Lockheed management Essay Example for Free

Lockheed management Essay We examined the decision to invest in the Tri-Star project by forecasting the cash flow associated with the project for a volume of 210 planes. We also asked what a valid estimate of the NPV of the Tri-Star project at a volume of 210 planes as of 1967 would be. We found this to be -$584 M. This was clearly an unacceptable NPV for capital budgeting on the project. A break-even analysis revealed that the project reached economic break-even with the production of 275 planes at . 5 M per unit but did not reach value break-even at that level of production. Despite industry analysts predicting 300 units as Lockheed’s break-even sales point, at this level, net present value remained insufficient to cover costs at negative $274 million. If the company had performed a true value break-even analysis, management would have realized that roughly 400 Tri Star aircraft (about 67 per year for six years) costing somewhere between $11.75 million and $12 million per unit would have to be sold in order to break even. The investment decision made by Lockheed to pursue the Tri Star program was not a reasonable one. A true value analysis shows that at the production level of 210 units, the project would result in an economic loss of $584.05 million and a profit loss of $480 million. In addition to miscalculating the break-even level of production, Lockheed management overestimated the growth rate of air travel industry.

The Dalit Womens Movement In India

The Dalit Womens Movement In India This paper proposes to look at dalit womens movement (DWM) in India. The dalit womens movement should be analyzed in a relational framework for which we will have to look at the specific history and nature of the Indian nation-state. The other two major movements which have a bearing on DWM are the dalit movement and the womens movement in India. This paper focuses on the DWM particularly the National Federation of dalit women (NFDW). There are a host of regional, state level and national level movements led and participated by dalit women, it is beyond the scope of this paper to discuss all these, so I undertake a study of the NFDW, its politics, strategy, ideology, scope and the theoretical perspectives through which it has been analysed. The NFDW is chronologically a post 1980s phenomena and has been active in a transnational arena with its particular presence in Durban 2001, it has been analysed by social scientists in a transnational framework. I have not overlooked the transnational significance of the movement, but, looked at it in a historical context of Indias history and modernity, the place of dalit women and men within this history and how has the history been challenged by dalit women. The main argument put forward by dalit feminists is that dalit women are a different category in their own right and they should not be subsumed within the category of dalits or women as a whole. Dalit feminists have asked both the dalit movements and womens movements in India for an internal critique because both these movements have neither been able to represent dalit women nor paid attention to their specific structural, social and cultural location within Indian society. Indian society is ridden with multiple and overlapping inequalities which affect women in general and dalit women in particular, in different ways. Dalit feminists have also argued for an analysis of patriarchy within dalit communities because of external and internal factors. Dalit women justify the case for talking differently on the basis of external factors (non-dalit forces homogenizing the issue of dalit women) and internal factors (the patriarchal domination within the dalits). (Guru: 1995:2548) The dalit womens movement has a crucial role to play in the analysis of dalit feminist approach because as Chaudhuri points out it is almost impossible to separate the history of action from the history of ideas. In other words the conceptual debates themselves embodied the history of doing, and vice versa. (Chaudhuri: 2004: xi-xii) therefore what constitutes conceptual history, arises in the context of history of doing (Chaudhuri: 2004: xii) The first part explores the historicity of womans question in India, dalit womens participation in early anti-caste movements is established now but they do not figure in the womens movement led by the AIWC as the womens movement started with a group of bourgeois women who believed in homogeneous womanhood. The second part looks at the question of difference and the articulation of this difference by dalit women through what Rege has called the dalit feminist standpoint (DFS), and the further debate around the DFS. The third part looks at the NFDW in particular. The fourth part tries to locate the DWM in different theoretical frameworks which have been put forward to explain the movement locating it in the present national and international scenario. The questions this paper will explore are: Why is it important to see the dalit womens movement as separate from the Indian womens movement and dalit movement in general? What are the main features of dalit womens movement, particularly the NFDW? How the revolving and overlapping axis of caste, class and gender have affected dalit women in particular? The related concepts are: Patriarchy Patriarchy is defined as Literally, rule of the father the term was originally used to describe social systems based on authority of male heads of household. (A dictionary of sociology 2009/1994:551) The nature of control and subjugation of women varies from one society to the other as it differs due to the differences in class, caste, religion, region, ethnicity and the socio-cultural practices. Thus in the context of India, brahmanical patriarchy, tribal patriarchy and dalit patriarchy are different from each other. Patriarchy within a particular caste or class also differs in terms of their religious and regional variations. (Ray: 2006) Mary E. John argues that there are not separate, multiple patriarchies but multiple patriarchies, the products of social discrimination along class, caste and communal lines, are much more shared and overlapping than diverseà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦the growing disparitiesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦would tell a different story, one of unequal patriarchies and disparate genders.(John:2004: 66). Gender According to Ann Oakley sex is a biological term: gender a psychological and cultural one further she says if the proper terms for sex are male and female, the corresponding terms for gender are masculine and feminine; these latter may be quite independent of (biological) sex. (Oakley: 1972:159) Dalit Romila Thapar traces the roots of Dalit in Pali literature in which Dalit means the oppressed. (Quoted in Guru and Geetha: 2000) Dalit is not a caste; it is a constructed identityà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Dalit (oppressed or broken) is not a new word. Apparently, it was used in the 1930s as a Hindi and Marathi translation of depressed classes, a term the British used for what are now called the scheduled castesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦The word was also used by B R Ambedkar in his Marathi speeches. The Dalit Panthers revived the term in their 1973 manifestoà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (Bharati: 2002) However there is a huge and raging debate over the word Dalit among intellectuals. The issues of terminology are complex and cannot be handled in this space, the study proposes to use dalits for the communities also at times called ex-untouchables, ati-shudras, untouchables, scheduled castes, low castes, harijans etc. Dalit women It has been pointed by dalit activists and intellectuals that dalit women suffer the triple burden of caste, class, and gender (Rao:2006), (Rege:1998), (Dietrich:2006), (Omvedt: 2004),(Malik:1999) they have been called the dalits of the dalits , the downtrodden amongst the downtrodden and the the slaves of the slaves.( Manorama quoted in Hardtmann: 2009:217) However such a construction has been challenged by Shirman as fetishising of dalit womens suffering which tend to reify the living social relationships that constitute dalit womens lives, and to locate dalit women as objects of pity. (Shirman: 2004) Social movement A social movement can be thought of as an informal set of individuals and/ or groups that are involved in confliction relations with clearly identified opponents; are linked by dense informal networks; [and] share a distinct collective identity (della Porta Diani, 2006, p. 20). (Christiansen:2011:4) Feminism Kumari Jayawardena defines feminism as embracing movements for equality within the current system and significant struggles that have attempted to change the system. She asserts that these movements arose in the context of i) the formulation and consolidation of national identities which modernized anti-imperialist movements during the independence struggle and ii) the remaking of pre-capitalist religion and feudal structures in attempt to modernize third world societies (Jayawardena, 1986: 2) ( Quoted in Chaudhuri, 2004: xvi). Nation-State Nation, it is clear, is not the same as state. The latter refers to an independent and autonomous political structure over a specific territory, with a comprehensive legal system and a sufficient concentration of power to maintain law and order. State, in other words, is primarily a political-legal concept, whereas nation is primarily psycho-cultural. Nation and state may exist independently of one another: a nation may exist without a state; a state may exist without a nation. When the two coincide, when the boundaries of the state are approximately coterminous with those of the nation, the result is a nation-state. A nation-state, in other words, is a nation that possesses political sovereignty. It is socially cohesive as well as politically organized and independent. (Enloe and Rejai: 1969:143) The space of dalit women in the womens movement and the dalit movement in India. Chaudhuri has observed that the early womens movement comprised of the women from upper caste and class strata who distanced themselves from party politics and confrontational mode of assertion. The theme of woman as an individual in her own right did not crop up till very late. The theme that emerges is the naturally non-antagonistic relationship of the sexes in India as compared to the westà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (Chaudhuri: 2004:119) Chaudhuri discusses that the All India Womens Congress (AIWC) were in favour of joint electorates and rejected the communal award, women the leading members continued to argue, were all sisters under the sari and the institutions and ideals that governed their lives were similar. (Chaudhuri: 2004:130) Chaudhuri also observes the propensity of gender issues to be dispensable while larger political battles are being fought has been a constant of sorts in the history of modern India. (Chaudhuri: 2011: xv) Throughout the nineteenth century different versions of female emancipation came to be tied to the idea of national liberation and regeneration. The early colonial constellation of the arya woman is a sternly elitist concept in class and caste terms, and finds its nationalist shape in social and political thought, literature and a dominant historiographic model of Indiaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ the recovery of tradition throughout the proto-nationalist and nationalist period was the recovery of the traditional womanà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦the vedic woman, both in her own time, and after her appropriation by upper castes and classes in the nineteenth century, is built upon the labour of lower social groups and is also a mark of distinction from them.(Sangari and Vaid: 1989:10) Following these historical developments there has been an ambivalence in india towards feminism, Chaudhuri argues that we cannot exclude women who were pushing feminist agendas without calling them feminists because we cannot impose current notions of feminism on the past thereby assuming an ideal notion of the correct kind of feminism. (Chaudhuri: 2004: xvi-xvii) Another question that Chaudhuri points out is the westernnes of feminism and its subsequent perception by feminists in India. She claims that there is no turning away from the westà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦questions regarding the westerness of feminism has been a constant theme. In a hierarchical society often gender oppression is linked with oppressions based on caste, class, community, tribe and religion, and in such multiple patriarchies men as the principal oppressors is not easily accepted (Chaudhuri, 2004: xxii-xxiii). Manuela Ciotti in a field study done with BSP and Hindu right women activists in UP has drawn attention to the role played by womens husbands or other male family members, who are often not only responsible for womens release into public life, but also act as a source of advice, experience, encouragement and financial support for their political activities. (Ciotti: 2007) The history to which the dalit womens movement traces itself is of Ambedkar and Phule (both men) whose approach however was (unlike that of the early Indian womens movement) confrontationalist as well as pronouncedly antagonist to brahmanic patriarchy. To Phule and Ambedkar, gender issues were not dispensable. This history also brings to light the fact that dalit women were not historically absent from movements but their history has been neglected until recently. They worked side by side dalit men but they have started to organize separately from dalit men with different movements only post the 1970s. Ambedkar not only spoke for and agitated for the rights of Dalits but also Dalit women. He argued that practices of sati, enforced widowhood and child marriage come to be prescribed by Brahmanism in order to regulate and control any transgression of boundaries, i.e., to say he underlines the fact that the caste system can be maintained only through the controls on womens sexuality and in this sense women are the gateways to the caste system [Ambedkar 1992:90] (Rege: 1998) Meenakshi Moon and Urmila Pawar have recorded the participation of dalit women in the early 20th century movements against caste exclusion and oppression, in the following decades womens activities developed from mere participation as beneficiaries or as an audience, to the shouldering of significant responsibility in various fields of activity in the Ambedkar movement. (Moon and Pawar: 2003:49) Moon and Pawars research has thrown light on the unknown facts of the dalit womens participation in the early anti-caste movements, Dr. Ambedkar saw to it that womens conferences were held simultaneously with those of men. By 1930 women had become so conscious that they started conducting their own meetings and conferences independently. (Moon and Pawar: 2003:50) In the Mahad satyagraha of 1927 women not only participated in the procession with Dr. Ambedkar but also participated in the deliberations of the subject committee meetings in passing resolutions about the claim for equal human rights. (Moon and Pawar: 2003:50) Their research also reveals the experiences they (dalit women) had in the field as well as in the family as mother, wife, daughter; what was the effect on their life of Ambedkars movement and speechesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (Moon and Pawar: 2003:53) Even the women who were illiterate subscribed to Ambedkars journals to keep the publications alive. They paid four annas to eight annas when their daily wages were hardly a rupee daily. Some women courted arrest with the men in the satayagrahas. Some had to face beatings from their husbands for participating in the movement. At such times they took their infant babies to jail, some carried all their belongings, even chickens. Taking in consideration the extremely backward social atmosphere the achievements of these women were most commendable. (Moon and Pawar: 2003:54-55) The analyses of dalit womens presence in anti caste struggle has brought out the sharp contrast between their participation in movements and their visibility as leaders and decision makers in political parties or dalit movement itself. Dalit women do not play any important role in the political leadership of maharastra (Zelliot:2006:209) Vimal Thorat laments that Dalit identity politics articulates caste identity sharply but resists, deliberately, understanding and articulating the gender dimensions of caste itself (that sees all women not just Dalit women) in a certain lightà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦The Dalit movement has thrown up so many women but articulate women are not invited by Dalit forums, especially the political parties. (Thorat: 2001) The question she asks is Forty years after the Dalit movement, where is the womens share? (Hamari bhagyadari kahan hai?) (Thorat: 2001) Ruth Manorama is of the view that dalit women have to challenge dalit men to reah the leading posts within their own movement. She explains that dalit men have been discriminated throughout their lives by high caste men as well as high caste women. The dalit men now are scared of dalit women and think that they are the same as the high caste women. Now when they have finally grasped the leadership positions they will not part from them. You have to understand them. (Hardtmann: 2009:219) Dietrich argues that while womens movements downplay the caste factor and emphasize unity among women as victims of violence, dalit movements see such violence only from a caste angle and subsume the dalit women within dalits in general.( Dietrich:2006:57) Many Dalit intellectuals deny the persistence of brahmanic patriarchy among the dalits, Kancha Ilaiah admits that patriarchy exists among the dalits, but he compares it to Brahmin patriarchy and contends that it is less oppressive the man woman relations among the dalitBahujan are far more democratic. (Ilaiah: 2006:88) Dalit womens assertion of difference Gopal Guru in dalit women talk differently has posed faith in the new politics of difference that the dalit women have expressed through the formation of the National Federation of Dalit Women (NFDW). Guru brings out the facts that such difference is necessary if dalit women want to fight patriarchy which is external and internal. Other factors that he points out are caste factor does not get adequate recognition in the analysis done by non-dalit, middle-class, urbanised women activists. (Guru: 1995:2548) And the claim for womens solidarity at both national and global levels subsumes contradictions that exist between high caste and dalit women. (Guru: 1995:2548) Rege also points to the trend of the left party-based womens organizations collapsing caste into class, and the autonomous womens groups collapsing caste into sisterhood, both leaving Brahmanism unchallenged. (Rege: 1998) The social and material conditions of dalit women are different and they cannot uncritically ally themselves with larger feminist politics because of the same, so feminists like Rege have called it the dalit feminist standpoint (DFS). (Rege: 1998) The DFS according to Rege analyses what divides women, what unites them but does not unite them easily. As a standpoint located in the material practices of dalit womens lives it rejects a dichotomisation of the material and cultural which equates the material to environmental degradation and brahmanism to the cultural. Brahmanical patriarchies and caste-specific patriarchies are material in their determination of the access to resources, the division of labour the sexual division of labour and division of sexual labour. (Rege: 2000) Criticizing Rege, Chaya Datar argues that Rege has ignored ecofeminism which actually talks about the position of dalit women in society and the exploitation of women as well as the environment and natural degradation. In Datars view the dalit womens movement may not be part of narrow identity politics, insofar as it does not talk of the materiality of the majority of dalit, marginalised women who lose their livelihoods because of environmental degradation but focuses its struggle mainly against brahminical symbols, it cannot aspire to revisioning of society. It cannot become more emancipatory than the present womens movement. (Datar: 1999) According to Anupama Rao dalitbahujan feminists have gone further than merely arguing that Indian feminism is incomplete and exclusive. Rather, they are suggesting that we rethink the genealogy of Indian feminism in order to engage meaningfully with dalit womens difference from the ideal subjects of feminist politics. (Rao: 2006:2-3) Bela Malik argues that a purely dalit or a purely feminist movement cannot adequately help dalit women. (Malik: 1999) she further states that those who have been actively involved with organizing women encounter difficulties that are nowhere addressed in a theoretical literature whose foundational principles are derived from a smattering of normative theories of rights, liberal political theory, an ill-formulated left politics and more recently, occasionally, even a well-intentioned doctrine of entitlements. Kannabiran and Kannabiran(1991) have pointed to how the deadlock between kshatriya and dalit men caused by dalit agricultural labourer women dressing well could be solved only by a decision taken by men of both the communities. It was decided that women of either community would not be allowed to step into each others locations. The sexual assault on dalit women has been used as a common practice for under-mining the manhood of the caste. Some dalit male activists did argue that in passing derogatory remarks about upper caste girls (in incidents such as Chanduru) dalit men were only getting their own back. The emancipatory agenda of the dalit and womens movements will have to be sensitive to these issues and underline the complex interphase between caste and gender as structuring hierarchies in society. (Rege: 1998) The notion of the dalit women as more free and mobile has been taken up by feminists, the arguments have been that although dalit women are vocal and fight their husbands back, they are not under the ideology of husband worship but they face collective threat of physical harm from upper caste forces all the time. (Dietrich: 2006:58), also (Rege: 1998). Kumkum Sangari opines that patriarchies function and persist not only because they are embedded in the social stratification, division of labour, political structure, cultural practices but also because of consent by women. (Sangari: 1996:17) T.P-Vetschera in his study of Dalit women in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra points out to the element of consent by quoting the Dalit women themselves our men dont treat us as badly as animals, this means that they are good'. Women feel that suffering (is) an essential part of a womans life and nothing could be done about it. (P-Vetschera: 1996:246) T.P-Vetscheras study points out that the Mahars have experienced social mobility and in the region caste repression is not so bad. However the lives of Mahar women are full of daily struggles with burgeoning amount of work within and outside home. Their husbands dont help them and they have to cope with clichà ©s which configure them as lazy and having loose morals. (P-Vetschera: 1996:238) They are frequent victims of violence at the hands of their husbands. Some of them are victims of rape and sexual exploitation by high caste men. (P-Vetschera: 1996:239) Sanskritisation or reference group behavior has reined havoc on the freedom and position earlier enjoyed by dalit women in dalit community. (P-Vetschera: 1996:257). A dangerous mixture of tradition and modernity combines not to stop or minimize the exploitation of dalit women but only gives it a new avatar. The National Federation of dalit women (NFDW) Tracing the issues at stake in the post Mandal-Masjid phase of the womens movement, Rege has argued that the assertion of dalit womens voices in the 1990s brings up significant issues for the revisioning of feminist politics. (Rege: 1998). The revival of the womens movement in india came with the new womens movement in the 1970s.Dalit womens activists however, see this movement as a continuation of à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦the Hindu caste reform tradition.(Hardtmann: 2009:215) They consider the feminist theory developed by non-dalit women as unauthentic since it does not capture their reality. This comprehension gets clearly reflected in the 12- point agenda adopted by the NFDW and in several papers presented by the dalit women at the Maharashtra Dalit Womens Conference held in Pune in May 1995. Dalit women define the concept of dalit strictly in caste terms, refuting the claim of upper caste women to dalithood. Dalit women activists quote Phule and Ambedkar to invalidate the attempt to a non-dalit woman to don dalit identity. (Guru: 1995:2549) In the second half of the 1980s, dalit women came to express a need for a separate platform within the broader womens movement. In the 1987 the first dalit womens national meeting, dalit womens struggles and aspirations, was held in Bangalore. About 200 women from the south of India, but also from Delhi, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, and west Bengal are said to have attended. This was the beginning of a national network of dalit women which on the 11 august 1995 formed the NFDW. (Guru: 1995:2548-9) (Hardtmann: 2009:215) Three years later some women from NFDW took part in the formation of the national campaign on dalit human rights (NCDHR). (Hardtmann: 2009:216) It is important to note, however, that even if they have organized separately from dalit men, they tried to work in collaboration with them in the NCDHR. NCDHR was officially launched on World Human Rights Day, 10 December 1998; it links dozens of formerly isolated Dalit civil society organizations in fourteen Indian states. (Bob: 2007:179) The NFDW was instrumental in organizing dalit women for the world conference against racism held in Durban in 2001. Dalit activists argued that caste oppression was like race oppression because both were discriminations based on work and descent. This has been a matter of debate in India as well as globally now and the NFDW supported this claim. The World Conference against Racism held at Durban in 2001 and the process that led to the WCAR in India witnessed the freeing of caste from the confines of India into a larger international arena that held out greater possibilities for public debate, alliance building and more powerful resistance. (Kannabiran: 2006) This meant that not only did the dalit movement and questions related to SC become known internationally, but international focus, to a large extent, came to be placed on the situation of SC women. (Hardtmann: 2009:215) The manifesto of NFDW reads: NFDW endeavours to seek and build alliances with all other progressive and democratic movements and forces, in particular the womens movement and the wider Dalit movement at the national level. It thus aspires in a significant way to widen the democratic spaces while at the same time to create and preserve its identity and specificity. This framework will enable the Dalit womens movement to seek the roots of its oppression, the diversities, the nature of changes, if any, in specific regions and historical contexts and in particular, perceive the varied levels of consciousness that exist within it. Source, (Kannabiran: 2006) In the context of the caste and race debate The NFDW focused on the specific interpretation of civil and political rights, the recognition of productive contribution to society in terms of equality, dignity, fair wages and popular perception, the guarantee of security of person and freedom from the threat of sexual and physical assault, right to freedom of religion in a context where conversion for a better life resulted in denial of protections and the right to leadership a claim pitted against non-dalit men, dalit men and non dalit women. (Kannabiran: 2006) Drawing on the definition of racial discrimination in Article 1 of the CERD, the NFDW asserted in the Durban process that discrimination based on caste is indeed a specific form of racism, intertwined with gender since Dalit women face targeted violence from state actors and powerful members of dominant castes and community especially in the case of rape, mutilation and death; they face discrimination in the payment of unequal wages and gender violence at the workplace that includes fields [as agricultural labourers], on the streets [as manual scavengers and garbage pickers], in homes [as domestic workers], and through religious customà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦' (Kannabiran: 2006) The charter of rights of dalit women, formulated in 1999, and christened the Delhi Declaration sets out the guiding principles of dalit womens rights. It declares that dalits are one of the indigenous peoples of India, who as a people are sovereign, with a distinct identity, history, culture and religionSignificantly, dalit women in this charter declared solidarity in the common cause of womens rights in India and the world at large for the establishment of gender partnership in an egalitarian society. (Kannabiran: 2006) Theoretical approaches It is difficult to explain the dalit womens movement with the help of any one of the given theoretical perspectives, because of the particular context in which DWM is located and the specific historical trajectory it has followed; feminist movements in general have been theorized as new social movements (NSM), however the NSM perspective cannot explain DWM until some context based facts are taken in account. The DWM as separate from the dalit movement and the NFDW in particular is chronologically a new phenomena, the movement has been analysed in relation to the current world order. The womens movement, the dalit movement, the dalit womens movement and Feminism in India has to be situated within the particular history of colonialism, nationalism, modernity, nation-state, and presently the global world order with global institutions like the IMF, the World Bank and the United Nations. Feminism in India cannot be isolated from the broader framework of an unequal international world. (Chaudhuri: 2004: xv) Chaudhuri has argued that we should look at the Indian nation-states entry in modernity to understand the womens question in India. Indias entrance to modernity was facilitated by the colonial state and the very construction of modern bourgeois domesticity itself can be discerned in the nineteenth century social reform movement. (Chaudhuri: 2011: x) The social reform movement focused on the high caste-class women as subjects and as well as symbols for Indian tradition has been made clear by Vaid and Sangari (1989). In the context of DWM it becomes crucial to understand gender as a relational term (John 2004) (Hardtmann 2009). Johns question is that how then, should one look at the gendered relations between men and women from the exploited sections of societyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (Hardtmann: 2009:209) John has commented that the stereotype of associating women with the inside private sphere and men as a general category with the outside world of economic and political powerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦is very misleading (Hardtmann: 2009:209) because such power is in fact in the hands of a very few men, who are upper caste and Hindu, and middle or upper class, and who may constitute no more than 10 percent of the male population. (John 2004b:253) (Hardtmann: 2009:209) Arguing in the vein of John, Hartmann argues that the world bank, the Indian state, and international corporations agree that one solution to the economic problems of SCs in the Indian society is that poor women enter the private spheres as entrepreneurs. Her question is why poor women and poor men. The implicit assumption of these institutions is that dalit men are economically irresponsible in relation to their families. They are deprived of their so called male responsibility, and as a result they are devoid of constructing their masculinity associated with respect. Women are supported to enter the economic sphere, but when they on the other hand reach an economic position, like Mayawati, they are pictured as immoral and deprived of constructing a so-called femininity, valued and respected in Indian society. (Hardtmann: 2009:225) To invoke Johns pithy description, the thrifty and diligent women are pitted solely against their unruly men. (Chaudhuri: 2011: xxxix) Who are seen as bad subjects of modernity. (Chaudhuri: 2011: xxxix) Hartdmann suggests that to dalit men and women, oppression is not a question of ascribed gender identities in a heteronormative society, rather dalit men and women are not ascribed gender identities, but on the opposite prevented from constructing gender identities related to a neoliberal economic order in the Indian society, where traditional gender roles are clearly defined. (Hardtmann: 2009:225) The DWM traces its origins and ideology to Ambedkar. Ambedkars faith lay in the state as a redeemer of the injustices of the Indian societyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (Rao: 2003:24)

Reflection on Sending US Troops to Iraq

Reflection on Sending US Troops to Iraq Why The U.S. Should Leave Iraq. We have been in Iraq since President George Bush launched the invasion on Iraq in March 2003. Since then the war the U.S. has spent about seven hundred million dollars. While we still are in fighting to try to rebuild Iraq when we should be trying to save the U.S. from the down fall of our own economy since March of last year. From the National Priorities Project website I found this chart that shows the cost by year the money we are spending on the war in Iraq as well as Afghanistan. Another reason why staying in Iraq is just a bad idea, as John Weiss states, â€Å"We face a paradox in Iraq: the longer we stay, the stronger our enemies become. We cannot defeat either the insurgency or the civil war resulting from our invasion and occupation; in fact, both have grown stronger. Nor can we protect the Iraqis we came to save. A corrupt Iraqi government wastes the billions we have allocated for rebuilding, while the middle class flees to avoid the danger. The Pentagon trains Iraqis to fight, but we may well be training the army of our future enemies.†(Weiss) The longer we are there the more the people there will learn how to hurt the U.S. learn the ways to operate our own military forces. The longer we leave our troops the longer the people of Iraq have time to see what we do in the middle of war. The longer we stay the longer our nation stays unprotected, think about it we have all these troops across seas fighting when and if there is another terrorist attack we in a way have our shields down. It will take longer for us to get prepared or try to reassemble what just happened. Also I ask the question why are we sending more troops? Costing the nation more money, endangering the lives of more Americans? If we are doing what needs to be done and we are doing our job why send more? If they are fighting back harder than we are wasting our time trying to save a lost cause. Hurting our own nation to support a country just so oil prices will drop seems to be a little much some would say. Like Cenk Uygur says. â€Å"If were doing well, its because of the extra troops so we shouldnt pull them out. If were doing poorly, obviously we need more troops. Either way, we need more troops and need to stay in Iraq longer. This supposition is obvious nonsense, yet were taking it seriously.†( Uygur) On the other hand I guess you could say a reason why we should stay in Iraq is, by leaving our troops in Iraq and leave a few there set up a base to watch over operations of what is going on. In one article Marcus Fryman puts it, â€Å"You see, some people are just incapable of thinking long term. In the grand scheme of things, its better to keep US troops in Iraq just so theyll be ready to enter into combat operations in Iran. I mean, doesnt it seem pointless bringing them all the way back home only to deploy them back onto the streets of Tehran a month later?†(Fryman) Plus it could have the opportunity to set up more jobs in the future. Have you ever heard of the term PTSD (Posttraumatic Stress Disorder)? It is defined as a severe anxiety disorder can develop after exposure to any event which results in psychological trauma. This event may involve the threat of death to oneself or to someone else, or to ones own or someone elses physical, sexual, or psychological integrity, overwhelming the individuals psychological defenses. Symptoms include re-experiencing original trauma, by means of flashbacks or nightmares; avoidance of stimuli associated with the trauma; and increased arousal, such as difficulty falling or staying asleep, anger. Formal diagnostic criteria require that the symptoms last more than one month and cause significant impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning, meaning trying to fit back into society or trying to get back to work after experience PTSD. In a test given to 2525 soldiers returning from a year-long tour in Iraq, 124 (4.9%) reported injuries with loss of co nsciousness, 260 (10.3%) reported injuries with altered mental status, and 435 (17.2%) reported other injuries during deployment. Of those reporting loss of consciousness, 43.9% met criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), as compared with 27.3% of those reporting altered mental status, 16.2% with other injuries, and 9.1% with no injury. Soldiers with mild traumatic brain injury, primarily those who had loss of consciousness, were significantly more likely to report poor general health, missed workdays, medical visits, and a high number of somatic and post concussive symptoms than were soldiers with other injuries. However, after adjustment for PTSD and depression, mild traumatic brain injury was no longer significantly associated with these physical health outcomes or symptoms, except for headache. I found a story about a soldier call him Mr. K, a 38-year-old National Guard soldier, was assessed in an outpatient psychiatric clinic several months after he returned home fr om a 12-month deployment to the Sunni Triangle in Iraq, where he had his first exposure to combat in his 10 years of National Guard duty. Before deployment, he worked successfully as an automobile salesman, was a happily married father with children ages 10 and 12 years, and was socially outgoing with a large circle of friends and active in civic and church activities. While in Iraq, he had extensive combat exposure. His platoon was heavily shelled and was ambushed on many occasions, often resulting in death or injury to his buddies. He was a passenger on patrols and convoys in which roadside bombs destroyed vehicles and wounded or killed people with whom he had become close. He was aware that he had killed a number of enemy combatants, and he feared that he may also have been responsible for the deaths of civilian bystanders. He blamed himself for being unable to prevent the death of his best friend, who was shot by a sniper. When asked about the worst moment during his deployment, he readily stated that it occurred when he was unable to intercede, but only to watch helplessly, while a small group of Iraqi women and children were killed in the crossfire during a particularly bloody assault. Since returning home, he has been anxious, irritable, and on edge most of the time. He has become preoccupied with concerns about the personal safety of his family, keeping a loaded 9-mm pistol with him at all times and under his pillow at night. Sleep has been difficult, and when sleep occurs, it has often been interrupted by vivid nightmares during which he thrashes about, kicks his wife, or jumps out of bed to turn on the lights. His children complained that he has become so overprotective that he will not let them out of his sight. His wife reported that he has been emotionally distant since his return. She also believed that driving the car had become dangerous when he is a passenger because he has sometimes reached over suddenly to grab the steering wheel because he thinks he has seen a roadside bomb. His friends have wearied of inviting him to social gatherings because he has consistently turned down all invitations to get together. His employer, who has patiently supported him, has reported that his work has suffered dramatically, that he seems preoccupied with his own thoughts and irritable with customers, that he often makes mistakes, and that he has not functioned effectively at the automobile dealership where he was previously a top salesman. Mr. K acknowledged that he has changed since his deployment. He reported that he sometimes experiences strong surges of fear, panic, guilt, and despair and that at other times he has felt emotionally dead, unable to return the love and warmth of family and friends. Life has become a terrible burden. Although he has not been actively suicidal, he reported that he sometimes thinks everyone would be better off if he had not survived his tour in Iraq. Do we want more troops coming back with things like t his happening when they do not even what our help anymore? Is it worth it? I find myself asking the same question. With everything going on here in the United States I do not think we have the money and are running out of the resources to keep fighting a battle that just may be already lost. By pulling out bring most of our troops home back their families, saves lives, and makes a stronger nation. We can keep some troops there you know a small base let our presents be known. I think we need to keep an eye on them, but this fighting for lost cause just needs to end. Sources. Weiss, John. Why We Should Leave Iraq Now. History News Network. 10-9-06 . Uygur, Cenk. Three Reasons Why We Should Leave Iraq. Mo Rocca 180. 4-10-2008 . Cost of War. National Priorities Project . 2008 . Fryman, Marcus. 10 Reasons Why US Troops Should Stay in Iraq. Marcus Frymans 10 reasons why. 2-27-2009 . Mild Traumatic Brain Injury in U.S. Soldiers Returning from Iraq. The New England Journal of Medicine. January 31, 2008 . Friedman, Matthew. Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Among Military Returnees From Afghanistan and Iraq. Treatment in Psychiatry. 4, April 2006 .

Expanding Medicare to Include Prescription Drug Coverage :: essays papers

Expanding Medicare to Include Prescription Drug Coverage Introduction Throughout the past year of presidential campaigning, one of the top issues for both candidates has been that of whether or not there should be a prescription-drug benefit added to Medicare. Both George W. Bush and Al Gore have proposed a plan to expand Medicare to include full prescription-drug coverage for senior citizens receiving Medicare, at the expense of taxpayers. It is obvious why this issue has been such a priority for both candidates. Senior citizens vote at a much higher rate than other age groups. Both candidates know the importance of these senior citizen votes and believe that the proposal of adding a prescription-drug benefit is something that will appeal to a vast number of senior citizens. Both candidates have portrayed the issue as being very critical and as a serious problem that needs to be addressed. The question, however, is whether or not such drug coverage is a worthwhile project to undertake. Is the problem indeed serious enough to call for the type of reform that the candidates are proposing? Medicare is already a very costly program to keep up, and adding prescription-drug coverage would increase these costs even more. In order to fund this project, there will need to be a tax hike. Should taxpayers subsidize this prescription-drug benefit? Is there a good reason why this redistribution should take place? What are the benefits and costs of this proposal? These and other questions will be addressed in this paper as we examine the following topics: the need for senior citizens to have prescription-drug coverage, the political rhetoric involved with this issue, the projected shortfall in the budget of the Medicare program, and who really would benefit if a prescription-drug benefit was added to Medicare. Need for Prescription-Drug Coverage Many people argue that the lack of a prescription-drug benefit is the major shortcoming of the Medicare program. But are Medicare recipients really in need of such a benefit? According to a study done by the AARP Public Policy Institute, about 25.6 million, or 65 percent, of noninstitutionalized Medicare beneficiaries already receive some type of prescription-drug coverage, whether it is through employer-sponsored health plans or individually purchased private health policies. This leaves about 13.5 million Medicare beneficiaries who are without prescription-drug coverage.

The University Education Puzzle :: Personal Narrative, Autobiographical Essay

The University Education Puzzle My four years of education at Bemidji State University have been comparable to a huge jigsaw puzzle. When I first began, I needed to find my interest, my field of study. I was shopping for the picture puzzle of my preference. I found that there was no particular field that I was interested in so I just grabbed at something. I bought my puzzle without really caring what the picture would be of. I consulted my catalog and found that you could determine what courses to take without wasting valuable time, by determining which ones were required for the two fields most suitable to me. I chose limiting myself to English and Psychology. I now had an idea of what my puzzle would end up looking like. I compared the required curriculum for both majors and took classes needed for both majors, as well as liberal education classes. I was building the framework for my puzzle by grabbing the outside pieces first. I began to piece it together by what I knew would benefit me the most. In building thi s puzzle, I found that some classes would link with one piece, but would be more difficult to pair with another in order to make this border. Psychology was not working out beyond the intro courses to I stuck to classes offered for liberal education and English. It took my two and a half years to find out what my puzzle would really look like. I had stuck with English classes, mainly out of personal interest, and at that point I was nearly done with the liberal education requirements. My puzzleà ­s border was complete and there were even a few layers building unto it. So after consulting with my catalog frequently, much like a puzzleà ­s box with the complete picture illustrated upon it, I decided to go for filling in the rest of the picture. I worked very hard at eliminating classes down to when they would be offered and if I would have fulfilled any prerequisites or class level guidelines prior to taking it. In other words, I was separating the sky pieces from the landscape ones to determine whereabouts each piece would need to be placed in order to accomplish the puzzle. I found that the recommended guidelines suggested having many courses, most of which I had not yet taken, finished at the end of a freshmen and sophomore level.

Essay --

Introduction: The Basis for Nuclear Power The technological and scientific undertaking on the discovery of actinides such as uranium, plutonium, and neptunium cannot be ignored. It led, for example to the Manhattan Project of 1945; a Cold War arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union; and more recently, the active development of nuclear weapons by proliferating states, such as North Korea and Iran1-2. Although the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) in 1970 called for peaceful applications of nuclear technology, including technological by-products, derived from nuclear weapons3, environmental problems remain a concern as a byproduct of this age . In accordance to the NPT, efforts to recycle weapons-grade material, as a new energy source, has become an attractive alterative for power generation of the world’s electrical power supply via fuel reactors for two reasons. First, it can curb cost and foreign dependency of oil, by allowing the United States to invest their domestic policies on further development of their nuclear reactors programs. For instance, by August 2000, the average price paid by U.S. refineries for a barrel of oil had risen from $10 to $30 as defined by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)4. Second, nuclear power can take the place of burning fossil fuels by reducing carbon dioxide emission thereby addressing the concern of the greenhouse effect4. Even though nuclear power, accounts for 13-14% worldwide energy5, if nuclear fuel can produce electricity more cheaply compared to coal, gas, or oil, then the desire to be independent of international trade for energy supplies is indeed worthwhile. In sum, nuclear power is a remarkable solution for peaceful uses of energy especially i... ... (CTR) program: the consolidation and security of loose nukes from the former Soviet Union in the nuclear arsenal stockpile21, should also extend to the containment and security of new technologies, such as UOFs at designated nuclear engineering facilities in the United States. As a result, this will help inflate compliance to the NPT, and more importantly, reduce the likelihood of theft from threatening parties. Conclusion Uranyl organic frameworks, as a new fuel alternative is indeed an exciting and promising technology that can mitigate the nuclear waste problem in the United States. Even though UOFs introduce new issues in global security via nuclear proliferation and nonproliferation, the current and proposed safeguards of UOFs will help strengthen the United States posture in the international community by their continual adherence and transparency to the NPT. Essay -- Introduction: The Basis for Nuclear Power The technological and scientific undertaking on the discovery of actinides such as uranium, plutonium, and neptunium cannot be ignored. It led, for example to the Manhattan Project of 1945; a Cold War arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union; and more recently, the active development of nuclear weapons by proliferating states, such as North Korea and Iran1-2. Although the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) in 1970 called for peaceful applications of nuclear technology, including technological by-products, derived from nuclear weapons3, environmental problems remain a concern as a byproduct of this age . In accordance to the NPT, efforts to recycle weapons-grade material, as a new energy source, has become an attractive alterative for power generation of the world’s electrical power supply via fuel reactors for two reasons. First, it can curb cost and foreign dependency of oil, by allowing the United States to invest their domestic policies on further development of their nuclear reactors programs. For instance, by August 2000, the average price paid by U.S. refineries for a barrel of oil had risen from $10 to $30 as defined by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)4. Second, nuclear power can take the place of burning fossil fuels by reducing carbon dioxide emission thereby addressing the concern of the greenhouse effect4. Even though nuclear power, accounts for 13-14% worldwide energy5, if nuclear fuel can produce electricity more cheaply compared to coal, gas, or oil, then the desire to be independent of international trade for energy supplies is indeed worthwhile. In sum, nuclear power is a remarkable solution for peaceful uses of energy especially i... ... (CTR) program: the consolidation and security of loose nukes from the former Soviet Union in the nuclear arsenal stockpile21, should also extend to the containment and security of new technologies, such as UOFs at designated nuclear engineering facilities in the United States. As a result, this will help inflate compliance to the NPT, and more importantly, reduce the likelihood of theft from threatening parties. Conclusion Uranyl organic frameworks, as a new fuel alternative is indeed an exciting and promising technology that can mitigate the nuclear waste problem in the United States. Even though UOFs introduce new issues in global security via nuclear proliferation and nonproliferation, the current and proposed safeguards of UOFs will help strengthen the United States posture in the international community by their continual adherence and transparency to the NPT.

Internet Pornography: Solving Elusive Problem Essay

No one can deny the immeasurable benefits of the internet to the society as a whole. It is a limitless source of information that offers an array of helpful, constructive and educational material for people of all ages. However, like anything else, it does not come with benefits alone. Internet is highly susceptible to bring harm to users in general, and children and minors in particular, through its free and immense exposure to pornography. However small a content of the Internet on the whole this maybe, it is bound to bring a greater harm to the young minds as well as adult, than the benefits from the largely available advantageous information. This paper will examine the extent of this harm with support of latest research and literature, and the latest methods from a state and local level that are being used to combat the pervasiveness and easy access to the internet porn. Body of Paper The internet was originally built by the US military as a means of nuclear-assault-proof communication. The universities soon saw the value of a worldwide communication network and researchers from across the world began to distribute their work with contemporaries. But hackers began to break into the system so that eventually, for a small fee, it was decided to launch the network to all comers. Soon it was spread throughout the world at increasingly less cost and effort. The flow of information, knowledge and experiences thus shared was immense and of great value and benefit. However the information and content so readily available at this network has not necessarily been educational and enlightening. There is material sexually explicit in nature including pornography of all genders including children. The ironic part is that all such material is available freely without ant sort of restriction, in just a matter of keyboard punches. The internet users have a great number of children and minors who supposedly access to the internet for research and educational purposes. These children are conveniently exposed to such explicit materials, which harm their young minds and caste detrimental effects on their psychology. According to a study conducted by London School of Economics in year 2004, the children of age even as less as nine, are falling victims to the negative face of Internet every time they use it. The even more problematic element is the ignorance of parents of the risks associated with such a damaging issue. This study surveyed 1,100 children of ages between nine and nineteen and found that almost sixty percent of these regular Internet users frequently fell prey to the hurtful explicit material of pornography. Below are the key findings of this survey: ? â€Å"Nearly six in 10 have come into contact with online pornography. ? 38 per cent have seen a pornographic popup advert while doing something else. ? 36 per cent have accidentally found a pornographic website. ? 25 per cent have received pornographic junk mail by email or text. 10 per cent have visited a pornographic website on purpose. † (The Evening Standard, 2004, Pg. 6) In an article by Azy Barak and William A. Fisher (2001), the widespread porn on the internet and its progressive trend has been pointed out. â€Å"Current reports indicate variously that the online pornography industry will gross $366 million by 2001 (Spenger, 1999) or that it already grosses in excess of $1 billion (â€Å"Blue Money,† 1999), and reports indicate that a spectacular 69% of all e-commerce involves the purchase of sexual materials (â€Å"Blue Money,† 1999). Other sources report that 15% of all Internet users accessed one of the top five â€Å"Adult† websites in a recent month (Cooper et al, 1999), that sex is the most frequently searched topic on the Internet (Freeman-Longo & Blanchard, 1998), and that all of the top eight word searches on the Internet involve pornography (Sparrow & Griffiths, 1997). † (Barak and Fisher (2001)) The social and psychological effects of such ever more and cheaply accessible pornography on the minds of individuals, both adult and children is devastating. Such explicit images and videos contaminate the mentality and psyche leading towards appalling actions and exploitations. After engaging into extensive viewing of pornography, people get even more provoked and feel an even more intense need for sex. In order to satisfy such needs, people do incline towards forceful attempts, with both opposite genders and the same, even with children. According to an estimate, the attempts and incidents of rape in the United States rose substantially during 1995 to 1999. â€Å"This time interval is by all accounts a period of exponential growth in the availability and use of all forms of Internet sexually explicit materials (Cheney, 2000; Elmer-Dewitt, 1995; Freeman-Longo, 2000; Harmon & Boeringer, 1996; Mehta & Plaza, 1998; Rimm, 1995; Wysocki, 1998). † (Barak and Fisher (2001))