Economic Inequality and African American Kids Essay

Throughout the short story â€Å"The Lesson,† Toni Cade Bambara uses a first person writing style, as well as specific characters to emphasize her ideas, and further prove her point. Bambara illustrates what it is like for African American kids growing up, and the overall issue of class, and inequality that African Americans are still facing today. The author successfully states her claim, and by writing in first person, through the character Sylvia, the reader can make a more in depth analysis of the thoughts, behaviors, and interactions of inner city African American kids. Sylvia, the narrator in this story, reveals the true nature of a kid growing up. Sylvia is often found going off topic, making grammar and spelling errors, and complaining with inappropriate language. Within the first paragraph the reader finds Sylvia complaining and swearing about her new neighbor, Miss Moore. Sylvia even goes of topic enough to compare Miss Moore to a garbage man. When describing the setting in the second paragraph, Sylvia states that it is â€Å"puredee hot. † It is obvious that she made a grammatical error, in which she meant â€Å"pretty hot. † Though it may seem strange for grammar errors, and irrelevant stories being told, it further emphasizes that Sylvia is an ordinary inner city kid, with a lack of discipline, and education. Miss Moore decides to have a teaching moment with the kids about the social inequality and uneven distribution of wealth. She proclaims to the kids that the live in poverty, and that they are in the slums of society. Sylvia in her own thoughts does not agree with Miss Moore’s statement. So Miss Moore decides to take Sylvia and several of her friends to a toy store further out of town. When the children enter the store, they quickly find out that everything is out of their price range, so they move onto another store. This is when more is revealed about Sylvia. When she reaches the entrance of the next toy store, she hesitates to go in. It’s at this time she feels shy and shameful about going into this toy store. This is considered the turning point in the story, in which Sylvia is beginning to realize that she does live in poverty, and that many others are more fortunate than she is. Though she knows she has the right to enter the toy store, she feels as if she doesn’t belong here, and she does not feel welcomed. But in the last sentence in the story, Sylvia states â€Å"But ain’t nobody gunna beat me at nothing. † This is Sylvia’s claim that she will not stay in the lower end society, and that she is not going to leapt her class be a barrier. This is exactly â€Å"The Lesson† that Miss Moore is trying to teach. She is suggesting that just because there is an equality of race, does not mean that there is an equality of class. And though it may seem that â€Å"The Lesson† is directed towards Sylvia and the other children, the real lesson is being direct towards the audience. This is a successful attempt by the author to make greater awareness of uneven distribution of social classes. In conclusion, Sylvia is depicted as a young undereducated African American who is exposed to a whole other spectrum of the social ladder. When this occurs she feels unwelcome in this higher end society, and is shy and shameful. It is at this time she realizes that she does live in poverty, and that she will not be held back because of it. Toni Bambara used the character Sylvia to spread her ideas about the differences found in social classes. Though it may have seemed as if Sylvia was the one receiving â€Å"The Lesson,† the audience is actually the one being taught.

Farmer Suicides and Agrarian Distress

FC PROJECT- SEM II FARMERS’ SUICIDES AND AGRARIAN DISTRESS 1988: â€Å"The peasants have started to flex the political muscles that their economic betterment has given them †¦ They have acquired the capacity to launch the kind of sustained struggle they have. It is going to be difficult to [†¦ ] contain them†¦ because they command the vote banks in the countryside to which every party seeks access†¦ A new specter of peasant power is likely to haunt India in coming years. † Editorial in Times of India, Feb 3 1988, following farmer agitations for higher prices and subsidies in Western Uttar Pradesh 005: â€Å"Agriculture [in India today] is an economic residue that generously accommodates non-achievers resigned to a life of sad satisfaction. The villager is as bloodless as the rural economy is lifeless. From rich to poor, the trend is to leave the village†¦ † Dipankar Gupta, The Vanishing Village 2007: â€Å"Rates of growth of agriculture in the last decade have been poor and are a major cause of rural distress. Farming is increasingly becoming an unviable activity. † Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India Introduction India is primarily an agricultural country. More than 60% of its population directly or indirectly depends on agriculture. Agriculture accounts for approximately 33% of India’s GDP. Agriculture in India is often imputed to ‘gambling with monsoon’. Farmers are heavily dependent on the monsoons for their harvest. If the monsoons fail, they leave the farmer under a heap of debt with no harvest, their only source of income. Unable to bear the heavy burden of debt, they see suicide as the de2003-2008. According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), there have been nearly 2 lakh farmer suicides since 1997. However, indebtedness is not the only reason for suicides. The suicides are a manifestation of the growing agrarian distress in India. It is clear from the current crisis, that the agrarian interest is marginalized in the national policy agenda today. Agrarian Crisis Falling productivity: Over the years the economy of India had undergone a structural transformation due to which the share of agriculture has been declining. However the workforce employed in agriculture hasn’t decreased. Accordingly, in 2004-05, the share of agriculture in GDP was 20. %, and yet the workforce employed in agriculture was still 56. 5%. This structural dissimilarity means that there is a large difference in the productivity of workers in agriculture and in non-agriculture occupations, productivity of workers in agriculture being one fifth of those in non-agriculture. Marginalization of peasantry: This high burden of labour force has, in addition, been falling on a slowly contracting cultivable land area. Between 1960 and 2003, the number of holdings doubled from 51 million to 101 million, while the area operated declined from 133 million hectares to 108 million hectares. This has led to a sharp decline in the average size of the holding, leading to increasing number of small and marginal farmers. Hence, the proportion of marginal landholders has increased from 39. 1% in 1960-61 to 71% in 2003, and among them they only operate 22. 6% of the land. This continuing skewed pattern of land ownership reflects the lack of serious land reforms. Increasing marginalization forces the farmers into sharecropping and renting additional land. This leads to difficulties like insecurity of lease, increasing costs and inadequate returns from production, and difficulties in accessing credit. Declining growth rates: Growth rates of agriculture have been on the decline. The growth rate by GDP from agriculture fell from 3. 08% during 1980-81 to 1990-91, to 2. 57% during 1992-93 to 2005-06. This included a dip to 1. 3% in 1999-2000 and even a negative growth of -2% in 2000-2001. Declining profitability of agriculture: The ratio of total prices received by the agricultural sector to the total prices paid by it to non-agricultural sectors is one of the important economic indicators to test whether agricultural sector as a whole has either gained or lost in the process of economic growth. Although the reforms in the 90s with policies such as devaluation of currency were expected to benefit agriculture and improve its relative terms of trade (ToT), this has not really been sustained. The barter and income ToT became favourable to agriculture from 1984-85 until 1996-97, but thereafter they more or less stagnated Likewise, the Input-Output Price Parity (computed by comparing the index of prices paid for agricultural inputs with the index of prices received for the outputs, has since 1994-95 remained lower than one hundred, indicating declining profitability of agriculture (Government Of India, 2008). Erosion of real incomes of farmers: When the prices received by the farmers for their crops are compared with the prices they pay for consumer goods (i. e. , Consumer Price Index for Agricultural Labour – CPIAL), it is observed that farmers are facing an erosion of real incomes because the growth in aggregate price index for consumer goods has been higher than the growth in price index for agricultural commodities (Govt. of AP 2007). This has resulted in declining relative living standards of farmers, particularly for small and marginal farmers whose incomes are clearly inadequate to meet consumption expenditure. Slowdown of exports: Exports flattened out after 1997 following the East Asian Crisis and the consequent large deceleration in growth of international trade in agriculture. Simultaneously, international prices started falling for most commodities, making Indian exports uncompetitive. Cheap imports have been on the rise with the removal of quantitative restrictions on agriculture by 2000. Changing cropping patterns: With the opening-up of the economy, expectations of export opportunities and higher world prices for agricultural commodities led many farmers to move into cash crops, away from traditional subsistence crops. Devaluation of the rupee made Indian exports cheaper and hence attractive on the world market, and further encouraged cultivation of cash crops. On aggregate, the total area of the country’s farmland growing traditional grains declined by 18% in the decade after 1990-91, whereas areas growing non-food crops of cotton and sugarcane increased by 25% and 10% respectively. Declining irrigation: Ironically, with a shift in cropping patterns towards more water intensive cash crops, the aggregate net irrigated area remained stagnant (GoI 2007). State governments have grossly neglected investment in surface irrigation infrastructure. Consequently there has been an increase in private investment in exploiting ground-water sources (mainly bore wells), which have been growing relative to canal and tank irrigation. This has led to overexploitation of ground water and a falling water table, forcing farmers to deepen their wells every few years, which is expensive. Disappearing institutions: The gradual weakening of state-support has also lead to dormancy of several state-run corporations, which used to provide support to the small-scale farmer. In AP, among these were the AP State Agro Development Corporation (APSADC) which manufactured and distributed agricultural machinery, tools and inputs at subsidized rates, and AP State Seeds Development Corporation (APSSDC) which produced its own seed, sold it. Agricultural Extension Service was also downsized. Credit squeeze The farmers perhaps most acutely feel the withdrawal of the state in the decline in institutional credit support. With agriculture becoming increasingly commercialized and costs of cultivation rising, most farmers look for external sources of credit. Institutional credit comes in the form of loans from commercial, co-operative, and regional rural banks. The nationalization of main banks in 1969 required them to prioritize lending to agriculture, with tight interest-rate controls. But this came to an abrupt end with the Narasimham Committee on Banking Reforms post-1991. Through various redefinitions of what constituted priority lending, the committee slowly squeezed credit lines to farmers. In AP the proportion of bank lending to agriculture fell from 43% in 1998 to 26. 7% in 2003, covering only one-third of the credit needs of the farmers. Even mandates of special lending to SCs, STs and very small farmers were revoked to pursue commercial viability and aggressive loan recovery. Tenant cultivators with insufficient titles are altogether denied access to formal credit. With this drying up of formal credit, the farmers are left with no choice than to depend on ‘informal’ sources for credit. An NSSO survey in 2004 revealed that 68. 6% of the total loans taken by farmers in AP are from the informal credit market. This credit typically comes at usurious interest rates (anything between 36% and 100% compound), and worse, from the same entrepreneur who is selling the farmer the seeds and fertilizers. This stranglehold of the trader-moneylender has become the root of much exploitation and misery. Credit from these agents is almost never in cash form. It is inputs (his own brand of seeds, fertilizers) issued against the future output whose price, invariably low and exploitative, is fixed by the agent himself. Farmer suicides Causes and Statistics The drying up of institutional credit and exploitative informal credit traps in the face of rising costs and declining profitability have led to pervasive indebtedness among farmers. The Situation Assessment Survey of Farmers in the 59th round of NSS in 2003 revealed that nearly half the farmers in the country were indebted. The incidence was higher in states with input-intensive agriculture like Punjab, Haryana, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Karnataka, and was highest at 82% in Andhra Pradesh (GoI 2007). The cotton belt is where the suicides are taking place on a very, very large scale. It is the suicide belt of India. The share of the Big 5 States or ‘suicide belt’ in 2008 — Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh — remained very high at 10,797, or 66. 6 per cent of the total farm suicides in the country. According to a study by the government of Maharashtra, almost 6 in 10 of those who kill themselves had debts between $110 and $550. Indebtedness, along with the constellation of input and output risks elaborated above has been putting the farmer under sustained duress. A tragic manifestation of this has been the phenomenon of suicides among desperate farmers. Since 1995, farmer suicides have been reported regularly from Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Kerala, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Delhi, Goa and Sikkim. A Durkheimian study of the suicides concludes that the marginalization of the rural sector in the national policy agenda which prioritizes rapid economic growth is leaving rural producers with a feeling of socio-economic estrangement from the community, and that the suicides were an effect of individualization of this estrangement. After Suicide Farms are confiscated due to inability to pay back high interest loans. Corrupt moneylenders harass the families. Widows are burdened with the new responsibility as the sole breadwinner. Children sometimes lose both parents to suicide, forcing their education to a alt, especially if they have to work in order to provide for their needs. Economic packages are provided to the farmers. But due to corruption the help never reaches the family. Conclusion and Recommendations: All over the world the impact of an industrial approach to boosting crop yields has stripped many small farmers of their self-sufficiency and thrown them into despair. A few r ecommendations are as follows: ?Input costs should be reduced. ?Markets must be made available for agricultural produce. ?A good market price must be provided for agricultural products. For farmers, credit should be made available at low interest rates. ?The extension system should be revived to solve problems in the field. ?There should be a proper system to address the issue of water scarcity. ?Adequate water for irrigation should be provided. ?Conserve Agro Bio -Diversity in Gene and Seed banks. ?Increase budget outlay for Agriculture in every Five Year plan of the Government of India. ?Agricultural land should not be given to SEZ. ?The use of Genetically Modified Seeds should be stopped and organic agricultural practices encouraged. Farmers' Rights law to be implemented immediately. ?Investments should be made to restore soil health. 2007: â€Å"The problem cannot be solved through economic packages alone. What is needed is social and spiritual interventions so that the farmers realize that suicide is not the way out†¦ they should understand that they need to develop self confidence. The future generation should have the mental strength to face life's challenges. † Amma REFERENCES http://agrariancrisis. in/ http://wikipedia. org/ http://www. councilforresponsiblegenetics. org/

African American Retribution

As she looked outside to see what all the commotion was about, invaders were raiding her village slaughtering and kidnapping her countrymen and women in front of her eyes (Horton Horton, 2005, p. 13). By the end of the raid her father, uncle, and other relatives were dead and she and her mother became prisoners Of war. Her apprehender were people from her own country, warrior slaves who invade rival villages and seized captives to trade to European slave dealers in return for fine fabrics, wines, and weapons (Horton Horton, 2005, p. 13). Once traded she was branded with her masters logo and shipped like cargo on vessels under intolerable conditions (Horton Horton, 2005, p. 13).Such events occurred millions of times in Africa, resulting in millions of Africans being kidnapped from their homeland and relatives, and then sold and traded like cattle to foreigners. Anne Barrow, Joel Lang, and Jenifer Frank, veteran ruinations for The Hartford Currant, indicate that European ships transported nearly all the estimated 1 1. 5 million Africans sold over three centuries into New World slavery, including the approximately 645,000 sent to the American colonies (Barrow, Lang, Frank 2005, p. 5). African slaves were brought to America in 1 619 to help with the production of lucrative crops. In the article Slavery in America, it is written that In the early 17th century, European settlers in North America turned to African slaves as a cheaper, more plentiful labor source than indentured servants ( 2011 By 750, nearly a quarter million African slaves populated the mainland colonies of British North America, while 30,000 were held in the southern colonies (Horton Horton, 2005, p. 41).In the article Slavery in America, it is reported that Slavery was practiced throughout the American colonies in the 17th and 18th centuries, and African-American slaves helped build the economic foundations of the nevus nation (Slavery in America, 2011). The African Americans who were enslaved by America deserve reparation. First they deserve reparation because America was built by slavery. African Americans were the primary force in the production of lucrative crops. Secondly, they deserve reparation because of all the horrific experiences they had to endure.Millions of Africans were kidnapped from their homes and land, tortured, brutalized and treated as less than human. Finally, they deserve reparation because other races of people who America enslaved and mistreated receive compensation. Native Americans were enslaved and mistreated to a lesser degree than African Americans and they receive reparation. Slavery played an extremely important role in the construction of the United States. James Oliver Horton, Professor of American Studies and History at George Washington university, and Lois E.Horton, Professor of History at George Mason University, indicated that The slave trade and the products created by slaves labor, particularly cotton, provided the basis for Americas wealth as a nation, underwriting the countrys industrial revolution and enabling it to project its power into the rest of the world (Horton Horton, 2005, p. 7). Once the nation started expanding westward, so did slavery increasing the cotton kingdoms of Mississippi, Texas, Alabama, andLouisiana. These states soon became the center of importance for American Slavery (Fonder, 2005). Eric Fonder, a winner of the Bancroft Prize and Francis Parka Prize, and Professor of History at Columbia University and a member of the American Academy of Arts confirmed that as a result of the increase in African American slaves Cotton production grew from fewer than three thousand bales in 1790 to nearly five million bales on the eve of the Civil War.By then, cotton Was by far the most important export Of the United States (Fonder, 2005 p. 11). Many of the African American slaves in South Carolina used the knowledge that they brought from the rice growing regions of central Africa, to grow rice in the American colonies for their own consumption. Seeing that it was another cash crop, European settlers began to adopt the process and demand the production of it on a large scale (Horton Horton, 2005).Authors James Horton and Lois Horton noted Rice became so critical to South Carolina that slaves from rice growing regions of Africa were especially prized. Some traders, realizing the marketing advantage, claimed to be able to supply Africans from what was advertised as he Rice Coast in return for premium prices. (Horton Horton, p. 33) Not only did African Americans helped build America by being the main producers of lucrative crops. They also helped in the construction of America by changing the ways Americans lived their everyday lives.Authors James Horton and Lois Horton confirm, The cultural traditions, skills, and sensibilities that Africans brought with them helped shape the lives of all Americans (2005). The Africans in South Carolina who worked in the rice fields brought the agricultural methods with them that were used in their mom land. They created the large round shallow-sided reed winnowing baskets used in the rice fields of their country. In Virginia the slaves who were ironworker forged the axes and hoes that were used on local farms (Horton Horton, 2005).African Americans also greatly influenced American cuisine Author James Horton and Lois Horton detailed that Slave cooks introduced African cooking methods and tastes to the American diet, often emphasizing corn in the form Of bread or hoecake, mush, hominy, and roasted ears, stews, fried meat, rice, yams, fruits, and groundnuts were moon in Afr ican diets, and when available were enjoyed by African Americans as well. Much of what has become identified as southern cuisine in America had its origins in kitchens presided over by African American cooks. Horton Horton, 2005, p. 42) African American slaves deserve reparation because they suffered horrendous circumstances. The way they were treated is shameful. From the time they were abducted and sold, the conditions they were forced to live under were inhumane. Authors Anne Barrow, Joel Lang, and Jenifer Frank reported the cruelty, Upon purchase in Africa, slaves routinely were branded. Their owners mark might be sketched with a hot iron ( 2005, p. 100). Additionally conditions which the captured Africans had to endure once they were sold and transported to American were horrific. In a few accounts, slaves documented or were documented telling their horrifying experience of the middle passage to America. Aloud Quinoa an educated African American slave who bought his freedom was the first American slave to write an autobiography about his experience on the middle passage to America: The stench of the hold while we were on the coast was so intolerably toothsome, that it was dangerous to remain there for any time.The closeness of the place, and the heat of the climate, added to the number in the ship, which was so crowded that each had scarcely room to turn himself, almost suffocated us. (Horton Horton, 2005, p. 22) Many Africans died on the voyage back to America. Captains of the ship routinely ordered the sick slaves to be thrown overboard out of fear that they may contaminate the whole cargo. In some instances, the captain would tie a slave to a chair and throw him/her overboard and be said to regret losing the chair (Barrow, Lang, Frank 2005).Veteran journalist for The Hartford Currant Barrow, Lang, Frank detailed incidences of actual cannibalism on a slave ship reported in the New-York Gazette in May 1 766: The crew and slave cargo of a sloop bound for North Carolina began to starve after the ship lost its sails and drifted for six weeks. In want of provisions, they were put to the necessity of eating one of the dead negro children, which so exasperated the Negroes on board that they fell on the crew. (Barrow, Lang, ; Frank 2005, p. 107) The environments that African slaves had to live in once they made it toAmerica were appalling. It is reported that, They were housed in unheated attics and basements, in outbuildings and barns. They often slept on the floor, wrapped in coarse blankets. They lived under a harsh system of black codes that controlled their education, and limited their social contacts. (Barrow, Lang, Frank 2005, p. 63) The natural tendency of slavery was to convert the master into tyrant, and the slave into a victim of tyranny (Bordering, 2005, p. 14). In any incident in which a slave would threaten his/her master, the punishment would be severe Versus M.Bordering, writer for New York Times, Smithsonian, American Heritage, Atlantic Monthly, and Readers Digest and author of Killing the White Mans Indian and My Mothers Ghost detailed the punishment of a slave who did such a thing: For a slave to lift his hand against the sacred temple of a white mans body/ even in in self-defense, was an act of rebellion. Slaves from surrounding plantations were ordered to witness his punishment for their moral improvement. One hundred lashes were laid on by a local blacksmith, fifty lashes at a time.Bleeding and faint, the victim was then held p against the whipping post and his right ear fastened to it with a tack. The blacksmith then sliced the ear off with a knife, to the sound of cheers from the crowd. (Bordering, 2005, p. 1 2) Slave masters had to develop different strategies to punish their slaves and in some situations the punishment did not fit the crime. Since slaves could not be fired, fined or jailed without losing the value of their work the slave owners had to turn to physical punishment as a resort (Bordering, 2005, p. 23). Versus M. Bordering detailed a few incidents in which a slave was being disobedient and needed to be punished In the late 1 sass William Dunbar, a sophisticated Mississippi settler condemned two runaways to five hundred lashes each, spaced out over time, and to carry a chain ; log fix to the ankle. In 1 736 a Methodist minister heard a South Carolina slave owner recommend that one first nail up a Negro by the ears, then ordered him to be whipped in the severest manner, and then to have scalding water thrown over him. (Bordering, 2005, p. 4) Finally African Americans deserve reparation because other ethnicity groups who were mistreated receive reparation what is done for one group should e done for the other. Native Americans were mistreated by the united States, unlike African Americans they receive reparation. Until the sasss Native Americans were a significant proportion of slave labor on southern plantations working alongside African Americans (Purdue, 2009). The Colonists, however, feared an uprising between the two groups, so they worked to divide them by employing Indians as slave catchers and terrifying African slaves with the tales of Indian savagery (Purdue, 2009).Eventually Native Americans were freed from slavery and granted their own and and other forms of reparation in America. The Cherokee Nation signed a treaty with the United States at the end of the civil war granting the ex-slaves, or Freedmen, all the rights of Native Cherokees (Hirsch, 2009, pig. 118). Mark Hirsch stated in the book Indivisible Thousands of former slaves received citizenship in the Cherokee Nation after the Civil War. These citizen Freedman enjoyed the right to farm tribal lands as well as vote in tribal elections and hold tribal office. Ender the Treaty of 1866, Freedman who resided in Cherokee territory before the war, and who remained there in 866, were to be considered citizens. Cherokee Freedmen living outside the nation were granted six months to return to claim tribal citizenship (Hirsch, 2009, pig. 118). Some Southern States began to provide schools for Native Americans. In the sasss an Indian school system was established for the Mississippi Choctaws, Alabama-Cutthroats, and the South Carolina Castaways (Purdue, 2009, pig. 26).Richard Leister a Washington Correspondent stated in his article Native Americans regain land The United States Government has promised to return more than 3,000 sq km of desert land to a Native American tribe. The government had promised in 1 882 that native people in Utah would own the area for all time (Leister, 2000). Some feel African Americans are not entitled to reparation because they are not native to American. However, African Americans were forced from their homeland, mistreated, slaughtered, and enslaved on an extremely larger scale than Native Americans. African Americans were even enslaved by Native Americans.Michael Couscous stated in his Article Native American Slavery By the 19th century, many Native American peoples, most famously the Cherokees, embraced racial slavery and began to own African American slaves (Couscous, 2007). Others feel that African Americans were better off in the United States than they were in Africa so they do not deserve reparation. This is simply not true. In their homeland, they were free people, free to pursue their traditional lifestyle established centuries before. In America, they Were tortured, and forced to work countless hours without pay just so this country can be what it is today.Authors Anne Barrow, Joel Lang, and Jenifer Frank reported that Slaves became so depressed they had to be forced to exercise and sometimes even to eat (2005, pig. 107). In conclusion African Americans deserve reparation for what America did to them. First they deserve reparation because America was built by slavery. African Americans helped bulled this country in many ways. Secondly, they deserve reparation because of all the horrific experiences they had to endure. African American were enslaved and mistreated for hundreds of years in America. Lastly, they mistreated receive compensation.If one group receives reparation so should the other. The great late Martin Luther King stirred the hearts of Americans lack and white, with his hope for America. Like Martin Luther King have a dream. I have a dream that one day American will stand up and take responsibility for all the hundreds of years that millions of African Americans were slaughtered tortured and enslaved. I have a dream.

Budgettting Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Budgettting - Assignment Example That is; the key members involved in the project did estimate the costs related to materials, equipments, utilities, and resources needed to perform the required to complete the Germantown tree planting activity. The cost estimates of this project was done basing on a vendor bid analysis, where the receptive bids from skilled and qualified vendors provided the baseline cost estimate for every particular component integrated with the budget. Nevertheless, these costs estimate will be refined during the course of the project to include any additional details as it becomes available. The direct costs include the costs that are related to the project. These costs include cost incurred while buying tree seedling, supplies such as fertilizers and planting shovels. These costs account to more than a half of the budget spending. Indirect costs include costs that enable successful completion of the project. For instance, the personnel will require utilities such as water during the event. The tree planting exercise will call upon the outsiders and they will be given refreshments hence adding to the cost of the project. The cost associated with the promotion and advertising will be indirect costs to the project. In the variable costs changes with the level of activity being undertaken, one of the variable costs is the cost of the personnel. The more personnel turn for the activity, the higher the costs that will be incurred during the event. Similarly, the more the costs of food will tend to be higher hence making the cost of the budget to be higher. In such a program, the theme touches on a global phenomenal: Climate change. If the organization applied for grants, the application has a higher chance of being successful. Some of the organization that provides likelihood for sponsoring the project includes, United Nations Environmental Program, World Forest Service, Food and Agriculture

Materials science Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Materials science - Assignment Example The development of bullet proof glass remains considered as an achievement of material science in the hope of offering a solution to the concern of safety in its usage. Achieving a product that would allow the transparent qualities of glass and still offer protection from lethal products such as bullets was a milestone achievement. Such is observed as an infusion of the bullet being a technology perceived under the same field of material science (Hsieh & U.S. Army Research Laboratory, 2004). Ballistic glass involves the infusion of two sets of materials that do not include the renown Kevlar used in the generation of bullet proof vest. The technology combines thermoplastics with the soft glass to allow a thick layer of ballistic panels. The aforementioned incorporation of different approaches ensures that the glass panes are ballistic and durable. The ballistic glass has found critical applications in banking and transit sectors. The glass is used in developing the teller stations in banking halls. It is, also used in developing armored vehicles, which aim to protect the users while driving in volatile locations. Additionally, the glass is used for protection of the VIP dais during the engagement of public events (Johnson, 2006). Hsieh, A. J., & U.S. Army Research Laboratory. (2004). The effects of PMMA on ballistic impact performance of hybrid hard/ductile all-plastic- and glass-plastic-based composites. Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD: Army Research Laboratory. Johnson, G. R., Hertel, E. S. J., Grady, D. E., Holmquist, T. J., Lopatin, C. M. Sandia National Laboratories., United States. (2006). High strain rate properties and constitutive modeling of glass. Washington, D.C: United States. Dept. of

Usefulness of the annual report for investment decision making Essay

Usefulness of the annual report for investment decision making purposes - Essay Example Certain investors have gained knowledge in accountancy and they use the figures provided in annual reports before coming up with an investment decision. Others use information that is related to organization’s financial conditions and does not contain figures but only facts to make investment decisions. Annual reports and their structures have changed over time to facilitate both kinds of investors. Now annual reports contain information about profit and loss, cash flows and overview of the finances of organizations. The length of these reports has increased as the required number of details has grown. Annual reports contain statements provided by management (Bartlett 1997). All these kinds of information were not previously a part of annual reports. Investment decisions are not only based on analysis provided by management and directors of an organization; the profit and loss information provided through annual reports is superior while making investment decisions. These statements are highly important for those who are literate in accountancy. Individuals having literacy in accountancy are investment analysts who provide information to investors on how well a company has performed and how well it will perform in future, and through this analysis, investors make their investment de cisions. ... is characteristic of annual reports increased the uncertainty amongst investment decision makers because they had no idea how organizations would perform in future and what initiatives the organization would take to make the company operate successfully in future years. Due to lack of information about future activities, investment decision makers used to be dependant on old data and their confidence in their investment decision used to lack confidence in success. This led to the introduction of management’s statements within annual reports. In these statements management provides insights into what future steps the management is going to take to make the company successful in future. This information helped investors and investment decision makers make investments on the basis of future operations, and these investment decisions lacked uncertainty. For example, during 1996, a study conducted by Abrahamson and Amir (1996) proved that annual reports containing the presidentâ₠¬â„¢s letter are a useful insight for the investor trying to predict future performance of the organization. Similarly, a study conducted by Bryan (1997) states that the management of a company is required to disclose information about future operations through annual accounting reports of their organization, and these disclosures help investors in assessing whether the firm will make profit in future and align investment decisions accordingly. Information that profit and loss statements provide is quite limited, for example: Rogers and Grant (1997) argue that financial statements are limited to providing information regarding only one quarter of a company’s operational period. On the contrary, information provided by management gives insight into a longer period of time including past performance

LLM Application Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

LLM Application - Essay Example The company I work for operates and owns mining of coal and transportation infrastructure in Colombia. As pertains to my academic qualifications, I pursued my high school education at Helevetia School in Bogoto, Colombia between the years 1985 and 1999. I graduated with French baccalaureate and a Colombian bachelor’s degree. Thereafter, I joined Javeriana University where I studied graduate attorney studies between the years 1999 and 2004. In the year 2005, I went to McGill University in Canada where I had my postgraduate studies and attained proficiency in Business Law and English. In 2007, I graduated from Andes University in Colombia with a postgraduate studies in Colombian Business law. I latter went to Javeriana University where I pursued Labor and Social Security Law. I graduated with a master in labor Attorney. As a result of my diversification in areas of education, I can conveniently converse in Spanish. Moreover, being a Swiss national, I can competently converse in French and also converse in English as a fluent second language. With regard to my professional qualifications, I worked at Brigard & Urrutia Abogados in Colombia between April 2006 and July 2007. It is a law firm that specializes in labor and business law and has a repute of satisfaction of its customers due to provision of high quality legal services. I reported to a taxes manager and held the position of labor and Immigrant attorney. In my capacity, I was responsible for advising foreigners on legal issues in Colombia. I was also involved with the human resource issues and aided in advising the clients about their immigration policies. I was also involved in the administration capacity as pertained to remuneration and compensation, labor proceedings, and immigration proceedings. I also executed settlement agreements between the clients we served. During my practicing in this law firm, I was able to reorganize and manage immigration and human resource areas. Thereafter, I worked a t Posse, Herrera, Ruiz & Abogados between July 2007 and June 2008, a company that had a larger base of services; tax planning, litigation both local and international, acquisitions and mergers, and labor and immigration law. I was responsible for labor and immigration Attorney issues at social security, labor and immigration. I also gave legal insights into human resource issues and was able to achieve the opening of immigration and labor area of practice. Between January 2009 and May 2010, I held the position of Attorney in charge of labor relations area and worked at ING Pension and Severance Fund Inc where I reported to the human resource manager. My responsibilities were similar to those carried out in my previous capacities hence making me more competent in the performance of my activities. In addition to then, I was also able to provide legal advice to the foreigners, handled disciplinary proceedings of the firm and management functions. I was able to achieve as pertained to c ontrolling trade unions and aided in channeling complaints of workers through working with labor relations. It is with view of my interest in labor and social security law that I desire to pursue a LL.M program at your institution. This is as a result of the globalism of legal policies and legal practices. The global community of lawyers calls for the need of lawyers to comprehend legal issues that are beyond their scope. The learning of LL.M will enable me to be better equipped to not only serve that legal society with my vast knowledge, but to also serve the community. This is since I will be more prepared and equipped to face the changing law world and the increasing requirements by the society for a knowledgeable lawyer. Moreover, having help