Loblaw Companies Limited: Preparing for Wal-Mart Supercenters

Case 16 1. The grocery industry is a commoditized industry, which makes it difficult for grocers to sustain through differentiation. Buyer power is high and thus, cost leadership and operational efficiencies are critical. There is fierce competition amongst various grocery stores, with the main players such as Loblaw and A&P holding multi-banner stores in various market segments. Traditional grocery stores also lose some of their market share to drug stores, convenience stores and other retailers who have entered the industry. Threat of substitutes from fast-food and take- away outlets is not as prevalent, since many grocery stores have started stocking ready-to-eat meals and have deli services available for consumers. Competitive pressures are increasing in the industry with the potential entry of Wal-Mart and new delivery methods such as the internet. 2. grocery store industry witnessed a lot of changes. Competitive pressures in the industry are increasing and several new competitors including wal-mart are entering the market. New methods of delivery such as the interned are making it difficult and challenging for traditional based stores to comply. Customer preferences are diversifying and different demands are increasing. In addition to the price war that strike the markets. The maturity of the industry, characterized by flat demand combined with the growth aspiration of the dominant suppliers makes the industry a competitive battleground. Competitors work toward driving costs down while responding to swiftly changing consumer tastes. Grocery managers therefore are challenged to provide the marketing mix of tomorrow, emphasizing speed, flexibility, and early identification of trends directed at segmented and rapidly evolving markets. The mass consumer market has been replaced by hundreds of highly diversified mini-markets for which grocery companies have to design custom made solutions. 3. Key Success Factors of the grocery industry include the following: Low cost operations; leading to lower prices Convenient locations and large stores Wide product ranges; good quality Value added services; customer loyalty programs Cutting-Edge technology, both front-end and back-end Looking at the above factors, there are many opportunities for Canadian grocers to improve on their services such as vertical integration as supplier/distributor, innovative technologies like RFID, and global expansion Loblaw's unique tangible resource is that they own 63% of their corporate stores real estate properties. As mentioned above, the grocery industry is heavily commoditized and competitive. The Canadian market leader, Loblaw, serves a broad target market and integrates a low cost strategy with product and process differentiation. Through their multi-banner approach, they leverage their core competencies across multiple businesses. The biggest winner for the company had been the multi format approach. The company also holds about 60% of the real estate where they operate giving the benefit to change. The company refurnish the stores every 5 years when the industry norms are 7 years. 4. SWOT ANALYSIS: Strengths: Strong Market Share Broad Product Portfolio Diversified Store Format Low prices with good quality items at all franchises Great customer service/customers have a say in the company Noticeably friendly workers Constantly looking for areas of improvement Array of services Canadian unlike foreign competitors like wallmart Weaknesses: Low Online Operations Limited Geographical Presence Opportunities: Rise in Demand for Private Labels Strategic Plans Rising Demand for Organic Products Opening new stores helps them become more competitive The unfortunate economy will create a new wave of customers looking for cheaper prices Threats: Expiry Of Agreement With Labor Union Highly Competitive Market Wal-Mart Business Partnerships Higher prices on certain items makes them less competitive in those areas (electronics and household furniture). By the above S. W. O. T analysis, one can see that Loblaw’s KSF’s are on track and that they are headed in the right direction to bring them back on top. There is of course still work for Loblaw to do with their pricing, however that will come with time because when the company is doing better, they will be able to lower their prices even more. They are putting up a good fight though! Loblaws prices for certain items were only a mere 10-15 cents higher than that of Wal-Mart which demonstrates that they are climbing the ranks and will eventually pose as a threat to WalMart. Being pure Canadian company is also a core competency because many people enjoy supporting their country even if it means spending an extra 10-15 cents. These key factors (low prices, better quality products, great customer service, and being Canadian) will help Loblaw rise to the top again. 5. Lederer's plan to combat the threat of  Wal-Mart  Supercentre grocery stores turned bad on the company Consolidating its distribution centres, which supposedly made the supply chain more efficient, resulted in the departure of many of the chain's general merchandise buyers who were unwilling to move. There were numerous delays and coordination problems as suppliers had trouble shipping their goods to stores on time, and Loblaws was forced to mark it down in order to liquidate excess inventory. Expanding its inventory to general merchandise, supposedly to make a one-stop location like Wal-Mart Supercentres, was considered by many customers to be below the standards of Loblaws. Lederer stopped investing in its convential supermarkets and focused on building its major discount format, the real Canadian superstores. He spent 25 million dollars to motivate old employees to retire early as he turned traditional old stores into superstores. . This is a significant evaluation, because Loblaw is Canada’s largest food distributor, as well as one of the largest private sector employers. Loblaw operates under names such as The Real Canadian Superstore, Fertinos, Provigo, SuperValu, Zehrs, Atlantic Superstore, Loblaws, and Your Independent Grocer. Along with food and household products , Loblaw provides consumers with other services, such as banking, gas stations, pharmacies, photo developing, dry cleaning, and fitness centers. A qualitative and quantitative analysis of Loblaw was conducted through secondary research, using both internal and external sources. This report focuses on the goods distribution and marketing aspects of Loblaw, by exploring its history, primary products, social responsibilities, and financial position. Ratios of the past and present will be taken into consideration when researching and making recommendations. History Loblaw Companies Limited was incorporated in 1956 and it now employs over 122 000 part-time and full-time employees throughout its 990 branches. As a subsidiary of George Weston Limited, it has supplied the Canadian market with innovative products and services for more than 45 years. The superstore idea was first introduced to Western Canada in 1979. Loblaw operates in a highly competitive industry, challenged by many other supermarkets, such as Safeway. Organizational Structure The organizational structure of Loblaw Companies Limited is classified according to the functions of each department. Areas of specialization include: auditing, governance and compensation, pensions, environment, health and safety, and executive. Committee and team authority govern this tall, hierarchical organization, where individuals within the several layers report back to their superiors in the chain of command. Ultimately each senior vice-president reports to the executive vice-president, who in turn reports to the president of the company, who is responsible to the Board of Directors. The Board of Directors itself is divided into five committees, which represent each area of specialization. Social Responsibility Loblaw demonstrates its social responsibilities in the following areas: Environment: Loblaw has various company policies concerning the environment, one of which demands that various operating sectors develop and implement waste reduction. Reports are given to the environmental committee operated by a sect of board of directors who are not directly employed by Loblaw. Attempting to project an environmentally friendly image, Loblaw announced in 2002, that all of their garden centers would be pesticide free by 2003. Their waste reduction initiative has seen positive results, as was the case in 1999, when it reduced solid waste by 75%, organic waste by 60% and water waste by 38%. Use of underground tanks has been decommissioned; in addition PCB’s and asbestos have been removed from company operatives. Employees: The philosophy that a company’s success is directly affected by the attitude of the employees, is put into action when Loblaw concentrates on coordinating positive relationships with their employees. Employee benefits include life or health insurance, dental insurance, and a pension plan. A stock option plan and an Employee Share Ownership Plan (ESOP), which are administered through a trust, are also available. This allows employees to make five percent deductions from their regular earnings; Loblaw then contributes 15% of each employee’s contributions to the ESOP plan. Recruiting, hiring, and training are all done on a store-by-store basis. Loblaw maintains health and safety programs in its stores to address health and workplace safety. This system is also subject to compliance audits. Community: Charities such as Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation, Canadian Cancer Society, President Choice Children’s Charity, Easter Seals, the Canadian Merit Scholarship and many more benefit from Loblaw’s donations. Loblaw has purchased Maple Leaf Gardens, further developing its roots in the city of Toronto. Customers: Loblaw strives to have a good relationship with ts consumers through feedback, quality customer and product services. Programs such as the President’s Choice Financial MasterCard allow consumers to collect points, which are redeemable for goods within the store. Loblaw also attempts to get feedback from consumers through focus groups and surveys. However, Loblaw fails in the area of consumer responsibility by not allowing supplie rs to indicate whether or not their products are genetically engineered. The company goes as far as to demand that companies selling genetically engineered goods avoid proclaiming so on their labels. Investors: Loblaw is working towards being socially responsible to their investors by keeping them informed by releasing online annual reports and mailing them out. The company provides sustainable returns through dividends by reinvesting cash flow into the firm’s real estate and land. 7. loblaws was the largest supermarket chains in Canada. they opened a series of the real Canadian superstores in Ontario, where they expected wallmart to open their first food superstores. These were built as low-cost, one stop shopping destinations. The real Canadian superstores were as the size of two football fields and sold a combination of groceries and non-food items. Lederer consolidated the the companies distribution centers from 32 to 26 facilities, in order to increase the efficiency of the supply systems. He closed old warehouses and opened new ones in Brampton Ontario. Real Canadian superstore were located along walmart supercenters as if facing at war. Geographically wise they were allocated at same areas and when it comes to goods and commodities, the both handled non food items along with their usual groceries. The war did begin. 8. Galen Weston Jr. as supposed to rescue the company by fixing the broken delivery system. He started by managing a pilot online grocery business in Ontario. Galen along with his team outlined a new business plan. He studied the problems and found out that they have a big delivery problem and that they are still over-priced. He aimed to increase sales and earnings by cutting prices, offer ing more products, and improving customer service. Galen started working on investors and opening up in idols such as the maple leaf stadium in downtown which he turned into a grocery store as to gain people due to their passion to the hockey team which was a symbol at the ountry. Moreover he succeeded in becoming number one again. 9. Recommendations for Loblaw: A private label: a store like Loblaw’s needs a particular way it can standout the competition. They could approach the strategy of having private labels in store. Cut down on general merchandise: they should reduce low quality goods and focus on selling people groceries with good quality plus they should concentrate on groceries rather than electronics because too much diversity infects being the best at a certain field. Make the store attractive to the customers eyes: try to beat wal-mart by obtaining a store that is clean, decorated, high ceilings, no open boxes, attractive lighting and displays. Make the stores easy to roam and let commodities that are of the same interest be on a route that customers don’t pass by unwanted goods. Let people say this is the store I want to buy from. Supply chain management: its clear that the supply chains logistics used by Loblaw’s should be changed. Empty shelves phenomena should become extinct because it makes good stores look cheap and unreliable. Increase marketing: marketing and advertisement should be extreme and excessive especially when change happens, prices differ, and news are there. Promotions should reach customers well enough to gain or even regain their loyalty. People should know that the company recognized their mistakes and problems and solved them out. Downsize: close unprofitable stores, this will reduce payroll and increase the funding to solve damaged issues. Off coarse this is the last measure companies look at but its helpful at the long run.

How Society and Culture Affect Friendship Essay

How society and Culture affect Friends and Social Activities The ‘social’ is an important concept to know to understand this topic. It is the totality of explanations describing how people interact and make meanings of their experiences. Culture, as should be known, is Shared, transmitted, learned, adaptive etc. Different cultures promote different relationships and can either hinder or encourage certain activities among its people. Friends that people make will differ based on their cultural views and belief. Example: Jamaica’s motto â€Å"Out of Many, One people† This implicates unity within our culture. Regardless of colour, religious belief or ethnicity people make friends and partake in the pretty much the same activities. Going to the movies, going to dances, parties, clubs, bars etc. While  In a country like Trinidad with segregated culture, you have people of different races separate and apart from each other. Religious backgrounds (whether Hindu or Christian) can form who you choose to be your friend and some activities are labelled generally white, or generally black, or generally Indian rather than having equilibrium between all races. Society – This is known sociologically as a group of people related to each other through persistent relations (usually sharing the same geographical location) Society has norms which is expected behaviour of each individual, thus it is an important factor in your activities and friend choice. It must be societally acceptable else you may be labelled deviant. Your general upbringing and status/class usually shapes who you make friends with. Example: People from ‘Uptown’ tend to make friends with those of a similar background, or financial status as them. Similarly people of limited means stick together and form friendships. However there are some exceptions, especially in more open society of today where there are friendships formed across classes due to similarity in personality or social activities. Society is more likely to expect that people from higher classes would partake in activities like theatre and go to exclusive parties. It is seen where today, especially in Jamaica, regardless of status, social activities are open to any and everyone.

Case analysis for Bank of America Essay

Expand current app to include basic credit card and mortgage functions to increase market share of expanding mobile transaction market and shift customer activity to cost-effective channels. BOA’s entrance into local mobile payment and person-to-person P2P mobile shopping market (tap a large and growing market that currently lacks the regulation of banks and â€Å"added security†. I would like to divide strategy into two parts, short term and long term. The short term strategy is to solve the problem that how we define our market, and define population to be targeted with mobile strategy. Retain existing functionality. Enhance current app by adding basic credit card and mortgage features (increase passive customer engagement and minimize complexity). Increased customer engagement and cross-selling to make sure increasing transactions and save money. The long term strategy has three steps to executive. (1 Integrate Credit Card and Mortgage business into current Bank of America Mobile App. (2 Introduce Bank of America e-commerce app which includes local mobile payment and person to person capabilities. (3 Expand to international markets using existing mobile apps to create â€Å"virtual banking† regardless of physical branch presence. For local mobile payment, Bank of America should reduce transaction cost to Bank of America and merchants. Merchants reduce costs associated with current point of sale credit card services. Instant access via Bank of America e-commerce to business accounts and transaction history. Eliminating more expensive consumer and merchant transactions could save cost to Bank of America. For person-to-person, it should cut out the middleman which means reduced transactional costs. Secure payment system that is regulated and insured like a bank, unlike the currently the only established competitor,  PayPal. P2P market has a large potential for growth, estimate 2.4 billion e-commerce transaction in 2014 and 78 million active PayPal users, 3 billion â€Å"under-banked† consumers worldwide. The benefits of its app are at following sentences. 1) Leverage Bank of America as first online and mobile bank. 2) Cost efficient way to provide additional services to existing consumers and reach previously unreachable customers. 3) Without the existing company, PayPal, there is a few competitors in this market. 4) Costs include programming and maintenance of application after roll-out. There are other additional benefits. 1) New customers poached from other bank is 38 million transactions in 2010 and 119 in 2014. 2) Expand its reach into mobile transaction market as all customer groups experience increased convenience and streamlining of banking needs. 3) App for free = limits the barriers to entry. 4) Enhance features increase the likelihood of customers finding value in mobile banking. Bank of America’s market share of mobile transactions will increase as credit card and mortgage customers from all groups utilize the app and extend their activities with the bank (as seen in Bank of America’s lessons from online banking). Incremental transactions made by mobile customers will come at a reduced expense to Bank of America.

The British Constitution And Modern Democracies Essay

The British Constitution And Modern Democracies - Essay Example UK’s rules describing the powers of government, civil rights of its citizens among others exist in other statues, treaties, judicial decisions, regional conventions, and parliamentary acts among others (Republic.org, n.d.). Since the original influences of Norman conquest of England, drafting of the Magna Carta and its enactment into law, 1689 bill of rights and the successive parliamentary acts and reforms, especially in the 20th and 21st century, was the beginning and evolution of the of the English citizen’s right and the UK parliament powers in shaping its unwritten constitution. Critically, the legal and political consequences of Britain over time have led to its constitutional evolution, but not enough to enable its single documentation of laws. Over the last four decades, there have been numerous proposals for a codified UK constitution brought forth by groups and people of different political outlooks (Blick, 2011). One of the major arguments against the proposa l revolves around the process, intensity, and impacts of the amendments while comparing a written and unwritten constitution. The role of the UK parliament and its power acts central to the repeals of the constitution, to keep it flexible to the later adjustments and ensure all the functions of government are in order and operational. Initially, the monarch in ancient England held the authority and could use it to raise armies and taxes whenever they saw fit, or suspend the laws made in parliaments regardless of who constituted the house.... Initially, the monarch in ancient England held the authority and could use it to raise armies and taxes whenever they saw fit, or suspend the laws made in parliaments regardless of who constituted the house. The parliament had existed at the will of the monarchs, but during the reign of Charles I, there developed tension between the parliament and the king. The king had demonstrated personal rule, which was not in line with the house’s will, forcing the monarch to rule without a parliament for close to eleven years. This was followed by drastic actions taken by parliament that led into a civil war between the two parties; the parliament overthrew the king and demonstrated a commonwealth government for ten years without the house of lords and the king (Parliament.uk, n.d).Over the centuries, the parliaments’ (especially the house of common) authority has gradually developed to affect the entire British society through its constitution involvement. The declaration of the bill of rights towards the end of the 17th century enabled the parliament to take up powerful roles of the monarchs, which gave them more mandate to control and have a say to actions and matters pertaining Britain. Apart from the House of Lords, the British people can now elect their representatives who make the House of Commons, and from whom the ministers are chosen to represent the interest of the public. The declaratory act to facilitate UK’s parliament ability to legislate for their colonies is an indication of the powers accorded to the parliament back then (Totallyhistory.com, 2012).The modern parliament has the authority and capacity to discuss bills, amend, and enact them for a

Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 3

Research Proposal Example The major aim of this design of research is establishment of truth by conceptualization of what is happening by the use of empirical research. This approach, somehow, looks like what most researchers do when they are retrospectively in an attempt to formulate some new postulations that can fit the data (Levering, 1983). Just like in the other methods, my objective here is the creation of concepts that describe how the teenage should deal with their major concerns regardless of place and time. In this case, just like behavioral research activities, parents, teenagers, and community are the units of analysis. There has been a rise in the rate of teenage pregnancy rates and this tends to be a matter of public concern. Teenage behavior has gradually changed with time due to activities and the current perception of sex in the contemporary world (Suri, 1994). In the United sates, the teenage pregnancy graph rises steadily and this has led to the establishment of various research centers aimed at finding the roots and possible solutions to teenage pregnancies. Currently, the United States has initiated an ongoing debate on whether sex education should be included in the school curriculum. If so, what kind of information is to be transmitted to teenagers about sex through the school course? The parents and community have a huge role to play in the lives of teenagers. This is because of the contact that exists between them and teenagers. According to my perception, sex or teenage pregnancy education is the role left for both the parents and community. Teenagers spend much time in near their parents and in the community leaving school teachers with little time contact with them. Actually, teachers are supposed to treat sex education as biological activity in line with the given school curriculum. Both the community and parental actions mold teenage behavior meaning that they have great influence over teenage life (Suri,

Parenting and Student Success Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Parenting and Student Success - Essay Example Paul begins her analysis of Chua’s book and the furor that accompanied it by citing several excerpts from the book that she reckons may have ignited the controversy. This way, she perfectly places her piece in the correct context by identifying with the wild emotions provoked by Chua’s book. This helps her later to critique the audience on the issue of parenting. It also helps her to provide a background to Chua’s book and the specific reasons behind its controversy as well as sales. Paul establishes that the public’s outrage towards Chua is due to a section in the book where the â€Å"self-described "tiger mother,"† reigned in on Lulu, her daughter, to practice for long continuous hours â€Å"... with no breaks for water or even the bathroom.† Paul is also of the opinion that the public’s outrage towards Chua may also be due to her reference to Sophia, her other daughter as garbage when she was deemed to be disrespectful, or even her vilifying and rejection of the birthday card that Lulu made for her. These citations help Paul to set the correct tone with which to address quite a fundamental question in the American society; parenting (University of Richmond 2003). ... own for being light-hearted here appears quite disturbed with Chua, barely containing her contempt while reading viewer comments such as "She's a monster" and "The way she raised her kids is outrageous". Others have even questioned Chua’s love for the children. Paul asserts that Chua â€Å"gave as good as she got,† further airing her views that Western parents are weak. This ultimately leads their children to ruin by giving them too much free time and â€Å"how poorly they prepare them for the future," especially when â€Å"It's a tough world out there.† However, Paul argues that the intense contempt and reaction to Chua’s stance and self-declared superiority masks certain underlying concerns amongst Americans, â€Å"her invocation of what she describes as traditional "Chinese parenting" has hit hard at a national sore spot†. This is the fear that Americans seem to have about Chinese domination of global affairs. Essentially, Paul employs the confl ict â€Å"Tiger Moms† and Western parenting to discuss America’s place in the global outlook especially with the recent advances being made by the Chinese. Paul then adopts an anecdotal tone in detailing the economic plight of America, and their comparison to the rest of the world in terms of education. She indicates that the American economy is not performing as traditionally would be expected to grow at â€Å"an anemic 2.6% and many economists say unemployment will continue to hover above 9%† and further expounds that â€Å"Part of the reason? Jobs outsourced to emerging economies such as Brazil, India and China.† She contrasts the economic plight of America to that of China observing that â€Å"Meanwhile, in China, the economy is steaming along at more than 10% annual growth† and is at the moment at a surplus running into

What makes religion different from a cult Assignment

What makes religion different from a cult - Assignment Example In general, the main difference between them is that cult can be seen as an extremely closed ideological system based on strict worshiping of a leader. In contrast to the cult, religion can be viewed as a set of internal and external manifestations of human faith. In other words, any religion focuses on the internal search of the self in harmony with God or the Absolute. As is it known, any religion recognizes the value and importance of human desire to know one’s â€Å"I.† Religion can be viewed as a way for self-knowledge by referring to God or to the Absolute. Regardless of the type of religion, a believer should learn to control his/her â€Å"I.† In turn, this is possible as a result of learning the features of one’s soul, mind and psyche. Believers should open the way to their inner world, and religion is the way by which this can be done. Thus, religion is impossible without self-knowledge and the desire to understand the essence of one’s soul and nature. In fact, religion calls â€Å"to confront reality, to master the self† (Galvan). In this regard, religion cannot be identified with the cult. The cult should be viewed as a certain ritual practice, which does not aim at self-knowledge. In reality, the cult is a closed system, where the main role belongs to the leader. The task of its followers is to w orship the cult leader and glorify him. As a result, this understanding does not involve the pursuit of self-analysis and the search for one’s â€Å"I.† Any cult is based on a strict set of rules, where conformity and control play a particularly important role. As an exclusive system designed for a narrow circle of followers, the cult forbids any questions or doubts about its ideological base or leader. A person has the ability to become part of a certain cult only if he/she recognizes the ideas and beliefs underlying the cult. Moreover, religion cannot be considered as a cult for the simple reason that the concept of cult often â€Å"carries a

Subject Criminal Profiling Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Subject Criminal Profiling - Essay Example In the space provided, list those factors which substantiate an accidental death and were found at or in: As a peace officer and a person whose career is on human protection and rights, it is common practice for the victim to have the weapons near arms reach so that in cases of turmoil and conflicts, the weapon will be always ready to be used. Also, it has been embedded in the victims' subconscious that the weapons should always be with him attached to his body or near him. In this case, it was near his place of demise. During the time of his deliberation of the act, the victim may not want to see his badge, credentials and uniform around the place of where the act will be done. This is based on the fact that the victim worked very hard to earn those items during a better time in his life. There is an underlying assumption that the victim may not want to see the things he deeply cared for so as not to influence his decision to do what he must. He hid them in a box on the floor below because he did not want them to be in the same room when he killed himself. We have conducted a complete investigation regarding this unattended death and have come to the conclusion that this death was caused by accident attributed to autoerotic asphyxia. ... In this case, it was near his place of demise. B. Why did the victim hide his badge, credentials, and uniform in such a location that they were not discovered until five days later During the time of his deliberation of the act, the victim may not want to see his badge, credentials and uniform around the place of where the act will be done. This is based on the fact that the victim worked very hard to earn those items during a better time in his life. There is an underlying assumption that the victim may not want to see the things he deeply cared for so as not to influence his decision to do what he must. He hid them in a box on the floor below because he did not want them to be in the same room when he killed himself. 4. State your opinion as to the manner of death in this case and give your reasons for that opinion. We have conducted a complete investigation regarding this unattended death and have come to the conclusion that this death was caused by accident attributed to autoerotic asphyxia. The scene was not staged as anything but a place for autoerotic asphyxia practice. The investigators are not here to decide for the outcome of the case but to identify factors that attributed to the origin of the death of the victim. These are our reasons: AEA practitioners use a variety of techniques to produce the hypoxia. Among the more common are self-hanging, strangulation, choking, suffocation and techniques to restrict breathing movements. Self-hanging is the most common method observed among fatal cases. The activity is usually solitary and the individual usually chooses a private or secluded place. When carried out in the home, the activity is usually confined

Gun shooting problems Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Gun shooting problems - Essay Example These laws vary widely and there is a need of promotions or campaigns to enhance public awareness. Following measures can be taken in order to prevent gun shooting at schools. There are many varieties of solutions each has different grades of expense and levels of security. These are designing of laws and policies to inhibit children from gaining access to guns, equipping all school entries, as well as all related rooms, with bulletproof doors within a school that automatically lock upon shutting, lower technology doors that should be opened only from the inside or from the outside with keys, introduction of jamblock, a portion of steel that can rapidly be protected under a classroom door, efficiently locking it and significantly reducing the movement of anyone determined on breaking in and Having metal sensors or .,detectors at the secure entry. 4. Social and cultural contexts: Crisis in youth culture educational institutions, especially public schools, Widespread availability and acceptance of guns, Drugs and medications, bullying, media and video games, areas with a strong conservative religious population Today in United States increasing gun violence in school and other areas of society become a serious national and social issue. The United States has been suffering from prevalent levels of gun violence yearly. There are greater than 100,000 Americans who become victims of gun violence every year according to US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Gun ownership is prevalent in United States and gun violence is rampant. Fatal school shootings at a widespread variety of schools have claimed over 400 undergraduates and faculty lives since columbine. In summer 2012, there have been may well publicized school shootings in America. On February 10, 2012 in Walpole, 14 year old students shoot himself in front of his fellow students. Former classmates opened fire on three students and kill them and injured six

Discussion Topic -Forum for Current Events Article

Discussion Topic -Forum for Current Events - Article Example â€Å"Facebook itself had also voiced its displeasure, noting that it explicitly bans fake profiles on its site,† (BBC News). By any standard, this case constitutes a security breach since the complainant did not consent to the creation of a fake Facebook page. In as far as security planning and risk assessment are concerned, it can be noted that the US Justice Department erred by creating a fake Facebook account thought they had a noble intention for doing that. Drug peddling is a serious crime but this should not be taken as a leeway to breach the security concerns of other people. In such a case, it is imperative for the responsible authorities to properly plan their strategies they would use in carrying out investigations relating to this case without posing a security risk to the third party involved. In order to avoid the scenario highlighted above, it is important to carryout risk assessment of the course of action likely to be taken in order to avoid complications with regards to security

Schedule Recovery Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Schedule Recovery - Essay Example The flight routes are of the same time length and as such flight swapping has no effect on the amount of fuel cost or maintenance operation per flight time. Both aircrafts travel the same hours as previously scheduled. Aircraft A will be in SCL at the end of the recovery period instead of being in ALX while Aircraft B will be in ALX at the end of the recovery period rather than in SCL. Aircraft swapping as a recovery option also requires crew to swap. The one of the two crews assigned to each flight has to swap as the other one remains with the aircraft. Flight swapping calls for the reserve crew to be called to fill in the gap created (Belobaba, Odoni, Barnhart 265). The crew now assigned to WA 1269 will end up in ATL at the end of the recovery period on flight WA 1276. The three crew remaining will be assigned to flight WA 1270 and at the end of the recovery period they will end up back in SCL on flight WA 1280. Passenger disruption is minimized in this schedule. The affected flight 1269 results in zero passenger disruptions. Flight WA 1270 will have to be delayed for 20 minutes before departure arriving in PHX at 1500h. As a result, there is 20 minutes arrival delay. Although the flight is delayed, the passenger to ALX will not be affected as the next flight WA 1280 will be ready for departure as scheduled at 1600h. The connecting passengers on flight WA 1270 but on a different airline have a chance of misconnecting. Deadheading costs of crew members that find themselves in one position rather than in the usual position. This crew, although, not flying the plane are still considered on duty and have to be paid for this flight. This cost is affected by the place of residence of the crew. Compensation cost of passengers by the airline affects those passengers that have connections to different locations, but with a different airline network. This cost is influenced by the number of passengers who are connecting with different

Religion as a Synonym of Ignorance Essay Example for Free

Religion as a Synonym of Ignorance Essay Is the church as solid and strong as it seems? In â€Å"The Very Old Man with Enormous Wings†, Garcia Marquez uses magical realism to challenge religious beliefs; hence, proving religion is not what is seems. To begin with, when the old man with enormous wings lands in Elisenda and Pelayo’s courtyard and after concluding that the man must be someone who survived a shipwreck they call their neighbor to see him. Their neighbor proclaims right away that he must be an angel. Her reaction to the man with wings is purely influenced by faith. She blindly assumes things based on what she has been taught her whole life: Hes an angel, she told them. He must have been coming for the child, but the poor fellow is so old that the rain knocked him down. (Garcia Marquez 1) This shows how religion influences the interpretation of various events; hence, limiting them to find a deeper or more meaningful significance to any situation. Pelayo’s reaction is guided by fear and insecurity, which somehow is portrayed in the story to symbolize that the Church institution, generates fear instead of preaching God’s word. How Garcia Marquez describes the angel is a critique to the Church due to the fact that it is described as a ragpicker in a pitiful condition and extremely old. Pelayo judges the angel on his appearance. Wasn’t the angel supposed to look all white, attractive and divine such as church says? If he was this way, then Pelayo would most likely honor and respect him rather than treat him like an animal; this doesn’t only ruin the idea the Church has about an angel, but also results very disappointing, meaning that after all, religion results to be a disappointment. Garcia Marquez clearly describes how Colombian society is, and how ignorant they are due to religion. The town expresses hope and expectations are the angel’s visit. Many had big dreams and had relied on this angel to put an end to all their problems as if he was sent down from God. These expectations however are not rational; they are based on their beliefs and the emotions that this angel had generated. Humans in general are always looking for the easy way out and the simplest way to put their problems to an end. This angel served as the answer they had all hoped for; likewise, religion does this in a daily basis. Religious people rely the blame on God for what happens around them, whether its good or bad, it is the easiest way to justify life’s actions limiting human’s chance of thinking for themselves; therefore, they are ignorant. As we go further, critiques towards religion and ignorance continue. One of the strongest is probably when Father Gonzaga, gives his verdict about if the visitor was an angel or not. He tells people the Old Man is not an angel in view of his appearance, and when he tries to communicate with him in Latin he gets no response; that being the case, ignorance takes over again and people believe churchmen simply because of the position they have in society. Catholics often believe the Church knows everything about life, and so they must believe everything they say as if they could not think for themselves. Father Gonzaga felt somehow threatened by the angel’s presence because he could no longer be in the position he was and the angel would be seen as superior to him due to his divinity. â€Å"The parish priest had his first suspicion of an imposter when he saw that he did not understand the language of God or know how to greet His ministers. † (Garcia Marquez 2). He takes advantage of the situation when the Old Man does not answer in the language of jesus, ridiculing him and making himself look once again closer to God rather than the Old man. In addition, the final conclusion about that the old man is a norwegian sailor once again ridicules the Church showing such absurd assumptions; nevertheless, he dares to create comparisons to argument his final word about the impostor the angel was, â€Å"He argued that if wings were not the essential element in determining the difference between a hawk and an airplane, they were even less so in the recognition of angels. † (Garcia Marquez 2). Furthermore, taking the whole Church as a character compared with the angel himself we can see the contrast of true religion and the human representation of it. Meaning that the angel symbolizes religion itself, and the church represents the institution that has corrupted this divine word. Church manipulates everything to be more powerful. In contrast, the angel is extremely patient, he isn’t affected by what people were doing to him and through magical realism, Garcia Marquez manages to create a situation in which church and humans can be looked upon ridiculously because the angel uses all of the things against him to grow strong and flee; wherefore, religion is a bigger authority and more valuable than church as an institution. To conclude, throughout the whole story we can witness how Garcia Marquez uses magical realism fusing the reality of Colombian society and the divinity and fiction of an angel. He generates a critique towards religion stating that religion acts as a blindfold and limits humans to think beyond what they are taught to believe in; hence, we can understand that religion in the story can perfectly fit as a synonym for ignorance.

Business Plan For The Chocolate Shop Marketing Essay

Business Plan For The Chocolate Shop Marketing Essay The confectionery industry in Pakistan is one that is growing and is promising for our business. This is due to the cultural changes and in the liking of our target market. Our marketing strategies include differentiation, creating customer awareness, increasing customer confidence and finally market development. These strategies aim to satisfy our marketing objectives and goals. Apart from these we have set objectives and strategies on a functional level for marketing research, customer services and the advertisement and promotion of our business. Our total investment is of Rs. 4590,000 out of which Rs. 1500,000 is a loan taken from the bank. The interest rate on this loan is 10%, and we plan to pay it off in a time period of ten years. The major problem involved in our business is that of an increase in interest rates and problems that we will have to face in regards with the location of the shop. Our main risk is associated with the competitors. Business Description Brand Name The chocolate shop Tagline of the company One Taste Is All It Takes General Description of the business Our business is that of confectionery chocolate which is customized. We will be opening one outlet by the name of the chocolate shop in either Y-Block in defence or Xinhua Mall. The chocolate will be processed after an order is placed according to the preference of the consumer. Different sizes, shapes, packaging and flavors will be available. The consumer will be able to choose their own blend of all of these. Product and services Semi sweet chocolate chips Milk chocolate chips Classic white chips Semi sweet chocolate baking bars Unsweetened chocolate baking bar Bittersweet chocolate baking bar Milk chocolate baking bar White chocolate baking bar Milk chocolate almond bars Crispy chocolate bars Blueberry and almond chocolate bars We also provide chocolates for special occasions in special packaging Boxed chocolates Holiday specials Corporate gifts Custom molding Fund raising Uniqueness of the product We are one of the very few chocolate manufacturers that make chocolate starting from the cocoa bean through to finished products. Throughout the process, we take special steps to ensure that our premium chocolate delivers our signature intense, smooth-melting chocolate taste. The uniqueness of our product lies in the fact that we make custom made chocolate with variations to the size, packaging and flavor according to the preference of the consumers Intensive quality assurance in the selection of cocoa beans means that we accept only the highest-quality beans. We reject as many as 40% of the beans that are offered to us. Beans that are not selected are sold to other manufacturers. In all of our chocolate product, we use a proprietary blend of cocoa beans that is refined to provide the companys distinct and intense chocolate taste. We roast the cocoa beans in-house to ensure the companys signature flavor profile is consistently maintained in all chocolate products.Because the nibs are fairly uniform in size, we have more control over the temperature and time, so we can get a more specific flavor. Other companies roast their beans before removing the shell, which requires over-roasting the outside portion of the bean in order to roast the inside. This could impart a burned flavor to their chocolate. Finally, we use an intensive refining process to ensure that its chocolate truly melts in your mouth! We have no grainy feel because we refine most of our chocolate flakes until they are 19 microns (human hair is 100 microns in diameter). Other mass market chocolates are refined to only 40 microns. Overview of the confectionery industry Chocolate and Confectionery industry has shown a satisfactory progress in recent years. The industry flourished under tariff protection and it has not only saved foreign exchange which would otherwise have been spent on the imports of such products but has also started earning the much needed exchange to the country. The vast Middle East market is open for the sale of chocolate and confectionery and Pakistan has all the potentials to capture this market. Export of chocolate products included sugar preparations, which increased from Rs.23.173 million in 1985-86 to 295.136 million in 1992-93. The sugar preparations included Pakistani jelly and jams exported in packed form. However, presently more than ten years later the trends have changed to quite an extent. Due to changes in culture and the people being exposed to media, there have been an inclination towards western confectionery which has increased by demand for chocolate confectionery. The Pakistan confectionery product category reached a value of $32.6 million in 2001. It is by far the smallest confectionery market in the Asia-Pacific region. Pakistan contributes less than one percent of the Asia-Pacific confectionery revenue. No single product category dominates the market. Standard grocers are the leading distribution channel, holding one third of the confectionery market revenue. Traditional grocers are the only other channel to capture a double-digit share. The remainder of the market displays a high degree of fragmentation Use this report to understand the key trends and issues in confectionery and assess the competitive landscape of the Pakistani confectionery industry. Goals and potential of the business Goals of the company include the following: To give our customers the best quality customized chocolate To gain the highest market share in the industry To gain consumer confidence and loyalty The company has high growth potential as the industry it is operating in is one which is growing and the willingness and buying power of the consumers is growing as well which will create high demand for our company. Moreover, corporations such as Multinational companies, banks e.t.c are now commonly using confectionery chocolates as gifts to their business clients as well consumers, this will also be of advantage to our organization and help it to grow. Marketing Research analysis Industry Analysis The industry that The Chocolate shop operates in is that of the confectionery industry which is a growing and an immensely popular industry having organizations such as Nirala, Gourmet and Patchi operating under it. The industry relies mainly on the changing lifestyle patterns and the population growth of the target group. Opportunity The opportunity of setting up a confectionery can be linked with the eating habits and demand of the people. People in Pakistan enjoy the traditional confectioneries very well and their demand is still extremely high on occasions such as weddings, birthdays, Eid and also in corporate clients, however recently there has been a cultural change in Pakistan. Now people are turning towards new lines and varieties of confectionery items. This major change can be seen in corporations mostly and now for weddings as well. Increase number of Outlets A rapid increase can be seen in confectionery outlets recently, this is a reflection of the increase in demand. The increase in the number of outlets have made such products more accessible to the consumers. Many organizations have opened small outlets near offices or other locations chosen specifically to maximize convenience for consumers. Consumer demand In Pakistan confectioneries have always been used as gifts on weddings and other occasions however now there is a higher demand for chocolate confectioneries on not only weddings but also on Eid and birthdays. There is a high and an increasing corporate demand for such confectionery items as now people want to deviate from the traditional sweets. Competitor Analysis Our chocolate shop will be competing with all confectionery shops in Lahore, however their main competitor will be Patchi as this organizations main product is chocolate as well. Other competitors are Nirala and Gourmet because they also serve confectionery items on weddings, birthdays, Eid e.t.c. Nirala has been in the industry the longest and many people of Lahore have a loyalty towards this brand. It has been used on weddings and other occasions. One of their strengths lie in their variety of packaging according to the occasion they cater to. Their packaging is quite diverse and comes in all sorts of sizes. They now also offer a sitting place for their consumer which has increased their demand a great deal because this is one of the feature which is not offered by any of their competitors. Gourmet on the other hand has also had an increase in consumer demand recently because of an increase in their product quality. There is a high demand for gourmet products on weddings, however it is not favorable amongst corporate clients. Patchi is the direct competitor of our business. They serve chocolate confectionery in different sizes and packaging. Their major clients are corporate clients and they serve to the upper class of the country due to their pricing. Our business will have a competitive advantage as it will be serving custom made chocolate, sized according to the consumers preference and it is also offering a sitting place in the shop. Moreover, we will also be serving for weddings, birthdays e.t.c. Target Market The population of Lahore is approximately 7,000,000 people. Our major target market will be the corporate clients of Lahore mainly and other adjacent cities as well. The trends in the corporations of Pakistan are now changing, corporations often present gifts in the form of chocolates to their consumer as well as their business clients. This trend is on an increase in the country. We will also cater for weddings in large packaging and other occasions such as birthdays and Eid. However this will be targeted towards the upper and the upper middle class of the country. Our target market will also largely include walk in clients who will purchase chocolate in small quantities as compared to the corporate clients or those catered for weddings. There is no age limit to the target market as Chocolate is a certain product that is liked by everyone. Market Size and trends The market size of our target market includes all of the upper class of Lahore and adjacent cities, all of the upper middle class and any person who could be a walk in customer. Apart from this we are serving to corporate clients which includes fourteen banks and other multinational organizations as well as the local ones. Marketing Plan An in depth analysis of marketing research will be conducted prior to making the marketing plan. Marketing of The chocolate shop will play a key role in the mobilization of targeted number of customers. Major marketing options include, site advertisement, cable ads and handbills among other traditional marketing channels. Before launch of the project, it is recommended that a research for understanding the dynamics of the targeted market should also be carried out, to design the products as well as the promotional strategy. The basic principle of marketing is to sell the right product, at the right price and promote it in the right place to the right people. However, there are other socioeconomic factors, which also affect the production, selling and consumption of foods. The success of marketing is often determined by the extent to which various socio-economic factors are considered. Business Situation As it has already been discussed above, the market for confectionery items are in a growing trend because of the increase in the demand and cultural changes in the country. The scope of the market is great as at the moment the only direct competition our business will be facing is Patchi and there is a high demand for confectionery chocolates within the corporate world. The distribution of our chocolate will be done through our own retail outlet, we will be implementing the strategy of forward integration. Our product will not be distributed to other retail outlets. All orders will also be places at our own shop. Our consumers would want value for their product and they will be given high quality products. The customers will be ranging from all age groups however we will be catering mainly for the upper class and the upper middle class, however a major target market of the business will be of walk in clients. Identification of problems and opportunities The major opportunity of our business is that it is operating in an industry which is growing and has high demand. Another opportunity is of the growing inclination of corporations towards the use of confectionery chocolates for purposes of gifts e.t.c. Our business will also be using state of the art technology for the chocolate making which will be made fresh after the order is places by the customer. The future of the confectionery industry also proposes many opportunities for our business, as the industry is offering a promising growth. This has occurred as a result of cultural changes and the increase in consumer income and spending power. Our business will be serving the needs of the consumers by making available to them customized chocolate which was initially not being catered to them by any source. However our organization will also be facing certain problems. The first issue to face is that of the entry of timing into the market. As the main decisive factors in this case are events and season, we will have to match the timings with these two limitations. For example weddings generally occur around winters in Lahore, therefore entering the market well before that would be a good idea. Another issue that would be faced is of the sustainability of the organization, it is not only important to be successful over a certain time period but the most difficult part is to be able to sustain this success and to be able to meet the changing requirements of the consumers. Another problem would be to see whether the location we will opening our shop at is accessible to a majority of our clients and can attract a large number of walk in customers. Marketing objectives This stage in marketing planning is indeed the key to the whole marketing process. The marketing objectives state just where the company intends to be; at some specific time in the future. To be most effective, objectives should be capable of measurement and therefore quantifiable. This measurement may be in terms of sales volume, money value, market share, percentage penetration of distribution outlets and so on. Some of the objectives of our business are as stated below: To increase sales by at least 10% each month To achieve a market share of 10% within the first 18months of operation to achieve atleast 75% customer awareness of our product in our target market within the first 6 months of operation To gain customer confidence within the first 12 months Marketing Strategies The marketing strategies are formulated in such a manner that they will assist in attaining the above marketing objectives Differentiation: this is the primary marketing strategy of our business. We will be offering a unique product that is not available in the market before. This strategy will be useful in increasing our sales objective and the market share objective Increasing awareness about our product is another strategy which will be used to achieve all three marketing objectives of our company. This will be done through effective marketing and promotional activities Customer confidence will be gained by taking in complaints from customers and handling them as the customers desire and also by providing customers with high quality Market development is another strategy which our business plans to follow after a certain time period of our establishment. We will be exploring new untapped markets in terms of geographical area to increase sales and market share. Departmental / Functional objectives Our functional objectives will be divided into the advertising and promotional objectives, customer service and market research objectives. Advertising and promotional objectives: build awareness to reach the customers and tell the market as to what we are what we offer Create interest in our consumers in order to make them visit the shop at least or to make a purchase to stimulate demand and increase the purchasing activity. Reminder advertising which will be used to maintain the interest and awareness of the consumers. Customer service objectives The main objective for customer services is to make sure that the complaints of the customers are heard and are taken care off. Market research To keep the business up to date with the changing demands of the consumers To keep the business up to date with the entry of new competitors To keep the business up to date with the strategies of the existing competitors To keep the business up to date with the technological innovations of the industry. Departmental / Functional strategies These strategies will be implemented in order to meet the above objectives. the advertisement and promotional objectives would be achieved through strategies involving effective advertisements through print and television mediums as well as bill boards. the reminder advertisement objective will be achieved by continuous effective advertisement, however it will not be on such a large scale as it will be at the time of launch. customer service objectives would be reached by having a 24 hour help line available to the customer for complaints and other queries. Market surveys will be conducted time to time in order to achieve the marketing research objectives Control of the Marketing plan In order to keep an effective control on the marketing plan periodic reviews will be held. On quarterly basis a review of the marketing plan will be held to see whether the objectives are being met and if the strategies are efficient or not. Feedback will be taken from not only consumers but also from the employees of the organization on the operations of the company and on the implementation of the marketing plan. The marketing plan will then be reviewed accordingly and changed if needed. Operations Organizational Plan Building a strong, lasting organization requires careful planning and strategy, in which organizational plan plays a vital role. Organization plan discuses the form of ownership and advantages and disadvantages of the new venture. Its further includes authority of principles and rules and responsibilities of all the major position of the business. In the organizational plan, developing the management team and form of organization are the foremost steps. In this the importance of employees, their loyalty and commitment to the organization and type of ownership is of greater concern to the potential investors as well as for the entrepreneur. Form of ownership There are three types of major legal forms of businesses or ownership. The three basic types are: Proprietorship Partnership Corporation These three basic types of businesses are compared with regard to ownership, liability, start-up costs, continuity, and transferability of interest, capital requirement, and management control, distribution of profits losses and attractiveness for raising capital. The new venture The Chocolate Shop is proprietor owned business. The owner is the individual who starts the venture and has full responsibility for all the operations. The owner may hire some personnel such as managers, advisors, and accountant etc, to assist in day to day working of the business. Liability of owners The proprietor is liable for all aspects of the business, which means no distinction is made between the business entity and the owner. This is known as unlimited liability in which owner has to satisfy any outstanding debts of the business, creditors may seize any assets the owner has outside the business. Cost of starting a business The financial cost of the business is mentioned in the financial plan. But here, the cost of starting the business refers to the legal fees and expenses incurred for the formation of the venture. In our new form of business which is based on the sole proprietorship, there are not many legal expenses involved compared to the other forms of ownership. The only legal fees required is the fees for trade name, which makes the cost of starting the business very low. Continuity of business Continuity of the business is one of the most important issues for the investors as well as for the suppliers and customers because investors are concerned about the investment, and suppliers and customers prefer to have long relationship with the business they are interacting with. The chocolate shop is a proprietorship business, in which continuity of the business depends upon the owner will to continue, and or otherwise lasts till the death of the owner. Where as, typically in Pakistan, business is continued by the successor of the owner. Transferability of interest In a sole proprietorship, the owner is completely free in the transferability of interest. The owner can sell any part or the business as pleased or when a good value is given. The chocolate shop`s owner has the same advantage of transferability of the interest being a sole proprietor. Capital requirement The need for capital during the early stages of the new venture can become one of the most critical factors in keeping a new venture alive. For a proprietor, any new capital can come only from loans by any number of sources or by additional personal contribution by the entrepreneur. In borrowing money from the bank the entrepreneur may need collateral to support the loan. Any borrowings from outside investors may require giving up some of the equity in the proprietorship. Which ever the source for fund is the owner or the entrepenure is liable to make the payments and a failure to do so can result in foreclosure or liquidation. However, even with these risks the proprietorship is not likely to need large funds of money to do business. The chocolate shop, has acquired Rs.1.5 million from the bank and the rest of Rs.3 million is invested by the proprietor himself/herself. To acquire the loan from the bank, the owner has to keep his/her house as collateral. Management Control In any new venture, the entrepreneur will want to retain as much control as possible over the business. In proprietorship, the entrepreneur has the most control and flexibility in making business decisions. Since the entrepreneur is the single owner of the venture, he or she will be responsible for and have sole authority over all business solutions. Mean there is a centralized chain of command in the shop. Distribution of profits and losses The chocolate factory is single owner or sole proprietor based business, therefore all the profits and losses are received by the owner. Attractiveness of raising capital The ability of proprietor to raise capital depends on the success of the business and the personal capability of the entrepreneur. Primarily because of the problem of personal liability raising capital is a difficult task. Tax attributes for proprietorship In proprietorship taxable year is usually a calendar year and taxes are deductible on the income generated by the proprietor business. Organization cost is non-amortizable and capital gains are taxed at individual level. A deduction is allowed for long-term capital gains and capital losses are carried forward indefinitely. For the initial organization or commencement of new business, results in no additional taxes for individual. Tax issues for proprietorship The proprietor has some tax advantages that there is no double tax when profits are distributed to the owner and that there is any capital stock tax or penalty for retained earnings in the business. Authority of principle The main authority of principle in the chocolate shop is with the C.E.O that is chief executive officer, who is responsible for the entire major decision making. Main functions of the C.E.O are: Reviewing operating and capital budgets Developing longer-term strategic plan for growth and expansion Supporting day to day activity Resolving conflicts Organogram C.E.O Manager Production Department Sales Department Cashier/Accountant Salesman Salesman Store Keeper Chocolate Maker Chocolate Maker Roles And Responsibilities Of Management C.E.O:This diagram shows that at the top of the hierarchy there is a C.E.O who is the sole proprietor of the business .He the is the only owner of the business his job basically would be to have an overall look at functions of the business .It is a centralize chain of command. As the sole owner of the business will be taking all the major decisions at the top. All the employees of the business would come under his command. Manager: As the name suggests the manager is responsible for managing the resources in the best possible way and give the business its best possible outcomes. Manager takes into account the performance of the sales and production department. The manager is answerable to the CEO regarding the feat of the two departments. The manager also assesses the performance of the workers in the lower levels of hierarchy. Sales Department: Cashier/accountant: The cashier looks after the cash flows (both inflows and outflows) of the business. The person also maintains the accounts of the company, recording its sales, revenue, expenses etc of particular periods. A specialist is required for the job because of the importance and complexity of the task. Salesperson: The primary function of this salesperson is to generate and close leads, educate prospects, fill needs and satisfy wants of consumers appropriately, and therefore turn prospective customers into actual ones. The successful questioning to understand a customers goal, the further creation of a valuable solution by communicating the necessary information that encourages a buyer to achieve his goal at an economic cost is the responsibility of the sales person. Production Department Store keeper: This is a job in which the concerned person has to keep all the records of the inventory and the raw material. He has keep track of every thing which comes and goes from the store. He will report directly to the manager of the daily flows. He will recommend how much and when the raw material is need. Chocolate Maker: This person will handle all the chocolate making process. He will handle all the machinery and the chocolate making process. He is basically a trained professional an artist in his field . He will design and make the chocolate according to the taste of the customer. Financial Plan Total Investment Break down of Initial Investment (Rs. per month) Rent 60,000 x 6 = 360,000 Salaries 80,000 Raw material 300,000 Packaging 150,000 Furniture 600,000 Transportation 600,000 Interior 1500,000 Machinery 1000,000 Rent will be paid six months in advance, totaling Rs. 1200,000. Salaries are a total of Rs. 80,000. Rs. 20, 000 of these would be paid to a manager, Rs. 15000 each to the employees hired for the making of the chocolate and Rs. 5000 each to three other employees who would be taking orders and serving. Products would be sold on a price of Rs. 200 per 100gm of Chocolate. Paid in cash 3090000 Loan from bank 1500,000 Total 4590,000 Income statement Advertisements Advertisements in the income statement are the highest in the first month because that is the starting month so investment in advertisement needs to be higher. It reduces in the summer and increase again October onwards. Depreciation Depreciation is calculated on furniture as 5000, it has zero salvage value and the useful life is 10 years. Machinery has a salvage value of 350,000 and a useful life of 10 years hence the depreciation is Rs. 7083.3. Interest expense The interest rate on the loan is 10% and the loan is to be given back in a period of 10 years and is paid monthly. Jan Feb March Apr May June Sales revenue 1400000 1800000 1600000 1600000 1600000 1600000 CGS 630000 810000 720000 720000 720000 720000 gross profit 770000 990000 880000 880000 880000 880000 Operating expenses salaries 80,000 80,000 80,000 80,000 80,000 80,000 Utility bills 100,000 100,000 100,000 100,000 100,000 100,000 Maintenance 10,000 10,000 10,000 10,000 10,000 10,000 Misc expenses 5,000 5,000 5,000 5,000 5,000 5,000 Advertisement 150,000 50,000 50,000 50,000 50,000 50,000 Depreciation on furniture 5,000 5,000 5,000 5,000 5,000 5,000 depreciation on machinery 7,083 7,083 7,083 7,083 7,083 7,083 interest payments 20,343 20,343 20,343 20,343 20,343 20,343 rent 360,000 transportation 615,000 15,000 15,000 15,000 15,000 15,000 raw material 300,000 300,000 300,000 300,000 300,000 300,000 packaging 150,000 150,000 150,000 150,000 150,000 150,000 total operating expenses 1,802,426 742,426 742,426 742,426 742,426 742,426 Profit before tax -1,032,426 247,574 137,574 137,574 137,574 137,574 Tax( 30%) -309727.9 74272.11 41272.11 41272.11 41272.11 41272.11 Net Income -722,698 173,302 96,302

Background of steganography

Background of steganography Steganography has been derived from Greek word â€Å"Stego† which means â€Å"Covered† and â€Å"Graphia† which means â€Å"writing†. Steganography is an ancient technique of covert communication. The earliest form of Steganography has been reported by the Chinese. The secret message was written in very fine silk or paper, and then it was rolled into a ball and covered with wax. The messenger would either swallow the ball or hide it in his nether parts. Herodotus has mentioned in one of his seminal works of history, Histories during the 400B.C about the tradition of secret writing. In his writings he has mentioned about the conflicts between Greece and Persia. A king named Histiaeus encouraged the Aristagoras of Miletus to revolt against the Persian king. He used to tonsure the head of his most trusted servants and tattooed the scalps with secret message and waited for the hair to grow. The servant used to travel between the borders without carrying anythi ng contentious freely. At the reception end his head would be tonsured again and the message will be conveyed. Similarly during the World War II, the Germans invented the use of microdots. Image containing great details were scaled down to the size of microdots. The German usage of secret sharing is regarded as the recent evolution of Steganography. Another example of Steganography is during the Vietman War were the captured US armed force showed hand gestures during a photo sessions to convey some military secrets. The field of Steganography is limitless and any kind of cover media can be used for carrying secret messages. Cover medias can be text, images (grey, binary, color), audio, video etc. An example is illustrated as follows. Siva and Adam dined happily. The following message is not simply a plain text but it carries a secret message within it. By extracting every second letter from each word we derive a secret message as follows. â€Å"India† Other methods of non technical Steganography is using lime and other citrus liquids to write secret data. The message will be imperceptible to the eye. When it is shown over a flame the writings will become perceptible. Steganography is method of information hiding. Steganography can be considered as an art as well as science for secret communication. The best way to explain the purpose of using Steganography is the Prisoner Problem. Now let us consider two prisoners Alice and Bob, and Wendy to be the warden. Now if Alice and Bob want to devise a plan for escaping then they got to communicate with each other. If Wendy is a passive warden then he wont interfere in there communication but if he is an active warden then he will interfere and extract the secret message sent. Hence Alice and Bob got to communicate in such a way that Wendy is not able to decipher there plan. This can be done by the technique of Steganography. Steganography is been used in order to enable secret communication. It is also being used by terrorist for covert communication which is potential for endangering our national as well as world security. Despite the ill effect there are positive sides of Steganography. For example a photographer can store the aperture size, future references etc while taking a picture. Steganography has a wide application in medical imaging were the details of the patients are embedded within the medical image. Similarly Steganography can be used for different friendly applications. It is also used for copy right protection using it along with Watermarking. The use of Steganography also has an important role in strengthening national security. Steganography is defined as secret hiding. It can also be regarded as secret sharing since messages can be shared secretly without being hacked or corrupted. COMPARISON BETWEEN CRYPTOGRAPHY, STEGANOGRAPHY AND WATERMARKING The other forms of data hiding are cryptography and watermarking. Cryptography is a technique in which the secret message is encrypted and sent in an unintelligent format. The basic difference between Steganography and cryptography is that Cryptography scrambles the data whereas Steganography just hides the data. Cryptography scrambles the secret data in such a way that it appears to be gibberish to any unintended user. The secret data to be communicated is a mixture of permutation and substitution and hence any unintended user cant receive the message. Steganography is different from Cryptography. Steganography rather hides the data whereas Cryptography encrypts the data. Steganography provides much more security when compared to cryptography because there is no chance of any unintended user to know that a message is being sent whereas in Cryptography there will always be a suspicion that a message is being sent. Hence these are more prone to be hacked or suppressed. Watermarking is generally used for authentication and copyrights protection. Watermarking can be used for creating a image in order that it is recognizable. It can also be used to mark a digital file so that it is intended to be visible (visible watermarking) or visible to its creator (invisible marking). The main purpose of watermarking is to prevent the illegal copying or claim of ownership of digital media. CHARACTERISTICS OF STEGANOGRAPHY, CRYPTOGRAPHY AND WATERMARKING The common characteristic between Steganography, Cryptography and Watermarking is that they transmit the secret information in such a way that only the receiver is able to decrypt the data. These techniques had been prevalent during the ancient times have been transported to the digital world. It has become nearly impossible to extract or detect the secret messages. In digital domain Steganography and watermarking have a tie and it is majorly used in digital images. These have other uses as well. Both cannot exist by themselves and hence they require cover objects. Steganography requires a cover media to carry the secret information and watermarking requires a carrier object which it is intended to protect. These similarities create a link within them and hence some modifications can lead the transportation from one technique to another. Due the similarities present between these it is difficult to distinguish between the both but actually there is a remarkable difference between the m. Cryptography encrypts data in two methods secure or unbreakable (e.g. One-time pad) systems and breakable (e.g. RSA) systems. Through both the systems communication carried out is known to all. But it is time consuming and often fruitless to crack a code. The robustness of the code lies upon the difficulties faced while reversing the code in different permutations and combinations. Due to its robustness it is used for security purposes. For example Cryptography is used for online shopping, banking etc. The credit card number, expiration etc and other crucial informations are encrypted and sent so that an unintended user cant access the details. Steganography offers high carrier capacity keeping embedded message invisible and maintaining the fidelity of the cover media. The efficiency of the Steganographic method is that one shouldnt know that a media file has been altered in order for embedding. If the malicious user knows if there is some alteration the Steganographic method is defeated and less efficient. The embedded message is very fragile and hence if any modification is done to the stego image the whole secret message is corrupted. The effectiveness lies on the ability to fool an unintended user. The layers of communication can be more than one layer. A secret message can be embedded with a digital image which in turn can be embedded within another digital media or video clippings. Watermarking is required in order for authentication and copyright protection of digital files. The embedded watermarking is required in an object to make it impossible to remove completely. If the embedded watermarking is removed, then the marked object is either distorted or destroyed making it useless for anyone. This is the reason why watermarking is more robust when compared to the other image processing techniques, such as compression, cropping, rotation etc. hence even if a tiny bit of information is extracted by modification and tempering the rightful owner can still claim ownership. If the owners name is embedded in the digital image and the particular image then the original information is tampered and destroyed. Unlike Steganography, it is acceptable for everyone one to see the watermark embedded in it including the invisible ones. COMBINED EFFORTS OF STEGANOGRAPHY, CRYPTOGRAPHY AND WATERMARKING Cryptography is used as a paisano of the other two data hiding techniques. Data is encrypted in both the techniques in order to increase the randomness of the Steganography to avoid the statistics-based attacks and to protect the hidden data in watermarking. Commonly it is a practice to first encrypt the data and then use any one of the embedded techniques. The importance of watermarking can be stated as follows. Suppose Rs 100 bill is introduced in December 2009 then watermarking is required in order to prevent illegal copies. If the bill is shown in light a small image will appear within the large image. The watermarking is actually a part of the large paper and is visible on both sides. Hence it becomes difficult to produce a paper with such features. In addition to these features some tiny writings which are invisible to the human eyes are present in the paper. A banker having the necessary equipments (magnifying glass) can tell the difference between the original bill and the fake bill. Steganography makes its play here. The tiny printing done on the bill represents Steganography. It is implemented in order to achieve high security. The tiny printing done in the paper cannot be copied since any commercial printer is incapable to print such a fine and thin print leading to black spots. These are the reasons why Steganography is used for high security. Cryptography is actually implemented in the bill. A serial number is been printed in the bill which may contain information about the location and date of bill is printed or any other confidential information. The unique serial number for each bill can be used for tracking purposes. Using Steganography, Cryptography and Watermarking it becomes impossible to reproduce Rs100 bill. It must be kept in mind that all three are different and have different functionality. REQUIREMENTS OF STEGANOGRAPHYc Any digital media can be used as a cover media. The cover media can be a text, image (color, gray), audio or video etc. Cover media is required in order to hide and carry the information. Usually digital images are required in order to hide secret messages. The secret message is hidden within the digital image. After the message is embedded within the cover media An innocuous image consisting of scenery, people and other objects are the nominees for cover media. The availability of natural images is not a problem due to the affordable price of digital cameras nowadays. Natural images are the best candidates for cover image since they have higher resolution providing flexibility and other necessary need. Images are selected because the cover media is selected depending upon how the human visual system works. The gray image consists of pixels with intensity value from 0 to 255. The human eye cannot differentiate between a pixel intensity of 244 and 245. It will appear both the pixel intensities to be same. Also natural image s contains lots of noise and hence there is lots of pixel value intensity difference especially in the edges. This variation in the pixel intensity is known as randomness and can be exploited to embed the data without providing any suspicion to human eye. The human visual system wont be able to distinguish between the image before modulation and the image after modulation. The secret data is embedded within the cover image. The resulting image is called a stego-image. The stego-image will appear to be the same as the original image. The human eye cannot usually distinguish between the stego-image and the original image except there is a significant change between the images. In that case the Steganographic method employed is ineffective. Hence there are certain Stego-system criteria which we have to follow while doing a Stegagraphic implementation. They are stated as follows. The major criteria of Steganography that the cover media shouldnt be significantly altered or modified. The embedded data should be directly encoded in the cover and not in the header or wrapper. The embedded data should be immune to modifications of the cover. That is if the cover media under goes any change then data embedded within it should be unaltered. During transmission there are chances of noise to occur and hence distortion due to noise cannot be eliminated. Due to this issue error coding algorithms should be included where ever it is required. It is advisable to avoid the suspicious portions while embedding the message in the cover. This because after embedding in these regions they become open to suspicion. For example by embedding in smooth portions of the image, the resultant image becomes distorted and open to suspicion. Hence such portions are often avoided and portions where there is variation in the pixel intensity are preferred. The embedding efficiency must be improved. Efficiency of the embedding capacity depends upon the number of pixels in the image used for embedding purposes. The stego-image should be robust to steganalysis. Steganalysis is a method of identifying the difference between the original image and stego-image. Using steganalysis one can derive the information about the secret message. The stego-image should reassemble the original image and there should be any suspicion. The cover image should have high carrier capacity. That is the embedding capacity should be large. The amount of information present in the image should be resistant to distortion and should be comparable to the number of pixels present in the image. The three basic requirements of Steganography are robustness, capacity and imperceptibility. All these requirements should be satisfied for having an effective Steganographic method.

Similarities Between Aristophanes Lysistrata and Euripides Medea Ess

Similarities Between Aristophanes' Lysistrata and Euripides' Medea The poetic tone of Aristophanes' Lysistrata differs greatly from the poetic tone of the Greek tragedies we have read in class. However, after analyzing this Greek comedy, it seems to share some of the main characteristics of Euripides' Medea. Within these plays, we meet shrewd, powerful masculine women who use the art of manipulation to get what they want from others and to accomplish their goals. This theme of manipulation is employed through various means and techniques. The women of these plays also seem to contradict the stereotypical woman and have characteristics similar to the Homeric Greek warrior. In the opening scene of the Medea, the nurse tells the audience of Medea's sorrow. Although Medea has done everything possible to please Jason including committing crimes in his behalf, Jason leaves her and decides to wed the daughter of Creon, the king of Corinth. Though Jason is able to manipulate Medea in the beginning, his powers of manipulation are no match for Medea. Jason also tries to rationalize his actions by claiming that his sole purpose in marrying Creon's daughter is to better the lives of Medea and their children. However, after Medea is full of rage, it is impossible for Jason to manipulate her any further. Throughout the rest of the play, we see several examples of her excellent manipulative skills. When Medea admits to her murderous intentions to the women of Corinth, she is able to convince them to keep silent about it. She pleads to them using their feministic views to her advantage. When Aegus, the king of Greece arrives in Corinth, she manipulates him to offers her refuge from her enemies in return for a cure for his in... ...nd coaching them, but never physically joining them in their demonstration against the war. Although Lysistrata is manipulative, her character is more likeable than Medea's character. Lysistrata is not vengeful when carrying out these plans. Although Lysistrata does gain much power when she organized this movement, her intention is not selfish. Lysistrata manipulates these men and women for, what she believes is a greater good, peace. Also, Medea is feared and deemed powerful because of her passionate rages, while Lysistrata's power comes from her ability to remain strong and composed throughout the play. They are both shrewd characters who undermine the stereotypical subservient female. While Lysistrata serves as a great leader and earns the respect of many men and Medea gains power by cruel means, both use manipulative tactics to accomplish their goals.

Abortion Can Never Be Justified :: Papers

Abortion Can Never Be Justified Christians all react differently to the issue of abortion. Some would say that abortion is murder because they would believe that life starts from the moment of conception. This follows a Roman Catholic Church view but not all Roman Catholics would agree. The mainstream Roman Catholic view is that life is sacred. They would say that life is God given and the only person who has the right to take life is the one who created it (God). If God has created all life then God is the only person who can take it away. So if a woman was raped then the Roman Catholic view would be to raise the child by "loving her enemies" Mark 12:29-31. This would mean that she would be loving her enemy, which would be the baby from her oppressor and love the child to give it a healthy way of life. Roman Catholics would support giving her help and aid to raise the child by giving the mother money and if needed a secure living environment. Even if she could not look after it herself most Roman Catholics would accept her putting the child into adoption, that way the child is not murdered and can be loved and cared for. But not all Roman Catholics as I mentioned before have this opinion on abortion. Some would adopt their own opinions or those of other churches. The Church of England say that abortion is wrong unless having the child is putting anybody's life in danger. They see that life does not begin until birth. Anything before that is only potential life, therefore to have an abortion is not murder but it is still not acceptable to have one for any other reasons. They would explain in the case of rape that abortion of the oppressor's child would be seen as the lesser of two evils and should be accepted. The Church of England still recognise that human life is valuable as it is created in the image of God but they would argue that life does not start at

Language and Mind Essay

1. Which of the following statements about parameters is FALSE? a. They specify the limits on possible differences between languages b. They do not belong to Universal Grammar # c. Their values must be â€Å"set† on the basis of experience 2. From the viewpoint of the principles-and-parameters theory, the process of language acquisition consists of: a. Setting the choice for each parameter that fits the language that is being acquired # b. Storing words and sentences in memory c. Learning the order in which words occur in sentences 3. If some property X is true for all languages, we can conclude that: a. X may be a property that all and only languages have (i.e. a language-unique universal) # b. X must be a general property of all cognitive systems c. X is determined by the universal human articulatory apparatus 4. The fact that young infants do not forget about objects that they have seen after these objects have been taken away is called: a. object shift b. habituation c. object permanence # 5. Consider the following two question sentences: i. When did the boy say he fell out of the tree? ii. When did the boy say how he fell out of the tree? The first question is ambiguous because: a. It is not clearly formulated b. It has two different underlying deep structures # c. It has one sentence embedded in another sentence 6. The statement: perception is ahead of production means that: a. Children can articulate words before they can recognize and understand them b. Children can recognize and understand words and sentences that they cannot yet properly produce themselves# c. Children’s visual abilities are better than their auditory abilities 7. The special way in which parents speak to young infants is called a. Telegraphic speech b. Motherese or parentese# c. Recursion 8. The ‘Critical Period’ that is relevant for first and second language acquisition a. That is correct # b. That is incorrect because it is only relevant for first language acquisition c. That is incorrect because it is only relevant for second language acquisition 9. Genie’s success in acquiring English turned out to be very limited. The greatest problem she had was: a. Learning words b. Understanding what people said to her c. Forming utterances with syntactic structure # 10. Genie’s case provides important support for: a. The critical period hypothesis # b. The role of ‘motherese’ in language acquisition c. The Poverty of stimulus argument for innateness 11. Imagine the following scenario: Some Japanese people come to Mexico to do business. None of them speaks Spanish, and none of their Mexican partners speaks Japanese. There is no other language that these two groups have in common. Therefore, they have to develop a kind of ‘auxiliary communication system’ that can fit this special circumstance. This system is most likely to be a: a. creole b. pidgin # c. English 12. According to Derek Bickerton a creole language is created by: a. adults who are forced to communicate with each other over a long period of time without having a shared language b. people who need to have a secret language c. children whose linguistic input consists of a pidgin spoken in their community # 13. The fact that children are apparently capable of producing a creole language which has grammatical properties that are not present in the pidgin input can be used as evidence for: a. The view that children have innate knowledge of language structure # b. The view that pidgin languages have hidden grammatical structure c. The view that children are born with blank slate minds 14. For a universal to count as an argument for the IH, which of the following three conditions is NOT necessary: a. The universal must be true of languages only b. We cannot explain the universal in any other way c. The universals must be about the syntax of language# 15. Which of the following is NOT a property of creole languages? a. Creole languages have a very simplified grammar # b. Creole languages have been acquired as first languages c. Creole languages have a fully developed grammar 16. Which of the following statements is FALSE? a. Sign languages differ from spoken languages in being based on visual signals rather than on sound b. Sign languages have emerged spontaneously (i.e. they are not man-made or artificial) just like spoken languages c. Sign languages are fundamentally different from spoken languages in that all signs are necessarily iconic # 17. The existence of sign languages, being fully equivalent in all relevant respects to spoken languages, supports the innateness hypothesis because: a. Both types of languages are processed in totally different brain regions b. Both types of languages depend on the innate principles of the auditory or visual system c. Even though the perceptual modality (audition versus vision) is so different from the spoken language modality, the same kind of grammatical structures are present in both types of languages # 18. The stages that children, who acquire a sign language, go through (after they start babbling) are: a. The same as the stages we see in the acquisition of spoken languages # b. Different in that deaf children skip the two word stage c. Different in that deaf children never get to the point that they form full sentences 19. In the case of Nicaraguan Sign Language, the youngest children changed the unstructured signing of their older peers into a structured language. This is analogous to: a. changing a pidgin into a creole # b. changing a creole into a pidgin c. changing a spoken language into a sign language 20. A simplified form of human communication used by people with no common language is a(n): a. Pidgin language # b. Creole language c. Artificial language 21. Which of the following statements is TRUE? a. All pidgin languages have the same grammar b. All pidgin languages have very simple grammars # c. All pidgin languages have fully developed grammars 22. Which of the following statements is TRUE a. Children can acquire only one languages at the same time b. There are no fixed stages in the acquisition of sign languages c. Foreign language learning after puberty in general leads to imperfect language abilities # 23. The argument that the input that children receive is not rich enough to explain the rich knowledge that they end up with is called: a. The argument from universals b. The argument from stages c. The poverty of the stimulus argument # 24. Evidence for categorical perception in young infants comes from: a. Habituation studies # b. Diary studies c. Longitudinal studies 25. In which stage of language acquisition would children most likely produce a sentence such as â€Å"mommy want milky†? a. Holophrastic stage b. Two word-stage c. Telegraphic stage #

Critical Analysis on Bonded Labour System Analysis Act, 1976

Critical Analysis on Bonded prod System (abolition) feat, 1976 SALIENT FEATURES OF THE BONDED dig SYSTEM (ABOLITION) ACT, 1976 This effect provides for the abolition of the outline of bonded dig. It freed unilaterally all the bonded diddlysquats from bondage with coinciding liquidation of their debts. The stand for does away with whatever pledge of a bonded diddly-shit to render either(prenominal) bonded debt it excessively dispenses with the future monetary obligation of remunerateing a bonded debt.The law provides that (a) no shell or anformer(a)(prenominal) proceedings shall be instituted in all Civil administration for the recovery of either bonded debt (b) every fixing made ahead the set-back of the Act for the recovery of whatsoever bonded debt shall stand vacated and (c) much(prenominal)(prenominal)(prenominal)(prenominal) movable airscrew shall be restored to the bonded do worker. The govern and sub-divisional magistrates consider been en trusted with certain duties/responsibilities towards implementation of statutory furnish. to a lower place Section-13 of the Act, oversight Committees are required to be constituted at the district and sub-divisional level for implementation of the provisions of the law. They are intricate bodies with representatives from different cross sections of the society and take a life of 2 old age. Registers containing the call and addresses of all freed bonded labourers, their vacation, occupation and income, details of the benefits real are required to be well-kept under the Bonded effort System (Abolition) Rules. The Act provides for imprisonment up to 3 years and fine up to Rs. 2000/- to whoever compels each(prenominal) soulfulness to render any bonded labour and whoever advances any bonded debt. An murderence detailed bes in their cites. The uniform randomness was submitted to the Supreme Court by the take regimes in the form of affidavits in 1997. ? unmatched ILO pr oject namely saloon of Family obligation with Micro Finance dodging and relate Services is being implemented in three States, namely Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.The physical object of the project is to induce exis cardinalt small finance institutions to develop, test and toss nest egg and loan products, particularly sew for unsafe fami perchs at the risk of get into debt traps. The ready focus of the project is on preventing borderline families from falling into debt bondage and as well to witness sustainable rehabilitation of freed bonded labourers. establish on its experience, a model could be considered for rejoinder or application in many other parts of the Country. Liability to repay bonded debt to stand extinguished.On the setoff of this Act, every obligation of a bonded labourer to repay any bonded debt, or such(prenominal)(prenominal) part of any bonded debt as remains unsatisfied outright before such rootage, shall be deemed to be posses sed of been extinguished. After the start-off of this Act, no reconcile or other proceeding shall lie in any civil solicit or before any other authority for the recovery of any bonded debt or any part thereof. Every jurisprudence or do for the recovery of bonded debt, passed before the commencement of this Act and not amply satisfied before such commencement, shall be deemed, on such commencement, to have been to the full satisfied.Every attachment made before the commencement of this Act, for the recovery of any bonded debt, shall, on such commencement, stand vacated and, where, in pursuance of such attachment, any movable property of the bonded labourer was seized and removed from his custody and kept in the custody of any homage or other authority pending sale thereof, such movable property shall be restored, as soon as may be practicable later on such commencement, to the self-command of the bonded labourer. Property of bonded labourer to be freed from mortgage, et c.All property vested in a bonded labourer which was, now before the commencement of this Act under any mortgage, charge, spleen or other encumbrances in connection with any bonded debt shall, in so far as it is relatable to the bonded debt, stand freed and discharged from such mortgage, charge, lien or other encumbrances, and where any such property was, immediately before the commencement of this Act, in the possession of the mortgagee or the holder of the charge, lien or encumbrance, such property shall (except where it was subject to any other charge), on such commencement, be restored to the possession of the bonded labourer.If any delay is made in restoring any property, referred to in sub-section (1), to the possession of the bonded labourer, such labourer shall be entitled, on and from the appointment of such commencement, to recover from the mortgagee or holder of the lien, charge or encumbrance, such mesne profits as may be determined by the civil court of the lowest pecun iary jurisdiction inside the local limits of whose jurisdiction such property is situated. Authorities who may be finalise for implementing the provisions of this Act. The State administration may confer such powers and impose such duties on a regulate Magistrate as may be necessary to construe that the provisions of this Act are aright carried out and the District Magistrate may specify the policeman, subordinate to him, who shall exercise all or any of the powers, and perform all or any of the duties, so conferred or enforce and the local limits within which such powers or duties shall be carried out by the officer so specified. perplexity Committees. Every State Government shall, by notification in the formal Gazette, constitute such chassis of Vigilance Committees in from each one district and each Sub-Division as it may think fit.Each Vigilance Committee, constituted for a district, shall consist of the pas cartridge holder members, namely (a) the District Magistrate , or a soul nominated by him, who shall be the Chairman (b) three persons belonging to the plan Castes or Scheduled Tribes and residing in the district, to be nominated by the District Magistrate (c) deuce social workers, resident in the district, to be nominated by the District Magistrate (d) not more than three persons to represent the formalised or non-official agencies in the district committed with rural growing, to be nominated by the State Government (e) one person to represent the financial and credit institutions in the district, to be nominated by the District Magistrate. Act to have overriding effect. The provisions of this Act shall have effect besides anything inconsistent therewith contained in any enactment other than this Act, or in any instrument having effect by virtue of any enactment other than this Act. Agreement, custom, etc. , to be void. On the commencement of this Act, any custom or customs or any contract, agreement or other instrument (whether ente red into or penalize before or after the commencement of this Act), by virtue of which any person, or any member of the family or dependant of such person, is required to do any work or render any service as a bonded labourer, shall be void and inoperative. CONSTRAINTS Bonded Labour System is a dynamic problem it can return and re communicate at any point of time in any industry or occupation. Once the bonded labourers are identified and released, in case they are not immediately rehabilitated, they become even worse off as compared to the situation when they were bonded and were at least(prenominal) able to survive by acquire two square meals. Contrary to the tralatitious perception that bonded labour is confined to the rude sector alone, it can also occur and reoccur in any form of economic activity such as, agriculture, brick-kiln, stone quarries, spread over weaving, pisciculture, etc. , CONSTITUTIONAL AND LEGAL nourishment The Constitution of India guarantees to all its citizens- justice, social, economic and political, license of thought, have a bun in the ovenion, belief, faith and worship, equity of status and chance and fraternity, dignity of individual and unity of the Nation. Under Article 23 of the ConstitutionTraffic in human being beings and beggar and other similar forms of oblige labour are prohibited and any contravention of this provision shall be an law-breaking punishable in accordance with law. Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Ordinance was promulgated. Which was later on replaced by the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976. centrally SPONSORED PLAN SCHEME FOR REHABILITATION OF BONDED LABOURIn order to assist the State Governments in their line of work of rehabilitation of released bonded labourers, the Ministry of Labour launched a centrally Sponsored plot since May, 1978 for rehabilitation of bonded labourers. Under this Scheme rehabilitation help of Rs. 20,000/- per freed bonded labour is provided, which is d ivided up by the Central and State Governments on 5050 basis in the case of the Seven North eastern States, 100% central assistance if they express their inability to provide their share. The Scheme also provide for financing of the following activities. Rs. 2. 00 hundred thousand per sensitive district can be provided to c erstwhilerned state government to conduct check up on for identification of bonded labour once in three years. Central assistance of Rs. 10. 00 lakhs every year can be authorise to every tate government to undertake awareness generation activities relating to bonded labour system. Rs. 5. 00 lakh per year can be sanctioned to every state government to meditate impact of actual land-debt related issues affect bonded labourers and the impact of poverty backup man programmes and financial assistance provided by various Government sources so far. Besides higher up the States Governments have also been advised to integrate/ dovetail the Centrally Sponsore d Scheme for rehabilitation of bonded labour with other ongoing poverty alleviation schemes such as Swaran Jayanti Gram Swa Rojgar Yojana (SJGSRY), particular Component Plan for Supreme Court, tribal Sub-Plan etc.Accordingly, the rehabilitation package provided by the touch on Stated Governments for the freed bonded labourers includes the following major components (i) assignation of house-site and agricultural land (ii) Land development (iii) Provision of low cost household units (iv) Animal husbandry, dairy, poultry, piggery etc. (v) cookery for acquiring new skills developing existing skills (vi) Wage employment, enforcement of minimum wages etc. (vii) Collection and processing of minor wood products (viii) Supply of essential commodities under targeted universe distribution system (ix) Education for children and (x) defense of civil rights.INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANISATION AND force/ BONDED LABOUR There are two ILO shapes, Convention No. 29 concerning constrained or Compulsory labour (1930) and Convention No. 105 concerning Abolition of squeeze Labour (1957). Government of India has ratified some(prenominal) the Conventions. Before the 89th Session of the International Labour Conference (June 2001) the Director General of ILO submitted a global report on fish filet Forced Labour. This report contained references regarding incidences of bonded labour in India on the basis of survey conducted by the Gandhi Peace Foundation and home(a) Labour Institute and also the estimates of some other NGOs.The Gandhi Peace Foundation and the home(a) Labour Institute conducted a survey in 1978-79, which had estimated the number of bonded labour as 2. 6 million. This survey was based on a random sample displace from a total of 4,50,199 villages in the ten selected States. Finally, 1000 villages from out of the 4,50,000 villages were selected. Every 450th villages in the census list of villages of each State starting with a random number was selected for the survey. The pass offings of the survey in respect of the above 1000 villages were multiplied by 450 to find out the total number of bonded labourers in ten States. Since the methodology adopted by the Gandhi Peace Foundation was not scientific the Government have not accepted their estimates.The need for having authentic data on number of bonded labourers in India was emphasized. It was urged that comprehensive and imperious survey might be conducted in this regard. From the Government side, it was stated that the Government has healthy will and intent to abolish and alone banish the bonded labour system from every nook and corner of the country. It was indicated that the Government of Indias estimates of bonded labour, as also reported in the following pages, were based on the schooling submitted by the concerned State Governments after conducting detailed surveys in their States. The same information was submitted to the Supreme Court by the State Governments in the for m of affidavits in 1997. One ILO project namely Prevention of Family Indebtedness with Micro Finance Scheme and Related Services is being implemented in three States, namely Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. The objective of the project is to induce existing micro finance institutions to develop, test and offer savings and loan products, particularly tailor-made for vulnerable families at the risk of getting into debt traps. The prime focus of the project is on preventing marginal families from falling into debt bondage and also to ensure sustainable rehabilitation of freed bonded labourers. Based on its experience, a model could be considered for replication orapplication in other parts of the Country.