteeism. As a result the value received by this factor is as high as 119 which is 95.25 of maximum possible value. This reflects volumes of the grimness of this factor in labour absenteeism in Aligarh Lock industry. 9.9 Alcoholism The social-evil alcoholism is also responsible for labour absenteeism in any industry. In case of developing country like India characterised by huge population with higher rates of poverty and illiteracy, this factor assumes even greater significance. We can see from above responses that 36% each of the responding managers either strongly agree or agree to alcoholism being a crucial factor behind a worker finding it difficult to attend the workplace on regular basis. As a result the value of this factor comes out to be 101 which is a high 80.8 5 of maximum achievable value. 9.10 Poor working conditions Poor working conditions may also result in a distaste getting developed among the workers towards their work place and they may start developing strategies to avoid it. The same was investigated and the analysis of the responses is being presented below in a tabular form. Table-10 Alcoholism No. of Value of Response Responses %age Responses %age Strongly agree (5) 09 36% 45 % Agree (4) 09 36% 36 35.6% Neutral (3) 06 24% 18 17.8% Disagree (2) 01 04% 02 1.98% Strongly disagree (1) 00 00 00 00 25 100% 101 100% Table-11 Poor working conditions No. of Value of Response Responses %age Responses %age Strongly agree (5) 03 12% 15 20.27% Agree (4) 03 12% 12 16.21% Neutral (3) 09 36% 27 36.48% Disagree (2) 10 40% 20 27.04% Strongly disagree (1) 00 00 00 00 25 100% 74 100%
Poor working conditions seem to have a lesser impact on labour absenteeism in comparison to other factors. Only 12% responding managers strongly agree to poor working conditions being a reason behind labour absenteeism. Another 12% agree to it. Very high 40% are disagreeing to it. As a result the value achieved by this factor is 74 which is not very high in comparison to values of other factors. 9.11 Tiring work schedule The tiring work schedule results in fatigue among the workers and they may find it difficult to regularly attend the work place. The easy and enjoyable work schedule motivates the healthy presence of workers on their work place. The responses collected in this regard are recorded below in the table. Table-12 Tiring work schedule No. of Value of Response Responses %age Responses %age Strongly agree (5) 04 16% 20 23.80% Agree (4) 04 16% 16 19.04% Neutral (3) 09 36% 36 42.85% Disagree (2) 04 16% 08 9.52% Strongly disagree (1) 04 16% 04 4.76% 25 100% 84 100% It reflects from above table that 16% each of the responding managers either strongly agree or agree that tiring work schedule is behind labour absenteeism in the Aligarh Lock industry. Similar 16% strongly disagree and 16% disagree to it. The overall value to this factor is 84 which is 9.10 Summary of the responses The summary of responses of various factors is shown below in the table. The same table is reconstructed on the basis of decreasing values of the responses. Table-13 Values of responses as in the order of Questionnaire The responses based on various factors S.No Factor Actual value of Maximum %age responses value 1 Insincerity 87 125 69.6% 2 Health issues 122 125 97.6% 3 Predominant casual nature 73 125 58.4% 4 Poor relations with fellow 60 125 48% worker 5 Need to raise additional income 113 125 90.4% 6 Lack of awareness 32 125 25.6% 7. Poor relations with supervisors 69 125 55.2% 8. Family issues 119 125 95.2% 9. Alcoholism 101 125 80.8% 10. Poor working conditions 74 125 59.2% 11. Tiring work schedule resulting 84 125 67.2% in fatigue
Table-14 Descending order of value of responses to various factors The responses based on various factors S.No. Factor Actual value of Maximum %age responses value 1 Health issue 122 125 97.6% 2 Family issue 119 125 95.2% 3 Need to raise additional income 113 125 90.4% 4 Alcoholism 101 125 80.8% 5 Insincerity 87 125 69.6% 6 Tiring work schedule resulting in 84 125 67.2% fatigue 7. Poor working conditions 74 125 59.2% 8. Predominant casual nature 73 125 58.4% 9. Poor relation with supervisor 69 125 55.2% 10. Poor relation with fellow worker 60 125 48% 11. Lack of awareness 32 125 25.6%
9.11 Conclusion We can thus see that ample support can be drawn in support of accepting the hypothesis of the study- The factors responsible for employee absenteeism in Aligarh lock industry are a mix of both social and economical nature. Low income and need for additional income as well as some other social and habitual factors are responsible for labour absenteeism in Aligarh Lock industry.’’ Health and family issues are the top most personal factors responsible for labour absenteeism in Aligarh lock industry with both scoring very high on the value of grimness of various factors. On a scale of maximum 125, they both have scored 97.6% and 97.5% respectively. As has been stated in the hypothesis that social and economical both factors are responsible for labour absenteeism in Aligarh lock industry, we find that close to these two factors of health and family issues, there is a factor need to raise additional income with a reasonable high grimness value of 113. As expected, poverty leads to some socially evil habits developing among the person; we see that alcoholism is the fourth top most factors behind labour absenteeism in Aligarh Lock industry. It has a value of 101whre maximum value can be 125.
Insincerity is the next factor in the series. Alcoholic person develops insincerity in his approach towards life and this may be the reason behind insincerity figuring at number 5 among the factors selected for this study. The encouraging facts are however the relations with the supervisors and fellow workers are the factors having the least values toward the end of the table. The relation with supervisors as a factor responsible for labour absenteeism is having a value of 69 whereas same in case of relationship among workers is just 60 on a scale of maximum possible value of 125. Still, we need to reduce these values as the overall harmonious relations are not only a key to success of an organisation but also checking the labour absenteeism problem. Lack of awareness among workers is the least cited reason behind labour absenteeism in Aligarh lock industry by most of the respondents. It scored just 32 on a maximum possible score value of 125. Tiring work schedule, poor working conditions and predominant casual nature of workers are the factors with values 84, 74 and 73 respectively are lying moderately at sixth, seventh and eight places.
In a nutshell, it can be thus concluded that labour absenteeism in Aligarh lock industry is a mix of complex socio – economic factors. Health and family issues coupled with the poverty are responsible for labour absenteeism in Aligarh Lock industry; adequate earnings to the workers can answer many such problems.
Provision of health services can help improving the situation. Some kind of counselling is needed to be offered to workers engaged in alcoholism. With overall relations among workers and supervisors not so dominant a factor as far as the problem of labour absenteeism in Aligarh Lock industry is concerned, there is a ray of scope by further improving this relationship and channelizing it as a means to counter labour absenteeism in this industry.
References
1. Isiaka sulu babaita, ISSN 2006-6473, 2008, the effect and measurement of workplace absenteeism in banking industry 2. Betty Jane Punnett, Priscilla Glidden, Dion Greenidge (March 6, 2008), National Initiative for Service Excellence (NISE), Report on absenteeism Barbados 3. Upekha Tammita, B. M. D. Seedevi, D. G. T. S. Jayarathne, Aruna Welianga, Human Resource Management Journal, Volume 1, No 1, 2010, A Study on Employees Absenteeism in apparel industry 4. Stavros A. Drakopoulos and Aikaterini Grimani (May 2011), MPRA PAPER NO. 30990, University of Athens, The relationship between absence from work and job satisfaction: Greece and UK comparisons 5.Josiane evans (2011), Norwegian university of science and technology, absenteeism a complex problem 6. The International Journal of Engineering and Science (IJES), ISSN 2319-1813, ISBN 2319-1805, Volume 1, Issue 1, 2012, Employee Absenteeism: A Study at Titan Industry Limited, Bangalore 7. C.Swarnalatha and G.Sureshkrishna (Jan 2013), Tactful Management Research Journal ISSN 2319-7943, Volume 1, Issue 4 , Absenteeism-a menace to organisation in building job satisfaction among employees in automotive industries in India: 8. Barkha Gupta,International Journal of Engineering and Management Research- Volume-3, Issue-6, December-2013, ISSN No. 2250-0758, Employee Absenteeism Barrier for Retail Sector Organisation Success: 9. Onikoyi Idris Adegboyega, British Journal of Marketing Studies, Volume 3, March 2013, A Case Study of Cadbury, Effect of absenteeism on corporate performance: 10. Society for Human Resource Management, executive summary on total financial impact of employee absence in US, August, 2014, 11. Shoaib Mohammed, International Journal of Scientific Research and Reviews, ISSN 2279-0543, 2015, Identification of Factors Associated with Employee Absenteeism:“A Lock Industry Case”
BIG DATA : INTRODUCTION TO FUTURE TECHNOLOGY Anshul Sharma, Vikas Solanki, Humaira Jafri
Big data is a recent & growing area. This term is used for large data set which is so complex and large due to which it is very difficult and inefficient to analyse using traditional data processing techniques. In other word, big data is a huge amount of data, includes both structured and unstructured data, used for business purpose on daily basis. According to the American IT research and advisory firm Gartner Inc., Big data is high volume, high velocity and/or high variety information that demand cost effective, innovative form of information processing which enable enhanced insight, decision making, and processing automation. Over the last decade, there has been an incredible explosion of data in every sector. There are various source of data explosion includes stock exchange for example New York exchange generate more than 1 Terabyte data per day, word wide approximately 5 billion Smartphones in use, YouTube users upload more than 48 hours video per minute, Social Networks like twitter and facebook generate 10 terabyte of data per day. It is estimated that 90% of world’s data are generated in last two years in which approximately 12 % are structured and 88% are unstructured that is very difficult to handle. Therefore big data is needed to analyse and integrate enterprises large data sets irrespective of data types. A big data source includes web logs, social media, internet text, search index data, astronomy, biomedical, scientific search, military surveillance etc.
Figure 1 gives real picture of evaluation of big data where data size and complexity mapped against computing timeline.
Figure 1.1: Evolution of Big Data [4]
* Department of Computer Science Engineering, Mangalayatan University, Beswan, Aligarh
Big Data can be described by three characteristics variety, velocity and volume. Variety denotes complexity of data that can be structured and unstructured, velocity manages data streaming moving through network continuously and volume denotes managing of data scaling ranging from terabyte to zettabyte.
Big data technology helps to respond the Big Data characteristics. On basis on this, three characteristics of Big Data technology are; first it helps to process high volume of data second it helps to respond high velocity of data and third analyse high variety of data and handle node failure. Figure 1.2 shows the capabilities of Big Data technologies.
Figure 1.2: Capability of Big data technologies [4]
Emerging technology for Big Data includes Hadoop, MapReduce, Hive, Pig, Spark, MangoDB, SkyTree, WibiData etc.
The Apache Hadoop software library is a framework that allows for the distributed processing of large data sets across clusters of computers using simple programming models. It is designed to scale up from single servers to thousands of machines, each offering local computation and storage. Rather than rely on hardware to deliver high-availability, the library itself is designed to detect and handle failures at the application layer, so delivering a highly available service on top of a cluster of computers, each of which may be prone to failures.
MapReduce is the heart of Hadoop. It is a programming paradigm that allows for massive scalability across hundreds or thousands of servers in a Hadoop cluster. The MapReduce concept is fairly simple to understand for those who are familiar with clustered scale-out data processing solutions. The term MapReduce actually refers to two separate and distinct tasks that Hadoop programs perform. The first is the map job, which takes a set of data and converts it into another set of data, where individual elements are broken down into tuples (key/value pairs). The reduce job takes the output from a map as input and combines those data tuples into a smaller set of tuples. As the sequence of the name MapReduce implies, the reduce job is always performed after the map job.
The Apache Hive data warehouse software facilitates reading, writing, and managing large datasets residing in distributed storage using SQL. Structure can be projected onto data already in storage. A command line tool and JDBC driver are provided to connect users to Hive.
Apache Pig is a platform for analyzing large data sets that consists of a high-level language for expressing data analysis programs, coupled with infrastructure for evaluating these programs. The salient property of Pig programs is that their structure is amenable to substantial parallelization, which in turns enables them to handle very large data sets.
Apache Spark is a fast and general-purpose cluster computing system. It provides high-level APIs in Java, Scala, Python and R, and an optimized engine that supports general execution graphs. It also supports a rich set of higher-level tools including Spark SQL for SQL and structured data processing, MLlib for machine learning, GraphX for graph processing, and Spark Streaming.
MongoDB is a free and open-source cross-platform document-oriented database. Classified as a NoSQL database, MongoDB avoids the traditional table-based relational database structure in favor of JSON-like documents with dynamic schemas, making the integration of data in certain types of applications easier and faster. As of July 2015, MongoDB is the fourth most popular type of database management system, and the most popular for document stores.
References: [1]. Xindong Wu, Xingquan Zhu, Gong-Qing Wu, and Wei Ding, “Data Mining with Big Data” IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON KNOWLEDGE AND DATA ENGINEERING, VOL. 26, NO. 1, JANUARY 2014 [2]. Dave Jewell, Ricardo Dobelin Barros, Stefan Diederichs, “Performance and Capacity Implications for Big Data” [3]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILkx6157ffc [4]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILkx6157ffc&list=PLEiEAq2VkUUIzgSAfr976_61 nKmK-Uu5S&index=2 [5]. http://hadoop.apache.org/ [6]. https://www-01.ibm.com/software/data/infosphere/hadoop/mapreduce/ [7]. https://hive.apache.org/ [8]. https://pig.apache.org/ [9]. http://spark.apache.org/ [10]. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MongoDB
MAINTENANCE OF INTERNATIONAL PEACE AND
SECURITY : CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY
Dr. Haider Ali* Introduction: The maintenance of International peace and security represents the primary purpose behind the establishment of United Nations. The violation of human rights loss of lives of millions of innocent people and unprecedented devastation caused. During the Second World War were fresh in the minds of the organizer of the United Nations. It’s a prerequisite to any other purpose of the united nations without it no friendly relations; no international cooperation and no harmonization of nations actions could be achieved. Because of the importance of International peace and security, the founders of the United Nations insisted on it. The theme “we are going to create a collective security system, and this time we are going to make it work, “dominated the entire process of planning and formulating the united nation charter.2 The charter provided a system of the pacific settlement or adjustment of disputes and the use of collective measures in threat to or breaches of peace and acts of aggression. The establishment of the United Nations the very first purpose of the United Nations could not but be “to maintain International peace and security and to that end.” To take removal of threats to the peace and for the suppression of acts of aggression or other breaches of the peace and to bring about by peaceful means and in conformity with the principles of justice and International Law. Adjustment or settlement of International disputes or situations which might lead to a breach of the peace.” Thus, the purpose of the United Nations Organization is to maintain world peace. The provisions relating to International peace and security are studded throughout the charter. They find mention in preamble, purposes, and principles and may other concrete provisions of the charter. In order to ensure prompt and effective action by the United Nations members have conferred on the Security Council the primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security and agree that in carrying out its duties under this responsibility the Security Council acts on their behalf.3
“An Agenda for peace” to discuss the role of different principal organs of the United Nations and other agencies for the maintenance of international peace and security. In this regard the role of Security Council, general and regional arrangements or agencies deserves a special mention here.4
Firstly, which provide seeking peaceful settlement or adjustment of disputes and situation by peaceful means listed in the charter. Secondly taking collective actions / measures of a coercive nature for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace and after the suppression of acts of aggression and other breaches of the peace. Through these two methods delineated in chapter VIth of the United Nations charter entitled “Pacific settlement of Disputes” and chapter VIIth entitled ‘Action with respect to threats to the peace, Breaches of the peace and Acts of Aggression of the charter’.
* Assistant Professor Mangalayatan University, Beswan, Aligarh.
2 UNS Basic Facts About The UNS, Chapter 2, UN, New York 2004. 3 Art. 24 of the United Nations Chapter. 4 Francis o. Wilcox, “collective security and insecurity, global and regional” Proc. ASIL, April24,261969,p.54.
The principles of International law enunciated in the Nuremberg trial have brought about a revolutionary change in the laws of war in general and war crimes particular. The principles of international law enunciated in the Nuremberg judgment have been summarized in the report of international law commission in its second session in 1950. The Nuremberg trial classified the crime punishable under International law in to three categories. Crime Against peace, War Crimes and Crime against Humanity.
Crimes Against Humanity:
The term crimes against humanity have come to mean anything atrocious committed on a large scale. This is not, however, the original meaning nor the technical one. The term originated in the 1907 Hague Convention preamble, which codified the customary law of armed conflict? This codification was based on existing State practices that derived from those values and principles deemed to constitute the “laws of humanity,” as reflected throughout history in different cultures.
After World War I, the Allies, in connection with the Treaty of Versailles, established in 1919 a commission to investigate war crimes that relied on the 1907 Hague Convention as the applicable law. In addition to war crimes committed by the Germans, the commission also found that Turkish officials committed “crimes against the laws of humanity” for killing Armenian nationals and residents during the period of the war. The United States and Japan strongly opposed the criminalization of such conduct on the grounds that crimes against the laws of humanity were violations of moral and not positive law. 5
In 1945, the United States and other Allies developed the Agreement for the Prosecution and Punishment of the Major War Criminals of the European Axis and Charter of the International Military Tribunal (IMT), sitting at Nuremberg, which contained the following definition of crimes against humanity.6
“Crimes against humanity: murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation, and other inhumane acts committed against civilian populations, before or during the war; or persecutions on political, racial or religious grounds in execution of or in connection with any crime within the jurisdiction of the Tribunal, whether or not in violation of the domestic law of the country where perpetrated.”
The Nuremberg Charter represents the first time that crimes against humanity were established in positive international law. However, there has been no specialized international convention since then on crimes against humanity. Still, that category of crimes has been included in the statutes of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), as well as in the statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC). In fact, there are eleven international texts defining crimes against humanity, but they all differ slightly as to their definition of that crime and its legal elements. However, what all of these definitions have in common is: firstly they refer to specific acts of violence against persons irrespective of whether the person is a national or non-national and irrespective of whether these acts are committed in time of war or time of peace, and secondly these acts must be the product of persecution against an identifiable group of persons irrespective of the make- up of that group or the purpose of the persecution. Such a policy can also be manifested by the
5 G.Schwarzenberger,The Frontiers of internationallaw,p.187.
6 Article 6(c), United Nations Charter. 1945.
“widespread or systematic” conduct of the perpetrators, which results in the commission of the specific crimes contained in the definition.
The list of the specific crimes contained within the meaning of crimes against humanity has been expanded since Article 6(c) of the IMT to include, in the ICTY and the ICTR, rape and torture. The statute of the ICC also expands the list of specific acts. In particular, the ICC statute adds the crimes of enforced disappearance of persons and apartheid. Further, the ICC statutes contain clarifying language with respect to the specific crimes of extermination, enslavement, deportation or forcible transfer of population, torture, and forced pregnancy.
To some extent, crimes against humanity overlap with genocide and war crimes. But crimes against humanity are distinguishable6 from genocide in that they do not require an intent to “destroy in whole or in part,” as cited in the 1948 Genocide Convention, but only target a given group and carry out a policy of “widespread or systematic” violations. Crimes against humanity are also distinguishable from war crimes in that they not only apply in the context of war—they apply in times of war and peace.7
CONCLUSION: After World War I, the Allies, in connection with the Treaty of Versailles, established in 1919 a commission to investigate war crimes that relied on the 1907 Hague Convention as the applicable law. In addition to war crimes committed by the Germans, the commission also found that Turkish officials committed “crimes against the laws of humanity” for killing Armenian nationals and residents during the period of the war. The United States and Japan strongly opposed the criminalization of such conduct on the grounds that crimes against the laws of humanity were violations of moral and not positive law. In 1945, the United States and other Allies developed the Agreement for the Prosecution and Punishment of the Major War Criminals of the European Axis and Charter of the International Military Tribunal. (IMT)
“Crimes against humanity: murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation, and other inhumane acts committed against civilian populations, before or during the war; or persecutions on political, racial or religious grounds in execution of or in connection with any crime within the jurisdiction of the Tribunal, whether or not in violation of the domestic law of the country where perpetrated.”
The Nuremberg charter described crimes against humanity as the crimes such as murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation and other in humane acts committed against any civilian population, before or during the war or persecutions on political, racial, or religious grounds in execution of or in connection with any crime within the jurisdiction of the tribunal whether or not in violation of the domestic law of the country where perpetrated.
Leaders, organizers, investigators and accomplices, participating in the formulation or execution of a common plan or conspiracy to commit any of the foregoing crimes are responsible for all acts performed by any persons in execution of such plan.
Abbreviations used: IMT International Military Tribunal. ICTY: International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. ICTR: International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. ICC: International Criminal Court.
7 United Nation Chronicles, Vol. 25, no. 01, March 1988, p.91.
RESEARCH ARTICLE ON THERMAL PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF EVACUATED TUBES SOLAR AIR COLLECTOR
Ashish Kumar, Assistant Professor
(A) Abstract:- The thermal performance of one-ended evacuated tubes solar collector is experimentally investigated. The collector consists of fifteen evacuated tubes with different length of directional inner aluminium tubes and manifold channel with air used as a working fluid. The inlet air flows through the directional inner aluminium tubes as a result of forced convection. In this experiment evacuated tubes are used for producing hot air corresponding to different length of directional aluminium tubes. The manifold channel consists of a hollow pipe (square) in the centre through which air flow. The temperature of outlet air depends upon the air flow rate, length of directional aluminium tube and solar intensity.
(B) Introduction:- Now days the demand of conventional resources of energy is very high and these resources are continuously depleting day by day, hence the development of renewable energy technology is important for the future to balance global energy resources. For many years the evacuated tube has been used to heat the water but they have never been used for the generation of hot air. One-ended glass evacuated tubes are widely used and popular in the world because of their better performance and it is noticed that the performance of flat plate collector is lower than evacuated tube solar collectors for high temperature operation.
(C) Method:- In this experimental setup the thermal performance of evacuated tube solar air collector is investigated with different length of directional inner aluminium tubes. The photograph of the experimental setup is shown in the figure 1.
Figure 1 Experimental setup of evacuated tube solar air collector
The experimental setup consist of fifteen glass evacuated tubes, the length and diameter of outer glass tube and absorber tube being 1.5 m, 0.047 m and 0.037 m respectively. The open ends of evacuated tubes are connected to the manifold channel. Manifold channel 1.16 m in length consists of square pipe at the centre of manifold channel. Blower with regulator is used to blow the air in the evacuated tubes and to vary the air flow rates.
* Department of Mechanical Engineering, Mangalayatan University, Aligarh
The experimental setup consists following parts:
Evacuated tubes Manifold channel
Evacuated tubes The evacuated tubes used in this system are shown in figure 2(a) and 2(b). Each evacuated tube consist two concentric glass tubes which are made from borosilicate glass and between two tubes there is vacuum. The outer tube is transparent for minimum reflection and the inner tube is coated with a coating (Al-N/Al) for better absorption of solar radiation.
Figure 2 (a) and 2 (b) Illustration of glass evacuated tube
Manifold channel
The manifold channel used in this system is shown in figure 3. It consist a two square pipes one is outer square pipe made of stainless steel and other is inner square pipe made of mild steel. At the surface of outer square pipe, a polyurethane insulation is used to prevent the heat transfer from manifold channel to atmosphere. The inner square pipe is centrally passed through outer square pipe with end closed. The fifteen holes are made on the surface of the outer square pipe in which the open ends of the evacuated tubes are attached and closed ends are supported by the frame. The directional inner aluminium tubes are inbuilt with the inner square and are placed inside the evacuated tubes. It gives the direction to flow the air into evacuated tubes.
Figure 3 Schematic diagram and photograph of manifold channel with directional aluminium tubes
Measuring device and instruments
Different parameter is measured in this study; these include: Inlet and outlet air temperatures Solar intensity Air flow rate These parameters are measured by following devices: RTD PT-100 with thermocouples is used for measuring the inlet and outlet temperature of air. It has a digital display indicator that gives temperature resolution of 0.1°C. Pyranometer with digital display unit is used to measure the solar radiation intensity. Anemometer is used to measure the velocity at outlet of air with the resolution of 0.1 m/s. System operation The schematic diagram of evacuated tube solar air collector is shown in figure 4. In this operation the inlet air is allow it to pass through the inner square pipe with one end closed. This inlet air flow through the circular directional aluminium tubes into the evacuated tubes where it gains heat due to the solar radiations and heat up and then it exits out from the outer square pipe of the manifold channel. The aluminium tube having diameter 0.01 m and length 0.83 m. The purpose of the aluminium tube is to separate out the hot air from the incoming cold air and to ease up the process of heat gain through the evacuated tubes.
Figure 4 Schematic diagram of evacuated tube solar air collector
(D) Results: - In this experimental setup, the main concern is the heating of air at different air flow rate. The experiments were carried out during the month of January, i.e. winter like conditions, at days where the sky was almost clear with some clouds scattered here and there. During which the atmospheric temperature varies from 13°C to 26°C in most of the days, but reaches up to a maximum value of 27°C. The experiments were carried out from 09:30 to 04:30 hr.
Three cases have been taken for various results:-
Case 1: Evacuated tube with manifold channel at directional inner aluminium tubes of length 0.83 m. Case 2: Evacuated tube with manifold channel at directional inner aluminium tubes of length 0.415 m.
Case 3: Evacuated tube with manifold channel without directional inner aluminium tubes.
(i) It can be found that the maximum temperature difference is attained at length of 0.83 m of directional aluminium inner tubes at flow rate of 5.06 Kg/hr. The maximum temperature difference is found to be 72.7°C.
Variation of temperature difference and solar intensity through the day at a flow rate of 5.06 kg/hr.
(ii) The maximum efficiency is found to be 0.16 at flow rate of 10.13 Kg/hr with length of 0.83 m.
Variation of efficiency and solar intensity through the day at a flow rate of 10.13 kg/hr.
(iii) It can be found that the efficiency and temperature differences increase with length of aluminium tubes.
QUALITY IMPROVEMENT IN HIGHER EDUCATION Dr. Sachin kumar Assistant Professor Ms.Deepshikha Saxena
Abstract One of the most important roles of institutions of higher education is to serve as well springs of innovation and creativity. But if we expect institutions to play this important role in society and the economy, then mechanisms are needed to evaluate the extent to which they are achieving this purpose. Indeed, at the recent Barcelona Conference on Higher Education , an important theme that emerged is the need for accreditation systems that value and promote innovation in higher education. The traditional standard- based view of accreditation has been criticized as stifling innovation, but the lack of incentive to innovate remains even with the more modern and liberal fitness-for-purpose based approach to accreditation. While the fitness-for-purpose approach accommodates more variety in approaches to higher education ,it still does not directly measure and reward innovation and creativity in higher education. A mechanism is needed to assess the extent to which the environment at an institution fosters innovation. Good theories of what constitutes such an environment can be found in the large body of literature on entrepreneurship. This paper outlines theories on the entrepreneur mind set as driver in new knowledge creation and innovation, shows how they can be mapped to an academic setting, and provides a number of case studies of universities, colleges, and research agencies where these concepts have been successfully applied.
Changing Perspective of Higher Education The teacher is like a gardener who tends to the flowers (Students) , prunes and shapes them into marketable products .In a relatively static society , where the technologies and market are stable for sufficient periods of time , the gardener metaphor was a valid one But in a rapidly changing society s, the teacher and student are both explorers . The skills sets required are a solid grounding in basic skills that provide the capabilities to adopt to change. The teacher then is more like the leader of an expedition who ensures that students are trained in basic climbing skills and handling equipment .The teacher and students are then partners in learning process. The fitness-for-purpose approach accommodates more variety in approaches to higher education. And evaluation criteria of agencies using this approach generally also look at quality improvement mechanisms in academic programs, as in point (d) of the ABET criteria above. But the criteria do not directly measure and reward innovation and creativity in higher education institutions. An approach is needed to assess the extent to which the environment at an institution fosters innovation. While good theories of the key components of such an environment can be found in the large body of literature on entrepreneurship and innovation in business, no work has yet explored how to map these to an academic environment. There does exist a growing body of literature on Intellectual Entrepreneurship, but the emphasis there is on training entrepreneurs, commercialization of intellectual property, and technology transfer, rather than on applying concepts of entrepreneurship to the management ofinstitutions of higher education. The remainder of this paper outlines theories on the entrepreneurial mindset as driver in new knowledge creation and innovation, shows how they can be mapped to an academic setting, and provides a number of case studies of universities, colleges, and research agencies where these concepts have been successfully applied. * Asstt. Professor (Institute of Education & Research) Mangalayatan University , Beswan, Aligarh.
Parameters for Quality Education i. Educational reforms and ability to adopt a sincere work culture . ii. Recruitment of teaching position strictly on merit by open competition on all India basis . iii. Orientation program me is must for the newly recruited teachers , so that he / she can get exposed to field of educational technology. iv. Creation of innovation to develop enterprising minds among students v. Keeping institution free from political interference . vi. Job oriented curricula that focus on academics and experimental . vii. Effective institutional management and alumni relations . viii. Creating and offering faculties to faculty exchange programme. ix. Networking with other universities , sharing of resources and expertise. x. The administration of the universities should be from academic streams as for as possible.
Quality Assessment in Higher Education There are five different levels at which the issue of the quality in dealt with. i. At the national level, University Grants Commission is responsible for the co-ordination and maintenance of standards of higher education. ii. At the institutional level colleges and the university departments make attempts to deliver quality education .There is an arrangement for the performance evaluation to teachers in the institutions .iii. At the provincial level, the state Government needs to monitor the quality trough the process of accountability of the university to the state Government . iv. It is the responsibility of affiliating university to assure the quality of education in colleges and post – graduate departments of the university. v. For various technical and professional disciplines various Professional Councils have been entrusted with the responsibility to maintain strandards of higher education.
Entrepreneurship and Innovation constructs Entrepreneurs distinguish themselves through their ability to accumulate and manage knowledge, as well as their ability to mobilize resources to achieve a specific business or social goals [9]. Personal characteristics required, include leadership, decisiveness, and competitiveness. Important factors in personal style include will power, and self-discipline, comfort with the planning process, and working with others (SBA, US). Richard Branson, billionaire founder of Virgin Records and Virgin Atlantic airlines, better known for his efforts to circle the globe in a hot-air balloon than for his business successes, suggested that
"Being an adventurer and an entrepreneur are similar… You’re willing to go where most people won’t dare." Still, entrepreneurs are also skilful at knowing which risks are worth taking. Successful entrepreneurs recognize an opportunity while it is still taking shape. An opportunity is a favourable juncture of circumstances with a good chance for success or progress. Opportunities emerge ecause there are changing circumstances, inconsistencies, chaos, lags, or leads, information gaps, and a variety of other vacuums, and because there are entrepreneurs who can recognize and seize them [10]. These empty spaces frequently relate to the prospective entrepreneur's current profession or interests, where he or she perceives • some business or geographic "niche" that is being underserved, • an attractive new service or improvement of an existing service, or • a process that can be more efficiently performed.
The process of creating or seizing an opportunity is less the result of a deliberate search than it is a mindset of maintaining a form of vigilance that is sensitized to business opportunity. The entrepreneur is often quite different in mindset from a manager, who is generally charged with using existing resources to make an existing business run well. The roles of entrepreneur and manager are not necessarily incompatible, but entrepreneurs are seldom patient enough to be good managers. This entrepreneurial mindset is formed through a living experience, meaningful only when learning is rooted in real life. Entrepreneurship is generally characterized by some type of innovation, a significant investment, and a strategy that values expansion. However, while Peter F. Drucker [11] suggested that innovation "is the specific instrument of entrepreneurship", Joseph Schumpeter [12] thought that the embodiment of new knowledge in the innovation process is the core function of entrepreneurship. Consequently, entrepreneurship is more an attitude than a skill or a profession. There is a difference between learning how to be, and succeeding as an entrepreneur. "When a person earns a degree in physics, he becomes a physicist," says Morton Kamien, a professor of entrepreneurship at North western University. "But if you were to earn a degree in entrepreneurship, that wouldn't make you an entrepreneur." The concepts of entrepreneurship cannot be absorbed passively, because they are based on the power of observation and critical thinking.
Entrepreneurship and Accreditation A university that wants to become entrepreneurial must transform itself from an institution of research and teaching to become a place where entrepreneurship is nurtured and innovation created. Entrepreneurial universities enable all members of the academic community to apply new knowledge in action rather than controlling teaching, learning, and other processes. An entrepreneurial environment is one that encourages open dialogue and debate, that welcomes change, that encourages people to take calculated risks, that is tolerant of failure, and that focuses more on the long-term sprocess of moving the organization forward rather than on short-term outcomes. For accreditation systems to evaluate the degree to which institutions foster innovation, they must measure these factors. This can be done in terms of evaluating processes and evaluating outcomes. There has been a strong trend recently toward the use of outcome evaluation in accreditation, particularly in terms of measuring student outcomes. While outcomes of innovation such as introduction of new interdisciplinary programs, new pedagogical techniques, new modes of collaboration with industry, and new approaches to administration can be taken as evidence of the presence of an innovative environment, emphasis must be placed on evaluating the structure and processes to foster innovation.
National Assessment and Accreditation Council Impact of (National Assessment and Accreditation Council) NAAC I. Generated more interest and concerns about Quality Assurance among the stake holders of Higher Education . Ii .Created better understanding of Quality Assurance among Higher Education Institutions. ii. Triggered Quality Assurance activities in many of the Higher Education Institutions. iv. Helped in creation of institutional database of the accredited institutions of Higher Education . v. Helped other funding and regulatory agencies to take some of their decisions based on the assessment outcomes. NAAC has identified the following seven criteria to serve as the basis of assessment procedures: i. Curricular Aspects. ii. Teaching- learning and Evaluation.
iii. Research , Consultancy and Extension . iv. Infrastructure and Learning Resources. v. Student Support and Progression. vi. Governance and Leadership. vii. Innovative practice. Principles of Best Practices in Higher Education There are seven principles of best practices in higher education namely i. They encourage contact between students and faculty : through communication technology –ICT. II. The develop reciprocity and cooperation among students : as no. 1 with colleagues – collaborating learning. iii. They use active learning techniques: tools and resources, time delayed exchange, real time conversation. iv. They give prompt feedback ; email, performances , critical observations. v. They emphasize task on time : attractive / motivating efficient , distance learning – busy schedule , access to learning opportunities. vi. They communicate high expectations : real life problems – set challenges , publishing. vii. They respect diverse talent and ways of learning can be enhanced with technology. Hence , best practice in higher education requires incorporation of technology.
The Use of ICT On and Off Campus Education Learning Information and Communication Technology are useful in education and learning especially for overall costs and improving quality of the learning experiences both on and off campus . As of now ubiquitous availability of new ICTs such as mart cell phones and Internet connected tablet computers even in rural area is major paradigm shift. Yet, many of these Institutions especially in the south have found it difficult to leverage ICTs in their activities . These Institutions are finding it difficult to invest in necessary infrastructure , software , hardware , skills connectivity and content and use ICTs to cater to learners who are not or can not attend on campus and access potential learning opportunities . This failure to use ICTs primarily because of lack of policy support and investment from the state, preempts the wider role of education institutions in enabling rapid development of knowledge based activities especially by the youth and women engaged in vocations . The state now has additional cross-sectorial role across its urban and rural development and telecommunications sector and for in which it may not have the necessary experience and wherewithal to execute.
Conclusion A number of measures have been taken for quality improvement in higher education which includes the development of infrastructure , curriculum, human resources , research and extension and establishment of centers excellence , interdisciplinary and inter institutional centers . Beside regulatory measures have also been taken to bring out structural reformation to ensure quality in higher education . In spite of all all these efforts , the Indian higher education could not climb the quality ladder in totally so far .This situation is not for want of any recommendations or policy decisions. Notwithstanding the fact that quality is always relative in nature and there is always a scope for its improvement if we have positive thinking and proper sprit . Our positive energies now could have been speared for some other issues have to achieve quality . Discipline and continuous practice of teaching and research has received consideration among academics and policy makers. This needs to engrave confidence in our teaching , research and extension for the generation of new knowledge of technology in higher education. Institutions of higher education should serve as centres of innovation and creativity. If they are expected to play this important role in
society and the economy, then mechanisms are needed to evaluate the extent to which they are achieving this purpose. To do this we need first to define what we mean by quality in the context of innovation. The literature on entrepreneurship and innovation in business contains good theories of what constitutes a high quality innovative environment. We have illustrated how these concepts can be applied in the context of higher education by providing a few diverse examples. It remains to fully develop the concept of entrepreneurship in higher education and apply it in systems of accreditation.
References 1. Higher Education in the World 2007, Accreditation for Quality Assurance: What is at Stake?, Palgrave, 2007. 2. B. Singhal and M. Martin. Quality assurance and the role of accreditation: An overview, In [1], pp 3-17. 3. H. van Ginkel and M.A.R. Dias. Institutional and political challenges for accreditation at the international level, In [1], pp 37-57. 4. C. Adelman in B. Clark and G. Neave (eds), The Encyclopedia of Higher Education, vol. 2, Analytica Perspectives – Accreditation. 5. M. Leonard. Engineering School Accreditation in the United States of America: From Analysis of Curriculum Content to Assessment of Program Objectives and Outcomes – an American Experience and its Worldwide Applications, Invited talk, Asian Institute of Technology, December 2006. 6. K. Ramananthan. Universities as Facilitators of Courageous Acts of Intellectual Entrepreneurship, In Knowledge café for Intellectual Entrepreneurship and Courage to Act, S. Kwiatkowski and N. M. Sharif (eds), Warsaw 2005. 7. No More Boring Science, Science, Aug 11, 2006. 8. E. Guizzo, The Olin Experiment. IEEE Spectrum Online, May 2006. 9. W. Kuemmerle, Home Base and Knowledge Management in International Ventures, Journal of Business Venturing 17, pp 99-122, 2002. 10. J.B. Vinturella, The Entrepreneur's Fieldbook, Prentice Hall, 1998. 11. P.F. Drucker. Innovation and Entrepreneurship, New York: Harper Collins, 1993. 12. J.A. Schumpeter. The Theory of Economic Deve1opment, Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 1934. 13. ABET, Criteria for Accrediting Engineering Programs, March 17, 2007. 14. The Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, Institutional Accreditation: An Overview, 2003. 15. Olin College, Invention 2000, http://www.olin.edu/about_olin/invention2kf.asp 16. Arya P.P.(2006) Higher Education and Global Challenges . System and Opportunities . Deep and Deep Publication pvt. New Delhi. 17. Achary,Sharma , Ram ,Shree ,Pt, Shiksha Evaw Vidya , Vagyamaya, Akhand Jyoti Sansthan , Mathura. 18. S.V. Shah , The policy and Programmes of life long learning in India. 19. Mandal S. (2014) Life long learning in Indian higher education. . Rao,D.B.,(1997), Education for 21th Century ,Discovery Publishing House , New Delhi.
RESEARCH ARTICLE ON PROTON EXCHANGE MEMBRANE FUEL CELL
Piyush kumar
Introduction A fuel cell is like a battery in that it generates electricity from an electrochemical reaction. Both batteries and fuel cells convert chemical energy into electrical energy and also, as a by-product of this process, into heat. However, a battery holds a closed store of energy within it and once this is depleted the battery must be discarded, or recharged by using an external supply of electricity to drive the electrochemical reaction in the reverse direction. A fuel cell, on the other hand, uses an external supply of chemical energy and can run indefinitely, as long as it is supplied with a source of hydrogen and a source of oxygen (usually air). The source of hydrogen is generally referred to as the fuel and this gives the fuel cell its name, although there is no combustion involved. Oxidation of the hydrogen instead takes place electrochemically in a very efficient way. During oxidation, hydrogen atoms react with oxygen atoms to form water; in the process electrons are released and flow through an external circuit as an electric current. Fuel cells can vary from tiny devices producing only a few watts of electricity, right up to large power plants producing megawatts. All fuel cells are based around a central design using two electrodes separated by a solid or liquid electrolyte that carries electrically charged particles between them. A catalyst is often used to speed up the reactions at the electrodes. Fuel cell types are generally classified according to the nature of the electrolyte they use. Each type requires particular materials and fuels and is suitable for different applications. Reaction A stream of hydrogen is delivered to the anode side of the membrane electrode assembly (MEA). At the anode side it is catalytically split into protons and electrons. This oxidation half-cell reaction or hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR) is represented by:
H 2 2H 2e The newly formed protons permeate through the polymer electrolyte membrane to the cathode side. The electrons travel along an external load circuit to the cathode side of the MEA, thus creating the current output of the fuel cell. Meanwhile, a stream of oxygen is delivered to the cathode side of the MEA. At the cathode side oxygen molecules react with the protons permeating through the polymer electrolyte membrane and the electrons arriving through the external circuit to form water molecules. This reduction half-cell reaction or oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is represented by:
1 O2 2H 2e H 2O 2 Overall reaction 1 H 2 O2 H 2O 2 The reversible reaction is expressed in the above equation and shows the reincorporation of the hydrogen protons and electrons together with the oxygen molecule and the formation of one water molecule.
*Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Mangalayatan University
Proton transport mechanism:
In metals, proton transfer generally occurs betweenthe interstitial octahedral or tetrahedral sites, resultingin long-range proton transport, i.e. diffusion. However, in non-metallic environments, the proton mobility requiresnot only proton transfer reactions within the hydrogenbonds but also structural reorganization.
Construction Detail of Fuel Cell:
Figure: Schematic diagram of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC)
Membrane electrode assembly is typically sandwiched between two electronically conductive bipolar plates and it is composed of layered structure consisting of two electrode and one proton exchange membrane. The electrolyte of the PEMFC is a protonic conductive membrane made from polymer. This membrane provides a proton conductive zone to allow the proton to pass from the anode to cathode side.in addition, the membrane has to be impermeable to reactant gases in order to prevent direct oxidtion of the fuel. Gas diffusion layer (GDL) is usually fabricated from a porous carbon paper or caron cloth. The GDL porous structure ensure effective diffusion of each reactant from the flow channel to the catalyst layer. At the same time, GDL must be able to transport electron from the catalyst to the external circuit and from the external circuit to the cathode catalyst layer. Furthermore, they should assist water management inside the PEMFC. Catalyst layer is usually fabricated from Platinum Pt, it is supported on high surface area carbon black particle held together with binding agents, such as polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) or Nafion. The nature of PTFE also prevents flooding of the pores within the electrode. Carbon black are good electronic conductor and their porous structure ensures the pathway for reactant to the catalyst particle. The key constituent of a PEMFC is a denseproton-exchange membrane, which is responsible for protonmigration from the anode to the cathode. Hydrogenis catalytically oxidized in the anode to produce protons.The membrane is generally placed between two electrodes,i.e. between the anode and cathode. The protons thus producedcan migrate from the anode to cathode where theprotons react with oxygen to produce water and heat.
High temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cell Low temperature proton exchange membrane has somedisadvantages (like Carbon Monoxide poisoning, Heat Management, Water Leaching etc.) that may reduce the effectiveness of amembranein fuel cell applications. This drawback can be conqueredby adopting high temperature operation of the membrane.The need for a high temperature proton exchange membraneis a consequence of the following: I. CO catalyst poisoning: The carbon monoxide concentration affects the performance of a membrane at low temperatures. If the concentration of CO is excessive (∼10 ppm), it will strongly adsorb to the platinum (Pt) surface and poison the platinum electro-catalyst. Indeed, the adsorption of CO on Pt is associated with high negative entropy, implying that adsorption is favored at low temperatures, and disfavored at high temperatures. Therefore, the CO tolerance will increase with increasing temperature and is almost negligible at high temperatures (140 ◦C). II. Heat Management: During low temperature operation, the main disadvantage of PEMFCs is the cooling of a system. A PEMFC operating at 80 ◦C with an efficiency of 40–50% can produce a huge amount of heat that needs to be removed from the system to maintain the working temperature. The excess heat can be recovered as steam, which in turn can be used either for direct heating or steam reforming or for pressurized operations. In this way, the overall efficiency of the system under high temperature operations can be increased significantly, which is essential for transport applications. An increase in temperature also reduces the front area of radiators, which is very important for automobile applications. III. Direct Hydrogen: The temperature range of 100–200 ◦C is the primary requirement for hydrogen
desorption from a high-capacity H2 storage tank. Such a high-capacity H2 storage tank cannot be considered in low temperature circumstances. IV. Humidification: In low temperature scenarios, a high humidification environment is essential to reach pressurization. However, a high humidity atmosphere does not provide the resistance to impurities caused by fuel. Membranes that are capable of functioning at reduced humidity do not require pressurization and hence can be effective in resisting the damage caused by fuel impurities. High temperature operation does not require high humidity and the problems due to water management can be reduced effectively. V. Increase in diffusion rate: Interlayer diffusion enhances with increasing the temperature. In addition, at high temperature the evaporation of water molecule will lead to increase the exposed surface area, which will allow the reactants to diffuse into the reaction layer. PEMFCs operating at high temperatures are considered as one of the potential solution for the technical challenges faced during low temperature operation. The term ‘high temperature’ refers to the temperature range, 100–200 ◦C, which does not appear to be high in an engineering point of view. However, there are also some technical obstacles during high temperature treatment of polymerelectrolyte membranes. Polymer membranes are incapable of operating at high temperatures because water from themembrane evaporates out resulting in a loss of protonconductivity. Actually, HT- PEMFC operates withouthumidification which causes large Ohmic losses and inturn lowers the operating voltage, power, and efficiencyof membrane at a given current. As a result, dehydrationat higher temperatures could potentially offset theperformance of the membrane. High proton conductivityis essential for achieving a high power density in fuelcells. Dehydration of the membrane at high temperaturesmay lead to decrease the proton conductivity value andin the process performance of polymeric membranes getshampered. However, the susceptibility towards chemicaldegradation at elevated temperatures and the high cost ofthe membrane are also the determining factor in decidingthe performance of the membrane.
Adopted approaches for high temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cell Hydrophilic groups, i.e. inorganic materials can beincorporated into hydrophobic polymer membranes toenhance the binding capacity of the water. Watermolecules of amembrane can attach to the inorganic materialsthrough hydrogen bonding, and in that way water can be retained in the membrane. Theacid helps to keep the membrane hydrated and also playsa role in improving the proton density. Hence, the membraneshows reasonable performance in a fuel cell at hightemperatures.A second approach is the use of a non-aqueous, low volatile solvent by replacing water as the proton acceptorwithin the polymer membrane.The third approach is the use of a solid state protonic conductor. The major difference between the proposedapproach and the earlier ones is the medium of conduction.In this approach, the solid state material conducts protons,whereas in the earlier approaches, liquid solvents are themedium for carrying the protons.
Application of HT-PEMFC PEM fuel cell systems are currently used in differentapplications however, the end-uses can be classified in tothree main groups: a) Transportation (including niche applications, light dutymarkets and buses), b) Stationary (large and small applications), and c) Portable.
Future design concept of HT-PEFMC Various polymers were synthesized and tested for their proton conductivity, mechanical stability, electrode membrane interface connectivity, etc., aiming at improvement in membrane performance for high temperaturefuel cell applications. These efforts seem to continue withinsightful vision for commercialization the membrane as well as to reduce the cost of PEM at elevated temperature. The future design concept of HT-PEMFC will open up new promising avenues for further research and development in the following areas. a) Pore-filling electrolyte membranes:Pore-filling membrane concept can be applied tohigher- temperature PEMFCs using different substrates andfilling polymer materials having thermal and electrochemicaldurability. In addition, incorporation of an inorganicsubstrate makes it possible to further enhance the thermalstability and a thin fragile ceramic substrate can be used foran integrated membrane-electrode assembly system. b) Increasing catalytic activity:Platinum is by far the most effective element used forPEM fuel cell catalysts and nearly all current PEM fuel cellsutilize platinum on porous carbon to facilitate both hydrogenoxidation and oxygen reduction. There are severalwaysto improve the catalytic activity of platinum: I. Optimization of the size and shape of the platinumparticles. II. High-index facets of platinum nanoparticles provide agreater density of reactive sites for oxygen reductionthan typical platinum nanoparticles. III. Alloying of Pt with other metals. For example, it wasrecently shown that the Pt3Ni surface has a higheroxygen reduction activity than pure platinum by a factor of ten. IV. Graphene-based clusters as support material for platinum.The nanometer-sized hydrographene specieshave a small energy gap which is the driving force forPt–C bond formation and in the process catalyticactivity of platinum can be retained.
c) Selection of electrocatalyst:The Oxygen Reduction Reaction (ORR) at the cathode isthe kinetically slow process as compared to the HydrogenOxidation Reaction (HOR). Consequently, developing activecatalysts for the ORR is the focus of PEMFC electrocatalysis. d) Hydrogen storage:Another important objective of the research revolvesaround the storage of hydrogen in a most convenient andsafe manner. The hydrogen as fuel for PEMFC should bestored carefully as it is highly flammable. Hydrogen canbe stored in a number of ways, including compressed gas,chemical compounds, liquid hydrogen or metallic hydrogen. Water flooding: Water management in proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells, with a particularfocus on the issue of water flooding, its diagnosis and mitigation. It was found that extensive work has been carried out on the issues of floodingduring the last two decades, including prediction through numerical modeling, detection by experimental measurements, and mitigation throughthe design of cell components and manipulating the Operating conditions.
Conclusions The problems associated with the energy crisis and environmental pollution has been the issues of considerable concern. PEMFCs have been chosen as one of the potential solution to overcome the afore- mentioned problems. Fuel cells, Owing to their particular properties, are on the verge of creating a vast revolutionary change in the fieldof electricity. The idea behind the development of high temperature PEMFCs originates from the drawbacks exhibited by low temperature PEMFCs, such as, CO catalyst poisoning, heat and water management, problems regarding humidification etc. However, high temperature operation often leads to dehydration, which deteriorates the membrane performance. PEMfuel cell performance is adversely affected bywaterflooding that occurs when the liquid water generation rate at thecathode, by electro-osmotic drag and the ORR, exceeds the liquidwater removal rate from the cathode by back diffusion tothe anode, evaporation, water vapor diffusion and liquid watercapillary transport through the GDL.
HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN INDIA Mr. Jitendra Yadav Ms. Mamta Rani Introduction Human trafficking is a human phenomenon that has been continued to be practiced for centuries now. Like the global economic crisis, human trafficking is a global crisis that is inextricably linked to the current move of globalization in the sex industries involving women and children. It was examined the painful reality of female sex workers in Bangladesh and argues that the current rate of growth in sex trade in Bangladesh is fostered by social and economic vulnerabilities that impel young women to engage in commercial sex work. Consequently, what has emerged in Bangladesh and across the borders in India, Malaysia, Pakistan and other Middle Eastern countries are the culture of child trafficking both internally and across borders. According to U.S. State Department, India is both a source and transit country for trafficking, as well as one of the most popular trafficking destinations in south Asia. It is estimated that 10 percent of India’s trafficking in persons is International while 90 percent is domestic a pattern that differs from the more common paradigm of trafficking across International borders. Of the women and girls that are trafficked into India most comes from Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Cambodia and Myanmar. Many of the Indian women trafficked out of the country end up either in the Middle East for sexual exploitation or in Europe the United States or the Middle East has domestic and low skilled labour. India’s sex industry includes 2 million sex workers, 20 percent of which are under age 16.
Definition of Human Trafficking This comprehensive definition of human trafficking not only sets off the goals and parameters upon which nations can fight human trafficking, but also has been ratified by 117 countries of the world.. On the basis of these definitions, it can be discerned that human trafficking involves the transport of individuals usually children male and female alike under deceptive circumstances for the motive of profiting of their labor either internally or across borders. This definition is also consistent with Pennington when they argue that human trafficking encompasses the transport of human beings across borders for the purpose of using them as slaves. They furthermore added that contemporary human trafficking can be found in sex trade, coerce labor, extraction of body parts, and other forms of exploited labor or debt bondage. The Indian Constitution specifically bans the traffic in persons. Article 23, in the Fundamental Rights under the constitution, prohibits "traffic in human beings and other similar forms of forced labour". Though there is no concrete definition of trafficking
Until 2000 the definition of human trafficking was varied and reflected geographical and regional locale. In order to consolidate these regional definitions, the United Nation in 2000 promulgated the protocol to end human trafficking in the world. This protocol which came into force in December 2003 seeks among others to suppress, punish, and to prevent the trafficking of women and children worldwide. At the same time, the United Nation for the first time defined human trafficking as “the recruitment, transport, transfer, harboring, or receipt of persons by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion of abduction, of fraud of deception of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having a control over another person for the purposes of exploitation”. Exploitation shall include at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor or services, slavery or practices
similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs. The consent of a victim of trafficking in persons to the intended exploitation shall be irrelevant.
Trafficking in human beings take place for the purpose of exploitation which in general could be categorized as- (a) Sex -based and (b) Non-Sex-based. The former category includes trafficking for prostitution, Commercial sexual abuse, Pedophilia, Pornography, Cyber sex, and different types of disguised sexual exploitation that take place in some of the massage parlors, beauty parlors, bars, and other manifestations like call girl racket, friends clubs, etc. Non sex based trafficking could be for different types of servitude, like domestic labor, industrial labor, adoption, organ transplant, etc. But the growing traffic in women is principally for the purpose of prostitution. Prostitution is an international problem which can be found in both developing and industrialized nations. Unfortunately, society remains tolerant of this abominable crime against women. There are ways of getting women into prostitution that are common to many countries; then there are particular methods unique to a country. Probably the three most common methods are false employment promises, false marriages and kidnapping. But what makes women and girls vulnerable are economic distress, desertion by their spouses, sexually exploitative social customs and family traditions.
Today, human trafficking involves the movement of victims, usually women and children, across borders legally or illegally. Many forms of human trafficking involve the movement of people from one place to another often unknown to the victim. In many cases, this involves victims being lured by better opportunities in the form of jobs elsewhere. What clearly defines human trafficking today is still unknown despite various definitions by international governmental and nongovernmental organizations. Although slavery has been abolished for a century now, the practice of slavery still exists albeit in different forms. In today’s literature, modern day slavery is human trafficking.
Trafficking is done for: Bonded Labour, Domestic Work, Agricultural work, Construction work, Carpet industry, garment industry, fish/shrimp export as well as of work in the formal and informal. Begging trade, organ trade, drug, smuggling, and sexual exploitation. Forced prostitution, socially and religiously sanctified forms of prostitutions, Sex tourism, Pornography, Circus, Dance Troupes, Beer Bars etc.
Causes or Reasons for Trafficking: Poverty, Female Foeticide/Infanticide, Child marriage, Natural Disasters (floods, cyclones etc.), Domestic violence, Unemployment, Lure of job/marriage with false promises, Domestic servitude, Traditional/Religious prostitution (Devdasi), Lack of Employment opportunities. Migration, Hope for jobs/marriage, Demand for cheap labour, Enhanced vulnerability due to lack of awareness, Creation of need and market by traffickers, Sex tourism, Internet pornography, Organized crime generating high profits with low risk for traffickers.
Reported Incidents of crime (Incidence: 3,940) A total of 3,940 incidents of crimes under various provisions of laws (for which data is being collected for this report) relating to human trafficking were reported in the country during the year 2013 as compared to 3,554 during the year 2012 recording an increase of 10.9% during the year 2013. 100 cases of selling of girls for prostitution were reported in the country during 2013 against 108 such cases in 2012, thus indicating a decrease of 7.4% over 2012. West Bengal has accounted for 69.0% (69 cases out of 100 cases) of the total cases of selling of girls for prostitution reported in the country.
IPC crimes, SLL crimes and crimes under human trafficking during 2009 – 2013. S. No. Year Total IPC Crimes Total SLL Crimes Cases under Rate of Crime Human under Human Trafficking Trafficking 1. 2009 21,21,345 45,53,872 2,848 0.2 2. 2010 22,24,831 45,25,917 3,422 0.3 3. 2011 23,25,575 39,27,154 3,517 0.3 4. 2012 23,87,188 36,54,371 3,554 0.3 5. 2013 26,47,722 39,92,656 3,940 0.3 . A Human trafficker is someone who transports, harbors, exploits, and lures someone for either himself or to be transported to someone else for a profit. Generally the motives for these transactions are money. Money is the driving force that keeps the flames of this criminal offense burning like a wild fire. Since trafficking involves criminal gangs, they avoid arrest by constantly moving victims from place to place until he or she is completely warned off. Majority of victims are used in the sex tourism industry, pornography, and brothels, as cheap labor. Again while all these are laudable, not all countries in Africa and elsewhere have these policies put in place. Even countries that boast of anti-human trafficking rules are sometimes underfunded making it difficult to combat human traffickers. As we embark on the crusade to combat human trafficking, the international community urges countries to realize and implement the protocol that deal with human trafficking for labor exploitation, especially, in multiple economic sectors, including and among others agriculture, construction, hospitality and domestic service. According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), about 40% of trafficking takes place in forced commercial sexual exploitation, and about one third in other forms of coerced economic exploitation. Human trafficking involves transporting victims either internally or externally to usually unknown destinations. In this case victims are uprooted and transported to a different state or within the same state. Consequently, as we continue to enjoy the global economic system, human traffickers have been practically ignored culminating in enormous chunk of wealth accrued through illegal business practices. The intensity of the problem of human trafficking has become a global pandemic that is rooted in every community organized by human traffickers who by overt and covert activities use several means possible including among others coercion and wealth to sustain the continues enslavement of vulnerable people across the globe. Again, this phenomena permeate every nation state and involves the recruitment, transportation, and to a large extent the enslavement of the economically vulnerable.
India is also a signatory to international conventions such as the Convention on Rights of the Child (1989), Convention on Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (1979), UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children (2000) and the latest South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Convention on Preventing and Combating Trafficking in Women and Children for Prostitution (2002).
Madhya Pradesh tops the cognizable crime chart released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).The state has recorded a total of 2,72,423 cognizable crimes in 2014 under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), reveals the latest NCRB report(2014).
The BJP-ruled state accounted for 9.6 per cent of the total crimes reported in the country followed by Maharashtra which stood second with 2,49,834 crimes reported last year, which is 8.8 per cent of the total crimes registered in the country. A total 28,51,563 incidence of crimes were reported in 2014 which shows
7.7 per cent increase from the 2013 figure of 26,47,722. Madhya Pradesh also tops the list of sexual offences under the IPC. The highest number of rape cases 5,076 was reported in Madhya Pradesh followed by 3,759 in Rajasthan.
The NCRB data, which has been categorized under the IPC crime and Special and Local Laws (SLL) reveals 7 percent increase from 2013 in the number of accused arrested for murder with the arrest of 69,320 people
As per the report, Uttar Pradesh tops the list, with 38,467 cases being registered; followed by West Bengal, 38,299 cases; Rajasthan, 31,151 cases; Madhya Pradesh, 28,678 cases and Maharashtra, 26,693 cases.
In 2013, too, Uttar Pradesh registered a maximum of 32,546 cases; followed by West Bengal, 29,826 cases; Rajasthan, 27,933; Maharashtra, 24,895 and Madhya Pradesh, 22,061 cases.
Interestingly, as per the 2014 report, Nagaland recorded the lowest crime against women with 67 cases; followed by Sikkim with 110 cases; Mizoram, 258 cases.
In the meantime, Delhi registered 15,265 cases of crime against women in 2014 compared to 12,888 cases in 2013. The maximum number of sexual offence cases was registered in Madhya Pradesh with 15,170 cases being filed, followed by Maharashtra with 15,029 cases. In Uttar Pradesh, 12,425 cases were registered in 2014, followed by Rajasthan with 10,149 cases. West Bengal registered 9,335 cases of sexual offences, which include rape, attempt to rape and molestation.
The maximum number of rape cases in 2014 was registered in Madhya Pradesh with 5,076 incidents; followed by Rajasthan, 3,759; Uttar Pradesh, 3,467; Maharashtra, 3,438; Delhi, 2,096; West Bengal, 1,656.
Uttar Pradesh reported 189 custodial rape incidents, followed by Arunachal Pradesh with registration of four cases. In Pondicherry, one incident of custodial rape was recorded in 2014.The maximum number gang-rapes took place in Uttar Pradesh with 573 cases being registered; followed by Rajasthan, 414 cases; Delhi, 147.
The report also stated that, in total, 58,592 cases of kidnapping of women and girls were registered in 2014, with the maximum number of cases being reported in Uttar Pradesh at 10,628; Madhya Pradesh registered 5,738 cases; West Bengal, 5,062; and Bihar, 4,760. A whopping 4, 227 cases were registered in the national capital.
The report further pointed out that 57 cases of molestation were reported at office premises across the country and most of them were registered in Delhi and Mumbai. In total 1,19,538 cases of cruelty by husband and relatives were registered across the country. As per the report, a total 2,070 cases of immoral trafficking were registered across the country.
In a petition filed by Bachpan Bachan Andolan (BBA), the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India passed a landmark judgment in the issue of missing children. The bench headed by Hon’ble Chief Justice of India Mr. Justice Altamas Kabir comprising of Hon'ble Mr. Justice Vikramajit Sen and Hon'ble Mr. Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde has taken the issue of missing children very seriously in the light of the facts presented before it by Bachpan Bachao Adolan. The Hon’ble Court took into cognizance that in 2011 alone 90,654 children went missing with 34,406 children still remaining untraced. However only 15,284 FIRs were registered and investigations were launched. The Hon’ble Supreme Court made a special mention of the efforts of petitioner BBA, Mr. H.S. Phoolka (Senior Advocate) and other advocates while issuing the following directions:
1. Compulsory registration of cases by police of missing children with the assumption that they are victims of kidnapping & trafficking. 2. Compulsory registration of cases by police of all those children who are still untraced (in 2011 34,406 children are still untraced). 3. Police will prepare standard operating procedures in all the states to deal with the cases of missing children. 4. Appointment and training of Special Child Welfare officers in every police station to deal with the cases of missing children. Legal statutes and provisions also call for the state to provide protective service for victim including compensation and shelter with respect to compensatin law. In a Hon’ble Supreme court case, Bodhi Satwa Gautam v. Subrachakraboty (1996) judges ruled that compensation can be awarded regardless of whether a fine formed part of the sentence or not. Moreover, in Hon’ble Supreme Court case Delhi Domestic working Women Women’s Forum v. UOI (1995). It was determined that compensation can be awarded to the victim even without conviction and even during pendency of trail. Moreover in 2008, the sec.357 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) was amended. Hon’ble Supreme Court in MC Mehta v. State of Tamil Nadu and Others (1996) seeing the severe violation of fundamental rights in cases of child labour laid down guidelines for compensation and rehabilitation. The Hon’ble Supreme Court in Bandhua Mukti Morcha, (1984) has elucidated the rehabilitation of Bonded Labour and directed the Government to award compensation to Bonded labour under the provisions of Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act 1976 after taking note of serious violation of Fundamental & Human Rights, Hon’ble Supreme Court in Gaurav Jain v. Union of India (1997) had keeping in view the legislative inertia and the consequent failure of the Government to protect the rights and interest of the victims ,laid down certain guidelines and further directed high level committee be constituted to make an in-depth study of these problems and to evolve such suitable schemes as are appropriate and consistent with the guidelines. The Hon’ble Supreme Court in Vishaljeet v. Union of India (1990) laid down certain guidelines for eradication of the malady.
Conclusion: Despite of having many provision and various statutes the trafficking is not eliminated from the world. The various conditions force the victim to succumb to this evil. Along with this it is prevalent in the society from the ancient times so it’s difficult to combat trafficking. In order to ensure effective implementation of the existing law there is a need for sensitization of all concerned in the criminal justice system. It is necessary to institute policies that protect victim from sexual and physical abuse, that prevent the re-trafficking of victims. Cross border victim face a double border. That human trafficking is a global issue today that needs the attention of everyone in order to eradicate it. In order to stop the human trafficking problem, governments including nongovernmental organizations need to collaborate and work together to identify victims and punish criminals. The Ghana Anti-Human Trafficking Act passed in 2005 is a step in the right direction. Also, the United Nations protocol of 2000 strengthened the anti human trafficking measures by instituting units under the police criminal division to rescue victims of human trafficking. Other anti-human trafficking organizations can now be found practically in every regional bloc with an oversight responsibility to detect and punish human traffickers.
References: Handbook for Law enforcement Agencies in India (revised edition 2007) by P.M. Nair. Human Trafficking in the era of Globalization: The case of Trafficking in the Global Market Economy by Majeed A. Rahman, Transcience Journal Vol 2, No 1 (2011). National Crime Record Bureau: Crime In India -2013. National Crime Record Bureau Crime In India – 2014. Human Trafficking in India: Dynamic, Current Effort And Intervention Opprtunities For the Asia Foundation- Sadika Hameed, Sandile Hlatswayo, Even Tanner, Meltem Turker, and Jungwan Yang . 172 Law Commission Report On Review of Rape Law. www.legalserviceindia.com.
MICROFINANCE : ROLE IN POVERTY ALLEVIATION
1 Mrs. Unnati Jadaun Dr. Rinku Raghuvanshi2
Abstract This research study explores that how microfinance play active role in the alleviation of poverty in India. For the planned development, alleviation of poverty is essential. After independence, Government of India began to fight against poverty and “Garibi Hatao” scheme came into existence. The study explores that we can alleviate the poverty by providing the microfinance to poor easily. Microfinance is the type of banking service. Microfinance Institutions or banks offer microfinance which is defined as an activity that includes the facility of financial services such as credit, savings, and any more to low income individuals. It helps in reducing poverty by providing small loans to small businesses. It shows that access and effective provision of microcredit can facilitate the poor to smoothening consumption, manage their risks well, progressively build their belongings, develop their micro enterprises, improve their income earning capacity and enjoy an enriched quality of life. Microfinance services can also helping in improving allocation of resources, markets promotion and up gradation, and acceptance of better technology; thus, microfinance helps in stimulating economic growth and development. India has experimented various ways to eradicate poverty and microfinance is one of the ways which can come forward to fill up the gap. The major roles are played by NABARD and other national banks by growth of SHGs and Gramin banks. This paper discusses the facts and impacts on poverty by the evolution of microfinance in India. Keywords: microfinance, poverty, NABARD, SHGs.
Introduction What exactly poverty is? Poverty is hungriness. Poverty is not having shelter. Poverty is being unwell and unable to afford medicine. Poverty is illiteracy and not being able to go to school. Poverty is no job and worry about the future. Poverty is losing a child because of illness. Poverty is being week or no power, lack of presentation and freedom. Poverty is a single term but it is very strange that it has lots of definitions related with it and along with it also possesses a lot of exertion and suffering. From the statistical crunching of figures it is estimated that in the year 2010, there are 925 million hungry people in the world. Microfinance is a kind of banking service which provides financial service to unemployed or low income individuals or the type of peoples who possess no other means for gaining financial services. The main purpose of these banks is to provide financial support to the people with less earning and support them by providing an opportunity to become self- sufficient by the various means of saving money, borrowing money and insurance. Micro Finance even plays main role in providing a safety net and consumption smoothening. Basically, this research is done to understand the role of Micro Finance banks in eliminating poverty in India. In the fields of earnings, employment, education and housing, the development of Micro Finance Banks are one of the important steps towards the evolution of poor people by alleviating poverty. This step by government is leaving the footsteps of success of microfinance banks by intensifying the poors and make them capable enough to become self-sustained and self-satisfaction. With some facts and figures presented the percentage of population below poverty line is declining year by year and gaining great achievement of development within the country. It is the responsibility of the government to understand
the needs of every citizen within the national boundary and help them when required. Hence it is also very necessary to know that whether the programs started by the government is working efficiently or not and does it targeting in reducing poverty of the country.
Review of Literature Harper Malcolm1 (1998) from his study “Profit for the Poor: Cases in microfinance” concluded that microfinance is a business and microfinance programmes which aim to assist the poor must be designed and managed in a business like way and that microfinance institutions must be managed like any other business. He concluded that new approaches have only reached a small fraction of market: microfinance must be ‘massified’. He suggested that the eventual aim for microfinance should be, to become as widely available as any other consumer product. Decisions about funding ownership and system should be made toward this entire end. According to him what microfinance need is institutional flexibility, good management and open minds.
Karmakar2 (1999), pointed about the various problems of rural credit delivery system in India. The major problem according to him is the repayment and recovery of the loans at the borrower’s level and the consequent weakening of the entire institutional credit system. He pointed out that the causes on the internal front were defective loan policies and procedures, inadequate supervision and monitoring and unprofessional management. On the external front, the problems were occurrence of natural floods and droughts, absence of backward and forward linkages, defective legal frame work, and lack of support from the government machinery in recoveries. Because of all this, he summarised that instead of mobilizing resources for rural development, the programme for rural development has actually been consuming scarce monetary resources and has not worked out to the advantage of the rural borrowers, the bank and the government.
Mayer3 (2001) in his study on “Micro Finance, Poverty Alleviation & Improving Food Security: Implication for India” has opined that micro finance did have been emerged as a special vehicle and it can contribute to poverty alleviation and food security. It does this through supplying loans, savings and other financial services that enhance investment, reduce the cost of self-insurance, and contribute to consumption smoothing. Further he suggested that India has expanded microfinance, but it has not yet developed a strong system capable of serving massive numbers of poor in a sustainable fashion. The researcher concluded that the policy of supporting SHG linkages with banks has merit in a country with a large bank network, but it should not be the only model encouraged. That is why additional efforts are needed to create and nurture competitive MFIs willing to experiment with other models. Basu, Priya & Srivastava Pradeep4 (2005) in their paper “Scaling of Micro Finance for India’s Rural Poor” has reviewed the current level and pattern of access to finance for India’s rural poor and has examined some of the key micro finance approaches in India. The researchers concluded that India’s rural poor currently have very little access to finance from formal sources. Microfinance approaches have tried to fill the gap. Among these, the growth of SHG Bank Linkage has been particularly remarkable, but outreach remains modest in terms of the proportion of poor households served. The paper recommends that, if SHG Bank Linkage is to be scaled-up to offer mass access to finance for the rural poor, then much more attention will need to be paid towards: the promotion of high quality SHGs that are sustainable, clear targeting of clients, and ensuring that banks linked to SHGs price loans at cost covering levels. Also the paper suggests that, in an economy as vast and varied as India’s, there is scope for diverse microfinance approaches to coexist. Private sector micro financiers need to acquire greater professionalism, and the government, too, can help
by creating a flexible architecture for microfinance innovations, including through a more enabling policy, legal and regulatory framework.
Thakur, Sharma and Jain5 (2010) in their study “Microfinance- A Tool for Poverty Control (With Special Reference to Gwalior and Chambal Division of Madhya Pradesh)” has tried to find out that how microfinance can help in poverty control. Based upon the data collected from 300 respondents the study concluded that employment opportunity and tenure of SHGs and NGOs (in years) are the most important factors responsible for poverty control. The study suggested that although microfinance is an effective technique to meet the financial requirements in the rural areas, nevertheless, it is essential to develop a smooth credit system with support from financial institutions. There is a possibility that microfinance may prove to be a large scale poverty control and alleviation tool.
Objectives: Aim and objectives always revolves around the title of the research study. The aims and objective of the research is to understand the growth conditions at the whole with the respect of Micro Finance Bank to reduce the poverty in the country. The main aim and objectives of the research are:
To perceive the role of Micro Finance Banks in poverty alleviation. To recognize and determine the factors affecting in the working of Micro Finance Bank. To discover the customer satisfaction level with reference to the service given by the Micro Finance Bank. To notice the improvements and increments achieved in the reduction of poverty in the fields of income, employment, education and housing. To understand the customer’s perspective for the innovation in the service of the Micro Finance banks that would reduce the financial strain of the consumers. To improve the Micro Finance programs to eradicate poverty by increasing the income levels and distributing the financial markets. To provide financial and non-financial services to the financially poor people by Micro Finance Bank.
Poverty Eradication Programs in India Every country faces a challenge of poverty alleviation across the world, and similarly it is also a major challenge in the operation of the Indian government. India is a home to 22 per cent of the world’s poor people population. But still the government of India is under the stage of development by reducing the number of poor in the country. These anti-poverty programs are considered for generating both the self- employment and the wage employment in the rural areas, which on the other end chains in the growth of the country. Government of India launched several programs and schemes for the upliftment of the poor and provides them an appropriate sustainable life (Kumar P. V., 2007). The programs launched by government of India are-
Jawahar Gram Samridhi Yojana (JGSY) Employment Assurance Scheme (EAS) National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) National Old Age Pension Scheme (NOAPS)
Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgaar Yojana (SGSY) National Family Benefit Scheme (NFBS) National Maternity Benefit Scheme (NMBS) District Rural Development Agencies (DRDAs) Indira Aawaas Yojana (IAY) Drought Prone Area Programme (DPAP) Desert Development Programme (DDP) Integrated Wastelands Development Programme (IWDP)
Different Wage employment Programmes are structured for the purpose of developing an anti-poverty approach, which provides the numerous objectives
Function of Micro finance in poverty alleviation in India Micro Finance always plays a significant role in providing the safety net and consumption smoothening. The main customers of Micro Finance Banks i.e. borrowers are also benefited from leaving by undertaking and also from self-esteem. While on the other hand the major focus of the public policy was directing towards the growth point of reference and justice financing program such as productive employment creation. The research includes the national household data from India and employed the treatments which effects model. Discussions on the argument that the Micro Finance institutions achieve under the area of seeking profit and at the same time achieving both the social and commercial objectives. This model emphasized the role of Micro Finance institutions loans for the productive purpose like the investment in agriculture or non-farm business on household poverty levels. These models mainly consider the binary treatment effects and sample selection bias. There also aroused some of the multi-dimensional boundaries along with the working for the poverty improvement programs which indicates the positive sign of MFI productive loans. It is properly observed that the loans for the productive reason are mainly useful in the poverty reduction in rural areas rather than the urban areas. While in the urban areas the simple access to the MFIs has larger average poverty reducing effects than rather used for the productive purposes. This provides an additional avenue to the area of the service delivery opportunities to monitor the usage of the loans. Limitations of research Research is generally based on the decision making and without decision making no organization can move into the working in a new field. Hence it helps in decision making and also helps to identify with the gap between the researchers and the users. Some limitations in relation to research are discussed as given below: Research can provide the facts and figures but it cannot always provide the results. There are some researches which cannot be recognized as the topic to be discussed and considered are complex in nature. In certain kind of researches it is possible that researches cannot provide the answer to any problem. If research is considered as the main tool for relying by some half of people, than this can be varied from the view point of managers because they consider on their perceptions, institutions and their personal judgment and experiments regarding the problem to be handled in a sophisticated manner.
Conclusion
Microfinance is a way for fighting poverty, particularly in rural areas, where most of the world’s poorest people live rural development and poverty reduction are commonly related to the issue of rural employment. Rural households livelihood strategies comprise several options, including farming and non- farm activities, local self-employment and wage employment, and migration. Microfinance has proven to be an effective and powerful tool for rural development and poverty reduction. Micro-finance is one of the ways of building the capacities of the poor and developing them to self-employment activities by providing financial services like credit, savings and insurance.
When poor people have access to financial services, they can earn more, build their assets, and cushion themselves against external shocks. Poor household’s use microfinance to move from everyday survival to planning for the future: they invest in better nutrition, housing, health, and education. Most poor people cannot get good financial services that meet their needs because there are not enough strong institutions that provide such services. Strong institutions need to charge enough to cover their costs.
Based on the findings of this study, it can generally be concluded that the contribution of micro finance institutions on poverty reduction among poor, is very minimum, due to hard conditions in accessing and servicing loans that poor people cannot afford. It is therefore recommended that microfinance banks should improve accessibility of their services to poor by relaxing their terms and conditions on their services, especially loans. They should expand their market by introducing new products, such as house loans, agricultural loans, education loans etc. There is also a need for the Bank to formulate flexible payment conditions and payment schedules to help poor customers afford loans, and make benefits out of them.
Recommendations Is the main motive of micro finance banks is just the alleviation of poverty? No, not exactly but rest all the motives have a single root cause i.e. Poverty. If the bank keeps poverty alleviation as their basic and primary motive then they may achieve the final goal of the organization. Under the study of data within this research it is being better understood that on conducting research methodology, the analysis is conducted by the researcher by using the questionnaire method, which is conducted for the managers and the customers to obtain the opinion of both. The recommendations are as explained by the researcher which may support the working. The analysis part stated that the employees chosen for the working under mf banks must be through under the regional language, to maintain the better customer relationship with its customers. The analysis part of the employees stated that the interest rate policy is similar to the commercial banks hence the attraction factor through interest rate policy will not work and customer’s relationship is to be upgraded and improved. Micro finance banks are providing services in the rural areas which are nearby to the outskirts of the cities but their need arising to strengthen the network of micro finance banks and to establish them in the remote areas too. In this institution we find that the communication gap is the rare hindrance which are faced between the customers and the personnel’s and micro finance banks and should be priory treated to be solved.
Micro finance banks should try to extend their operations of services by covering wider group of society, so as more and more public could enjoy the advantages of the services rendered by the micro finance banks. In the Indian economy micro finance banks should be preferred to establish their network because micro finance banks acts as a bridge between the rich class and the poor class society and helps to maintain the level without extending the gap between both classes. To increase the awareness amongst the public of rural area regarding the services and the facilities which are provided by the micro finance banks. micro finance banks should take certain initiatives like to train their personnel’s about the knowledge of regional languages of the area they are working in, to initiate the people through add campaigns, plays and video acts which in a huge manner helps the villagers to understand the utility of micro finance banks. They can also provide training to the employees regarding the knowledge of regional language.
Reference [1] Harper Malcom. (1998), Profit For the Poor, Oxford &. IBH, New Delhi, pp.177-188. [2] Kamrmarkar K. G. (1999), Rural Credit And Self Help Groups, Microfinance Needs And Concepts In India, Sage Publications, New Delhi, pp.24-25. [3] Meyer, Richard L. (2001), Microfinance, Poverty Alleviation, and Improving Food Security: Implications for India, In: Rattan Lal (ed.), Food Security and Environmental Quality, Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press. [4] Basu, Priya & Srivastava Pradeep (2005), Scaling of Micro Finance for India’s, Rural Poor, World Bank (WPS 3646), Delhi. [5] Thakur K.S., Sharma P.K. and Jain Ravi (2010), Microfinance- A Tool for Poverty Control (With Special Reference to Gwalior and Chambal Division of Madhya Pradesh), In: Daniel Lazar, P. Natarajan and Malabika Deo (eds), Macro Dynamics of Micro Finance, Excel Books, New Delhi, pp.61-69.
FACTORS INFLUENCING LOCAL COMMUNITIES AROUND PROTECTED AREA
A CASE STUDY OF CHITWAN NATIONAL PARK, NEPAL
THAPA, RAKSHYA & GUPTA, AJAY KUMAR
Abstract
Human-wildlife Conflict (HWC) has been the huge concern in almost all Protected Areas (PAs) throughout the world; however, it has been an emerging threat mostly in the developing countries like Nepal, where the people are ignorant, illiterate, unaware, poor and moreover affected by huge losses from wild animals. It is therefore very essential to recognize the major factors causing these conflicts and work on it because the conservation is possible only when the local people living around the Protected areas are positive towards wildlife and Park authorities.
Keywords: Protected areas, Chitwan National Park, Buffer Zone, Human-Wildlife Conflict, Human-Mammal Conflict, Village Development Committees
1. Introduction The people living around the Protected Areas (PAs) are benefited from wildlife in many terms however they also bear the costs of wildlife caused damages. Interaction of the wildlife and people takes place for many reasons and this interaction may be positive as well as negative. Negative interaction mainly occurs due to competition. The wildlife caused damages are crop depredation, livestock depredation, property loss and human casualty. Human caused disturbances are mainly the habitat degradation, pollution and poaching/killing of animals. Economic benefits and employment opportunities are the result of positive interaction. Today, the PAs of worldwide are facing huge challenges because of human-wildlife conflicts (HWC) and park-people relationship. The conflicts are intensified when the association between the people and wild animals are close because the interaction mostly gives negative effects.
The human-wildlife conflict is one of the major problems faced by almost all the PAs of Nepal. The conflict is raised after the shift in paradigm in the role of PAs i.e. after implementation of the Northern American Model of Wildlife Conservation. The management is based on strict policies, where the people are excluded to access the resources of PAs. Nepal, being the developing countries, most of the people are under the poverty line and is found using the natural resources and forest products for their livelihood since ancient times. After restricting of long-established rights, the people became negative towards the conservation of wildlife and the conflict was heightened especially after they were being displaced from their traditional land to extend the protected areas. The weak socioeconomic and political condition has made the policies unfavorable to make the concept of northern American model work successfully especially in case of developing countries, where the people depend on forest resources for their survival.
More than 19.7% of the total area of the country (147, 181 sq km) has been declared as Protected Areas and the country holds ten PAS, three wildlife reserves, one hunting reserve, six conservation areas and eleven buffer zones. The main purpose of establishing the buffer zone is to minimize the conflict of PAs and to combine the local people and wildlife so as to minimize the human edge effect on National Parks (Watson et al., 2013).The provision of providing 30-50% of the Park revenue for community development
and natural resource management has been done for minimizing the ongoing conflict. But, still the conflict exists.
The study area i.e. Chitwan National Park, Nepal was formerly recognized as Royal Chitwan National Park. It lies in the inner terai region of Chitwan, Makwanpur, Nawalparasi and Parsa districts of Nepal. It is at southern part of Chitwan district. Chitwan National Park is in a tropical and subtropical bioclimatic zone and is mainly characterized by three climatic seasons, namely hot, monsoon and winter. Initially, the area of CNP covered 544 sq km and in 1996, 750 sq km areas were separated as a buffer zone (DNPWC, 1997). The Park now covers a total area of 932 sq km. It is surrounded by Parsa Wildlife Reserve in the east and India in the southeast. Balmiki tiger sanctuary and Udaipur sanctuary lies across the border of India. The Park was gazetted in 1973, as the first National Park of the country. The park has magnificent fauna and flora. The faunal diversity comprises 68 species of mammals, 544 species of birds, 56 species of herpeto- fauna, and 126 species of fishes, 150 species of butterfly as well as several invertebrate species (Thapa, 2010)and the floral diversity comprises 600 plant species that includes 3 gymnosperm, 13 Pteridophytes, 415 Dicotyledons, 137 Monocots,16 species of Orchids (UNESCO, 2003).The mammalian fauna includes several endangered to common species such as greater one horned rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis), tiger (Panthera tigris), Asian elephant (Elephas maximus), leopard(Panthera pardus), sloth bear (Ursus ursinus), gaur (Bos gaurus),wild dog(Cuon alpines), hispid hare (Caprolagus hispidus), rhesus monkey (Macaca mulatta), langur (Presbytus entellus), striped linsang (Prionodon pardicolor), Hyaena (Hyaena hyaena), dolphin (Platanista gangetica), chital (Axis axis),hog deer (Axis porcinus), Sambar (Cervus unicolor), four horned antelope (Tetraceros quadricornis), Pangolin (Manis pentadactyla), Eurasian Pygmy shrew (Sorex minutus) and barking deer (Muntiacus muntjak).
The livelihoods of most of the local people are derived from agriculture, livestock rearing and natural resource use. After the establishment of the park, people thought that they were being prohibited for their traditional rights due to which conflict has widened. Many studies showed that the people who are being affected by wildlife damages and policies of the park are hostile towards the park and wildlife. This antagonistic behavior of the local people has been a huge hindrance in achieving conservation goal because without the local people's involvement and participation the conservation of biodiversity is almost impossible.
The main objective of this study was to assess major factors associated with the human-mammal conflict especially affecting human in Chitwan National Park of Nepal.
2. Materials and Methods The study is based on mixed approach methods. The mixed methods design is used in capturing best of both qualitative and quantitative approaches. Quantitative research designs was quantified, measured and expressed in numeric forms to establish the relationship between variables. Secondary information was also adopted during the study. The questions included both open ended type questions and closed type questions. Qualitative interviews on the other hand was done via semi-structured interviews, In depth interviews, Participatory Appraisal methods, Focus group discussions, Community forum discussions and Observations by Field Survey.
Five Village development committees (VDCs) out of 37 VDCs surrounding the CNP were selected randomly. These include Gardi, Madi Kalyanpur, Patihani, Kumroj and Meghauli. Strata sampling procedure was applied for taking sample. The field survey was conducted from September to December 2015.The sample size of local community was altogether 300 but later one was excluded from the whole analysis for not
fulfilling the standards of interview, so altogether there were 299 participants in total. The data collected were then classified, edited and with the help of tables, graphs and diagrams they were analyzed and interpreted. Data were analyzed using various statistical tools in different computerized program. The responses obtained through questionnaires were coded with specific IDs and were analyzed later using Statistical Package for Social Survey (SPSS), version 21. Advanced excel was used for making charts, figures and tabular presentations.
3. Results 3.1. General Characteristics of the Respondents Among 299 respondents, 20.1% were from Gardi, 19.7% from Kumroj, 20.7% from Madi Kalyanpur, 19.1% from Meghauli and 20.1% from Patihani VDC. Most of the respondents were above the age 50. Male participants were 61.2% and female were 38.8%. Educational status showed that majority of the participants were illiterate (38.1%) followed by Primary level (25.8%), Secondary level (17.1%), Pre-primary level (11.4%), Higher secondary level (5.4%) and University level (1.7%).
3.2 .Major Factors Influencing Conflict Park-People Conflict and Human-Mammal Conflict are the major issues of Wildlife management in CNP. The types of losses by wildlife include crop depredation and livestock depredation. Out of 230 respondents, 214 stated that mostly they suffer from crop loss, 6 said they suffer from livestock depredation and remaining 10 respondents said that they suffer losses other than crop loss and livestock loss like property loss, human casualty, disease transfer and psychological stress because of fear.
Figure 1. Type of Losses by Wildlife
3.3 Mammalian Species Frequently Visiting the Field The frequently visiting mammalian species inside the human settlements and farm were tiger, deer, elephant, rhinos, monkeys and wild boar. The majority of the respondents i.e. 102 of said that mostly visiting wild animals are deer, rhino and wild bear.
Figure 2. Frequently Travelling Wild Mammals
3.4 Crop Damages The surrounding villages around CNP have been facing from damages by wildlife since long time. Crop loss was the major problems faced by local people of all the selected VDCs. The crop raiding animals were deer, rhino, wild boar, bear, monkeys and elephant. The crop loss in last two years was analyzed. 70.9% participants were suffered from crop depredation in the last two years. .
Table No.1
Crop Damages
Responses Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
Yes 212 70.9 77.7 77.7
Valid No 61 20.4 22.3 100.0
Total 273 91.3 100.0
Missing System 26 8.7
Total 299 100.0
The people that suffered mostly from crop loss were from Meghauli VDC followed by Madi Kalyanpur, Patihani, Kumroj and then Gardi. People were found planting varieties of crops like Maize, Millet, Paddy, Wheat, Barley, Vegetable oils, Vegetables and Banana. Wild animals were found damaging both mature and immature stages of crops however mature crops were preferred mostly. The main exposure time of wild animals was during night time though there was no any fixed time for their visit to farm or village. Crop damages occur throughout the year as stated by majority of the participants and the preferable seasons for wildlife were winter though they were even seen nomadic in summer seasons. According to the local people, the main reasons that wild animals visit the field are to feed on crops because that is palatable and is easily available. The other reasons may be scarcity of food inside the park, poor physical
barriers, competition with other wild animals, short distance between park and human settlements and habitat degradation that have compelled wild animals to visit the field
3.5 Livestock Depredation Livestock depredation is also the major problem suffered by the people living in the villages surrounding CNP. The wild animals responsible for livestock depredation were tiger, leopard, jackal and wolf. As compared to crop loss, livestock loss is less because rarely the wild animals kill livestock. About 2.3% people were found suffered from livestock in last two years.
Table No. 2 Livestock Depredation Responses Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent Yes 7 2.3 2.5 2.5 Valid No 275 92.0 97.5 100.0 Total 282 94.3 100.0 Missing System 17 5.7 Total 299 100.0
The wild animals especially carnivores mostly attack the small livestock especially targeting goats. Wild animals were found killing the livestock especially when they find them grazing alone in the forest/ near the field however our study also showed that they are killed in livestock shed if shed is unprotective and unproofed. Generally, preferred time for hunting and attacking livestock was evening or night time though some incident had taken place during morning and day time.
4 .Conclusions The study revealed that crop raiding animals of CNP are rhinos, deer, wild boar, monkeys and elephant but rhino was declared as the worst raiders. Majority of the respondents said that crop raiding is the major issues of conflict. Among the frequently visiting mammals, majority of the respondents stated that rhino travel frequently and besides feeding on crops they damages crop by trampling. They also stated that as compared to small bodied wild animals, the damages done by large bodied animals are high. And as compared to crop loss, livestock loss occurs rarely. The livestock attacking wild animals are tiger, leopard, jackal and wolf. They were found attacking the small domesticated animals. People in CNP rely on agriculture and livestock rearing for their subsistence, so the problematic mammals has been the major issues for them because they are associated with crop loss and livestock loss. The people therefore claim on the fair compensation for the losses caused by wildlife damages. There is no solitary approach that will mitigate the conflicts and guarantee the coexistence of wild mammals with people because it is predisposed by several factors like cropping patterns, availability of the food, defensive methods adopted, livestock management system, grazing system, distance of park from the human settlements and human caused disturbances. The reasons of wild animals' encroachment in human habitat may be because of the habitat fragmentation due to expansion of agriculture and other developmental activities. Besides, the human-wildlife competition for basic needs especially sharing the same habitat might be the other reason for widening the conflict.
Therefore, it is very essential to find the strategies that would bring in consideration of both wild animals and human and work on the welfare of both. It is also very necessary to understand people's opinion
towards wildlife along with the problems they are facing because local people's participation in wildlife management is the obligation and without their effort conservation cannot go for a long run.
References
DNPWC(1997). Annual Report 1996. Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, Kathmandu.
Thapa, S. (2010). Effectiveness of crop protection methods against wildlife damage: Acase study of two villages at Bardia National Park, Nepal. Crop Protection, 29: 1297-1304.
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) (2003). Initial management effectiveness evaluation report: Royal Chitwan National Park, Nepal, August 2003. Enhancing our heritage project: Monitoring and managing for success in natural world heritage sites. WII-UNESCO Project, Wildlife Institute of India. In Upadhyay, S. (2013). Wildlife damages, mitigation measures and livelihood issues around Chitwan National Park, Nepal.
Watson, F., Becker, M. S., McRobb, R., & Kanyembo, B. (2013). Spatial patterns of wire-snare poaching: Implications for community conservation in buffer zones around National Parks. Biological conservation, 168, 1-9.
MICROFINANCE AND POVERTY ALLEVIATION IN INDIA
MS. Garima Prakash Abstract: Microfinance is a source of financial services for low income clients including small sector entrepreneurs and small businesses who lack access to banking and related services. The dynamic growth of the microfinance industry has been promoted not only by market forces but also by conscious actions of national governments, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and the donors who view microfinance as an effective tool for reducing poverty. The powerful push behind this huge and increasing support for microfinance indicated that national economic and social impacts are significant and it needs to be examined more closely. The present paper by the author is an attempt to highlight some such aspects of microfinanace particularly in the context of India.
Key words: Micro-Finance, Poverty, India
1.0 Introduction:
Micro finance is emerging as a powerful financial instrument for low income clients including consumers, small sectors entrepreneurs, who lack access to banking and other financial services, in the new economy. Micro finance covers not just credit but also savings, insurance and fund transfers. Generally microfinance alleviate poverty indirectly beyond of direct participation by providing above facility to poor ones.
In India where 60% population are belong to lower class and 70% population are from agriculture field microfinance is used as tool of socio-economic development and can be clearly distinguished from charity, it provide microcredit to eligible family or individuals in terms of loan.
2.0 Key features and principles of microfinance in India:
Microfinance is considered to be an adequate tool for financing small scale activities/technological applications in the rural areas because of the following features:
The most important and basic feature of microfinance is providing financial services to poor people. Microfinance Simplified savings and loan procedures so illiterate can also understand. Microfinance develops the opportunities of self-employment to underserved people. Provide small size loan and savings. The key principles of microfinance are as follows:
Microfinance provide customer friendly services preferred by low income group. Microfinance is very effective tool against poverty. Microfinance mean a financial service that help low income group.
* (Research scholar of Mangalayatan University, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India)
Poor need variety of financial services not just loan.
3.0 Channel of Microfinance: In India micro-finance operates through two channels:
(a) SHG – Bank Linkage Programme
(b)Micro Finance Institution
3.1 SHG – Bank Linkage Programme:
This is the bank led microfinance channel which was initiated by NABARD in 1992. Under the SHG model the members usually women in villages are encouraged to form groups of around 10 – 15. The members contribute their savings in the group periodically and form these savings small loans are provided to the members. In the later period these SHGs are provided with bank loans generally for income generation purpose. The group‘s members meet periodically when the new savings come in. Recovery of past loans is made from the members and also new loans are disbursed. This model has been very much successful in the past and with time it is becoming more popular. The SHGs are self-sustaining and once the group becomes stable it starts working on its own with some support from NGOs.
3.2 Micro Finance Institutions: Those institutions which have microfinance as their main operation are known as micro finance institutions. A number of organizations with varied size and legal forms offer microfinance services. These institutions lend through the concept of Joint Liability Group (JLG). A JLG is an informal group comprising of 5 to 10 individually or through the group mechanism against a mutual guarantee. The reason for existence of separate institutions i.e. MFIs for offering microfinance are as follows:
High transaction cost – generally micro credits fall below the break – even point of providing loans by banks Absence of collaterals – the poor usually are not in a state to offer collaterals to secure the credit Loans are generally taken for very short duration periods Higher frequency of repayment of instalments and higher rate of defaults
Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs), Co-operatives societies, Section-25 companies, Societies and Trusts, all such institutions operating in microfinance sector constitute MFIs and together they account for 42 percent of the microfinance sector in terms of loan portfolio.
4.0 Role of microfinance in poverty alleviation:
Microfinance is about providing financial services to the poor who are not served by the conventional formal financial institutions - it is about extending the frontiers of financial service provision. The provision of such financial services requires innovative delivery channels and methodologies. The needs for financial services that allow people to both take advantage of opportunities and better management of their resources. Microfinance can be one effective tool amongst many for poverty alleviation. However, it should be used with caution -despite recent claims, the equation between microfinance and poverty alleviation is not straight-forward, because poverty is a complex phenomenon and many constraints that the poor in general have to cope with. We need to understand when and in what form microfinance is
appropriate for the poorest; the delivery channel, methodology and products offered are all inter-linked and in turn affect the prospect and promise of poverty alleviation. Access to formal banking services is difficult for the poor. The main problem the poor have to take when trying to acquire loans from formal financial institutions is the demand for collateral asked by these institutions. In addition, the process of acquiring a loan entails many bureaucratic procedures, which lead to extra transaction costs for the poor. Formal financial institutions are not motivated to lend money to them. In general, formal financial institutions show a preference for urban over rural sectors, large-scale over small scale transactions, and non-agricultural over agricultural loans. Formal financial institutions have little incentives to lend to the rural poor for the following reasons.
Administrable difficulties: Small rural farmers often live geographically scattered, in areas with poor communication facilities, making loan administration difficult.
Systematic risks: Agricultural production is associated with some systemic risks, such as drought and floods, which is reflected in a high covariance of local incomes.
Lack of information: The absence of standardized information, Standard lending tools, such as financial statements or credit histories, does not exist in these areas.
Repayment problems: The repayment of working capital may be required only once a year for example during the harvest season. On the other hand, access to informal loans is relatively easy, convenient, and available locally to low income households for the following reasons:- Informal moneylenders use interlinked credit contracts to reduce default risk such as development of business relationship with the clients.
Informal moneylenders have local information which helps them to appraise credit needs and credit worthiness of the client. Informal moneylenders are considering the needs and requirements of clients even for small amount of loan. Informal money lenders will profit from social sanctions such as those that may exist among members of a family. These sanctions may serve as a substitute for legal enforcement. Informal moneylenders use specific incentives to stimulate repayment, such as repeat lending to borrowers who repay promptly, with gradually increasing loan size.
Despite the fact that many rural poor acquire their loans fromthe informal financial sector in rural areas of developing countries; the sector has some basic limitations. Common feature of many rural communities is that much of the local information does not flow freely; it tends to be segmented and circulates only within specific groups. Usually the informal credit market is based on local economies and is thus limited by local wealth constraints and the covariant risks of the local environment. Since most of the world’s poor do not have access to basic financial services that would help them manage their assets and generate income. To overcome poverty, they need to be able to borrow, save, and invest, and to protect their families against adversity .Another shortcoming of the two financial sectors in developing countries is their
inability to satisfy the credit needs of the poor that has led to the new development of micro finance. Micro finance is believed to be able to reduce the above-mentioned inadequacies of formal and informal financial institutions and is emerging as an important credit partner to the poor in the developing world.
5.0 Conclusion: Creating self-employment opportunities is one way of attacking poverty and solving the problems of unemployment. There are over 24 crore people below the poverty line in our country. The Scheme of Micro-finance has been found as an effective instrument for lifting the poor above the level of poverty by providing them increased self-employment opportunities and making them credit worthy. Microfinance has proven to be an effective and powerful tool for rural development and poverty reduction.
Like many other development tools, it has sufficiently penetrated the poorer strata of society. The poorest form the vast majority of those without access to primary health care and basic education; similarly, they are the majority of those without access to microfinance. Microfinance is one of the ways of building the capacities of the poor and developing them to self-employment activities by providing financial services like credit, savings and insurance. To provide micro-finance and other support services, MFIs should be able to sustain themselves for a long period. There are so many schemes for the development of poor In India. Creating self-employment opportunities through micro finance is one way of attacking poverty and solving the problems of unemployment.
REFERENCES: Priyanka Ramath & Preethi,(2014) Micro Finance in India- for Poverty Reduction, International journal of Research & Development- sA management Review. Dr.AjitKumarBansal & Ms.AnuBansal (2012) Microfinance and Poverty Reduction in India, Journal of management. Rajesh Kumar Shastri(2009) Micro finance and poverty reduction in India (A Comparative study with Asian Countries), African Journal of Business Management. www.google.com www.wikkipedia.com
USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN EDUCATION
Gopal Singh*
Education is a process both in narrower as well as in wider sense. Ancient people used to collect facts and information about nature for survival. This is nothing but education. In wider sense, education is acquisition of experience throughout life. Experience brings changes in human life and behaviour. It is a primary function of formal education to accelerate and facilitate social progress. Social progress means social change. According RB Mathur “Social Change refers to the modifications in the organization and behavior of the grope expressed in its laws, institutions, customs, modes and beliefs. When change supposedly for the better it becomes progress which is essentially an evolutionary concept.” Education plays a very important role in moulding character of an individual. In a society where education is so vital, it is important to have students catch up and get ahead in different skills. It is one of concrete sources from which one gets information and knowledge. It affects the society. These information and knowledge are included in social media. Social media are computer-mediated tools that allow people to create, share, or exchange information, career interests, ideas, and pictures/videos in virtual communities and networks. Social media depend on mobile and web-based technologies to create highly interactive platforms through which individuals and communities share, co-create, discuss, and modify user-generated content. Social media and ICT play important role in education system. Social media comprises activities that involve socializing and networking online through words, pictures and videos. Facebook, youtube, twitter, myspace, blogs, whatsapp and other are most important part of social media. Use of Social Media in Education In the field of education, social-networking sites offer a student opportunity to connect with other students, educators, administrators, alumni, both within and outside his current institution. Scholars praise social-networking tools for their capability to attract, motivate and engage students in meaningful communicative practice, content exchange, and collaboration. There are benefits for successful use of social networking in education for both students and teachers. For students: some degree of informal learning through informal communication, support for collaboration, feedback on thoughts and collaboration independent of space and time. For teachers: gaining feedback from students and constant communication with students and produce an effective instructional technology for their customers. Challenges in use of social media in education There are many challenges facing use of social networking in education such as privacy, taking up time and miscommunication. Privacy: The social-networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter are open for anyone who wants to participate. Users will express very powerful concerns about privacy of their personal information, but be less than vigilant about safeguarding it. Although a lot of information individuals' supply on social-networking sites is elective, users are progressively more comfortable with displaying a great deal of personal information online. Therefore, one of the main concerns for users who register in these sites is privacy. Real friendship: Through social networking, person has a number of friends but quality and integrity of these friendships are not always true. Data on these social-networking sites for a person is not always
* Research Scholar, Institute of Education & Research, Manglayatan University, Aligarh
100% honest and reliable, and they do not verify personal details (age, location, etc.) of their members. While sites provide an opportunity for individuals to present a positive and accurate self-image, there is an equal potential to abuse this openness. So, having many friends through social networking sites is likely to be more harmful than good. This will affect use of social networking in education. Taking up time: The study which was conducted by site www.azureim.com showed the amount of time spent by individuals with each other online. This has adverse effect on the health of individuals, because spending a lot of time browsing these social networks can affect way the genes operate within human body, and weakens immune and hormone levels, and function of arteries. It is also has an impact on mental health. Moreover, use of social networking in education can cause lack of motivation towards learning and can be boring sitting in front of computer for a long time, especially if scientific material presented is free of audio and visual effects that will attract learner towards learning. Miscommunication: E-Learning does not afford students with same opportunities of explanation and clarification that occur in face-to-face interaction. Learners face some difficulty through social media in expressing their views and ideas in writing. Many learners prefer to express their ideas orally which is approach they have used for many years through their study, While e-education users need to acquire writing skills to express their ideas and opinions freely. Face to face allows individuals to perceive physical clues like tone, inflection, body language, in an online environment, these are lacking. Conclusion: Social Media has become very popular during past few years. It plays an important role in our life at the present time. It helps us in every fields of life such as political field, economic field and educational field. Social Media is built on idea of how people know should know and interact with each other. It gives people power to share, making the world more open and connected.
References: Zaidieh, A.J.(2012),The Use of Social Networking in Education: Challenges and Opportunities.WCSIT, Vol. 2, No. 1, 18-21 Wikipedia Web site. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media. Accessed Jan.10, 2016. www.google.com Vervaart,P.(2007), Role of Social Media and the Internet in Education. JIFCC,Vol.23,N.2 12-14