1. Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
2. When you lose, don't lose the lesson.
3. Follow the three R's: - Respect for self - Respect for others and - Responsibility for all your actions.
4. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.
5. Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.
6. Don't let a little dispute injure a great friendship.
7. When you realize you've made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.
8. Spend some time alone every day.
9. Open your arms to change, but don't let go of your values.
10. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
11. Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you'll be able to enjoy it a second time.
12. A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life.
13. In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation. Don't bring up the past.
14. Share your knowledge. It's a way to achieve immortality.
15. Be gentle with the earth.
16. Once a year, go someplace you've never been before.
17. Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.
18. Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.
19. Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon.
Monday, August 25, 2008
7 stages of love
LOVE
It's that feeling, that nobody could explain cause it different ppl have different experiences in this regard.
Love just not happens at a sight. It is a horizon and every horizon have a fall, so love travels through seven stages.
ATTRACTION:
First of all see someone, you meet hundred of new people in your daily life. The first stage is attraction, that something appeals you, look twice, you get attracted by a person.
INFATUATION:
Then you get infatuated by that person. You start admitting it to yourself, that you like him/her, you ask yourself that what does that person means to you why you want to see him/her, why you adore his/her voice, why you get excited, when the attracted person looked at you, even a general look makes your heart bloom.
COMMUNION:
Then the third stage comes, when you admit it in front of that person, you introduce yourself like HI! i have noticed you around , I found you to be very attractive would you like to spend sometime with me or you started becoming closer to that person , so that he/she can notice you and you start chatting.
INTIMACY:
A very famous song is "everybody is looking for intimacy", that is deep friendship. Your communion stage is over & you both become necessary for each other to share, are the ideas and thoughts of each other , you have started thinking on the same levels that other person is thinking.
SURRENDER:
Then after coming or passing through the intimacy stage, your love enters in deliver our stage i.e surrender, you surrender yourself to that person, yes i am in love with that person.
PASSION:
Once you surrender, your loved one becomes passion for you. You want that person like anything, you adore & can't escape the thoughts about him/her you become passionate.
ECSTASY:
Last but not the least is the stage when you have strong feelings or agitation i.e ecstasy, thinking about one thing & that's the person, your all thoughts starts & finishes with that person. Here you decide that you
can't live without that person. So you got or you lose. The most interesting thing i find out after reading this love horizon is the end. Now you read it
THE END
In the end, if you got then you lose the charm and if you lose you lost yourself
It's that feeling, that nobody could explain cause it different ppl have different experiences in this regard.
Love just not happens at a sight. It is a horizon and every horizon have a fall, so love travels through seven stages.
ATTRACTION:
First of all see someone, you meet hundred of new people in your daily life. The first stage is attraction, that something appeals you, look twice, you get attracted by a person.
INFATUATION:
Then you get infatuated by that person. You start admitting it to yourself, that you like him/her, you ask yourself that what does that person means to you why you want to see him/her, why you adore his/her voice, why you get excited, when the attracted person looked at you, even a general look makes your heart bloom.
COMMUNION:
Then the third stage comes, when you admit it in front of that person, you introduce yourself like HI! i have noticed you around , I found you to be very attractive would you like to spend sometime with me or you started becoming closer to that person , so that he/she can notice you and you start chatting.
INTIMACY:
A very famous song is "everybody is looking for intimacy", that is deep friendship. Your communion stage is over & you both become necessary for each other to share, are the ideas and thoughts of each other , you have started thinking on the same levels that other person is thinking.
SURRENDER:
Then after coming or passing through the intimacy stage, your love enters in deliver our stage i.e surrender, you surrender yourself to that person, yes i am in love with that person.
PASSION:
Once you surrender, your loved one becomes passion for you. You want that person like anything, you adore & can't escape the thoughts about him/her you become passionate.
ECSTASY:
Last but not the least is the stage when you have strong feelings or agitation i.e ecstasy, thinking about one thing & that's the person, your all thoughts starts & finishes with that person. Here you decide that you
can't live without that person. So you got or you lose. The most interesting thing i find out after reading this love horizon is the end. Now you read it
THE END
In the end, if you got then you lose the charm and if you lose you lost yourself
What is a friend??
A friend is someone who fills our lives with beauty, joy and grace and makes the world we live in, a better, happier place.
A friend is someone to laugh with, over little personal things, a friend is someone we're serious with, in facing whatever life brings.
Friends gently teach you, how to give and how to care, and true friends warmly reach out to you anytime, anywhere.
Among the great and glorious gift that we are blessed with, it is the gift of understanding that we find in loving and true friends.
A friend is someone we turn to when our spirits need lift, a friend is someone we treasure, for true friendship is a gift.
A friend is someone very dear, who shares your hopes and dreams, who shows you that the grayest day is brighter than it seems.
Friends are for sharing, when life brings you gladness, for being supportive, whenever there's sadness.
A friend is someone who believes in you when faith is running low, and whose gentle words of wisdom help you choose which way to go.
A friend is someone who comforts us when we feel blue, whose special warmth and happy smile makes us feel that life's worthwhile.
A true friend always thinks of you, when all the others are thinking of themselves.
A friend is someone who knows your joy, your sorrows and tears. Someone who cares and shares your world throughout the sad-sweet years.
A friend is kind and thoughtful, whose company is pleasure, someone who listens and understands, whose good advice is treasure.
A friend is someone whose warmth and patience, never seems to have an end,someone who has caring heart...that someone is a friend.
A true friend hears the song in your heart and sings it to you when your memory fails.
A true friend is someone who brings us laughter, even in our tears, whose memories make us smile across the miles and though the years.
Silence make the real conversations between friends, not the saying but the never needing today is what counts.
A true friend is someone who walks into your world, when the rest of the world walks out on you.
The friends who are really worth having are those who will listen to your deepest hurts, and feel they are theirs too.
A friend is someone to laugh with, over little personal things, a friend is someone we're serious with, in facing whatever life brings.
Friends gently teach you, how to give and how to care, and true friends warmly reach out to you anytime, anywhere.
Among the great and glorious gift that we are blessed with, it is the gift of understanding that we find in loving and true friends.
A friend is someone we turn to when our spirits need lift, a friend is someone we treasure, for true friendship is a gift.
A friend is someone very dear, who shares your hopes and dreams, who shows you that the grayest day is brighter than it seems.
Friends are for sharing, when life brings you gladness, for being supportive, whenever there's sadness.
A friend is someone who believes in you when faith is running low, and whose gentle words of wisdom help you choose which way to go.
A friend is someone who comforts us when we feel blue, whose special warmth and happy smile makes us feel that life's worthwhile.
A true friend always thinks of you, when all the others are thinking of themselves.
A friend is someone who knows your joy, your sorrows and tears. Someone who cares and shares your world throughout the sad-sweet years.
A friend is kind and thoughtful, whose company is pleasure, someone who listens and understands, whose good advice is treasure.
A friend is someone whose warmth and patience, never seems to have an end,someone who has caring heart...that someone is a friend.
A true friend hears the song in your heart and sings it to you when your memory fails.
A true friend is someone who brings us laughter, even in our tears, whose memories make us smile across the miles and though the years.
Silence make the real conversations between friends, not the saying but the never needing today is what counts.
A true friend is someone who walks into your world, when the rest of the world walks out on you.
The friends who are really worth having are those who will listen to your deepest hurts, and feel they are theirs too.
An Open Letter to a Graduating Daughter
The writer's daughter graduates this March from the Ateneo de Manila University, and he shares his letter of advice to her with all college students graduating this year.
Dear Elynaea,
Today is your day. As you sit barely listening to the endless stream of graduation speeches, a lot of things must be rushing through your head and producing a mix of emotions.
You must be recalling those days of struggle -- the countless hours spent studying, doing research, preparing projects, agonizing over possible test results -- and relief passes through you as you realize that they are finally over.
Too, your mind must be trying to peer into the future. You daydream of landing your first job, of earning your first salary, even of eventually getting your own car, acquiring your own flat and traveling to different places.
But as you gaze around, the sight of your classmates must dampen your enthusiasm and fuel feelings of anxiety. So many new graduates soon to go looking for a job, just like you. And you must be wondering: How will I fare in the job market? Will I be another jobless statistic? Or will I be among the lucky ones who find a good job right away? How tough is it really out there? Will I be successful in my chosen career?
Your trepidation is understandable, and I wish I could guarantee your future for you. But I can't. Only you can decide your fate through the priorities you set, the decisions you make, the efforts you spend, the sacrifices you make.
The best thing I can do for you today is to share years of insight on how to effectively manage one's career. These insights come not only from my own experience but also from observing successful people -- friends and former classmates, peers in the profession, my superiors, work associates and many others. They come from different fields and took different approaches, but the underlying principles for their success are uncannily similar. Here they are:
Have a clear vision. Your vision should be as clear and as specific as you can make it. Aim as high as you believe you can go. If you aim too low, you might find the challenge insufficient and the achievement too shallow. If you aim too high, you may have difficulty hitting your target and may live a life full of frustration.
Your vision should be something you truly believe will give your life significance and meaning. Being young, you may think that financial reward or fame would make you happy. They won't. People with such vision often end up miserable and empty inside even when they do succeed. To find your vision, imagine yourself retiring four decades later and asking yourself, "Did my achievements make me the best of what I could be?"
Draw up a focused plan. This plan will give you the focus and the general guidelines to attain your vision and mission. For now, it should contain only the broad strokes and offer answers to the "what" and the "when." The specifics (the "how") will come later.
It is also very important that you know the value of properly pacing yourself. A pace that is too fast can lead to exhaustion and burnout. A pace that is too slow can lead to complacency, meandering and loss of interest.
Right now, you will not be able to determine your correct pace, but you can start creating a time frame containing rough estimates. With experience, you will develop a better sense of timing and can adjust your plan accordingly.
Prepare a specific action plan. After you have defined your vision and mission then it is time for implementation.
The first thing you have to do is, of course, get a job based on your vision. Find the organization that can help you achieve your vision -- provide you proper training and development, recognize your talents and give you opportunities to move up. The search may be long and hard, but if you put your heart and mind to it, you will find this organization. There are many articles on job hunting, including those that I have written. Now is the time to apply the insights you have gained from them.
Once aboard that organization, try to acquire a clear idea of how the company works. What are its vision, goals, strategies and priorities? How aligned are these with yours? Use this information to prepare your strategy for accomplishing each step of your mission. These are now the specifics, the detailed action plan.
To help you draw up that action plan, try answering these questions: How long will it realistically take you to move from one level to the next higher one? What are the things you have to accomplish? What preparatory training and developmental steps must you take? Can the organization provide you these? If it can, how can you avail yourself of them? If it cannot, can you obtain them outside the company? How much will it cost you? What assistance will you need?
As I said earlier, this is just a very rough framework for career success. The gaps and details will have to be filled by you.
Later in life, certain events may occur that will require you to revise your plan, rethink your strategy, or adjust your timing. Some of them may be good -- an unexpected promotion, a significant transfer, even a better job offer. If this happens, do not become complacent or overconfident. Always keep your feet firmly planted on the ground.
Some may be bad and derail your plan -- an economic or industry slump, a shift in the organization's priorities, a change in management. Don't despair. Adjust your plan and timing, but keep your mind focused on your vision. The road to success is not always straight and paved; there may be detours and rough trails along the way. But with patience, perseverance and determination, no doubt you will make it.
I have saved the best for last that you may remember it best: Always pray to God for guidance and strength in all your endeavors. No matter how well you plan and how hard you work, without His blessing, all will be in vain.
God bless and Godspeed!
Dear Elynaea,
Today is your day. As you sit barely listening to the endless stream of graduation speeches, a lot of things must be rushing through your head and producing a mix of emotions.
You must be recalling those days of struggle -- the countless hours spent studying, doing research, preparing projects, agonizing over possible test results -- and relief passes through you as you realize that they are finally over.
Too, your mind must be trying to peer into the future. You daydream of landing your first job, of earning your first salary, even of eventually getting your own car, acquiring your own flat and traveling to different places.
But as you gaze around, the sight of your classmates must dampen your enthusiasm and fuel feelings of anxiety. So many new graduates soon to go looking for a job, just like you. And you must be wondering: How will I fare in the job market? Will I be another jobless statistic? Or will I be among the lucky ones who find a good job right away? How tough is it really out there? Will I be successful in my chosen career?
Your trepidation is understandable, and I wish I could guarantee your future for you. But I can't. Only you can decide your fate through the priorities you set, the decisions you make, the efforts you spend, the sacrifices you make.
The best thing I can do for you today is to share years of insight on how to effectively manage one's career. These insights come not only from my own experience but also from observing successful people -- friends and former classmates, peers in the profession, my superiors, work associates and many others. They come from different fields and took different approaches, but the underlying principles for their success are uncannily similar. Here they are:
Have a clear vision. Your vision should be as clear and as specific as you can make it. Aim as high as you believe you can go. If you aim too low, you might find the challenge insufficient and the achievement too shallow. If you aim too high, you may have difficulty hitting your target and may live a life full of frustration.
Your vision should be something you truly believe will give your life significance and meaning. Being young, you may think that financial reward or fame would make you happy. They won't. People with such vision often end up miserable and empty inside even when they do succeed. To find your vision, imagine yourself retiring four decades later and asking yourself, "Did my achievements make me the best of what I could be?"
Draw up a focused plan. This plan will give you the focus and the general guidelines to attain your vision and mission. For now, it should contain only the broad strokes and offer answers to the "what" and the "when." The specifics (the "how") will come later.
It is also very important that you know the value of properly pacing yourself. A pace that is too fast can lead to exhaustion and burnout. A pace that is too slow can lead to complacency, meandering and loss of interest.
Right now, you will not be able to determine your correct pace, but you can start creating a time frame containing rough estimates. With experience, you will develop a better sense of timing and can adjust your plan accordingly.
Prepare a specific action plan. After you have defined your vision and mission then it is time for implementation.
The first thing you have to do is, of course, get a job based on your vision. Find the organization that can help you achieve your vision -- provide you proper training and development, recognize your talents and give you opportunities to move up. The search may be long and hard, but if you put your heart and mind to it, you will find this organization. There are many articles on job hunting, including those that I have written. Now is the time to apply the insights you have gained from them.
Once aboard that organization, try to acquire a clear idea of how the company works. What are its vision, goals, strategies and priorities? How aligned are these with yours? Use this information to prepare your strategy for accomplishing each step of your mission. These are now the specifics, the detailed action plan.
To help you draw up that action plan, try answering these questions: How long will it realistically take you to move from one level to the next higher one? What are the things you have to accomplish? What preparatory training and developmental steps must you take? Can the organization provide you these? If it can, how can you avail yourself of them? If it cannot, can you obtain them outside the company? How much will it cost you? What assistance will you need?
As I said earlier, this is just a very rough framework for career success. The gaps and details will have to be filled by you.
Later in life, certain events may occur that will require you to revise your plan, rethink your strategy, or adjust your timing. Some of them may be good -- an unexpected promotion, a significant transfer, even a better job offer. If this happens, do not become complacent or overconfident. Always keep your feet firmly planted on the ground.
Some may be bad and derail your plan -- an economic or industry slump, a shift in the organization's priorities, a change in management. Don't despair. Adjust your plan and timing, but keep your mind focused on your vision. The road to success is not always straight and paved; there may be detours and rough trails along the way. But with patience, perseverance and determination, no doubt you will make it.
I have saved the best for last that you may remember it best: Always pray to God for guidance and strength in all your endeavors. No matter how well you plan and how hard you work, without His blessing, all will be in vain.
God bless and Godspeed!
Watch your table manners!
While most job interviews take place in an office, not all do. There are interviews that take place in clubs, restaurants and various other places that are tucked well away from the office. If you find part or all of an interview being conducted while you are expected to have a drink or eat, be careful.
The first tip we can give is for you to be just as alert in these surroundings as you would be in the office. Do not be lulled into a false sense of security by thinking there is no interview or the interview is over and you can now relax. You are still being observed just as carefully as ever - maybe, even more so.
A typical example of what not to do: Andy has nervously gone through a series of morning interviews with different people in the organisation. As lunchtime approached, he was invited to go to lunch with two of the people with whom he had already interviewed. As the three crossed the street to the restaurant, Andy breathed a sigh of relief and indicated he was glad the interviews were over. He proceeded to act as if they were. He no longer gave thoughtful responses to questions and he seemed very opinionated. Indeed, the company associates got to see Andy as he really was and decided they didn’t like what they saw. You are on stage until you take your exit. Don’t forget your part.
The second advice is to follow the leader as far as possible. If the interviewer orders only a soft drink, do not up the ante by ordering liquor. The worst is if you decide to order food while others do not. At lunch, the best advice is to decide on a fruit juice or something equally neutral even if others have ordered a beer. They may be testing you, and going back to work or more interviews after even one drink is not advisable no matter how well you think you can handle it.
Finally, if food is offered, order something that’s easy to eat and in small portions. Try to avoid spaghetti, fried chicken, and bony fish. You’re probably not hungry anyway, and you won’t be eating much because you will be talking most of the time. But be sure you direct your attention to your audience, not your food! Your social graces - and especially your table manners -- are particularly on display in such settings.
Smile, What wonders a smile can do...
She smiled at a sorrowful stranger.
The smile seemed to make him feel better.
He remembered past kindnesses of a friend
And wrote him a thank you letter.
The friend was so pleased with the thank you
That he left a large tip after lunch.
The waitress, surprised by the size of the tip,
Bet the whole thing on a hunch.
The next day she picked up her winnings,
And gave part to a man on the street.
The man on the street was grateful;
For two days he'd had nothing to eat.
After he finished his dinner,
He left for his small dingy room.
He didn't know at that moment
that he might be facing his doom.
On the way he picked up a shivering puppy
And took him home to get warm.
The puppy was very grateful
To be in out of the storm.
That night the house caught on fire.
The puppy barked the alarm.
He barked till he woke the whole household
And saved everybody from harm.
One of the boys that he rescued
Grew up to be President.
All this because of a simple smile
. . .That hadn't cost a cent.
The smile seemed to make him feel better.
He remembered past kindnesses of a friend
And wrote him a thank you letter.
The friend was so pleased with the thank you
That he left a large tip after lunch.
The waitress, surprised by the size of the tip,
Bet the whole thing on a hunch.
The next day she picked up her winnings,
And gave part to a man on the street.
The man on the street was grateful;
For two days he'd had nothing to eat.
After he finished his dinner,
He left for his small dingy room.
He didn't know at that moment
that he might be facing his doom.
On the way he picked up a shivering puppy
And took him home to get warm.
The puppy was very grateful
To be in out of the storm.
That night the house caught on fire.
The puppy barked the alarm.
He barked till he woke the whole household
And saved everybody from harm.
One of the boys that he rescued
Grew up to be President.
All this because of a simple smile
. . .That hadn't cost a cent.
10 secrets to be a better person
The FIRST secret - the power of THOUGHT.
Love begins with our thoughts. We become what we think about.Loving thoughts
create loving experiences and loving relationships. Affirmations can change
our beliefs and thoughts about others and ourselves. If we want to love
someone, we need to consider his or her needs and desires. Thinking about
your ideal partner will help you recognise her when you meet her.
The SECOND secret - the power of RESPECT.
You cannot love anyone or anything unless you first respect them.
The first person you need to respect is yourself.
To begin to gain self-respect, ask yourself, What do I respect
about myself?-
To gain respect for others, even those you may dislike, ask
yourself,
What do I respect about them?-
The THIRD secret - the power of GIVING.
If you want to receive love, all you have to do is give it!
The more love you give, the more you will receive.
To love is to give of yourself, freely and unconditionally.
Practice random acts of kindness. Before committing to a
relationship ask not what the other person will be able to give to
you, but
rather what will you be able to give them.
The secret formula of a happy, lifelong, loving relationship is to
always focus on what you can give instead of what you can take.
The FOURTH secret - the power of FRIENDSHIP.
To find a true love, you must first find a true friend.
Love does not consist of gazing into each other"s eyes, but rather
looking outward together in the same direction.
To love someone completely you must love him or her for who they
are and not for what they look like.
Friendship is the soil through which love seeds grow.
If you want to bring love into a relationship, you must first
bring friendship.
The FIFTH secret - the power of TOUCH.
Touch is one of the most powerful expressions of love, breaking
down barriers and bonding relationships.
Touch changes our physical and emotional states and makes us more
receptive to love.
The SIXTH secret - the power of LETTING GO.
If you love something, let it free. If it comes back to you, it"s
yours, if it doesn"t, it never was.
Even in a loving relationship, people need their own space.
If we want to learn to love, we must first learn to forgive and
let go of past hurts and grievances.
Love means letting go of our fears, prejudices, egos and
conditions.
Today I let go of all my fears, the past has no power over me -
today is the beginning of a new life.-
The SEVENTH secret - the power of COMMUNICATION.
When we learn to communicate openly and honestly, life changes.
To love someone is to communicate with them.
Let the people you love know that you love them and appreciate
them.
Never be afraid to say those three magic words: .I Love You.-
Never let an opportunity pass to praise someone.
Always leave someone you love with a loving word -
it could be the last time you see him or her.
If you were about to die but could make telephone calls to the
people you loved, who would you call, what would you say and .. why
are you waiting?
The EIGHTH secret - the power of COMMITMENT.
If you want to have love in abundance, you must be committed to
it, and that commitment will be reflected in your thoughts and
actions.
Commitment is the TRUE test of love. If you want to have loving
relationships, you must be committed to loving relationships.
When you are committed to someone or something, quitting is never
an option.
Commitment distinguishes a fragile relationship from a strong one.
The NINTH secret - the power of PASSION.
Passion ignites love and keeps it alive.
Lasting passion does not come through physical attraction alone;
it comes from deep commitment, enthusiasm, interest and
excitement.
Passion can be recreated by recreating past experiences.
When you felt passionate spontaneity and surprises produce
passion.
The essence of love and happiness are the same;
all we need to do is to live each day with passion.
The TENTH secret - the power of TRUST.
Trust is essential in all loving relationships.
Without it one person becomes suspicious, anxious and fearful
and the other person feels trapped and emotionally suffocated.
You cannot love someone completely unless you trust him or her
completely.
Act as if your relationship with the person you love will never
end.
One of the ways you can tell whether a person is right for you is
to ask yourself, .Do I trust them completely and unreservedly?
If the answer is .no-, think carefully before making a
commitment.
Love begins with our thoughts. We become what we think about.Loving thoughts
create loving experiences and loving relationships. Affirmations can change
our beliefs and thoughts about others and ourselves. If we want to love
someone, we need to consider his or her needs and desires. Thinking about
your ideal partner will help you recognise her when you meet her.
The SECOND secret - the power of RESPECT.
You cannot love anyone or anything unless you first respect them.
The first person you need to respect is yourself.
To begin to gain self-respect, ask yourself, What do I respect
about myself?-
To gain respect for others, even those you may dislike, ask
yourself,
What do I respect about them?-
The THIRD secret - the power of GIVING.
If you want to receive love, all you have to do is give it!
The more love you give, the more you will receive.
To love is to give of yourself, freely and unconditionally.
Practice random acts of kindness. Before committing to a
relationship ask not what the other person will be able to give to
you, but
rather what will you be able to give them.
The secret formula of a happy, lifelong, loving relationship is to
always focus on what you can give instead of what you can take.
The FOURTH secret - the power of FRIENDSHIP.
To find a true love, you must first find a true friend.
Love does not consist of gazing into each other"s eyes, but rather
looking outward together in the same direction.
To love someone completely you must love him or her for who they
are and not for what they look like.
Friendship is the soil through which love seeds grow.
If you want to bring love into a relationship, you must first
bring friendship.
The FIFTH secret - the power of TOUCH.
Touch is one of the most powerful expressions of love, breaking
down barriers and bonding relationships.
Touch changes our physical and emotional states and makes us more
receptive to love.
The SIXTH secret - the power of LETTING GO.
If you love something, let it free. If it comes back to you, it"s
yours, if it doesn"t, it never was.
Even in a loving relationship, people need their own space.
If we want to learn to love, we must first learn to forgive and
let go of past hurts and grievances.
Love means letting go of our fears, prejudices, egos and
conditions.
Today I let go of all my fears, the past has no power over me -
today is the beginning of a new life.-
The SEVENTH secret - the power of COMMUNICATION.
When we learn to communicate openly and honestly, life changes.
To love someone is to communicate with them.
Let the people you love know that you love them and appreciate
them.
Never be afraid to say those three magic words: .I Love You.-
Never let an opportunity pass to praise someone.
Always leave someone you love with a loving word -
it could be the last time you see him or her.
If you were about to die but could make telephone calls to the
people you loved, who would you call, what would you say and .. why
are you waiting?
The EIGHTH secret - the power of COMMITMENT.
If you want to have love in abundance, you must be committed to
it, and that commitment will be reflected in your thoughts and
actions.
Commitment is the TRUE test of love. If you want to have loving
relationships, you must be committed to loving relationships.
When you are committed to someone or something, quitting is never
an option.
Commitment distinguishes a fragile relationship from a strong one.
The NINTH secret - the power of PASSION.
Passion ignites love and keeps it alive.
Lasting passion does not come through physical attraction alone;
it comes from deep commitment, enthusiasm, interest and
excitement.
Passion can be recreated by recreating past experiences.
When you felt passionate spontaneity and surprises produce
passion.
The essence of love and happiness are the same;
all we need to do is to live each day with passion.
The TENTH secret - the power of TRUST.
Trust is essential in all loving relationships.
Without it one person becomes suspicious, anxious and fearful
and the other person feels trapped and emotionally suffocated.
You cannot love someone completely unless you trust him or her
completely.
Act as if your relationship with the person you love will never
end.
One of the ways you can tell whether a person is right for you is
to ask yourself, .Do I trust them completely and unreservedly?
If the answer is .no-, think carefully before making a
commitment.
How to say I Love You in 100 Languages !!!
English - I love you
Afrikaans - Ek het jou lief
Albanian - Te dua
Arabic - Ana behibak (to male)
Arabic - Ana behibek (to female)
Armenian - Yes kez sirumen
Bambara - M'bi fe
Bangla - Aamee tuma ke bhalo aashi
Belarusian - Ya tabe kahayu
Bisaya - Nahigugma ako kanimo
Bulgarian - Obicham te
Cambodian - Soro lahn nhee ah
Cantonese Chinese - Ngo oiy ney a
Catalan - T'estimo
Cheyenne - Ne mohotatse
Chichewa - Ndimakukonda
Corsican - Ti tengu caru (to male)
Creol - Mi aime jou
Croatian - Volim te
Czech - Miluji te
Danish - Jeg Elsker Dig
Dutch - Ik hou van jou
Esperanto - Mi amas vin
Estonian - Ma armastan sind
Ethiopian - Afgreki'
Faroese - Eg elski teg
Farsi - Doset daram
Filipino - Mahal kita
Finnish - Mina rakastan sinua
French - Je t'aime, Je t'adore
Gaelic - Ta gra agam ort
Georgian - Mikvarhar
German - Ich liebe dich
Greek - S'agapo
Gujarati - Hoo thunay prem karoo choo
Hiligaynon - Palangga ko ikaw
Hawaiian - Aloha wau ia oi
Hebrew - Ani ohev otah (to female)
Hebrew - Ani ohev et otha (to male)
Hiligaynon - Guina higugma ko ikaw
Hindi - Hum Tumhe Pyar Karte hae
Hmong - Kuv hlub koj
Hopi - Nu' umi unangwa'ta
Hungarian - Szeretlek
Icelandic - Eg elska tig
Ilonggo - Palangga ko ikaw
Indonesian - Saya cinta padamu
Inuit - Negligevapse
Irish - Taim i' ngra leat
Italian - Ti amo
Japanese - Aishiteru
Kannada - Naanu ninna preetisuttene
Kapampangan - Kaluguran daka
Kiswahili - Nakupenda
Konkani - Tu magel moga cho
Korean - Sarang Heyo
Latin - Te amo
Latvian - Es tevi miilu
Lebanese - Bahibak
Lithuanian - Tave myliu
Malay - Saya cintakan mu / Aku cinta padamu
Malayalam - Njan Ninne Premikunnu
Mandarin Chinese - Wo ai ni
Marathi - Me tula prem karto
Mohawk - Kanbhik
Moroccan - Ana moajaba bik
Nahuatl - Ni mits neki
Navaho - Ayor anosh'ni
Norwegian - Jeg Elsker Deg
Pandacan - Syota na kita!!
Pangasinan - Inaru Taka
Papiamento - Mi ta stimabo
Persian - Doo-set daaram
Pig Latin - Iay ovlay ouyay
Polish - Kocham Ciebie
Portuguese - Eu te amo
Romanian - Te ubesk
Russian - Ya tebya liubliu
Scot Gaelic - Tha gra\dh agam ort
Serbian - Volim te
Setswana - Ke a go rata
Sign Language - ,\,,/ (represents position of
fingers when
signing'I Love You')
Sindhi - Maa tokhe pyar kendo ahyan
Sioux - Techihhila
Slovak - Lu`bim ta
Slovenian - Ljubim te
Spanish - Te quiero / Te amo
Swahili - Ninapenda wewe
Swedish - Jag alskar dig
Swiss-German - Ich lieb Di
Tagalog - Mahal kita
Taiwanese - Wa ga ei li
Tahitian - Ua Here Vau Ia Oe
Tamil - Nan unnai kathalikaraen
Telugu - Nenu ninnu premistunnanu
Thai - Chan rak khun (to male)
Thai - Phom rak khun (to female)
Turkish - Seni Seviyorum
Ukrainian - Ya tebe kahayu
Urdu - mai aap say pyaar karta hoo
Vietnamese - Anh ye^u em (to female)
Vietnamese - Em ye^u anh (to male)
Welsh - 'Rwy'n dy garu
Yiddish - Ikh hob dikh
Yoruba - Mo ni fe
Afrikaans - Ek het jou lief
Albanian - Te dua
Arabic - Ana behibak (to male)
Arabic - Ana behibek (to female)
Armenian - Yes kez sirumen
Bambara - M'bi fe
Bangla - Aamee tuma ke bhalo aashi
Belarusian - Ya tabe kahayu
Bisaya - Nahigugma ako kanimo
Bulgarian - Obicham te
Cambodian - Soro lahn nhee ah
Cantonese Chinese - Ngo oiy ney a
Catalan - T'estimo
Cheyenne - Ne mohotatse
Chichewa - Ndimakukonda
Corsican - Ti tengu caru (to male)
Creol - Mi aime jou
Croatian - Volim te
Czech - Miluji te
Danish - Jeg Elsker Dig
Dutch - Ik hou van jou
Esperanto - Mi amas vin
Estonian - Ma armastan sind
Ethiopian - Afgreki'
Faroese - Eg elski teg
Farsi - Doset daram
Filipino - Mahal kita
Finnish - Mina rakastan sinua
French - Je t'aime, Je t'adore
Gaelic - Ta gra agam ort
Georgian - Mikvarhar
German - Ich liebe dich
Greek - S'agapo
Gujarati - Hoo thunay prem karoo choo
Hiligaynon - Palangga ko ikaw
Hawaiian - Aloha wau ia oi
Hebrew - Ani ohev otah (to female)
Hebrew - Ani ohev et otha (to male)
Hiligaynon - Guina higugma ko ikaw
Hindi - Hum Tumhe Pyar Karte hae
Hmong - Kuv hlub koj
Hopi - Nu' umi unangwa'ta
Hungarian - Szeretlek
Icelandic - Eg elska tig
Ilonggo - Palangga ko ikaw
Indonesian - Saya cinta padamu
Inuit - Negligevapse
Irish - Taim i' ngra leat
Italian - Ti amo
Japanese - Aishiteru
Kannada - Naanu ninna preetisuttene
Kapampangan - Kaluguran daka
Kiswahili - Nakupenda
Konkani - Tu magel moga cho
Korean - Sarang Heyo
Latin - Te amo
Latvian - Es tevi miilu
Lebanese - Bahibak
Lithuanian - Tave myliu
Malay - Saya cintakan mu / Aku cinta padamu
Malayalam - Njan Ninne Premikunnu
Mandarin Chinese - Wo ai ni
Marathi - Me tula prem karto
Mohawk - Kanbhik
Moroccan - Ana moajaba bik
Nahuatl - Ni mits neki
Navaho - Ayor anosh'ni
Norwegian - Jeg Elsker Deg
Pandacan - Syota na kita!!
Pangasinan - Inaru Taka
Papiamento - Mi ta stimabo
Persian - Doo-set daaram
Pig Latin - Iay ovlay ouyay
Polish - Kocham Ciebie
Portuguese - Eu te amo
Romanian - Te ubesk
Russian - Ya tebya liubliu
Scot Gaelic - Tha gra\dh agam ort
Serbian - Volim te
Setswana - Ke a go rata
Sign Language - ,\,,/ (represents position of
fingers when
signing'I Love You')
Sindhi - Maa tokhe pyar kendo ahyan
Sioux - Techihhila
Slovak - Lu`bim ta
Slovenian - Ljubim te
Spanish - Te quiero / Te amo
Swahili - Ninapenda wewe
Swedish - Jag alskar dig
Swiss-German - Ich lieb Di
Tagalog - Mahal kita
Taiwanese - Wa ga ei li
Tahitian - Ua Here Vau Ia Oe
Tamil - Nan unnai kathalikaraen
Telugu - Nenu ninnu premistunnanu
Thai - Chan rak khun (to male)
Thai - Phom rak khun (to female)
Turkish - Seni Seviyorum
Ukrainian - Ya tebe kahayu
Urdu - mai aap say pyaar karta hoo
Vietnamese - Anh ye^u em (to female)
Vietnamese - Em ye^u anh (to male)
Welsh - 'Rwy'n dy garu
Yiddish - Ikh hob dikh
Yoruba - Mo ni fe
Live and be Happy
________________________________________
~Watch a sunrise at least once a year
~Look people in the eye
~Sing in the shower
~Be forgiving of yourself and others
~Never give up on anybody, miracles happen everyday
~Surprise loved ones with little unexpected gifts
~Make the best of bad situations
~Admit your mistakes
~Slow dance
~Remember that the most important thing is trust
~Make it a habit to do nice things for people who'll never find out
~Think big thoughts, but relish small pleasures
~Never cheat
~Smile a lot
~Never deprive someone of hope; it might be all they have
~Strive for excellence, not perfection
~Be kinder than necessary
~Never take action when you're angry
~Be romantic
~When someone hugs you, let them be first to let go
~Seek out the good in people
~Look at the stars
~Judge your success by the degree that you're enjoying
peace, health and love
~Never waste an opportunity to tell someone you love them
~Laugh a lot
~Love deeply and passionately
~Eat meals with your family
~Be the first to forgive
~Don't let Weeds grow around your dreams
~Live and Be Happy
________________________________________
~Watch a sunrise at least once a year
- cause watching it will tell u each day starts anew.
~Look people in the eye
- to let the people know that u are confident of what u are doing or saying.
~Sing in the shower
- to make urself appreciate ur own voice.....and to keep urself jolly
~Be forgiving of yourself and others
- So that others would forgive u when u make mistakes
~Never give up on anybody, miracles happen everyday
- cause people change everyday.
A person may not be able to do something today but by u giving up on them
they will have the spirit to do that something someday
~Surprise loved ones with little unexpected gifts
-to make them smile and to show them that u care
~Make the best of bad situations
-so that life will never be upsetting
~Admit your mistakes
-cause when u admit, u are showing u are courageous to face the consequences
~Slow dance
- to relax ur mind in times of stress
~Remember that the most important thing is trust
-Trust is the base of life. Trust can do wonders
~Make it a habit to do nice things for people who'll never find out
- Just imagine someone u have helped without their knowledge,. Seeing their happiness will make u feel
contented
~Think big thoughts, but relish small pleasures
- to show that u appreciate even little things
~Never cheat
- cause cheating will set ur mind guilty all the time....
~Smile a lot
- cause smiling reduces wrinkle
~Never deprive someone of hope; it might be all they have
- hope can even make the blind see
~Strive for excellence, not perfection
-cause no one is perfect
~Be kinder than necessary
-so that others will be happy
~Never take action when you're angry
-cause that is when u will be very regretful
~Be romantic
- so as to make ur partner and urself happy
~When someone hugs you, let them be first to let go
- to signify that u will never let go no matter what happens
~Seek out the good in people
-to forget their bad
~Look at the stars
-to think of life as beautiful as the skies
~Judge your success by the degree that you're enjoying
peace, health and love
-cause there is no use of success if u don't enjoy it at al
~Never waste an opportunity to tell someone you love them
- cause no one is guranteed to be alive when u want to tell them
~Laugh a lot
-to make urself happy
~Love deeply and passionately
-so as to have a closer bond with ur partner
~Eat meals with your family
-to have a easy talk with ur family
~Be the first to forgive
-cause no one is perfect so do forgive others
~Don't let Weeds grow around your dreams
- cause those weeds will be ur life then
~Live and Be Happy
~Watch a sunrise at least once a year
~Look people in the eye
~Sing in the shower
~Be forgiving of yourself and others
~Never give up on anybody, miracles happen everyday
~Surprise loved ones with little unexpected gifts
~Make the best of bad situations
~Admit your mistakes
~Slow dance
~Remember that the most important thing is trust
~Make it a habit to do nice things for people who'll never find out
~Think big thoughts, but relish small pleasures
~Never cheat
~Smile a lot
~Never deprive someone of hope; it might be all they have
~Strive for excellence, not perfection
~Be kinder than necessary
~Never take action when you're angry
~Be romantic
~When someone hugs you, let them be first to let go
~Seek out the good in people
~Look at the stars
~Judge your success by the degree that you're enjoying
peace, health and love
~Never waste an opportunity to tell someone you love them
~Laugh a lot
~Love deeply and passionately
~Eat meals with your family
~Be the first to forgive
~Don't let Weeds grow around your dreams
~Live and Be Happy
________________________________________
~Watch a sunrise at least once a year
- cause watching it will tell u each day starts anew.
~Look people in the eye
- to let the people know that u are confident of what u are doing or saying.
~Sing in the shower
- to make urself appreciate ur own voice.....and to keep urself jolly
~Be forgiving of yourself and others
- So that others would forgive u when u make mistakes
~Never give up on anybody, miracles happen everyday
- cause people change everyday.
A person may not be able to do something today but by u giving up on them
they will have the spirit to do that something someday
~Surprise loved ones with little unexpected gifts
-to make them smile and to show them that u care
~Make the best of bad situations
-so that life will never be upsetting
~Admit your mistakes
-cause when u admit, u are showing u are courageous to face the consequences
~Slow dance
- to relax ur mind in times of stress
~Remember that the most important thing is trust
-Trust is the base of life. Trust can do wonders
~Make it a habit to do nice things for people who'll never find out
- Just imagine someone u have helped without their knowledge,. Seeing their happiness will make u feel
contented
~Think big thoughts, but relish small pleasures
- to show that u appreciate even little things
~Never cheat
- cause cheating will set ur mind guilty all the time....
~Smile a lot
- cause smiling reduces wrinkle
~Never deprive someone of hope; it might be all they have
- hope can even make the blind see
~Strive for excellence, not perfection
-cause no one is perfect
~Be kinder than necessary
-so that others will be happy
~Never take action when you're angry
-cause that is when u will be very regretful
~Be romantic
- so as to make ur partner and urself happy
~When someone hugs you, let them be first to let go
- to signify that u will never let go no matter what happens
~Seek out the good in people
-to forget their bad
~Look at the stars
-to think of life as beautiful as the skies
~Judge your success by the degree that you're enjoying
peace, health and love
-cause there is no use of success if u don't enjoy it at al
~Never waste an opportunity to tell someone you love them
- cause no one is guranteed to be alive when u want to tell them
~Laugh a lot
-to make urself happy
~Love deeply and passionately
-so as to have a closer bond with ur partner
~Eat meals with your family
-to have a easy talk with ur family
~Be the first to forgive
-cause no one is perfect so do forgive others
~Don't let Weeds grow around your dreams
- cause those weeds will be ur life then
~Live and Be Happy
Two Days We Should Not Worry
There are two days in every week about which we should not worry,
two days which should be kept free from fear and apprehension.
One of these days is Yesterday with all its mistakes and cares,
its faults and blunders, its aches and pains.
Yesterday has passed forever beyond our control.
All the money in the world cannot bring back Yesterday.
We cannot undo a single act we performed;
we cannot erase a single word we said.
Yesterday is gone forever.
The other day we should not worry about is Tomorrow
with all its possible adversities, its burdens,
its large promise and its poor performance;
Tomorrow is also beyond our immediate control.
Tomorrow's sun will rise,
either in splendor or behind a mask of clouds, but it will rise.
Until it does, we have no stake in Tomorrow,
for it is yet to be born.
This leaves only one day, Today.
Any person can fight the battle of just one day.
It is when you and I add the burdens of those two awful eternities
Yesterday and Tomorrow that we break down.
It is not the experience of Today that drives a person mad,
it is the remorse or bitterness of something which happened Yesterday and the dread of what Tomorrow may bring.
Let us, therefore, Live but one day at a time
two days which should be kept free from fear and apprehension.
One of these days is Yesterday with all its mistakes and cares,
its faults and blunders, its aches and pains.
Yesterday has passed forever beyond our control.
All the money in the world cannot bring back Yesterday.
We cannot undo a single act we performed;
we cannot erase a single word we said.
Yesterday is gone forever.
The other day we should not worry about is Tomorrow
with all its possible adversities, its burdens,
its large promise and its poor performance;
Tomorrow is also beyond our immediate control.
Tomorrow's sun will rise,
either in splendor or behind a mask of clouds, but it will rise.
Until it does, we have no stake in Tomorrow,
for it is yet to be born.
This leaves only one day, Today.
Any person can fight the battle of just one day.
It is when you and I add the burdens of those two awful eternities
Yesterday and Tomorrow that we break down.
It is not the experience of Today that drives a person mad,
it is the remorse or bitterness of something which happened Yesterday and the dread of what Tomorrow may bring.
Let us, therefore, Live but one day at a time
Mother love, A very touching poem
He cannot tell his mother he's dying.
Somehow he's embarrassed, ashamed of fifty-six years
of imperfections, of doing everything she told him
(even as a teenager) not to do.
He's ashamed for her, too--her second son to die this way,
that out of her milk-white and perfect bones
came a perfect cell that would divide and divide
her heart into a million pieces, if she only knew.
His world was every yellow tulip she breathed in April,
every strawberry whose redness she swallowed in July,
every song on her lips whose notes
slid in tenor waves through her thin skin
and lulled him off to sleep again hush little baby don't say a word.
She once felt his fingers and toes fluttering
beneath the tight skin of her belly, his straining to open his mouth
and tell her everything in the world he knew was beautiful.
Now he feels an invisible weight
pushing out on his belly and his love has no words
for all the nothing in the world
he knows is beautiful.
Somehow he's embarrassed, ashamed of fifty-six years
of imperfections, of doing everything she told him
(even as a teenager) not to do.
He's ashamed for her, too--her second son to die this way,
that out of her milk-white and perfect bones
came a perfect cell that would divide and divide
her heart into a million pieces, if she only knew.
His world was every yellow tulip she breathed in April,
every strawberry whose redness she swallowed in July,
every song on her lips whose notes
slid in tenor waves through her thin skin
and lulled him off to sleep again hush little baby don't say a word.
She once felt his fingers and toes fluttering
beneath the tight skin of her belly, his straining to open his mouth
and tell her everything in the world he knew was beautiful.
Now he feels an invisible weight
pushing out on his belly and his love has no words
for all the nothing in the world
he knows is beautiful.
WORK TO LIVE, NOT LIVE TO WORK
It's 5 o'clock in the morning; the alarm sets off. You get out of bed. You take a bath. You have your breakfast. You leave the house. You're ready to face another working day. Or are you?
When I was a kid, I would ask my mom why she and my father had to work. She would always tell me that they had to, so we could have the money to buy food, to pay for the bills, to pay for schooling & so on. Both my parents worked but I'm really grateful to God; that in spite of that, I was never lacking in love, time, nor care from my parents.
As a matter of fact, I grew up to be a responsible individual because my parents really took care of me. Although they were at the office 5 days a week from 8am to 6pm, they still found time to look after me, and teach me, my lessons in the evening.
They made sure that I did my homework. They didn't pressure me to aspire for honors, but I was motivated enough to study hard so I'd get good grades. It was my way of repaying my parents who never complained about working. I guess fate has been really good to me because, modesty aside, I managed to land in the top of my respective classes.
My parents taught me that one has to work in order for him to live a good life. They stressed, however, that this should not be taken as having to live just to work! They said that work should only be a part of life and it should not occupy one's whole existence.
And they lived this philosophy. At the end of the work day, they would leave all their work-related problems in the office so that at home they could be devoted to us 100% as a family, no less.
I must say that I agree with them. To this day, I still hear their message that work should be just a part of life and not life itself. I pity those people who have their way in this game called life. They have forgotten how to really live because they work too hard.
There' nothing wrong with striving at work, but people must watch out for signs that they have begun to work themselves to death. Remember that anything in excess is bad. Maybe, they want to achieve something badly, that's why they work so hard. But I believe that success in the workplace doesn't always bring happiness.
To be successful means that you have to sacrifice some things and sometimes, you end up sacrificing your family, your friends, your life; you achieve your professional goals, but you lose yourself. Then you wonder if the loss is worth the gain.
Everybody's wish, in this world, is happiness and there are many ways to be happy. But when we work too hard or worry too much, we often forget that the simple things in life are those that make us happy…. a call from a friend, a smile from a stranger, the sight of a lovely flower, a surprise gift, a filling meal, a pat on the back, etc. It doesn't require much to get these gifts. These gifts are for free, but they provide immeasurable happiness.
Work to live and not live to work. Find time for yourself, for your family, for your friends. Keep in mind that your priority is your loved ones, and not your work. Everybody deserves to be happy and I hope that everyone grows old without any regret in life.
I hope each of us will have a smile on our faces when we reminisce the old times, I hope that everyone finds living exciting, wonderful. It is my wish that we would all find the time to do the things that really matter most.Let us work hard, not purely for our professional goals, but for a better life and thus a better world.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
When I was a kid, I would ask my mom why she and my father had to work. She would always tell me that they had to, so we could have the money to buy food, to pay for the bills, to pay for schooling & so on. Both my parents worked but I'm really grateful to God; that in spite of that, I was never lacking in love, time, nor care from my parents.
As a matter of fact, I grew up to be a responsible individual because my parents really took care of me. Although they were at the office 5 days a week from 8am to 6pm, they still found time to look after me, and teach me, my lessons in the evening.
They made sure that I did my homework. They didn't pressure me to aspire for honors, but I was motivated enough to study hard so I'd get good grades. It was my way of repaying my parents who never complained about working. I guess fate has been really good to me because, modesty aside, I managed to land in the top of my respective classes.
My parents taught me that one has to work in order for him to live a good life. They stressed, however, that this should not be taken as having to live just to work! They said that work should only be a part of life and it should not occupy one's whole existence.
And they lived this philosophy. At the end of the work day, they would leave all their work-related problems in the office so that at home they could be devoted to us 100% as a family, no less.
I must say that I agree with them. To this day, I still hear their message that work should be just a part of life and not life itself. I pity those people who have their way in this game called life. They have forgotten how to really live because they work too hard.
There' nothing wrong with striving at work, but people must watch out for signs that they have begun to work themselves to death. Remember that anything in excess is bad. Maybe, they want to achieve something badly, that's why they work so hard. But I believe that success in the workplace doesn't always bring happiness.
To be successful means that you have to sacrifice some things and sometimes, you end up sacrificing your family, your friends, your life; you achieve your professional goals, but you lose yourself. Then you wonder if the loss is worth the gain.
Everybody's wish, in this world, is happiness and there are many ways to be happy. But when we work too hard or worry too much, we often forget that the simple things in life are those that make us happy…. a call from a friend, a smile from a stranger, the sight of a lovely flower, a surprise gift, a filling meal, a pat on the back, etc. It doesn't require much to get these gifts. These gifts are for free, but they provide immeasurable happiness.
Work to live and not live to work. Find time for yourself, for your family, for your friends. Keep in mind that your priority is your loved ones, and not your work. Everybody deserves to be happy and I hope that everyone grows old without any regret in life.
I hope each of us will have a smile on our faces when we reminisce the old times, I hope that everyone finds living exciting, wonderful. It is my wish that we would all find the time to do the things that really matter most.Let us work hard, not purely for our professional goals, but for a better life and thus a better world.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Friendship
Topic: FRIENDSHIP
________________________________________
1. A friend is someone who knows all there is to know about you, but loves you anyway.
---Glenda Nunn
2. We must love each other enough to cause growth.
---Neal A. Maxwell
3. The milestones into gravestones turn, and under each a friend.
---Cicero
4. A true friend always leaves us better than he finds us.
---Bennie Harris
5. You have not lived a perfect day, even though you have earned your money, unless you have done something for someone who will never be able to repay you.
---Ruth Smeltzer
6. It is easy to die for a friend, but difficult to find a friend who is worth dying for.
---Submitted by Tarun Shah
7. Those who do not believe in love, are dead to the world and were dead from birth.
---Submitted by Ursula Mayr
8. Thee lift me, and I'll lift thee, and we'll ascend together.
---Quaker Proverb submitted by Risë Harris
9. What is a friend? One soul in two bodies.
---Aristotle submitted by Shannon Shan
10. If you seek the very best of friends in your life, a great spouse won't be far behind.
---Submitted by Anita Popp
11. We may rise or fall, but in the end we'll meet our fate together.
---Creed submitted by Warrick Ball
12. A friend in need is a pest.
---Submitted by Jeff Buchop
13. Always forgive your enemies, but never forget their names.
---Robert Kennedy submitted by Rueben Aitchison
14. You become what you surround yourself in.
---Submitted by Anita Popp
15. It is difficult to be depressed when the focus is on helping someone else.
---Submitted by Anita Popp
16. Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me.
---New Age saying and Christian hymn submitted by Wilfredo Jose de Jesus Maldonado Diazvia
17. If you found a friend you found a treasure (Chi trova un amico, trova un tresoro).
---Italian Proverb submitted by Lorena Vassallo
18. All for one and one for all.
---Alexandre Dumas submitted by Lorena Vassallo
19. We may not have it all together, but together we have it all.
---Submitted by Beth Ann Allison
20. We need to learn, practice, study, know and understand how angels live with each other. When this community comes to the point to be perfectly honest and upright, you will never find a poor person; none will lack, all will have sufficient. Every man, woman, and child will have all they need just as soon as they become honest. When the majority of the community are dishonest, it maketh the honest portion poor, for the dishonest serve and enrich themselves at their expense.
---Brigham Young
21. If you have friends who are not good influences, make changes; even if it means facing loneliness.
---Boyd K. Packer
22. I will not leave you comfortless. I will come to you.
---Jesus Christ
23. When two souls finally find each other there is between them a union which begins on earth and continues forever in Heaven.
---Submitted by Tennille Winfrey
24. Life is to be fortified by many feelings. To love and to be loved is the greatest happiness of existence.
---Sydney Smith submitted by Tennille Winfrey
25. If you want to know what love is, give much of yourself. Be honest. Be sincere. Be thoughtful. Be understanding. Be patient and still. Be ready to get hurt.
---Marie
26. Friendship lasts until the next quarrel.
---Uldarico Kulalapnot
27. A friend of your friend is your enemy.
---Unknown
28. Friendship is the only cement that will ever hold the world together.
---Woodrow Wilson submitted by Lacey Rader
29. Love is not blind. It sees more, not less. But because it sees more, it is willing to see less.
---Rabbi Julius Gordon submitted by C. Woodhouse
30. Love has the patience to endure the fault it sees, but cannot cure.
---Edgar A. Guest submitted by C. Woodhouse
31. Sometimes you cannot get the exact love you want, only the love someone can give.
---Unknown submitted by Lauralee Johnson
32. A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out.
---Moriah Seibert submitted by Denise Stokes
33. One friend in a lifetime is much, two is many, and three nearly impossible.
---Unknown submitted by Kim
34. Some people have a large circle of friends while others have only friends they like.
---Unknown submitted by Kim
35. Love between two people is hard to see, but when you are in love you can see it.
---A.J. Santiago submitted by Hernan A. Santiago
36. If you love something let it go. If it comes back, it's yours; if it doesn't, it was never yours to begin with.
---Submitted by Aisling Walsh
37. Loving yourself prepares you to love others.
---Shelia Mari Pabalan
38. A smile is just a smile, but when you are in love with someone, a smile can be a thousand words.
---Submitted by Beth Ledger
39. Some people come into our lives and quickly go; others stay for awhile and leave footprints on our hearts and we are never, ever the same.
---Submitted by Jen_ds3
40. True friendship is a tree of slow growth.
---Submitted by Joanne C.
41. Friends are not necessary to live. They do, however, make life worth living.
---C. S. Lewis submitted by Sean
42. When you love somebody a whole lot, and you know that person loves you, that's the most beautiful place in the world.
---Ann Cameron
43. The world is full of happiness, and plenty to go round, if you are only willing to take the kind that comes your way.
---Jean Webster
44. Sometimes you know in your heart you love someone, but you have to go away before your head can figure it out.
---Sharon Creech
45. You can't expect two start to drop in the same field in one lifetime.
---P.L. Travers
46. A friend will help you move. A good friend will help you move a body.
---Nate K
47. Love is what you hope and hope determines what you choose to love.
---Siddarth Seth
48. Who ceases to be a friend never was one.
---Greek Proverb submitted by Stacy Sher
49. Without friends you are like a book nobody bothers to pick up.
---Submitted by Ummul Khair
50. Friends are those rare people who ask how we are and wait to hear the answer.
---Ed Cunningham
51. Friends are people who have your permission to be a pain in your butt.
---W. Jonathan McCoy
52. A real friend is one who walks in when the world walks out.
---Submitted by Karren
53. If you lived to be a hundred, I wish I could live to be a hundred minus one day. So I would never have to live without you.
---Winnie the Pooh submitted by Lindsey
54. It is not only necessary to love, it is necessary to say so.
---French Proverb submitted by Kandance Welch
55. If you open your heart and listen, you'll hear the whisper of angels.
---Submitted by Pamela Rose
56. Trust is easily broken, hard to receive, and even harder to regain.
---Roger L. Marsh
57. A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words.
---Unknown
58. True friends are like diamonds, precious and rare, false friends are like autumn leaves falling everywhere.
---Submitted by Sabrina Lee
59. If there ever comes a day when we can't be together, keep me in your heart, I'll stay there forever.
---Winnie the Pooh submitted by Annie Posea
60. Without love, we are like birds without wings.
---Mitch Albom submitted by Annie Posea
61. When you hug someone never be the first to let go.
---H. Jackson Brown, Jr. submitted by Annie Posea
62. The vitamin for friendship...............B-1
---Submitted by Bob Brown
63. Men are like stars, there are a million of them, but only one can make your dreams come true!
---Submitted by Katie Boyers
64. The death of a best friend is a lot like suicide.
---Matt King
65. We are angels, but with one wing, and we fly by embracing each other.
---Vicki Bothwell
66. Guys and girls are fully capable of just being friends, granted that both are ugly and heartless.
---Duc Nguyen
67. True love can not be found where it does not truly exist, nor can it be hidden where it truly does.
---Submitted by Justin Goodwin
68. You never lose by loving..you always lose by holding back.
---Submitted by Jenna Weag
69. A smile relieves a heart that grieves.
---The Rolling Stones submitted by Hope Martin
70. Keep a fair-sized cemetery in your back yard, in which to bury the faults of your friends.
---Henry Ward Beecher
________________________________________
________________________________________
1. A friend is someone who knows all there is to know about you, but loves you anyway.
---Glenda Nunn
2. We must love each other enough to cause growth.
---Neal A. Maxwell
3. The milestones into gravestones turn, and under each a friend.
---Cicero
4. A true friend always leaves us better than he finds us.
---Bennie Harris
5. You have not lived a perfect day, even though you have earned your money, unless you have done something for someone who will never be able to repay you.
---Ruth Smeltzer
6. It is easy to die for a friend, but difficult to find a friend who is worth dying for.
---Submitted by Tarun Shah
7. Those who do not believe in love, are dead to the world and were dead from birth.
---Submitted by Ursula Mayr
8. Thee lift me, and I'll lift thee, and we'll ascend together.
---Quaker Proverb submitted by Risë Harris
9. What is a friend? One soul in two bodies.
---Aristotle submitted by Shannon Shan
10. If you seek the very best of friends in your life, a great spouse won't be far behind.
---Submitted by Anita Popp
11. We may rise or fall, but in the end we'll meet our fate together.
---Creed submitted by Warrick Ball
12. A friend in need is a pest.
---Submitted by Jeff Buchop
13. Always forgive your enemies, but never forget their names.
---Robert Kennedy submitted by Rueben Aitchison
14. You become what you surround yourself in.
---Submitted by Anita Popp
15. It is difficult to be depressed when the focus is on helping someone else.
---Submitted by Anita Popp
16. Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me.
---New Age saying and Christian hymn submitted by Wilfredo Jose de Jesus Maldonado Diazvia
17. If you found a friend you found a treasure (Chi trova un amico, trova un tresoro).
---Italian Proverb submitted by Lorena Vassallo
18. All for one and one for all.
---Alexandre Dumas submitted by Lorena Vassallo
19. We may not have it all together, but together we have it all.
---Submitted by Beth Ann Allison
20. We need to learn, practice, study, know and understand how angels live with each other. When this community comes to the point to be perfectly honest and upright, you will never find a poor person; none will lack, all will have sufficient. Every man, woman, and child will have all they need just as soon as they become honest. When the majority of the community are dishonest, it maketh the honest portion poor, for the dishonest serve and enrich themselves at their expense.
---Brigham Young
21. If you have friends who are not good influences, make changes; even if it means facing loneliness.
---Boyd K. Packer
22. I will not leave you comfortless. I will come to you.
---Jesus Christ
23. When two souls finally find each other there is between them a union which begins on earth and continues forever in Heaven.
---Submitted by Tennille Winfrey
24. Life is to be fortified by many feelings. To love and to be loved is the greatest happiness of existence.
---Sydney Smith submitted by Tennille Winfrey
25. If you want to know what love is, give much of yourself. Be honest. Be sincere. Be thoughtful. Be understanding. Be patient and still. Be ready to get hurt.
---Marie
26. Friendship lasts until the next quarrel.
---Uldarico Kulalapnot
27. A friend of your friend is your enemy.
---Unknown
28. Friendship is the only cement that will ever hold the world together.
---Woodrow Wilson submitted by Lacey Rader
29. Love is not blind. It sees more, not less. But because it sees more, it is willing to see less.
---Rabbi Julius Gordon submitted by C. Woodhouse
30. Love has the patience to endure the fault it sees, but cannot cure.
---Edgar A. Guest submitted by C. Woodhouse
31. Sometimes you cannot get the exact love you want, only the love someone can give.
---Unknown submitted by Lauralee Johnson
32. A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out.
---Moriah Seibert submitted by Denise Stokes
33. One friend in a lifetime is much, two is many, and three nearly impossible.
---Unknown submitted by Kim
34. Some people have a large circle of friends while others have only friends they like.
---Unknown submitted by Kim
35. Love between two people is hard to see, but when you are in love you can see it.
---A.J. Santiago submitted by Hernan A. Santiago
36. If you love something let it go. If it comes back, it's yours; if it doesn't, it was never yours to begin with.
---Submitted by Aisling Walsh
37. Loving yourself prepares you to love others.
---Shelia Mari Pabalan
38. A smile is just a smile, but when you are in love with someone, a smile can be a thousand words.
---Submitted by Beth Ledger
39. Some people come into our lives and quickly go; others stay for awhile and leave footprints on our hearts and we are never, ever the same.
---Submitted by Jen_ds3
40. True friendship is a tree of slow growth.
---Submitted by Joanne C.
41. Friends are not necessary to live. They do, however, make life worth living.
---C. S. Lewis submitted by Sean
42. When you love somebody a whole lot, and you know that person loves you, that's the most beautiful place in the world.
---Ann Cameron
43. The world is full of happiness, and plenty to go round, if you are only willing to take the kind that comes your way.
---Jean Webster
44. Sometimes you know in your heart you love someone, but you have to go away before your head can figure it out.
---Sharon Creech
45. You can't expect two start to drop in the same field in one lifetime.
---P.L. Travers
46. A friend will help you move. A good friend will help you move a body.
---Nate K
47. Love is what you hope and hope determines what you choose to love.
---Siddarth Seth
48. Who ceases to be a friend never was one.
---Greek Proverb submitted by Stacy Sher
49. Without friends you are like a book nobody bothers to pick up.
---Submitted by Ummul Khair
50. Friends are those rare people who ask how we are and wait to hear the answer.
---Ed Cunningham
51. Friends are people who have your permission to be a pain in your butt.
---W. Jonathan McCoy
52. A real friend is one who walks in when the world walks out.
---Submitted by Karren
53. If you lived to be a hundred, I wish I could live to be a hundred minus one day. So I would never have to live without you.
---Winnie the Pooh submitted by Lindsey
54. It is not only necessary to love, it is necessary to say so.
---French Proverb submitted by Kandance Welch
55. If you open your heart and listen, you'll hear the whisper of angels.
---Submitted by Pamela Rose
56. Trust is easily broken, hard to receive, and even harder to regain.
---Roger L. Marsh
57. A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words.
---Unknown
58. True friends are like diamonds, precious and rare, false friends are like autumn leaves falling everywhere.
---Submitted by Sabrina Lee
59. If there ever comes a day when we can't be together, keep me in your heart, I'll stay there forever.
---Winnie the Pooh submitted by Annie Posea
60. Without love, we are like birds without wings.
---Mitch Albom submitted by Annie Posea
61. When you hug someone never be the first to let go.
---H. Jackson Brown, Jr. submitted by Annie Posea
62. The vitamin for friendship...............B-1
---Submitted by Bob Brown
63. Men are like stars, there are a million of them, but only one can make your dreams come true!
---Submitted by Katie Boyers
64. The death of a best friend is a lot like suicide.
---Matt King
65. We are angels, but with one wing, and we fly by embracing each other.
---Vicki Bothwell
66. Guys and girls are fully capable of just being friends, granted that both are ugly and heartless.
---Duc Nguyen
67. True love can not be found where it does not truly exist, nor can it be hidden where it truly does.
---Submitted by Justin Goodwin
68. You never lose by loving..you always lose by holding back.
---Submitted by Jenna Weag
69. A smile relieves a heart that grieves.
---The Rolling Stones submitted by Hope Martin
70. Keep a fair-sized cemetery in your back yard, in which to bury the faults of your friends.
---Henry Ward Beecher
________________________________________
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
useful links
www.screensavers.com
www.myyearbook.com
www.rentalo.com
www.hotmat.com
www.jdate.com
www.prize-o-matic.com
www.reunion.com
www.tickle.com
www.directdegree.com
www.ebay.it
www.search4careercolleges.com
www.monster.com
www.myyearbook.com
www.rentalo.com
www.hotmat.com
www.jdate.com
www.prize-o-matic.com
www.reunion.com
www.tickle.com
www.directdegree.com
www.ebay.it
www.search4careercolleges.com
www.monster.com
rentalo
it make a visit to this site by clicking on the link rentalo.com spend at least 20-25 minutes over there, understand the complete concept, how it works, what it offers, submit a request for a location where you want to spend time with you family or friends, see the response you get.
inetcashincome
it have provided several add-on features keeping in mind the current internet scenario in INDIA. Again this always will be one of the ways by which you can promote Affiliate Marketing. There are many more ways, can be more than what we have described in our iniGoogleCash package. It’s up to you to find out more innovative ideas, and you sure will get it automatically, once you start your work.
monster
it make a visit to this site by clicking on the link monster.com spend at least 5-10minutes over there, fill up the displayed form about my monster or send a resume or search for a resume or jobs or whatever category you select. Understand the complete concept, how it works, what its offers know about more details.
screensavers
it just makes a visit to this site, browse through the site as per your convenience and download any screensaver you like for free. Screensavers.com pays an Affiliate US$0.60, if someone downloads a screensaver via the link placed by an Affiliate, i.e., you. This is one good site as screensavers there are of very high quality and not even a registration is needed. Moreover, everyone likes to have a great screensaver on their PCs or laptops. Visit www.screensavers.com and complete the process of downloading a screensaver on your PC to get a fair idea as to how a lead is generated
eay
it is one such advertiser in India which currently offers a lot of earning potential for all of us. The company is doing a lot of promotion to make its brand popular in India. Have you ever made a Sale or Purchase on eBay.in? This is important and has various advantages, one you will understand how the e-commerce transaction takes place in India which is very important to understand as you are stepping in the world of online Business. Second it always improves your chances of getting approval from respective company to participate in their affiliate programs.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Westernisation or modernisation
Westernisation or modernisation
The modernisation of Indian society was a matter of concern for those who assumed power when the country became independent more than 50 years ago. The intelligentsia, as a whole, viewed modernisation with favour if not enthusiasm. This was true not only of India but of newly-independent countries throughout the world. Decolonisation was viewed as an opportunity not for a return to the past but for a more effective and meaningful participation in the modern world. It was tacitly assumed that some countries had travelled further along the road to modernity than others but that the others too could and should catch up with the former.
The modernisation of society was regarded as not only desirable for its own sake but also as a precondition for the development of the economy and the advance of democracy. Economic development was an urgent task in a country in which poverty and stagnation were widespread. Much of the blame for the poor state of the economy was laid at the door of colonial rule. With the removal of that constraint, the road to economic development seemed wide open. But there were internal constraints as well in the form of age-old social habits, practices, customs and institutions. In the newly-independent countries of Asia and Africa, the obstacles to economic growth were not only technological, they were also institutional. The removal of those obstacles or the modernisation of society was thus viewed as essential for growth and development.
The advance of democracy also required some recasting of traditional social arrangements. Indeed, the idea of `political development' soon took its place by the side of economic development. The creation of democracy did not stop with the adoption of adult franchise and the holding of regular elections, important as they were. It required effective political socialisation and political participation, in short, education in citizenship.
The impulse for modernisation came from many different sources and not just from the requirements of economic development and democratic politics. In the wake of Independence, Indians looked forward to participating in the modern world as free and equal members. The political leadership under Jawaharlal Nehru was modernist and not traditionalist. Independence created new opportunities for breaking free from the cobwebs of the past. The Indian middle class wanted a modern and not a traditional education for its children. The urge for a modern, not to say a western, education for their children has expanded and intensified among middle class families in the last 50 years.
The seeds of modernisation along with those of democracy and development, were planted in Indian soil during the colonial rule. Independence and decolonisation brought in new elements and new configurations, but at least in India they did not lead to a complete break with the immediate past. Neither Nehru, the first Prime Minister, nor B. R. Ambedkar, the main architect of the Constitution, wanted such a break; and even Sardar Patel threw in his weight in favour of retaining the ICS, till then regarded as the steel frame of imperial rule.
Attitudes to modernity and modernisation have changed between the middle of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st. Fifty years ago, the modernists held the field because the traditionalists spoke in a weak voice and post-modernism was yet to be born. There are various reasons why modernisation has lost some of the appeal it once enjoyed. First, as the process unfolded its social costs became more and more apparent, and to some at least they seemed to outweigh its benefits. In some areas and in certain phases it tends to increase rather than reduce the gap between the socially advantaged and the disadvantaged. Second, certain homogenising tendencies inherent in modernisation make it appear as a perpetual threat to the social and cultural identity of the nation as a whole. The prophets of doom declare that modernisation will rob Indian society and culture or its identity and yet leave Indians far behind on the path of progress.
Apprehensions of loss of identity are not easy to dispel; one can at best try to see that they do not assume pathological forms. In its origin and evolution, the idea of modernisation has been tied inextricably to that of westernisation: that has been the poisoned chalice for many ardent nationalists who want their country to progress. Many might like to subscribe to modernisation but they would not like to submit to western hegemony. Is it possible to have a modernity that will be completely untainted by any association with western ideas and values?
In an important study of the Arab world conducted just after decolonisation began, Daniel Lerner spoke by preference of modernisation rather than westernisation. He explained his preference by saying his Arab readers would be more comfortable with the first than with the second. They welcomed modernisation but were deeply ambivalent towards the West.
In his Tagore lectures barely a decade later, M. N. Srinivas decided to face the issue squarely and chose `westernisation' instead of `modernisation'. He pointed to the complexity of westernisation and to the depth of its penetration in Indian society. Although it had spread widely, its spread was not uniform. It started during colonial rule, but the end of colonial rule did not bring westernisation to an end. Rather, as Srinivas noted, "the process has become greatly intensified, in many ways, since 1947 when India became independent." Further, there was, according to him, a change in the motive force by which the process was driven. In the 19th century, the desire for social reform took precedence over the urge for national freedom, but the priorities became reversed in the course of time.
Srinivas' account of social change in modern India, published in the mid-1960s, is remarkable for its depth of historical insight and its freedom from ideological cant. He gave the due share of credit to British rule but did not fail to point out that the British generally acted in their own interest, which was not always the interest of their Indian subjects. Nor did he believe that "the mindless imitation of the West" was all that there was to the process of westernisation. Although by no means uncritically admiring of India's modernising elite, he gave its members credit for their capacity for adaptation and innovation.
Indian society has moved too far along the road to modernity for it to be able to turn back now or even to stay at a standstill. No society can today opt out of the modern world without doing irreparable harm to itself. Being part of the modern world means remaining open to influences from all around. There will be blind imitation, no matter how much we deplore it; but there will also be intelligent adaptation as there has been in the past. Too much anxiety about the loss of identity and authenticity puts the brakes on a society's natural growth process.
Modernisation has not led all societies to become carbon copies - or caricatures - of any one society, and is unlikely to do so in the future. The modern world allows choices to be made, but the choices are not unrestricted. There are those who say that the modernity that emerged in the West in the wake of Enlightenment is irredeemably flawed, and that we should turn our back on it and create our own alternative modernity. That would be a vain and hopeless pursuit. Modernisation is not like a bus which one boards as one chooses and from which one alights as one pleases.
The modernisation of Indian society was a matter of concern for those who assumed power when the country became independent more than 50 years ago. The intelligentsia, as a whole, viewed modernisation with favour if not enthusiasm. This was true not only of India but of newly-independent countries throughout the world. Decolonisation was viewed as an opportunity not for a return to the past but for a more effective and meaningful participation in the modern world. It was tacitly assumed that some countries had travelled further along the road to modernity than others but that the others too could and should catch up with the former.
The modernisation of society was regarded as not only desirable for its own sake but also as a precondition for the development of the economy and the advance of democracy. Economic development was an urgent task in a country in which poverty and stagnation were widespread. Much of the blame for the poor state of the economy was laid at the door of colonial rule. With the removal of that constraint, the road to economic development seemed wide open. But there were internal constraints as well in the form of age-old social habits, practices, customs and institutions. In the newly-independent countries of Asia and Africa, the obstacles to economic growth were not only technological, they were also institutional. The removal of those obstacles or the modernisation of society was thus viewed as essential for growth and development.
The advance of democracy also required some recasting of traditional social arrangements. Indeed, the idea of `political development' soon took its place by the side of economic development. The creation of democracy did not stop with the adoption of adult franchise and the holding of regular elections, important as they were. It required effective political socialisation and political participation, in short, education in citizenship.
The impulse for modernisation came from many different sources and not just from the requirements of economic development and democratic politics. In the wake of Independence, Indians looked forward to participating in the modern world as free and equal members. The political leadership under Jawaharlal Nehru was modernist and not traditionalist. Independence created new opportunities for breaking free from the cobwebs of the past. The Indian middle class wanted a modern and not a traditional education for its children. The urge for a modern, not to say a western, education for their children has expanded and intensified among middle class families in the last 50 years.
The seeds of modernisation along with those of democracy and development, were planted in Indian soil during the colonial rule. Independence and decolonisation brought in new elements and new configurations, but at least in India they did not lead to a complete break with the immediate past. Neither Nehru, the first Prime Minister, nor B. R. Ambedkar, the main architect of the Constitution, wanted such a break; and even Sardar Patel threw in his weight in favour of retaining the ICS, till then regarded as the steel frame of imperial rule.
Attitudes to modernity and modernisation have changed between the middle of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st. Fifty years ago, the modernists held the field because the traditionalists spoke in a weak voice and post-modernism was yet to be born. There are various reasons why modernisation has lost some of the appeal it once enjoyed. First, as the process unfolded its social costs became more and more apparent, and to some at least they seemed to outweigh its benefits. In some areas and in certain phases it tends to increase rather than reduce the gap between the socially advantaged and the disadvantaged. Second, certain homogenising tendencies inherent in modernisation make it appear as a perpetual threat to the social and cultural identity of the nation as a whole. The prophets of doom declare that modernisation will rob Indian society and culture or its identity and yet leave Indians far behind on the path of progress.
Apprehensions of loss of identity are not easy to dispel; one can at best try to see that they do not assume pathological forms. In its origin and evolution, the idea of modernisation has been tied inextricably to that of westernisation: that has been the poisoned chalice for many ardent nationalists who want their country to progress. Many might like to subscribe to modernisation but they would not like to submit to western hegemony. Is it possible to have a modernity that will be completely untainted by any association with western ideas and values?
In an important study of the Arab world conducted just after decolonisation began, Daniel Lerner spoke by preference of modernisation rather than westernisation. He explained his preference by saying his Arab readers would be more comfortable with the first than with the second. They welcomed modernisation but were deeply ambivalent towards the West.
In his Tagore lectures barely a decade later, M. N. Srinivas decided to face the issue squarely and chose `westernisation' instead of `modernisation'. He pointed to the complexity of westernisation and to the depth of its penetration in Indian society. Although it had spread widely, its spread was not uniform. It started during colonial rule, but the end of colonial rule did not bring westernisation to an end. Rather, as Srinivas noted, "the process has become greatly intensified, in many ways, since 1947 when India became independent." Further, there was, according to him, a change in the motive force by which the process was driven. In the 19th century, the desire for social reform took precedence over the urge for national freedom, but the priorities became reversed in the course of time.
Srinivas' account of social change in modern India, published in the mid-1960s, is remarkable for its depth of historical insight and its freedom from ideological cant. He gave the due share of credit to British rule but did not fail to point out that the British generally acted in their own interest, which was not always the interest of their Indian subjects. Nor did he believe that "the mindless imitation of the West" was all that there was to the process of westernisation. Although by no means uncritically admiring of India's modernising elite, he gave its members credit for their capacity for adaptation and innovation.
Indian society has moved too far along the road to modernity for it to be able to turn back now or even to stay at a standstill. No society can today opt out of the modern world without doing irreparable harm to itself. Being part of the modern world means remaining open to influences from all around. There will be blind imitation, no matter how much we deplore it; but there will also be intelligent adaptation as there has been in the past. Too much anxiety about the loss of identity and authenticity puts the brakes on a society's natural growth process.
Modernisation has not led all societies to become carbon copies - or caricatures - of any one society, and is unlikely to do so in the future. The modern world allows choices to be made, but the choices are not unrestricted. There are those who say that the modernity that emerged in the West in the wake of Enlightenment is irredeemably flawed, and that we should turn our back on it and create our own alternative modernity. That would be a vain and hopeless pursuit. Modernisation is not like a bus which one boards as one chooses and from which one alights as one pleases.
NT Bureau
There is a perceptible shift from foreign-dependent mindset to India-centric approach to handle globalisation due to geopolitical reasons.
The intellectual Indians initially failed to grasp the fact that instead of welcoming and advocating globalisation, the nation had to face this new trade war designed by the West as a strategic game-plan to sustain its dominance in the world economy. But now, even elite Indians are trying to benchmark this global phenomenon from Indian standards, said S Gurumurthy, chartered accountant and convener of Swadeshi Jagran Manch, an economic forum that supports native enterprise.
He was speaking on 'What Price Globalisation' at a meet hosted by The Madras Chamber of Commerce and Industry in the city yesterday. 'Indian economy is driven by community and family entrepreneurship, unlike in America where individuals run big corporations. So, when the West has conceived something like WTO, it is primarily for its own benefit and not for the rest of the world,' he said.
It is rather immature to talk of globalisation driven by world trade. 'For every bit of world trade is managed by the West. There are powerful civilisational and religious influences that have a say in the evolving globalisation,' he said. Citing the recent studies of Francis Fukuyama and Alvin Toffler, well-know authors in geopolitics, he said that even as technology would be a determinant in world economy, the market dynamics will be managed by the private sector and the governments of the West to keep America on its consumerist binge.
The intellectual Indians initially failed to grasp the fact that instead of welcoming and advocating globalisation, the nation had to face this new trade war designed by the West as a strategic game-plan to sustain its dominance in the world economy. But now, even elite Indians are trying to benchmark this global phenomenon from Indian standards, said S Gurumurthy, chartered accountant and convener of Swadeshi Jagran Manch, an economic forum that supports native enterprise.
He was speaking on 'What Price Globalisation' at a meet hosted by The Madras Chamber of Commerce and Industry in the city yesterday. 'Indian economy is driven by community and family entrepreneurship, unlike in America where individuals run big corporations. So, when the West has conceived something like WTO, it is primarily for its own benefit and not for the rest of the world,' he said.
It is rather immature to talk of globalisation driven by world trade. 'For every bit of world trade is managed by the West. There are powerful civilisational and religious influences that have a say in the evolving globalisation,' he said. Citing the recent studies of Francis Fukuyama and Alvin Toffler, well-know authors in geopolitics, he said that even as technology would be a determinant in world economy, the market dynamics will be managed by the private sector and the governments of the West to keep America on its consumerist binge.
Behind every woman... lies history
Behind every woman... lies history
Using a well-worn axiom, namely that `behind every woman lies... ( unstated).. a man', Supriya RoyChowdhury has argued (The Hindu, 21 April, 2002) that the effort to `empower women' by reserving seats for them in local self-government, has not only been a farce, but it has distracted from developing a more genuine voice of women, for removing the age-old discrimination.
To quote "many of the emerging features of women's role in panchayats indicate that first, reservation, in itself, is insufficient as an instrument of empowerment. Second, reservation in fact may turn out to be a handicap insofar as an obvious insignia of empowerment detracts attention from deeper, structural sources of powerlessness and the need to address these through movemental struggles rather than through institutionalised power'' . . .
She questions the elected women's "capacity to effectively represent the general interests of the community, and second, more specifically, their capacity to conceptualise and effectively represent the interests of women in the community. . .''
She notices, "There appeared to be a hiatus between the projects that the women seemed to uniformly want to implement in their villages, and the absence of a vision of overall economic betterment, which would provide, above all, employment and higher wages . . .'' and goes on to say, "More importantly, perhaps, their political placement in these institutions in relationships of dependence to locally powerful persons prevents them from evolving a broader political agenda to push for the interests of the poor in the community. Effectively, the women remain tied to the project / grant discourse which reinforces the power of the local strongman.''
``In such a context, participation in institutionalised forms of power, through mechanisms of state-sponsored affirmative action, has only limited possibilities of addressing larger issues of justice and equality.''
She builds her argument from her interviews / interaction with elected women in Karnataka, who informed her that they were stimulated, guided or ordered to stand for elections by their husbands; that they did not see women as their constituency, as those whom they represented, that they perceived themselves as representing the area or perhaps their class, caste or political party. Further, that many of them belonged to the contractor or landlord class.
Thus apart from being male and elite-driven, her investigations showed that women are not representing women. Some labouring women she interviewed said they had not really heard about anything called panchayat, but one said that they were happy that some drinking water arrangement had been made for them - and she believed by the panchayat.
Her critical analysis, she suggests is (I quote), "necessary in the context of the present euphoria over women's role in panchayats''.
Taking the first finding of Ms. Chowdhury, namely that women were there because of their men. The seats reserved for women, have been "taken'' from men, - a reallotment of an occupied seat. In the first instance, it is quite natural that the dislodged man would put his women - be it wife, daughter or daughter-in-law - as a "proxy''. But what is missing from Ms. Chowdhury's commentary is the fact that in many constituencies, areas, especially in the second round of elections, women have gained more than 33 1/3 per cent of the seats reserved. In Karnataka, in successive elections, it went up to above 40 per cent. So also in Kerala, Himachal Pradesh etc
In those areas where women fought in non-reserved seats, they have come out on top because of their own political drive and show it too. A pilot study with 60 women G.P. members (Stephen 2001), who had undergone a three-phased training, revealed that one-third were still functioning as proxy candidates, one-third did not face any constraints at home but found it difficult to overcome gender-subordination within the gram panchayat and about one-third were functioning effectively and have gained some power within the family.
Secondly, in many parts of Karnataka for example, women who belong to the Mahila Samakhya Sanghas fought electoral battles not because their men told them to, but because they could see this as a natural next step to the evolution of what could be called a consciousness of themselves as citizens, as persons with some special voice, issues on which they required power to redress their subordination. Here and in some areas where there have been strong women-led community-based organization, or women support centers, women are their own agents. In some constituencies, resolutions have been passed removing a woman sarpanch, after manipulating non-attendance. In as many places, local women's campaigns have had them re-instated. Thus important battles are being fought in local areas between women and men, and the historically male-dominated political arenas, restructuring gender relations which would not have been possible without the Amendment and the reservation.
Here are interesting findings from conversations with groups of political Elected Women Representatives (EWRs). First, it was women as different in their opinion from their men, in Karnataka as far back as in 1987 when Karnataka introduced reservation of seats for women in local self-government (prior to the Constitutional amendment) who objected to the clause in the Bill - (which has now been unfortunately passed) that elections to Gram Sabha are to be held on a non-party basis. Their explanation was that it is through party membership and party participation that they could rise in the political sphere. This mature political sense shook the women NGOs.
In consultations, in several States, "EWRs'' have said they see themselves as representatives of the area. "We are interested in all the issues and development initiatives." Why, we asked. Again, if they associate themselves only with one social category, they feel they cannot gain the area support which is what they need when it comes to fighting elections.
Thus women at the grassroots are getting politicised. As they understand and deal with hard politics, they also push for its transformation to accommodate their own location and needs. This political astuteness has to be recognised, rather than demeaned.
Behind every woman who attempts to claim power lies a history - a complex experience of exclusion, requiring deep understanding of her attempts to emerge from the underground. It may look like scratches on the surface; but the one million women released through the reservation of seats in local self-government, will crack open that chink in the contemporary political armour.
Using a well-worn axiom, namely that `behind every woman lies... ( unstated).. a man', Supriya RoyChowdhury has argued (The Hindu, 21 April, 2002) that the effort to `empower women' by reserving seats for them in local self-government, has not only been a farce, but it has distracted from developing a more genuine voice of women, for removing the age-old discrimination.
To quote "many of the emerging features of women's role in panchayats indicate that first, reservation, in itself, is insufficient as an instrument of empowerment. Second, reservation in fact may turn out to be a handicap insofar as an obvious insignia of empowerment detracts attention from deeper, structural sources of powerlessness and the need to address these through movemental struggles rather than through institutionalised power'' . . .
She questions the elected women's "capacity to effectively represent the general interests of the community, and second, more specifically, their capacity to conceptualise and effectively represent the interests of women in the community. . .''
She notices, "There appeared to be a hiatus between the projects that the women seemed to uniformly want to implement in their villages, and the absence of a vision of overall economic betterment, which would provide, above all, employment and higher wages . . .'' and goes on to say, "More importantly, perhaps, their political placement in these institutions in relationships of dependence to locally powerful persons prevents them from evolving a broader political agenda to push for the interests of the poor in the community. Effectively, the women remain tied to the project / grant discourse which reinforces the power of the local strongman.''
``In such a context, participation in institutionalised forms of power, through mechanisms of state-sponsored affirmative action, has only limited possibilities of addressing larger issues of justice and equality.''
She builds her argument from her interviews / interaction with elected women in Karnataka, who informed her that they were stimulated, guided or ordered to stand for elections by their husbands; that they did not see women as their constituency, as those whom they represented, that they perceived themselves as representing the area or perhaps their class, caste or political party. Further, that many of them belonged to the contractor or landlord class.
Thus apart from being male and elite-driven, her investigations showed that women are not representing women. Some labouring women she interviewed said they had not really heard about anything called panchayat, but one said that they were happy that some drinking water arrangement had been made for them - and she believed by the panchayat.
Her critical analysis, she suggests is (I quote), "necessary in the context of the present euphoria over women's role in panchayats''.
Taking the first finding of Ms. Chowdhury, namely that women were there because of their men. The seats reserved for women, have been "taken'' from men, - a reallotment of an occupied seat. In the first instance, it is quite natural that the dislodged man would put his women - be it wife, daughter or daughter-in-law - as a "proxy''. But what is missing from Ms. Chowdhury's commentary is the fact that in many constituencies, areas, especially in the second round of elections, women have gained more than 33 1/3 per cent of the seats reserved. In Karnataka, in successive elections, it went up to above 40 per cent. So also in Kerala, Himachal Pradesh etc
In those areas where women fought in non-reserved seats, they have come out on top because of their own political drive and show it too. A pilot study with 60 women G.P. members (Stephen 2001), who had undergone a three-phased training, revealed that one-third were still functioning as proxy candidates, one-third did not face any constraints at home but found it difficult to overcome gender-subordination within the gram panchayat and about one-third were functioning effectively and have gained some power within the family.
Secondly, in many parts of Karnataka for example, women who belong to the Mahila Samakhya Sanghas fought electoral battles not because their men told them to, but because they could see this as a natural next step to the evolution of what could be called a consciousness of themselves as citizens, as persons with some special voice, issues on which they required power to redress their subordination. Here and in some areas where there have been strong women-led community-based organization, or women support centers, women are their own agents. In some constituencies, resolutions have been passed removing a woman sarpanch, after manipulating non-attendance. In as many places, local women's campaigns have had them re-instated. Thus important battles are being fought in local areas between women and men, and the historically male-dominated political arenas, restructuring gender relations which would not have been possible without the Amendment and the reservation.
Here are interesting findings from conversations with groups of political Elected Women Representatives (EWRs). First, it was women as different in their opinion from their men, in Karnataka as far back as in 1987 when Karnataka introduced reservation of seats for women in local self-government (prior to the Constitutional amendment) who objected to the clause in the Bill - (which has now been unfortunately passed) that elections to Gram Sabha are to be held on a non-party basis. Their explanation was that it is through party membership and party participation that they could rise in the political sphere. This mature political sense shook the women NGOs.
In consultations, in several States, "EWRs'' have said they see themselves as representatives of the area. "We are interested in all the issues and development initiatives." Why, we asked. Again, if they associate themselves only with one social category, they feel they cannot gain the area support which is what they need when it comes to fighting elections.
Thus women at the grassroots are getting politicised. As they understand and deal with hard politics, they also push for its transformation to accommodate their own location and needs. This political astuteness has to be recognised, rather than demeaned.
Behind every woman who attempts to claim power lies a history - a complex experience of exclusion, requiring deep understanding of her attempts to emerge from the underground. It may look like scratches on the surface; but the one million women released through the reservation of seats in local self-government, will crack open that chink in the contemporary political armour.
Behind every woman... lies history
Behind every woman... lies history
Using a well-worn axiom, namely that `behind every woman lies... ( unstated).. a man', Supriya RoyChowdhury has argued (The Hindu, 21 April, 2002) that the effort to `empower women' by reserving seats for them in local self-government, has not only been a farce, but it has distracted from developing a more genuine voice of women, for removing the age-old discrimination.
To quote "many of the emerging features of women's role in panchayats indicate that first, reservation, in itself, is insufficient as an instrument of empowerment. Second, reservation in fact may turn out to be a handicap insofar as an obvious insignia of empowerment detracts attention from deeper, structural sources of powerlessness and the need to address these through movemental struggles rather than through institutionalised power'' . . .
She questions the elected women's "capacity to effectively represent the general interests of the community, and second, more specifically, their capacity to conceptualise and effectively represent the interests of women in the community. . .''
She notices, "There appeared to be a hiatus between the projects that the women seemed to uniformly want to implement in their villages, and the absence of a vision of overall economic betterment, which would provide, above all, employment and higher wages . . .'' and goes on to say, "More importantly, perhaps, their political placement in these institutions in relationships of dependence to locally powerful persons prevents them from evolving a broader political agenda to push for the interests of the poor in the community. Effectively, the women remain tied to the project / grant discourse which reinforces the power of the local strongman.''
``In such a context, participation in institutionalised forms of power, through mechanisms of state-sponsored affirmative action, has only limited possibilities of addressing larger issues of justice and equality.''
She builds her argument from her interviews / interaction with elected women in Karnataka, who informed her that they were stimulated, guided or ordered to stand for elections by their husbands; that they did not see women as their constituency, as those whom they represented, that they perceived themselves as representing the area or perhaps their class, caste or political party. Further, that many of them belonged to the contractor or landlord class.
Thus apart from being male and elite-driven, her investigations showed that women are not representing women. Some labouring women she interviewed said they had not really heard about anything called panchayat, but one said that they were happy that some drinking water arrangement had been made for them - and she believed by the panchayat.
Her critical analysis, she suggests is (I quote), "necessary in the context of the present euphoria over women's role in panchayats''.
Taking the first finding of Ms. Chowdhury, namely that women were there because of their men. The seats reserved for women, have been "taken'' from men, - a reallotment of an occupied seat. In the first instance, it is quite natural that the dislodged man would put his women - be it wife, daughter or daughter-in-law - as a "proxy''. But what is missing from Ms. Chowdhury's commentary is the fact that in many constituencies, areas, especially in the second round of elections, women have gained more than 33 1/3 per cent of the seats reserved. In Karnataka, in successive elections, it went up to above 40 per cent. So also in Kerala, Himachal Pradesh etc
In those areas where women fought in non-reserved seats, they have come out on top because of their own political drive and show it too. A pilot study with 60 women G.P. members (Stephen 2001), who had undergone a three-phased training, revealed that one-third were still functioning as proxy candidates, one-third did not face any constraints at home but found it difficult to overcome gender-subordination within the gram panchayat and about one-third were functioning effectively and have gained some power within the family.
Secondly, in many parts of Karnataka for example, women who belong to the Mahila Samakhya Sanghas fought electoral battles not because their men told them to, but because they could see this as a natural next step to the evolution of what could be called a consciousness of themselves as citizens, as persons with some special voice, issues on which they required power to redress their subordination. Here and in some areas where there have been strong women-led community-based organization, or women support centers, women are their own agents. In some constituencies, resolutions have been passed removing a woman sarpanch, after manipulating non-attendance. In as many places, local women's campaigns have had them re-instated. Thus important battles are being fought in local areas between women and men, and the historically male-dominated political arenas, restructuring gender relations which would not have been possible without the Amendment and the reservation.
Here are interesting findings from conversations with groups of political Elected Women Representatives (EWRs). First, it was women as different in their opinion from their men, in Karnataka as far back as in 1987 when Karnataka introduced reservation of seats for women in local self-government (prior to the Constitutional amendment) who objected to the clause in the Bill - (which has now been unfortunately passed) that elections to Gram Sabha are to be held on a non-party basis. Their explanation was that it is through party membership and party participation that they could rise in the political sphere. This mature political sense shook the women NGOs.
In consultations, in several States, "EWRs'' have said they see themselves as representatives of the area. "We are interested in all the issues and development initiatives." Why, we asked. Again, if they associate themselves only with one social category, they feel they cannot gain the area support which is what they need when it comes to fighting elections.
Thus women at the grassroots are getting politicised. As they understand and deal with hard politics, they also push for its transformation to accommodate their own location and needs. This political astuteness has to be recognised, rather than demeaned.
Behind every woman who attempts to claim power lies a history - a complex experience of exclusion, requiring deep understanding of her attempts to emerge from the underground. It may look like scratches on the surface; but the one million women released through the reservation of seats in local self-government, will crack open that chink in the contemporary political armour.
Using a well-worn axiom, namely that `behind every woman lies... ( unstated).. a man', Supriya RoyChowdhury has argued (The Hindu, 21 April, 2002) that the effort to `empower women' by reserving seats for them in local self-government, has not only been a farce, but it has distracted from developing a more genuine voice of women, for removing the age-old discrimination.
To quote "many of the emerging features of women's role in panchayats indicate that first, reservation, in itself, is insufficient as an instrument of empowerment. Second, reservation in fact may turn out to be a handicap insofar as an obvious insignia of empowerment detracts attention from deeper, structural sources of powerlessness and the need to address these through movemental struggles rather than through institutionalised power'' . . .
She questions the elected women's "capacity to effectively represent the general interests of the community, and second, more specifically, their capacity to conceptualise and effectively represent the interests of women in the community. . .''
She notices, "There appeared to be a hiatus between the projects that the women seemed to uniformly want to implement in their villages, and the absence of a vision of overall economic betterment, which would provide, above all, employment and higher wages . . .'' and goes on to say, "More importantly, perhaps, their political placement in these institutions in relationships of dependence to locally powerful persons prevents them from evolving a broader political agenda to push for the interests of the poor in the community. Effectively, the women remain tied to the project / grant discourse which reinforces the power of the local strongman.''
``In such a context, participation in institutionalised forms of power, through mechanisms of state-sponsored affirmative action, has only limited possibilities of addressing larger issues of justice and equality.''
She builds her argument from her interviews / interaction with elected women in Karnataka, who informed her that they were stimulated, guided or ordered to stand for elections by their husbands; that they did not see women as their constituency, as those whom they represented, that they perceived themselves as representing the area or perhaps their class, caste or political party. Further, that many of them belonged to the contractor or landlord class.
Thus apart from being male and elite-driven, her investigations showed that women are not representing women. Some labouring women she interviewed said they had not really heard about anything called panchayat, but one said that they were happy that some drinking water arrangement had been made for them - and she believed by the panchayat.
Her critical analysis, she suggests is (I quote), "necessary in the context of the present euphoria over women's role in panchayats''.
Taking the first finding of Ms. Chowdhury, namely that women were there because of their men. The seats reserved for women, have been "taken'' from men, - a reallotment of an occupied seat. In the first instance, it is quite natural that the dislodged man would put his women - be it wife, daughter or daughter-in-law - as a "proxy''. But what is missing from Ms. Chowdhury's commentary is the fact that in many constituencies, areas, especially in the second round of elections, women have gained more than 33 1/3 per cent of the seats reserved. In Karnataka, in successive elections, it went up to above 40 per cent. So also in Kerala, Himachal Pradesh etc
In those areas where women fought in non-reserved seats, they have come out on top because of their own political drive and show it too. A pilot study with 60 women G.P. members (Stephen 2001), who had undergone a three-phased training, revealed that one-third were still functioning as proxy candidates, one-third did not face any constraints at home but found it difficult to overcome gender-subordination within the gram panchayat and about one-third were functioning effectively and have gained some power within the family.
Secondly, in many parts of Karnataka for example, women who belong to the Mahila Samakhya Sanghas fought electoral battles not because their men told them to, but because they could see this as a natural next step to the evolution of what could be called a consciousness of themselves as citizens, as persons with some special voice, issues on which they required power to redress their subordination. Here and in some areas where there have been strong women-led community-based organization, or women support centers, women are their own agents. In some constituencies, resolutions have been passed removing a woman sarpanch, after manipulating non-attendance. In as many places, local women's campaigns have had them re-instated. Thus important battles are being fought in local areas between women and men, and the historically male-dominated political arenas, restructuring gender relations which would not have been possible without the Amendment and the reservation.
Here are interesting findings from conversations with groups of political Elected Women Representatives (EWRs). First, it was women as different in their opinion from their men, in Karnataka as far back as in 1987 when Karnataka introduced reservation of seats for women in local self-government (prior to the Constitutional amendment) who objected to the clause in the Bill - (which has now been unfortunately passed) that elections to Gram Sabha are to be held on a non-party basis. Their explanation was that it is through party membership and party participation that they could rise in the political sphere. This mature political sense shook the women NGOs.
In consultations, in several States, "EWRs'' have said they see themselves as representatives of the area. "We are interested in all the issues and development initiatives." Why, we asked. Again, if they associate themselves only with one social category, they feel they cannot gain the area support which is what they need when it comes to fighting elections.
Thus women at the grassroots are getting politicised. As they understand and deal with hard politics, they also push for its transformation to accommodate their own location and needs. This political astuteness has to be recognised, rather than demeaned.
Behind every woman who attempts to claim power lies a history - a complex experience of exclusion, requiring deep understanding of her attempts to emerge from the underground. It may look like scratches on the surface; but the one million women released through the reservation of seats in local self-government, will crack open that chink in the contemporary political armour.
Software Industry
Software Industry
The Indian software industry truly symbolizes India’s strength in the knowledge based economy. Highly skilled human resources coupled with low wage structure and world class quality have transformed India into a global powerhouse in the Information Technology (IT) software services and solutions sectors.
The Indian IT industry has grown from US$ 0.8 billion in 1994-95 to US$ 10.1 billion in 2001-02. The figure below illustrates the growth of the Indian IT sector. Software and services exports are expected to account for more than 50 per cent of the sector turnover in 2001-2002.
• Despite a slowing global economy, Indian Software exports grew by 23 percent in 2001-02, while overall exports fell down by 2 per cent.
• India currently exports software to around 95 countries around the globe and more than 250 Fortune 500 companies have outsourced some part of their software requirements from India. North America and Europe accounted for 86% of Indian exports in 2000-2001.
• The growth of India as a software hub has also been facilitated by the initiatives taken by the Union and State Governments. Many State Governments have set up Hi-Tech Parks and implemented e-governance projects.
• Many global software majors have set-up operations in India. They include Microsoft, Oracle, Adobe among others.
• The government has also announced incentives for adhering to Quality Standards such as ISO 9000, SEI CMM by providing import duty concessions. Similarly, Exim bank subsidises the cost of acquiring the quality standard by around 50%.
• The growth of the sector has also been enhanced by a flourishing venture capital (VC) industry. The VC industry was estimated to be worth around US$ 408 million in 2000 and is expected to grow to US$ 10 billion by 2008. This shows a CAGR of around 50 per cent.
Policy Initiatives
• Besides Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and Export Promotion Zones (EPZs), the government is encouraging the setting up of Software Technology Parks (STPs). STPs offer zero import duty on the import of all capital goods, special 10 years income tax rebates, availability of infrastructure facilities such as high-speed data communication links, etc.
• Foreign companies can set-up operations in these zones either through incorporation of the company as per Indian Companies Act (with 100% equity holding), through a joint venture with an Indian company or through a wholly owned subsidiary.
Opportunities
• Strong cost value proposition, driven by the low cost of quality manpower and high quality work delivery.
• India has a large base of English speaking, skilled manpower resource with experience on state-of-the-art hardware and software platforms. This is supported by a flourishing IT education market, producing high quality software professionals across different areas in the field.
• The government has announced software export sector tax incentives-setting up of STPs and a VC funds.
• India has a well developed infrastructure support to aid connectivity and data transfers.
The Indian software industry truly symbolizes India’s strength in the knowledge based economy. Highly skilled human resources coupled with low wage structure and world class quality have transformed India into a global powerhouse in the Information Technology (IT) software services and solutions sectors.
The Indian IT industry has grown from US$ 0.8 billion in 1994-95 to US$ 10.1 billion in 2001-02. The figure below illustrates the growth of the Indian IT sector. Software and services exports are expected to account for more than 50 per cent of the sector turnover in 2001-2002.
• Despite a slowing global economy, Indian Software exports grew by 23 percent in 2001-02, while overall exports fell down by 2 per cent.
• India currently exports software to around 95 countries around the globe and more than 250 Fortune 500 companies have outsourced some part of their software requirements from India. North America and Europe accounted for 86% of Indian exports in 2000-2001.
• The growth of India as a software hub has also been facilitated by the initiatives taken by the Union and State Governments. Many State Governments have set up Hi-Tech Parks and implemented e-governance projects.
• Many global software majors have set-up operations in India. They include Microsoft, Oracle, Adobe among others.
• The government has also announced incentives for adhering to Quality Standards such as ISO 9000, SEI CMM by providing import duty concessions. Similarly, Exim bank subsidises the cost of acquiring the quality standard by around 50%.
• The growth of the sector has also been enhanced by a flourishing venture capital (VC) industry. The VC industry was estimated to be worth around US$ 408 million in 2000 and is expected to grow to US$ 10 billion by 2008. This shows a CAGR of around 50 per cent.
Policy Initiatives
• Besides Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and Export Promotion Zones (EPZs), the government is encouraging the setting up of Software Technology Parks (STPs). STPs offer zero import duty on the import of all capital goods, special 10 years income tax rebates, availability of infrastructure facilities such as high-speed data communication links, etc.
• Foreign companies can set-up operations in these zones either through incorporation of the company as per Indian Companies Act (with 100% equity holding), through a joint venture with an Indian company or through a wholly owned subsidiary.
Opportunities
• Strong cost value proposition, driven by the low cost of quality manpower and high quality work delivery.
• India has a large base of English speaking, skilled manpower resource with experience on state-of-the-art hardware and software platforms. This is supported by a flourishing IT education market, producing high quality software professionals across different areas in the field.
• The government has announced software export sector tax incentives-setting up of STPs and a VC funds.
• India has a well developed infrastructure support to aid connectivity and data transfers.
Conditional access system for cable TV watchers boon or bane
The Indian Readership Survey 2001 reveals urban cable penetration of 84.7 per cent in towns and 32.7 per cent in villages. Cable/satellite broadcasters have current revenues of Rs 3600 crore mainly from advertisement revenues with the expected growth by 2006 to Rs 8100 crore largely on the strength of subscriber revenue.Herein lies the rub.
The average growth in the TV segment sector has been 38 per cent. Naturally the broadcasters want a greater share of the cable pie and local cable operators are unwilling to give in easily to demands of full declaration when no broadcaster is willing to reveal his cost of acquisition of content or operating costs and when the whole trp audience rating issue has become tainted with controversy. In the past two years broadcasters and multi-system cable operators have resorted to bitter litigation on various issues and inevitably settled out of court.Broadcasters have had to face flak from advertisers for not providing assured connectivity. Cable operators have had to face wrath of consumers for blank screens.
The cable industry is 'governed' by the Cable Network Regulation Act 1995 which only provides for post office registration and is otherwise a toothless and technologically redundant law. Ultimately the Convergence Bill will become law but in the meanwhile government has been resorting to piecemeal legislation to take care of burning issues affecting the electronic media. These include major amendments to the Cable Act in 2000, a local (satellite) up-linking policy in 2001, and DTH guidelines in 2002. Now the government has accepted the Rakesh Mohan task force report on introduction of a conditional access system for pay channels. This mandates that all pay channels would be available only through a set top box to provide the consumer the choice of viewing and an option to pay for what he chooses to watch. Free-to-air channels would continue to be available through present receivers at an' affordable price' to be determined by the government.
After the initial round of euphoria in the cable industry, various queries are being raised mainly by broadcasters and consumer organisations: Is the set top box a feasible solution for ensuring that broadcasters are paid? Broadcasters have been able to double their subscription revenue in the last one year forcing cable operators to raise rates to Rs 300 per month in Mumbai. Any further raise will not be tolerated. Will consumer choice be reduced by government mandated solutions? All that the government is doing is restoring the right of choice of watching channels to the consumer who will only now pay for channels he chooses to watch. Who will bear the costs of regulation? Obviously, the consumer will bear the cost of the set top box. The cable operator will bear the cost of the subscriber management system. The broadcaster will have to fix a maximum retail price to compensate the cable operator for use of the infrastructure and system upgrade including the subscriber management system.
The government has to chart the road ahead once conditional access becomes mandatory. Government has to continue to take a proactive consumer stance by taking the following additional measures immediately: 1) Ensuring a three-phase roll out to cover metros in the next six months, mini metros in the next 12 months and the entire country in 18 months. 2) To ensure easy acceptability of set top boxes and subscriber management systems for cable operators all duties including central/state and local levies be waived for a period of three years. 3) As government has decided to fix a maximum retail price for free-to-air channels, it should also freeze all current pay channel rates till deployment of set top boxes is actually in place. Thereafter the broadcasters would have to persuade customers to subscribe to their channels both in terms of attractive content and pricing. 4) As the Convergence Bill is still being scrutinised by a standing committee of Parliament, an interim arrangement to settle all disputes in the TV segment between broadcasters, cable operators and consumers may be considered by enlarging the function of the Telecom Regulatory Authority or appointment of an ombudsman.
The average growth in the TV segment sector has been 38 per cent. Naturally the broadcasters want a greater share of the cable pie and local cable operators are unwilling to give in easily to demands of full declaration when no broadcaster is willing to reveal his cost of acquisition of content or operating costs and when the whole trp audience rating issue has become tainted with controversy. In the past two years broadcasters and multi-system cable operators have resorted to bitter litigation on various issues and inevitably settled out of court.Broadcasters have had to face flak from advertisers for not providing assured connectivity. Cable operators have had to face wrath of consumers for blank screens.
The cable industry is 'governed' by the Cable Network Regulation Act 1995 which only provides for post office registration and is otherwise a toothless and technologically redundant law. Ultimately the Convergence Bill will become law but in the meanwhile government has been resorting to piecemeal legislation to take care of burning issues affecting the electronic media. These include major amendments to the Cable Act in 2000, a local (satellite) up-linking policy in 2001, and DTH guidelines in 2002. Now the government has accepted the Rakesh Mohan task force report on introduction of a conditional access system for pay channels. This mandates that all pay channels would be available only through a set top box to provide the consumer the choice of viewing and an option to pay for what he chooses to watch. Free-to-air channels would continue to be available through present receivers at an' affordable price' to be determined by the government.
After the initial round of euphoria in the cable industry, various queries are being raised mainly by broadcasters and consumer organisations: Is the set top box a feasible solution for ensuring that broadcasters are paid? Broadcasters have been able to double their subscription revenue in the last one year forcing cable operators to raise rates to Rs 300 per month in Mumbai. Any further raise will not be tolerated. Will consumer choice be reduced by government mandated solutions? All that the government is doing is restoring the right of choice of watching channels to the consumer who will only now pay for channels he chooses to watch. Who will bear the costs of regulation? Obviously, the consumer will bear the cost of the set top box. The cable operator will bear the cost of the subscriber management system. The broadcaster will have to fix a maximum retail price to compensate the cable operator for use of the infrastructure and system upgrade including the subscriber management system.
The government has to chart the road ahead once conditional access becomes mandatory. Government has to continue to take a proactive consumer stance by taking the following additional measures immediately: 1) Ensuring a three-phase roll out to cover metros in the next six months, mini metros in the next 12 months and the entire country in 18 months. 2) To ensure easy acceptability of set top boxes and subscriber management systems for cable operators all duties including central/state and local levies be waived for a period of three years. 3) As government has decided to fix a maximum retail price for free-to-air channels, it should also freeze all current pay channel rates till deployment of set top boxes is actually in place. Thereafter the broadcasters would have to persuade customers to subscribe to their channels both in terms of attractive content and pricing. 4) As the Convergence Bill is still being scrutinised by a standing committee of Parliament, an interim arrangement to settle all disputes in the TV segment between broadcasters, cable operators and consumers may be considered by enlarging the function of the Telecom Regulatory Authority or appointment of an ombudsman.
Kids today are not what they used to be
Kids today are not what they used to be
The following points could be discussed under this topic:
The environment in which kids grow today are different. kids today are exposed to different kinds of media like radio, television Internet etc. They learn many things quickly and mature faster.They have a lot of information in their access compared to before. There are a lot of negative influences too. Kids are more demanding. Also exposure to these media can cause negative effect on them.
From the education point of view, competition has become so fierce that it forces them to compete from the beginning. This leads to non inculcation of values like sharing and giving.
From the parents aspect, we have a scenario where both the parents are working and are able to buy the kids all materialistic things but are unable to spend time with them...etc...
The following points could be discussed under this topic:
The environment in which kids grow today are different. kids today are exposed to different kinds of media like radio, television Internet etc. They learn many things quickly and mature faster.They have a lot of information in their access compared to before. There are a lot of negative influences too. Kids are more demanding. Also exposure to these media can cause negative effect on them.
From the education point of view, competition has become so fierce that it forces them to compete from the beginning. This leads to non inculcation of values like sharing and giving.
From the parents aspect, we have a scenario where both the parents are working and are able to buy the kids all materialistic things but are unable to spend time with them...etc...
Economic freedom not old fashioned theories of development will lead to growth and prosperity
Economic freedom not old fashioned theories of development will lead to growth and prosperity
As my colleague and I walked down towards immigration at the airport in Bali, we saw a large banner which read, 'Welcome Delegates.' Before we could absorb the pleasant surprise of being welcomed by the government of Indonesia, we spotted the rest of the message, which clarified that the welcome was for delegates to a meeting for the World Summit on Sustainable Development.Wrong number. We were in Bali for a meeting of the Asian Economic Freedom Network (AEFN) organised by Friedrich Naumann Stiftung.
The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the World Economic Freedom Index created and computed by the Fraser Institute in Canada and to assess its findings for Asia. The contrast between the two meetings is instructive. There is a vast difference in the fundamental concepts, principles and policies that were discussed at the two meetings. Economic freedom refers to the freedom to engage in economic activity without interference from the government as long as the freedom of others is respected. The delegates at the AEFN meeting discussed what empirical variables capture this idea and what policy changes are required to increase economic freedom.'Sustainable development', discussed at the other meeting, begs some fundamental questions: sustainable for how long? For whom? And what is it that we're trying to sustain? Are we to sustain the amount and distribution of natural resources that exist today for future generations? Or the current standards of living, the amount and distribution of material goods and services? Should we sustain whatever it is that we agree to sustain only for future generations of Homo sapiens or also for other species of flora and fauna? And how long are we planning to sustain these-ten generations, a hundred, or longer?
The absurdity of the concept becomes clearer with a hypothetical example. Suppose we live in a period when charcoal is the main source of energy in the world. Charcoal is made by burning wood and destroy forests and ecosystems and generate greenhouse gases. This world does not seem sustainable.So, the Charcoal World Summit for Sustainable Development is called by concerned international agencies, NGOs, and businesses. The heads of state and governments present at the summit agree on time-bound targets to reduce charcoal use and production of greenhouse gases, to offer official assistance to less developed countries, and to subsidise the discovery of alternative fuels.A Charcoal Summit could have occurred about 150 years ago when Malthus' worries about population growth overtaking production were prevalent. The dire predictions of Malthus did not come true. A world powered by charcoal can't sustain 6 billion people. Would subsidies for the discovery of alternative fuels have reached the right individuals and would they have found coal, petroleum, solar and wind power or fuel cells? Given the history of government subsidy programs, it seems quite unlikely.
I am thankful that no Charcoal Summit took place 150 years ago, that we didn't have too many concerned agencies and NGOs then, that we were allowed to grope our way and discover new fuels. The forces of supply and demand are more powerful than any bribes by governments in focussing human ingenuity to solve problems. Market forces took us from whale oil, to charcoal, to coal, to petroleum. The forest cover in the industrialised world today is higher than it was 150 years ago, and large quantities of coal are lying underground. No one can predict what will be the next source of energy, but the historical achievements of the human mind give us great confidence that we will have it well before any emergency. Then large quantities of petroleum will be left underground and future generations will grin about how primitive our energy sources were in the 21st century.What kinds of policies are pushed by the confused proponents of sustainable development? The Draft Plan of Implementation issued on June 12 by the UN Commission on Sustainable Development is 77 pages of dense text. It covers all that the humanity would have ever wanted: gender equality, racial harmony, fair income, equitable access to education, healthcare, water, sanitation, including the mandate to reduce by half, by the year 2015, the proportion of the world's people whose income is less than $1 a day and the proportion of people who suffer from hunger and, by the same date, to halve the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water.
The market keeps producing prosperity and the commissions keep setting target dates.The consequences of the edicts of the final Johannesburg meeting in late August would resemble those of our hypothetical Charcoal Summit. The difference would be of magnitude, but the pattern would remain the same. Fundamentally, ecology and economy are similar-none can stay stagnant for long, it must either grow or decline. The choice is between a growing and a declining economy.The most critical ingredient for economic growth is economic freedom. The Fraser study concludes that no country with a persistently high economic freedom rating during the last 20 years failed to achieved a high level of income. All 17 countries in the most-improved category experienced average per capita GDP growth of 2.7%. In contrast, all 16 countries which declined the most on the index of economic freedom declined at an annual rate of 0.6%. As incomes increase, people demand higher quality, of housing, education, healthcare, and environment.
At higher incomes - studies suggest above per capita income of $2,000 - people begin to invest in the quality air and water, sanitation, visits to parks and wildlife. The vision underlying the two meetings in Bali was antithetical. We don't need sustainable development, but sustained development. For the sake of humanity the next official welcome should be for
As my colleague and I walked down towards immigration at the airport in Bali, we saw a large banner which read, 'Welcome Delegates.' Before we could absorb the pleasant surprise of being welcomed by the government of Indonesia, we spotted the rest of the message, which clarified that the welcome was for delegates to a meeting for the World Summit on Sustainable Development.Wrong number. We were in Bali for a meeting of the Asian Economic Freedom Network (AEFN) organised by Friedrich Naumann Stiftung.
The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the World Economic Freedom Index created and computed by the Fraser Institute in Canada and to assess its findings for Asia. The contrast between the two meetings is instructive. There is a vast difference in the fundamental concepts, principles and policies that were discussed at the two meetings. Economic freedom refers to the freedom to engage in economic activity without interference from the government as long as the freedom of others is respected. The delegates at the AEFN meeting discussed what empirical variables capture this idea and what policy changes are required to increase economic freedom.'Sustainable development', discussed at the other meeting, begs some fundamental questions: sustainable for how long? For whom? And what is it that we're trying to sustain? Are we to sustain the amount and distribution of natural resources that exist today for future generations? Or the current standards of living, the amount and distribution of material goods and services? Should we sustain whatever it is that we agree to sustain only for future generations of Homo sapiens or also for other species of flora and fauna? And how long are we planning to sustain these-ten generations, a hundred, or longer?
The absurdity of the concept becomes clearer with a hypothetical example. Suppose we live in a period when charcoal is the main source of energy in the world. Charcoal is made by burning wood and destroy forests and ecosystems and generate greenhouse gases. This world does not seem sustainable.So, the Charcoal World Summit for Sustainable Development is called by concerned international agencies, NGOs, and businesses. The heads of state and governments present at the summit agree on time-bound targets to reduce charcoal use and production of greenhouse gases, to offer official assistance to less developed countries, and to subsidise the discovery of alternative fuels.A Charcoal Summit could have occurred about 150 years ago when Malthus' worries about population growth overtaking production were prevalent. The dire predictions of Malthus did not come true. A world powered by charcoal can't sustain 6 billion people. Would subsidies for the discovery of alternative fuels have reached the right individuals and would they have found coal, petroleum, solar and wind power or fuel cells? Given the history of government subsidy programs, it seems quite unlikely.
I am thankful that no Charcoal Summit took place 150 years ago, that we didn't have too many concerned agencies and NGOs then, that we were allowed to grope our way and discover new fuels. The forces of supply and demand are more powerful than any bribes by governments in focussing human ingenuity to solve problems. Market forces took us from whale oil, to charcoal, to coal, to petroleum. The forest cover in the industrialised world today is higher than it was 150 years ago, and large quantities of coal are lying underground. No one can predict what will be the next source of energy, but the historical achievements of the human mind give us great confidence that we will have it well before any emergency. Then large quantities of petroleum will be left underground and future generations will grin about how primitive our energy sources were in the 21st century.What kinds of policies are pushed by the confused proponents of sustainable development? The Draft Plan of Implementation issued on June 12 by the UN Commission on Sustainable Development is 77 pages of dense text. It covers all that the humanity would have ever wanted: gender equality, racial harmony, fair income, equitable access to education, healthcare, water, sanitation, including the mandate to reduce by half, by the year 2015, the proportion of the world's people whose income is less than $1 a day and the proportion of people who suffer from hunger and, by the same date, to halve the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water.
The market keeps producing prosperity and the commissions keep setting target dates.The consequences of the edicts of the final Johannesburg meeting in late August would resemble those of our hypothetical Charcoal Summit. The difference would be of magnitude, but the pattern would remain the same. Fundamentally, ecology and economy are similar-none can stay stagnant for long, it must either grow or decline. The choice is between a growing and a declining economy.The most critical ingredient for economic growth is economic freedom. The Fraser study concludes that no country with a persistently high economic freedom rating during the last 20 years failed to achieved a high level of income. All 17 countries in the most-improved category experienced average per capita GDP growth of 2.7%. In contrast, all 16 countries which declined the most on the index of economic freedom declined at an annual rate of 0.6%. As incomes increase, people demand higher quality, of housing, education, healthcare, and environment.
At higher incomes - studies suggest above per capita income of $2,000 - people begin to invest in the quality air and water, sanitation, visits to parks and wildlife. The vision underlying the two meetings in Bali was antithetical. We don't need sustainable development, but sustained development. For the sake of humanity the next official welcome should be for
Is the patents bill good for India
Is the patents bill good for India?
Global pressure, coercion, ignorance, cowardice and conspiracy and not national interest are forcing India's Parliament to amend our exemplary Patents Act 1970 under threat from WTO and its TRIPS treaty.America's Super 301 places India on 'priority watch' threatening sanctions.
India has buckled supinely. Public debate was throttled. Signing WTO was deliberately not fully discussed in Parliament.Bills to implement TRIPS are being cascaded through on voice votes and minimum attention. The Joint Committee (1999-2001) ignored most suggestions and toed the line - with many legal stalwarts barely attending meetings. Parliament became Geneva's rubber stamp.The issues are simple. A patent is a monopoly which, in a free trade treaty is, itself a contradiction. But, we know that 60-90 % of patents are, and will be, owned by foreigners.
Why has India followed TRIPS to grant 20-year monopolies to foreigners through patents? The argument that research will stop without the incentive of luxurious returns is bogus.Research gets huge tax benefits. Good returns follow in 3-4 market years. India's sovereign Parliament could have declared a shorter patent of 5-10 years from the date of sealing.To protect public health, patents should be given only for molecules. Patented combinations can last forever. Researchers are troubled by issues relating to micro-organisms, genetic research and steps in basic research being patented.This will stifle basic research. Doha required stronger compulsory licensing provisions, fixed royalties of around 4 % and better public interest provisions enabling a modified licence of right as scheduled by the government for health, food and energy and research.Poor nations with ailing needs should be empowered to break corporate monopolies at will to meet their needs. The Parliament cannot mindlessly translate treaty into law.American law declares that its law will prevail over the WTO. India would have been better off telling WTO that its sovereign parliament does not accept certain provisions.It was cowardice not to do so. The promise of a possible third amendment is illusory. Yet, another ruse.
Global pressure, coercion, ignorance, cowardice and conspiracy and not national interest are forcing India's Parliament to amend our exemplary Patents Act 1970 under threat from WTO and its TRIPS treaty.America's Super 301 places India on 'priority watch' threatening sanctions.
India has buckled supinely. Public debate was throttled. Signing WTO was deliberately not fully discussed in Parliament.Bills to implement TRIPS are being cascaded through on voice votes and minimum attention. The Joint Committee (1999-2001) ignored most suggestions and toed the line - with many legal stalwarts barely attending meetings. Parliament became Geneva's rubber stamp.The issues are simple. A patent is a monopoly which, in a free trade treaty is, itself a contradiction. But, we know that 60-90 % of patents are, and will be, owned by foreigners.
Why has India followed TRIPS to grant 20-year monopolies to foreigners through patents? The argument that research will stop without the incentive of luxurious returns is bogus.Research gets huge tax benefits. Good returns follow in 3-4 market years. India's sovereign Parliament could have declared a shorter patent of 5-10 years from the date of sealing.To protect public health, patents should be given only for molecules. Patented combinations can last forever. Researchers are troubled by issues relating to micro-organisms, genetic research and steps in basic research being patented.This will stifle basic research. Doha required stronger compulsory licensing provisions, fixed royalties of around 4 % and better public interest provisions enabling a modified licence of right as scheduled by the government for health, food and energy and research.Poor nations with ailing needs should be empowered to break corporate monopolies at will to meet their needs. The Parliament cannot mindlessly translate treaty into law.American law declares that its law will prevail over the WTO. India would have been better off telling WTO that its sovereign parliament does not accept certain provisions.It was cowardice not to do so. The promise of a possible third amendment is illusory. Yet, another ruse.
Media is a mixed blessing
Media is a mixed blessing
WHEN Hindus vandalise Muslim places of worship and plant small statues of Hanuman in each of these mosques, what does the media do - tell it like it is? In a State that is already burning? Star News and Aaj Tak decided not to show these Hulladia Hanumans as they were called, in Gujarat last month, even though neither news channel has much of a reputation for restraint. The Gujarat Samachar however saw no reason not to report this. On March 1, 2002 it carried a front-page box item, which said, "Reaction of Godhra in Ahmedabad. Several Mosques and Dargahs Ravaged - Hanuman Idol installed after destroying mosque at Paldi. The new idol is named Hulladia Hanuman."
Pictures of these Hanumans were not hard to come by in Ahmedabad. Vendors were hawking them in front of the District Magistrate and District Commissioner's offices. Yet how many of them did you see carried in the much-maligned metropolitan press? The Indian Express did carry one day a picture of one of these Hanumans planted on the razed remains of a mosque.
The more developed countries are much more evolved in the area of media ethics. Our media is still young, our regulations still in the pipeline. But while their ethical dilemmas are more conventional, ours defy imagination. Just pick a few examples from Gujarat. Should TV and print report that a foetus was ripped from its mother's womb and then burnt? Should they report that people were electrocuted in a room by avenging mobs? Should they carry pictures of bodies in wells?
So what do we do about media ethics when all hell is breaking loose?
Gujarat's leading newspapers did not tie themselves into knots asking the questions that the rest of the media has been torturing itself with since the violence broke out. They went right ahead and took the decisions that they thought would endear them to the popular mood. On February 28, Gujarat Samachar carried photographs of the dead on the Godhra platform and the burning bogies, above its masthead. Its banner headline below the masthead said (translated), "Most barbaric and shameful incident of the country at Godhra station". And below that, "60 roasted in the train". A box item enshrined Bal Thackeray's by-now famous quote about Hindus cowering like dogs with tails between their legs.
Its rival Sandesh, while matching the photographs and the banner, was more graphic. It said bodies of the burnt victims were glued to each other. The paper bristled with horror stories. Inside it said that two mutilated bodies of young girls had been found, something its rival, Samachar, denied the next day in a three-column story. Later the editor of Sandesh would tell the Editor's Guild team which went to Gujarat to look at the role of the media, that he had a paper to sell, and a rival to out-manoeuvre. His paper's circulation during the month of massacre was up by 150, 000, he is reported to have told them. The Guild team was shown a letter of congratulations sent by the Chief Minister to some Gujarati newspapers, for their coverage. And of course, none of those asked for his resignation as the press in the rest of the country did.
While on the subject of media and massacre, let's hark back not to the Gulf War, which is held to be the first milestone in live conflict reporting, but to Tiananmen Square in 1989 which was believed to be a watershed moment in defining different roles for television and print journalism. "Television became the raw `news' and print became the analysis and research-based reservoir of facts. While newspapers used to set the news agenda for both television and print, that was reversed by the live shots from Beijing." (Turmoil at Tiananmen. A study of U.S. press coverage of the Beijing Spring of 1989, The Joan Shorenstein Barone Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy, Harvard University, 1992)
In retrospect, though some Pulitzers were won for the memorable coverage there, it was found to have suffered from biases, and endangered those whom it featured. It set a pro-student framework for the coverage: there was not enough objectivity about the students' movement, and the not-so-positive aspects of it. The technology outpaced the journalism, which created some serious problems. Lopsided access created lopsided coverage. The use of new technology allowed the inclusion of misleading or irrelevant materials, including unverified rumours that were hard to check and resist in the competitive pressure to provide something new. Some Chinese sources who appeared in news reports suddenly found themselves in danger. They were identified by authorities.
WHEN Hindus vandalise Muslim places of worship and plant small statues of Hanuman in each of these mosques, what does the media do - tell it like it is? In a State that is already burning? Star News and Aaj Tak decided not to show these Hulladia Hanumans as they were called, in Gujarat last month, even though neither news channel has much of a reputation for restraint. The Gujarat Samachar however saw no reason not to report this. On March 1, 2002 it carried a front-page box item, which said, "Reaction of Godhra in Ahmedabad. Several Mosques and Dargahs Ravaged - Hanuman Idol installed after destroying mosque at Paldi. The new idol is named Hulladia Hanuman."
Pictures of these Hanumans were not hard to come by in Ahmedabad. Vendors were hawking them in front of the District Magistrate and District Commissioner's offices. Yet how many of them did you see carried in the much-maligned metropolitan press? The Indian Express did carry one day a picture of one of these Hanumans planted on the razed remains of a mosque.
The more developed countries are much more evolved in the area of media ethics. Our media is still young, our regulations still in the pipeline. But while their ethical dilemmas are more conventional, ours defy imagination. Just pick a few examples from Gujarat. Should TV and print report that a foetus was ripped from its mother's womb and then burnt? Should they report that people were electrocuted in a room by avenging mobs? Should they carry pictures of bodies in wells?
So what do we do about media ethics when all hell is breaking loose?
Gujarat's leading newspapers did not tie themselves into knots asking the questions that the rest of the media has been torturing itself with since the violence broke out. They went right ahead and took the decisions that they thought would endear them to the popular mood. On February 28, Gujarat Samachar carried photographs of the dead on the Godhra platform and the burning bogies, above its masthead. Its banner headline below the masthead said (translated), "Most barbaric and shameful incident of the country at Godhra station". And below that, "60 roasted in the train". A box item enshrined Bal Thackeray's by-now famous quote about Hindus cowering like dogs with tails between their legs.
Its rival Sandesh, while matching the photographs and the banner, was more graphic. It said bodies of the burnt victims were glued to each other. The paper bristled with horror stories. Inside it said that two mutilated bodies of young girls had been found, something its rival, Samachar, denied the next day in a three-column story. Later the editor of Sandesh would tell the Editor's Guild team which went to Gujarat to look at the role of the media, that he had a paper to sell, and a rival to out-manoeuvre. His paper's circulation during the month of massacre was up by 150, 000, he is reported to have told them. The Guild team was shown a letter of congratulations sent by the Chief Minister to some Gujarati newspapers, for their coverage. And of course, none of those asked for his resignation as the press in the rest of the country did.
While on the subject of media and massacre, let's hark back not to the Gulf War, which is held to be the first milestone in live conflict reporting, but to Tiananmen Square in 1989 which was believed to be a watershed moment in defining different roles for television and print journalism. "Television became the raw `news' and print became the analysis and research-based reservoir of facts. While newspapers used to set the news agenda for both television and print, that was reversed by the live shots from Beijing." (Turmoil at Tiananmen. A study of U.S. press coverage of the Beijing Spring of 1989, The Joan Shorenstein Barone Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy, Harvard University, 1992)
In retrospect, though some Pulitzers were won for the memorable coverage there, it was found to have suffered from biases, and endangered those whom it featured. It set a pro-student framework for the coverage: there was not enough objectivity about the students' movement, and the not-so-positive aspects of it. The technology outpaced the journalism, which created some serious problems. Lopsided access created lopsided coverage. The use of new technology allowed the inclusion of misleading or irrelevant materials, including unverified rumours that were hard to check and resist in the competitive pressure to provide something new. Some Chinese sources who appeared in news reports suddenly found themselves in danger. They were identified by authorities.
Can the economy achieve an 8 percent growth rate
Can the economy achieve an 8 percent growth rate?
In an economy where the GDP has been growing at 5-6 per cent, it's difficult to believe that growth can be pushed up to eight per cent during the next five years. Prospects of drought have made people more sceptical.
Achieving the ambitious target of eight per cent depends both on an increase in investment and on more efficiency. While these may be technically feasible, they are unrealistic for the Indian economy.
A government that is quick to roll back even the smallest unpopular measure at the slightest opposition, can hardly be expected to take on the long list of tough decisions that are needed.
Looking at the scenario built by the Planning Commission, we see that the share of GDP invested should rise to 33 per cent. This has to be financed to some extent by foreign capital but largely by domestic savings.
For the last three years, household savings have been increasingly financing government consumption rather than going into productive investment. This can be easily corrected by raising taxes and cutting expenditure.
But these affect voters and interest groups. As a result, steps such as reducing public sector employment, cutting subsidies and raising user charges, will face political opposition.
Equally difficult will be the policy changes needed to increase productivity. For achieving a growth of eight per cent, industry has to grow by 10 per cent. In the last 10 years, this sector has grown at about seven per cent.
As the role of the public sector gets reduced, the onus of growth falls on the private sector. Creation of an industrial policy environment that will push up private sector investment and lead to improvements in growth is not simple. There are deeply-entrenched vested interests that would oppose such moves.
For instance, a recent ordinance aims to improve the system by which banks and other financial institutions can recover their money from defaulters. But there is huge pressure by industrial lobbies on the government to change it.
Loans to the order of a mind-boggling Rs 1.5 lakh crore are owed to lenders. Some of them, such as the IDBI, have been pushed to the verge of bankruptcy because of these defaults.
When the government saves them by doling out tax-payers money, it effectively channels public money to corrupt industrialists. But since those who gain from the current system are those who fund elections and contribute to parties, the pressure on the government to weaken the ordinance might well work.
Another policy that has restricted growth has been the reservation for small-scale industry. There is little rationale for this after allowing foreign companies to compete with the SSI units. Other than pandering to some petty industrialists, there is no reason why this policy should be continued.
Thus, the question is not whether the target of eight per cent growth is feasible, but whether it's realistic to think that the BJP has the strength to resist pressure from the support base of its voters and financiers.
And this, unfortunately, is why it may not be achieved.
In an economy where the GDP has been growing at 5-6 per cent, it's difficult to believe that growth can be pushed up to eight per cent during the next five years. Prospects of drought have made people more sceptical.
Achieving the ambitious target of eight per cent depends both on an increase in investment and on more efficiency. While these may be technically feasible, they are unrealistic for the Indian economy.
A government that is quick to roll back even the smallest unpopular measure at the slightest opposition, can hardly be expected to take on the long list of tough decisions that are needed.
Looking at the scenario built by the Planning Commission, we see that the share of GDP invested should rise to 33 per cent. This has to be financed to some extent by foreign capital but largely by domestic savings.
For the last three years, household savings have been increasingly financing government consumption rather than going into productive investment. This can be easily corrected by raising taxes and cutting expenditure.
But these affect voters and interest groups. As a result, steps such as reducing public sector employment, cutting subsidies and raising user charges, will face political opposition.
Equally difficult will be the policy changes needed to increase productivity. For achieving a growth of eight per cent, industry has to grow by 10 per cent. In the last 10 years, this sector has grown at about seven per cent.
As the role of the public sector gets reduced, the onus of growth falls on the private sector. Creation of an industrial policy environment that will push up private sector investment and lead to improvements in growth is not simple. There are deeply-entrenched vested interests that would oppose such moves.
For instance, a recent ordinance aims to improve the system by which banks and other financial institutions can recover their money from defaulters. But there is huge pressure by industrial lobbies on the government to change it.
Loans to the order of a mind-boggling Rs 1.5 lakh crore are owed to lenders. Some of them, such as the IDBI, have been pushed to the verge of bankruptcy because of these defaults.
When the government saves them by doling out tax-payers money, it effectively channels public money to corrupt industrialists. But since those who gain from the current system are those who fund elections and contribute to parties, the pressure on the government to weaken the ordinance might well work.
Another policy that has restricted growth has been the reservation for small-scale industry. There is little rationale for this after allowing foreign companies to compete with the SSI units. Other than pandering to some petty industrialists, there is no reason why this policy should be continued.
Thus, the question is not whether the target of eight per cent growth is feasible, but whether it's realistic to think that the BJP has the strength to resist pressure from the support base of its voters and financiers.
And this, unfortunately, is why it may not be achieved.
outsourcing really bad for the US
The debate over American companies outsourcing jobs is often tainted by misconceptions and anecdotal evidence, which the media tends to accept at face value. But as outsourcing emerges as a hot-button issue in the presidential election , it is time that some of the most common myths about outsourcing be dispelled.
Radley Balko, Fox News
There is still a real danger that politicians working with incomplete or incorrect information will hobble American competitiveness. Scapegoating poor Third World countries, “Benedict Arnold CEOs,” and free trade will not improve the US economy or labour market, but would likely cause great harm.
Tim Kane, Brett Schaefer, and Alison Fraser at Heritage.org
Political and emotional baggage has made outsourcing an explosive issue, especially in countries which offshore work. Here are some myths about outsourcing and the truths behind them.
Myth No.1
Outsourcing takes jobs away from Americans
The truth
It is usually taken for granted that when a company creates say 1,000 jobs abroad, they will take away these 1,000 jobs from the US . But the truth is far from that.
Go to Techsunite.org, the Website run by an 'IT workers union', and you will find that there is a board declaring the number of jobs outsourced and lost. Starting April 1, 2001 till date, 160,785 jobs were outsourced. At the same time 99,556 jobs were lost in the US , meaning many more jobs were created abroad than were lost in the US .
Also in case of companies like JP Morgan and EDS many more jobs were outsourced but that did not come at the cost of US jobs as such. (JP Morgan created 5,840 jobs abroad at the cost of 800 US jobs. In case of EDS, 17,600 were outsourced at the cost of 2,750 US jobs only.)
Radley Balko, Fox News
There is still a real danger that politicians working with incomplete or incorrect information will hobble American competitiveness. Scapegoating poor Third World countries, “Benedict Arnold CEOs,” and free trade will not improve the US economy or labour market, but would likely cause great harm.
Tim Kane, Brett Schaefer, and Alison Fraser at Heritage.org
Political and emotional baggage has made outsourcing an explosive issue, especially in countries which offshore work. Here are some myths about outsourcing and the truths behind them.
Myth No.1
Outsourcing takes jobs away from Americans
The truth
It is usually taken for granted that when a company creates say 1,000 jobs abroad, they will take away these 1,000 jobs from the US . But the truth is far from that.
Go to Techsunite.org, the Website run by an 'IT workers union', and you will find that there is a board declaring the number of jobs outsourced and lost. Starting April 1, 2001 till date, 160,785 jobs were outsourced. At the same time 99,556 jobs were lost in the US , meaning many more jobs were created abroad than were lost in the US .
Also in case of companies like JP Morgan and EDS many more jobs were outsourced but that did not come at the cost of US jobs as such. (JP Morgan created 5,840 jobs abroad at the cost of 800 US jobs. In case of EDS, 17,600 were outsourced at the cost of 2,750 US jobs only.)
Can China beat India at BPO game
Whatever goes up, comes down. The cassandras of the world are confident that India's booming IT and ITeS sectors are heading for a bust! And they are hoping that the balance of BPO power will tilt towards China this time. And this notwithstanding the 30% growth, translating into $16 billion revenues till April this year.
The much-touted English speaking capability of the Indian, which had been so far giving it an edge in the BPO stakes is under attack by the Chinese. In fact, India is not even the largest country of English speakers after the US . It is the Philippines!.
India's detractors argue that While English is still an elitist language taught in certain schools, China is making it a national priority for people to learn English! The results, they say will certainly be a tilt towards China in the near future. And who knows? China may emerge as the country with the largest number of English speaking persons then!
US Congressman, Jim McDermott, currently visiting India is certain that India is losing jobs to China . "Companies would naturally move over to destinations where they can get their job done for less. "India is losing jobs to China," he said.
Ironically, though India has been the butt of most anti-outsourcing anger, it is not even the largest outsourcing destination for the US. Ireland is.
It is true that offshore wages in India are going up thanks to higher salaries and fresh hiring brought about by the booming state of the Indian BPO industry. Over the years, India's greatest attraction for outsourcing companies, its cost advantage, is bound to come down. Slowly wages in India will go up and that in the West will come down. But even then there is bound to be enough difference between the two extremes for the outsourcing balance to rem ain with India.
Michael Beckman writing in Australia's The Age points out that India's competion is coming up in the form of countries like China, Sri Lanka, Egypt, Romania and South Africa. These countries exhibited their capabilities at last month's OutsourceWorld Conference in London.
Why stop there? There are countries like Malaysia, the Philippines, Russia, and even Mauritius, all whetting their apetite for a piece of the action.
China In The Forefront
Chinese IT companies for long have been providing outsourcing work to MNCs. Now, they are trying to emulate the Indian success and trying their hands in outsourcing. The Chinese city of Dalian is trying to emulate Bangalore's success and the mayor of Dalian visited the Indian software hub for picking up tricks of success.
Already there are some Chinese outsourcing giants. The Beijing-based IT United Corporation is one such company. Its clients include Airbus, British Airways, Cisco Systems, Siemens, and Kraft Foods.
The company has around 100 mostly Chinese staff. It now offers its web and IT-based solutions and call centre management services not just to companies based in China or with operations there but to companies worldwide.
IT research company Gartner estimates that China has 6,000-plus software companies against India's 3,000-plus. Add to this China's domestic software sales of $4.3 billion aginst $2.06 billion for India.
It is not that Indian companies are not aware of the Chinese threat. IT giants like Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys have picked outsourcing to China as a future trend and are hiring Chinese staff and opening branches in China.
Agreed, there are some black and white criteria for showing China's superiority. Like, both have billion plus populations but China has always the favourite FDI destination with $800 billion poring in that country against $20 billion in India in the last 20 years.
Gross domestic product per capita in China is $5000 against India's $2,900.
All that may be true, but equally true is the emergence of India as a more favoured destination MNCs in recent times. Also, last year in the third quarter, India's GDP growth had been the highest in the world, beating even China's.
By all accounts India and China are the superpowers of the future with Goldman Sachs predicting that even if the Indian economy continues to grow over the next 20 years at just the same pace as it has over the past ten years (about five and a half per cent each year), it will become the third largest economy in the world, after US and China. If it can match China's growth rate (more than seven per cent a year) its economy will, within 50 years, exceed China's and be the world's second largest economy!
The much-touted English speaking capability of the Indian, which had been so far giving it an edge in the BPO stakes is under attack by the Chinese. In fact, India is not even the largest country of English speakers after the US . It is the Philippines!.
India's detractors argue that While English is still an elitist language taught in certain schools, China is making it a national priority for people to learn English! The results, they say will certainly be a tilt towards China in the near future. And who knows? China may emerge as the country with the largest number of English speaking persons then!
US Congressman, Jim McDermott, currently visiting India is certain that India is losing jobs to China . "Companies would naturally move over to destinations where they can get their job done for less. "India is losing jobs to China," he said.
Ironically, though India has been the butt of most anti-outsourcing anger, it is not even the largest outsourcing destination for the US. Ireland is.
It is true that offshore wages in India are going up thanks to higher salaries and fresh hiring brought about by the booming state of the Indian BPO industry. Over the years, India's greatest attraction for outsourcing companies, its cost advantage, is bound to come down. Slowly wages in India will go up and that in the West will come down. But even then there is bound to be enough difference between the two extremes for the outsourcing balance to rem ain with India.
Michael Beckman writing in Australia's The Age points out that India's competion is coming up in the form of countries like China, Sri Lanka, Egypt, Romania and South Africa. These countries exhibited their capabilities at last month's OutsourceWorld Conference in London.
Why stop there? There are countries like Malaysia, the Philippines, Russia, and even Mauritius, all whetting their apetite for a piece of the action.
China In The Forefront
Chinese IT companies for long have been providing outsourcing work to MNCs. Now, they are trying to emulate the Indian success and trying their hands in outsourcing. The Chinese city of Dalian is trying to emulate Bangalore's success and the mayor of Dalian visited the Indian software hub for picking up tricks of success.
Already there are some Chinese outsourcing giants. The Beijing-based IT United Corporation is one such company. Its clients include Airbus, British Airways, Cisco Systems, Siemens, and Kraft Foods.
The company has around 100 mostly Chinese staff. It now offers its web and IT-based solutions and call centre management services not just to companies based in China or with operations there but to companies worldwide.
IT research company Gartner estimates that China has 6,000-plus software companies against India's 3,000-plus. Add to this China's domestic software sales of $4.3 billion aginst $2.06 billion for India.
It is not that Indian companies are not aware of the Chinese threat. IT giants like Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys have picked outsourcing to China as a future trend and are hiring Chinese staff and opening branches in China.
Agreed, there are some black and white criteria for showing China's superiority. Like, both have billion plus populations but China has always the favourite FDI destination with $800 billion poring in that country against $20 billion in India in the last 20 years.
Gross domestic product per capita in China is $5000 against India's $2,900.
All that may be true, but equally true is the emergence of India as a more favoured destination MNCs in recent times. Also, last year in the third quarter, India's GDP growth had been the highest in the world, beating even China's.
By all accounts India and China are the superpowers of the future with Goldman Sachs predicting that even if the Indian economy continues to grow over the next 20 years at just the same pace as it has over the past ten years (about five and a half per cent each year), it will become the third largest economy in the world, after US and China. If it can match China's growth rate (more than seven per cent a year) its economy will, within 50 years, exceed China's and be the world's second largest economy!
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